Heart disease was the cause of death for "Macho Man" Randy Savage, according to a Tampa Bay medical examiner, the Associated Press reported.
Savage, who lost consciousness while driving his car and slammed into a tree on May 20, suffered only minor injuries from the crash. The autopsy report revealed that Savage, 58, had an enlarged heart and severe blocking of his coronary arteries.
He had small traces of alcohol and hydrocodone in his system, according to the toxicology report, but it was determined that they were not a factor in his death.
Linda Hogan says she feared Hulk would kill her during their marriage (with video)
Hulk Hogan’s ex-wife, Linda, said on NBC’s “Today” show this morning that she feared for her life while they were married.
Linda – who was promoting her recently released tell-all book, “Wrestling the Hulk: My Life Against the Ropes” – told host Matt Lauer that she “did not want to be a statistic like Nicole Simpson.”
She wrote in the book: “He tore my shirt. He threw lamps. He held me down on the bed with his hands around my throat during arguments, slamming doors, pounding walls. I was always afraid he would kill me in one of his rages.”
Linda claims that Hulk’s drug use changed him and played a role in his rage.
Hulk offered a “no comment” when contacted by the “Today” show, according to Lauer, but he did call into his pal Bubba The Love Sponge’s radio show, saying that he “never laid a hand on her.”
Here’s my take: Much like Hulk’s war of words with The Ultimate Warrior, there’s no babyface in the Hulk and Linda feud. Obviously, none of us know if any violence occurred during the Hogans’ 25-year marriage, but Hulk made a remark in an interview with Rolling Stone two years ago that is coming back to haunt him.
When discussing the messy divorce, Hulk said: “I could have turned everything into a crime scene, like O.J., cutting everybody's throat. ... I totally understand O.J. I get it.” A representative of Hulk’s later said the comments were “part of a larger conversation to exemplify his frustration with his own situation.”
As for Linda, she has always come across to me as very disingenuous. When she was asked by Lauer why she is finally speaking out, Linda gave the standard answer of someone trying to sell a tell-all book: She hopes her story can inspire others in similar situations.
“If [women involved in a violent relationship] can learn something by what I wrote – I hope I can help other people,” she said.
Well, if that’s really the case and she didn’t write the book just to make a buck, I wonder if she will be donating the proceeds from her book sales to a battered women’s shelter. I’m guessing not.
In response to whether she tried to get Hulk help for his alleged drug abuse, she said: “That’s not something that was my position to do. As long as he was in the ring and they were prescribed, I didn’t care if he took them. But he did change; it changed him.”
So let me get this straight: Her drug-using husband is physically abusing her, but it’s not her place to try and get him help. And since the drugs that are supposedly causing his violent mood swings came from a doctor, well, who cares if he takes them?
Yeah, OK.
I didn’t read Hulk’s tell-all book and I won’t be reading Linda’s either.
In case anyone missed it -- or just wants to watch it again -- here is a YouTube video of the CM Punk promo from Raw Monday night that has the wrestling world buzzing.
Warning: There is a slight bit of profanity, although it's nothing that you can't hear on daytime TV.
Raw came to an abrupt end Monday night moments after CM Punk’s mic went out while he was cutting a scathing, anti-WWE promo that was filled with insider references.
After the show went off the air, it was announced on wwe.com that WWE chairman Vince McMahon has suspended Punk indefinitely for unprofessional conduct, and Punk’s bio was removed from the website.
The wwe.com story went on to say that “with [Punk’s] contract expiring on July 17, one can only assume that this suspension effectively terminates CM Punk’s tenure with WWE.”
Yeah, well, you know what they say happens when you assume. Just in case anyone is uncertain about whether or not any of this is “real,” you can rest assured that it’s all a work – and a brilliant one at that.
Punk’s delivery on the microphone was tremendous, and his worked-shoot promo was reminiscent of the Monday Night War era. Back then, breaking the fourth wall in wrestling was ground-breaking, but the plot device eventually became passé because it was overdone. Punk’s promo was so effective because WWE rarely does this kind of thing anymore (unlike in TNA, where they do it multiple times on every episode).
After interfering in the main event match between John Cena and R-Truth, Punk took a seat on the stage and said that he had a lot of things to get off his chest. Wearing a “Stone Cold” Steve Austin t-shirt (a nod to the “Twitter war” that Punk and Austin have engaged in), Punk went off about WWE not giving him the respect he deserves.
He said once again that he was the “best wrestler in the world,” while Cena was the best at “kissing Vince McMahon’s ass.” Punk noted that “Dwayne” may be even better at kissing up to McMahon.
In addition, Punk referred to Stephanie McMahon and Triple H as Vince’s “idiotic daughter” and “doofus son-in-law,” and called WWE executive vice president of talent relations John Laurinaitis a “douchebag” (which was bleeped).
Punk also said that he was “a Paul Heyman guy” and that after he wins the WWE title from Cena at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 17, he may defend the championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling or go back to Ring of Honor. At that point, he looked into the camera and gave a shout-out to his buddy Colt Cabana (who had a cup of coffee in WWE as Scotty Goldman a few years ago).
Just as Punk was about to tell “a personal story about Vince McMahon” that began with a reference to WWE’s anti-bullying campaign, his microphone was turned off and the screen went black shortly thereafter.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
The participants for the Raw Money in the Bank match were announced and it’s a good lineup: Alberto Del Rio, R-Truth, The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Alex Riley, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne. …
Punk did a nice job during his promo of trying to turn the fans who were cheering him against him. …
It was great having Shawn Michaels back on Raw, but I was a little disappointed that he wasn’t more involved in the show. It was definitely cool, though, to see Michaels and Punk engage in a verbal confrontation in the opening segment. …
For the record, as big of an HBK mark as I am, I won’t be watching his new show on The Outdoors Channel. Not really my thing. …
In general, I’m a fan of Raw shows that have a theme, so I liked Raw Roulette. Booker T. may not be a good color commentator but he was pretty darn entertaining as the MC of the roulette wheel segments. …
It was nice to see R-Truth get a win over Cena in the non-title tables match (thanks to Punk’s interference), but his victory was completely overshadowed by Punk’s post-match promo. …
The best match of the night by far was the tornado match that saw Mysterio and Riley defeat The Miz and Swagger. The action was fast-paced and the crowd was very hot for the match. The only negative was that the result was predictable. I would have been stunned if anyone other than Swagger did the job. …
Mark Henry ripping off the door to the steel cage during the Del Rio-Big Show match and using it to knock Big Show through one of the sides of the cage was good stuff. It got heat on Henry as well as Del Rio, who took advantage of Henry’s interference to score a cheap victory. …
Punk walking out on his match against Kane was a good heel move, but I would rather have seen Punk get the win to gain momentum heading into his title match against Cena. …
The Sin Cara-Evan Bourne match – which should have taken place on last week’s Power to the People episode but did not due to technical errors with the voting process – was fun to watch. Cara remains undefeated. …
In another make-good from last week’s show, Kofi Kingston defeated U.S. champion Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match in which Vickie Guerrero was banned from ringside. The match was fine but it didn’t come close to most of their previous matches. …
The good news is that Drew McIntyre got some TV time. The bad news is that he was on for less than a minute and was only there to take a kick to the face from Michaels. …
It was nice to see my old pal Diamond Dallas Page make a cameo appearance. He was on hand to plug WWE’s “The Very Best of WCW Nitro” DVD, which he hosted. …
Who knew Kelly Kelly was a submission specialist? The Boston Crab never looked so good. …
WWE must be serious about making Tough Enough winner Andy Leavine a future star, as it aired a video package of him training, with comments from the likes of Dusty Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat. I figured there was a good chance that Leavine would go down to FCW and never be heard from again. Time will tell.
WWE's TLC pay-per-view, which takes place on Dec. 18, has been moved to Baltimore's 1st Mariner Arena, according to pwinsider.com. The event was originally scheduled to take place in Philadelphia.
This will be the first time that Baltimore has hosted a WWE pay-per-view in consecutive years. Extreme Rules was held here in April 2010.
TLC will be the fifth pay-per-view in Baltimore since 2003.
WWE Smackdown: Another strong showing for Mark Henry
Mark Henry has had quite an interesting journey during his 15-year run in WWE.
He’s been a smiling babyface and a monster heel, a world title contender and an afterthought, and, of course, comic relief – who could ever forget his “Sexual Chocolate” character and his romantic relationship with senior citizen Mae Young?
In a career filled with ups and downs, Henry is clearly on the rise again, as he has been doing an outstanding job as of late playing an intense destroyer.
On Smackdown Friday night, Henry brutally attacked The Big Show in a backstage segment and went on to pin world heavyweight champion Randy Orton in a tag team match in the main event.
In the past week, “The World’s Strongest Man” has now laid out The Big Show (twice) and Kane and pinned Orton.
As with all wrestling angles, however, the key is in the follow-up. Two years ago, Henry appeared destined for a major push when he pinned then-WWE champion Orton in a non-title gauntlet match, but a month later Henry was in a tag team with MVP.
It seems like a given that there will be a program between Henry and The Big Show (separate rosters, be damned), but I’m interested to see if Henry becomes a player in the world title picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if Orton, Christian and Henry square off in a triple threat match for the championship at next month’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
The match between Christian and Kane was entertaining, once again proving that Kane is capable of having good matches with strong workers and that Christian is capable of having good matches with anyone. …
The tag team match that immediately followed was solid, as Christian and Henry defeated Orton and Kane. The stipulation was that in order for Christian to get another title match with Orton, he and Henry had to win. …
Ezekiel Jackson’s successful Intercontinental title defense against Wade Barrett wasn’t bad. Jackson was put over strong again, as he made Barrett tap out to the Torture Rack one more time. It made Barrett look really weak that he couldn’t win even after attacking Jackson before the match officially began. Barrett said afterwards that he is moving on to bigger things. At this point, just winning a match would be nice. …
The Cody Rhodes-Daniel Bryan match (won by Rhodes) was good, as was the Sin Cara-Ted DiBiase Jr. match (won by Cara). Either the latter match was edited really well or Cara had one of his smoother showings. …
As an aside, one of Rhodes’ “bag men” looked remarkably like one of the President Obama impersonator’s secret servicemen at Capitol Punishment, who looked remarkably like former Maryland Championship Wrestling champion Tyler Hilton. …
I wasn’t too impressed with the dance The Usos did prior to their match against Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. They should leave the dancing to their father. …
I was a little disappointed to see The Usos lose. I’d like to see them get on a roll and make a run at the WWE tag team championship. …
The Gabriel-Slater team just doesn’t do much for me. Neither of them shows a whole lot of personality, but at least Gabriel has the 450 Splash and a good look. Nothing stands out about Slater. His delivery on the mic during the backstage segment he and Gabriel had with Barrett was pretty bad. …
There was a twist on the weekly Jinder Mahal squashes. This time, Mahal destroyed Yoshi Tatsu before the opening bell and the match never did get underway. …
Johnny Curtis’ “cut the mustard” skit was kind of lame, but at least it was better than the “cut the cheese” segment with Tamina, Rosa Mendes, Kaitlyn, A.J. and Natalya two weeks ago. …
I’m more convinced than ever that the Curtis segments are either a rib on Zack Ryder or are being used to set up a program between Curtis and Ryder.
Q&A with Urban Wrestling Federation CEO Steve Karel (with video trailer)
I conducted a phone interview Friday with Urban Wrestling Federation founder and CEO Steve Karel.
Karel is the former general manager for the original ECW and the owner of a media company.
The UWF, a new venture that combines hardcore-style wrestling with hip-hop music and culture, presents its first pay-per-view, First Blood, on Sunday,
How did you come up with the concept for the UWF and how did it all come together?
One day I was sitting in an urban hip-hop club with a couple of my bodyguards, and they were taking to me about how they like wrestling and they still watch wrestling. These are guys in their mid-20s and 30s. So I started to take a poll. I went around to guys in the urban space and asked if they watched wrestling and their kids watched wrestling, and I found the answer being a much bigger yes than, for example, MMA, even though MMA is a such a hot category in all forms of media. So I then started to poke around with some folks on the wrestling side and said, “What would be the reaction to this?” Then I started talking to rappers and program directors at hip-hop radio stations and record label guys. And lo and behold, I started to lay the building blocks … put a few dollars in, talked to some of my old ECW production sources. And I collected in a lot of media favors – I have involvement in two TV studios, one in New York area and one in Miami – so it makes the cost very agreeable. One of my head writers and producers has put stuff on TruTV and MTV2 in the wrestling space … and there’s a writer who has worked on some women’s wrestling programs. We went to the rap world to get some artist deals, and my wrestling guys went and did some open calls to get new and exciting wrestlers from all over the country that could do the craziest of the craziest, the wildest, the most insane stuff that has never been done in wrestling. We put on our first ring event on June 3 at Manhattan Center.
Who are some of the talent that’s involved, both on the wrestling side and the music side?
Some of the guys on the wrestling side that would be known are Homicide, Rich Ortiz [formerly Ricky Ortiz in WWE], The SAT, Murder One, Ruckus. On the hip-hop side, there’s Melle Mel, 40 Glocc, Uncle Murda, Cuban Link, Brisco, Billy Blue, Red Café, Big Block and others.
What is the role of the rap artists? Do they actually get in the ring?
They are absolutely in the ring in an interesting way, both in terms of persona and music. Let’s look at how traditional professional wrestling is: There are the wrestlers, there are the girls who are the femme fatales or the assistants, and there are the alleged managers and owners of the promotion that actually appear in the story lines. What we decided to do is take them out of it, [although] we do have girls that have appeared in major rap videos. On the artist side, we got actual hip-hop artists that were willing to work with us in the right promotional and economic framework. These guys would give us a song of theirs that would become their entrance song, so their music was tied to their character. When the character came to the ring, he was representing his hood or his block – as we say, the ring is the new block. The rapper is the shot caller, as the street term is used, and the wrestlers become his goons or street workers or thugs, and it becomes the urban lifestyle played out in the ring. We like to say it’s the video game “Grand Theft Auto” in the wrestling ring. … The artists get into the feuds and the street altercations in and out of the ring. The heavy lifting is done by the wrestlers, but they get a little pushing and shoving around in the process. Some of them are in some wild and crazy scenes.
In traditional pro wrestling, there are babyfaces and heels. Is that the case in the UWF or is it more shades of gray rather than clearly defined good guys and bad guys?
I would not say there are defined good guys and bad guys. You’re repping you street; you’re making your money in the ring, on the street, in pay-per-view. It’s, “I don’t want to get pushed off my corner by some guy from some other place.” It’s the classic hood/urban feuds.
It sounds as if the UWF isn’t exactly suitable for the entire family.
That’s correct. Our pay-per-views are TV-14 – language and violence. There is no question that we are not for an 8-year-old boy or girl. We feel a couple of things. Number one, there is a place for the old ECW wrestling fan as well as the fan that would like the ECW style of wrestling who wasn’t around then. But moreover, I think this is going to be driven by what I’m going to call the urban culture fan or proponent, who may like wrestling as a secondary entertainment medium. I use this example: You have a freckle-faced white kid in Des Moines, Iowa, a locale as far away from the hood in Opa-locka, Miami or East New York Brooklyn, but he still wears his baseball hat cocked to the back or the side, baggy FUBU shirts and branded sneakers that he saw an urban legend wearing. So in my mind, that kid is as much a potential fan of this as a kid off the corner in East New York.
You have you first pay-per-view on Sunday. What are your plans for the UWF after that?
We taped the ring environment for three pay-per-views. The out-of-ring fights and other things continue to be taped. We have another pay-per-view in September, which is footage that is partially in the can, and one in November. We have a three-show deal with the largest of the pay-per-view networks, iN Demand, and we’re on DirecTV, Dish, TVN Ent., and others for the first one. We expect to be shooting all through the fall, and then potentially in October-November, we will shoot our next series of shows, which will be January, March and May of next year. And hopefully by the end of the second quarter, we’ll be prepared to do something live in the second half of next year.
