The Wrestling 5&1 5.19.12: Eve vs. AJ!

Christy continues in her quest for the Hall of Bang next week as she goes for win #2.

This Week: Eve Torres defeated Lita in our final comment-based vote, and goes for her third victory this week? Can she pull it off? She’s got some tough competition this time out…

AJ Lee!

Eve Torres!

EVE TORRES vs. AJ LEE
Take your pick and vote in the poll below!

WWE presents Over The Limit this Sunday from the PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. The event is headlined by John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis, with the possibility of a fired Johnny Ace hanging in the balance. Let’s take a look, shall we?

YouTube Preshow Match: Zack Ryder vs Kane
So this is the blowoff to Ryder-Kane? If so, then color me disappointed. Honestly, the WWE’s mishandling of Ryder’s popularity is disappointing. We’re already back to Santino as US Champion and Ryder with virtually no role. Bah. It should be obvious what happens here.
Greg DeMarco’s Call: Kane

WWE Divas Championship: Layla (champion) vs Beth Phoenix
So apparently John Cena and Beth Phoenix take the same drugs see the same masseuse take the same vitamins, because Beth’s horrific ankle injury is now healed! It’s a miracle! Beth is the better wrestler, and it makes the most sense for her to be champion. But look at the flip side…why move the belt from Beth Phoenix to Nikki Bella to Layla back to Beth in the span of less than a month? If Kharma feuds with Beth upon her return, the title doesn’t need to be involved.
Greg DeMarco’s Call: Layla (still Divas champion)

WWE Tag Team Championship,
Kofi Kingston and R-Truth (champions) vs Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler
Well what do we have here? A WWE Tag Team Championship match on a pay-per-view? I do believe it is! it must suck to be Primo & Epico right now—a real tag team complete with a manager—losing their titles on RAW and doing nothing since. They have to watch a makeshift team defend against Swagger & Ziggler, a team who has potential but also has one guy that everyone wants to see challenging for singles gold instead. My guess is that he real “money” (if this division has any money making potential) is in Kofi/Truth vs. Primo/Epico, so the faces go over here.
Greg DeMarco’s Call: Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (still WWE Tag Team Champions)

John Cena vs John Laurinaitis
No Countout, No DQ, No One Allowed At Ringside, No Special Referees, Any Superstar Interfering Is Fired, And If Johnny Ace Loses He’s Fired
John Cena, who looked in the mirror and healed his own arm (maybe Triple H needs to take those vitamins!), is going against a non-wrestler in what will likely be the main event of the program. Now, if Johnny Ace gets fired, we’re left with no figurehead. And heaven knows we can’t allow that to happen, wrestling companies wouldn’t know what to do without a figurehead! The stipulation says that any superstar who interferes is fired, right? Well, it’s obvious that Brock Lesnar and The Big Show are no longer WWE Superstars from a storyline perspective. I’d say Big Show returns to earn his job back.
Greg DeMarco’s Call: John Laurinaitis

World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus (champion) vs Alberto Del Rio vs Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho
Sheamus’s title run has largely been a disappointment, mainly due to the fact that his title win was quickly forgotten, and that John Cena has occupied the main event for nearly all of 2012. And when your main event is occupied by a non-champion, it’s really hard to also have two champions running around. But this match has seen an expert level build, and I am excited for what these four men will do. I was looking forward to Sheamus-Del Rio and Orton-Jericho, but I can take this now knowing that the two pairings are likely to happen soon. Sheamus needs this win, Del Rio doesn’t need to lose, Orton won’t lose, so Jericho gets pinned.
Greg DeMarco’s Call: Sheamus (still World Heavyweight Champion)

WWE Championship
CM Punk (champion) vs Daniel Bryan
This is the match that makes this the pay-per-view event for the internet fans. These two men will likely get some good time—far more than they’ve gotten during their build. Seriously, can we at least get a good promo? The backstage interaction between Punk and AJ on RAW seems to clue us in a little, and it makes sense to me. AJ’s getting Punk disqualified—giving D-Bry the win. But I have one pipe-dream. Broadway.
Greg DeMarco’s Call: Daniel Bryan by disqualification (CM Punk retains the WWE Championship)

Overall Thoughts
This is one unheralded PPV event on paper, but it has some potential. Serious potential. The Tag Team Championship and World Heavyweight Championship matches all have a chance to be great. John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis could be newsworthy. But the real gem is CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan. Could the WWE go Broadway? I doubt it, but I’d love to see it! I say take a chance on this card.
Greg DeMarco’s Call: Buy

You Decide: What are your thoughts on WWE Over The Limit?

