The Wrestling Sandwich 01.14.12

After taking a look at the comments section last week I noticed there are a lot of bitter, angry people commenting lately and I decided to try and figure out exactly why that is. Is it because their choice for idiot-in-chief is on a downward spiral that even one billion dollars can’t fix? Is it because WWE buyrates have been getting worse every year? Maybe it has to do with the fact that WWE has been caught lying to the fans and they simply don’t want to believe they got suckered?

I think the more accurate answer is I was right on many issues and they were wrong.

Hey, nobody likes to admit they were wrong. I do my fair share of it, but some of you really believe you are the second coming of Nostradamas and when you are proven wrong you just can’t stand it and go on angry tirades in the comment section because you have no other place to vent. One commenter even had the wonderful wisdom to support his anger by claiming that WWE only “lied once” and therefore aren’t liars! Newsflash buddy: You lie once, you are a liar! Attempting to rationalize and explain why WWE isn’t really wrong is just the pathetic shell most of these people have become trying to deal with reality and failing miserably at it. The troll face isn’t even worth using because it is just so sad right now. Oh and then you have the people who claim I’m saying WWE is going to die this year, or next year, and so on… I never said WWE is going to die anytime soon, I said that their numbers are bad and if the Network fails like it probably will it could end up losing money every quarter. The easiest way to counteract that is to axe the Network and then resume their normal routine to go back in the black each quarter, but the question is if McMahon will be too stubborn and insistent as this has been an idea of his for years to launch and if he doesn’t face reality, he too will be a victim of history regardless of what miracles he pulled off for the business in the past.

People also beat me up about the UK ratings. To quote James Storm to the ETards that constantly whine about the ratings showing TNA over WWE, “Sorry about your damn luck!” You claim WWE is more popular than TNA in the United Kingdom yet the ratings show TNA as the top watched wrestling program in ten years. The ratings show TNA beating WWE almost every single week. Are all of those people wrong? Are the ratings somehow switched around? Accept the fact TNA has better ratings than WWE most weeks in the U.K (I said MOST weeks not all) and deal with it. Denial is not going to make anything change except people’s perception of you.

Another issue was that WWE hasn’t made any major stars in the last ten years. Did you understand the term “major star” or just plain decided to troll me like you accuse me of doing? The bottom line on this is that WWE has not produced a mainstream hit since the days of The Rock and Steve Austin in the late 1990’s! In the 1980’s, Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper were very well known outside of the wrestling world. In 2012, we have John Cena as the top wrestling star who does a few awards shows and has a cameo here and there on a USA produced show but what about his mainstream appeal? All but one of his movies lost more than it cost to make, merchandise sales for Cena are down, and ultimately there is no crossover appeal anywhere. USA shows have him because he’s on RAW and it does well for the network! Cena is not a major star outside of wrestling like Hogan, Flair, Piper, Rock, and Austin have been able to become but instead he’s only good in the role as a wrestler, and Vince doesn’t want him called by that name either. Seriously, what will the first decade of the new millennium be known for besides having John Cena and Randy Orton help oversee the biggest drop in interest of professional wrestling for over forty years?

Now, I have to return to my 411 Staff Rumble training. To the news!

Top Stories of the Week!

1. Weekly Ratings Roundup

TNA Impact – 1.1, 1.6 million viewers (down slightly in rating points, higher in viewers)
WWE Smackdown – 1.8, 2.5 million viewers (down in both ratings and viewership)
WWE RAW – 2.9, 4 million viewers (down in rating and viewership, hour 1 2.96 hour 2 2.77)

For all the people talking about how absolutely awesome the Jericho return happened to be…

Impact had the best news of a really bad week for wrestling shows by taking only a slight hit in the rating but going up in viewership for the night. Smackdown took a smack to 1.8 and lost viewers as well, as a matter of fact lowest number of viewers since August 5th, 2011. RAW was the biggest disappointment as it only drew 4 million viewers with a 2.9 overall, and the second hour dropping over 250,000 viewers once again. The worst news is that RAW has not been up against NFL football last Monday but instead was against a college football game, which was used heavily as an excuse about why the rating dropped. So, when NFL was running regular season games between great teams and RAW was in the 3’s that’s fine but with NO NFL game it draws less and suddenly the college games are to blame? Are you freakin’ kidding me? Man up and accept that the product sucks and no amount of switching around television shows will fix the underlying problem.

I realize I will likely be skewered for saying this, but perhaps the IWC is the group that should have the least voting priority for what should happen on wrestling programs. The champions the IWC want are the exact group not drawing a dime right now, and the characters the “smart” fans like are the ones not getting over. The goal is to appeal to a broader audience, which is why Cena does well with the kids and Orton’s character does as well as this generation can do with the smarter and usually older fans. Hate me all you want, doesn’t make this any less true for it. As to who the ideal champions would be to draw in ratings, allow me…

WWE:
1. WWE Champion – John Cena
2. US Champion – CM Punk
3. Tag Team Champions – Air Boom (still)
4. World Champion – Randy Orton
5. IC Champion – Cody Rhodes (still)
6. Diva’s Champion – Kelly Kelly

TNA:
1. World Champion – Robert Roode (still)
2. TV Champion – AJ Styles
3. Tag Team Champions – Morgan and Crimson for now (still)
4. X-Division Champion – Austin Aries (still)
5. Knockouts Champion – Velvet Sky
6. Knockouts Tag Champions – Gail Kim and Madison Rayne (still)

I believe these names present the most widespread appeal and the most interest in the product, whether it is TNA or WWE. That would be the start of reversing a poor ratings trend as usually by this time, WWE starts feeling a slight bump upwards in the ratings during Jan-March but have yet to do so. We may not enjoy the names on those lists as much as we enjoy the current championship roster but if it loses money for the companies, how can we in good conscience support it?

