News From Cook’s Corner 05.15.12

So I was reading Randle’s column yesterday looking for material to use in future editions of MMA Fact or Fiction, and I noticed that he threw in a one-liner about The Office after somehow managing to go on and on about how great Community is without mentioning the only reason to watch that show: Alison Brie.

I really don’t know how Randle lives with himself.

Yes, The Office is coming back for another season, and I couldn’t be any less excited about it. It was such an awesome show back in Seasons 2 & 3, when Jim & Pam were the people you wanted to see get together but had obstacles like Roy & Karen in the way, Michael Scott was at his best & Dwight Schrute was Dwight Schrute. It’s been going downhill ever since, and not even the addition of James Spader to the cast could make Season 8 any better than the lackluster ones before. It used to be my favorite show on television, but it’s gotten to the point where I’d rather see it taken out back with Ol’ Yeller and have a bullet put in it.

It’s kind of like watching Ric Flair wrestling past the age of sixty. Some people still think it’s the greatest thing ever and get mad if you say a bad word about it, but most of us can’t stand the sight of it and would prefer to leave the memories alone. We still watch it out of a weird sense of loyalty and the thought that maybe the next episode or match won’t be so bad, but slowly the people start to tune out. The Office had its lowest ratings since Season 1 this year, but by NBC standards the show still did well. Ric Flair isn’t the draw that he used to be, but by TNA standards he still does well. The Office still shows flashes of brilliance, like when Robert California debuted, or the storyline in Florida, or anything with Jim & Dwight together, Flair still shows flashes of brilliance with promos.

They’ll both be gone soon. And we’ll miss them when they are, but at least we’ll have the DVDs to comfort us.

Here is a big reason why I think in 2 years, WWE will be back to must watch TV – the kids from FCW.

They arent just a tall, athletic guy wearing a pair of tights and mad about nothing. – Joey

Ohio Valley Wrestling produced some great talent, but the thing that always bugged me about their guys being brought up was that WWE would almost always shoehorn them with some gimmick that they had no experience working. It was funny watching the OVW shows and hearing Jim Cornette try to make their WWE gimmick changes make sense with what they were presenting on TV every week, but there were a bunch of guys that fell by the wayside because they were given something that they didn’t fit into.

Then they started up FCW, and most of the early products of that were generic faces or heels with good bodies that had no personality or character. After so many of these guys showed up and nobody cared about any of them, WWE had to notice there was a problem. Now you see these guys in FCW developing characters that they use when they appear on WWE television. Damien Sandow is the same Damien Sandow that’s been on FCW shows for many months. Antonio Cesaro is basically the same guy that was in FCW for a little while, with the addition of being a “rugby baller shot caller”. I wasn’t sold on the rugby thing until Teddy Long dropped that line on SmackDown, and now I’m a fan. The wrestler formerly known as Husky Harris has gone through a couple of different characters since returning to FCW, and I think they’ve found something with Bray Wyatt.

I hope you’re right. We need the next generation of wrestlers to be as awesome as possible, and there are some guys in FCW right now that are all sorts of promising. Dean Ambrose is probably the debut I’m looking forward to most, that guy’s been so interesting in promos and in matches with guys like William Regal. Kassius Ohno has been entertaining in different ways throughout his career and I have faith in him to be interesting in WWE as well. We’ve also got a second-generation Steamboat down in FCW that’s turning heads.

Bray Wyatt = Waylon Mercy = Max Cady. Not to say he didn’t looked good in that video. He’s got something very creepy about him and I like that. Hope he will have success. – McVee

Yeah, the Waylon Mercy comparison is certainly apt. Most of the mid-90s WWF gimmicks were pretty atrocious, but they really got one right with Waylon Mercy. He was a southern gentleman with a palpable dark side that acted calm outside the ring, but vicious inside. It was such a shame that he had to retire so soon due to various injuries catching up with him after a decade of wrestling. I don’t know if it was a main event type character or not, but maybe we’ll get to find out with Bray Wyatt.