Big week in the world of wrestling news. Let’s take a look at the biggest headlines…

NXT Goes South
WWE moved NXT south to Florida this week, and held the first taping on Thursday night at Full Sail University. Full Sail is known for its production facilities, so it made for a perfect match. The taping was reportedly long and drawn out, with 21 matches on all. Reports are that people were leaving during the second half. I guess they weren’t around when the WWF would tape over 20 matches per taping on a routine basis. I once attended a Richmond, VA taping that helf four (one hour) episodes of RAW, plus that weekend’s Superstars of Wrestling. And three dark match main events!

Results were provided on our site here, courtesy of PWTorch.com.

Credit: PWTorch.com

WWE Signs Flair…sort of…
Reports are that Ashley Flair, the daughter of Ric Flair, signed a WWE developmental deal, and will be headed to FCW this summer. According to The Wrestling Observer, she went to college on a volleyball scholarship and is a certified personal trainer.

TNA Signs Hogan…sort of…
TNA announced the signing of Brooke Hogan. Seriously. This isn’t a joke. She’ll come in and be the “Executive in Charge of The Knockouts Division.” Brooke Hogan is in an on-screen role with TNA wrestling. Hopefully Austin Aries doesn’t tweet about this and ruin his push.

RAW Going Three
John Cena actually revealed this, on Twitter, saying that RAW will make a permanent move to 3-hours starting with episode 1000 in July. Talk is that there will be “interactive elements” during hour #1 that will lead to matches and stipulations in hour #2. So, basically, Cyber Monday every week. YAY!

Impact Wrestling is LIVE!
TNA announced on Thursday that they were going live this summer—every Thursday on Spike TV. This change will take effect with the move to their new 8 PM time slot. I think this is a very positive move for TNA, and a definite step in the right direction. Now, they followed up that announcement with Brooke Hogan, so they undid all of the goodwill the live announcement created.

You Decide: which news item are you most/least excited about?

The thoughts and opinions in this point are those of Greg DeMarco and do not reflect those of 411Mania.com. No one told me to put this here, but I’m being proactive!

Oh boy. This is going to be fun. For me. And some of you. Others (including some of my friends) won’t be so happy with this point. No apologies.

Last weekend Ring of Honor had a really good event titled Border Wars (details are above). The company took the iPPV production in house, and delivered a great stream. That over half of their viewing audience couldn’t see. This time they couldn’t point the finger at GFL.tv. They couldn’t blame the internet connection in the building. They couldn’t blame the weather. They had to look in the mirror and realize that ever since Dave Lagana left and Syd Eick got fired, the company just hasn’t delivered on the production side. Remember the night Syd was fired in Philly? The very next night ROH ran a room—not really a building, but a room—with 12 foot ceilings. They couldn’t use their lighting package. They titled the DVD “ROH Underground” but they were fooling no one. Their last pair of DVDs from the Carolinas were marred with production issues. They ran a 5000+ seat arena in Dayton and drew 300 people. Not the best series of choices.

They’ve had their detractors. But knowing they had to look inside, they finally did something about it. They offered refunds, with the alternative choice of getting the Best in the World iPPV stream for free. Personally, I’ll take the free iPPV. Personally, I don’t think they did enough. I think they need to give anyone who ordered Border Wars a free DVD—possibly of the event itself. And they also need to offer anyone who ever ordered an iPPV the chance to see Best in the World for free. If you really believe in your product, then show the world. And if it’s great, Death Before Dishonor X will draw huge numbers.