2. TNA Genesis and Impact Quick Recap

TNA Genesis
1. X-Division Championship: Austin Aries defeated Jesse Sorensen, Kid Kash, and Zema Ion to retain the X-Division Championship with an avalanche brainbuster on Sorensen ***1/2
2. Devon defeated The Pope with his Saving Grace front layout suplex (same as Goldust’s Curtain Call) **1/2
3. Gunner defeated RVD following the DDT on concrete and rolled him inside for a pin ***
4. Knockouts Championship: Gail Kim defeated Mickie James when James was DQ’ed for using brass knuckles from Madison Rayne in her cage and got caught. ***
5. Monster’s Ball Match: Abyss defeated Bully Ray with a Black Hole Slam on barbed wire boards ***1/2
6. Matt Morgan and Crimson retained over Magnus and Samoa Joe when both men double chokeslammed Magnus ***
7. Kurt Angle defeated James Storm with a sick kick to the skull after a low blow ***1/4
8. Jeff Hardy defeated Robert Roode by DQ when Roode kicked a referee in the balls to get disqualified ***1/4

Best Booking of the Show: Giving great time to all the matches

Worst Booking of the Show: Disqualification Finishes – The Lazy Booker’s Crutch

I’m going to have to say that this will likely be the best PPV this month considering most fans only watch the Rumble for the Rumble match and frankly, the majority of it usually is boring as hell outside of surprise names entering and the occasional elimination flurry by a big name. Tonight saw a bunch of matches with different styles and yet all of them delivered something, with none of them being duds or very low rated.

The X-Division kickstarted the PPV with one of the better matches of the night and showcased Aries as the star he truly is. That avalanche brainbuster was SICK and I loved it! Devon beating Pope with the kids turning on Pope was actually a nice touch and a good way to end this feud. Gunner beating RVD was something I knew was coming since he’s being built up as this monster who hospitalizes his opponents and RVD was on way too much of a PPV victory roll to win again tonight. Gail and Mickie didn’t have as good a match as they did on Final Resolution or their Impact rematch but honestly, it was still a very good women’s match and they had ample time and opportunity to work with around six-and-a-half minutes of ring time.

Monster’s Ball put forward a great little hardcore match which showed that Abyss and Bully Ray can excite a crowd to cheer that THIS IS AWESOME in 2012 despite both men being past their prime but obviously still with a few tricks up their sleeve. Ray’s singles career in TNA has been excellent and Abyss can deliver some sick hardcore moments, which is always a nice touch to any event since blood is banned in the kiddie league. Morgan and Crimson retained as I figured they would, and it is possible Joe and Magnus will team again to challenge them and I’d welcome the rematch since this one was a good tag team match. Angle finally got one on PPV over Storm and it looks like next month they’ll probably have a feud ender with a stipulation, and I can’t wait because both men can go! Storm is really looking good even in defeat and I have a feeling he wins the feud as well. Roode and Hardy ended things on a bit of a sour note with the DQ but it fits Roode’s character, although I won’t defend the usage of disqualifications in the main event. I’m never a fan of that as Roode cheating to pin Hardy is perfectly fair and wouldn’t harm his heat one single bit but whatever! In the end, good to very good wrestling and a moment we rarely see when Abyss and Bully Ray started a match with a bit of a quiet crowd and then worked them into a frenzy chanting and cheering along with the spots. Only a truly talented performer can get the crowd to react like that as opposed to entering an arena with everybody ALREADY cheering their ass off for you before you do a single move. I’m happy I bought the event and skipped the Rumble, and look forward to Against All Odds!

TNA Impact Quick Recap:

1. TNA Tag Team Championship: Crimson and Matt Morgan defeat Robbie E and Robbie T when both men double chokeslam Robbie E **
2. ODB defeated Winter with the BAM! (TKO) **
3. #1 Contenders Match: James Storm defeated Kurt Angle with the Last Call Superkick to become #1 contender ***1/2
4. TNA World Championship: Bobby Roode retained the TNA Championship in a no-contest thanks to Bully Ray assaulting the referee ***1/4

Best Booking Decision of the Night: Setting the Storm/Roode Match For PPV

Worst Booking Decision of the Night: Another Goddamn Disqualification?

Overall the wrestling was solid and the effort was pretty good, showing a decently put together show although the bookers got a little lazy at the end and used the famous booking crutch again with a DQ ending. I understand that in the past DQ endings were used as a good way to build heat for the eventual face vanquishing the cowardly heel but today they do not work as well as they did in the past. Also, why have Roode lose by disqualification? Bully Ray could have come in and smacked Roode or just pushed him and technically that would have caused Hardy to lose the match by DQ! Outside of that point, it was a pretty good show.