I think Tensai should stay in the main-event scene. He’s a veteran, and someone we haven’t seen in awhile. WWE needs new main talent. Sure this spot could go to a younger wrestler prepped for the spotlight, but this is something they should’ve been doing for years. Him squashing the mid-carders doesn’t really help anyone. He’s better then that. Tensai hasn’t had any real direction since arriving, so it’s not his fault he’s not getting huge reactions. Good things come to he who waits. – The John

I don’t think anybody should be pushed into the WWE main event right away. I don’t think there’s a person out there that could vault right into the main event scene and beat people like John Cena & CM Punk without people going “WTF?” Especially when it’s the man formerly known as A-Train & Albert that hasn’t really given people reason to forget who he was. I know that some people out there really got offended about people chanting “Albert” at Tensai, but that’ll go away when he gives people a reason to not do it.

Problem number 639 of WWE booking, Randy Orton really isn’t doing anything. He’s supposed to be the face of Smackdown and one of their biggest names, but is stuck in a lackluster feud with Kane so Seamus can have the spotlight. Which brings up another fault – they have devalued their roster so much that none of the available heels would be meaningful. – Guest#9643

Indeed. We talked on the 411 on Wrestling about how the top heel in WWE is John Laurinitas. It’s pretty much by default, as when you look at the list of the rest of the heels there’s nobody there that screams “top heel”. You’ve got ADR & Jericho challenging for the World title, but part of the reason they’re in a Fatal 4-Way is because they aren’t over enough to draw interest in a singles match against Sheamus. Daniel Bryan gets too many face pops to be the top heel. Miz & Dolph Ziggler have been jobbed into oblivion, and it seems like they’re afraid to take Cody Rhodes to the next level. Kane is Kane. He’s over, but his feuds are terrible and nobody really takes him seriously as a top guy. Mark Henry will be out of commission for quite some time.

So Big Johnny is your top heel, and your enjoyment of that may vary depending on how much you love heel authority figures. Don’t be surprised if Cena vs. Laurinitas main events Over the Limit.

Why is everyone just assuming that that was Hogan’s BIG idea and treating it like fact when it was just a rumor? This is something I dislike about most wrestling news sites and the IWC in general, thinks that start as rumors become facts just by repetition of treating it like fact.

Plus there is strong evidence it was false as there was no segment taped for it at all. The sheets said it was taped and then cut but something as big as that they would have done In Ring like TNA ALWAYS does with these type of announcements. Nobody who went to the taping in the zone reported it. – Hyde Hill

Hyde does make a pretty good point when he says that TNA tends to do these announcements in the ring to get the Impact Zone to go crazy for them. Whether it’s true, false or whatever, I hope the idea never sees the light of day.

I think the only way NXT is going to make it’s way to Lifetime is if A) The women on the show are violently abused or B)The women on the show are killing their husbands. That seems to be the only thing going on on that network.

Thanks for that pic of Maria. I quote Nigel McGuinness “Awww…look at that outfit Maria’s wearing. She’s gonna need two haircuts for that.” Best color man in the business today. IMHO. – Andre the Midget

Andre’s description of Lifetime pretty much matches the description I gave it when I complained about my mother watching some mid-afternoon Lifetime movie. Inevitably every movie on that channel was about rape, murder, or both rape & murder. Women seem to like watching that stuff. I dunno.

Nigel’s a funny dude. I think ROH commentary is good as it’s ever been, even if the production isn’t what it was on HDNet. Nigel & Kevin Kelly do a good job.

Ashley Flair assaulted a police officer and got tassed? Do I sense a new generation of Omega wrestlers? – Guest#7992

I for one am surprised that Matt Hardy never hooked up with her. If he did he surely would have let everybody know about it.

And now, the fake news!

Some changes with the WWE developmental system were rumored a couple of months ago, and it seems that the winds of change are finally blowing. The NXT program will no longer be taped at SmackDown tapings, instead it will be taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida along with Florida Championship Wrestling. The first taping will be held this Thursday and tapings will be held every couple of weeks afterwards. Full Sail is a college specializing in entertainment media that has state of the art production facilities, and Triple H was very impressed with the venue when he & other WWE executives visited it last year. He will reportedly be very involved with the shows going forward.

