News From Cook’s Corner 06.28.11

Also joining us today for an exclusive interview is a fascinating chica that may be familiar to those of you who make sure to check out the Wrestling 5 & 1 every week. We know Greg DeMarco loves his Buggy, and who can blame him? Today we’re going to introduce you to one of Buggy’s fiercest opponents, the lovely Terra Calaway. Now, I know that some of you who are afraid of independent wrestling, women & the unknown might not be too keen on this idea, but I think you’ll really enjoy Terra. She’s quite an intelligent lady with a perspective on the pro wrestling that I can not hope to match. She’s also really nice and happens to be easy on the eyes, so there’s also that. Hopefully Ms. Calaway won’t regret doing the interview when she reads the rest of this column and figures out that I’m a lunatic!

Honestly, I’m misunderstood. Just like Cody.

Liked Raw this week, don’t like the podcasts, and I hate the Reds. We do not see eye to eye sir. – gpjunk

I’m happy the Reds are kind of worthy of being hated again. For years that wasn’t the case. I’m a little worried about their output so far this year as it‘s been staggeringly mediocre, but if nothing else happens this season I was at least able to head out to Great American Ballpark on a weekday and see the Reds take on the New York Yankees. I can now cross the Yanks off the “Teams I’ve Never Seen Live” list, which basically consists of the American League.

Jessie McKay has also appeared in school girl inspired outfits. The part I don’t understand is . . . isn’t “everybody’s favorite girlfriend” a total tramp? Or what aren’t I understanding here? But that isn’t the role she plays. – Guest#9312

That’s a very good question. One would think that if you’re everybody’s girlfriend, you’re like the village bicycle. Maybe “girlfriend” means girl that’s a friend. In that case, you wouldn‘t believe some of the girlfriends I‘ve had over the years, many at the same time. If Greg gets that interview with Miss McKay that he was teasing in the comment section last week, he should ask her about this topic.

Thursday night needs MORE TNA rants from you guys and A LOT MORE Jim Cornette soundbytes. – Max

Larry wants to cut back on the Corny, which I’m not really in agreeance with. Maybe we can get some different Cornette tirades to play…Lord knows there’s enough of them out there. As for the TNA, when you’ve been watching TNA & talking about TNA for as long as we have, it gets a bit old sometimes. Like this week, when we went off on a lot of off-topic discussions while trying to talk about the show because there just wasn’t a whole lot to say that we hadn’t said before, usually during conversations with each other over the past seven years. Of course, nobody was listening to us back then, so I can understand why people that haven’t heard us yapping about Impact before would be interested in hearing about it. Good constructive criticism, Max.

I don’t understand the Zack Ryder thing at all. Right now, if you are not made by WWE Creative with the right look, you are just supposed to be happy to be in WWE. Because A-Train, Nathan Jones, Heidenreich, Snitsky, and whoever I have thankfully forgotten were the next Hogans to put money in everybody’s pocket. How is this supposed to go down with the locker room? Because the way they feel has to carry over to the on air product. This is one of the reasons why I want TNA to get their act together. So WWE will feel the need to push those who can get over on their own. That and so there is some unpredictability as to who wins the championships. Because right now I can call Cena/Orton for each PPV and be right 90% of the time. – Guest#0359

In fairness to the people making decisions when A-Train, Jones, Heidenreich & Snitsky were around, I don’t think any of those people were ever expected to be the next Hulk Hogan. They were thought of as monsters with potential to draw money against a Hogan type. More like the next King Kong Bundy. A-Train’s realized that potential in Japan while the rest never really found it.

But yeah, the rest of your point is right on. The thing that kills me about it is that WWE has released DVDs on the fall of WCW where they gave all of the various talking points about what led to it. One of them was the refusal to push new stars, another was their tendency to kill off people that got over without their express written consent. Yet, WWE doesn’t seem to think that the rules that applied to WCW apply to them. To a certain extent they’re right, as long as they’ve still got a hell of a lot of money and can get fans to spend their money on their various products. But you can only have a stagnant product for so long before people get bored with it.

Bah, you can take your summer and shove it up your ass! – Sweaty Arizona Native

My grandaunt from Arizona was in town visiting a few weeks ago and invited us to come out there sometime. I wouldn’t mind heading west someday because the vibe out there seems more my speed than the vibe here in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, but I do think I’d wait at least four months before considering a visit. Winter might be a good time to do it, actually. I used to like snow when I was a kid and snow meant no school, but now that I have to drive places it sucks.

I don’t know if Evan Bourne is getting a “push”, it seems they are hyping him, not as a contender, but as an attraction. WWE is basically saying “yeah, we all know he isn’t going to win, but we can garuntee some cool flips!” – Shane-0-Mac

I will say this…even if I think that Evan Bourne is underutilized by WWE, they’ve done a lot more with him than I thought they would when they signed him. I was a huge Matt Sydal fan back in the day, but he was a short little dude that did lots of flips and wasn’t much of a promo. Not WWE’s typical cup of tea. I figured he’d hang around developmental for awhile, maybe a make few TV shows, and be gone within a year, maybe two. Fortunately he’s proven to be somebody that can make pretty much anybody on the roster look really good, which is the best skill that a wrestler can have and one that WWE values at least enough to keep people around for a very long time. The best we can really hope for is that Bourne gets to do cool flips, get the occasional win over Jack Swagger, and if we’re really lucky, he & somebody like Sin Cara can both do really cool flips in one match. Good times.