The Knockouts take center stage with a steel cage match next week, and it is pretty sad when a women’s wrestling match that was mostly there for a few comedic antics by Eric Young gets more time and is a better match than 90% of the “serious” Diva’s title matches in WWE. I’ve been a very vocal supporter of the Knockouts division and seeing a few of these matches will convince you that TNA is the place for female wrestlers to be if they want to be taken seriously.

We continue to advance to Against All Odds with more indications that the top matches on the show will likely involve Hardy, Storm, and Roode to punish Roode and Bully for the disqualification that Sting cannot blame on Roode, and likely Storm and Roode will go on after that for a one-on-one match hopefully at Lockdown. Looks like AJ Styles and Kazarian might be on the same page but Christopher Daniels seems to know something that Kazarian isn’t very proud of and apparently, is willing to abandon AJ Styles in a tag match against his will to keep it secret. What is the reason Kaz turned on his friend and then seems so disgusted with himself for listening to Daniels? What did Daniels do? And more importantly, can we get all three of these guys in a ladder match pronto?

Angle and Storm continued the clinic of great wrestling and I truly believe Storm is ready to step it up to another level very soon. Hardy took his usual risks and nearly wiped himself out with a wicked leap off the stairs into the guardrail in his match that had to send some serious pain through his body. Roode, of course, tried for a countout using those famous chickenshit heel tactics to win at any cost no matter how disgraceful. Crimson and Morgan began the night with a Direct Auto ad and then decisively won their match so I figure they are going to stick around as a team for a little while yet, and thankfully we seem to be getting a rematch with Joe and Magnus!

If the last three weeks haven’t had TNA Impact Wrestling on your television, view the last three weeks worth of shows. You are seriously missing some good stuff!

3. Was Mark Henry A Draw For Smackdown?

So a lot of people are either already of the assumption Henry’s title reign was a big boom for Smackdown or thinking it was very possible, so I’m going to give you the results of a little research.

First off, Henry’s title win took place at the Night of Champions PPV on Sept 18th, 2011. Around the same time, RAW began airing talent from both shows on RAW and some RAW superstars appeared on Smackdown as well, as you’ve been seeing the last few months, in the attempt to bring up ratings. So what’s the verdict?

No.

The highest rated episode of Smackdown last year was in the week of Feb 21-25 with a 2.31, while Henry’s first appearance as champion received a 2.1 and then dropped to a 1.9 the next week. The average of Henry’s title reign from first show as champion to last show as champion comes out to a 2.0 overall for a period of nearly four months. This defeated 2011 in the ratings, as 2011 wouldn’t even come out to a 2 for that period. When compared to 2009, 2009 has a higher overall set of ratings during the same period of time. In 2008, the number was even higher with over a 2.1! Smackdown’s worst year in the last four years was 2010, but 2011 came in second. Here’s the proof with the yearly Smackdown ratings since 2008:

2008: 2.33
2009: 1.94
2010: 1.81
2011: 1.95

Some would look at this and say, “yeah, but 2011 was higher than the last two years!” One of the reasons why is that the site used counts a Tuesday live Smackdown as well as Friday Smackdown in the overall rating. And as we all know, the November Christmas special drew lower than the August 30th live super Smackdown. If that show is counted for the replay number of an estimated 1.0 for the December 1st show only and not the live show, the official rating for Henry’s title run would be 1.9 that is lower than 2008 and 2009, but beats the yearly average of 2010. Smackdown once ranged in the 4.0 area for average ratings in the early 2000’s as well.

What we can conclude about the brief period Henry was champion is that he didn’t really do anything to the rating considering at the time shows began going live more than the year past and RAW talent showed up on Smackdown every week. While the 2011 yearly average is better than the last year for a change, it is also skewed upwards due to live shows being counted WITH replays on Friday. So unfortunately a case can be made both for and against Henry being a SLIGHT draw on Friday nights but who the hell cares? Overall it made no significant difference compared to moving RAW stars to Smackdown, and the most viewed Smackdown of the year didn’t even have Mark Henry on it. Now, if he gets a second title run we’ll be able to put this to rest for good one way or another!

4. WWE Network Moved To Fall Opening

Not much of a surprise as WWE has decided to change their official start for the WWE Network to the fall due to the fact most of their material hasn’t been taped and planned out yet. This basically is a smart thing because the network is doomed to fail anyway and the WWE Classics On Demand still can be placed on all cable systems for at least another ten months but we don’t know if that will happen or not. Apparently the WWE was deadset against the moving of the network start to the fall but had no choice considering most material is still in the works and needs to be filmed. Well folks, what an outstanding start already! You move the probable trainwreck to the fall and kill the Classics On Demand that is at least bringing in profit, absolutely brilliant!

5. Where Art Thou, TNA?

So some of you are going to be writing in with the usual gibberish hastily scribbled down on worn crayons demanding to know why the Sandwich isn’t publicizing anything regarding TNA shortcomings this week.

