News From Cook’s Corner 07.31.12

I wasn’t exactly efficient this week, as the column’s a bit late and I didn’t write about everything I wanted to. I had to dramatically cut one section because I thought it was something that most 411 readers would find as interesting as I do. You have to know your audience, and I think after almost eight years I think I know you guys pretty well. Why do you think I have so many pictures of attractive women in the column? It’s what the people want & need.

They also want & need Cody. I’m still not sure where he was the last couple of months or so, but he’s back now!

The most amazing thing about the New Age Outlaws was that people actually chanted with Billy Gunn.
More proof that anybody could pop a crowd during the Attitude Era. – Guest#7101

I remember when the Road Dogg & Bad Ass Billy Gunn first got together…they were two guys that were going absolutely nowhere. Road Dogg had that horrible “Real Double J” gimmick going and they’d stuck Billy with the Honky Tonk Man & called him Rockabilly. Nobody saw their success as a tag team coming, but it was one of those things where together they were greater than the sum of their parts. And yes, there were countless acts like that during the Attitude Era. There was an enthusiasm amongst wrestling fans during that time period that hasn’t been matched since. You’d see the crowds get excited about everybody on the show, which made the wrestlers seem more important. You don’t see that so much in 2012.

I am looking forward to heel Punk on top. He’s really much better as a heel and can easily explain his turn, as during his entire reign as champion he still played second fiddle to the Rock and Cena. This looks to set up Punk/Rock at the Rumble, followed by Cena/Rock II at Wrestelmania. – JDW

I was definitely interested to see what Punk would do next, which is exactly how you want to end an episode of a wrestling show. His motivation is easy to understand and the people want to see him vs. Rock anyway. I do expect things to play out the way you do as well, with Cena getting one more shot at the Rock at WrestleMania. He’ll probably win the Royal Rumble to get it, and people will complain, but Rock vs. Cena 2 makes sense.

What was the point of Daniel Bryan talking to those “men in white” backstage? I thought he’d marry AJ then have her committed… – B

That was apparently D-Bry’s evil plan, but his downfall was AJ not actually agreeing to marry him and giving him the power to have her committed. The announcers didn’t explain what exactly Bryan was doing backstage with the men in white, but you could fill in the blanks on your own.

My biggest problem with Raw was this…tonight, and every other night they do some big event show, they bring in the old favorites like Rock, Taker, and HHH and feed the new guys to them. How are you suppose to get new guys over when everytime you have a big event you kill off all the young guys. – JWestmoreland

WWE obviously has a problem with their fans not taking the younger talent seriously, and it likely doesn’t help when they get fed to the established guys. On the bright side, it makes it seem more important when a young guy gets the edge on an old favorite. Like when CM Punk took Rock out at the end of Raw.

Sure women leave wrestling earlier, but that isn’t a reason not to push the division. It doesn’t matter who has primary fault here, the women, WWE, or fans. As management, WWE can certainly change the environment. First though, WWE has to recognize that air time is an opportunity to make money. The way the run the Diva and other divisions isn’t making them money. In fact, it gets me looking to find something more interesting. If I find it I don’t come back. So change it. Give me something to entertain me, make WWE money, or develop talent to make them money tomorrow. Business-wise it doesn’t matter if they keep and improve the division, reduce it, or get rid of it. Just stop wasting the opportunity to make money. Stop boring me and driving me away.

I can also promise that people who feel appreciated and fulfilled with opportunities in front of them are much easier to keep even when they get paid less. Seen it all the time. So even if WWE didn’t start the trend of Divas leaving they can certainly change it when they want. – Guest#1554

These are all good points, and it is amazing how far just a little appreciation goes in keeping people happy.

The TNA “chant” happened when Punk was checking on the referee outside after the Big Show attack. In reality it was just one guy yelling it a couple of times until somebody asked him what TNA was and he didn’t know how to answer. – Dr. Wiki

I remember a few years back when I asked my parents to get me a TNA DVD for Christmas. They looked at me like I had two heads. It’s amazing they’ve kept that name for ten years, isn’t it? Thanks to everybody who chimed in on that, I had a feeling it was something along those lines.