I think you should move the Thursday show to Friday so you can talk Impact and Smackdown. – Still Guest#8287

Stay tuned. On the LeBron James note…the pictures are funny, but I’ve decided to ignore him & the Heatles until the next NBA season, whenever that may be. They are saved so I may refer back to them at a later date. It’s not so much that I hate them as it is that I find schadenfreude in their pitfalls. Hate is a strong word that I don’t use unless Stephen Randle’s involved.

I am a big fan of TNA Impact Wrestling. Impact wrestling is the best show on television. It’s great to see TNA becoming a legitimate competitor to the WWE. WWE, take notice, TNA is coming for you! – Sandy Rodriguez

God bless you, but are you counting the entirety of television, or just wrestling shows? I mean, if we’re covering every single TV show out there, Impact’s not even the best show on Thursday night. During the regular TV season you’ve got The Office. Yeah, I know it’s not like it used to be, but I will be overjoyed if the recent spoilers are true and my top choice for the job of regional manager gets the gig. During the summer there’s Wipeout. Manu Bumb turned me on to that show, which is awesome because you have people trying to do obstacle courses & failing miserably, and you’ve got Jill Wagner. I know the first part of that last sentence sounds like Impact sometimes, but trust me, it’s a lot funnier on Wipeout.

Umm, on what planet was getting dragged kicking and screaming from RAW after getting fired by Bischoff going out on a high note? – Guest#7424

According to his DVD and every interview he’s ever done on the subject, that’s EXACTLY how Jericho wanted to go out…so, I’d say by his opinion on being a Heel, that is going out on top. – Team J-Rod

Exactly. Jericho said as much in Undisputed, talking about how the dragging bit was his idea. It was exactly the way that a despised heel known for complaining about anything & everything should leave a wrestling TV show. Paul Heyman had a similar exit after the Invasion storyline in 2001, and that might have been even better because he jumped across the announce table to attack Jim Ross and Good Ol’ JR got a few shots in on the guy who’d been irritating him on every show the past several months. I mean, is there anything funnier than Jim Ross & Paul Heyman in a physical altercation?

While she is indeed cute as a button, I have not worked with Jessie McKay, nor worked the same show, or even met her. Politics and that. But I’m not about to forgo my worship with your false idols, Cook! – mlsq42

We just have different outlooks on life, Mat. You are a monotheist that believes in Tara while I am a polytheist that has many different celestial goddesses to worship. Heck, I just found a new one last week!

Don’t get the Ryder love from the IWC, never have, never will. He’s a solid worker but he ain’t nothing special. I seen WWE drop the ball with FAR more talented guys than this guy. Hell, I’d rather watch a guy like Cabana, better worker & a better promo but he never got a chance to get himself over. – Guest#9656

You’ll get no argument from me on Colt Cabana. What that guy had happen during his WWE run was an absolute travesty of justice, and he’s one of the most talented guys in wrestling bar none. He didn’t have a long enough run with that company to prove his worth, but that doesn’t take anything away from what Zack Ryder has done. I just want to see Ryder get an opportunity. If he succeeds, that’s wonderful and WWE can make some money off of him. If he doesn’t, then WWE can be all like “See, we told you dirt bags he wasn‘t anything special!” I fail to see a downside here.

i read this with Raven’s voice in my head – (>”)–(”

I highly recommend this…if the podcast experience has proven anything, it’s that this author has a voice for writing.

And now, the fake news!

It turns out that the Over The Limit buyrate, which was originally reported as scary low, was higher than last year’s version of the show. Inclusion of international buys puts the show over the 200,000 buy mark, which is up from last year’s and puts it safely over the record for lowest WWE buyrate. I think we can safely say that people were interested in seeing the culmination of the Jerry Lawler/Michael Cole feud. 200,000 seems to be the number for WWE pay-per-view events not named Royal Rumble or WrestleMania lately. It’s not great compared to what they’ve done in the past, but it could be a whole lot worse.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. was released from WWE on Saturday in a mutual parting of the ways. Chavo issued a statement on Twitter, which I have cleaned up a little bit because of my distaste for net speak:

“Yes, it’s true. My release is the big news I was talking about. But let’s get something straight. I asked for my release. I was just tired of not being used correctly. Just because you can make other people look good, doesn’t mean they should just have you lose to them. The same thing happened to Eddie. After being champ, they still had him working mid card status.

Thank you to all of you 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 you! 🙂 like me or hate me, 1 thing I have always tried to do is entertain you and give you fans your $ worth. Even if my hands were tied most of the time. I love you all and can’t wait for the future!! So happy. :)”

Here’s my take on Chavo: He was a solid hand. In his prime he was an above-average wrestler with good moves that could have entertaining matches or make people laugh with something like Pepe the stick horse. He was at his best alongside Uncle Eddie, whether as part of Los Guerreros in WWE, or during their feud in WCW where Eddie abused him to the point where he went insane. Chavo was good, but he was never great. He was great in the team with Eddie, but as a singles wrestler he never really stood out as somebody that needed to be given the ball to run with. I don’t know the man, but if the stuff he posts on his Twitter account on a fairly regular basis is any indication, he has a very, very high opinion of himself. His role in WWE at this point in time should have been to help the young guys with upside look good & get over with the audience. That does not appear to be what Chavo has in mind for himself.