The simple answer is that everybody on this site other than me already works over every bad TNA story there is and laughs it up that the company is having some difficulty. I don’t need to cover stories that every other column on the site covers already and makes no bones about being happy about it too. You know one of the problems going on right now? We have 411 writers who vote against TNA who don’t even WATCH THE SHOW. At least two of the people writing in Wrestler of the Week never even watch TNA and that is why half the time, either a WWE guy wins or its somebody you never heard of. We have TNA bashing on column after column because the show isn’t what they think it should be. So I’m not including any of the news this week about TNA that isn’t positive, got it? You can find it everywhere else on the site without any difficulty whatsoever. Put the crayons down and bitch all you want on the blog that gets 13 hits a week at most, no reason to add fuel to an already raging fire everywhere else.

Smartest Thing of the Week: Building Robert Roode As A Chickenshit Heel

One of the champions that used to drive everybody crazy but who we remember fondly in this day and age would be the longest reigning IC champion of all time, the Honky Tonk Man. A complete and utter pompous ass, Honky was a coward who hid behind technicalities, disqualifications, attacks by Hart Foundation members, his manager, his “girlfriend” Peggy Sue which was sometimes his own manager in drag, and any cheap victory he could get his hands on. When Honky finally lost the IC title, the fans went INSANE and Ultimate Warrior became an instant main event star for it. Robert Roode seems to be bringing back the magic of the chickenshit heel champion and that’s a good thing, because frankly Roode is showing that heels can still be 80’s style heels. Honky threw women down, just ask Miss Elizabeth! Roode manhandled Dixie Carter in a similar way and spat on her. Honky usually lost by disqualification, Roode is now becoming known for losing by disqualification (although I refuse to admit a DQ in any main event of any PPV is a good booking decision when you can have the guy cheat and win that way) and taking a draw or a countout if one is available. If Roode continues to be built quite as well as he has been, and loses the championship to Storm in a very good match, he could easily make Storm a legitimate main event talent and world champion for years to come. And he doesn’t even need to sing, dance, or play a guitar!

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Brodus Clay Brings The Funk!

I know WWE apologists are going to be running around saying how this is probably a temporary gimmick and Brodus is a mean killing machine and all this other crap but frankly, his debut on Monday actually gave me a great big laugh to see him come out with the Funkettes2K12 and Ernest “The Cat” Miller’s old WWE theme song. You could see the fans being utterly disappointed and basically remained quiet throughout the squash match and during the dancing segments of the match. Apparently the WWE was so interested in throwing up the news that he was the #1 trending topic worldwide on Twitter they forgot to actually look at the tweets that were going out. Care to see a few?

Tommy Dreamer: “Flash Funk and PN News had a baby together”
Random fan named Jacqueline: “I’d like to take this time to wish Brodus Clay the best on his future endeavors”
Random fan named Gaby: “Why is the debut of Brodus Clay so important? Oh wait, it’s not”
SummerFreezeWWE: “When Johnny said “The Return of Brodus Clay!”, the crowd was dead.”
Grumpy_Dr_Doom: “BAH! Flash Funk + Akeem the African Dream + roofies = Brodus Clay”
HacksawJDuggan: “I like Brodus Clay’s character so much. I also like riding my 2×4 around my trailer like it’s a horse. HooOooOoo! USA! USA! USA!”
Random fan named Phil: “I don’t do these fail statuses/tweets but I need to say just this one time: Brodus Clay – FAIL!”

Great job, guys. You were a worldwide laughingstock on Twitter Monday night and all you did was promote it!

OLD SCHOOL WRESTLER OF THE WEEK

“Iron” Mike Sharpe

Today we take a look at a man who through his skill was able to make others look better and go to the biggest shows as main events, but was never able to find his way there himself. We look back at one of my favorite 1980’s jobbers and low-carders, “Iron” Mike Sharpe!

Iron Mike was not the first wrestler in his family, as his father and uncle teamed in his native home of Canada during the 1950’s and were recognized from San Francisco all the way to Japan. Mike grew up in California but returned home to Canada as a teenager, practicing boxing and weightlifting before deciding to be just like his dad and step into the wrestling ring for the first time.

Sharpe trained for the ring at age 25 under Dewey Robertson, which is somewhat old for a wrestler to start work these days. He went to NWA All Star Wrestling under Gene Kiniski and became a two-time NWA Canadian Tag Team Champion with Moose Morowski and the future “Wildman” Salvatore Bellomo. Sharpe was a heavyweight champion, having held the Pacific Coast Heavyweight belt, and that helped him on his move to Louisiana as a fan favorite wrestler, taking the Mid-South Louisiana championship and the Mississippi title as well as the Brass Knucks Championship in 1979. It was in January of 1983 that we’d all be introduced to Mike Sharpe as part of the WWF!

Sharpe’s gimmick was basically that of an arrogant heel that boasted he was Canada’s greatest athlete, which he had taken from Kiniski. He grunted and yelled ridiculously often through the matches and was recognized pretty much immediately since nobody had the massive lungs as Sharpe, who once said he was considering becoming an opera singer before entering the ring. Sharpe also had an unusual black brace on his right forearm that was supposedly covering up an injury for about ten years but most people believed was only used to store a weapon. His first push came with Captain Lou Albano as his manager and defeated jobbers with the loaded forearm shot. Sharpe actually had a world title match at one point, facing Bob Backlund in the Philadelphia Spectrum on April 30, 1983 but lost and never received another chance again. Unfortunately for “Iron” Mike, he’d be headed to the jobber pool himself.