I think it’s a pretty great idea on a couple of fronts. NXT has always suffered from a lack of crowd reaction due to the fact that people don’t go to the SmackDown tapings to see the people on the show. They want those NXT people to get out of the way so they can watch Randy Orton, Sheamus & the other SmackDown superstars. This will also make it easier to involve FCW people on the show, as the whole point of NXT in the first place was to establish new WWE talent. Assuming guys like Seth Rollins, Kassius Ohno and Richie Steamboat aren’t called up too soon, we may get to see them work on NXT prior to their WWE debuts.

Also adding to the NXT & FCW experience may be an upgrade in commentary. WWE is teasing via Twitter that Jim Ross & William Regal may end up announcing the shows. JR has been appearing irregularly on the FCW shows as of late, as his current duties with WWE involve evaluating developmental talent. Some people still seem outraged that he isn’t announcing on one of the major shows, and I can’t say I really get it based on who they’ve got on those shows, but he seems pretty happy going to Florida every few weeks and having time to do other stuff. NXT & FCW in a new environment with JR & Regal on the microphones should make for interesting Internet viewing.

John Cena filed for divorce last week. People are expecting this to get ugly for Cena since Cena’s wife has acquired the services of the same guy that represented Linda Hogan in her divorce proceedings. I dunno, it’s not like all that many people have beaten both Hulk Hogan & John Cena. That’s a pretty tough mountain to climb. Even guys that have beat Cena & Hogan usually don’t have a winning record against them.

Will WWE have a new show that airs before Raw? Raw tapings are scheduled to begin at 7:30 starting in July. This is 45 minutes earlier than they had been starting. There was talk last year of WWE doing a countdown to Raw type show for USA Network, but those plans were put on hold. I guess having a pre-game show for Raw is better than having a three hour Raw every week. If they ever get that WWE Network thing going I’d expect to see pre-game & post-game shows for Raw & SmackDown. Hopefully they’ll be a little less annoying than the pre-game & post-game shows for actual sports, but I’m not exactly getting my hopes up.

The specifics of the Triple H/Brock Lesnar feud are being kept secret to most, so naturally speculation is abound. Apparently they are currently scheduled to have their match at SummerSlam, but some people feel that it should take place at No Way Out.

WWE.com ranked Randy Savage as the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time in a recent poll. It’s tough to argue that because Savage was one of the best wrestlers ever, but what about Chris Jericho and his ten title reigns? Or the Honky Tonk Man as the longest-reigning champion of all time? I assume that Honky’s bitching and moaning about this somewhere since they only had him as #6.

WWE developmental talent Kassius Ohno has assisted BarberShopWindow.com with the creation of a Kamala shirt. Money raised from sales will go towards the medical bills of Kamala, who has been in the hospital frequently lately due to his battle with diabetes. This website makes some pretty awesome shirts, so go buy one for a good cause!

(OK, they’re not all awesome. A PWInsider shirt? Really? Oh well, don‘t let that stop you from supporting the Ugandan Giant.)

The Big Show did get fired on this episode of Raw, but don’t expect that to last. He’s advertised for tomorrow’s SmackDown taping, for Over The Limit, and for the rest of the SmackDown shows taking place this month. Also, everybody’s called him interfering in the Cena/Laurinitas match at Over The Limit. If there ever was a time for WWE to adjust booking plans based on what the Internet is predicting, this is the time!

Mark Henry tweeted during Raw that he will be undergoing surgery tomorrow. It could be any number of things, to be honest. He promises to be the “fire breathing, pain inflicting, face melting better than ever Mark Henry”. And lord knows we need it after this Raw…

-Triple H has Big Johnny’s support and sympathy! A caring man, that Big Johnny.

-Hopefully Paul Heyman won’t make us sit through this Triple H promo for too long. Oh who am I kidding, the Game will still get his time.