But I don’t run the company. And neither does one of its founders, Gabe Sapolsky. Because as bad as ROH looked for their weekend stream made them look, Gabe’s rant on the promotion made himself look like a desperate, disgruntled and jealous former employee. Well, that’s probably what he is! take a look at his comments…

Now I get what he’s going for…he’s trying to play the “we’d never do to this to you—our valued customers” card. But it’s so transparent. His companies aren’t drawing. There are reports of Dragon Gate USA being in the red. Reports that I can’t confirm or deny. Despite the issues with ROH’s Showdown in the Sun events, the company still had over 2000 advance orders for Border Wars.

But go further back. In 2010, Gave ran a “buyer’s remorse” sale where he offered anyone with a ticket to the Friday night ROH show here in Phoenix discounted admission to the DGUSA Friday night show instead. And he talks about respecting the employees? How is he respecting he workers of Ring of Honor—many of whom he used to book—by trying to take eyeballs off of them? But that’s old news—I get that. It’s two years ago. Well that post above was this week. he later followed it up…

Well, at least he didn’t claim his account got hacked! But he did try to explain his prior post—while still playing the same card. He never mentions Ring of Honor—with good reason. You see, when he left the company in 2008, he signed an agreement that he wouldn’t make disparaging remarks about the company. Did he take a payment to sign that? Well, if a company was firing you, and politely asked you to sign a non-disclosure form, would you sign it for free? Only if you were a poor businessman. But it’s very easy to make the argument that he wasn’t necessarily talking about Ring of Honor. “He didn’t name them!” CAW had an iPPV that weekend, maybe he was selling them down the river—since he paired up with them for WrestleMania Weekend in Miami and has already announced a partnership for NY/NJ next year.

I could buy that argument, but yet Ring of Honor reportedly issued a cease and desist letter to Gabe, and threatened legal action against his comments. But he never named Ring of Honor! That’s believable, until his business partner Sal Hamaoui made this comment on Facebook…

Okay, so it’s just Gabe’s business partner making his own comments, right? Those aren’t Gabe’s comments, they’re Sal’s. Right…

Now, I don’t’ know if ROH threatened to sue Hamaoui. I mean, they fired him, too! Maybe they did threaten him. But if this doesn’t confirm who Gabe was talking about, then I don’t know what does. And c’mon, we all know who Gabe was talking about. The same company he can’t seem to shut up about since he was pushed out.

Now don’t get me wrong. Gabe Sapolsky is a great booker. He’s built some awesome long-term stories (Samoa Joe’s world title run, the Summer of Punk, Bryan Danielson’s title run, the Briscoes return in 2006, the Homicide-Colt Cabana feud, the ROH-CZW war, The Age of the Fall [even if that was Jimmy Jacobs’s idea—Gabe still booked it out]). He’s created some amazing moments (Austin Aries beating Samoa Joe for the world title, CM Punk’s comments during the Joe-Punk trilogy, Homicide’s chair riot on Necro Butcher, Kevin Steen & El Generico’s tag title win). He’s even put on some great shows in Evolve and Dragon Gate USA, and the way he built Johnny Gargano was tremendous. I just hope he doesn’t job Gargano to Low Ki.

But I digress. Gabe comes off as a crybaby here. In fact, this is how I envision him doing his commentary…

He should take the high road, let people like me worry about publicly complaining about Ring of Honor. Instead, he put the attention—the negative attention—onto himself. All because of his obsession with beating a company he can’t beat. Is it simply him stating his opinion, or is it a douchebag move that exposes his desperation? I’ll leave that analysis up to you.

You Decide: Dick move or not? It’s your call.

With a busy week, I didn’t get a chance to reply to comments. So I picked a Top 5, in no particular order…

I don’t mind Garrett Bischoff to be honest, he’s grown up with wrestling all his life and I’m sure he’s picked up a thing or two and he sells pretty well. Besides it’s not like they are pushing him the way David Flair was pushed in 99 with him being given the U.S. title and getting wins over Malenko, Saturn, Benoit, and others. Aside from a couple rollups against Gunner and pinning Eric at Lockdown, he’s beaten nobody. Plus a couple months ago he was losing to Robbie E on the house shows. If that ain’t paying your dues, nothing is.
Posted By: Kevin (Guest)

That was easily the classiest statement about John Cena’s divorce that I’ll ever read. Well done, sir.
Posted By: Nick M. (Guest)

Ew. Good thing I don’t know what you look like.
Posted By: Guest#3359 (Guest)

Basic theory: Most men are not ‘face-oriented’. Sure, they’ll look at women’s faces but they don’t invest in specific attributes (nose, ears, jaw, eyes) the way women do. Women are far more pushed by society to judge men’s genetic looks. For most guys, if a woman has basic aesthetic appeal, they couldn’t care less her race, height, eye color, hair color, athletic background, skeletal structure, etc.. To be fair, heterosexuality just = a man and a woman. Where people go with it after that is up in the air.