Sharpe would become the well-known jobber to the stars, but also served across the house show circuits as a mid-carder and would defeat some of the faces from time to time, although his victories were mostly limited to people who had no real chance in the main event. The idiots who live here in New England yelled “wimp!” at him more often than not despite the fact he could probably have taken any of them. Sharpe was seen on Piper’s Pit in 1984 and became Ivan Putski’s opposition during his brief attempted comeback in 1987, and was able to get all the way to the 1988 King of the Ring second round by pinning Boris Zhukov. Amazingly, he got the chance of a lifetime to be tag team partners with none other than Hulk Hogan during a tour of Japan in 1984 with BOTH men playing heels! Sharpe would continue to mostly move around ring canvas to ring canvas until putting over his final talent on May 15, 1995 losing to Man Mountain Rock who was also known as Maxx Payne in WCW.

After his retirement, Sharpe opened up a pro-wrestling school in “Mike Sharpe’s School of Pro-Wrestling” located in Brick, New Jersey and then Asbury Park in the same state. Some of the successful graduates of his school happen to be Nova (known also as Simon Dean in the WWE) along with Crowbar/Devon Storm from WCW and both Charlie and Russ Haas, the former from the World’s Greatest Tag Team with Shelton Benjamin. Apparently he was known for having a serious obsessive-compulsive disorder and being massively preoccupied with cleanliness that caused him to be nicknamed “Mr. Clean” by the other wrestlers. Considering the massive amount of hair on the man, I wouldn’t think that would have been a bad thing! His wrestling school has since closed down and he’s enjoying the world of retirement, although one wonders if when he goes out he makes sure to keep that black brace on his forearm just in case somebody gets him angry! Sharpe is a member of the Slam! Wrestling Hall of Fame and also has been featured in WWE Encyclopedia as one of the few jobbers to make the pages.

My Memories

This is a somewhat new segment about the Old School wrestlers that details my own specific memories regarding Sharpe through the years.

I remember seeing him often on the card during the Providence Civic Center days when he’d compete on the undercard and whether I was in the fifth row of the fiftieth row, you could hear the guy grunting and yelling all over the damn building! I always got a kick out of it and used to cheer him against various faces at the time considering he was usually more interesting to watch. Sharpe also used to be featured somewhat prominently on Prime Time Wrestling, fighting names like Scott Casey and S.D Jones and would once in a while pull an upset win off, usually utilizing his forearm brace. As the years went on, he was shown on television less and less and basically was eventually taken off television before his retirement but he still was good enough to put over one more guy before he headed out. He was one of my favorite jobbers to watch, along with Barry Horowitz, because he had a character of sorts whereas most of the jobbers just stood there and waited to get bulldozed by the competition. Sharpe always cheated and took the low road every single match and if nothing else was able to be heard about 200 rows back at the end of any arena, although I can only wish to describe to people who never saw him live just how loud he REALLY is! And trust me, the guy can bellow with the best of them!

Here’s a classic Old School match featuring “Iron” Mike Sharpe in the ring against former Intercontinental champion Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, and if that’s not enough Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are on commentary!

Take 5

Wrestler To Watch: Ted Dibiase

A while ago I said that Dibiase would find himself on Smackdown and become the star he never was able to on RAW with the generic “evil rich guy” gimmick he was using. Dibiase has become a fan favorite now with a new gimmick and some great in-ring ability displayed at times, considering he’s been the only guy in WWE able to keep up with Sin Cara during their battles and even against Daniel Bryan as well. Dibiase may not yet be in that top slot but he’s working his way towards it being pitted against Jinder Mahal but when that is over, he could very well be headed to the top if he can continue to get good support from the fans and a way to showcase his skills against a capable adversary, which unfortunately I do not believe Mahal is. Will the Dibiase Posse actually work, or will something else be needed to bring Dibiase to a higher level? We’ll hopefully see this year!

Promo of the Week: Dusty Rhodes Discusses Hard Times

In our continuing “online course” of Promos 101, a lot of people consider this particular promo to be one of the better ones ever produced in the world of wrestling and have named it the “Hard Times” promo which was cut by Dusty Rhodes against Ric Flair. This helped show Rhodes as a common man against the richer, high profile lifestyle living Flair who never met a custom tailored suit he couldn’t afford. Dusty knocks one out of the park with this exhibition of emotion and being in touch with the common people, and would go on to be recognized as one of the all-time greats of wrestling for his connection with the people. One look here and you’ll see why!

Babe To Watch: Madison Rayne

Madison Rayne has truly been upping her skills both on the microphone and in the ring, utilizing various tactics to put her opponents down and usually out in several Knockouts singles and tag title matches. Madison is currently competing as a brunette who utilizes her screeching voice and cheap heel tactics to win but tonight, we’ll be showing you an exclusive web match featuring her against Angelina Love back almost two years ago when Madison was in the Beautiful People taking on the former leader of the group. As you examine the gorgeous Madison and see her in-ring skills even at this level, just remember she’s only getting better and even hotter as time goes on!

