The Wrestling 5 & 1 07.14.12: Mickie James vs. Candice Michelle

Will either make it into (or back into) the Hall?

Future Versus Updates:
* Mickie James, thanks to her 10-vote win over Christy Hemme, lives to fight another day!
*AJ Lee now sits at three victories, and will continue in her quest for the Hall. Who will stand in her way next?
* Brooke Tessmacher has one win in her bid to return to the Hall!
* Tiffany will receive a new opportunity at the Hall as soon as the opportunity is available.

This Week: Mickie James looks to follow-up on her 10-vote win over Christy Hemme. Can everyone’s favorite “Hardcore Country” girl continue her push towards the Hall?

Mickie James!

Candice Michelle!

The Choice Is Yours!

MICKIE JAMES vs. CANDICE MICHELLE
Take your pick and vote in the poll below!

On Sunday, July 8, 2012, Austin Aries—two time former Ring of Honor World Champion, and a man often deemed as a great example of a high level Ring of Honor talent with the abilities to become a solid, consistent midcarder for a big company like TNA—became the TNA World Heavyweight Champion by defeating the company’s longest reigning world champ in Bobby Roode.

Aries himself had just relinquished the TNA X-Division Championship, ending his own personal longest reign in that title’s history. Many wanted to believe—but fell short of actually believing that TNA would “pull the trigger” on an Aries world title victory. Some thought it might happen—but not at Destination X. But while TNA proved to wait too long with Bobby Roode in 2011, they hadn’t been waiting too long in 2012. Daniels and Kazarian regained the tag team championships when they should have—on their first rematch. Austin Aries beat Bully Ray in their first PPV meeting. Miss Tessmacher waited until Slammiversary for her win—and that was the right thing to do for that title & win as well. Hell, even Zema Ion’s X-Division Championship win seemed to be done at the right time for he and that title.

Thanks to the advent of social media, I immediately shared my thoughts on the big win for Aries here:

Good on you, TNA! Good on you. You were willing to put the world championship on Austin Aries–and on the X-Division. No, he’s not the first X-Division wrestler to win the title–but tonight he did it in a storyline where the entire division was riding on Aries and his level of success. I don’t care if he loses it on Thursday or at Hardcore Justice or not at all. Tonight you did exactly what needed to be done.

Now this is a great win for Austin Aries, but I feel like TNA did just what I said above—they put the title on the division. It could have been anyone—but it should have been Aries. And it was.

Aries didn’t need the win. In fact, I covered the potential title win in this very column last week:

If Austin Aries wins at Destination X, it will solidify his meteoric rise to prominence in TNA. It will define Aries as a great all around wrestler—not just “The King of the X-Division.” It proves that he really can go with anybody. … This would be huge for the X-Division. Your best champion in history is walking away from the title to go for an upgrade. There’s no other way to look at it. If Aries wins, the division looks like their competitors can hang with the main event portion of the card. When you’re rebuilding a division, it helps for that division to look strong in the process. … A loss by Austin Aries to Bobby Roode at Destination X—the one man who has truly shown that he cares about elevating a division that is going through yet another rebuilding process losing to the world champion in the first of what is a new yearly guaranteed championship opportunity for the X-Division Champion—would be a division killer. … The Destination X title shot is going to be a major part of the division going forward. That title shot needs to represent a legit threat, not an ultimate underdog.

I participated in both the 411 TNA Destination X Roundtable Preview alongside Michael Weyer, James Wright, Stephen Randle and TJ Hawke, as well as The Greg DeMarco Show Destination X preview with Patrick O’Dowd and Chad Perry. Seven total people previewing and predicting this event, and only one person had the cajones to predict Austin Aries as the world champ—me.

This was a win for the X-Division, which started as a way for TNA to set itself apart from the rest of the wrestling promotions out there with a physical, high risk style that was supposed to take wrestling to the next level. It was a win for Destination X 2013 and beyond, as the World Championship challenger will be viewed as a legitimate threat to walk away champion just as Austin Aries did. And now two of the three biggest and most important titles in American wrestling are held by CM Punk and Austin Aries—two men who battled over the ROH World Championship just over seven years ago.

