The Wrestling Sandwich 12.24.11

Welcome to Christmas weekend here at 411 and of course your Christmas Eve version of the Wrestling Sandwich! Rather than actually do any work this weekend for the holidays I’ve already gotten everything together earlier so you can read when you have the time and I can enjoy some $30 a pound proscuitto with a two-pound baked stuffed lobster on Christmas Eve night. The expensive stuff comes the next day!

Okay so I was glancing through the articles and found Aaron Frame taking my Golden Nuggets concept and, well, adding his own little spin to it. I also couldn’t help but notice that he called his worst writer award the Wes Kirk since obviously that’s alluding to me being a shit writer and all that. In his defense, he didn’t bash me but some of the readers were deluded to think Frame had more depth and research in his article than any of mine.

Look, hate me all you want but are you people high? Every week I go beyond just printed words from a propaganda piece to find the truth about anything I investigate. When was the last time anybody else actually went to Ticketmaster and checked listing after listing to see if there was a sellout? Or contacted a wrestling company claiming WWE had their show shut down and exposed them as a bunch of liars? We do research here, although apparently people would prefer if I just gave match ratings and told you who my favorite wrestler is every week. BORING! The simple fact my award style was emulated by Frame shows that I’m actually not a terrible writer because who wants to imitate a failure? More research goes into the Sandwich than pretty much any other column regularly although a few of the Piledriver Reports were massively well researched and I actually used the Montreal Screwjob research by Ronny as a blueprint to how investigation should be handled into matters rather than just towing a company line.

I also headed over to look through the recently posted Top 5 about wrestlers we hate and I noticed that a very key element of my piece was removed before publication. In the article, I attempted to mention something in regards to the comparison of the True Finn Party to the Tea Party and here is what you didn’t get to see:

“*Note* I didn’t have anywhere else to put this but Jack Stevenson is dead wrong about his comparison with Tony Halme and the True Finns to the Tea Party. Halme had a swastika tattoo on his ankle and belonged to a socialist party while the Tea Party, of which I am a member, is just a group of concerned citizens who do not want government overspending, do not want massive taxes, and are a group of people from all walks of life welcome to demonstrate peacefully and respectfully unlike Occupy movements. To compare a borderline-Nazi with the Tea Party is the type of mainstream media ignorance I’d expect from MS-NBC. Seriously comparing socialists with truly conservative capitalists? I feel bad for this generation.”

I understand there is a liberal bias on 411 because of comments like his being allowed to make it on publication and my rebuttals not making it but I can’t allow people to just be ignorant of the facts. We don’t crap on cars, rape people, shoot up drugs, or do any of the other disrespectful and illegal garbage Occupy and the like participated in. Also, we don’t hate entire races of people like the national socialist party did. Our main beef is with not only taxes but also where our money is going to, and how much we are spending that we simply do not have. Just so I can clear it up.

One of the commenters asked me what I would do to get TNA competitive against the WWE and try to aggressively raise buyrates and ratings to the point it would be a serious challenge. Okay, brief top five strategies:

1. Each and every TNA PPV would have a Money Back Guarantee that if the TNA Championship match ends in a DQ, countout, or draw your money will be refunded immediately. We will guarantee somebody wins in the main event every PPV or you get a refund. This would help to challenge the WWE to do something similar and force them to create better main event storylines to avoid having to pay out.
2. Negotiate a much better deal with another network that has top 10 network status in the Nielsens. SpikeTV isn’t seen by a lot of people despite the access it has, and TNA is the top show. Nobody watches SpikeTV regularly because there’s pretty much nothing on it and it has reruns and marathons of other shows constantly outside of TNA and until recently UFC. My primary target network would be FOX, or if I could convince ESPN to give us a spot on their network. Barring that, I’d attempt to work with any other top 10 network I can to boost ratings, awareness, and marketing of the product.
3. I’d fire the entire creative/booking team and start over with people who want to be there, who are smart, and who watch the damn product. Hogan, Russo, Prichard, Mantel, Jarrett would all be out of creative entirely. My ideal staff would be myself as head writer along with Jim Cornette, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, and a spot reserved for the best available independent wrestling booker at that time.
4. I’d fire the entire marketing department and bring in experts in the field, people who actually know how to negotiate with the other networks and bring us advertising all across the board in any sports or entertainment show possible. If any of Vince’s marketing staff were thinking about quitting, I’d make them a good offer to jump aboard and help us negotiate a better position
5. TNA Impact Wrestling would have a brand new formula in which we’d have at least one lengthy match every show so we could proudly proclaim that wrestling matters here. I’d attempt to hire the top five international and national tag teams for our division, bring in another five to six X-Division talents including Low-Ki and Jack Evans, and storylines would last a while and make perfect sense without being a WWE knockoff. Each week our X-Division, tag, Knockouts, midcarders, and main eventers would have a chance to shine and show what they are made of with at least one match given 15-20 minutes every episode. You would see brand new match types, intriguing new twists, and we’d stay behind our wrestlers and ensure they are happy with their job rather than just doing it because they have to. A happy, motivated locker room is the key to all of this.