Looking long term, are there plans to try and get a TV deal?
Already in the works. A bunch of licensing guys have already come to us. We already have a clothing license deal with one of the major providers of rock music-licensed clothing. We have a deal for DVD and digital distribution signed. And we already have been approached by a couple of guys in the broadcast and reality show space, and we’re talking to a couple major agencies on sponsorship and branding opportunities. So as crazy as we are, there already is some interest in what we’re doing. I want to build this thing off pay-per-view; I want to create the legend first. If you go to regular television first, whatever your concept is, there is a ceiling in the type of behavior that can get on traditional broadcast or even traditional cable or even premium cable. To go where I’m going, I must be on pay-per-view, and even there I’m breaking through the glass ceiling. There’s some stuff people are going to see that have never been seen on wrestling.
Chavo Guerrero has been released by WWE, a move that he says he initiated.
Guerrero, who had been with WWE since 2001 when his contract was picked up by the company after it had purchased WCW, tweeted the following earlier today:
“ … let's get something straight. I asked for my release. I was just tired of not being used correctly. Just cuz u can make other ppl look good, doesn't mean they should just have u lose to them. The same thing happened to Eddie. After being champ, they still had him working mid card status. Being a Guerrero, we've been taught since diapers to get the most out of ppl & matches. It's our gift, but also our curse. WWE has always used us to make other ppl look good. It all comes down to being happy. I was not happy in WWE anymore. I had a smile on my face last night though when I got my release though! :)
“Now it's time for me to start being a Guerrero again, and start kicking ass again, be able to tell stories in the ring like u know we can. :) win or lose I will never go back to the place WWE put me in. I will never go back to being under utilized and watching ppl who suck get bigger "pushes" than me! Thank u to all of u who stuck by me & kept reminding me, I was better than that! :) stay tuned.. Big things coming!! Now I will really be able to entertain u! :) like me or hate me, 1 thing I have always tried to do is entertain u and give u fans your $ worth. Even if my hands were tied most of the time. I love u all and can't wait for the future!! So happy. :)”
About an hour later, Guerrero tweeted again. This time, his comments about WWE were a bit more diplomatic.
“I know it may sound like it, but I've got no hard feelings toward the WWE. I've just been unhappy there for a long time & if you have watched the show, u will no why. I made a lot of money, but I'm better than just cashing a paycheck. I wish no hard feelings toward the WWE & want to see them and all my friends there succeed! I love wrestling & want nothing but wrestling to get better & bigger. U fans deserve nothing but a great show and great stories& athleticism for staying so true to wrestling. It's in my blood & always will be. :)”
Personally, I’m surprised Guerrero and WWE didn’t part ways sooner, either by his choice or the company’s. Despite being a quality worker, he has been used as comic relief and a glorified jobber for years, including putting over Hornswoggle on numerous occasions.
It had been reported recently that Guerrero had heat with WWE management, who supposedly put the blame on him for the sub-par matches between Guerrero and Sin Cara.
For years, Sting’s character has had the traits of comic book vigilantes such as The Crow and Batman. Now he has morphed into a babyface version of The Joker.
Sting, who exhibited some over-the-top behavior on last week’s episode of Impact Wrestling, appeared to be channeling Heath Ledger’s character in “The Dark Knight” on Thursday night’s show. Not only was his face paint Joker-like, but so were his mannerisms and maniacal ramblings.
I have to say that Sting’s performance and his confrontation with Eric Bischoff that opened the show were quite entertaining, but his sudden descent into madness doesn’t really make sense from a story line standpoint – that is, unless I missed the episode when some traumatic event caused Sting to snap.
I like the idea of taking Sting’s character in a different direction to keep it fresh and he’s doing a good job with it, but it would be a lot easier for me to buy into this angle if there had been some buildup to it.
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
Sting – who attacked Bischoff and smeared his face with red paint at the beginning of the program – continued to show his violent side during his main event match against Abyss. After taking a glove wrapped in barbed wire away from Abyss, Sting proceeded to bust him open with it (thus losing the match by disqualification). He continued to pound on Abyss’ head with the glove while looking into the eyes of Mr. Anderson, who had come out on the ramp. Anderson sold concern over the prospect of having to face a much more dangerous Sting. ...
I like that TNA is announcing the results of Bound for Glory Series matches that had taken place on house shows and showing brief clips of them. That’s helps to get the BFG Series concept over and also makes house shows seem more important. ...
It was revealed that Gunner pinned A.J. Styles at a house show. Wow. Gunner now holds pinfall victories over Styles, Sting and Mr. Anderson. Who’s next, Kurt Angle? ...
The tag team match that saw Matt Morgan and Crimson defeat Beer Money was good. The story was that Bobby Roode wasn’t fully recovered from his shoulder injury, but he wrestled anyway and ended up getting pinned by Morgan. This match counted in the BFG Series standings, as Morgan was awarded seven points for scoring the winning pinfall. If only the wrestler who makes the pin gets the points, shouldn’t Morgan and Red have been trying to break up each other’s pin attempts? ...
Daniels challenged Styles to face him in the main event of the Destination X pay-per-view on July 10, and Styles accepted. Samoa Joe, who wanted to be a part of the match, was the odd man out. Apparently guys can now just book themselves in pay-per-view main events. Joe’s facial expression when Daniels and Styles excluded him was great. ...
Daniels was acting heelish when he was challenging Styles and ignoring Joe. Please don’t tell me Daniels is turning on Styles again. ...
How stupid did Kazarian look when he insulted Joe and then immediately turned his back on him to walk away? ...
Along those same lines, what did Madison Rayne expect Tara to do after she slapped her in the face? Of course Tara was going to strike back, yet Rayne just stood there. ...
After Bully Ray defeated Scott Steiner by nailing him in the throat with a chain, Steiner went crazy in the locker room and was screaming and swinging a chain at Ray, Gunner and Abyss. To get Steiner to calm down, Ray offered him a spot in Immortal. Steiner threw the chain at a locker and yelled, “I’ll think about it!” as he walked out. Classic Steiner. ...
Steiner in Immortal seems like a good fit at this point, even though he did originally return to TNA as part of “They” to take down the heel faction. ...
Bischoff told Jeff Jarrett that he really does have to go to Mexico because of losing the parking lot brawl to Kurt Angle last week. Bischoff tried to spin it by saying that Immortal needed to take over the wrestling scene in Mexico to gain more power. It looks as if this is going to be a story line, as Jarrett won the heavyweight title of Mexico’s AAA promotion over there last week. ...
Jerry Lynn made a cameo appearance during a backstage segment with Rob Van Dam. It looks as if the RVD-Lynn match that didn’t happen at Hardcore Justice last August because of Lynn’s back injury will take place at Destination X. ...
The three-way X Division match between guys who had never been featured on Impact was entertaining. I thought Dakota Darsow (son of Demolition Smash/Repo Man/Krusher Kruschev/Blacktop Bully) would win, but he and Federico Palacios ended up losing to Zema Ion, who earned a spot at Destination X with the victory. ...
Ion was lucky that he wasn’t seriously injured when he nearly whiffed on a corkscrew moonsault onto his two opponents on the floor. It appeared that either Darsow and Palacios weren’t in position or Ion just came up short, but he was about to land hard on the floor when Palacios at the last second put himself in harm’s way and broken Ion’s fall. ...
The no holds barred match that saw ODB and Jackie defeat Velvet Sky and Miss Tessmacher in a wild brawl wasn’t pretty, but I found it entertaining. Jackie scored the win for her team when she pinned Sky after kicking her low. Taz wondered if that move would even hurt a woman. Well, I’m guessing that a swift kick to any part of the body would hurt. ...
The non-title street fight between TNA Knockouts champion Mickie James and Winter – which Winter won due to interference from Angelina Love – was hard-hitting. ...
It seems as if Love is no longer a zombie. Too bad. I thought that gimmick was so bad that it was good. ...
The word "b*tch" was used 11 times on this show (yes, I counted). After a while, it just got silly and the word had no impact whatsoever. Six wrestlers and one announcer (Taz) said it at least once, with Bischoff and Steiner each using the word on three occasions. In a major upset, Sky did not say the word even one time.
Here are some highlights from the Ring of Honor news conference today in Baltimore.
Speaking about Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of ROH are ROH COO Joe Koff, ROH founder/former owner Cary Silkin and ROH TV executive producer Jim Cornette
Video: News conference for ROH's Best in the World show
Here are some highlights from the Ring of Honor news conference today in Baltimore.
In this clip, ROH champion Eddie Edwards and No. 1 contender Davey Richards discuss their match at ROH's Best in the World Internet pay-per-view, which takes place on Sunday.
Also, ROH tag team champions Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas talk about their fourway elimination match at Best in the World against The Kings of Wrestling, The Briscoes and The All-Night Express. Things got a little heated in this one.
Ring of Honor unveiled the schedule and stations for its new TV show, which will begin airing on Sinclair Broadcast Group’s network of television stations on Sept. 24.
The announcement was made during a news conference at WBFF-TV Fox 45 studios in Baltimore this afternoon.
Among those in attendance were ROH COO Joe Koff, ROH founder/former owner Cary Silkin and ROH TV executive producer Jim Cornette, as well as a number of ROH talent.
We will post video highlights from the news conference shortly.
Here are the markets, stations and days/times for the ROH TV show:
• Baltimore – WNUV (CW), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Birmingham – WABM (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 11 p.m.
• Buffalo – WNYO (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m.; WUTV (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m.
• Cedar Rapids – KFXZ (Fox), Saturday at 11:30 p.m.; KGAN (CBS), Saturday at 3:30 a.m.
• Champaign-Springfield – WICS/WICD (ABC), Saturday at midnight
• Charleston, S.C. – WMMP (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m.; WTAT (Fox), Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Charleston-Huntington, W.Va. – WVAH (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m.; WCHS (ABC), Sunday at 1:30 a.m.
• Cincinnati – WSTR (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Columbus, Ohio – WTTE (Fox), Sunday at midnight
• Dayton – WRGT (Fox), Sunday at 10:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 a.m.
• Des Moines – KDSM (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m., Saturday at 2 a.m.
• Flint – WSMH (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m.
• Greensboro – WMYV (MYTV), Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday at midnight
• Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville – WMYA (CW), Saturday at 10 p.m.; WLOS (ABC), Saturday at 1:30 a.m.
• Las Vegas – KVCW (CW), Saturday at 10 p.m., Saturday at 1 a.m.
• Lexington – WDKY (Fox), Sunday at midnight
• Madison – WMSN (Fox), Saturday at 12:30 a.m., Saturday at 3:30 a.m.
• Milwaukee – WVTV (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Minneapolis-St. Paul – WUCW (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Mobile-Pensacola – WFGX (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Nashville – WUXP (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Norfolk – WTVZ (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Oklahoma City – KOCB (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Saturday at 2 a.m.
• Paducah-Cape Girardeau – WDKA (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 2 a.m.
• Peoria – WYZZ (Fox), Sunday at 11 p.m., Saturday at 3 a.m.
• Pittsburgh – WPMY (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at 11:30 p.m.
• Portland-Auburn – WGME (CBS), Saturday at 1 a.m.
• Raleigh-Durham – WRDC (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at midnight
• Richmond – WRLH (Fox), Sunday at 11:30 p.m.
• Rochester, N.Y. – WUHF (Fox), Sunday at 1:30 a.m.
• San Antonio – KMYS (CW), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• St. Louis – KDNL (ABC), Saturday at 1:30 a.m.
• Syracuse – WNYS (MYTV), Saturday at 10 p.m., Sunday at 1 a.m.
• Tallahassee – WTWC (NBC), Saturday at 1 a.m.
• Tampa-St. Petersburg – WTTA (MYTV), Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 9 p.m.
Here the third and final part of an interview I conducted with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler last week during his appearance at a minor league baseball game in Bowie, Md.
In this installment, Lawler discusses his story line feud with WWE chairman Vince McMahon that took place in the Memphis territory in the mid-90s, and he also gives his thoughts on working with the late Randy "Macho Man" Savage.
Here is Part 2 of an interview I conducted with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler last week during his appearance at a minor league baseball game in Bowie, Md.
In this installment, Lawler discusses working with The Miz and Michael Cole and his longevity in wrestling.
I conducted a phone interview Wednesday with TNA star Steve “Sting” Borden, who was promoting his recently released direct-to-DVD Christian movie, “The Encounter.”
In addition to talking about the film and his faith, he discussed his infamous match with Jeff Hardy at the Victory Road pay-per-view, how close he was to signing with WWE earlier this year, his current story line with Hulk Hogan and more.
How did you become involved with “The Encounter?”
I have a buddy of mine in Boston named Tom Saab who does Christian film festivals all over. He started out with one in Boston, and I was actually involved in another Christian movie that he wanted, and he remembered that and we’ve just stayed in touch all these years. He’s tried several times to get me in different Christian movies, and because of schedule, mostly because of wrestling, I just have not had a chance to do it. But this one here, he contacted me and the schedule was open and we did it.
Tell me about the premise of the movie.
It’s about five people traveling down a road, and due to weather they all get stuck. They end up at a diner, which maybe one or two of them saw, and the rest of them never did. They go into the diner and have an encounter with a guy named Jesus, who actually ends up being Jesus Christ. He meets each one of us where we are in our lives. We’re all then forced with a choice to make, to either accept him or not. It really covers pretty much every walk – every person who has that choice.
Would you say there were similarities between the character you play in the film – a self-absorbed, wealthy businessman – and where you were in your life before you became a born-again Christian?
Oh, absolutely. The Bible says it’s easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than a rich man to make it into heaven, and I know being rich is all relative, but I had as much money as I needed. I could travel wherever I wanted to go, I could buy whatever I wanted to buy, and I didn’t need God – or, at least, so I thought. The biggest match of my life was against God, and he thankfully wrestled me down to the ground before it was too late.
You’re brother is a pastor, correct?
Yeah, my brother is the pastor of our church. We’re Rock Community Church in a little town called Waxahachie, Texas. He was the first one in our family to give his life to the Lord and to be saved. Those terms and those words I don’t use loosely. It’s been a huge transformation in his life and a huge transformation in my life as well.
How can people see “The Encounter?”
It’s been released on DVD. You can go to pureflix.com or amazon.com. I believe you can go to places like Target and Wal-Mart and Christian bookstores nationwide.
Do you have any more film projects in the works?
It’s so tough [because of the wrestling schedule]. I’ve had to pass on a couple other projects with some really good people, but I’m looking forward to doing some more. But, yes, I know that I will have time coming up here and I’d like to do a whole bunch more.
There is a lot of adult content on Impact Wrestling. As a man of faith, is it a concern for you to be on that type of show?
Absolutely. There’s no question about it. This is something that many Christians will use as their ace in the hole, and I’ll use it, but I’m not going to use it in a real loose way, and that is that Jesus Christ himself went in amongst the sinners – the murderers, the adulterers, the idolaters, the drunkards, and so on and so forth. And he didn’t come to judge them, he came to save them, be a doctor to them. I’m not putting myself on that level obviously, but at the same time, we are in the world, we are not of the world, if we are believers. I’m not going to put myself in a shell – it’s just not going to work that way. You have to get out there somehow or another and try to be a light or be the salt of the earth, and that’s all I’ve tried to do. As far as the content goes, I will only involve myself in situations that will not jeopardize my walk or my witness. You won’t hear vulgar things coming out of my mouth or sexual innuendos and all that kind of stuff.
In your current story line with Hulk Hogan, it almost seems as if there are some religious overtones as far as you trying to save the Hulk Hogan character and get him back on the right path. Is that the case or am I reading too much into it?
You know, there’s probably a thread of that in there for sure. Most of my story lines do have some sort of a redemptive quality to them. Vince Russo is writing a lot of this stuff, and many people may not know this, but he also is a believer. He writes with that kind of flair. The other thing, too, is I really believe that because of the nostalgia of Hulk Hogan – you know, he made an appearance on “American Idol” and got a huge, gigantic reaction – wrestling fans all over the place would love to see the story line for real. I think they want to see him come back and just be Hulk. I’d like to see it.