-H makes sure that his arm brace is on over his suit this time. Smart.

-Triple H mentions Bob Backlund & Sammartino!

-Sure enough, Paul E. comes out a few minutes into H’s spiel about how horrible Brock is. Good timing, Paul!

-Triple H just got served! Not by funky dancing, but with a lawsuit. I wish Heyman had served H with some killer dance moves.

-Paul’s so loud you can hear him over H’s microphone when H starts backing him up.

-H promises that Brock will get everything he deserves. Hopefully that includes “Monday Night Raw Starring Brock Lesnar”!

-Heyman promises to sue Triple H for assault & battery. Cole hypes that Heyman will have the advantage in the courtroom, which is true. Heyman’s been involved in so many lawsuits as a defendant & as a plaintiff that he has his own chambers at the Philadelphia Municipal Court.

-John Cena returns tonight! Where did he go?

-Punk & Santino take on Bryan & Cody. It’s an IWC Dream Tag Team Match! Yes, I’m including Santino in that. He’s surprisingly popular with IWC types for being a complete goof. (And I’m describing him as a complete goof in the nicest possible way.)

-CM Punk may be a Paul Heyman guy, but I doubt that Santino is a Jim Cornette guy.

-Daniel Bryan was crowned as the “Jerk of the Month” by WWE Magazine! Now what has he done to deserve that? Besides that whole thing where he sent AJ off the deep end.

-I appreciate Cody & Bryan wearing matching tights. OK, they’re wearing the same tights they always wear. I’m just saying.

-Santino fails at a dive. Punk wonders where Colt Cabana is.

-You know, it’s no wonder our country is in the shape it’s in right now when Santino Marella is our champion. Frankly, he fits the role quite nicely.

-Cody runs away from the Cobra…into the Go 2 Sleep. I’d take my chances with the Cobra, but that’s just me.

-I think if you win the Intercontinental Championship you’re destined to lose all of your matches. I’d suggest changing the belt, but Cody already tried that.

-Alicia Fox takes on Beth Phoenix. I have a feeling that Beth will get crushed by Christy Hemme in the 5 & 1 Versus poll, but I hope she wins.

-Layla stands on the stage to watch Beth destroy Alicia. I think in this case a Diva match lasting under two minutes makes sense.

-John Cena makes wishes come true. Probably a good idea to keep showing videos like this with the whole divorce thing going on. If WWE fans keep hearing about how great a guy he is, they’re less likely to believe whatever Cena’s wife says. Smart.

-The YouTube preshow for Over The Limit will feature Zack Ryder taking on Kane. Will Zack get his first offensive move on Kane ever? Smart move to put this on YouTube, the hit count from Ryder fans will be through the roof.

-Does Big Johnny really think that TNA wouldn’t sign Big Show in a heartbeat? He’s Hogan’s boy! C’mon son!

-Nice to see David Otunga back on Raw after the killer of his fiance’s family members got what he had coming to him.

-Big Show vs. Kane. I think if Big Show loses he gets fired or something. I haven’t really been paying attention to all that jazz.

-Big Show & Kane were in the worst match I’ve ever seen live, at Backlash 2006. I’m sure I’ve seen some matches that were technically worse with people on indy shows, but that thing was just godawful. Horrible finish, horrible angle, just horrible all the way around. Ever since then I can’t really pay attention to their matches with each other.

-Big Johnny screaming for an apology doesn’t make me care any more.

-Kane wins. Big Show cuts a promo about how much he loves seeing the looks on the kids’ faces when he comes out, and the friendships he’s made with the boys in the back.

-Pretty heartfelt apology from Big Show. Of course Johnny doesn’t accept it, and now he wants Big Show to beg on his knees. I have a feeling this won’t happen.

-Holy crap, he almost did it. Good thing he didn’t, I’m afraid they’ll blow out if he tries it.

-And there they go.

-Wow, they’ve completely cut Big Show’s balls off. They’ve been trying to for years, but they’ve finally done it.