The appeal of the likes of Beth Phoenix, Kaitlyn, Natalya, Angelina Love, Ronda Rousey, American Gladiators, etc. is that these women are very different from what men often see on TV and the realities that a lot of guys see in their everyday lives. Hollywood promotes the rail-thin supermodel image and in everyday life many men see the unkempt, morbidly obese, and haggard (schlubs).

Those women I just mentioned represent a balance from those extreme images of two opposing eating disorders (anorexia/bulimia and obesity). They’re different from the status quo. Thus, they stand out a bit more. Sure, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, and Halle Berry are no schlubs. They’re just women, though. Some guys don’t feel a woman needs a lot of hype surrounding her to be appealing, as they’re not overly concerned about what other people think of who they desire.

As for the men who don’t like the female athletes like that. My theories on this:

1. They may be “Alpha Males” who are bent on maintaining traditional masculine/feminine roles from decades gone by. A female athlete who has more brawn than them is a “threat” and a “challenge”. They don’t want to be shown up.

2. Guys who are overly schlubby have concerns being shown up by more athletic, taller, more physically imposing women. They don’t have a problem with supermodels because they’re status quo and have a ‘trophy’ status attached to them whereas more in-shape women who have what they don’t (definition in their bodies) makes them feel inadequate.

You can have your publicized models, singers, and actresses, but throw a little variety in. You’ll never know what you may be missing out of.
Posted By: Martin Troy (Guest)

Beth Phoenix looks like Greg The Hammer Valentine.
Posted By: Chico (Guest)

And an honorable mention…

Not enough Bordeaux this week.
Posted By: Guest#8683 (Guest)

I don’ think I could—in good conscience—pass up a chance to post a Scarlett Bordeaux picture.

As usual, credit goes to George Mario!

Find Scarlett on Facebook and Scarlett on Twitter!

Earlier today (Friday), Dixie Carter took just a moment away from spending time with AJ Styles to reveal the poster for Destination X. As you can see, the poster prominently features Austin Aries with the caption “I Am The Main Event.” Presumably, Aries will defend the X-Division Championship on the show. Given the current state of the X-Division—and the company—one can assume that AJ Styles will appear in his second straight Destination X main event, this time opposite Aries.

In fact, I’d go as far as to predict the following matches for the PPV:

X-Division Championship Match
Austin Aries (champion) vs. AJ Styles

TNA World Tag Team Championship Match
Christopher Daniels & Kazarian (champions) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns

Outside of those two matches, possibly a match for Samoa Joe, a match for Zema Ion (against Joe? Nah…), and an Ultimate X Match for a TNA Contract could be involved. I’d love to see TNA redo last year’s concept of bringing in outside stars to bolster the division, even if it was short lived. Outside of that, I can’t see a whole lot they have for the card, so we could see some more guys brought in for one night deals (Amazing Red…Brian Kendrick…Shannon Moore…not sure who else). You could get the belts off of Daniels & Kazarian, opening them up for singles matches on the show. In fact, while I’m not a fan of hotshotting the belts around, I would be okay with Joe & Magnus vs. The MCMG for the titles at Destination X. this would allow for Kazarian and Daniels to have other matches—possibly against imported talent?

Despite the void of talent available, TNA has a chance to make this show great. I hope to see them do it.

One of the key aspects of the event will obviously be Austin Aries. It was Aries himself that earned a TNA contract at the event last year, and I’d love to see that story come into play. He’s the best success story of the past 12 months—a time riddled with weird booking, Garett Bischoff and now Brooke Hogan.