Do wrestlers in TNA ever come to you for spiritual advice if they’re going through a difficult time?
Absolutely. I’ll leave it to them personally to come public if they choose to do that, but you would be surprised at the names, whether it be office people, whether it be wrestlers or people behind the scenes. All kinds of people have come to me and asked me for either advice or some kind of counsel, whether it be about their marriage, about finances, about their job, about heaven and hell, about Jesus Christ, about drugs – trying to come clean. You know, because I have a history there with drugs and alcohol and muscle relaxers – the whole package.
Speaking of the whole package, that’s the perfect segue for my next question. “The Total Package” Lex Luger, a longtime friend of yours, fell on some very hard times, but you were instrumental in him getting his life back together in recent years, correct?
Yeah, I definitely was because I knew where he was headed. Man, his testimony is unreal. I would call him and I knew he was there, but he would never pick up. He would just listen to me leave my message. I just said to him, “Look, I know you are in a world of hurt, bro. Just don’t do something stupid and don’t continue down the path you’re going on. I’d love to be able to walk with you through it, come clean, get off all the stuff and let’s talk about something beyond wrestling, something beyond ourselves. You know, there is such a thing as heaven and hell and the devil, who absolutely hates us and wants to take us out. He would listen to those messages, and he’ll talk about it now and say that I was instrumental, and if I was, then that’s great.
And he’s doing well now?
He’s doing fantastic. I talk to him, on average, probably every couple weeks. His body is getting stronger all the time. You’re talking about a guy who from the neck down had nothing for a good three days or so [after suffering a spinal stroke], and then slowly but surely was able to move his arms and his legs. They did a surgery on his hips and that helped huge. They said he would never walk again, and he’s walking now without a walker or a cane. He does get tired and he’ll need to sit down for a few minutes. But he’s a completely different person now. He used to talk about nothing but himself [laughs], but now he’ll ask about other people’s lives and what’s going on.
What was your reaction when WWE began airing the mysterious vignettes early this year that turned out to be for The Undertaker’s return, but initially had a lot of wrestling fans believing that the videos signaled that you were coming to WWE for to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania? And the second part of my question is: Did WWE contact you to come in and do something at that point?
I’ll answer the second part first. Yes, I was contacted by WWE people. The vignettes I can honestly tell you that I do not understand that one even now, unless it was some kind of deal where they were just trying to test the waters, I really don’t know, because so many people were saying, “I hope it’s Sting, I hope it’s Sting.” I thought, “Gosh, I wonder if they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot there by making this choice, because if things do not work out, why did they do it to begin with?” I had all kinds of things going through my head. But, yeah, I was very, very close to going up there, and I believe there probably would have been something with Undertaker. That was the word at least.
What are your thoughts on what went down the night you faced Jeff Hardy at the Victory Road pay-per-view?
I want to be careful with my words here because I really like Jeff Hardy. I’m hoping he can come back because that guy is so talented, but he has personal issues in his life and it just became too much for him, too overwhelming, and he just couldn’t cope and didn’t know how to handle it. So he made some bad choices and he’s having to deal with those choices and the consequences now. I hear he’s doing much, much better. Last I heard, he was riding his bike 10 miles a day and just getting in great shape and his life was getting in some kind of order.
It seemed that things were happening on the fly on live TV that night when you and Hardy got in the ring, and no one really seemed to know what was going on. Is that accurate?
That’s pretty accurate. I’d say a good 45 minutes to an hour before the match actually happened, things started to deteriorate, and I just went, “Oh, boy.” I kept hoping maybe somehow or another he’ll come to his senses and snap out of it, but it didn’t happen. It was just out of hand and I didn’t have a choice other than to do what I did.
You’ve said in the past that you intended to retire several times, but every year when your contract comes up in TNA, you get talked into staying for another year. At this point, how much longer do you plan to continue wrestling?
You know, you’re right. I think I’ve said every year for at least the last four years that this will be my last year. And I’m speaking the same way again now. I think I’ve smartened up a little bit. When I know it’s done, I’ll know it’s done. I’m going to go as long as I can, but, honestly, whether I want to or not, I cannot see going too much farther.
Here is Part 1 of an interview I conducted with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler last week during his appearance at a minor league baseball game in Bowie, Md.
In this installment, Lawler discusses his love of baseball and Cleveland sports teams, what he thinks about LeBron James and his WrestleMania match against Michael Cole.
News and views on Scott Hall, Matt Hardy, Desmond Wolfe
Here are some recent pro wrestling headlines and my take on them:
News: Scott Hall is sentenced to 10 days in jail in Seminole County (Fla.) stemming from an incident last year in which he was charged with disorderly intoxication and resisting an officer at a bar. Given credit for time served, Hall will actually be incarcerated for eight days beginning July 5, according to wrestlingobserver.com.
My view: What else can you say about Hall at this point other than it’s a very sad situation and you just hope than he can straighten himself out at some point and get well.
News: Matt Hardy reportedly was not at last week’s Impact Wrestling tapings because he was being disciplined by TNA for repeatedly showing up late to events.
My view: It wasn’t all that long ago that my perception of the Hardys was that Jeff was the screw-up and Matt was the responsible one. Now I’m of the opinion that they both have character issues. I respect what they have accomplished in the business and put their bodies through for our entertainment, but their behavior outside the ring is troubling to say the least. After seeing the infamous Taser video on YouTube, I don’t know how anyone can possibly feel good about these guys.
News: Desmond Wolfe is released by TNA.
My view: Wolfe’s inactivity in TNA over the past nine months has been the subject of much speculation. Last September, Wolfe (aka Nigel McGuinness) was scheduled to participate in a tag team match at the No Surrender pay-per-view, but he and partner Magnus were replaced at the last minute reportedly because an undisclosed medical issue with Wolfe. Wolfe did not appear on TV again until last month, when he returned to play the role of commissioner on TNA Xplosion, a syndicated show that airs outside the U.S. Rumors regarding Wolfe’s medical situation have circulated for months, but none of them have been substantiated. It is worth noting that a month prior to Wolfe signing with TNA, WWE reportedly backed out of a verbal agreement with him because he failed the company’s pre-screening medical exam. As a fan, I’m disappointed that Wolfe’s wrestling career may be over. I enjoyed his work and thought he was going to be a major player in TNA for years to come. Wolfe made an immediate impact in TNA by feuding with Kurt Angle and having a couple of outstanding pay-per-view matches with him. Once Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff joined TNA, however, it didn’t take long for Wolfe to slide down the card. Had he not had the medical issue, I wonder if Wolfe would have eventually received another opportunity at a top spot.
As I expected, CM Punk is getting one final main event program before he rides off into the sunset. What I didn’t expect, however, was for WWE to acknowledge that Punk’s contract is expiring shortly and incorporate it into the story line.
On the three-hour Raw Monday night from 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore (a show I was unable to attend due to a prior commitment), Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match to earn a shot at WWE champion John Cena on the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 17. Punk then announced that his contract is expiring that same night (I believe the July 17 date is for story line purposes; he reportedly has another month or two on his contract after that) and said that he is leaving WWE and will be taking the championship with him.
I’m guessing that a number of people will assume that Punk’s imminent departure guarantees that Cena will retain the championship, but I’m not so sure. What’s the name again of the pay-per-view that this match will take place on? Hmmm.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
I liked the “Power to the People” concept, in which fans get to choose opponents and match stipulations by voting via text messaging. However, some of the results were hard to believe to say the least, and sure enough, WWE announced on its web site today that there were technical errors with the voting. Instead of Mason Ryan winning with 51 percent of the vote over Sin Cara and Jack Swagger for the right to face Evan Bourne, WWE said that Cara actually got 90 percent. As a make-good, WWE said that Bourne will wrestle Cara on next Monday’s Raw. Also, the stipulation for the Dolph Ziggler-Kofi Kingston match should have been Vickie Guerrero banned from ringside rather than a two-out-of-three falls match. ...
The falls-count-anywhere triple threat match with Punk, Del Rio and Mysterio was very good. From a logic standpoint, it didn’t make much sense for Mysterio to be included in a No. 1 contender’s match since he just lost to Punk, but I guess WWE wanted to have a babyface in the match and there were really no other options. ...
During the triple threat, there were dueling chants for Mysterio and Punk. Apparently there weren’t enough Del Rio fans there to get a chant going for him. ...
The six-man tag elimination match that saw Cena, Randy Orton and Alex Riley defeat R-Truth, Christian and The Miz was fun. Of course, Cena was the sole survivor. I liked that Christian pinned Orton. That development, coupled with the controversial finish to the Christian-Orton match at Sunday’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view, should guarantee that there will be another pay-per-view match between the two. ...
The other two choices for the six-man main event were one fall to a finish or 20-minute time limit. WWE couldn’t have made it any more obvious that they wanted it to be an elimination match. All matches on WWE TV are one fall to a finish, and why would anyone want there to be a time limit? ...
The opening segment with Punk refusing to leave the ring until the anonymous Raw general manger named him the No. 1 contender was good. I liked how the GM didn’t cave in to Punk’s demands and kept making things worse for him so that Punk had no choice but to cut his losses and leave the ring. I also like how Punk made a point to refer to himself as the “best WRESTLER in the world.” ...
I also thought the segment with R-Truth, Christian and The Miz all whining about their losses at Capitol Punishment was entertaining. R-Truth saying that he “got Okey-doked by Little Jimmy” was hilarious. ...
With Punk set to face Cena at MITB, it’s official that R-Truth was one-and-done in his WWE title program with Cena. Even though I’m really digging R-Truth’s heel character, I don’t have a problem with that decision. Not everyone has to be – or should be – the world champion, and not everyone has to get shots at the title on multiple pay-per-views. Besides, just getting one title opportunity plays into R-Truth’s conspiracy theories. He’s more over than he’s ever been, so I don’t expect him to slip too far down the card. ...
The two-out-of-three falls match for the U.S. title that saw Kofi Kingston defeat Dolph Ziggler in the third and deciding fall by disqualification (thus not regaining the title) was OK, but it was definitely not as good as their match at Capitol Punishment. ...
It was great to see Kelly Kelly win the WWE Divas title from Brie Bella. She’s the most popular woman in WWE, so it’s about time she got a run with the belt. I did feel bad for Eve Torres, though, as she got just 11 percent of the vote (Kelly Kelly got 53 percent and Beth Phoenix had 36 percent). ...
Kane has been in the business a long time, so shouldn’t he have known that arm-wrestling challenges never end well for the babyfaces and been prepared for Mark Henry’s attack? ...
I was impressed with Henry’s intensity during his beat-down of Kane and his pre-match promo. ...
It was pretty obvious watching the Bourne-Ryan match (which Ryan won) that Ryan still has quite a ways to go in the ring. ...
The Daniel Bryan-Cody Rhodes finish came out of nowhere, as Bryan scored the win after reversing an inside cradle. Bryan has been on quite a roll as of late. ...
The stipulation for Bryan versus Rhodes was no countouts. One of the choices was a paper bag match. I thought I heard one of the announcers say that in that type of match a paper bag would be suspended on a pole. Insert your Vince Russo joke here. ...
OK, I admit it: I enjoyed the dance competition between Vickie Guerrero (aka Peaches) and Michael Cole.
CM Punk photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./The Baltimore Sun
To view a collection of photos from Monday night's Raw show at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, click here.
Little Jimmy got the last laugh and R-Truth ended up all wet at WWE’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view Sunday night.
After weeks of R-Truth insulting John Cena’s young fans by calling them “little Jimmies” – including one incident in which he tossed a drink into the face of a Cena fan’s father – R-Truth got his comeuppance in fitting fashion.
A beverage and a young boy decked out in Cena gear played key roles in the finish, as Cena successfully defended his WWE title against R-Truth. It was an entertaining conclusion to a fun show, which I was in attendance for at Verizon Center in Washington.
I don’t know how it came across on TV, but Capitol Punishment, while not necessarily a can’t-miss pay-per-view, was better than I expected it to be.
There were two title changes – Dolph Ziggler beat Kofi Kingston for the U.S. title and Ezekiel Jackson defeated Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental title – and three really good matches – CM Punk-Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton-Christian and Ziggler-Kingston.
One thing I really liked about the show was that the main events featured two guys – R-Truth and Christian – who just a few months ago were stuck in the mid-card. Both of them have paid their dues and their presence at the top of this card was refreshing.
Here is a match-by-match look at the show:
WWE champion John Cena defeated R-Truth (14:43): The match itself wasn’t anything more than serviceable, but to quote Michael Cole, the atmosphere was electric. The dueling chants of “Let’s go Cena” and “Cena sucks” were in full force. It was so much fun, I even joined in. Don’t tell Cena, but I enjoyed taunting all the little Jimmies, including one especially obnoxious one in my row who sported a Mohawk under his red Cena baseball cap. I don’t what was wrong with this kid’s parents, but the boy’s response to the anti-Cena chants was to tell adults that they were “homos” and to “shut up.” No wonder R-Truth doesn’t want to dance anymore for these brats. But I digress. R-Truth was in control for most of the match, which had a slow pace until the final few minutes. Cena went for the Attitude Adjustment at the 11:30 mark, but R-Truth countered with a Stunner-like maneuver. Around the 13-minute mark, R-Truth came off the top with a crossbody, but Cena rolled through and again set up for the AA. R-Truth countered by hitting his finisher, but Cena kicked out – and no one in the crowd seemed surprised. R-Truth then snatched a Cena cap from a young boy in the front row and took a sip from his drink. The kid responded by tossing his beverage into R-Truth’s face. Cena then grabbed R-Truth, threw him back in the ring and hit the AA for the victory. I’m curious to see if R-Truth gets another shot at Cena or if he is one-and-done and moving on to a program with John Morrison.
World heavyweight champion Randy Orton defeated Christian (14:04): These two delivered another strong match together. There were dueling chants about four minutes into the match, although they were nowhere near the level of the chants that occurred throughout the John Cena/R-Truth match. At the 10:35 mark, Orton had Christian up in a backbreaker position and then turned it into a mid-air neckbreaker for a near fall. That was a cool spot. Orton then went for the RKO, but Christian countered with the Killswitch for a very close near fall. Nearly 13 minutes in, Christian went for a spear, but Orton leapfrogged him and tried again for the RKO. Christian countered, however, and connected with a spear for a two count to cap a terrific sequence. Orton finally landed the RKO and covered Christian for the victory. Christian’s foot was under the ropes, but the referee didn’t see it. Christian pleaded with the referee after the match to no avail, and then Orton smashed Christian in the head with the championship belt. I don’t know if this was shown on TV, but Orton stood in the ring as the replay of the finish was shown on the big screen, and a sly smile crossed his face when it was clear that Christian’s foot had indeed been under the ropes. I’m guessing the controversial finish results in another match between them.
Alberto Del Rio defeated The Big Show due to the referee stopping the match (4:58): This was more of an angle than an actual match. Big Show jumped Del Rio from behind while Del Rio was making his way down to the ring. As Big Show continued to beat on him, Mark Henry appeared out of nowhere and attacked Big Show. Wow, that Henry is a fast healer, since we just saw him being carted out on a stretcher on Smackdown Friday night after being laid out by Big Show. In an impressive display of strength, Henry picked up Big Show and delivered the World’s Strongest Slam through the announce table. He then worked over Big Show’s injured knee. Once the match officially started, Big Show tried to put up a fight, but his knee kept giving out. Del Rio applied a move on Big Show’s knee that resembled his Cross Armbreaker. Big Show made it to the ropes to break the hold, but after repeated attempts, he couldn’t stand up and the referee stopped the match and awarded it to Del Rio. Big Show did a good job of selling the injury. I wonder if this is the end of the Del Rio-Big Show program and Big Show will now move on to a feud with Henry. For Del Rio’s sake, I hope so.