As you learn in business school, you have to keep your guys interested in their job and willing to put it all on the line for you because if not, you will fail. If you cannot resolve disputes and look like a competent leader trying to do the best for everybody that you can, people will lose hope and interest and start looking for a job elsewhere while mailing in their performance. Wrestlers want to be let loose and be given the chance to WRESTLE, I’d give them that chance and throw out the cancers backstage keeping things from working.

Top Stories of the Week!

1. Weekly Ratings Roundup

TNA Impact Wrestling – 1.1, 1.6 million viewers – up 230,000 viewers from last week, rating is slightly up
WWE Smackdown – 1.9, 2.8 million viewers – down 11% from last week
WWE Tribute to the Troops Saturday NBC replay – Unknown final rating, 0.6 in 18-49 demo, 2 million viewers
WWE RAW – 2.9, 4.3 million viewers average – Hour 1 was 3.04, Hour 2 was 2.81 – third week under 3.0

Not exactly the greatest of weeks for professional wrestling or sports entertainment, huh?

Impact is the only company that saw a rise in the ratings, albeit a small one and a decent boost of 230,000 extra viewers from the past two weeks. Smackdown dropped back to reality after hitting over a 2.2 for what was apparently a one-off situation, and RAW once again dropped under a 3 to a 2.9 overall rating with the second hour losing viewers again. There was a good comparison posted to the RAW after TLC last year which reads:

“One year ago, the December 20th Raw following the TLC PPV did a 3.27 rating against the NFL and History Channel programs. The demographics were higher as well.”

Not very good news for the WWE. While I am not one of the people screaming, “WWE IS DYIIINNNNNG!” I do believe they may be headed for some significant difficulty in keeping a substantial profit, as far as a loss goes that may end up happening depending on the power of the WWE Network and if it can actually keep anybody interested in it. My opinion is the network will likely fold within a year, especially with the new information that is out about it, which I’ll talk about a little later. Tribute to the Troops was down slightly compared to the same show last year, although the final rating was not posted anywhere but the demo and viewers were posted in an NBC press release.

PPV News: 2011 Survivor Series preliminary buyrate: Within 300,000-310,000 buys, Up from 240,000 in 2010.

The good news is that Vince McMahon can take a deep breath because The Rock was able to bring 60,000 extra buys to the PPV, estimated. The bad news is that the last PPV the Rock wrestled on did over two times that with WrestleMania in 2004 teaming with Mick Foley against Evolution. The potentially good or bad news is that the preliminaries are sometimes way off, 50,000 buys or more, from the actual number up or down so this could still be a bad thing or it could be a very bad thing.

Seriously, for that card you got 300k and you think you have enough people to buy into this WWE Network? Rock brings in 60,000 now but what if The Rock CANNOT bring in more people during WrestleMania? What if it doesn’t even break a million buys? At this point in time, that is something to consider. The one show that usually delivers every single year is WrestleMania, but will this be true one more time in 2012? The statistics show that from 1987-2011 WrestleMania broke the one million-buy barrier EIGHT times and came very close three times, with 1985 and 1986 not listed for whatever reason. Also, in an interesting note Survivor Series has not raised above 400,000 buys since 2001!

UK Ratings

TNA Impact (Dec 11) – estimated 195,000 viewers
WWE RAW – (Dec 5) – 141,000 viewers
WWE Smackdown (Dec 9) – Did not register enough viewers for a rating

Ouch, Smackdown! As usual Impact is steamrolling the competition in the United Kingdom, despite what the naysayers are going on and on about. WWE chose to be on this particular channel with this limited viewership while TNA chose to be on a better timeslot with free viewership because WWE wanted more money and TNA wanted more people to have access to its product.

Seriously, Smackdown, major ouch factor.

2. TNA Impact Quick Recap

1. AJ Styles and Kazarian defeated RVD/Christopher Daniels when Kazarian hit the Fade to Black on Daniels **1/2
2. Best of Three: Tony Nese defeated Zema Ion with a roll-up to tie the series 1-1 **1/4
2. Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara was a no-contest when both women attacked Madison Rayne ** only for storyline progression – Madison is the new VP of the Knockouts Division.
3. Eric Young and ODB defeated Anarquia and Shannon Moore when ODB kicked Anarquia in the yam bag region and pinned him **1/2
4. Street Fight Tag Match: Sting and Jeff Hardy defeated Bully Ray and Robert Roode when Hardy splashed Roode through a table for the pinfall. ***1/4

Best Booking of the Night: The main event – got a lot of time and it delivered

Worst Booking of the Night: Knockouts Division Match – Went on way too long for what it was supposed to accomplish

Once again, Impact put on a good show and emphasized the importance of women in wrestling by having not only a six and a half minute Knockouts match (albeit too long for the storyline it is advancing) but also ODB in a tag team tournament for a shot at the belts. This sends a good message as guys in TNA will job to a Knockout if it is believable and about 90% of you reading this would probably get knocked out by ODB so it damn sure is. She’d never knock me out because I help pay her salary, of course.