Another factor that comes into play is AJ Styles and the love story with Dixie Carter. Will that be resolved by the PPV? Will it matter? I tend to think it won’t matter, but I also think the story will end up being a disappointment. Unless AJ and Dixie turn heel and go with the relationship, this won’t work. And knowing both of them the way we do, I don’t see the angle playing out in that manner. All I can hope for is that the performances being put on by Christopher Daniels will pay off for him in the way of a big push. He’s amazingly talented and seemingly ageless. He deserves a good run, possibly as television champion or in a semi-main event position on the card.

You Decide: Give me your thoughts on the possibility of a main event run for Austin Aries, starting with Destination X.

New ROH World Champion Kevin Steen, SHIMMER’s Nicole Mathews and
DeMarcettes Barbi Hayden and Buggy Nova join this week’s Greg DeMarco Show!

The Greg DeMarco Show, presented by 411Mania.com/Wrestling, streams all weekend at VOCNation.com. Greg and Patrick O’Dowd are joined by regular contributors Steve Cook, Tony Acero, Justin Freemyer and Buggy Nova! Plus, you never know who might call in or stop by “The Snake Pit” (chatroom).

This week: International superstar Nicole Matthews joins the program to discuss coming up through the ranks in Canada, her time in SHIMMER and her goals for the future. What does this Canadian Ninja have in store for the wrestling world? Tune in and find out!

Stick around for hour two as we talk more wrestling with Tony Acero and Justin Freemyer and welcome two beautiful DeMarcettes in Buggy Nova and Barbi Hayden!

Plus, the first 30 minutes of the program will feature not one but TWO surprise guests! First, newly minted ROH World Champion Kevin Steen provides his first interview since winning the championship, and does it on The Greg DeMarco Show! What does he have to say about his title win? Does it bother him that less people saw it due to technical issues? Is he “Mr. Wrestling” or “Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare?”

And two-time VOC Nation Babe of the Week Leanne Marie makes a surprise call to the show to wish cohost Patrick O’Dowd a happy birthday, and it turns out to be his happiest birthday ever!

Click here to listen, or listen here:

About the show:
The Greg DeMarco Show with Greg DeMarco & Patrick O’Dowd, presented by 411Mania and streaming worldwide through the Voice of Choice Nation—airs live every Tuesday at 10:30 PM eastern time and is heard by over 10,000 listeners throughout each week. Discussing current events in professional wrestling—including WWE RAW, WWE Smackdown, TNA, Ring of Honor and many US independent promotions and regularly features guests from Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Dragon Gate USA, Evolve and countless other promotions, Greg and Patrick present opinionated analysis on the wrestling world that remains rooted in a love, passion and respect for the business. The show is presented live on Tuesday nights by 411Mania at http://www.411wrestling.com/wrestling and streams worldwide each Saturday through Monday via Bruce Wirt’s Voice of Choice Nation at http://www.vocnation.com. You can reach the show via e-mail at [email protected], Facebook by searching for “Greg DeMarco Show” or Twitter @gregdemarcoshow.

You Decide: Are you still not listening to the show? Your loss, bro!

Have you seen DeMarcette Barbi Hayden wrestle? Well now is your chance! Here she is versus Rachel Summerlyn for Anarchy Championship Wrestling in Austin, TX!

Hit up the ‘Mania on the TWITTER (so Ashish will like me, okay?)

http://www.twitter.com/411mania
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http://www.twitter.com/gregdemarcoshow – that’s me!

In my Greg DeMarco Show preview, I mentioned the special appearance by two-time VOC Nation Babe of the Week Leanne Marie! Leanne is new to the business, and has started serving as a valet on the east coast. And here she is!

And as Patrick O’Dowd will tell you, she has a way with words as well!

You can find Leanne on her Facebook fan page here, and she can be booked through WrestlingMarx Promotions by contacting [email protected].

Get reading!

Randle’s Wrestling News Experience!
The News from Cook’s Corner!
Marsico presents The Wednesday Wire!
Kelly’s Sports Entertainment News Report!
Napier’s Handicapping the News!
Fact or Fiction!
Sarnecky’s Piledriver Report looks at Getting The “F” Out, 10 Years Later. This is a great read, you’ll like it.

Tony Acero presents The Low End Theory!

Plenty to talk about in the comments!

Until next time…

Find me:

Listen to the show!