Has he been treated unfairly by WWE in the past? Sure. The Hornswoggle feud was ridiculous, and there were some periods of time where he completely disappeared. However, I find it hard to believe that Chavo Guerrero would have been employed by WWE for this long if it wasn’t for Eddie Guerrero. There’s also the matter of him being one of the people that Chris Benoit messaged before he took his own life, which leads the conspiracy theorists out there (I’m one) to wonder how much he knows about that situation & the Eddie situation, and if he’s mad enough at WWE, would he be prone to attacking them in the press? Will he go to the papers if he has to? Chavo could be a bit of a problem for WWE public relations & for the political aspirations of a McMahon family member if he really wants to be.

I just wonder what poor Darren Young is going to do, as he no longer has an NXT Pro.

Melina posted a YouTube video trashing Gail Kim last week. To me, it seemed like somebody trying to get their feud that’s been relegated to Superstars over with the online wrestling fan base, but apparently some people took it the wrong way and she felt that she had to issue a statement explaining to people how there is a difference between “Diva Melina” & “Real Melina”. I thought this was a little weird at first, but I can’t give Melina too much guff because her cameo on the Z True Long Island Story was pretty hilarious. That really improved my opinion of her, I’m not going to lie to you. I just think she needs to keep the kayfabe alive and not worry about what the YouTube commenters have to say about her.

Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli’s WWE tryout a couple of weeks back is said to have gone very well. I am somewhat skeptical of this for purely selfish reasons, as I’m a huge fan of the Kings of Wrestling and WWE’s history with tag teams isn’t exactly fantastic. There’s also the whole thing where they like to change peoples’ names…it’s not like “Chris Hero” is the greatest name of all time, but it’s really grown on me over the past decade. “Claudio Castagnoli” is a great name even though most people don’t know how to spell it. I think it appeared in five different forms the last time Claudio got some Wrestler of the Week votes. But I can put that all aside if it means that these guys are gonna get paid.

If WWE intends to have them compete as singles wrestlers (which I have a feeling they would), it’d be a really great idea to have Claudio wrestling Sin Cara. Claudio’s as good a base for high flying wrestlers as there is on the indy circuit…I’ve seen him have countless good matches with little guys that like to fly around the ring, and there’s no reason he couldn’t do the same with Cara.

Speaking of people coming to WWE, rumor has it that Gene Snitsky was backstage at SmackDown last week and is considering a comeback. If this happens, just remember one thing…IT WASN’T MY FAULT! We can only hope they also bring back Heidenreich to recreate their amazing chemistry together:

Batista has stated on his new Twitter account that he won’t go back to WWE as long as they maintain the PG rating. He liked the show more when it was edgier, and feels that his character wouldn’t fit into the PG world. I’m honestly not sure what about Batista’s character wouldn’t fit into the current WWE scene. It’s not like he was doing all of the Divas on camera. He also stated that he would not sign with TNA, so he’s obviously keeping the door open.

And now, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeee’ssssss PENGUIN!

By Voodoo Penguin

Hello, I’m the Penguin and I’m here to tell you: STEVE COOK IS WRONG ON ZACK RYDER.

You know the entire Ryder situation by now, or you wouldn’t be reading this. I’m not going to recap it for you, as there are plenty of places on this very site that have already done that. What I am going to do, is explain why those who feel Ryder needs more tv time are wrong. Sort of.

Zack Ryder needs more internet time.

The WWE has Superstars, an internet based show. And to be honest, it’s not bad when they are actually trying. Tyson Kidd’s manager search has been fun, but needs more time. Zack Ryder has been awesome, but still doesn’t come off as the star of the show, which I think he should. Even the announcing shows signs of promise, but some weeks just feel like its being phoned in.

Rather than putting him in front of a TV audience which may not coincide with his internet fanbase, why not just push the kid to the moon on the internet? You have an internet presence, internet sites, internet show, internet voting. Why not have an internet champion? Why not make it the guy the internet loves? Or at least put him in a program for it.

I’m saying, put on an internet show, that caters to the internet fans. You know, that segment of the fanbase who has been loyal for a long time now but doesn’t always find what they are looking for on television or pay per view? Use the commodity you have to cater to them. You have an internet show that has no direction, and internet fans who have no show. How is this not the most obvious solution?

Have a tourney for the internet championship. Maybe Drew McIntyre wins it and Ryder chases him. Maybe you say fuck it and just let Daniel Bryan mutilate people for 20 minutes an episode and hold the title til the end of time. Maybe you put it on Ryder and turn him into the John Cena of Superstars. Whatever you do, the programming is there, let’s use it.