Match of the Week To Watch: “Iron” Mike Sharpe and Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki and Akira Maeda

Following the theme of Old School this week, I decided to showcase a match in which the extremely unlikely tag team of Hulk Hogan and Iron Mike Sharpe fight in Japan against the team of Akira Maeda and Antonio Inoki, who are obviously playing in the babyface role. Hogan often competed as a heel in Japan and he decided to team with the top heel jobber of the era in 1983 when he chose Iron Mike Sharpe as his partner in this particular match. Unfortunately, the result of the match wouldn’t change even with the power of the future “Hulkster” by his side!

Mystery Section to Watch: 360 Shooting Star Press by PAC

One of the more interesting maneuvers used by the high-flying wrestlers is a version of the shooting star that combines a corkscrew spin out of the original flip for a more pleasing aerial vision than the standard SSP except when performed by some of the true masters of the move. PAC, a high-flyer with international cred all around the world, hits his famous Shooting Stardust Press off the top in this match which also has a slow motion capture of the move to see just how he twists to perform it in his own unique way.

The Good, The Bad, and The… WTF?

The Good

“I’m glad you took my critism in the manner it was intended. Now onto this week’s column.

I put myself in the camp of fans that don’t care about ratings so I’ll move on. You suggested the WWE not lie in its did you know things but I suggest they just get rid of them. I don’t care if they are lying to me because I don’t give a damn about what they are lying about. You’re WM isn’t far off I don’t think but I’m pretty sure if Taker wrestles it will be against HHH and that Bryan won’t hold the title til WM. Also, I think you’re delusional about Obama being defeated. Everyone seems to forget how good of a candidate Obama is and the GOP just doesn’t have anyone that can compete with him. And it’s sad but true that in Presidential elections the best candidate wins regardless of issues.

The thing I really want to talk about, though, is the Jericho return. Your colleague DeMarco said it best. Jericho’s return has gotten the Bound for Glory treatment in that it has been crapped on because everyone thinks it should have been the end when it was just the beginning. I think Jericho’s return will turn out as well as the ending to BFG has too.

Posted By: gpjunk (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 02:04 AM”

Hey GP, thanks for writing in again this week.

Honestly, the whole Jericho return is going to be something interesting but I think the reason people crapped all over it is because he is a terrific promo man and he didn’t do a promo. His debut in 1999 saw him cut a promo and then attack the Rock later on that night. In 2007, he returned to cut a promo on Randy Orton that made him look like an idiot. I’m sure he’ll do fine, but it was just underwhelming compared to prior Jericho moments.

“Thank God. Somebody else thought that the Chris Jericho return on Raw was terrible. I actually changed the channel because it got so boring.

Do you think FX would’ve been a good fit for TNA? I say would’ve been because I wonder if they would want a wrestling show now that they’ve got the UFC. What other channel do you think would be a good fit for TNA?

Posted By: abwiz74 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 01:51 AM”

TNA needs to focus right now on the top 25 networks available since they have not only the most potential viewership but also the ACTUAL most viewership. Channels that could feature TNA and help them in the ratings war would be FOX and MTV as my primary two considering the number of viewers they draw. FX is definitely in consideration, and frankly any network will do as long as it has a good number of people who tune in every week as opposed to Spike which is mostly unwatched.

“Ok, here’s my view on the whole Jericho return this past Monday. While I totally get why people are angry about him not delivering a promo and just soaking in all the fan love, in a way it’s actually kind of a brilliant move by him. Say you were a casual wrestling fan who hadn’t watched WWE in awhile but you had heard that Jericho was coming back so you watch Raw this past monday and he doesn’t say anything. Here comes what I see as the brilliant part. Him not talking would make you want to tune in next week to see what he had to say. So while I can totally see how regular wrestling fans like yourself Wes among many others I’ve discussed this with are angry about him not really delivering a “promo”, it was done as a way to get you to tune in next week to see what he is gonna say. Will he be a face? A heel? We really won’t know til next Monday night.

I hate to keep being a broken record about the WWE Network but an interesting discussion topic was brought up recently that I think merits some discussion. Let’s say the WWE Network launches and it ends up being a success (and yes I know about Vince’s track record with the XFL, etc.) and WWE ends up getting more mainstream acceptance from the media. Isn’t that we as wrestling fans kinda want for professional wrestling itself (not specifically WWE but pro wrestling in general) is for it to be accepted by the mainstream media? Don’t get me wrong I can totally see the WWE network being a bust. I just thought I’d bring up a point that really hasn’t been discussed that much.

Finally, in regards to your response to one of my posts where you mentioned about TNA being on Spike. I totally get what you’re saying about it needing to be on another network. I mean, there’s only so many times you can watch the entire Star Wars film series or reruns of Manswers or Pros vs. Joes or 1000 ways to die. I have to admit I haven’t watched Spike that extensively since WWE left the network and MXC went off the air. But let me ask you this question Wes…let’s say TNA wants to move to another network, where do they go? I mean I can’t really see any other network within Viacom taking them on. I’d be interested to get your take on this.

P.S. Hopefully we don’t have the idiot trolls posting under my name on here this week and that Wes knows who the real poster is on here.