-I wouldn’t mind them using Big Show to get a heel over. They’ve been doing it for awhile and it’s been working. But an authority figure? Really? We can’t have a top heel that’s not an authority figure? Is it not 2012?

-Naomi & Cameron in green are doing a lot to get my interest back.

-Funkasaurus teams with Air Jimmy/Jimmy Boom/Boom Jimmy to take on Miz, Ziggler & Swagger. Three guys that could be top heels if WWE wanted them to be.

-Dolph Ziggler actually tried to head butt Funkasaurus? How dumb is he?

-Lots of kids dancing with the Funkasaurus! If anything happens to Cena he shall become the hero to children everywhere. And it will be tremendous.

-AJ wishes CM Punk good luck on Sunday! Punk stumbles and stammers while blowing her off. Why do I think that was a bad idea on the Punker’s part?

-People are wondering why Punk was talking with Alex Riley during this segment. Remember when Riley told Jericho that Punk was drinking the JD a few weeks ago? This is them explaining why Riley set Jericho up like that.

-Nice comeback by Sheamus when Cole asked him if he’d ever been on the cover of WWE Magazine. That man’s got skills.

-Remember when Orton punted Jericho into a hiatus? Neither do they!

-Sheamus took a pretty big bump off of somebody being whipped into them. It’s amazing how much weaker people are when they’re announcing at ringside, though I guess that can be explained by adrenaline.

-Eve Torres has booked Randy Orton vs. Sheamus for this week’s SmackDown. They have had a lot of matches together. It was either 2010 or 2011 when they had the most matches with each other out of any combination possible in WWE. I wanna say 2010.

-Now we get Cena talking about Big Johnny. I guess this is the main event!

-King & Cole sure think Cena is funny.

-Now Cena talks about the Steel Curtain. Well all I can say about that is FUCK THE STEELERS

-Cena tells Johnny to go puck himself. That’s as funny as when I suggested “Puck Off” as the name of the show that eventually became “The Ocho”.

-The WWE Board of Directors makes Cena vs. Big Johnny one on one, with no special guest referee, no one at ringside, the only way to win is by pinfall or submission, and any superstar who interferes in the match will be immediately terminated.

-Hey, Brock quit, right? There’s your finish. That, or Big Show coming back as Big Johnny’s henchman because that’s the only way he can stay employed. And if you don’t think this match is main eventing Over The Limit you’re kidding yourself.

-Big Johnny slaps Cena and walks off. And there’s the Raw finish.

Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, an MMA fighter most known for his run in Strikeforce as their light heavyweight champion, has signed with Impact Wrestling & Bellator Fighting Championships. Lawal was released from Strikeforce after an incident where he berated a Nevada State Athletic Commission official on Twitter after feeling insulted by questioning during a hearing for a failed drug test. He was an NCAA wrestling champion and considered getting into pro wrestling in the early 2000s but opted to go into MMA instead. Lawal is recovering from a knee injury & a staph infection, but he expects to debut with TNA this summer. Since he’s still suspended from MMA competition, he’ll be starting with Bellator in early 2013.

I think Mo has the potential to be successful in a pro wrestling environment. He’s a big pro wrestling fan & seems very excited about working with guys like Hulk Hogan & Sting. The enthusiasm should help him do well, and since he has a wrestling background it should be easier for him to adjust to the ring than for most people. He’s also shown some personality during his MMA career. The problem most people are citing with King Mo’s wrestling future is the fact that he’s signing with Impact Wrestling.

TNA ran an injury angle with Matt Morgan last week because they ran out of dates on his contract. WWE is said to be interested in the Blueprint, who worked for them from 2003-2005 and didn’t do a whole heck of a lot of note. Unless you consider a stuttering gimmick to be something of note. Jim Cornette has always spoken highly of Morgan as somebody with tons of potential, and I think that’s the main reason Morgan’s gotten the chances he’s gotten in pro wrestling. Being tall doesn’t hurt, and I think that’s mostly why WWE would consider bringing him back. WWE’s current monsters don’t have that much time left in their wrestling careers, and one thing you can’t teach somebody is height.