CM Punk defeated Rey Mysterio (14:58): I thought this was the best match of the night, and I’m convinced that these two simply are incapable of having a bad match with each other. There were a significant amount of Punk fans, but he received more boos than cheers. At the 11:30 mark of the back-and-forth match, Punk hit a big belly-to-back suplex off the top for a near fall. About a minute later, Mysterio connected with a 619 around the ring post that knocked Punk out of the ring. Mysterio rolled him back in and went for a splash off the top, but Punk got his knees up and covered Mysterio for another two count. At 13:45, Punk set up for the GTS, but Mysterio countered with a huracanrana for a near fall. Punk went for the GTS a second time, but Mysterio countered again, this time with an arm drag that set Punk in position for the 619. Mysterio went for the move, but Punk caught him and finally hit the GTS for the victory. That’s two clean losses in row on pay-per-view for Mysterio (he lost to R-Truth at Over the Limit last month), but losses don’t hurt him at this point in his career. As for Punk, he has now defeated the top two babyfaces on Raw in a span of seven days, as he also beat WWE champion John Cena in a non-title match on Raw Monday. It seems as if WWE is setting up Punk for a main-event program before his expected departure when his contract expires in a few months.
Alex Riley defeated The Miz (10:12): Riley, who is billed as being from Washington, D.C., got a nice pop coming out, but Miz had his fans as well, and there were dueling chants early in the match. They started brawling immediately after the opening bell sounded, which made sense since there is such a heated issue between them. The story of the match was that Miz was in control but he couldn’t put Riley away. Riley finally seized the advantage at the 7:45 mark when he moved away from Miz’s attempted baseball slide in the corner, and Miz ended up taking a steel post to the groin. After the action spilled to the floor, Michael Cole stood up at the announce table and began yelling at Riley, who grabbed Cole and threw him down. While Riley was preoccupied with Cole, Miz attacked him from behind and threw him into the ring. Miz then grabbed the briefcase from ringside and went to use it, but the referee took it away from him. That gave an opening to Riley, who kicked Miz in the gut and hit a jumping DDT for the win. Miz is at the point now in his career where a victory over him means something, so Riley appears to be on his way to becoming a player. The loss doesn’t hurt Miz because he’s going to be over regardless of whether he wins or not.
Dolph Ziggler defeated U.S. champion Kofi Kingston to win the title (11:04): These two work very well together and they got the show off to a hot start with a fast-paced match. At about the 7-minute mark, Ziggler ducked Trouble in Paradise, but Kingston hit the SOS for a near fall. There were several terrific exchanges and near falls from there. At 9:15, Ziggler was setting up for a superplex, but Kingston knocked him off the ropes and followed up with a soaring crossbody block for another near fall. Just past the the 10-minute mark, Kingston again missed Trouble in Paradise, but he then countered the Zig Zag by holding onto the ropes. While the referee’s back was turned as Kingston was near the ropes, Vickie Guerrero raked Kingston’s eyes. Ziggler then caught him in a sleeperhold. Kingston fought it, but his effort to make it to the ropes to force a break was unsuccessful, and the referee called for the bell to give Ziggler his first U.S. championship (I mistakenly wrote in the Capitol Punishment preview Sunday that Ziggler had held that title before, but I was getting it confused with the Intercontinental title).
Ezekiel Jackson defeated Intercontinental champion Wade Barrett to win the title (6:39): Barrett cut an anti-American promo as he made his way to the ring. After the match began, a “USA” chant broke out, which was pretty funny considering that Jackson is from Guyana. There also was a “We Want Ryder” chant (and there were quite a few Zack Ryder signs in the crowd, as well). Jackson was put over strong, as he kicked out of Barrett’s Wasteland finisher, delivered a series of body slams and then put Barrett in the Torture Rack for the submission victory. The crowd was behind Jackson, but not to any great extent. Barrett, who was main-eventing pay-per-views six months ago, is going nowhere fast.
Evan Bourne defeated Jack Swagger (7:15): This match, which was not announced ahead of time, served as the buffer between the two world title matches. They worked well together, but the crowd wasn’t really into it. After some good back-and-forth action, Bourne countered Swagger’s ankle lock by rolling him up for the win. I don’t know what if anything Swagger has done to tick off management, but there’s no way he should be jobbing to Bourne in a “bonus match” on pay-per-view.
Dark match – Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov defeated Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater (4:40): This was the perfect match to warm up the crowd, which absolutely loved Marella. Marella used The Cobra on Gabriel for the victory. Gabriel and Slater’s stock is plummeting.
Notes: There were several skits involving a President Obama impersonator, the funniest of which involved Santino Marella, who tried to show “Obama” how to apply The Cobra and was immediately tackled by secret servicemen. (By the way, one member of the security team bore a strong resemblance to former Maryland Championship Wrestling champion Tyler Hilton.) I also got a chuckle out of the faux president doing a Spinaroonie with Booker T. in the ring. As far as impersonators go, this guy was way better than the Bill Clinton impersonator WWE brought in years ago. … The dude from the Keystone Light commercials sat in the front row with the Bella twins during the Bourne-Swagger match. There were actually some fans who wanted their picture taken with him. Good lord.
Predictions for tonight’s pay-per-view at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.:
WWE champion John Cena vs. R-Truth: This is obviously the biggest match of R-Truth’s career. How well this match gets over could go a long way in determining whether R-Truth is going to continue to be pushed as a top guy. I think R-Truth will come very close to winning, only to have Cena ultimately pull out the victory. To keep the program going, I expect Cena’s win to be shrouded in controversy, thus playing into R-Truth’s conspiracy theories.
World heavyweight champion Randy Orton vs. Christian: This is the match I’m looking forward to the most, both from a story line and a match quality standpoint. Since Orton has already beaten Christian on multiple occasions, I expect tonight to be Christian’s turn. Unlike his first world title victory, however, this one won’t be a feel-good moment, as he will no doubt win by some underhanded means.
The Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio: I don’t see Del Rio getting pinned, and with Big Show’s enraged state of mind, my guess is that the big guy goes too far in destroying Del Rio and gets disqualified.
Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk: This could go either way, and during Punk’s career in WWE, toss-up matches usually seem to go against him. However, call it a hunch or maybe just wishful thinking, but I’m picking Punk. He did just beat Cena on TV, so perhaps WWE is building him up for a WWE title program before his expected departure in a few months.
The Miz vs. Alex Riley: This is a very important match for Riley. The crowd has really gotten behind him since his babyface turn, but he needs a strong performance here to keep his momentum going. It wouldn’t surprise me if Miz cheated his way to a win tonight to build to a rematch, but I think it makes more sense for Riley to score a hard-fought victory and then have Miz attack him tomorrow night on Raw to further the feud.
U.S. champion Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler: These two work very well together, so this should be a fun, fast-paced match. This is another one that could go either way, but I’ll take a guess and say that Ziggler regains the championship.
Intercontinental champion Wade Barrett vs. Ezekiel Jackson: Jackson is being pushed as a monster babyface, so I have to believe that he’s winning the title tonight. Technically, it would he his second title in WWE, as he was the final ECW champion before WWE pulled the plug on the brand.
WWE Smackdown: Sheamus wanted the belt, but got the boot
I thought I knew exactly where the Randy Orton-Christian-Sheamus angle on Friday night’s Smackdown was headed, but WWE ended up fooling me.
Christian faced Sheamus in the main event, with the stipulation being that if Sheamus won, he would be added to the title match between world heavyweight champion Orton and Christian at Sunday’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view.
With Orton’s status for Capitol Punishment uncertain when Smackdown was taped Tuesday due to having suffered a concussion (he has since been medically cleared), I figured Sheamus would beat Christian to make Sunday’s match a triple threat. That way, if Orton couldn’t defend the title, Christian and Sheamus could face each other for the vacant championship.
As it turned out, not only did Christian defeat Sheamus, but Orton punted the Irishman in the head after the match, which means he’ll probably be off TV for a while to sell a head injury.
The match itself was good, although it was difficult for the crowd to get emotionally invested in a contest between two heels. As much as the audience dislikes Christian for turning his back on them, if they’re Orton fans they wouldn’t want Sheamus to win because it would increase the chances of Orton losing the title Sunday.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
The stars of this week’s episode were Alberto Del Rio and The Big Show. I have to admit that I wasn’t all that excited about a program between these two before this show, but they managed to pique my interest. Del Rio was at his smarmy best when talking about his personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, who was destroyed by The Big Show on Raw Monday. “He was my best friend,” Del Rio said. “He was loyal to me. He followed me everywhere like a dog.” Funny. Big Show, on the other hand, showed great intensity. After he was booked to wrestle Mark Henry, an irate Big Show pleaded with Henry not to get in the ring with him while he’s in this state of mind. Henry didn’t listen, and Big Show pummeled him so badly that he had to be carried out on a stretcher. Later, when Big Show came out to confront Del Rio, Del Rio ran away through the crowd and then laughed and winked at Big Show from a safe distance. Big Show snapped at that point and proceeded to destroy the set. After seeing how enraged Big Show was, Del Rio’s smug smile turned to a genuine look of concern. Very good performances by both men. ...
As much as I enjoyed the Del Rio-Big Show angle, it did seem odd that a feud between two Raw stars was playing out on Smackdown. Good thing we had that draft, huh? ...
The way the announcers were going on about Henry not deserving what Big Show did to him, it almost seemed like the angle was intended to turn Henry babyface. ...
Booker T. just kept digging himself into a deeper hole the more he tried to convince Michael Cole that a triple-threat match could be easier than a one-on-one match. When it comes to Booker trying to win a war of words with Cole, as Roddy Piper once said, you don’t throw rocks at a man who has a machine gun. ...
Much has been made about Sin Cara botching spots, but this time he wasn’t to blame for what appeared to be a botched finish in the six-man tag match that saw Cara, Daniel Bryan and Ezekiel Jackson defeat Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. After Bryan nailed DiBiase with a dropkick in the corner, he made a cover and the referee made an awkward three count. The way the wrestlers reacted, it seemed as if it was supposed to have been a near fall and DiBiase was just late in getting his shoulder up off the mat. ...
The Usos looked good in picking up a victory over Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. I was glad to see the Usos win, as I think they have more to offer as a tag team at this point than Gabriel and Slater. ...
Tamina stood out again in the Divas match, as she, Alicia Fox and Rosa Mendes defeated Natalya, Kaitlyn and A.J. By the way, why isn’t Naomi – who was clearly the most talented of the competitors on NXT Season 3 – on either Raw or Smackdown yet? ...
Jinder Mahal’s squash victim this week was Vladimir Kozlov. It will be interesting to see how Mahal performs in the ring when he has to work a back-and-forth match. ...
In this week’s corny vignette, Johnny Curtis pulled an ace playing card out of a golf hole, demonstrating that he has an ace in the hole. It would have been funnier if he had pulled Cowboy Bob Orton out of a hole. As several readers have pointed out, Curtis’ jokes are very similar to those in Zack Ryder’s popular YouTube videos. Perhaps this is an angle to set up a program between the two.
Impact Wrestling: Is sudden push of Gunner backfiring?
So let me get this straight: In the span of just a few weeks, Gunner has gone from doing a comedy program with Eric Young to pinning the TNA world champion two weeks in a row.
Only in the mind of Vince Russo does that make sense.
Look, I hate to sound like one of those wrestling fans who are never happy and will always find something to complain about, but Gunner’s sudden ability to beat the best of the best is as much of a booking blunder as his “feud” with Young over the TNA TV title was.
Don’t get me wrong: I like Gunner and think he has potential. I’m all for him getting a push, but it might be more effective if it was gradual. By having Gunner come out of nowhere to pin then-TNA world champion Sting in a tag team match on last week’s episode of Impact Wrestling and new TNA world champion Mr. Anderson in a non-title match on Thursday night’s show, I think it buries the championship more than it elevates Gunner.
It also doesn’t help Gunner’s cause that TNA hasn’t made it clear whether fans are supposed to be behind him or not. When he put Anderson – who is a full-fledged heel now and no longer a tweener – through a table during the opening segment of Thursday’s show, it seemed as if he was headed for a babyface turn.
But after defeating Anderson later in the show, Gunner was celebrating in the ring with the hated Eric Bischoff. Not surprisingly, fans in the Impact Zone didn’t know how to react.
I still think Gunner can be a star, but if he gets to that level it will probably be in spite of the booking rather than because of it.
As for Anderson, he’s looking like one of the weakest world champions in recent memory. His title win over Sting at Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view was sandwiched between losses to Young and Gunner, What’s next, doing a job for Disco Inferno?
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
Even though last Sunday’s match between Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett was billed as the final battle between the two, they decided to have yet another “final” battle. This time, it was a street fight in the parking lot. Even though I didn’t think we needed another Angle-Jarrett confrontation, this was compelling because it wasn’t something you normally see on a wrestling program. With the dim lighting and all the wrestlers gathered around Angle and Jarrett in the parking lot, it felt like something out of the movie “Fight Club.” Jarrett had said beforehand that if he lost the fight he would move to Mexico – and he put it in writing. After Angle choked him out to win the brawl, a fallen Jarrett said, “Adios.” I’m interested to see where TNA is going with this. ...
TNA announced the 12 competitors in the Bound for Glory series and the format. Matches will take place on TV, pay-per-view and at house shows. Competitors gets 10 points for a submission win; seven points for a pinfall win; 5 points for a countout win; 3 points for a disqualification win; 2 points for a draw; and minus-10 points for a disqualification loss. The participants are: Bully Ray, Crimson, Devon, “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero, Gunner, Matt Morgan, Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe, Scott Steiner, James Storm, A.J. Styles and Rob Van Dam. I think this is a great idea to build interest for Bound for Glory, TNA’s marquee pay-per-view, which takes place in October. ...
The backstage segment with Sting and Hulk Hogan was compelling. The story line is that Sting is trying to get Hogan to see the light and become a fan favorite again, which presumably will lead to a falling out between Hogan and Bischoff. Sting was good in this segment – although the maniacal laugh was a bit over the top – and this is the first time in a while that I’ve had any real interest in something Hogan was involved in. ...
The highlight of the night from a wrestling standpoint – it does matter, you know – was the three-way match between former TNA X Division stars Austin Aries, Kid Kash and Jimmy Rave. All three guys looked good, but Aries really stood out, and having him go over was definitely the right call. I was a bit confused as to what was on the line, but I believe Aries earned the right to compete for a TNA contract at the Destination X pay-per-view on July 10. ...
After Aries’ victory, he was in the back being interviewed by Jason Hervey when Young suddenly showed up demanding to defend his TNA TV title against Hervey. You know, because it’s a TV title and Hervey used to be on a TV series called “The Wonder Years” 20 years ago. Ironically, Aries was talking about how much wrestling matters right before Young walked in. Earlier in the show, Young wanted to wrestle Morgan because he had been a character on “American Gladiators.” Ugh. Please keep Young off my TV screen until the day arrives when he gets clunked on the head and goes back to being the World Elite guy. Oh, and I also don’t need to see Hervey on camera either or hear Russo’s name referenced (he was mentioned by Young, but since Russo isn’t a character on the show, who cares other than Russo himself?). ...
The first match in the BFGS saw Van Dam defeat Joe in a decent bout. ...
Nothing against her personally, but was there really a big demand for Jackie to make her return? By the way, the women constantly calling each other “whore,” “skank” and “b*tch” is beyond lame at this point. ...
Devon looked good in the ring during his short match against Hernandez, which Devon won by disqualification when the other members of Mexican America interfered. Speaking of looking good, was that really Devon’s wife at ringside or is she his “TV wife?” She doesn’t look much older than Devon’s two teen-aged sons. ...
Mexican America continues to be just an inferior version of LAX. The group desperately needs someone who can cut a promo.
Randy Orton says he's medically cleared for WWE's Capitol Punishment
World heavyweight champion Randy Orton posted on Twitter that he passed his ImPACT test and is medically cleared to wrestle Christian on Sunday's Capitol Punishment pay-per-view at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
Orton had suffered a concussion at a WWE house show last week in Madrid, Spain, and his participation at Capitol Punishment was dependent on him passing the concussion test.