Sting and Hardy actually did well together and if Sting was even ten years younger they would have been able to put on a four and a half star match against the right team. For a man of his age, Sting actually seems to have improved in this match and working with veterans as well as picking and choosing his spots paid off. Did you see Hardy and Sting do a synchronous pescado over the top rope? Sting looked like he was twenty years younger in that spot.

All the Genesis matches and events were referenced and given time. We now know that Storm/Angle will have a rematch, Devon and Pope finally will wrestle each other, the winner of Nese-Ion next week faces off against Austin Aries, Kid Kash, and Jesse Sorensen in a four-way for the X-Division gold, and Morgan and Crimson fight the winners of the Wild Card tag team match so you have some good potential here already.

3. WWE Network Update

Some information about the long-term network plans came out so I’ll comment on that in italics with the information in quotes:

“* WWE’s long-term plans are for the Network to be much more than just professional wrestling themed programming. The company is working on several different concepts for programming, and used some developmental talent to shoot some pilot material last week. Some programming will include behind the scenes discussion shows similar to what VH-1 presents for music.”

You are kidding, right? All the options right now on free or relatively free television to show all of these not just wrestling programs and they are going to spend around $10 a month to watch them on a wrestling network? Oh brother.

“* WWE plans to use the WWE fan base to create a push to request the Network on their providers and plans to bring some of the existing WWE wrestling programming (PPV events, NXT, Superstars, new live events) to the Network. They are trying to force the Network into being carried, and internally, the hope is that it will become their most important intellectual property, as they’ll have a continuous base to promote and market the company and their products.”

In other words, the WWE wants to put some of their PPV’s on the Network so the miserable buyrate numbers go away, and NXT and Superstars finally finds the one network that won’t cancel them. Forcing the Network to be carried? That sounds like they really don’t have as much demand as they do massively delusional dreams for this undertaking.

“* WWE hopes to find outside of the box original programming that won’t be wrestling related to help brand and build the Network once they get established. Sources say this is similar to the History Channel, as Pawn Stars isn’t exactly in the mold of that network. WWE hopes to reach out to producers and find original content that they can use in that kind of way.”

Vince, just a couple of quick reminders:

Do you know what all of those things have in common? They were pitched as new content outside the mold of professional wrestling or had some wrestling theme but still failed miserably. As I recall, the Record Studio had ONE BAND signed to it and they quit, the restaurant bombed, Niagara Falls project bombed, ICOPRO is probably still sitting in gigantic storehouses waiting to be purchased, and the WBF is wondering when it will finally come back to television. All of these things bombed, your Network is going to bomb too. Take it from me, and save some bucks! If WWE 24/7 Classics On Demand couldn’t handle it, you WILL lose money on this network.

“* The plan for the network is to eventually brand WWE as more of a lifestyle brand instead of just a “sports-entertainment/pro wrestling” company. Vince McMahon has been pushing the company to cultivate this idea for years.”

Yeah this thing is going to fail hard and fast. Get ready for a gigantic train wreck starting on April 1st, 2012! ALL ABOARD! And I feel it is also my duty to point out Iron Sheik will NOT be featured in the Legends House show, which is likely going to be PG along with most of the network content. There goes that idea!

4. Well Its The Big Show…’s Latest Heel Turn Toniiiiight

Obviously at this point rumors are flying that Big Show will turn heel against Daniel Bryan very shortly. More to the point, the Show already has a potential match at WrestleMania as Shaq apparently is interested in facing Show at the event as reported earlier this week. So, now the seven foot five hundred pound giant can lose to an aging basketball star in addition to the giant sumo wrestler Akebono and undefeated lightweight Floyd Mayweather and go 0-3 against celebrity athletes. Seriously would it kill Shaq’s career for a newly heel Big Show to put him through the mat with a choke slam or knock him out with the WMD? Looks like Bryan and Show are in for an interesting ride!

Smartest Thing of the Week: WWE Utilizes iTunes for the Holidays

WWE did do something very wise this past week and actually for the last few months, and that is utilize iTunes and their massive library of theme music to sell everybody’s theme song on the roster to their fans. A long time ago, we used to receive a CD once a year if we were lucky with select songs, but now you could pick up anybody’s theme right off of WWE’s iTunes store for a little over a dollar! In 1998 we would have killed for this! Recently, Kane made his big return against Cena and a week after he returned his new killer theme song is posted on iTunes right before Christmas… a very smart move. The past few months have seen numerous songs make it on the list and with Christmas coming up and those iTunes cards flying like crazy WWE will benefit greatly from making their music available as people have asked for years and years. I’ve already bought a bunch and will continue to support good decisions WWE makes. If you haven’t already checked out the store, what are you waiting for? And before you ask, yes AJ’s theme song is there so go buy it already!