Posted By: The Hodge (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 02:10 AM”

Hello again Hodge! Let’s take a look at what you had to say…

My answer to the network situation, as posted earlier, would be to bring their ratings from 2007-2012 and Spike’s overall viewing numbers from the same period to FOX, FX, MTV, and anybody else interested and show how they were the top draw and had the potential to be more if Spike was, you know, actually watched. The important parts of what a network cares about has to do with syndication potential, steady viewing numbers, upward ratings trends, a good supply of advertisers, and hits in the top demographics. TNA has enough of those things to make a case they can do better on a network that has more penetration than SpikeTV, which rarely breaks the top 25. They are the only televised wrestling company to have risen in ratings from 2007-2012 and that in itself will be more of a sell than a company that lost viewers every year in that period.

“A comment from a political correspondent I follow that I thought would sit well here, on the subject of why Obama may well be doomed in 2012:

“His enemies were never going to like what he was about, and what he stands for. They would never applaud his economics or his foreign policy. But the best politicians earn a sneaking admiration for their skills even from those who detest what they do with their talents.

Mrs Thatcher did. Tony Blair did. FDR did. (It’s probably true Reagan didn’t.) But Republicans think Obama has handled the politics badly, and Congress worse. He has been politically clumsy handing both allies and opponents.”

Which may also give the reason this column draws so much haterade – they just can’t stand that someone they disagree with is actually soo much better than they are at what they do; namely airing oppinion on the internet.

You can argue with Kirk, but you’d best bring some actual talent and effort…

Posted By: Dave^G (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 05:15 AM”

Exactly the point. They can complain and complain all they want but in the end, people will read this column over their comments any day of the week which is why I write it and they merely put in their two cents feeling like they are a somebody. The thing they hate the most is we’re number one on the weekend regular columns!

“the cryionian people will not except the dwindling stars, Kevin Nash will never be chingy and never except that his starship has crashed. One who cannot walk with the gods cannot comprehend the complications of life. I am on a different level, one where the dunlap system and the reality collide. I run where others walk, I fly where other walk. Why is it that when I get filled up, I will swell and when I swell You Kevin Nash cannot get in my solar system!

Posted By: the ultimate warrior (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 05:49 AM”

Epic. Makes me remember the good ol’ days of Warrior discussing how the cosmic powers of Mars granted him strength.

“ME and warrior put up 100k vs you and nash. In a dance off

Posted By: Ice Dagger (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 06:21 AM”

Mr. Nash and I will not work for chump change.

“i wont watch the TNA PPV this sunday. one of the reasons for that is to make wes kirk mad. since its obvious TNA is paying him.

Posted By: Guest#4088 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 12:15 AM

Boy Wes Kirk sure does bring out the idiots doesn’t he?

You won’t order a PPV not because you don’t like the card, or because you don’t have the money or even that you don’t support TNA but because you want to make Wes Kirk a guy who has never seen your face or know your real name mad. What a genius.

Posted By: Guest#9417 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 07:47 AM”

This is sort of the Twilight Zone of the comment world this edition isn’t it? Not only are people in massive denial but also they are trying to spite me by not buying something I like. See, it is people like this that make me happy they are my enemies because they have absolutely no brains whatsoever.

“I don’t watch TNA, I’m a huge fan of the WWE, and disagree with you politically. But how the hell could anyone say that the Divas are better than the Knockouts? WWE has the women wrestle literal one minute long matches, with the champ who is supposed to be overwhelmingly strong losing constantly. They may have good female wrestlers, if only a few, but if they have no time to show it, no storylines, and no coherancy, how would we ever know?

Posted By: Guest#0050 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 10:31 PM”

This is called somebody who uses factual evidence to prove or disprove an opinion. We may not see eye-to-eye on many issues BUT he can put that aside long enough to agree on a point that really shouldn’t even be up for discussion. Be more like him.

The Bad

Denial 101 calling…

“WWE didnt lie.

Posted By: Guest#1074 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 12:04 AM”

you said WWE lied when they really didnt. just one time they were number 2 but the other weeks they were number one. WWE didnt lie about anything.

Posted By: Guest#2132 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 12:10 AM”

Okay, and here’s the life lesson for the day: When you lie about something you can be called a liar. WWE has lied about a LOT more than one thing, and in the past Sandwich editions we proved:

LIARS! Now you people are going into denial mode because you can’t even accept the truth when it has been proven by multiple sources!

“i have seen a picture of wes kirk. he is really ugly and fat.

Posted By: Guest#8315 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 12:26 AM”

And here we have, again, a liar. The reason I know this to be true is because I’ve never posted a picture of myself on the Internet because I knew how much of a target people are in these columns and I saw DeMarco go through a few rounds of fighting with the trolls before I began writing here so I simply never posted a pic. There are a few other people out there pretending to be me or just have the same name as me but think about it this way: If I knew you wanted to troll the hell out of me every week do you really think I’d be so kind as to hand over a personal photo? Some of us aren’t addicted to Facebook and Twitter, you know.

“On another note, i enjoy about 40% of your work, you have a real passion for the older stuff and when you write about the past your good. And if it was not for your blind hate of the wwe you would be readable and not a joke. You should maybe put part of your work for stuff wwe did well in the week. It would do you a lot of good. Its a shame tho that your wwe hate effects your work so much but i guess thats your angle to get hits. And as far as the political stuff…. man, leave it alone. Its a wrestling article not a political one. Especially that your such a mindless sheep you believe in it all. We live in a world controlled by the rockerfellas and there friends. The fact that there even is a fed reserve is ridonculous. Woodrow Wilson knew this after the bill was rushed through when everyone was on there xmas break back in 1918. Heres a quote from the great man.