Highlights from interview with WWE’s Vickie Guerrero
Here are some excerpts from a phone interview I conducted with Vickie Guerrero last week for a story I wrote in today’s Sports section of The Baltimore Sun.
Being a wrestling fan growing up: “No, I wasn’t. I had four younger brothers, so they had the TV most of the time. So when wrestling or any man sport came on, I hated it automatically. And then when I met Eddie [Guerrero], it grew on me, so I did become a fan over the years.”
Meeting Eddie Guerrero: “We met on a blind date. Both of our best friends knew that we were single. It was kind of a funny story. We met at a nightclub because I told my girlfriend, ‘Well, if I don’t like him, then I can just go dance with someone else and leave him at the bar.’ That’s the big joke, because I never left his side [laughs].”
Desire to be a performer in wrestling: “None at all. I was always happy with being at home, taking care of the kids and being there for Eddie. … There was a story line going on with Rey Mysterio, and WWE asked me to come in and do some stuff with my nephew, Chavo. It was kind of a test run. I don’t think we were even talking about a contract or staying on. It turned out to be really good and we had a lot of chemistry together, so they said, ‘Do you want to stay on?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it would be awesome.’ So that’s how it started.”
Turning heel: "Oh, I was ready for it. I think it goes back to watching Eddie do promos [in the living room and in the bathroom for 15 years. The louder I can get the fans and the angrier they are at me, the more it fuels the fire in me to just push them to the edge even more. It's a high.”
Meeting fans: "I like to show them the person I am outside the ring. And outside of it, I'm just a quiet, normal person. I've gotten to know a lot of fans on a personal basis, and it's really nice to have a conversation with them and see how they're doing when they come to the airports or I bump into them outside the arena. Without the fans and their support, we can’t do this. … It is uncomfortable when people are yelling at me to go home or saying 'excuse me' really loud at the airport and everyone's looking at me [laughs]. I don't know how to explain it to 20 people there watching me, going, 'What are they talking about?’”
“Excuse me” becoming a catch phrase: "That was just a fluke. I think I probably forgot my lines one night and just kept saying 'excuse me' to remember what I had to say next, and the fans just got louder. I tried it a couple more times and we thought, let's stay with it and see where it goes. Now I sign all my autographs with 'excuse me.'"
Hobbies, interests outside of wrestling: “I own a scrapbook studio in my house. I customize scrapbooks for customers and I deal with shadow boxes. I’ve been doing that for 18 years. I started weight training this past year, so that’s an interest that I really enjoy on my off time. And spending time with my little – well, she’s not little anymore – my youngest daughter. She’s 16. We hang out a lot. And I have my friends. I’m pretty much a homebody.”
Losing weight: “I’ve lost 52 pounds. My secret was to stop eating all the junk food after leaving the arenas. I never really trained the first four years I was with WWE, so I wasn’t happy with how I looked and I wanted to have some improvement, so I found a personal trainer and also started doing the nutrition side of it. I’m really happy with the results, and I probably have like 20 more pounds to go. You cut out breads; you cut out all the junk food. I don’t drink any more sodas. I just eat healthy chicken and steak and rice. I don’t have any fried foods. I do have my cheat days and I look forward to them because you have to enjoy life. It’s so bad at our catering at work because our dessert table is bigger than our entrée table, so I save my Mondays and Tuesdays for a piece of cake or something that’s sweet. That’s my reward if I work hard during the week.”
Jokes about her being overweight on WWE television shows: “They really didn’t bother me. Well, I guess they did to an extent, but not to where I was feeling bad about myself. It was who I was. We have beautiful women that work with us, and when I was in the locker room with them and we’re dressing and stuff, I would look at them and be like, ‘Oh, this is ridiculous. I’m going to change.’ I wanted to feel good being a part of their group and to live a lifestyle that was going to be promoted with the WWE. Now when they say the jokes, it’s like, ‘Whatever.’ [laughs] The jokes have helped grow my character to what it is. I just kind of roll with it and leave it behind me when I leave the arena. Again, there's the character and then there's the real person. You can't take what's going on at work personally.”
Her oldest daughter, Shaul (aka Raquel Diaz), training in FCW: “I’m so proud of her. I got to see her a couple times in Tampa, and she’s working really hard. She’s always wanted to do this. She loves the lifestyle and she looks just like Eddie in the ring and has a lot of his characteristics. Hopefully, I can work with her later on up the road.”
Working with “Jersey Shore” star Snooki: “All I can say is that I wish I got to slap her at WrestleMania [laughs]. She’s actually very sweet. She was a great sport. She gave us all her effort and she had a great time. She didn’t realize how big the sport was until she actually was involved at Mania. She had a lot more respect for it after she finished working with us. It was fun. My daughter watches ‘Jersey Shore.’ I never watched it before so I kind of tied everything together of who she was. She’s funny and we had some good laughs. It was a pleasure working with her.”
I agree with Hulk Hogan: Matt Morgan has breakout potential in TNA
Hulk Hogan touted Matt Morgan as the wrestler who can carry TNA to another level during a recent interview with espn.com.
“I think the one guy I really need to focus on is Matt Morgan,” Hogan said. “I think ... he can be somebody who can really turn things around and lead Impact Wrestling to the promised land.”
“The Hulkster” won’t get any argument from me, as I have been advocating a major push for Morgan for a few years now.
Morgan is an excellent choice to be the face of the company not only because he has the physical attributes and the ability to connect with the crowd, but also because he is someone the fans have watched gradually work his way up the ladder in TNA.
Even though Morgan had a cup of coffee in WWE years ago, I think TNA fans view him as one of their own and not a WWE reject. His chase of the world championship is something they could emotionally invest in.
Hopefully, Hogan wasn’t just blowing smoke about Morgan leading the company. We’ll see.
In the meantime, here’s how I would elevate Morgan to the top spot:
TNA recently announced on its website that 12 wrestlers – including Morgan – will participate in the first-ever Bound for Glory Series, an ongoing competition that leads up to October’s Bound for Glory, TNA’s biggest pay-per-view of the year.
No specifics were given about the series, but I’m guessing that it’s some form of tournament. I would have Morgan win it and then go on to challenge for the TNA world title at BFG. I also would book Kurt Angle to win the belt from Mr. Anderson prior to that event.
Then at BFG, Morgan scores a clean win over Angle for the championship. It would be fitting for Morgan’s coronation to take place at that show against Angle, as it was two years ago at BFG that Morgan had a star-making performance against Angle in which he came very close to winning but ultimately fell just short. The message then was that Morgan was “bound for glory,” but he wasn’t quite ready to knock off a guy at Angle’s level. Now he is.
After Morgan wins the title, I would then book Bobby Roode to be his first challenger. I think a Morgan-Roode rivalry over the world title would breathe some new life into TNA.
Randy Orton suffered legitimate concussion; status for WWE’s Capitol Punishment in question
Apparently, it wasn’t just a story line on Raw Monday night when it was announced that world heavyweight champion Randy Orton was not cleared to wrestle due to suffering a concussion.
Orton, who worked a triple threat match Sunday in Madrid, Spain, said on Twitter Tuesday that he did not wrestle Monday because he “was knocked out in Spain. U can’t wrestle, or should I say, perform, the day after a concussion.”
Citing WWE sources, pwinsider.com reported that the company’s doctors will determine on Sunday whether Orton is healthy enough to go through with his scheduled match against Christian at the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Orton also is scheduled to work house shows Friday and Saturday.
WWE Raw: ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin shines on All-Star Night
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin was in fine form on Monday’s three-hour All-Star Night episode of Raw.
Austin – who served as Raw general manager for the night – was all over the show. He was funny at times, intense at others, but always entertaining – and the crowd loved every minute of it.
It was exactly what you would want from an appearance by Austin. Not only was he great on the mic, but he gave a rub to guys such as The Miz, Alex Riley, Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler by interacting with them.
Austin’s best verbal exchange of the night was with Punk. Austin asking the straight-edged Punk if he wanted a beer and Punk responding by mocking Austin’s “what” nonsense was tremendous. In the unlikely event that Austin ever decides to come back for one more match, I would love to see it be against Punk.
The one surprise Monday was that no one received a Stunner from Austin during the show. He did, however, beat up the anonymous Raw general manager’s computer and run over it with his four-wheeler.
Austin also announced that next week’s Raw – another three-hour episode, which will air live from Baltimore’s 1st Mariner Arena – will be called “Power to the People,” as fans will get to choose the matches and stipulations.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
R-Truth was on fire once again. I wrote last week that he needed to show his vicious side this week heading into his WWE title match against John Cena at Sunday’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view, and he did exactly that. Not only did R-Truth attack John Morrison backstage in Morrison’s first TV appearance since returning from injury, but he also laid out Cena at the end of the show. Best of all, R-Truth beat up Hornswoggle. ...
In between all those beat-downs, R-Truth continued to do his hilarious “little Jimmy” shtick. I also find it funny that since turning heel R-Truth seems to be channeling Gomer Pyle. That’s where the “Shazam!” and “surprise, surprise, surprise” lines came from. I’m guessing that only people over 40 will get those references. ...
I was pleasantly surprised to see Punk pin Cena in the main event (thanks to a distraction from R-Truth, who was picking on a “little Jimmy” in the audience). Perhaps that’s an indication that Punk is staying with WWE. We can only hope. ...
The crowd was really hot for the Punk-Cena match. As is often the case when Cena wrestles, it seemed as if all the women and children were cheering for him, while all of the males were cheering for his opponent. On a side note, Punk once again did a move made famous by the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage – an axe handle off the top rope onto the floor. ...
It was nice to see one of my all-time favorites – “Rowdy” Roddy Piper – make an appearance. How cool must it have been for a longtime WWE fan like The Miz to engage in verbal exchanges with Austin and Piper and also work a “match” against Piper all in the same night? ...
It was another good night for Riley. He was endorsed by both Austin and Piper, and he once again got the better of The Miz. Riley, serving as the special referee for the Miz-Piper encounter, got physically involved and delivered a fast count to give Piper the win. ...
I would have tweaked the booking of the Christian-Rey Mysterio match. Instead of Christian getting disqualified for failing to break an illegal maneuver before the referee’s five count and then hitting his finisher on Mysterio after The Nexus interfered, I would have had Christian pin Mysterio thanks to a distraction by The Nexus. With my scenario, Christian looks like more of a viable challenger heading into Sunday’s title match against world heavyweight champion Randy Orton, and it gets heat on Punk and The Nexus prior to the Punk-Mysterio match at Capitol Punishment. ...
I liked how Christian teased that he was going to come out and confront Orton face to face before ultimately choosing not to do so. It sounded at first as if a portion of the crowd was behind Christian and against Orton, but that changed after Christian referred to the audience as a “bunch of Long Island idiots.” ...
Speaking of Long Island idiots – and I mean that as a compliment – Long Island’s own Zack Ryder was nowhere to be found on the show. It’s too bad, because a “We Want Ryder” chant broke out during the Sheamus-Santino Marella match and there were signs in the crowd supporting him. Perhaps WWE kept Ryder off the broadcast because it didn’t want a low-level heel getting a huge babyface reaction. ...
The backstage segment that Austin had with Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero was well done. For a second, I actually thought that WWE was breaking up Ziggler and Guerrero, which would have been a bad move, in my opinion. ...
The Big Show, who did a run-in after Del Rio was disqualified for failing to release the Cross Armbreaker on Kane when Kane reached the ropes, sure did run down the aisle fast for a guy who had his leg run over by a car three weeks ago and was wailing like a wounded animal. ...
Del Rio running away and leaving Ricardo Rodriguez to get pummeled by Big Show was classic. ...
Ezekiel Jackson was booked as a monster babyface in the six-man tag match that saw him, Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan defeat Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. It was an interesting booking choice to have Cara score the winning pin on Barrett despite the fact that Barrett is defending the Intercontinental title against Jackson Sunday. ...
Sheamus adding a submission maneuver to his repertoire – he used the Texas Cloverleaf to defeat Marella – is a good idea. ...
Jack Swagger was pinned again by Evan Bourne, this time in a tag match that also involved Ziggler and Kofi Kingston. What has Swagger done to deserve this? And how many times have I asked that question about Swagger during his WWE tenure? ...
So WWE books a seven-on-seven Divas match and it doesn’t even go 90 seconds and only two women were officially in the match. That was pretty silly. ...
Kelly Kelly, who won the match for her team by pinning Rosa Mendes, is clearly being pushed as the top female competitor in WWE, which is fine with me. ...
It was odd that Kelly Kelly and her story line rivals The Bella twins were so chummy in the video package promoting their appearance on “The Price is Right.” It’s kind of funny that the three women were treated as celebrities on the game show, while current TNA and former WWE performer Brian Kendrick appeared on the program a few months ago as a contestant and no mention was made of the fact that he’s a wrestler. ...
The President Obama press conference parodies officially jumped the shark with this week’s offering.
Here is an interview I conducted this morning with WWE champion John Cena outside Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Cena, who was in town to promote Sunday's Capitol Punishment pay-per-view at Verizon Center, spent some time visiting kids in the pediatric unit at the hospital.
Cena -- who mostly remained in character for the interview -- talked about his upcoming match with R-Truth, his criticism of The Rock and his showdown with The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII next year.
A new TNA world champion was crowned at Slammiversary Sunday night, but that’s not what people who watched the pay-per-view were talking about after it was over. Nor were they buzzing about the final battle between longtime rivals Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett.
The bout that stole the show was the Last Man Standing Match between A.J. Styles and Bully Ray. The match was hard-hitting, told a good story and featured Styles delivering an elbow drop from about 15-20 feet in the air off a lighting structure onto Ray and through a table.
Despite Styles’ big move, however, Ray still managed to win the match, which means their program will continue. That’s good, because I’m not ready to see it end yet.
Thanks to an assist from Eric Bischoff, Mr. Anderson defeated Sting to win the TNA world title. It was definitely time to get the belt off the 52-year-old Sting, but I’m not overly excited about Anderson getting another run as champion. His character has lost luster lately because of poor booking.
The new No. 1 contender for the championship is Angle, who earned that status by beating Jarrett in the match that closed the show.
Slammiversary was an OK show overall. The right people went over, although the way the threeway match for the TNA X Division title between Abyss, Kazarian and Brian Kendrick was laid out buried the “traditional” X Division guys in general, and Kazarian and Kendrick specifically.
One nice thing about the pay-per-view is that Hulk Hogan wasn’t on it, Bischoff only made a cameo and there were no long promos about who’s running the company and The Network.
Here is a match-by-match look at the show:
Kurt Angle defeated Jeff Jarrett (17:34): This was billed as the final battle between the two in addition to being a match to determine the No. 1 contender for the TNA world title. Angle’s Olympic gold medal also was on the line. While this was a very good match, it was far from the best that Angle and Jarrett have had with each other on pay-per-view. A straight wrestling match actually felt a bit anti-climactic after seeing them wage war in a brutal two-out-of-three falls steel cage match a couple months ago at the Lockdown pay-per-view. After a ref bump at the 12-minute mark, Jarrett landed a low blow and then nailed Angle over the head with a guitar. He motioned for a second referee to come out, but by the time Earl Hebner got there, Angle was able to kick out of Jarrett’s pin attempt at the last second. Angle and Jarrett exchanged near falls over the next couple minutes, including Angle kicking out after taking The Stroke off the middle rope. At the 16-minute mark, Jarrett went for an Angle Slam. Angle thwarted it, but then got caught in an ankle lock. Angle teased several times that he was going to tap, but he eventually battled his way out of it. Jarrett went for the submission maneuver again, but his time, Angle rolled through and applied an ankle lock of his own, and Jarrett tapped out. The Angle-Jarrett program could have been booked better, but it has definitely been the best thing in TNA since the feud began in late 2010.