Zack Ryder is not a character built for a TV show push, at this time. Ryder is hilarious, but would be a comedy jobber on television. Big Jimmy paid a lot of money so that Little Jimmy could see people like John Cena, Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio battle the likes of CM Punk and The Miz. Not Zack Ryder vs. Primo. But internet fans will watch a 20 minute Daniel Bryan and Drew McIntyre match! Millions of people are already watching his youtube show. Why not give it some promotion and let him use WWE footage on it. It could only help. And add to advertising revenue.

The only drawback I hear, is that it has to be performed in front of the Jimmies anyhow. This is true, because Superstars is a taped show. Think about it though, at a live show, the curtain jerker often gets a great reaction. I can remember being at the RAW where Cena got drafted over from Smackdown, and Viscera got like the second or third largest pop. Why? Because he was the first one out, and we were ready to see some rasstlin’. Tape your big superstars matches before RAW and before Smackdown. Throw in another little one if you want, and use the rest of the time for stories. Your opener and main on Superstars have a hot crowd, which aids presentation. Ta Da!

I’m not saying leave the stars of this show completely off TV. Obviously, you are going to need to use TV to promote the program, and a bunch more than you use it now. But today’s fan isn’t going to buy a 15 minute Zack Ryder promo on RAW. Some fans, however, will tune in to see it on Superstars. And those are the ones you should attract. Over time, you can transition the stars of Superstars up to the “big leagues” and give them a new run there. You can discuss the wars fought over the internet title, or their best of seven series, or their submission match with Daniel Bryan or whatever. But that’s in time.

Also, I can’t be the only one who thinks this would be awesome: The RAW after Royal Rumble you have the winner in the ring. He is cutting a promo about what choice he might make. The camera pans over as he discusses John Cena and the prestigious WWE title. Then the camera pans over to Randy Orton as the winner discusses the storied World Heavyweight title. Then back to the winner who says. “And….Zack Ryder? The Internet Champion?” Pan to Ryder fist pumping.

Money. Money ladies and gentlemen.

Anyways, enough of me. Got comments on Zack Ryder? Leave them here. Or better yet come visit me at Off The Team. It’s the place to discuss….well everything. Remember what it was like to have an actual forum on 411? Yeah? Well then come on and visit us, we promise you’ll have fun.

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Thanks a lot, Penguin! It’s an interesting idea, and if you’d like to comment on it feel free to do so in the comment section. Would completely booking a show to the IWC work? Who would appear on such a show? I think I will save my comments for the 411 on Wrestling this Thursday night so Larry Csonka & myself will have something to talk about…

-When you think “Las Vegas”, you think “Wayne Newton”.

-Here are the options on the Raw Roulette wheel tonight:

-WWE Blast from the Past Match.
-Steel Cage Match.
-Pillow Fight.
-Lumberjack Match.
-Handicap Match.
-Song and Dance Match.
-Submission Match.
-Trading Places Match.
-Strange Bedfellows Match.
-Special Guest Referee Match.
-Tables Match.
-No DQ Match.
-Pole Match.
-Bodyslam Match.
-Player’s Choice Match.
-Tornado Match.
-Blindfold Match.
-Falls Count Anywhere Match.
-Flag Match.
-Mystery Match.

-What, no It’s Legal in Nevada Match? That was the best option ever.

-Tonight’s Raw Thoughts are brought to you by Leinenhugel’s Summer Shandy! Nothing like an ice cold beer with a natural lemonade flavor, am I right people?

-Booker T will be spinning the wheel tonight. Not quite Vanna White, but I can dig that, sucka.

-HBK in the hizzle! God help me, I still do a little dancing when “Sexy Boy” starts playing. Probably shouldn’t admit to that, but it’s too late now.

-I also sing along. It’s a good thing I don’t watch this show with people.

-Not only does HBK not want to plug his Outdoor Channel show, but he doesn’t want to plug his Twitter account either. He’s a man of the people.

-Punk! Something tells me he’ll be the one talking in this triumvirate.

-Punk’s right, those fans should get on their hands & knees and beg him to stay!

-HBK uses Punk’s old ROH line. Nice.

-Down goes Otunga! That’s the most he’s done on this show in what, a month?

-Something tells me Punk won’t be in the Pillow Fight.

-Punk gets a Mystery Opponent. Anybody who’s watched Raw for awhile can figure out it’s Kane!

-Punk needs some better minions if all Otunga & McGillicutty can do is get super kicked.

-Remember when Kane & Punk were tag team partners in ECW? I wonder if they do. I know the announcers don’t.

-So Punk’s in full “What are they gonna do, fire me?” mode NOW? I figured that was pretty much his thing anyway.

-I’m ok with the walkoff countout by the heel, but why can’t they do that right when the match starts?

-Sin Cara vs. Evan Bourne in a match we should have gotten last week! I know the Vegas Vixen is looking forward to this one and hoping they get some time. Aren’t we all?

-Now this would be an interesting Pillow Fight.

-No Countout, meaning they can’t walk off like Punk did.

-Ah…Good times. Both guys flew around, nothing got botched too bad & Sin Cara looked good while Bourne lost nothing in defeat. He might have landed a little hard on the ending, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

-I could have lived without the five fans chanting “Power Ranger”. MVP hasn’t been with the company in months, so I have no idea what they were talking about.

