The Wrestling 5&1 9.10.11: Brooke Tessmacher battles Tara in Versus!

This Week: Brooke now charts her own course towards immortality, and she does it against her own partner, Tara!

Does Brooke’s run continue? Or does the veteran take out the upstart?

Maybe you just need to see them hanging out?

Take your pick.
Stay tuned as next week as I’ll reveal the winner!

Austin Aries is currently tearing it up in TNA as the class of the X-Division. Back in 2005, he was tearing it up for Ring of Honor as one half of my favorite tag teams of all time—Austin Aries & Roderick Strong. Here they face Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal for ROH.

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As I’ve already eluded to, this week was nuts. As usual, this section falls victim.

But I will say one thing: How dumb does my Houston Texans pick look now?

This week’s Impact Wrestling, taped two Thursday’s ago in Huntsville, Alabama, featured TNA World Champion Kurt Angle taking on former champ Mr. Anderson, a great BFG Series preview Four Corners Tornado Match, as well as a sure ratings grabber of a Knockouts Tag!

Chad Nevett’s Impact Wrestling Instant Analysis was used for the segment breakdown and match times. But those ratings are mine. And to make sure it’s different, I am rating things out of six. Six—the number of sides the TNA ring should have.

Segment #1 – Anderson yapping (1/6)
This was terrible. I don’t know if Anderson is to blame, or the writing. But it was bad. Skip this, please.

Segment #2 – Pope & Devon beat British Invasion to become #1 Tag Title Contenders (4:00ish, 2.5/6)
How many times is The British Invasion going to get this chance and lose? I mean, at least they got booked? Not sure how I feel about the result here, but the match was just there.

Segment #3 – Bound for Glory Series Final Four In-Ring Promo (5.5/6)
The only problem I had here was the lack of any talk from Gunner. But his story was great, and leads into the show’s final match with perfection. These guys deserve main event pushes.

Segment #4 – Eric Young beats Robbie E to retain the TNA TV Title (3:00, 3/6)
Good match that left me a little confused. Was this a comedy match or a serious title match? Because it felt like both at times. I love the idea of defending the TV title on TV, and I like both men involved. Robbie E’s antics seemed like they should happen on a house show, as did most of this match. At least the TV title was defended on TV.

Segment #5 – Mr. Anderson beats TNA World Champ Kurt Angle by DQ, Angle retains (7:00, 1/6)
I think I like the Knockouts Division better than the World Title division. The last match belongs on a house show, this match belongs NOWHERE. Skip it. Before you do, please make note of the fact that I said this about last week’s Angle-Sting main event: “Seriously, the WWE would be smart enough to open with this garbage, or put it at the end of hour 1.” I keep telling you to hire me, Dixie! I could use the job!

Segment #6 – Winter & Angelina Love beat TNA Knockouts Champ Mickie James & Velvet Sky (5:00, 3/6)
Same exact position in the show for the Knockouts two weeks in a row. It sucks that Madison wasn’t brought in for this show. This match is the build for Winter-Mickie at No Surrender, which already happened at the PPV before it and on last week’s broadcast.

Segment #7 – Austin Aries & X-Division Champ Brian Kendrick promo (6/6)
Out-fucking-standing promo. Austin Aries is the class of the X-Division, and he’ll soon be the class of the company (since they don’t let Daniels talk). Remember when he was going to retire? Me neither. This was also one of Kendrick’s better promos, even if it still missed the mark a little. Good stuff, and this is your best built No Surrender match.

Segment #8 – Gunner pinned Bully Ray to win a Four Corners Tornado Match that also included Robert Roode and James Storm (5:00, 5.5/6)
My only fault for this as a TV match is that it was too short. But I guess we needed Jeff Hardy’s appearance. Great booking with the Joe-Morgan confrontation early, and awesome booking with Gunner taking the pin on Bully Ray. It was built perfectly by the earlier promo, the match delivered, and it helped motivate me to watch the BFG Series matches on the PPV.