Mr. Anderson defeated TNA world champion Sting to win the title (15:50): Sting had a more menacing look to his face paint, as it reminded me a bit of the old Satanic rocker King Diamond (look it up, kids). While Anderson was doing his mic shtick on the ramp, Sting attacked him from behind. Once the match officially got underway, the action quickly spilled outside the ring and into the crowd, where Sting remained on the offensive. Once they were back inside the ring, there was some back-and-forth action, including Sting kicking out of the Mic Check. Sting hit the Scorpion Death Drop, but as he made the cover, Eric Bischoff – who had been watching the match from the floor for several minutes – slapped the mat while referee Jackson James was making the count. The distraction caused James to break his count, and Sting got up thinking he had won. Anderson then hit a low blow on Sting and delivered the Mic Check to win the title. Bischoff smiled and clapped from outside the ring but did not celebrate with Anderson, so it looks as if was more a case of Bischoff being against Sting then being aligned with Anderson. The finish might have been more impactful if Anderson had remained a tweener leading up to the match rather than becoming a heel without ever really turning. Anderson losing to Eric Young, and Sting losing to Gunner over the past two weeks on TV didn’t help either. Speaking of which, shouldn’t Young now be in line for a title shot against Anderson? Hey, since Young has the old TNA world title belt in his possession, perhaps TNA can make it a title unification match. Uh-oh. I think I just gave Vince Russo an idea for the main event of this week’s Impact.
Bully Ray defeated A.J. Styles in a Last Man Standing Match (20:17): The story in the early stages of the match was that Styles was determined to take Ray’s best shots and survive them. Each time Ray delivered a hard chop to Styles’ chest, Styles asked for another. Ray obliged, but Styles kept coming back for more. The chops were so brutal that one actually elicited a “holy [you-know-what]” chant. Styles also asked for – and received – a punch in the face from Ray. At about the 12-minute mark, Styles took Ray’s chain away from him and busted him open with it. Styles went on to hit a Springboard 450 Splash, and then he body-slammed a bloody Ray over the top rope onto the ring steps, and followed with a dive over the top rope onto him. Ray regained the advantage and set up for the Power Bomb spot off the stage. Styles hit a Pele Kick, however, and knocked Ray off the stage. Styles then got a running start and leaped off the stage with a flying forearm onto Ray. Ray repeatedly kept barely beating the 10-count throughout all of this. The biggest spot of the night was next, as Styles set Ray up on a table and then delivered the elbow drop off the lighting structure. Both guys were down before Styles started to get to his feet at the count of six. Before Styles – who had his back to Ray – could fully stand up, however, Ray kicked him from behind while still lying on the ground. The kick sent Styles crashing through the bottom of the stage. With the help of the guardrail, Ray was able to pull himself up briefly just before the 10-count, and he was declared the winner. This was an awesome match with a clever finish.
Matt Morgan defeated Scott Steiner (9:18): Prior to the match, Steiner cut a backstage promo in which he said that after he beat Morgan, he was going to show Morgan’s girlfriend what it was like to be with a real man. I wonder if Morgan’s wife knows that her husband has a girlfriend. There was a nice sequence at around the 8-minute mark, as Steiner hooked on the Steiner Recliner, but Morgan powered out and got Steiner up in an Electric Chair. Steiner, however, turned that into a Victory Roll for a near fall. Steiner went for a belly-to-belly suplex, but Morgan boxed his ears and then hit the Carbon Footprint for the win. This match was booked perfectly, with Morgan scoring the clean win over a big-name star in the twilight of his career. After the match, Morgan hugged his wife at ringside before walking to the back. I thought for sure that Steiner was going to mess with her, but it didn’t happen. It’s now time for Morgan to move back into the world title picture.
Crimson defeated Samoa Joe (10:28): I give TNA credit for trying to create a breakout star in Crimson, but the fans don’t seem all that enthusiastic about him at this point. Hopefully, TNA doesn’t give up on him yet, because I think he has potential. This match did expose Crimson a bit, however, as he looked like he was blown up about halfway through and some of his punches looked weak. Joe dominated the action but couldn’t put Crimson away. Joe charged at him but Crimson caught him and hit Red Sky out of nowhere for the win. Joe shook Crimson’s hand after the match and said “we will meet again.”
TNA X Division champion Abyss defeated Kazarian and Brian Kendrick in a threeway match (12:04): The booking here was so mind-bogglingly misguided that I’m starting to believe that someone in TNA wants to kill the X Division for real. For almost the entire match, Kazarian and Kendrick worked together, basically making it a handicap match. Despite their combined efforts, however, Abyss still managed to get the better of them. Near the 11-minute mark, Abyss threw Kazarian and Kendrick into one another, and the two babyfaces finally starting fighting each other. After Kendrick landed a flying kick on Kazarian, Abyss pulled Kendrick out of the ring and covered Kazarian for the victory. So not only did Abyss prove that he was physically superior to two of the top X Division stars, but he also out-smarted them. I don’t know how the burial could have been any worse. It really stinks for Kazarian, who seemed to be gaining momentum before this angle.
TNA world tag team champions James Storm and Alex Shelley defeated The British Invasion (10:56): This was a good opener. I was expecting there to be some miscommunication between Storm and Shelley – who was filling in for the “injured” Bobby Roode, who sat in on commentary – which would lead to them dropping the belts. There was a nice false finish that teased such a scenario, as Storm accidentally spit beer in Shelley’s face, and a blinded Shelley inadvertently superkicked Storm. The British Invasion then hit a double-team move on Storm and went for the pin, but Storm kicked out at the last second. After Magnus kicked Douglas Williams by accident, Storm nailed Magnus with a superkick, Shelley followed up with Sliced Bread, and Storm covered him for the win.
TNA Knockouts champion Mickie James defeated Angelina Love (7:58): In a backstage interview before the match, Winter tried to give Love her “medicine,” but Love, who was less zombie-like, said there was no need for that any longer. Love said she gets it now and that her and Winter are on the same page. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this was a bad match, but I do think it was a disappointment considering that James and Love have been two of the top female stars in the business over the past few years. The finish was botched, as James went for her jumping DDT, but she and Love were not in sync and they landed awkwardly. Despite how bad the move looked, James still covered Love for the victory. The story of the match was that Winter repeatedly distracted James and interfered, but James still prevailed. After the match, Winter and Love attacked James.
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After Christian attacked Randy Orton at the end of last week’s Smackdown, the question was whether Christian had actually turned heel or if he was going to be a tweener and gradually morph into a heel.
That question was answered during the opening segment of Smackdown Friday night. Christian, who came out to a mixed reaction, cut a promo in which he blamed his recent misfortune on the fans (aka his peeps) and said that he no longer wants anything to do with them.
After saying that he would never talk to the fans again, Christian drove home the fact that he was a full-blown heel by calling Michael Cole into the ring and saying that Cole was the only person he would talk to. Having Christian associate himself with the hated Cole guaranteed that he’d get booed.
Christian’s promo was solid, although I wouldn’t categorize it as a home run.
Later in the show, Christian got more heat on himself for refusing to meet Orton in the ring face to face after Orton called him out. Christian instead chose to speak with Orton from the parking lot via the big screen. After getting Orton to agree to defend the world heavyweight title against him at the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view on June 19, Christian then got in his car and drove off.
If you’ve been watching wrestling for any length of time, you know what that meant. Of course, Christian came back to the arena to interfere in Orton’s non-title, no-disqualification match against Sheamus in the main event.
Christian once again KO’d Orton with the title belt, which allowed Sheamus to cover Orton for the victory.
With Sheamus getting screwed out of the title by Christian last week and then pinning the champion this week, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was added to the Orton-Christian match at Capitol Punishment to make it a triple threat.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
The Orton-Sheamus match went more than 20 minutes and was really good. I still think a babyface turn for Sheamus is going to happen in the near future. I also think that if/when he does turn, he will be more over than he ever was as a heel. ...
Orton’s snap powerslam on Sheamus into the ring steps looked quite painful. ...
I’m not sure why Orton was allowed to accept Christian’s challenge for a title match at Capitol Punishment without getting the OK from Smackdown general manager Teddy Long first. Would it have been that hard to just have Long come out and say that he was making the match official? ...
The tag team match in which Daniel Bryan and Sin Cara defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. was fine, but not quite as good as I thought it would be. It’s nice to see Bryan – who scored the victory for his team by making DiBiase tap out to the LeBell Lock – winning matches on a consistent basis. ...
Wade Barrett walked out on fellow Corre members Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater again – this time during a six-man tag match against Ezekiel Jackson and The Usos – and it looks as if the dysfunctional heel faction is finally done. ...
By the way, when did The Usos become babyfaces? ...
The Divas match that saw A.J. upset Tamina was OK. It was interesting that after going 0-2 as a tag team with Kaitlyn, A.J. won her first singles match. A.J., by the way, definitely has a Mickie James-like spunkiness about her. Whether she has James’ charisma and in-ring ability remains to be seen. ...
Jinder Mahal was put over strong for the second week in a row, as he squashed Trent Barreta. I like what they’re doing with Mahal so far. ...
Last week, Johnny Curtis cut a promo about spilled milk in which he poured milk over his head. This week, he said he had a chip on his shoulder, and then ate a potato chip that had been sitting on his shoulder. I predict that next week he will have a stuffed toy monkey on his back, and he’ll say that he needs to have a match on Smackdown so he can get the monkey off his back. Either that or he’ll have his foot stuck in a door and he’ll say that he’s trying to get his foot in the door in WWE.
Jerry Lawler/Bowie Baysox trivia contest: Question 3 (updated)
Which iconic TV star inducted Jerry Lawler into the WWE Hall of Fame?
The first person to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com wins two tickets to the Bowie Baysox game next Thursday night in Prince George's County, Md. Lawler will be on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, sign autographs and take photos with fans.
In addition, the Baysox will be giving away tickets to the live Raw show on June 20 at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, as well as tickets to the Raw house show on July 24 at Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md.
Please include your name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.
UPDATE: The correct answer is William Shatner. The winner has been notified. Please do not send any more e-mails for this question.
I thought it was bad last week on Impact Wrestling when Eric Young (dressed up as a parody of The Great Muta) pinned Mr. Anderson, who just happens to be in the main event of this Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view.
On Thursday night’s episode, however, the booking went from bad to worse.
Not only was Young – a mid-card comedy act – booked in the main event (he teamed with Sting to face Anderson and Gunner), but Gunner actually pinned Sting to win the match.
So, let’s recap: Last week, No. 1 contender Anderson lost to Young; this week, TNA world champion Sting lost to Gunner; and Sunday, Anderson is facing Sting for the title.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Personally, I don’t find Young to be the least bit funny, but if some people do, that’s fine – just keep him away from main events, especially on the go-home show for a pay-per-view. I also think it goes without saying that the No. 1 contender should never job to a guy like Young.
As for Gunner, I actually like him and think he has a lot of potential. I have absolutely no problem with him teaming with Anderson to get a rub. I do, however, have a problem with him beating Sting three days before Sting’s title defense at Slammiversary. What sense does that make?
How am I supposed to care about the main event at the pay-per-view when the two participants just lost on TV to a couple of mid-carders? Sometimes I think the decision-makers in TNA are actually trying to see just how low the buy rates can get.
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
As much as I didn’t like the main event, I did think the post-match angle with Sting attacking Anderson backstage and rubbing paint on his face was pretty good. It still wasn’t enough to get me excited about Sunday’s Anderson-Sting match, though. ...
The highlight of the night was Jeff Jarrett’s intense promo on Kurt Angle. Jarrett versus Angle – now that’s a match I’m interested in seeing at Slammiversary. ...
When Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came out in the opening segment saying the same old stuff about how they’re in charge and nothing has changed, the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher suddenly popped into my head. It was never properly explained, by the way, why The Network did an about face on Mick Foley and fired him one week after endorsing him. It’s another illogical story line twist that viewers are just supposed to accept. ...
Sting did a nice job with his promo on Hogan and Bischoff. There was so much focus on Sting’s confrontation with Hogan, however, that Anderson (who was standing in the ring with them) and his match with Sting Sunday came off as afterthoughts. The way the segment unfolded, it seemed to be setting up a babyface turn for Hogan. “The Hulkster” also came across as a face during his backstage verbal exchange with Mexican America. ...
Speaking of turns, it wouldn’t surprise me if Bobby Roode ends up going heel. He didn’t look too pleased when James Storm and Alex Shelley lost to Hernandez and Anarquia in a non-title match thanks to Shelley accidentally nailing Storm with a superkick. I could see Storm and Shelley (who is filling in for the “injured” Roode) dropping the belts to The British Invasion at Slammiversary, and then Roode eventually turning on them. Immortal needs a lead heel, and a singles push for Roode is long overdue. ...
The artificial boos that were piped in when Anderson was in the ring couldn’t have been any more obvious. ...
Taz trying to get himself over and constantly arguing with Magnus while the latter sat in on commentary was beyond annoying. ...
Bully Ray’s loss to Rob Van Dam doesn’t really hurt him. Ray was in control most of the way before A.J. Styles showed up and distracted him. ...
The Velvet Sky-ODB match was an entertaining brawl. The story of the match was that ODB dominated, but she got a little complacent and Sky hit a DDT out of nowhere for the victory. ...
The announcers were doing the tired “she doesn’t even work her” shtick about ODB. As one reader pointed out, perhaps Taz and Mike Tenay should check the company’s website, which has ODB listed on the roster. ...
Sky added a new naughty word to her promo repertoire. In addition to her typical usage of “b*tch,” she also busted out the word “t*ts” this week. ...
Doing a “viral video” of a bar brawl between Samoa Joe and Crimson was an interesting idea. I liked it because it was something different and topical. ...
The simultaneous neckbreaker/kick combination that Mickie James hit on Winter and Angelina Love during a tag match was pretty cool. Love pinning James made sense since she is challenging for James’ TNA Knockouts title at Slammiversary. During the match, Madison Rayne attacked Tara – who was James’ partner – on the floor to keep their angle going. So that’s was logical booking looks like. ...
A brief video package aired in which Angle talked about his goal of making the 2012 U.S. Olympic wrestling team. I wish him luck, but at 42 and with his injury history, I don’t like his chances.
Jerry Lawler/Bowie Baysox trivia contest: Question 2 (updated)
Which fellow WWE Hall of Famer did Jerry Lawler face in the main event of the 1994 King of the Ring pay-per-view?
The first person to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com wins two tickets to the Bowie Baysox game next Thursday night in Prince George's County, Md. Lawler will be on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, sign autographs and take photos with fans.
In addition, the Baysox will be giving away tickets to the live Raw show on June 20 at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, as well as tickets to the Raw house show on July 24 at Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md.
Please include your name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.
The final question will be asked Saturday.
UPDATE: The correct answer is Roddy Piper. The winner has been notified. Please do not send any more e-mails for this question.
Jerry Lawler/Bowie Baysox trivia contest: Question 1 (updated)
Who did Jerry Lawler win the AWA world heavyweight title from in 1988?
The first person to send the correct answer to kevin.eck@baltsun.com wins two tickets to the Bowie Baysox game next Thursday night in Prince George's County, Md. Lawler will be on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, sign autographs and take photos with fans.
In addition, the Baysox will be giving away tickets to the live Raw show on June 20 at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, as well as tickets to the Raw house show on July 24 at Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md.
Please include your name and a daytime phone number along with your answer.
The next question will be asked Friday.
UPDATE: The correct answer is Curt Hennig. The winner has been notified. Please do not send any more e-mails for this question.
WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler to appear at Bowie Baysox game; trivia contest to win tickets
WWE Hall of Famer Jerry "The King" Lawler will appear at the Bowie Baysox minor league baseball game next Thursday night. He will throw out the ceremonial first pitch and also sign autographs and take photos with fans.
I will ask three Lawler-related trivia questions over the next three days (beginning later today), and each winner will receive two lower reserved tickets to the 7:05 p.m. game against the Reading Phillies at Prince George's Stadium in Bowie, Md.
Although it’s been a decade since Chyna was one of the biggest wrestling personalities of WWE’s Attitude Era, she certainly has been making headlines over the past several weeks.