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Alicia Fox vs. Beth Phoenix – What The Hell?

Let me see if I can get this straight in my mind: You put on a match between Beth and Kelly that goes about five minutes maximum on TLC’s PPV, unannounced, and for the title and give Beth the victory. The next night Alicia wins in under a minute clean against the champion in a non-title match? Apparently, in this company you can get rewarded for doing nothing and actually looking worse in the ring than you did before with a title match against one of the most underappreciated Divas they have on the roster. When Kharma comes back she might as well feud with Natalya alone because Beth is going to be beaten to a pulp by a bunch of Barbie dolls and have no reputation left. Seriously, if you don’t believe WWE has a creative team look at the TLC match booking and the RAW booking and tell me somebody doesn’t have it out for poor Beth!

The Bad and The WTF From Two Weeks Ago

The Bad

“Care to debunk any of my points instead of posting silly little doodles Mr Kirk? You can’t because you rely on mainstream sources, expertly designed to keep thickos like yourself totally ignorant of the facts. Keep eating uselessly and repeating endlessly, it’s all you’re good for.

Posted By: Piracy Theorist (Guest) on December 03, 2011 at 08:16 PM”

Let me remember… Oh, right, you think Jewish people are behind the end of the world or something, America is 200 trillion in debt, and Alex Jones is really a conspiracy person instead of exposing it and all that? Debunking your points is as simple as not eating paint chips for breakfast the past ten years. You’re obviously a lunatic who needs to be locked away… Oh wait, for me saying that I’m in on the conspiracy too right? Am I a Bilderberg? Uh oh. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence; start producing it and maybe people will not think you are a wacko.

On your hand? Well, let me put it this way… Until you present the evidence of your statements, this is you.

“I wonder if Wes has the balls to put his money where his mouth is?

I have a friendly wager for you:

If Obama wins next year, you leave 411 and never return.

If Obama loses next year, all of us who leave negative comments trashing you will no longer do so and will instead keep our comments restrained to your wrestling opinion, without the vitriol.

If Obama is as horrible as you say, then this bet is a no brainer. You will certainly win and you can hold it over our heads forever.

Posted By: Barry O (Guest) on December 03, 2011 at 06:49 PM”

That depends on whether or not all the other posters follow suit. See, you can’t tell me that people won’t say anything terrible unless you know all of them and have some sort of influence. What if I agree, he loses, and they still say the same things? If you are willing to put something up on the line and provide proof of it, perhaps then we can have a deal. If you think he’s that sure to be elected, how about this:

If Obama wins, I quit writing the Sandwich forever. If Obama loses, you give me your car and/or your house. What do you say? Oh, and of course I’ll require proof for this bet that you actually own the materials you would be putting on the line as well as a lawyer to put it all in writing my friend.

“Carlos had something to say regarding people not going out of their way to watch WWE OR TNA and asked for an explanation

Posted By: Carlos (Guest) on December 03, 2011 at 04:18 PM”

Unfortunately Carlos, things are not the same way they were in the 1980’s because back then you had about 30-50 choices in what to watch at any given moment. So, if something was on television it generally did well in that period of time because there was little competition unlike today in which 2,000 channels come standard in some packages.

People today want to watch what they want when they want. With DVR technology and On Demand videos, they can literally do that, so why would they stay up and watch a show if they don’t have to? Back then if you missed SNME you had to wait for your friends to tell you what happened because there was no Internet, or wait for a magazine with the results. The reason nobody stays up late anymore would have to do with the instant satisfaction generation we have. When is the last time you stayed up two or three hours past your usual time to sleep to watch something? Or did you just click “record program” and watch it the next day?

“Carlos also thinks I am massively biased for TNA

Posted By: Carlos (Guest) on December 03, 2011 at 04:21 PM”

This was Carlos’ second post and I would like to speak on this matter.

If you click on pretty much any article on 411 outside of mine, you will generally find a lot of TNA bashing and “smarkish” jokes about the product, which is the writer’s opinion, and they certainly can say what they feel. However, when all the columns but one on a site bash the product it no longer becomes entertaining as much as pathetic. I do have a bias because I want TNA to succeed and I want WWE to start sweating again, like they did during the Monday Night Wars when they actually had to put on good programming. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it here again that competition breeds the best for the customer. If we had ONLY one cable company or ONLY one wireless company providing the majority of the supply, we’d be getting screwed. With all the competition available, they scramble to get and keep new customers and produce new products and innovate the industry to become #1. WWE NEEDS to fight for that #1 spot; otherwise they will be complacent and put the shows on cruise control as they have been doing. To root against the success of a real wrestling company like TNA and not a joke like UWF or CZW just increases the status quo rather than changes it.