I’m all for a prolonged, 4 months + programm between Chralie Sheen and Daniel Bryan, in fact, I think the love Triangle Story with AJ would’ve been GOLD if it would’ve been between those two and not for the WWE Title. It totally fits Sheens character and the way he does comedy for this to be about a girl. My guess: Sheen goes over @ Summerslam, which is awesome for D-Bry, since there really is no realistic celebrity opponent that will give him as much media coverage as Charlie Sheen – Matt86

In all likelihood working an angle with Charlie Sheen will be the highest-profile event of Daniel Bryan’s wrestling career. Unless you’re John Cena and are constantly working WrestleMania main events & WWE title matches, it doesn’t get much bigger for a WWE Superstar than working with a celebrity on Sheen’s level. I know some of his longtime fans aren’t going to be too happy about it, because obviously it’s not going to result in his best match ever, but D-Bry is going to have more eyes on him in the coming weeks than he’s ever had. The pressure will be on for him to deliver on his end and make people want to see him get his comeuppance at SummerSlam in some form or fashion. Obviously Sheen’s going to get the last laugh, but if Bryan does a good enough job people will still want to see him on TV after it’s over. Considering his track record, I think Bryan’s going to make it work.

“Rock will be taking on whoever is WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble! Well, the man did beat John Cena, so I guess he’s earned it.”

When does Ace get his title shot? – Jason Douglas

It was a little surprising that they never got around to running Punk vs. Johnny since that was the original feud. He probably could have booked himself into a WWE title shot during his last week as the GM of Raw & SmackDown if he wasn’t busy selling injuries. If I remember correctly, part of the reason they discontinued Punk vs. Johnny was because Punk didn’t really want to do it. At least that was the backstage scuttlebutt.

And now, the fake news!

There have been reports that The Rock appearing at WrestleMania 29 is not guaranteed. See, his huge GI JOE movie is coming out on March 29, and Rock will be expected to do a ton of media appearances to support it. Of course, WWE also has people do a ton of media appearances to support WrestleMania. I don’t believe these reports for a second. I do believe that WWE would feed this story to certain people in the wrestling media, and the reason why is quite simple…

They want people to believe there’s a chance that Rock won’t go over at the Royal Rumble.

Most of us have already arrived at the conclusion that Rock will be defending the WWE title at WrestleMania. I figured that was where they were going a couple of seconds after Rock announced he’d be challenging for the title at the Rumble. Sure, CM Punk is a gentleman, a scholar & a jam-up guy, but is the average wrestling fan going to give him much of a chance against The Rock? Nope. Will the IWC think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of Punk going over The Rock? Nope. So you float some stories out there about Rock potentially not being at WrestleMania 29, and it creates doubt in some peoples’ minds. Not everybody, but enough to make the endeavor worthwhile.

I for one appreciate the effort gone to by WWE to fool people.

Randy Orton’s Wellness suspension ended on Sunday and he was back on Raw last night. He reportedly failed the Wellness test due to a tainted supplement that led to elevated testosterone levels. WWE will be pushing him pretty hard upon his return, as he’ll be inserted back into the World Title picture and is being advertised in three-way matches with Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio for upcoming house shows.

I see the argument against pushing Orton upon his return. It sends the message that Randy Orton is above everybody else on the WWE roster. Well, it’s not like it’s something we don’t already know. Randy Orton has been above the law for the past several years. He gets away with stuff that your average WWE Superstar could never get away with. Why? Because he’s not your average WWE Superstar. He hasn’t been buried to the point where the fans don’t believe in him. WWE doesn’t have a ton of guys like that these days, so every single one is vital.

The Great Khali underwent surgery last week to remove a tumor in his pituitary gland that caused his enormous size. WWE discovered the tumor during their Wellness testing some time before the surgery.. While obviously there are benefits to being huge, there are also great drawbacks. Andre the Giant died to complications from acromegaly, and Big Show had surgery to remove a tumor in the early 1990s that has allowed him to escape some of the problems that Andre had later in life. Khali was expected to be released from the hospital yesterday, and WWE hopes he’ll be back in the ring as soon as possible.

World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus has been booked very strong since winning the title at WrestleMania, and people backstage are comparing it to how Triple H was booked back in the day. Triple H & Sheamus’s friendship is well-known, so of course people are going to make that comparison whenever possible. I think it’s unfair. It’s not like Triple H was the first champion to ever be booked strongly, and his time on the top & Sheamus’s aren’t exactly the same. Triple H was a dominant heel champion the likes of which hadn’t been seen before and hasn’t been seen again. Sheamus is a dominant face champion, more comparable to folks like Hulk Hogan & John Cena. I’m sure we’ll see Sheamus turn heel someday and then maybe he’ll be more like Triple H, but for now this is just people whining about Sheamus being Triple H’s guy.