Last month, she wrestled in her first match in the U.S. since 2001 on TNA’s Sacrifice pay-per-view. Then came the shocking news that she had recently shot an adult film with Vivid Entertainment titled “Backdoor to Chyna.”
I conducted a phone interview Wednesday with Chyna, who talked about her decision to venture into the porn industry, her experience with TNA and her future plans.
Why did you choose to go back into adult entertainment at this point?
Well, in the first place, I’m not really getting back into it. The [sex tape with then-boyfriend Sean “X-Pac” Waltman that was released in 2004] was done to me and it was degrading and violating and a really traumatizing experience. You know, I think throughout my career in wrestling it’s kind of been like a three-ring circus. It was a lot of fun and I loved every minute of it. I loved the fans and I loved everything that I did. I branched out from that: I wrote a book and I did Playboy and I did all these things that were very, very successful, and I loved doing every single one of them. So when this came up, I wasn’t necessarily thinking that I was going to go in this direction, but because most of the things I’ve done in my life and most of the experiences have been really great, and this industry was kind of tarnished for me, I just felt mentally that I wanted to experience it, to cross that barrier and see what it was like. I’ve always taken risks and been a pioneer at different things and experiences. And Vivid – I didn’t really know a whole lot about porn at all, but I knew the company Vivid, and I knew that they had the most beautiful women and the hottest guys and that they were a well-known company and a reputable company, so I decided to go for it and it turned out to be a great experience. Vivid was incredibly professional. Not only did they pay me well, but I felt really beautiful and sexy and it was fun. I was involved from beginning to end and there was nothing negative about the experience. I found it to be very empowering and it helped me therapeutically with something that I had in my head mentally from a really bad experience and it healed me in a way – it’s kind of crazy.
Are you planning to do more adult films?
I don’t see why not. Like I said, it was a really positive experience. To tell you the truth, I haven’t had that much negative buzz, because I don’t see a reason for there to be a negative buzz. I’ve already show my talent and my ability as far as wrestling, and acting, and modeling and writing and all of that, so to me it doesn’t affect any of those things. It’s been like 10 years since I’ve been on contract with wrestling, and I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities here and there, but they’re like one-time things, and those things haven’t been knocking down my door for a future career. So when this opportunity came up, I said, “You know what, I’m going to do it. What have I got to lose? Nothing.” And I’m really glad I did.
Are you worried at all that you may lose some of your fans over doing a porn movie?
I don’t think I’m going to lose fans over it. I think it might be a shock, but I don’t think I’ll lose any fans. If anything, I think I’ll gain. And like I said, this wasn’t done to me – it was by choice. It’s a very empowering move, just like wrestling was with my athletic ability to fight with the men and the women and play a character. When I did Playboy it was very successful because my attitude is that I’m doing it for a very empowering reason, and I think that’s logical and it makes sense. But as far as any friends or some of the wrestlers that I stay in contact with, it’s just fun for everybody [laughs]. I love all the hoopla, really. They’re all like, “Go, Chyna.” I was determined to do this. I leave all prejudice at the door as to what people are going to think or what they’re going to say. The experience was tremendous and it made me happy. Is it something that I’m proud of? Yes, I’m proud of it. Like I said, it’s my movie. I worked with the best and it was a great experience. At the end of the day, people don’t live your life and you have to do what makes you happy, and the only ones that can judge you are yourself and God.
I read a quote from you recently in which you said that doing this movie potentially cost you a contract with TNA. Can you elaborate on that?
Well, I haven’t actually really spoken with them since I did a television spot and the pay-per-view, but it was never a contract on the line. They asked me to participate in the angle of what they were doing and I thought it would be fun. I went and I talked with them, and it was wonderful to see some old friends. I was elated, and so I did it. We hadn’t really talked about a deal. I just didn’t think that was something that I really wanted to get back into full force. They’d have to make me a deal that I simply couldn’t say no to, because I fought [to own the name Chyna] for years. I spent a lot of time and a lot of money to take control of myself – which is another reason why this movie is special to me. I own me, and nobody tries to take my name. I like my freedom. For somebody to take that from me after all these years, it would have to be something so incredible – which I feel that I’m worth – and that didn’t seem to be the case with TNA. But – and I don’t know where they’re coming from because I haven’t spoken to them directly – to me, [the movie] is material on a silver platter. There’s tons of stuff you could do with this for story line or exposure or whatever. My curriculum vitae is well-rounded [laughs]. It’s never stopped me from anything else and if it does, too bad. Life is short and I’m going to live it.
You mentioned that you saw some old friends when you did the angle in TNA, but I’m sure there were a lot of people there who had never met you before. How were you treated backstage?
Wonderfully. They have a fantastic atmosphere. I really enjoyed it. I had butterflies in my tummy just seeing everybody. It had been a long time. I had a smile from ear to ear the whole time. I really didn’t know any of the girls but they were all really excited that I was there and it was nice.
The crowd in Orlando at the pay-per-view was really hot for you. Did it surprise you to get that kind of reaction? Were you worried that perhaps people wouldn’t remember you?
Oh God no, I wasn’t worried about that, because don’t forget that I was part of the business when we were doing 500 chairs in a high school arena and then it became this billion dollar business. I was on Wall Street when they rang the bell, you know? Before that I think it was like, if you’re a wrestler, you’re a wrestler – period. And then the business grew, and I definitely started branching out because I want to do everything I can. I think when you have that opportunity you seize it. So wrestling fans at first when people started doing that were like, “Oh, you’re bigger than the business” or “you think you’re Hollywood.” Once everybody started doing other things like TV and movies, and I did Playboy and wrote a book, it was great and the fans were really supportive. And now it’s obviously a lot more common that people are in and out of the business, and the fans are always there no matter what you do. If you’re not in wrestling anymore and you’re doing something else, they’re going to support you. It’s amazing to know that those fans are still always there.
Do you keep up with wrestling at all these days?
Not really, to be honest. I certainly flip through – I have to turn it on the days that it’s on, but, like, I’ll watch Monday Night Raw with “The Bachelorette” [laughs]. When I was in WWE, I was in such a great place. Professionally, it was one of the best times of my life and I loved my work. When the carpet was pulled from underneath me, I had a lot of years to heal from that. It took me a long time, which I think most people have seen in the public eye. I kept trying, but it was very difficult and I had some really difficult times. Now I really feel like I’ve come out of that over the past couple years. It’s taken tons of work and healing, but I feel great now, I really do. In going to TNA, whatever happens in the future or not, it was a sense of closure in the sense that after all this time, I could go back and hug all my friends and pass that bridge. Now onto whatever comes my way, and I’m jumping in with both feet.
So what is next for you? What else do you have going on?
Well, I’ve started doing live appearances, which I’m doing because a lot of them are around the world. I’m going to Japan; I’m going to Mexico. And I’m doing the typical conventions, which are a lot of fun for me because I hadn’t been doing anything like that for a long time, and the last time I did a convention [last month in New Jersey] the fans were lined up and wrapped around the building and it was really exciting for me. Since the movie has been released, it’s been doing really, really well, so I talked to [Vivid Entertainment founder] Steven Hirsch [Tuesday], and they want to talk to me about a contract with Vivid. I didn’t really expect this, but I’m definitely going to talk with them about it.
Hulk Hogan versus The Ultimate Warrior in a courtroom?
Hulk Hogan told TMZ that he plans to file a lawsuit against The Ultimate Warrior in response to a scathing online video posted by Warrior in which he accuses Hogan of drug use and having an open marriage with first wife Linda, among other things.
In the seven-minute clip – which is a preview of Warrior’s 55-minute shoot video on Hogan that is scheduled to be released on June 17 – Warrior says that Hogan is a cocaine user and a “dopehead.”
Warrior also claims that when Hogan was married to Linda, “The Hulkster” was agreeable to her having sex with other wrestlers, and that Hogan offered her up to Warrior, who turned him down.
In an interview with TMZ, Hogan denied the allegations of drug use as well as Warrior’s claims about Linda.
Warrior refers to Hogan as a “malicious, backstabbing operator” and a “liar, fraud and phony” in the video. He also criticizes Hogan for saying in an interview that the late Randy Savage was paranoid about his first wife Elizabeth, and Warrior blames Hogan and Linda for contributing to the breakup of Savage and Elizabeth’s marriage.
Here’s my take:
Except for the claim that the Hogans had an open marriage (which, true or not, really isn’t anyone’s business), nothing Warrior said about Hogan hasn’t been said before by others in the wrestling business, including the allegation of cocaine use. That doesn’t necessarily mean any of it is true, but Warrior isn’t exactly breaking new ground here.
As for Hogan being a “backstabber” and a “phony,” well, I don’t think that’s exactly a revelation to anyone who has followed Hogan’s career closely over the years.
The bottom line, however, is that anything that comes out of Warrior’s mouth has to be taken with a grain of salt because of all the outrageous things he has said over the years. Even if everything he said about Hogan turns out to be true, Warrior is the wrong messenger to deliver that message.
This is clearly a feud with no babyface, as both of these guys have serious issues.
Finally, the technical issues have been worked out and it's possible to leave comments again on this and other blogs on baltimoresun.com. Thanks for your patience.
I must say I've really missed reading your comments the past five days, even the ones from those of you who love to give me a hard time for my supposed biases and man crushes.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin may have been the biggest star on Raw Monday night, but R-Truth was the star of the show.
During an opening segment that featured heavy hitters such as Austin, WWE chairman Vince McMahon, John Cena and The Miz (as well as Alex Riley), it was R-Truth who stole the scene.
Then again, he was the only one who came to the ring dressed as a Confederate soldier while “Johnny Comes Marching Home” played over the sound system.
R-Truth, who was ordered by the anonymous Raw general manager to apologize for his actions last week in order to get his WWE title shot against Cena at the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view on June 19, said he was sorry in the most insincere manner possible – and it was pretty hilarious.
He issued an apology to little Jimmy, big Jimmy and even the cup of soda that he threw at the fan last week.
As for his Confederate getup, R-Truth said that he was wearing it because they were in Richmond, Va., the capital of the Confederacy. He also said that just like the South seceded from the Union, he was seceding from WWE. “But, don’t worry, I am keeping the title match,” he said, adding that WWE won’t be able to make any more money off him by selling his merchandise.
R-Truth was on such a roll on this show that he even made this week’s President Obama fake press conference about Capitol Punishment amusing.
However, as funny as R-Truth has been recently, I think he needs to tap into his serious side on next week’s show, which is the final Raw before the pay-per-view. To this point, R-Truth really hasn’t been presented as much of a threat to Cena, so I’m thinking that a beatdown of the champ is in order this coming Monday.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
With Austin on hand to announce the winner of Tough Enough, it made sense to get him more involved in the show, which WWE did by having him serve as the special guest referee for the main event tag team match that pitted Cena and Riley against R-Truth and Miz. I didn’t care for the finish of the match, which saw Austin get physically involved to help the babyfaces seemingly get the win. What’s with the biased babyface special refs? (Bret Hart played the same role a couple weeks ago). ...
After the Raw GM reversed the decision of the main event because Austin had abused his authority, the anonymous one announced that Austin would be the guest Raw GM on next week’s three-hour episode. Not sure I follow the logic on that one. ...
Next week’s special has been dubbed WWE All-Star Night and will feature talent from both Raw and Smackdown. Jerry Lawler mentioned that all professional sports leagues have all-star games and this was WWE’s version, although no specifics regarding the format were announced. ...
I’m not thrilled about Jack Swagger walking out on his match against Booker T. and losing by countout, but I’m just thankful that Swagger didn’t get pinned by a guy who rarely wrestles and is now a full-time announcer. ...
I never get tired of watching matches between CM Punk and Rey Mysterio, although Punk’s pre-match promo about never losing to Mysterio, coupled with the fact that Punk won their meeting last week, made it obvious that Mysterio was going over in this one. ...
As much as I love Alberto Del Rio’s mic work, the bit with him and Ricardo Rodriguez – who was masquerading as The Big Show – really fell flat. Even the crickets were silent during it. ...
The Kofi Kingston-Zack Ryder bout was fine for a short match. Dolph Ziggler sat in on commentary and did a lot better than he has in the past. He seemed more relaxed and sure of himself. ...
The Divas tag match that saw Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly defeat The Bella Twins was serviceable. ...
The Santino Marella-Michael McGillicutty match was fun. The crowd absolutely loved Marella. McGillicutty’s in-ring work is solid but he seems to be lacking “it.”
WWE Tough Enough: Andy Leavine is the ‘big’ winner
After it was revealed on last week’s episode of WWE Tough Enough that the final two in the competition were Luke and Andy, I wrote: “The only way I see Andy winning is if WWE puts more emphasis on size than in-ring ability and charisma.”
Well, on the series’ season finale Monday night, WWE went big, and Luke Robinson went home.
In an announcement that was made live during the opening segment of Raw, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin declared Andy Leavine – who at 6 feet 5 and 265 pounds towers over the 6-1, 210-pound Luke – the winner of the WWE contract.
I can’t say I’m all that surprised that Andy won, but I will say that he didn’t deserve to win.
Luke was clearly superior in the ring and far more charismatic. He also has a swagger about him and carries himself like a star.
Andy improved in the ring as the series progressed, but he still had his awkward moments right up to the end. As far as his personality (or lack thereof), for a good portion of the season I barely even realized he was on the show.
After Austin asked Tough Enough trainers Bill DeMott, Trish Stratus and Booker T. who they thought should win, it became obvious that Andy was WWE’s choice. DeMott and Stratus both picked Andy, and while Booker didn’t actually make a decision, he did remark that Andy had the “it factor.”
He didn’t say that. Please tell me he did not just say that.
Other thoughts on Monday’s show:
In addition to a WWE contract, Andy’s reward for winning the competition was a slap in the face by WWE chairman Vince McMahon and a Stunner from Austin. Welcome to WWE, kid. Andy, by the way, didn’t do a great job of selling the Stunner. …
I wish WWE would have shown the actual matches that Andy and Luke had with DeMott in FCW rather than just the highlights. That way we could have judged for ourselves who performed better (perhaps that was the point). …
Overall, I really enjoyed this series. When a profanity-laced shouting match broke out between some of the contestants less than 20 minutes into the first episode, I feared that contrived reality show garbage such as that was going to be prevalent. However, that scene turned out to be an aberration, which was a pleasant surprise. …
Austin was phenomenal throughout the series, and DeMott as the hardass trainer also was very good. If there is another season, these two have to be a part of it. …
The segments that showed Andy and Luke in their respective hometowns really tried to portray Andy as the babyface (hardworking family man) and Luke as the heel (cocky pretty boy and party animal). …
It was interesting that all of the contestants returned for the series finale except one – “Miss USA” Rima Fakih. When they were introduced, the only one who got a pop was Jeremiah Riggs. …
It was nice to see Ricky Steamboat on the show and looking healthy. It was a little less than a year ago that the WWE Hall of Famer was hospitalized for three weeks because of bleeding in the brain caused by a capillary burst.
Apparently, Mick Foley’s inexplicable “firing” on Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling wasn’t another example of bad booking in TNA after all.
According to various wrestling websites, Foley has asked for his release from the company due to creative differences, so the decision was made to write him out of the show.
Foley – whose contract with TNA expires in September – has not officially been let go, although his release is imminent, according to wrestlingobserver.com.
With Foley and Vince McMahon apparently on good terms again, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Foley back with WWE in some capacity when he is no longer under contract to TNA.
Christian’s highs and lows over the past two months have made for the most compelling story line in wrestling, in my opinion, and things are about to get even more interesting.
On Smackdown Friday night, Christian turned heel – or perhaps became a tweener before doing a full-blown turn – by smashing world heavyweight champion Randy Orton in the head with the title belt following Orton’s successful defense against Sheamus in a match in which Christian served as special guest referee. After cheap-shotting Orton, Christian walked off with the belt.
The crowd seemed stunned when Christian KO’d Orton, but the audience’s silence turned to boos as Christian stood over Orton and raised the belt in the air.