“BLAH BLAH BLAH C WORD C WORD AREN’T I COOL!

tna does not go on the road often for tv or ppv because THEY LOSE MONEY when they do it. when tna offers ridiculous sales on their sites, they do it because only shitheads like wes kirk would pay full price for tna’s garbage. drop dead wes kirk and let me know where they will bury you so wwe fans can urinate on your grave.

Posted By: Guest#6488 (Guest) on December 03, 2011 at 05:11 AM”

David Otunga never graduated Harvard University. While on NXT Season 1, he stated that he quit Harvard to persue his dream of being a WWE Superstar. Also if you see his wikipedia page here it clearly states he attended, but not graduated, Harvard Law. If you saw the NXT season you would understand, so much for being such a huge WWE fan you don’t even know that simple fact.

I urinate on a Harvard diploma, bud. It is widely known that Harvard and other Ivy League schools have a process of acceptance that goes like this: 1/3rd of freshmen must be minorities to qualify for grants and federal money, 1/3rd of freshmen must be rich and/or legacy students whose parents attended before them, and 1/3rd must be the top students across the country from their high schools. Therefore, only 33% of the Harvard freshmen are there because of their brains, and it is well known that the school is far from difficult to pass once you get in which is the hardest part. These schools are also known for having left-wing zealots as professors who force people to regurgitate Marxist garbage to graduate, and if you tell them something they like you graduate. As far as that lovely request for my burial goes I’d provide instructions for the WWE fans but most of them can’t read past a fifth grade level as your post proves conclusively. However, at least people would bother to take time to see me when I’m gone unlike you who obviously can only complain and whine and attack people over the Internet because nobody likes you.

“Right wing turd column… (edited for time, and thank god because it was boring as hell)

Posted By: L. (Guest) on December 04, 2011 at 01:15 PM”

As always, when it comes to your opinion about visiting or not visiting?

See you next week, sheep! By the way, this is a wrestling column. You want sports entertainment look at the other columns.

The WTF

I’m still trying to make sense of this one:

“I like the part where Little Wesley totally proves me right about him needing to be a sad troll in order to fill his column. The fact that his ego was clearly bruised is just a sweet bonus.

P.S. We don’t really have the trailer-trash stereotype here in DOWN UNDER and my Dad’s a teetotaler: better consult the next page of your BABBY’S 1ST TROLL handbook if you wanna try this again.

Posted By: Ice Dagger (Guest) on December 04, 2011 at 05:07 AM”

I’ll attempt to explain.

As far as the final two sentences, I’m afraid I don’t speak idiot so I’ll just have to gently brush aside that extra B in baby’s and hope whatever he was trying to say made him feel a lot better about teetotaling his dad, whatever that may mean. Good luck regaining a semblance of sanity and honor, sir.

Take 5

Wrestler To Watch: Daniel Bryan

Props must be given to the man who deserves them for becoming the World Heavyweight Champion for the very first time in his career, and that is the former American Dragon himself Daniel Bryan. Bryan has worked very hard to join the WWE and become a star, and despite Michael Cole doing everything he can to ruin him any chance he’s on camera Daniel has been able to make a star out of himself and put on some clinics with various wrestlers throughout the federation. With his World Title victory thanks to the briefcase Bryan avoids being the first to lose the MITB cash-in and also has a longer world title reign than Dolph Ziggler…

Okay, okay it was a cheap shot. Anyway, Bryan will have to worry not only about Mark Henry when he’s finished his rehab on a pulled groin but also Big Show who seemingly is going to go heel and probably do some serious demolition of a certain guy who stole his world title away. This is make or break time for Bryan as a main eventer, so let us all hope that the man who actually worked to become a main eventer without making friends in the right places and sleeping with the boss’ daughter to get to the top is successful in his first championship run.

Promo of the Week: Sting Walks Out On WCW

In 1996, the nWo was the hottest thing going and everybody wanted to be a part of it. At one particular Nitro, a wrestler dressed as Sting attacked Lex Luger that the nWo had bought off in an effort to either bring Sting into the organization or make him look like an enemy. Sting realized that things had to change and had to change fast, so he began his change into the “Crow” Sting with this promo and his walking out of Nitro because nobody believed that the fake Sting wasn’t him. The next time we’d see Sting, he would look quite different!

Babe To Watch: Winter

It is the end of December, and frankly whom else should we showcase on this particular month but the girl named for the season that begins in it? Winter has come at last and after seeing this gorgeous brunette we should all be super grateful for cold days and snow because it pretty much never looked this good. The former Knockouts tag team and singles champion hasn’t been doing too much lately, but no doubt in 2012 things will start improving as the Division feels that winter chill coming along when the time is right! This is a custom Tron from a user on YouTube who shows some good potential in the music video world with this excellent project:

Match of the Week To Watch: Kamala vs. Bastion Booger

We celebrate the technical fundamentals of professional wrestling with the pinnacle of wrestling excellence, Bastion Booger taking on Kamala in a battle of the big men. Unparalled wrestling excellence between two of the greatest of our generation or any other would then follow, and if you don’t believe me that’s because I’m full of it and just posting this because I came across it the other day searching for something else. Pretty horrible huh? Here’s how you kill a crowd fast!