Austin Aries didn’t need this win to validate his career. In fact, Austin Aries wasn’t listed as a man who just had to win “the big one” or there was no justice in the wrestling business. He’s a talented wrestler who nearly called it quits last year—and that would have been a travesty. But he didn’t quit, he took one last shot with TNA, and look where he is now. His third stint with the company is indeed the charm.

And what a hell of a charm bracelet he now has to hold it.

You Decide: Was it the right move for TNA to put their title on Austin Aries?

WWE’s Money in the Bank pay per view is upon us, and in a few short days two men will hold the key to a guaranteed title match—cashed in when you want, where you want. This year’s event features two very different Money in the Bank Ladder Matches, along with two well-built title matches.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (champions) vs. Hunico & Camacho
YouTube Preview Match
In what has the potential to be the best YouTube preview match so far, the tag straps will be on the line Sunday evening. Hunico and Camacho have no reason to leave with the belts, especially since AW’s Prime Time Players are the #1 Contenders and seemed primed (pun slightly intended) to get a good run. I suspect we’ll see an appearance by the PTPers before this one is over, likely factoring into the finish
Prediction: BoomTruth retain by disqualification after the PTPers interfere

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Participants: Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, Tensai, Tyson Kidd, Christian, Damien Sandow, Santino Marella and Sin Cara
This match is really the more intriguing of the two MITB ladder matches, and it’s also likely to open the show. The Money in the Bank concept is long assumed to be designed to elevate someone into the world championship history, since the cash-in has never failed. Here’s to hoping that trend continues—at least with this match. The field is interesting, as you have “the sure things” in Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler—performers that all of us presume have solid world championship runs in their future regardless of the outcome of this match. You also have Christian, a former world champion would always be a crowd pleasing victor. You follow that with Tensai, a guy who if he wins would cause many of us to throw our televisions out the window. Then you have Damien Sandow, a man who has shown that he has the ability to take this character all the way to the top—but not yet. And then you have Tyson Kidd, Santino Marella and Sin Cara. If they win, we might finally have someone cash in and lose. Realistically, anyone outside of the final three listed have a shot at winning—regardless of whether we like them as an option. I’ll go with Ziggler here.
Prediction: Dolph Ziggler (cashes in during the typical late fall/winter timeframe to win the title)

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus (champion) vs. Alberto Del Rio
I’ve heard and read many an opinion that the build for this match hasn’t been the best—and while I tend to think they could have done a little more, it’s not been as bad as many think. The biggest problem with this match is the treatment of Sheamus and the World Heavyweight Championship in general. It got off to a horrible start at WrestleMania 28, and hasn’t fared much better since. What Sheamus needs is a big pay-per-view closing victory—one that I can pretty much guarantee he won’t get here. While I think Alberto Del Rio works better with smaller opponents (which makes sense, he came up facing luchadors), I think he and Sheamus can work a good match together on this card. I do expect to see this feud continue through SummerSlam, and see Sheamus retaining here.
Prediction: Sheamus retains

WWE Championship Match
CM Punk (champion) vs. Daniel Bryan
AJ serves as the special referee
This story is the best thing going in the WWE today. Seriously, it’s damn near impossible to predict what will happen next. AJ’s character has been the focus of successive editions of RAW, and it’s been established that she’s either batshit crazy or has everyone right where she wants them. She’s just crazy enough to call this one down the middle right until the very end. That will allow both men to have a great match before the finish, which will undoubtedly be of the storyline variety. What will that be? Outside of her counting the 1-2-3, I have no clue.
Prediction: CM Punk retains

WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Participants: John Cena, The Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho
“The Money in the Bank concept is long assumed to be designed to elevate someone into the world championship history, since the cash-in has never failed.” That is what I said earlier in this preview. Many seem to share the perspective that this match is a bad thing because none of the four names listed need to win the briefcase to be a challenger. But each also makes a great holder of the case as well, provided we shed our preconception about the point of the match. Nowhere is it written that MITB has to elevate someone. It, just like championships, managers and special guest referees, is a storyline device first—just so happens that card elevation has been its primary storyline function in nearly all of its cash-ins. But I think this is a great use of the match. The Money in the Bank pay-per-view should be main evented by a Money in the Bank Ladder Match, and unless the WWE plans to have the winner cash in on the same night, this one should go on last. Expectations for this match are low, which is why I think it will do just fine. It’ll exceed expectations, even if that isn’t saying much. The field is small, but that lends itself to a different flow than what we’re used to. This will be more of a traditional WWE main event that happens to involve ladders—hopefully including the Big Show’s mega-ginormous variety. I‘ve seen some speculation than we could expect the addition of Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio or The Miz, but I’d wager returns like that are being held back for the 1000th RAW. This one belongs to Superman himself, John Cena.
Prediction: John Cena (announces his intentions on RAW to face the WWE champion at SummerSlam)