Christian has shown in the past that he plays the heel role very well, and I’m really looking forward to next week’s show to hear what he has to say about his actions.
As for those fans who thought that Christian was being buried when WWE took the world title off him last month just two days after winning it, it appears that your concerns were unwarranted.
Christian is on the verge of becoming the top heel on Smackdown, which means he’s going to be main-eventing more pay-per-views, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the big gold belt ends up back around his waist in the very near future.
Other thoughts on Friday’s show:
The Orton-Sheamus match was good. Sheamus was kept strong by the fact that he legitimately had the match won, only to have Christian screw him over – first by feigning an arm injury that prevented him from making the three count, and then by punching Sheamus (with his “bad” arm), which allowed Orton to hit the RKO for the win. ...
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheamus does a babyface turn sometime soon, and I wonder if what happened at the end of his match against Orton was the start of it. Smackdown is a little thin on top-level fan favorites right now, as after Orton, you have Sin Cara, Kane, Ezekiel Jackson and Daniel Bryan. I think Sheamus’ character would actually work better as a face. ...
The Daniel Bryan-Ted DiBiase Jr. match was very good. After Bryan got the victory – that’s two wins in a row for Bryan! – Cody Rhodes attacked him, and Sin Cara made the save, so I assume we’ll be seeing Bryan and Cara against DiBiase and Rhodes in a tag match. That should be fun. ...
I like the Rhodes character, but his promos aren’t doing much for me right now. ...
The show-opening match between Christian and Mark Henry also was good. Christian – who scored the clean win – proved once again that he can have good matches with just about anyone. ...
The Intercontinental title match between champion Wade Barrett and Ezekiel Jackson was OK. It was interesting that Barrett -- who lost the match by countout -- hung fellow Corre members Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater out to dry rather than joining them in attacking Ezekiel Jackson, who quickly got the better of them. WWE just needs to put The Corre out of its misery. ...
Jinder Mahal was put over strong in his in-ring debut, as he squashed Yoshi Tatsu in about a minute. If the role of The Great Khali – who accompanied Mahal to the ring – is to be Mahal’s bodyguard or perhaps his tag team partner, I think that’s a great way to use the big guy. It’s certainly better than giving him a main-event singles push at this point. ...
Tamina was impressive in the Divas tag match that saw her and Alicia Fox defeat Kaitlyn and A.J. for the second straight week ...
I’m mildly curious to see where things are going with Natalya mentoring Kaitlyn and A.J., who are now 0-2 as a team. ...
Rosa Mendes is apparently a heel now, as she was in the corner of Tamina and Fox. Unless I’ve missed something, I think this is the second time Rosa has switched sides without a story line reason for turning. Last week, it was Tamina who showed up as a heel for no apparent reason. ...
I’m not sure to what to make of Johnny Curtis’ bizarre “spilled milk” promo, but at least he’s finally on TV after winning NXT Season 4 three months ago. I’m surprised that WWE actually acknowledged that Curtis and his pro, R-Truth, were supposed to get a shot at the tag team title as a result of him winning the competition.
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Impact Wrestling: Mr. Anderson-Eric Young angle was not-so-great
The angle with Mr. Anderson and Eric Young playing dress-up on Thursday night’s episode of Impact Wrestling was horrible even by TNA standards.
First of all, why is Anderson dressing up like Sting’s old blond-haired character every week? It might be cute to do it once, but three straight weeks? It really wasn’t all that entertaining the first time.
Anyway, Anderson’s plan to mock Sting this week was to recreate a match between Sting and one of his old rivals, The Great Muta. Why the real Sting should care, I have no idea. I also have no idea how any of this is supposed to get me to care that Sting is defending the TNA world title against Anderson at the Slammiversary pay-per-view on June 12.
Playing the part of Muta in the farce was Young, who was dubbed The Not-So-Great Muta. Clever.
As silly as it is to have a mid-card comedy act such as Young in an angle with a guy who is main-eventing the pay-per-view, it’s even sillier that Young actually pinned Anderson. And it wasn’t one of those slip-on-a-banana-peel wins either.
I suppose Anderson could attempt to get his heat back next week by destroying Young and/or Sting, but the damage has been done.
As I was watching this angle unfold, I kept thinking that it seemed more like it was intended to be a parody of pro wrestling rather than an angle designed to sell a pay-per-view.
Oh, and by the way, wrestling matters!
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
Another problem with the Anderson-Young angle is that the Sting-Muta feud took place in WCW about 20 years ago. How many of today’s fans even know who The Great Muta is? And by the way, how did the simple-minded Young suddenly become savy when Anderson was trying to talk him into dressing up as Muta? ...
The final segment with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan was groan-inducing. It seemed throughout the show that The Network was going to get rid of Bischoff and Hogan, but of course we all knew it had to be a swerve. It ultimately was revealed that The Network had fired Mick Foley instead. I can’t wait to see how TNA makes sense of that (well, actually, I can wait). It’s just such bad story-telling. Let’s recap: Foley returns to TV after a lengthy absence and announces that he is the mysterious network consultant; then it seems as if he’s going to be out-smarted by Hogan when the two meet with network officials, but Foley ends up coming out of the meeting with the advantage; then Foley is fired. And this all unfolded within a matter of a few weeks. ...
Isn’t is kind of far-fetched that Bischoff, who was served papers from The Network at the beginning of the show, wouldn’t open the envelope until after Hulk Hogan arrived at the end of the show? ...
Here’s another classic “wrestling matters” moment: As a star-studded main event pitting Kurt Angle and Matt Morgan against Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner was taking place, TNA decided to do a split screen to show Hogan arriving at the Impact Zone and talking with Bischoff. Now here’s the best part: The action in the ring was shown in a small box, while Bischoff and Hogan standing around with an envelope was shown in the bigger one. ...
Speaking of the main event, it was pretty entertaining. Jarrett and Steiner won the match when Steiner pinned Morgan, but the real story was the injury angle with Karen Jarrett at the end of it. After Karen interfered while Angle and Jeff were fighting on the stage, Angle walked threateningly toward her and she began backing up. Just as Karen was out of view off to the side of the stage, Jeff attacked Kurt from behind, and all three of them disappeared behind the wall. The camera then showed Karen lying at the bottom of the stairs, as Angle and Jeff blamed each other for her fall. I thought the angle – which seemed like it was designed to write Karen out of the show for a while – was well-done. ...
It was a little odd seeing Angle and Steiner fighting each other. Didn’t Steiner return to TNA several months ago to form an alliance with his friend Angle? ...
The wild brawl between ODB and a bikini-clad Velvet Sky got the show off to a hot start – and I do mean hot. ...
It was pretty funny seeing ODB beat up three men in addition to Sky. ...
The verbal exchange between Bully Ray and A.J. Styles was very good. Ray carried the segment, but Styles was good in his role, as well. ...
Ray buried Tommy Dreamer during his promo. I wonder if that’s the end of Dreamer as an on-air performer. His contract with TNA reportedly is expiring within the next month. ...
The Crimson-Matt Hardy match was pretty good. It was a big win for Crimson, as TNA continues to do a solid job of building him up to be a star. ...
The Angelina Love-Miss Tessmacher match (won by Love) wasn’t bad. However, Love’s delivery of her lines during a backstage segment with Winter was brutally bad. Her zombie character is more effective when she doesn’t speak. ...
Judging by Love’s appearance, apparently the drugs Winter is putting in her drinks are rapid weight-loss pills. ...
I liked the angle with Alex Shelley volunteering to take the injured Bobby Roode’s place as James Storm’s tag team partner in Beer Money’s TNA world tag team title defense against The British Invasion at Slammiversary. Shelley has always handled himself well on the mic. ...
The Kazarian-Brian Kendrick match was good. After the two battled to a 10-minute draw and then were granted five more minutes by Bischoff, Abyss interfered and attacked both men, and the match was declared no-contest. Abyss declared that the X Division was dead. It appears if there will be a three-way match for the TNA X Division title at Slammiversary with Abyss defending against Kazarian and Kendrick.
Chyna tells TMZ that porn film cost her potential deal with TNA
It appears that Chyna’s “Backdoor” has caused TNA to back out.
According to a report on tmz.com, Chyna – who appeared in one of the featured matches at TNA’s Sacrifice pay-per-view last month after a lengthy absence from pro wrestling – says that TNA told her that she will never work for the company again if her upcoming porn DVD, “Backdoor to Chyna,” is released.
Chyna told TMZ that she and TNA had been in negotiations for a long-term deal.
“The whole thing has been constant drama,” Chyna said. “It's all good in the end. ... [TNA Wrestling] is missing the boat.”
Wait, did she really say “it’s all good in the end?”
After Kharma said in her promo on Raw Monday night that Jim Ross told her that she was “too fat to be a WWE Diva” when she was trying out for the second season of Tough Enough several years ago, fans have been criticizing Ross on Twitter.
Kharma, however, came to Ross’ defense on her blog. She wrote the following:
“I've been told that a lot of people are taking pot shots at Jim Ross lately.
If [Ross] hadn't shot from the hip all those years ago, I wouldn't of had the fire to succeed as much as I did. I wouldn't of had the strength to sacrifice being with my family, my country, my native tongue to live in Japan for 6 years and learn this craft. I owe Mr. Ross a great gratitude. Not only for setting me on my path to success, but also being there with open arms at the end of my journey and escorting me to the finish line. Many of you may not know this but JR lobbied for my recruitment to WWE. We met at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas and I became fast friends with him and his lovely wife. He had heard the noise I was making in the industry and graciously gave me kudos. You never have to worry about where you stand with JR. He'll give you constructive criticism when you need it and praise when you've earned it. He's no sycophant and that is something to be celebrated. I'm hoping you all send him a thankful salutation, I know I will."
Based on how Kharma delivered the line about Ross on Raw, I can understand why some people would be upset with him, but my initial reaction was that what he said to her was being taken somewhat out of context. I’m glad to see Kharma clarify her feelings about Ross and what he said to her years ago.
For those of you who were happy about Chyna making her return to pro wrestling at TNA’s Sacrifice pay-per-view last month and want to see more of her, here’s your chance to see a whole lot more of her.
It was reported last week that the former WWE star recently shot a porn DVD titled “Backdoor to Chyna,” and now comes news that a trailer for the DVD has been released. (No, I’m not linking to it. I’m sure anyone who wants to find it on the web will be able to do so).
Chyna is not new to the adult film industry. In 2004, she and then-boyfriend Sean “X-Pac” Waltman released a sex tape titled “1 Night in China.”
Personally, the only compromising position I care to see Chyna in involves Chris Jericho putting her in “The Walls of Jericho” during matches from their 1999 WWE feud.
Looking back at my brush with Randy “Macho Man” Savage
When I wrote a tribute to the late Randy “Macho Man” Savage nearly two weeks ago, I mentioned that he was the first pro wrestler I ever interviewed for a story in The Baltimore Sun. The interview took place in 1994 inside a supermarket that Savage was appearing at that day for an autograph session.
A reader saved a flyer that promoted the event and he e-mailed an image of it to me (see below). Seeing the flyer made me think back to the surreal experience of doing a face-to-face interview with the larger-than-life “Macho Man” in the back room of Farm Fresh in a Baltimore County suburb.
Pro wrestling was in a down period at the time, but it was clear that Savage’s star power hadn’t waned. It was a mob scene that day, as a throng of wrestling fans (I’m not good at estimating crowds – and it was 17 years ago, so my memory is a little fuzzy) gathered outside the supermarket for an opportunity to get an autograph and perhaps a photo with Savage.
As I noted in my tribute piece, the story I wrote about Savage for The Sun focused on his career as a minor-league baseball player. Savage – all decked out in full “Macho Man” regalia – spoke to me at length in his familiar, raspy voice about his days on the baseball diamond. It was obvious that he loved the game and relished his experience.
Here are a few excerpts from the article:
• During his stint in the minors, Savage -- a catcher and natural right-hander -- transformed himself into left-handed throwing first baseman in an attempt to prolong his career. Savage became ambidextrous after he suffered a separated right shoulder during a collision at home plate in 1973. The injury prompted his release from the Cardinals. "They gave up on me, but I signed with the Reds and had a pretty good year at Tampa, but the shoulder still wasn't real good," he said. "So for eight months, I worked real hard at throwing left-handed. It was incredibly tough, but I just kept working, throwing the ball 1,500 times against the wall a day. I then signed with the White Sox as a left-handed first baseman.”
• Much like his "Macho Man" persona in the WWF, Savage was an intense competitor on the diamond, [former teammate Tito] Landrum said. "Randy was a very aggressive player, and he was well-liked on the team because of that aggressiveness," Landrum said. "Unfortunately, much like the rest of us, he had a problem hitting the curve. But his intensity is real. I can remember him setting up a ring in the locker room and wrestling with the guys. He told us he was going to be a wrestler someday."
• There has been speculation that Savage wrestled under a mask during the off-season. “That might have happened or it might not have," said Savage, who wrestled for regional promotions before joining the internationally known WWF in 1985. "I probably should have played baseball under a mask, not just the catcher's mask."
• There are some obvious differences between baseball and pro wrestling. ... But Savage also sees some similarities -- like comparing the ability to hit a curveball to executing his patented flying elbow drop off the top rope. "When I'm doing that elbow off the top rope, if the person moves, I'm in trouble," he said. "When I'm hitting the ball and it drops off the table, I'm in trouble, too. In both cases, you can't hit a moving target."
• After 20 years in the wrestling business, Savage -- who splits his time between wrestling and broadcasting for the WWF -- said he has no regrets about the path his career has taken. "The baseball thing seemed like a negative when I got the pink slip, but actually it was the best break I ever had," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn't be styling and profiling like I am now. I’ve done the thing in the ring for a long time now, and I've done it very well. And at the risk of being conceited and egotistical, I was the best there ever was.”
• And then there were two. Jeremiah was eliminated on Monday night’s episode of WWE Tough Enough, so it’ll be Luke versus Andy on next week’s season finale. They will compete in a five-minute exhibition match before a live audience and WWE brass at an FCW show.
• After Martin was forced to leave the show two weeks ago because of a fractured ankle, I figured the final two would be Luke and Jeremiah. However, Andy showed progress in the ring the past two weeks, while Jeremiah’s inexperience and recklessness made him dangerous to work with, so I can’t disagree with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s decision to send Jeremiah home. In the end, I don’t think it really matters, because Andy and Jeremiah were just fighting for second place anyway, in my opinion. This contest has been Luke’s to lose pretty much since the beginning. The only way I see Andy winning is if WWE puts more emphasis on size than in-ring ability and charisma.
• Jeremiah showed throughout the series that he’s a good athlete and has a quirky personality. If he can smooth out his rough edges in the ring and learn to work safely, I could see him getting into WWE at some point.
• The Miz came off very well during his guest appearance. It’s interesting that his Tough Enough background wasn’t brought up, but I suppose it would make winning the competition seem like less of a big deal if it was explained how Miz finished second and is now a main-eventer and a former WWE champion, while the guy who beat him out – Daniel Puder – only had a cup of coffee in WWE before being dismissed.
• Austin was on fire during the final segment, as he verbally laid the smack down on all three guys. He nailed Luke for being “twitchy” and Andy for crying last week. And when Jeremiah said he left it all in the ring at this week’s training session, Austin replied that he “left a big pile of [bleep] in the ring.” Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is with Andy crying. It’s worked all these years for Ric Flair and Tommy Dreamer.
• Austin also had a good line when he and Luke were visiting a sick child in the hospital. After Austin autographed the child’s toy wrestling ring, Luke also signed it and said, “Hopefully, this will be worth a lot of money someday.” Not missing a beat, Austin said: “It already is. I signed it.”
• I noticed when Luke, Andy and Jeremiah did a shot together before going to meet Austin in the ring for the elimination that Andy – who has said during the series that he is straight edge – appeared to be drinking water while the other two had alcohol. However, when Austin invited Luke and Andy to take part in a beer bash after Jeremiah had been sent home, Andy was chugging beers right there with them. I guess when “Stone Cold” says drink, you drink.