-Wait a minute, if Vickie spun the wheel, doesn’t that make her the player? Booker’s lost control of this already.

-That Raw MITB lineup looks really good. No weak links there from where I sit.

-Vickie banned from ringside. What’s next, are they going to ban sunlight?

-I AM PERFECTION!

-Ref’s count is at eight as we go to commercial. If they have a countout now I’m going to laugh and laugh and laugh.

-Well, the match still continues so I guess Kofi made it back in.

-Kofi with the old M-Dogg jumping head-first into the ropes spot! That’s gonna make some people mad.

-Kofi wins, but it’s non-title. This means we get 3258676509436346 more Kingston vs. Ziggler matches.

-My God, a Maryse/ADR coupling would be the greatest thing ever.

-Instead Alberto gets a steel cage match, and it ain’t with Maryse. Bummer.

-I hope Ricardo recovers soon, ADR’s entrance just isn’t the same without him. Nice ride, though.

-It’s a good thing WWE doesn’t do blood anymore, as the last thing we need to see is Big Show busting Alberto wide open. How horrific would that be?

-Mark Henry does what he wants to! Well, I’m sure not going to tell him he can’t.

-That cage door didn’t do the job easy, but eventually it laid down.

-And Del Rio wins fair & square! Well done!

-He broke the damn cage!

-Mark Henry trash talking fans is pretty tremendous.

-Poor Brie. Nikki shall get revenge on Kelly though…in a Submission match! Good, Nikki happens to be a submissions expert. She’s been watching her UFC and has learned a lot from the likes of Nate Marquardt.

-The Kelly Krab forces Nikki to tap. How disappointing.

-Eve making her case to be in the WWE Films Dukes of Hazzard remake.

-Tough Enough Andy is training in FCW. Good times!

-I guess you can’t call it a Texas Tornado match since they’re not in Texas.

-DDP! Drew! Honestly I’m more surprised to see Drew.

-You gotta love random Shawn Michaels super kicks.

-I gotta tell you, Alex Riley is not the Season 2 NXTer I expected to be teaming with Rey Mysterio within a year of the show.

-By the way, this has been a pretty fun match. You can tell it’s a good match when I’m not typing a lot during it.

-A Riley Impaler & the Rey splash finishes off Swagger! Yeah, I think everybody had money on him taking the fall.

-IS FATBACK GRISSY?

-John Cena’s tables match record is not all that great.

-Henry vs. Orton on Smackdown. Have fun with that, Tony!

-Lawler marking out over a Cena dropkick is pretty funny.

-Punk’s wearing a Stone Cold shirt! He also costs Cena the match, but I’m far more entertained by his choice in attire.

-You know, he’d talk all night if they’d let him. And I’d listen.

-Ring of What? Colt who? VINTAGE PUNK!

-They finally cut his mike when he takes shots at Stephanie & Triple H. That…was…epic.

Hulk Hogan said on Monday that Impact Wrestling will be doing more of their tapings on the road starting in August. It should be noted that this has been rumored for a long time and has not happened yet, and it goes without saying that Hulk Hogan statements should be taken with a grain of salt. However, if this actually happens I think it’s a big move for Impact and could result in a much better television show. If nothing else the show will have a different feel to it, and that can only be a good thing at this point.

I know that it’s a very popular thing to do, but I don’t want to hate on the Impact Zone fans too much. Even if tickets are free, it takes a really special type of person to hit Universal Studios every couple of weeks to check out the Impact tapings. They are obviously dedicated TNA fans, even if we might not always like the way they react to things. I don’t mean any disrespect to them when I say that the atmosphere surrounding the Impact Zone is staler than week-old toast. Any time a wrestling company runs TV tapings at the same place all the time, they’re going to burn out the market. ROH’s HDNet show suffered from uninterested crowds that didn’t react to anything, and they ran almost every show in Philadelphia, traditionally one of wrestling’s most diehard fanbases. If Philly can burn out, there isn’t a fanbase in the country that can’t.

The problem that TNA runs into when they run shows in different markets, and I don’t know if they can fix this, is that the fans always cheer for the people they remember from other companies. The crowd at Lockdown in Cincinnati cheered Scott Steiner louder than anybody on the show not named Kurt Angle. Ric Flair got a tremendous reaction even though he was on the heel side of Lethal Lockdown. I figure this happens because a lot of the tickets to these shows are given away and end up in the hands of people who aren’t really familiar with the current product but remember seeing Hogan, Flair, Sting & guys like that back in the 90s. Then you get the fans who know the product, but still think they have to cheer Flair & Hogan cause they’re legends, yo. The way I see it, if you can’t shoot Hogan & Flair the bird, who can you shoot it to? It’s the reaction they want.

Sometimes they’ll get the idea to run a TV taping in North Carolina, which makes sense on a certain level because they have a fair amount of the famous wrestlers from that area under contract. Unfortunately they’re all heels, so you have a crowd giving the top heel faction tons more love than the babyfaces that TNA claims they’re building around. It’s a weird dynamic, but it did make those shows fairly interesting to watch. I am all for TNA taking their show on the road as much as possible.