Overall
This is a good card for nearly all wrestling fans. The World Heavyweight Championship MITB is likely to steal the show, and the WWE Championship MITB should exceed its low expectations. I expect few surprises in the two title matches as well. With four matches advertised, there will be additions to the card in the way of a Ryback squash and possibly a new debut/call-up. I hope they shy away from adding too much and give the advertised matches (especially Punk-Bryan) plenty of time. On paper, this is a buy for me as I think it will end up being a good show. Normally I’d have gone to this show in person as it’s emanating from my neck of the woods in Phoenix, Arizona. However, I’ll be chillin’ with Mickey Mouse on the DeMarco Family Vacation when this takes place. However, I still have to go “Buy” on this one, it’s going to be a good show.
Recommendation: Buy

You Decide: What do you expect to see at Money in the Bank?

If you’re one of those guys who sits there and dismisses independent wrestling, claiming it’s nothing but vanilla midgets who can’t sell to save their lives, you might as well move on to “The Comments.” Because I’m standing on the indy soapbox and I’m singing that tune loud and proud, son.

As I was searching for a leading graphic for Austin Aries’s title win, I stumbled upon this graphic below, which depicts a point I made in my “The Five” point above…

Seven years later, the Ring of Honor World Championship is no longer held in the same regard as when CM Punk and Austin Aries fought over it, and most of the men who elevated that title and made it important are now wrestling on the business’s biggest stages. The most important champions in Ring of Honor’s history are Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan, Nigel McGuinness/Desmond Wolfe and Tyler Black/Seth Rollins. Each guy ushered in an era, defined a booker, or damn near saved the company. The first four names are either champions or top contenders. The fifth is a man who has seen injury cut short what was a brilliant independent career—and as we saw briefly in TNA, what could have been a brilliant career in the big time. And the sixth is a man that WWE fans “in the know” are clamoring for, awaiting the moment he debuts on RAW or Smackdown with nervous anticipation for what he’ll be able to do with the WWE marketing machine behind him.

Right after he won the 2012 ECWA Super 8, “The Greek God” Papadon came on The Greg DeMarco Show (hear this episode here) and discussed his win in and out of character. And when we were done with the interview, he wasn’t. Why? Because we all needed to remember to support independent wrestling—and he was going to remind us. We needed to support independent wrestling because it’s the future of the business. Because if you’ve never taken the time to watch one Bryan Danielson match from his run as ROH World Champion you have no clue how amazing of a wrestler he really is. If you haven’t seen Samoa Joe defend the ROH World Championship against Paul London in London’s last night in ROH, you have no idea how much of a monster Joe can be. If you think Miami taking WrestleMania 28 and turning it into a “YES! YES! YES!” convention is something, watch ROH’s Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi and see a crowd turn a good match into a five star classic.

If you look closely, you’ll see a young CM Punk drowning in those streamers.

And it’s not just Ring of Honor. In fact, many would argue that it isn’t Ring of Honor at all anymore. It’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. It’s Absolute Intense Wrestling. It’s Shimmer, Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, Alpha-1 Wrestling, Vendetta Pro Wrestling, New England Championship Wrestling, the East Coast Wrestling Alliance, and so many more.

So give them a chance.

I’m taking a different spin this week, focusing on an email I received instead of a comment.

So I got a notification from Twitter that someone tried to change my password early Saturday. My first Twitter hacker! I’m so proud. Funny thing about this is that I got another email at the same time.

See, I get emails. Boy, do I get emails. People love to hate on good ol’ Greg DeMarco. But check out the email I got last Saturday morning…

Now I’ve never been to Pittsburgh, although I do have a good friend who lives out there. But there is a Greg DeMarco with quite a history there—a very positive history.