Personally, I think Triple H has good taste in guys.

That doesn’t sound right, does it? Oh well.

Speaking of guys that were dominant champions before Triple H was around, Bruno Sammartino recently spoke out against Stone Cold Steve Austin on the “Inside the Ropes” podcast. Bruno said that he didn’t like Austin because of his mouth, and that he couldn’t be a fan of anybody that was so vulgar. Austin responded on Twitter by saying that while he respected Bruno & his career, he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about Bruno’s opinion of him. Neither of these viewpoints are too surprising. Bruno thinks it’s still 1965, and Austin has never cared what anybody thought of him.

Kelly Kelly was scheduled to come back for a segment on last week’s Raw, but the segment was pulled when too many of the early segments on the show ran long. Hey, I’m all for the Divas getting more time & stuff, but I can’t think of anything on last week’s show I would have cut so Kelly Kelly could get on TV. Especially if reports are accurate that she was reluctant to make the appearance. If you’re going to cut something from your show, you might as well cut something with performers that don’t give a crap.

The “Legends Squashing Heath Slater” segment on Raw has been doing well in the ratings, so WWE is considering making it a weekly thing. Well, the newsbites didn’t say whether or not Heath Slater would continue to be involved, but I hope he is. He’s absolutely fantastic in the role of talking junk and then getting humiliated by old-timers. The really good thing about Heath is that you don’t really see people complaining about him getting treated this way. If it was Daniel Bryan, Jack Swagger, Cody Rhodes or Drew McIntyre, people would complain endlessly. Since it’s Heath Slater, a guy that people either really don’t like, or do like but don’t see him as the future of the company, people can enjoy it without being all like “HOW DARE THEY SQUASH YOUNG HEATH SLATER!”.

Tatanka said that he was contacted to appear on the 1,000th episode of Raw, but WWE officials never got back to him when he said that he was interested. I have two ideas as to why they chose not to use Tatanka:

-They ran out of dates to have people squash Heath Slater on.
-Somebody got afraid that if they had a Native American act crazy on television that Linda McMahon’s Senate opponents would accuse her of being racist.

Hey, that second option isn’t totally crazy. Last week we had people refusing to eat at a chicken restaurant because the ownership isn’t hot on gay marriage. The political correctness is getting a little much these days, isn’t it? I just don’t see what opinions on politics have to do with tasty chicken.

The NXT tapings at Full Sail University continue to receive rave reviews for the environment. Triple H is said to run a professional ship and WWE officials are really impressed with what’s going on down there with the improvement in talent & atmosphere. Hopefully we’ll see the same thing happen when Triple H is running Raw & SmackDown.

Those of you that watched SmackDown may have noticed that there was a lack of General Manager. AJ was named the new General Manager of Raw on Monday night, but Friday came & went with no news on when SmackDown would have a new authority figure. WWE.com has an article up wondering if SmackDown even needs a General Manager, and it raises an interesting possibility.

Ever since Vince McMahon & Eric Bischoff found success as evil authority figures in the late 1990s, most wrestling shows have revolved around who’s in charge. WWE had Mr. McMahon, then Ric Flair became a co-owner, then Vince won Flair’s power and decided he wanted a General Manager for each show. WCW had Bischoff as the Executive Vice President, then Ric Flair became President, then Sting won the President Title from him, and after that there was a Commissioner, then Flair got control back somehow. TNA has had a ton of people with matchmaking power, usually at the same time. Currently Dixie Carter is the acknowledged owner. Sting is currently the General Manager while Hulk Hogan recovers from injuries. This is actually the simplest that TNA’s power structure has ever been. They’ve had a Director of Authority, NWA Representatives, a Championship Committee, Don Callis as a Management Consultant, Mick Foley as the Executive Shareholder, Jeff Jarrett making decisions because he was the Founder, Traci Brooks as the Knockouts Law, Karen Jarrett as the Executive Vice President of the Knockouts and probably fifteen other positions of authority that I’ve forgotten about.