Mystery Section to Watch: Volk Han’s Shoot Figure Four

Everybody knows I like submission holds by now and I thought I’d share this particular one with you from one of my favorite shoot wrestlers, Volk Han. This particular hold is a “shoot figure four” in the fact it is, well, a figure four that you really have no choice in preventing the way it is applied. If you take a look at this, you’ll also see why facing off with Volk Han in a match is probably the easiest way to end up in the hospital with a broken leg. Note the excellent reversal into a heel hook that can be applied as well, another of my favorites!

The Good, The Bad, and The… WTF?

The Good

“

“I think the problem isn’t the wrestlers, it’s the office. It’s the directors of the wrestlers. They’re not doing a good enough job. I don’t think they understand the talent they have. Sometimes I can pull my hair out watching the TV going, ‘Geez, they have so much great talent, but the shows are the same every week. I’m so sick of all the characters they got.’ Some of them are great, but the wrestling industry, which is basically WWE, is waiting for the next guy to pull the sword out of the stone. They’re waiting for the next big superstar. I don’t know who he is, but he’s out there. He might be some guy at a wrestling school right now hoping he’s going to make it. Somebody’s got to come along. Somebody always does. It could be another five years. Wrestling needs a new star, somebody with a new gimmick.” Quote by Bret Hart, what do you think Kirk

Posted By: Guest#7084 (Guest) on December 17, 2011 at 12:42 AM”

I agree almost completely.

The one main problem is that things are very predictable and the big names that return are the same big names that always return… UT, HHH, Jericho, Kane, and so on and so forth. We don’t have the type of real suspense or shock we had during the Attitude Era when the ‘net was just starting to take shape but that’s only partly the fault of people who dig and find out a surprise before we’re ready for it. The main fault is the promoters who continually micromanage everything to DEATH and even require talent to get permission for a haircut before they go out in WWE. The Attitude era did so well because in part, the wrestlers used their own ideas and concepts and made their own gimmicks, their own promos, and they were able to give their all every time they came out there. Remember Mr. Socko and Head? Al Snow actually created the Mr. Socko gimmick and Mick Foley created the Head gimmick and they used the other person’s creation. Vince, Rock, Austin all just amped up their real life selves. I think they need to stop waiting for that superstar and take the booking off autopilot and focus on the stars they do have right now. The one thing I disagree with is that there will be someone who will be able to do as Austin, Rock, Hogan, and Piper did in the past but readers of this column already know my reasoning why.

“Now that is interesting and I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks now.

Back in teh day there was a guy I couldn’t stand who wrote for a now-gone website. The guy drove me mad every week and the comments section was filled with bile without fail.

But what was odd was, I found I couldn’t wait to read the guy even though I thought I hated him. Every week, without fail, his column was my first read of the day.

And then, over time, I got it, as did many others.The comments slowly but surely turned to praise as people appreciated what the writer was doing and respected him.

His name was Chris Hyatte.

And since those days, there hasn’t been another writer who’s had that effect… until now. I have a feeling we’re going to regard Wes Kirk very differently a few years down the line.

Thanks Wes.

Posted By: Bob (Guest) on December 17, 2011 at 04:06 AM”

Thanks Bob. This actually is something I’m very proud to hear as Hyatte was a very early influence on me when he worked here at 411!

“How Michael Cole isn’t the worst on almost every “Worst of” List is beyond me.

See the Victory Road incident wasn’t a Lockdown or BFG and it didn’t really affect TNA. Sure it was a horrible moment but it had no long-term effects. By the way no TNA fan defended it. At first we were confused then when the reports came out about Hardy we didn’t overreact but we agreed about the suspension. Hell alot of TNA fans still aren’t sold on Hardy and feel that this is his last shot, 3rd strike.

Michael Cole however is complete opposite. Every week in the Raw report someone mentions how they watch Raw on mute (not quite sure if its different people or just the same guy repeating the same thing) and Brad B’s hate of him.

Michael Cole a non-wrestler has also been pushed harder than at least 80% of the roster. He’s had more TV and promo time then the IC and US champions at times and that is no BS.

He’s been unbearable on commentary. He adds NOTHING to heels, he buries Daniel Bryan and the divas and people wonder why no one gives a shit about them.

A good heel comentator is someone like Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, JBL or even Lawler of the 90s. They added to matches, they added to heel characters etc. Michael Cole does the opposite. I’ve watched matches on mute because Michael Cole was just so terrible.