A certain TNA wrestler who was recently taken off of TV & house shows is griping on the Internet about how he’s been unfairly punished by his employer. Not a shocking development, as this is what he‘s done for most of the last decade. He’s encouraged his followers in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area that were disappointed that he wasn’t there & wanted a refund to make their voices heard. Abyss, somebody who’s been with TNA for most of its existence and is a very loyal company man, took offense to this person’s inane carping and tweeted the following:

Our roster of talent is the best and brings everything they have to the ring every night and our Impact live events give the fans a lot for their money. No refunds required or requested. Thanks for being great fans no matter who’s on the show. You guys are the best

See, what the horribly wronged (at least in his deluded mind) individual doesn’t understand is that when he talks about how people should want a refund because he got himself suspended and kicked off of a house show, that’s a slap in the face to guys that actually were on the show and busted their asses to entertain the people in attendance. Say what you will about TNA as a company, and I’ve said a whole lot about them over the years, but most of the wrestlers that regularly appear on the house shows try their best every single night to give their fans the best show possible. The thing I’ve always heard about Abyss from people in the Cincinnati area who worked with him on his way up is that he’s a tremendously nice guy. I can’t say I’ve always been a fan of his in-ring work, but I’ve never heard anybody say anything bad about him on a personal level. I think there are quite a few people in the business that have their head up their ass that could learn a lot from him.

And good for him for having the cojones to stand up for himself and the rest of the TNA workers that actually try to put on a good show instead of coasting on their laurels & their Internet fame.

Ric Flair has made up his debt with Highspots.com. The wrestling merchandising website loaned the Nature Boy $35,000 a couple of years back, but had problems getting the money back from him. Flair tried to offer them an NWA World title belt as collateral, but that didn’t work out & they filed a lawsuit against him in August 2010. A warrant for Flair’s arrest was issued in May after he violated their settlement, but apparently somebody paid off Flair’s debt & he’s now in the clear. Highspots founder Michael Bochicchio was working on a book about the situation between Flair & the company, no word yet on whether this will put that project to rest or not. As part of the settlement, Flair signed a bunch of pictures that Highspots is selling right now.

If nothing else, I think this has taught people a valuable lesson about lending Ric Flair money: Don’t.

This week’s Impact tapings will feature the return of several former TNA talents, presumably for the angle they’re doing where people want to get on Destination X so they can be in a match for a TNA contract. I’ll probably discuss some of these names next week when they’ve appeared on television so I won’t get yelled at for spoiling the show by people that don’t read the spoilers.

I don’t get why not, because Impact spoilers are usually one of the highlights of my week when they hold tapings. They’re always good for a few belly laughs & guffaws.

We’ve begun to learn a lot more about the All Wheels Wrestling project over the past week. The pilot will be filmed Wednesday at Universal Studios in Orlando. The show will feature four teams: Team Octane, Team 720, Team Defiance & Team Dyno, which will be captained by Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Shawn Daivari & Aaron Aguliera, under different gimmicks than you’re used to seeing them under. Well, probably not Daivari, who seems to be working the same gimmick he does everywhere else. These teams will go at each other in a round-robin tournament format that will involve teams getting points for each victory.

I really like the idea of more wrestling companies being able to provide wrestlers with work & wrestling fans with entertainment. That’s why I supported Lucha Libre USA, Wrestlicious, Wrestling Society X, Women of Wrestling, and countless other TV wrestling projects that ultimately didn’t pan out. If All Wheels Wrestling can get more eyeballs on pro wrestling and give people like Lethal, Dutt & the other guys a well-paying gig, that’s a very good thing. I wish them the best & I hope the company has a long & profitable run. Do I think it’s going to work out? It’s tough to judge when there hasn’t even been a show yet, but I have to admit that seeing Jay Lethal dressed up as AKI Man from the old WWF video games isn’t exactly a good omen of things to come. I also wish they’d sign Wendi Wheels like I suggested a couple of weeks ago, but I guess that’s not going to happen.

Ring of Honor will not be participating in next year’s WrestleReunion event in Los Angeles. Dave Meltzer reports that ROH management wants to concentrate on running “traditional shows”, and are not interested in doing a show in Los Angeles because there isn’t a Sinclair station in the market. This seems really short-sighted to me…even if they don’t have a station in LA, it’s still the second-largest market in the United States. They don’t want to try to draw fans & grow a fanbase there? Really? I kind of wonder if this has something to do with their show being outdrawn by PWG the last two years they’ve been part of this event. Dragon Gate USA will be running the Friday event instead.

In other ROH news, their event originally scheduled in Dayton, Ohio for May 20 & then rescheduled for August 12 has been rescheduled again, this time for November 18. This isn’t a good trend, but at least the venue won’t be unbearably hot like it typically is in the summer months. And it could be worse, as the show scheduled for Plymouth, MA on September 16 has been cancelled and ROH hopes to be back there in 2012.

But it isn’t all doom & gloom for ROH, as their Best in the World iPPV got more buys than any of their previous events and they had to turn away over a hundred fans at the door. It also sounded like a really great show that I’m actually considering putting some money down for. Those who know me know that isn’t easy, as I am can be quite the thrifty individual.