And of course every indy promotion out there has their own variation on this. Even ROH has had Jim Cornette as the Commissioner and now as the Executive Producer while Cary Silkin is still hanging around as an Ambassador. OVW’s main storyline for the last few months involved people arguing over who was in charge of the TV show. CHIKARA had Bob Saget as their commissioner for a few years, and everybody marked out when he actually did a promo for them. PWG had Excalibur as the Commissioner of Food & Beverage, and then as the Liaison to the Board of Directors.

It’s become impossible to consider a wrestling show without some sort of an authority figure. So why not try it on SmackDown? Last week’s show went pretty smoothly without one. There was a #1 Contender match that was booked earlier in the week, Christian enacted his rematch clause with The Miz, and there was no need for an authority figure in either situation. It reminded me of the old days when WWF President Jack Tunney would book the matches and wasn’t on every single TV show. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again…I miss those days. I don’t care who runs the show. I care about the wrestlers on the show. Why not focus on them instead of whoever’s making them do stuff?

So of course they announced on Raw that Mr. McMahon would be naming a new SmackDown General Manager on Friday. Way to get my hopes up, guys!

In news that broke on Monday night during Raw, WWE.com announced that John Laurinitas has resigned from his position of Senior Vice President of Talent Operations. The announcement says that Johnny is burned out after eight years of dealing with talent relations, and is looking forward to working with WWE talent as a producer. Before ascending the corporate ladder, Laurinitas was known as one of the top road agents/producers in wrestling. His time in charge of Talent Relations & hiring young wrestlers has been maligned by most observers, and Triple H had pretty much taken his duties from him over the past few months. I think Johnny could do well in his new/old role, but it’ll be interesting to see how long he sticks around as he seems to have plenty of enemies in the company.

-FIRE! HUH HUH HUH FIRE!

-We can make light of it since nobody got hurt, but the religious among us may wonder if this was some sort of sign.

-CM Punk comes out to explain his actions from last week.

-He takes issue with Jerry Lawler talking about how he turned his back on the WWE Universe, and sits Indian-style on the announce table in front of Lawler.

-Last time he checked, The Rock was not the WWE Universe! The Rock is a delusional movie star that showed him a lack of respect. He tried to make the show all about him.

-Punk wants the spotlight and the attention on the WWE Champion, the best wrestler in the world!

-For some reason this brings out the Big Show.

-Looks like Punk is going to solidly be in the tweener role for a three-person feud with Cena & Show. I can dig that, he did his explanation and it’s tough to argue anything he said. He even denied turning against the entire WWE Universe.

-AJ gets her last name now that she’s General Manager! She books Cena vs. Show in the main event, with the winner going on to face Punk at SummerSlam.

-Santino is still the US Champion. He’s lucky ADR doesn’t care about that title, or he would have lost it about 15 matches ago.

-ADR’s switched to black trunks with gold trim. It’s a good look.

-Match goes as you would think. ADR talks about how everybody is beneath him. He says he will not compete unless it’s a World title match, so now he’s not competing until SummerSlam. It’s three weeks, we’ll survive.

-3 hours and we don’t even have time for the Funkasaurus’s full entrance.

-Vickie tries to dance with the Funkadactyls. This brings out Damien Sandow to put a stop to the nonsense. Good man.

-He beats down the Funkasaurus & broke his necklace! You know when somebody’s necklace gets broken that it’s on like Donkey Kong.

-D-Bry is told to shut up by the power suit wearing AJ. She references the men in white suits from last week and books D-Bry in a match against Sheamus.

“Is it for the title?”

“NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!”

Good times.

-Longer Raws mean we get video packages from four weeks ago.

-#StreetFight wins the poll for match stipulation between Bryan & Sheamus. The other choices were Falls Count Anywhere & No Holds Barred. Yeah, not much difference between the options.

-Look at Bryan swinging a cane! Dude thinks he’s the Sandman or something.

-It’s a damn good thing we have people like Bryan & Sheamus around so it’s impossible for the whole show to suck.

-Sheamus gets the win in a fun streetfight. D-Bry brought it! Good physical match here.

-Bryan refuses to leave the ring until he gets a doctor!

-BRYAN ATTACKS LITTLE JIMMY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

-Bryan tries to get the men in white suits to take R-Truth out, but AJ sends them after him instead. Maybe he’ll meet up with Charlie Sheen next week in the looney bin?