Segment #9 – Jeff Hardy returns (0/6)
This made Mr. Anderson’s opening promo look good. Don’t skip this one, just turn off the TV when it starts, because it’s the last segment of the program.

Best Match: Gunner vs. Bully Ray vs. James Storm vs. Robert Roode

Best Promo: Austin Aries/Brian Kendrick

Overall Rating: 3.05 out of 6

Overall Thoughts: More wrestling this week, which we love to see. Except when you have some really poor booking decisions that take away from the product. This card did very little to sell me on No Surrender. Sure, it hyped the X-division and BFG Series matches. But it did nothing to get me interested in the other title matches. Plus, the final segment of the program got a zero. So despite scoring an above 3 average (barely), this show felt more like a 2-2.5 out of 6.

You Decide: What did you think of Impact Wrestling this week?

Hey, I needed something to get through this week!

You might remember my opening last week—where I talked about my trying week that might cause me to go on temporary or permanent hiatus. In the weeks prior, I was called to serve my local church as a Lay Pastor—a “pastor among the people” so to speak. We have several, as we are a big church (big depends on your own frame of reference, we have a congregation of approximately 4,000). Now, I’m not a perfect person by any stretch of the imagination. But no one is, that’s why I’m great for this position. I’m one of 24 people holding this role. With it comes a weekly class on Wednesdays (that starts next week), as well as a leadership meeting the first Tuesday of the month.

Now, I was going to take this hiatus until I found that a little reformatting of the 5&1 (along with my giving up Buy or Sell) would allow me to stick around. And I had a few offers to fill-in for the 5&1 in the rare event that I do need to miss it (thanks to Tony Acero!). I would also need to miss one Greg DeMarco Show each month—the first Tuesday. This was going to start in October, as I didn’t have enough notice to get off of work early to attend the leadership meeting… which meant I could do the 9/6 GDM Show.

Well that all changed Tuesday morning when I lost my job. We live in a world of centralization, and it turns out it’s cheaper to take the job I had (and many people have throughout the country) and move it to a central office. It’s the future of insurance claims, and apparently the future is now! I’ve been in the workforce since I graduated college in 1999, and I had managed to avoid getting shit-canned for over 12 years. I had escaped certain down-sizing doom on more than one occasion, but I guess it was bound to catch me at some point!

I always wondered how I’d react, and now I have my answer. No less than two hours after getting shit-canned, I was hitting the war path (aka the internet) applying for jobs. Since Tuesday I’ve applied for 26 jobs, and already had an interview—where they promptly rescheduled me for next week for a different (and better) position. It’s been non-stop since I got my walking papers, so much so that I didn’t touch this column since Monday. Thankfully Larry & Jeremy are very understanding people.

And since I was indeed able to get off of work early on Tuesday (!) went to that leadership meeting. I handled my shit-canning way better than I could ever expect, but still didn’t feel like hosting a radio program on the same night. Thankfully, Patrick O’Dowd, Buggy Nova, Michael Ornelas, Steve Cook, Justin Freemyer and special guest Joey Ryan were all very understanding (even if they didn’t all know the full story).

So that’s where we stand. I still have some more paychecks coming to me, and it appears like I’ll have something by the time those run out. In fact, this might end up being the best thing for us in the long run. I might get a better job and a better schedule. Closer to home, too. And I can likely stick around 411 for as long as they’ll have me. Still, this has been one bat-shit crazy week.

TNA presents their annual No Surrender PPV this weekend, and I’m a little confused. Are we getting the Bound for Glory Series finals at this event? Or just the semifinals? Is TNA going to blow this off on Impact as well? Or, are these just the final two matches, and the points leader after they’re done will get the title shot? Regardless, TNA once again does a crap job building a PPV, and it’s the talent that will suffer. No one will care about their matches. Good thing TNA keeps giving away big matches on free TV (Daniels-Styles) when they put other crap on PPV (Mexican America-Pope & Devon).