And let’s not forget the matches. The biggest PPV of the year with the biggest buyrate had people sitting through this abomination. His WM match was LONGER than the World Title match. It bored the crowd and Stone Cold Steve Austin was apart of the match. How is it possible to piss a crowd off with Stone Cold involved? Actually I checked, Cole vs. Lawler was longer than 5 matches and felt like 30 and the WWE dropped the US title match for that? Hell at Extreme Rules the Cole match was another 7 minutes and they FINALLY got it right at Over the Limit

How about the fact that Cole vs. JR was somehow WORSE than Cole vs. Lawler.

Michael Cole makes you want to change the channel that is the worst thing a commentator should do. A commentator should add to a match, make the drama ever more dramatic but Cole sucks the drama out of it with his stupid catch phrases and lack of proper emotion.

To end it, to paraphrase Brad B, Cole has not improved in 14 years and the only reason he keeps his job is because he’s good at following anything Vince tells him.

Posted By: Guest#7828 (Guest) on December 17, 2011 at 09:56 AM”

This is actually a very good comment and I figured that I would post it because of the great points being made.

Michael Cole is not the heel we boo or dislike because he is a heel and he is annoying. We hate him, at least I do, because he contributes nothing to the product and has been allowed to basically sit there and call events for fourteen long years without actually improving one bit. He’s actually become more annoying by pretending to have a personality and I just tune him out as much as possible. WWE thinks it is because people are interested in the character but hopefully they’ll get it someday.

“Deal me in on the bet.

I’m a republican and I think even a moron like Ron Paul would wipe the floor with Obama come November.

So when the Republicans win in a landslide, every moronic liberal here sends Wes $1 and he sends it on to the Conservative cause of his choice.

I saw somebody suggested $10…but that’s too much. You deadbeats barely have enough in your welfare check to buy crystal meth, so how could you afford $10?

Posted By: Guest#5888 (Guest) on December 17, 2011 at 06:01 PM”

5888, they have been trying to raise $100 to fire me since April. So much for community organizing, right? Just like every other thing liberals have attempted, it is a gigantic failure!

“The Nugget Awards were an awesome success, Wes. Thanks for bringing me a laugh on my birthday. My initial (full detailed) write up wasn’t posted by the moderator (thanks, ass). Nonetheless, Great Job!

As for WWE ’12, dont give up trying to download TNA wrestlers. The server IS bad 95% of the time, but occasionally if you keep trying, you’ll log in some decent time. I’ve gotten an impressive iMPACT zone/ ring and have my own TNA stable, which kicks MAJOR ass when playing a Rumble match. It’s funny that a video game inVasion angle is lightyears better than the one the W_E did in 2001 with wCw.

Off topic, what’re your thoughts on President Gingrich? Would you be in favor of that? If not, who would be YOUR idea of a legit winner next year? It’s funny that assholes on here are willing to bet your column on the result of the election. One things for sure, Obama’s moving out of DC soon!

Posted By: Spencer Mallard (Guest) on December 18, 2011 at 08:15 PM”

Unfortunately I can’t do anything about the moderators, they answer to a Higher Power and no that isn’t Vince McMahon.

Oh they can bet all they want, this is the same group of people who wanted me fired, who wanted another writer fired, who want TNA removed from 411 coverage, who actually think CZW and UWF are legitimate wrestling federations, and so on. In other words, complete and utter failures! As I said in the earlier Good/Bad/WTF segment, I’ll be happy to put my career on the line if people have the PROOF what they bet they actually own and they actually do put it up for grabs. I do believe Obama will be moving out of D.C and after this record I don’t think he’ll be able to win an election for dog catcher in Illinois!

The Bad

“Well I’m glad he took the time to answer what I said, but even with how he explained it..I still don’t see it on the Jeff/Sting deal.

Like I said, I admitted Cole and King sucked the big one..terribly.

I mean damn at least neither of them went out there stoned out of their minds..

WWE wouldn’t let a performer wrestle impaired where they might endanger someone’s well being.

What does it say about TNA that they let Jeff go out there, stumbling around, making an arse of himself? I mean that is just bad.

I’m not sure Melina wasn’t a little bit out of it at the 2007 Survivor Series, but at least that wasn’t the main event..I just really can’t get past that.

I appreciate your opinion on it, but it still really bugs me that TNA even let him go out there like that..I don’t see the logic..

Sure you could say “Well he was advertised to the fans” but there is always “Card Subject to Change” and that should come into play when you can’t deliver at least a somewhat decent ending to your show.

Posted By: Baboon (Guest) on December 17, 2011 at 12:57 AM”

WWE won’t let a performer walk out and wrestle impaired, eh? What do you call somebody getting in the ring at WrestleMania 26 with post-concussion syndrome and who suffered a stroke eight years earlier?

This isn’t really a -bad- comment, by the way. I had nowhere else to really put it. Also, if you said Melina was possibly a little out of it at Survivor Series how can you say WWE wouldn’t let a performer wrestle while impaired? To even allow Bret Hart to compete after his massive injuries to the point Lloyds of London was ready to cancel their policy with him was very poor taste as one wrong move and Hart might not have been with us. That, also, was a main event match that year.