-It’s been a few years since we’ve had good wrestling skits in a mental asylum. Say what you will about the Ric Flair ones in 1999 WCW, but I thought they were funny.

-Kofi takes on Titus O’Neil. More needless black on black violence.

-A shoe? Who throws a shoe? Really!

-Titus gets the win. He & Darren Young can’t win tag team matches, but they can win singles matches to remain in title contention. Perhaps they’ve missed their calling.

-Cole refers to them as diamonds in the rough. Dear God let’s not bring those guys back.

-Cole apologizes for AW making a Kobe Bryant joke. Because it’s outdated.

-Randy Orton is here to show Heath Slater how an actual Legend Killer does things.

-Shazam? Wasn’t that Captain Marvel’s catchphrase? I refuse to download any more apps WWE tells me to since Tout tried to kill my phone over the weekend.

-D-Bry’s talking to a doctor just like he wanted. He’s not exactly disproving the theory that he’s insane.

-Bryan Danielson is now trending, as Twitter claims he is insane because his name is not actually Daniel Bryan. This is a good point.

-Chris Jericho & Christian re-form the second most fondly remembered tag team Christian has been part of. As for Jericho, I think his team with Eddie Guerrero was probably his best even though WCW did nothing with them. The Thrillseekers were a little too green to be truly memorable, though they had that classic with the Heavenly Bodies on Night of Legends when Jericho had a broken arm and lost most of his blood supply.

-Fun tag team match there. Christian did his usual good job of making Miz & Ziggler look good, then the veterans got the win through somewhat nefarious means. Dolph gets the heat at the end of the match by wiping Jericho out with the briefcase.

-Bryan is now convinced that Charlie Sheen put the doctor up to this. Maybe he actually is crazy.

-Hey, the Tensai vs. Tyson Kidd feud is still going on! Tensai gets the jobber entrance.

-Tensai gets the win though, so I guess it evens out.

-Never mind, Tensai just got himself disqualified after the bell. Boy, his return has really gone well.

-Kane introduces himself as Bryan’s anger management therapist. A movie with Bryan playing Adam Sandler & Kane playing Jack Nicholson might have potential.

-CM Punk doesn’t wear his commentary blazer tonight. Disappointing!

-I must say that the Cincinnati crowd has brought it tonight. Maybe they’ll get more than one Raw every two years in the future.

-Not sure how I feel about the Punk vs. Lawler match that we’re sure to get sometime in the next three weeks. Lawler seems to have finally lost it in 2012, which when you consider that he’s been working for four decades is pretty impressive.

-CM Punk declares Show & Cena losers. Well, you kind of had to see that ending coming.

-AJ declares them both winners and books the triple threat match for SummerSlam. Punk demands respect from AJ as we fade to black.

-Pretty solid show this week. I wouldn’t say it was a home run or anything, but it was eventful and had some really good stuff. Bryan was on point as usual, his match with Sheamus was fantastic and his backstage stuff was entertaining. Punk did a good job explaining himself and positioning himself in that tweener role. No wonder Kevin Nash wants to build the New World Order around him. Fans were into it. The building didn’t burn down. Good times.

-The main downside? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many recap videos. To the point where it was completely ridiculous. I think they were showing recap videos of previous recap videos. They really need to cut back on that.

It’s a sad week for this column, as Velvet Sky was released by TNA last week. Why so sad? I’ve been using Velvet for TNA news pictures for years! Now I have to find somebody else…it sure would be nice if they’d put Taeler Hendrix on the show already, but I guess they prefer featuring people that got rejected by the Gut Check.

Velvet was a very important part of TNA’s Knockouts Division pretty much from the beginning. She & Angelina Love were two of the top heels for an extended period as The Beautiful People, and the stable brought good entertainment to TNA fans. Velvet was always very popular with TNA fans even if she was a bad girl. Her segments always did well in the ratings and whether she was heel or a face she was a good foil to use against the other Knockouts & help get them more over. Some didn’t care for her in-ring skills, and she wasn’t on the level of folks like Gail & Kong, but she was always near the top of the Knockouts when it came to popularity. Some will tell you that they’re all the same, but Velvet had a special connection with TNA’s fan base, one that’s difficult for others to duplicate. We can hope that future Knockouts will, but it’d be easier for them if Velvet was there for them to work with.