Here is the card (credit to ImpactWrestling.com):

World Heavyweight Championship
Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle (c) vs. Sting

Bound for Glory Series
Bully Ray vs. James Storm of Beer Money

Bound for Glory Series
Bobby Roode vs. Gunner

Tag Team Championship
Mexican America vs. (c) “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero & Devon

X-Division Championship
Brian Kendrick (c) vs. Austin Aries

Knockouts Championship
Winter vs. (c) Mickie James

“The Blueprint” Matt Morgan vs. Samoa Joe

#1 Contender’s Match
Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorensen

You Decide: Will you be watching this PPV?

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla follows up a very well received Battle of Los Angeles with The Perils of Rock N’ Roll Decadence this Saturday night at 8 PM. With no Roderick Strong (bachelor party) and no Kings of Wrestling (WWE? Who knows!) on the card, PWG has the returns of Davey Richards, TJ Perkins & Rocky Romero along with the debut of The Super Smash Brothers. Much like the rest of 2011, PWG has managed to put together a stellar card. As I mentioned above, Joey Ryan was set to be a guest on Tuesday’s Greg DeMarco Show to promote this event. If you’ve followed the program you know that I have a great relationship with ROH, and we feature an ROH wrestler each Tuesday prior to their weekend event(s). This was set to be the first Tuesday in a similar relationship with PWG (before things went crazy on the personal front). After trading e-mails (and later texts) with Joey Ryan, we are set to start that up on October 18, the Tuesday before their next event on October 22 (already titled “Steen Wolf”). Once again, I thank PWG, Joey Ryan & Excalibur for their understanding of my situation, and myself and Patrick O’Dowd are excited to work with them in the future.

But for now, let’s take a look at Saturday’s card, courtesy of ProWrestlingGuerrilla.com:

World Championship Title Match
“Mr. Wrestling” Kevin Steen (Champion) vs. Davey Richards (Challenger)

World Tag Team Championship Title Match
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson – Champions) vs. The Dynasty (Joey Ryan & Scorpio Sky – Challengers)

El Generico vs. Rocky “Azúcar” Romero

RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma) vs. Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno & Player Dos)

Eddie Edwards vs. TJ Perkins

Willie Mack vs. Ryan Taylor

“Pretty” Peter Avalon vs. Brian Cage-Taylor

You Decide: Where does PWG rank in terms of the best American Indy Feds?

NOTE: Yes, I know I’m not being fair and balanced in my coverage, as Dragon Gate USA has a mid-west triple shop this weekend, with two cards being presented on iPPV. Time wasn’t on my side this week. That said, you can find that information at DGUSA.tv and WWNLive.com. I will attempt to provide the results next week.

Did I mention this was a weird week? Thanks to the magic of DVR, I did catch the opening NFL game (and what a thriller it turned out to be!) as well as Impact Wrestling. And I have to say that I am a sucker for action movie trailers. And Jason Statham. The guy is 100% badass. I know he’s typecast, and if he doesn’t care, neither can I. You always know what to expect from his movies: crazy-amazing fight scenes, funny one liners delivered with a trademark dry-wit, Statham sacking a perfect ten, and more unbelievable fight scenes. And they usually have a great soundtrack, too! That’s why I’m excited to see it.

By the way, The Scorpions’ “Rock You Like A Hurricane” was released 27 years ago, in 1984. And it still kicks ass.

Outside of the NFL, the UFC also grabbed my attention during this crazy week. We had already learned of the main event for UFC on FOX 1 as UFC Heavyweight World Champion Cain Velasquez will square off with Junior Dos Santos at the only card guaranteed to he shown on the live broadcast. This was originally slated for the San Jose UFC 139 PPV event, which now needs a new headliner.

But it was UFC 137 that saw the real changes. The Las Vegas card was originally headlined by WFC Welterweight World Champion Georges St. Pierre’s defends against former Strikeforce titleholder Nick Diaz, with BJ Penn vs. Carlos Condit as a very intriguing co-main. However, Diaz missed two straight press conferences (on Montreal and Vegas, respectfully), and Dana White pulled him from the card. Carlos Condit was bumped to the headliner in Diaz’s place. Diaz himself then posted a YouTube vid in response:

Really, Nick? Really? I know you didn’t want to be present for Dana’s “beauty pageant,” but press conferences are part of the business. If you don’t want to do them, don’t main event cards 9and expect main event money).