“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men”

You see Wes, The only difference between presidential runners or democrats and republicans are that one can read a telepromter better than the other guy. Thats why they all belong to the same secret societys and are all related to each other through ancestors. Or that prescott bush help fund the nazi party or countless other examples of the elite in action. Dont fall 4 it. I wish you would educate yourself on how the world actually works and then maybe all the passion you have can be guided in the right way when you actually.. wake up. Good luck.

Posted By: ThePav (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 03:32 AM”

“I know your shtick of always painting TNA is a more positive manner than the WWE but to say that TNA had the better year than WWE is assinine. You claim the Rock only improved SS buyrates by 60,000. At $50 (i think) a pop, that’s $3 million dollars more. Seems like a good investment to me. If TNA did the 8,000 buyrates for each ppv (i think they have 12) that’s 96,000 for the year and if they ppvs are $40 each, that’s $3.84 million for the year as opposed to that “weak boost” the Rock gave. And I’m probably overestimating TNA’s intake on PPVs. My point is the Rock’s boost at SS almost makes TNA’s YEAR. So yes, while TNA is growing (thankfully) some and WWE is downsizing some (also thankfully, maybe it will force them to make their product better), to say that TNA had a better year is ridiculous. TNA would KILL for WWE’s numbers even on one of WWE’s shittiest years. To say otherwise makes you look like just another troll that posts stupid stuff, and from what I’ve read from you the last year, you’re a better columnist than that. Other than that small complaint, good column as usual.

Posted By: The Big Fat F*g (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 12:54 PM”

Obese One, I understand your comments and I’m going to try and make this as easy as possible to understand because it does appear I might be “trolling” until you look at facts in the television business.

TNA experienced growth the last five years in the weekly ratings, RAW experienced a continual downturn and Smackdown was down four years out of five against prior years. In the television world, steady rising ratings will beat low ratings anytime. WWE has some good advertisers, but if the ratings continue down those advertisers may well leave the company if not receiving their promised audience minimum when they signed their deals. You mention that Rock made about three million for the company but what good is the three million if its going to things like WWE Films which loses more money than it takes in? WWE is taking profit and putting it into the WWE Films division and the WWE Network launch which is just throwing good money after bad. TNA had a better year in terms of steady ratings, but WWE had a better year in terms of actual rating numbers. The problem is that WWE is losing viewers yearly while TNA is gaining them slowly but surely. In the business world, we’d take the slow and steady growth over something that last saw decent numbers twelve years ago. On that note, if Vince McMahon were the CEO/Chairman of any other company with the numbers he’s putting out he’d have been canned after no more than three bad quarters, not thirty!

“He could have gone out, performed a five minute “enjoying the moment” routine and then laced into them on the mic for another few minutes and walked out the top heel in the company. Instead, some believe he’s mocking how immediately on return every wrestler is given a hero’s welcome but I honestly think this could have been executed much better. For an angle promoted over a month, he should at least have said SOMETHING”

So basically, you wanted him to return and do exactly what everyone does when they return. Come back, be a face, then start lacing into the crowd. HOW CREATIVE. People beg for something different, then he does something different, and people complain that he didn’t do the typical return.

Posted By: Guest#7460 (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 08:23 PM”

Ahh, I see what you are trying to do. You want to say that if something is creative and different it automatically is something good, right?

The idea there came from the time Edge ended up wrestling Christian and it wasn’t his scheduled opponent a while back. It was a different, creative idea and that’s probably why we’ve never seen it since as it would elevate Jericho as a heel and show he can beat the champion even though it was under dubious methods. Can he do it in a match Punk had time to prepare for and didn’t have to wrestle before? There’s your episodic television done differently, creatively, but a lot better than that promo we saw. We don’t pay to see Gordon Ramsay ice skate or Lady Gaga paint abstract art because we pay them for what they are good at, as “creative” and different as the other ideas may be. Jericho’s forte is in promo skills and wrestling great matches, that’s what I want to see.

The WTF

“Was liking this column until you said this:
“Even the drama-free shows like Storage Wars or Pawn Stars…”

Drama-Free? Please tell me you’re joking? If you aren’t then you have never watch either show. There’s just as much drama on those two show’s as other reality shows. You must be a fan of those two shows to try and say they’re “drama-free”. This comment makes you look stupid man.

Posted By: Mike H (Guest) on January 07, 2012 at 04:10 PM”

The only problem with that statement, Mike, is…I didn’t make it!

This was posted in The Good section of the Wrestling Sandwich last week, and was all the opinion of that particular guest. I do not watch either show, but I know they are filled with drama from the previews alone and that brings in larger audiences. Sorry to say it but this comment really made you look stupid!

Sforcina brings you the skinny on wrestling secrets with every edition of Ask 411 Wrestling

Steve Cook continues his all-out assault on sobriety with News From Cook’s Corner

Stephen Randle talks about the WWE Network plans which should make for a fun read in The Wrestling News Experience

And it is time to say goodbye to you all in the best way I know how. Since you’re going to be leaving some nasty comments here’s two nasty women for you to drool over because about 90% of you can’t even get either of these girls to give you any for free. The worst part? You know it’s true!