The following can be found here: http://blogs.mycentraljersey.com/onthemat/2010/01/19/greg-demarco-night-as-east-brunswick-travels-to-old-bridge/

“Tonight at the East Brunswick-Old Bridge match we’ll be honoring Greg DeMarco. The match will be held at Old Bridge High School and is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm.

Greg was the creator of the Old Bridge Wrestling Festival which is the pre-cursor for all off season tournaments held today. He was both innovative and inspirational, Greg created the “Madison System” of weigh-ins which is now used internationally! Anyone who ever attended the Old Bridge Wrestling Festival knew Greg fondly as the “Man with the Yellow Hat”, as Greg as tournament director, was always easily identifiable in his yellow construction [hat].”

Furthermore, the Greg DeMarco in Pittsburgh was actually an accomplished wrestler. He wrestled in the 1966 EIWA championship on March 11 & 12. You were entered in the 130 pound weight class, losing to Pete Vanderlofske in 5:05 of the second round.

So what’s really funny to me is that you’re not damaging my reputation—it’s not even my real name (which I’ve discussed since day one). You’re damaging the reputation of someone heavily respected in that area—an area I’ve never been to.

But I can tell you this: you’re doing something right. When you type Greg DeMarco into Google, the top suggestion is “Greg DeMarco Sex Offender.” Good work on you. By the way, the government keeps a national registry of offenders, found here. Check it out.

So if you search with the US Department of Justice, you’ll get this result:
“0 hits from a national search including all states, territories, and Indian Country for first name like Greg, last name like DeMarco.”

Same result if you search for Gregory. Which is funny. While DeMarco isn’t my last name, Gregory isn’t my first name either. It’s Greg. Gregory was my uncle’s name, and my mother didn’t want there to be confusion, so I’m purely Greg. It was supposed to be spelled “Gregg” but they screwed it up at the hospital (or my father told them wrong, who knows). I am actually happy about that—I prefer the single G spelling.

Now, I’ve been told several different things about even addressing this:

You talk about it, they win.
Nope. Here’s the thing. This has been going on for nearly a year now. I could have asked “the powers that be” not to allow these comments through, and they likely would have obliged. By acknowledging this idiot/these idiots, I’m not letting them win. I’ve already won. The fact that they even do this—that they put in so much effort to try to hurt me in some way is a win for me. I’m so important that someone dedicates time sitting in their house/apartment/basement/attic/storage unit to trying to tear me down? I’ll take it.

There’s an idiot on Twitter who calls himself “rovert” (@sodutw) who has gone after me. I have no clue if he’s done it recently because I blocked him a while back. I’ve been told he has more than one Twitter, but I’ve only heard from that one. Supposedly there is a thread in one of the paysites message boards dedicated to me as well. Great! As Buggy Nova so eloquently stated on my very own radio show, Haters Make Us Famous.

You could present one hell of a Defamation of Character lawsuit.
I probably could. I’m sure if I paid my lawyer enough, they could trace the “Erica Mann” email back to someone, probably local right here in Arizona. But what’s it worth? Do I really want to get involved in a lawsuit? They haven’t cost me anything…I haven’t lost anything…I have no damages to sue for. To clear my name? They haven’t been effective in disparaging my name, so that’s a non-issue as well.

At the end of the day, there are very few people who provide an opinion on my work that I really care to hear. And none of them share that opinion in the comments section. So comment away, whether you’re some Johnny come lately or as established as the Kennedy family in New England. I’m enjoying every second of it.

Are you an independent wrestling promoter, wrestler or fan looking to get more exposure for your promotion? Send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I will check it out! Each week, one independent promotion will be featured in this column. Because independent wrestling is the future of the business.

This week’s independent promotion is…
ECWA – EAST COAST WRESTLING ASSOCIATION

From the ECWA website:

The ECWA is considered one of THE premier independent wrestling promotion in the United States and is the longest running having been established in 1967.

The ECWA Annual Super 8 Tournament (EST. 1997) has been a hotbed for young outstanding talents to compete in and has served as a platform for greater exposure and more opportunities! The ECWA K-CUP (Kangaroo Cup) Tag Team Tournament (EST. 2011), the sister tournament of the Super 8, is also held annually for tag teams!