Morgan’s not a bad wrestler and he tries hard, but I think his TNA stint would still have to classified as disappointing. He was thought of as being horribly underutilized during his WWE run, and people were hoping that he’d get the chance to do more in TNA. He didn’t have any embarrassing gimmicks in TNA, but he never really got the chance to dominate the promotion like he could have. Dude is bigger than anybody else on TNA’s roster by a fairly wide margin. How was he never the champion? Somebody dropped the ball there.

Hulk Hogan’s Micro Championship Wrestling is having a show on June 10 in Houston, Texas. Why is this a big deal? Well, Slammiversary is on the same date in Dallas, and people are wondering if the Hulkster will be able to appear at both events. Listen, I read Hulk Hogan’s book where he talked about how he used the International Date Line to have 400 days in a single year. If he can do that, should we really worry about him being in Houston & Dallas at the same time? He’s Hulk Hogan, brother! He’ll figure it out.

Ric Flair missed TNA house shows he was advertised to appear on in New Orleans & Thibodaux, Louisiana. No word yet on why, or if it matters to TNA management or not.

People backstage were impressed with TNA’s Sacrifice PPV and felt it was one of their better PPV events in quite some time. That sentiment seems to be shared by fans that watched it. Neither Dixie Carter, Hulk Hogan or Eric Bischoff was at the show. Coincidence? I didn’t watch the show, but from what I read about it, it sounded pretty good and they didn’t do anything completely stupid. I’m fairly certain that has a lot to do with certain people not being there.

If Bobby Roode is still the TNA Champion at the end of these tapings, he will set the record for longest reigning TNA Champion. The current record is AJ Styles’ 211 day reign from September 2009 to April 2010. Of course, this doesn’t count the NWA title reigns that happened in TNA…the longest NWA title reign during the championship’s time controlled by TNA was Jeff Jarrett’s 347 day reign from June 2004 to May 2005. Roode’s still got a long way to go in order to match that, but apparently the plan is for him to hold it until James Storm returns.

It was a pretty good week for Gail Kim. In addition to retaining her Knockouts title against Brooke Tessmacher at Sacrifice, she married Food Network star Robert Irvine. The two met when Irvine’s Dinner: Impossible show had a WWE theme. Can’t say I’m surprised that it’s easy to meet women when you’re a celebrity chef. I’m considering getting into that…I’ve already got the name for it, I just need to learn how to cook something more complicated than toast.

Mike Knox got a tryout match with TNA on their TV tapings Monday night. Reportedly he had a new look, which probably means he shaved the beard. Or it’s grown out even more and now it’s down to his knees. I’m hoping for the latter, but it’s probably the former.

Rob Terry is your new OVW champion, winning the belt from Johnny Spade at their Saturday Night Special event on…well, Saturday night. Duh. Terry has been working &training in OVW since the relationship between them & TNA began a couple of months ago. TNA is hoping the OVW training will make him passable in the ring since he’s a guy they have really high hopes for. I mean, you’ve seen the dude, right? He has a look that wrestling promoters automatically fall in love with. He’ll get his chances no matter what, so here’s hoping that his time in OVW will improve his game.

Ring of Honor’s latest iPPV event featured a world title change that brought great joy to many ROH fans, especially fans in Toronto, but the evening was marred by technical difficulties. ROH’s first in-house production seemed to go well except for the part where most of the people that had paid to see it weren’t able to since their website couldn’t handle the traffic. There were some that were able to get through, but enough people were upset that ROH issued multiple apologies via social media and has promised people unable to view the show that they can view their next iPPV for free. A test on Thursday where they offered a CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson match on their website had similar results, with the server being unable to handle the traffic.

Is anybody surprised by this? ROH has never been known for its production values and the idea of them taking their production in-house sounded like something that might work out long term but would take some time to figure out. The question here is if their fans will show patience with the company or if they’ll move on to something else.