David “Fit” Finlay will be making his first U.S. indy wrestling appearance on July 26 with EVOLVE at BB King’s in New York City. He’ll be taking on Sami Callihan, a man who has turned a lot of heads in 2011 with his work in various indies. Sami is said to be good at taking an ass-kicking, and something tells me that’s exactly what Finlay will be giving him next month.

I’ve always loved learning about young wrestlers trying to make it in the business. It’s cool to follow them up the ranks and see them make it big. I’ll be honest, all that I knew about Terra Calaway at this time last week was that she wrestled on the West Coast, she’d had at least one match with Buggy, and she looked pretty cute. I probably should have left that last one off. In defense of my lack of knowledge on the subject, I’m from Kentucky. But the beauty of the Internet is that you can use it to find out about wrestlers not appearing in your area, and you can even use it to talk to them. I took advantage of my resources and the fact that Terra’s a nice girl that had posted about wanting to do interviews to bring you the following…

The first thing I ask any wrestler I talk to (other than “You gonna eat that?”) is about how they got into the business. Did you grow up watching the pro wrestling and wanting to be part of it, or is it something you kind of fell into?

Terra: I kind of fell into it. If you had asked me in 2008 who Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, etc. were, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. I knew NOTHING about professional Wrestling. I was introduced to it in January of 2009. Started watching and poof. March of 2009, I was in the Vegas Championship Wrestling venue with my monthly dues in hand and ready to go!

Where did you train? What was the experience like?

Terra: I began my training at Vegas Championship Wrestling and I have to say, it was better in some aspects and worse in others. I thought the guys were going to be total hardasses and be rude and mean. Well, it turns out the guys were super supportive and great. My trainers were absolutely amazing. The physical training itself was hard at first. I’ve been involved in sports since I was 4, so I thought I could breeze through. But trust me, those bumps and bruises were like nothing I had ever gotten before.

I have to ask where the name Terra Calaway came from. My guess is that Terra came from “Terra Ryzing”, & Calaway either came from Callaway golf clubs or you’re a big Undertaker fan. Tell me how wrong I am!

Terra: You are half wrong, my friend. I was a huge Undertaker fan when I first started. Don’t get my wrong, I still like him, but he’s been replaced at the top of my list by William Regal. So I regret that yes, Calaway came from him and in some ways I do regret it but the fact that only a handful of people have realized that’s his last name, I can get away with it. Terra was literally just a name that was thrown at me and it stuck with me. I didn’t find out about Terra Ryzing until about a year ago.

Who are some of your favorite opponents?

Terra: My top three, in no particular order, has to be Jarek Matthews, Freddy Bravo, and Buggy. I haven’t had very much interaction with female wrestlers, so I tend to favor wrestling guys and I’ve had great matches with both Freddy and Jarek. Buggy is probably the funnest opponent to go against, though.

Tell us more about Buggy, the girl that’s created a bit of a sensation amongst the 411 readership, and somebody you seem to have great chemistry in the ring with. What’s she like to work with? How do you feel about her going on 411 podcasts and talking about wanting to get her hands all over you?

Terra: Buggy is amazing to work with. She’s a complete sweetheart and easy to put a match together with. I always have a blast with her and sometimes get caught up in the moment of watching her interact with the crowd, which can be hilarious. I think it’s great that she’s getting herself out there and getting on podcasts. Power to the girl. She deserves it, because she really busts her ass off in the ring. I have not heard the podcasts of her wanting to get her hands all over me, but she knows where I’m at ;] Haha.

Who are some of the people in the business that you’ve learned the most from?

Terra: In the ring, I’ve learned the most from my lovely trainers at VCW, like Tony Leo and Legacy, and from Michael Modest over at Future Stars of Wrestling. As far as the wrestling logic and psychology, the Ballard Brothers, Shane and Shannon, have been absolute dreams at helping me out as well as Vintage Dragon.

Terra & Vintage Dragon. I’m not sure what to make of somebody that names themselves after a Michael Cole catchphrase, but most of the Dragons I’ve seen in wrestling have been very talented & he sounds like a nice fella.

You remind me a lot of Cheerleader Melissa, from your physical look & ring attire (especially early on) to the fact that you broke in pretty much the same area she did, and she also competed in a lot of intergender matches. Am I the only person that’s made this observation, and are there other people that you get compared to?

Terra: Yes, that’s actually the first time I have ever gotten Cheerleader Melissa. I am super flattered by it because I know she’s a great worker. As far as comparisons, I mostly get Victoria/Tara because of the way I carry myself and how I have the whole rocker thing going on. I’ve been told by a few trainers that I need to Stacy Kiebler it up though, because I’m 5’11 and ALL leg. Haha.

What would you say is the best thing that you’ve been involved in during your career?