“Geez Wes, your argument about movie draws is a bit flawed. Unless I’m reading your data incorrectly, John Cena starred in 3 movies that gained a combined $10.2 million.

Please explain to me how Ted Dibiase & Mr. Anderson made more $$$ than John Cena???

I may be “insayne”, but I can still do basic math…

Posted By: Insayne Wayne (Guest) on December 17, 2011 at 02:07 PM”

Right, of course.

I said in the past SEVERAL YEARS, not overall. Dibiase and Anderson’s only movies came out a couple of years ago while Cena’s only profitable movie was The Marine 2 and every other movie he has starred in has bombed. Overall Cena would indeed be most profitable but only if you went all the way back to the very first movie he made. If you look at the most recent three years, it has been Anderson and Dibiase with profit and no loss in their direct-to-DVD films which did better than Cena’s, HHH’s, Big Show’s, and Randy Orton’s movies!

“Wes, you’re a wrestling writer, no? use some wrestling booking skills on US politics for two seconds and you’ll see why the Republicans will need a miracle to pull this off. (And yes, the skillset applies. It’s all about selling the person, and exposure and narrative, as well as “wins” and “heat” are a part of that. Heck, Ron Paul might as well be Zack Ryder.)

TNA’s build of Robert Roode into BFG was the blueprint for a GOP build. You’ve got the established champion already, and the primaries are nothing but a tournament designed to get candidates over and test the waters. Someone strong appears FAIRLY EARLY and gets over with the crowd. Narrative wraps around them and after winning the primaries, the stage is set for the next year of election. NOTE: The problem is that we’re caught in a stangant primary with no clear candidate. They’ll eventually settle on Romney, but we’ve gotten so tired of seeing these people for months on end with no compelling reason to rally behind ANY of them that by the time regular election season comes round and Obama has to start politicking again, it’s almost like the triumphant return of a wrestler who’s been out for a while. He’s going to be over without even trying because he’s got talking points we haven’t heard replayed for months and months. He’ll feel fresh and won’t have used all his tricks already. Can you name ONE candidate from the GOP who will still have a move or two up their sleeve by the time next June comes around, LET ALONE October?

Incumbent elections are always hard on the opposition, and the GOP have just made it harder on themselves.

Smart money’s on Obama, cause he needs to defend the title to look like a strong champion, and it looks like whoever comes out of the primaries is going to be either a generic, uncharismatic face, or some mid-carder who got elevated too quickly. 2012 has job written all over the Republican ballot.

And about Sting/Hardy, I still say it was worse than Cole/Lawler because of expectations. Cole/Lawler was crap booking, and was never going to be ANY good. That Jeff took a match with potential and turned it into a 90 second embarrassment… He let us down, and for that it was the worst match of the year.

And I think Sting would agree.

Posted By: Carlos (Guest) on December 17, 2011 at 07:03 PM”

So you want me to analyze a political situation as I would a wrestling situation?

You have to admit, it is a pretty good comparison considering!

The WTF

“Obviously, yours is utter shite you douche bag. Because, as you see, we are not talking about the fucking settlers! We are talking about the Founders! Kirk himself mentions the FOUNDERS above. Yes, the settlers were Puritans, Church of England, etc. But they are not the founders of our nation, our government, our Constitution…nothing. They just fucking landed here.

Yeah, Deism wasn’t really mentioned on paper until around the 1620s…ya know, around the the lifetime of JOHN LOCKE, the man credited with the philosophy behind much of our nations moral code and constitution.

So I’m sorry you to decided to use sarcasm to deem me an expert while praising the historical knowledge of Wes Kirk. But the FACTS have already been stated by myself, no matter how misinformed you make yourself out to be. You are wrong. Kirk is wrong. Deal with it.

Posted By: Erik… (Guest) on December 18, 2011 at 04:07 AM”

I was going to comment on this but I decided to use another poster’s wisdom instead because it frankly is a way better comment than anything I was going to make.

Honestly, that would be the year 1913 when the progressive Woodrow Wilson got the Income Tax passed. From there, we ended up going one step further every ten years or so until now we have massive welfare, guaranteed loans, propping up failing companies with taxpayer dollars even though the management is incompetent, guaranteed acceptance to school regardless of ability, the Ponzi scheme known as social security, and over 40 million people depend on food stamps just to have something to eat. Once the Progressives got their influence in, things went steadily downhill although at first it took some time. Reagan pushed the clock backward but then with Clinton everything finally went to hell and it has been that way since.

And lastly, as Christmas is just about upon all of us I’d like to wish all of you the best Christmas possible, and to do so I’m going to need a little help. Our nation needs leadership in the worst way and the greatest leader I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching in our time is Ronald Reagan. This is his special Christmas address to the American people in 1981, and something that I think we can all enjoy regardless of political affiliation as it is a truly beautiful scene in the White House.