The bigger issue may be with creative. Kevin Steen is a face that’s booked as a heel by ROH, which is weird, but at least when the fans turn against the champion like they usually do, they won’t have to drastically change his character. That isn’t so bad, but when you have the tag team titles changing hands via a finish that people made fun of Smoky Mountain Wrestling for using because it was outdated in 1994, it doesn’t exactly scream “cutting-edge”. Combine that with a TV show that looks like something out of the territory days, and ROH is fighting an uphill battle to be relevant in today’s wrestling scene. As somebody who’s attended a bunch of ROH shows I hope that they succeed, but I’d be lying if I said I thought they were moving in the right direction.

On the bright side, last week’s ROH TV show featured The Colony taking on Ophidian & Los Ice Creams, with Ultramantis Black on commentary. More CHIKARA involvement in ROH would definitely be a good thing.

Colt Cabana & Adam Pearce are competing in a best-of-seven series titled Seven Levels of Hate for the NWA championship. The first match took place on Sunday night at an NWA Hollywood show in Glendale, California. Cabana emerged victorious in a first blood match. The remaining schedule looks like this:

Stage Two: June 8, 2012 – New England Championship Wrestling – Bridgewater, MA (Boston Street Fight)
Stage Three: July 7, 2012 – Steel Domain Wrestling – Hopkins, MN
Stage Four: July 21, 2012 – Metro Pro Wrestling – Kansas City, KS
Stage Five (if necessary): August 4, 2012 – NWA Legends Fanfest – Charlotte, NC
Stages Six and Seven, if they become necessary, will be announced as scheduled.

It’s a shame that neither Cabana or Pearce are employed by one of the major promotions, as both men deserve a job and are tremendous at what they do. Cabana is one of the best comedy wrestlers out there and Pearce has a great mind for wrestling that some major company should be taking advantage of. At least they’re getting the chance to do these matches with each other if they’re going to be kicking it on the indy circuit. Also, this means that Cabana’s second NWA title reign will last longer than his first.

Did you know that the show he lost the NWA title to The Sheik on was called “Subtle Hustle”? How appropriate.

AAA’s TripleMania show will be taking place in August, which is a couple months after it usually takes place. The delay will allow their champion, El Mesias, enough time to recover from elbow surgery. Wrestling promoters always say that the show must go on, but apparently not in this case.

We close things out this week by congratulating Terra Calaway on becoming the first Alpha Omega Wrestling women’s champion on Sunday afternoon in Palm Desert, California. Terra’s come a long way since she was introduced to readers of this column on June 28, 2011. She’s working hard to get where she wants to be…she’s still got a long way to go but she’s definitely making progress.

The 411 on Wrestling features Larry Csonka and I talking King Mo, SmackDown, Impact, Larry’s bowling league & the last season of Angel. This week’s edition will have a special start time of 10:30 PM EST, and we’ll be talking to OVW Women’s Champion Taeler Hendrix! I plan on finding out why she turned against the good people of Louisville to join The Family, and what else she’s been up to since the last time she joined the program. We’re getting her back on the show before a major company signs her and we can’t talk to her anymore.

Episode 50 of the Man Cave Podcast had Jeremy Lambert & myself discussing one of the great sitcoms of our generation: Full House.

Trent Howell & I debuted The Ocho over on Offtheteam.com last week. You may remember The Ocho from the Dodgeball movie as the network that covered everything that was almost a sport. We’re almost sports analysts, so the name makes sense.

The Greg DeMarco Show will try to keep things under four hours this week.

Fact or Fiction pitted Francisco Ramirez against Big Mike Watters in a battle of wrestling punditry.

Frame talks about tag teams that WWE should push. Basically all of them. I am loving the antics of Darren Young & Titus O’Neil. Good times.

Dorlis presents some Hidden Highlights.

Byers ranks the top eight comedy wrestlers. No Delirious? Outrageous!

Napier ranks the top tag team wrestlers. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Arn Anderson at the #1 slot, because there is no other correct answer.

Well, that’s all we have time for this week! Nick Marsico will be in tomorrow with the Wed Wi, and I’ll be back next week with more News From Cook’s Corner! Until then…