Terra: Honestly, my favorite angle so far and what got me really going in California was at LuchaPro in Los Angeles. I was brought in to partner with Vintage Dragon. We did an intergender match, which spun off to a singles match with Freddy Bravo. They were in the middle of a series against each other and this was a big match for them, a hair vs hair match. Well, Vintage Dragon (unknown to the fans) was actually injured with a fractured knee. He did the match, I interfered to save him, he wins. Following the match, he could barely stand on his own. He wanted the angle with him and Freddy to continue but couldn’t do it himself. So, he used me. Jarek Matthews, tag team partner of Freddy, came out and said it was all my fault that Freddy lost. So I faced Jarek, got my butt whooped, and had to be saved by the face locker room. The next week, Freddy came out and I faced him. I then refereed a match where Jarek and Freddy were participants and in the end, Jarek attacked me. So, I brought in a “secret partner” to take them on to end our feud. The secret partner was arch-enemy of Vintage Dragon but was gone for a good year. So I bring him in, we beat Freddy and Jarek, but then I get destroyed by my own partner. This brought back Vintage Dragon. I was only originally supposed to just be there a few weeks to save Dragon’s spot. It ended up turning into a huge feud that got me a lot of work and respect from the boys. It was a fun storyline to work out and people seem to be favoriting those matches more than anything.

You’ve wrestled on both sides of the face/heel fence, seemingly more as a face if your YouTube channel is any indication.. I happen to think you’re better as a face (at least from what I’ve seen), but which role do you prefer to play?

Terra: I love being a face. I love being able to be me, go out to those fans and pump them up. It feels great to just come through that curtain jumping and smiling. I mean, I can be a nasty heel, but I can be one awesome face.

Unfortunately, one thing I didn’t see on your channel was promo work. I don’t know if you get to do that much in the promotions you appear in, but is there a particular style that you have? Any nifty catchphrases?

Terra: Okay, now no laughing at me. But in the two years I’ve been in this, I’ve never had to cut a promo until last month. I was cutting a promo about the fact I was facing Allison Danger literally (As in, I got the phone call at noon the same day) last minute. So I show up and the promoter wants me to promo that I’m there, shocked, but ready to go. So I attempt to do it and just like my Communications 101 professor told me, I get very… hyper when I’m doing public speaking. So my promo was supposed to be: “I’m here, ready to seize my opportunity to face one hell of an opponent.” It came out “I’MHEREREADYTOSEIZEMYOPPORTUNITYTOFACEONEHELLOFANOPPONENT!” It hasn’t been uploaded to Youtube yet, thankfully, so I can hide the fact that I need a lot of work. I’ve been trying to study the top face girl promos, like Mickie James promos, so hopefully next time I do better.

What are your hopes and aspirations when it comes to wrestling? Do you want to be a WWE Diva, or is there something else out there that you’d like to do, like TNA, SHIMMER, Japan, Europe or Antarctica?

Terra: Yes, Antarctica! Let’s do it! Haha. Nah, I think right now my main goal and hope is to be part of Shimmer. Especially after getting to work with Allison Danger, I’d REALLY like to be up there. I look up to a lot of women on that roster. Europe is definitely on the list as well! The rest, I’m just going to have to take as it comes.

By the time this interview gets posted you’ll have celebrated your 21st birthday. We wish you a very happy one, and wonder the following: Are you looking forward to having your very first alcoholic beverage?

Terra: You mean… My first legal alcoholic beverage. Haha. Trust me I’m not a drinker. I’ve never been drunk in my life and never plan on it. I am looking forward to going to Chili’s and ordering one of those SUPER yummy looking margaritas!

Tell us about some of the places you’re frequenting these days. What promotions should people check out if they want to see Terra Calaway in action, and where can they go to do so?

Terra: Well every Sunday I am at LuchaPro in Los Angeles. It’s a GREAT show to go to. We seriously have some fun, fun shows. Other than that, you can catch me at Vendetta Pro once in a while or in Las Vegas, you can see me in the crowd at Future Stars of Wrestling and Sinn Bodhi’s Freak Show Wrestling.

Thank you so much for agreeing to do this, and is there anything else you need to tell the 411 Universe?

Terra: That the 411 Universe rules and I hope to be a part of it more now! 😀

Terra vs. Buggy from LuchaPro on May 22, 2011.

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We here at the Corner encourage you to go to her website, like her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter, buy the t-shirt (when it comes out), and take care…spike your hair! WWWYKI.

The 411 on Wrestling featured Larry Csonka ranting about a suspended TNA wrestler for half an hour, me naming the first Broadski of the Week (a true victory for feminism if there ever was one), discussion of MMA announcing and pretty much anything else going on in the world. Good times.

This week’s Greg DeMarco Show will feature none other than the Scrap Daddy, Adam Pearce. Pearce is ready to make his big comeback after taking a few months off to heal up from injury, and it’s always interesting to hear what he has to say on any given topic.

Ari Berenstein makes his long-awaited return to 411 with the Column of Honor. He better be back for good or I’m gonna sic the Briscoes on his ass.

Wes Kirk presents a tasty sandwich. I’ll be appearing in the next edition of this column to talk about one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, so you won’t want to miss that!

Rinehart‘s been bringing the interesting stuff lately, with some nifty PWG reviews and the TripleMania review linked to here.

The esteemed JD Dunn is in the house with his take on WrestleMania XXVII.

The Triple Threat covers all the latest wrestling news.

The Rs featured Tony Acero taking over the SmackDown beat!

Well, that’s all we have time for this week! Michael “Little Jimmy” Ornelas & Nick “The Stick” Bazar will be in tomorrow with the BFF’in News Talk, and I’ll be right back here next week with more News From Cook’s Corner! Until then…

BISP!