Now after the change was made, Dana White said he knew he couldn’t ever trust Nick Diaz again, but wasn’t sure if he’d cut him. He also had a “crazy” ides for BJ Penn’s UFC 137 opponent, since Penn is likely mighty pissed about the shake-up. When I heard this, I immediately thought of two possibilities: a catchweight fight with Rich Franklin, or BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz. Now, I know that Franklin vs. Penn doesn’t make sense as Rich hasn’t even fought at middleweight since 2008, and Penn would be making a huge jump up in weight of competition here. But Dana said his idea was crazy, and Rich hadn’t fought isnce February. Now I highly doubted either would happen, which is why I was still surprised when Penn vs. Diaz was announced.

In the middle of all of this was the announcement of Brock Lesnar’s return to the octagon, in a fight that is sure to provide some great sound-bites from the press conferences (which I assume both will be present as) against Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141 on Friday, December 30, also in Vegas.

You Decide: Obviously I don’t normally cover MMA, but I’m actually a huge fan. Do you follow MMA here on 411? You should, our staff is top notch. Check it out here.

Outside of being amazingly supportive (and a good friend) for me this week, our beloved Buggy Nova also indicated online that she wouldn’t be at NWA Hollywood this weekend. And I’m not so sure she’ll be back there, either. I hope I’m wrong in that speculation, but it appears that the Buggy vs. Candace LaRae First Blood Match is off until another promotion picks it up.

As you can see, this is a feud that MUST end! So if you follow a promotion—any promotion—in LA or the surrounding areas, let them know that they need to book Buggy vs. Candace and let these two ladies blow off the feud they’ve worked so hard to build. Don’t let Candace duck Buggy any longer! Plus, if it does get booked, I’ve promised Buggy that we can do the “verbal contract signing” live on the Greg DeMarco Show!

We all know what happened to last week’s show by now. But there’s still next Tuesday to look forward to!

And we have a great one coming up. Just a few days before Ring of Honor presents Death Before Dishonor IX live on iPPV from New York City, The Greg DeMarco Show welcomes the Action Soap Opera Superstar himself, Mike Bennett!

To listen to this Tuesday’s show, click here to go to the show’s page.

Don’t forget, we’re on iTunes now!

Through my research of videos for this week’s column, I came across one Darci Drake. She’s an indy chick for River City Wrestling in San Antonio, Texas, and it appears she originally hails from right here in Phoenix!

Did we do it again? Did we make another great discovery in the world of women’s indy wrestling? I’m thinking we might have! In fact, here is a video of Ms. Drake I found during this discovery:

I’d love to bring you more of Darci Drake in the future. Problem is… I’ve hit a roadblock. Here’s where I need your help. First off, Like Darci on Facebook. Second, put me in touch with her! It could lead to exposure for Darci and the promotions she works for, and another connection my readers get to make with the wrestling world.

Ladies and gentlemen… the search for Darci Drake is ON!

Get reading!

Randle’s Wrestling News Experience!
The News from Cook’s Corner!
Fact or Fiction!
Sarnecky’s Piledriver Report!
Ari’s Column of Honor!

I once again want to personally thank Larry Csonka, Jeremy Thomas and all of you for working with me this week. It’s been a strange one to say the least. I once had a wealthy, retired man tell me that getting shit-canned was the best thing that ever happened to him. I guess we’ll see if that’s true! Thanks to everyone else who sent along their support, especially my boy Patrick O’Dowd and the beautiful and talented Buggy!

Vote in Versus, talk about wrestling, have fun!

Oh, and one more thing. If you really liked last week’s edition of The Wrestling 5&1, apparently you can find it elsewhere…like right here! Am I missing something?

Until next time…

Listen to the show!