The ECWA returns to action in Newark, New Jersey this Saturday, July 14, with another huge card. This card features yet another defense of the ECWA Championship, as “The Greek God” Papadon puts Big Red on the line against Tony Nese, a man who he’s shared the ring with on many occasions. In fact, Nese has fared pretty well against the champ in the past. Also on the card is a one-ring version of Wargames, as the ECWA-Blackheart feud comes to a head.

Take a look at the entire card, courtesy of the ECWA website:

WARGAMES – The Match Beyond
TEAM ECWA (TWA Heavyweight Champion “Heart Killer” Chris Wylde, Kekoa the Flyin’ Hawaiian, Bandido Jr. and Grandslam Champion Aden Chambers) vs. BLACKHEART (Breaker Morant, Bobby Shields, Josh Daniels and Mustafa Aziz w/ Joel Blackhart)

ECWA Heavyweight Title Match
“Greek God” Papadon (c) vs. Tony Nese

ECWA Unified Tag Team Title Match
“FUSION DS” Matt Saigon & Damian Dragon (c) vs. “The Slophunters” #1 Johnny Silver & Alex Reynolds

ECWA Mid-Atlantic Title Match – Special Guest Referee Cole Calaway
Mr. Ooh La La w/ Coach Jim Shorts (c) vs. “the BOSS” Mike Tartaglia

Stretcher Match
“Kid America” Mike Kehner vs. “Greatest American Hero” Corey Blaze

Cole Callaway vs. Ricky “the Model” Martinez w/ Magnum & Press Agent Gus Grand

For more information, check out:
ECWA’s website at ECWAprowrestling.com
ECWA’s Facebook here.

Lastly, have a listen as “The Greatest Unsigned Talent in Wrestling” The Greek God Papadon shared some thoughts on his title defense against “The Premiere Athlete” Tony Nese:

The Greg DeMarco Show with Chikara’s Jigsaw (Rubix in TNA)

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 Tony Acero, Justin Freemyer, Chad Perry and the First Lady of the VOC Nation—WrestlingMarx girl “The Guilty Pleasure” Leanne Marie! Plus, you never know who might call in or stop by “The Snake Pit” (chatroom).

This week:
Chikara veteran Jigsaw joins the program as the first guest in the show’s new relationship with the promotion. Jigsaw discusses his training with Mike Quackenbush and Chris Hero (WWE/FCW’s Kassius Ohno), his two runs in Chikara, his time in Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA, thoughts on losing his mask, and his recent X-Division debut on TNA Impact Wrestling and Destination X as Rubix.

Chad Perry is in with your WWE Money in the Bank preview, Tony Acero discusses what many feel was a very bad edition of RAW, Justin Freemyer provides a look at this week in wrestling history and more!

Click here to listen to the show, 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 featuring guests from Ring of Honor, Extreme Reunion, Chikara Pro, 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.

“Back in the day” there was a little joke that went around the internet. After Hornswoggle was revealed to be the anonymous General Manager, I realized that the WWE just throws in the name Hornswoggle when they don’t know how to resolve an old storyline. And it reminded me of that joke. Bonus points to the person in the comments section that best explains the history.

You Decide: What does it all mean???

TNA X-Division Championship: Austin Aries (champion) vs. Samoa Joe
TNA Slammiversary X (2012) and emanating from Arlington, Texas

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

http://www.twitter.com/411mania
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma
http://www.twitter.com/gregdemarcoshow – that’s me!

Last week we welcomed back Maryse. This week? Velvet Sky!

Get reading!

Randle’s Wrestling News Experience!
The News from Cook’s Corner!
Kelly’s Sports Entertainment News Report!
Napier’s Handicapping the News!
Fact or Fiction!

Tony Acero presents The Low End Theory!

Plenty to talk about in the comments!
Was Austin Aries winning TNA’s world title a good move?
What are your predictions for WWE’s Money in the Bank?
Are the successes of Austin Aries, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and others enough to make you watch indy wrestling?
Plus independent wrestling, a marquee with your name on it isn’t enough!
Plus, vote in the poll above—Mickie Versus Candice!

Until next time…

Find me:

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