At least we have the memories.

Apparently one of the main reasons Velvet left was because TNA wanted to reduce her pay. This is reportedly becoming a trend, and it’s being said that TNA is using the fact that WWE doesn’t want to sign any TNA people due to a pending lawsuit to offer their workers less money. TNA wrestlers have one less employment option as long as that lawsuit goes on, and it’s the option that will pay them the most money. Not good.

PWInsider reports that there are talks of Impact Wrestling remaining a live show after the summer ends. The original plan was for Impact to be live during the summer and then returning to the old Monday/Tuesday taping schedule in the fall. I’m not sure that the current run of shows would be worse if they were taped instead of live, but it does seem like there’s an added level of excitement when the show’s live. Not knowing what’s going to happen on the show before it happens makes it more exciting for me, and I think most people feel the same way.

Not a whole lot of TNA news this week. The next big thing on the agenda would be Earl Hebner tweeting about requesting a blow job from somebody if I thought I could keep my lunch down while writing about it. Wrestlers really need to learn the art of the direct message.

Some good news for Dragon Gate USA, as their champion Johnny Gargano has re-signed with them & EVOLVE. Gargano’s contract was expiring this week and there was much speculation that he would be on his way to World Wrestling Entertainment, who had shown some interest in him. Gargano gave a speech on the DGUSA iPPV Saturday night talking about how he loved being an independent wrestler & wanted to stay in the smaller promotions to help make business better. The word going around is that Gargano’s interest in going to WWE dropped after his stepfather was released from prison…I’m not really sure what one thing would have to do with the other there.

In any event, it’s good news for the indies that somebody that people seem to like a lot will be sticking around a bit longer. It seems like a lot of indy wrestlers are getting noticed by the big companies and heading down to Florida these days. Which is awesome for them and will hopefully end well, but indy promoters have to be wondering where the next wave of talent will come from. I don’t know if others will make the same decision that Gargano made, but guys like Gabe Sapolsky have to feel a little bit better about things since somebody chose to stick around.

The Insane Clown Posse have released a single entitled “Chris Benoit”. The song is not specifically about the Benoit family murder, but it is about someone losing their mind leading to a catastrophic demise. Benoit’s name appears in the song & an image of him is in the music video. As you would expect, this has gotten a lot of negative attention from wrestling fans. I was confused as to why ICP would do this, then I remembered the reason they do most things: to get attention. They don’t get radio airplay & they’re not affiliated with a major record label, so they have to do controversial things to get on peoples’ radar. Naming a song after Chris Benoit is certainly controversial.

As for the song…it’s ICP. You know what you’re getting with them, and either you like it or you don’t. I dug them when I was younger and I can still listen to them occasionally, but it’s not my thing anymore. They pay people well to appear on JCW shows and are great self-promoters, though I’m not sure that this was the best move for them. Then again, most of the people that will bash them for this song don’t care for their music anyway. So maybe all that matters is that their music is getting mentioned in places that it usually wouldn’t. Like a wrestling news column.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has been announcing first-round matchups for the 2012 Battle of Los Angeles, which will take place on September 1 & 2. Most notable so far is a rematch of what many fans considered the best match to take place on WrestleMania Weekend and was at ROH’s Showdown in the Sun: Davey Richards vs. Michael Elgin. I still haven’t seen the match, but most that have seem really excited about this. Also scheduled thus far is Kevin Steen murdering Ricochet, El Generico taking on Adam Cole, Eddie Edwards vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack. More matches will be announced by PWG throughout the week.

Speaking of Davey, he’s done a shoot interview with Highspots and has added himself to the list of current ROH talent speaking out against the company:

Davey is taking some time away from ROH at the moment but is expected to be back soon. Considering that one of the reasons people often cite for their displeasure with ROH’s current state is Davey Richards, it’s pretty amazing that even he has a beef with the current management. It’s kind of like John Cena doing an interview talking about how WWE sucks & Vince McMahon is outdated, but on a smaller scale. One wonders if ROH will continue in the direction they’ve set since Sinclair took over, or respond to the criticism of fans & their own employees.

Davey sure liked being in the news this week. He, Kyle O’Reilly & Tony Kozina had a triple shot of bookings in Iowa this weekend. Things seemed to go well enough on Friday night, but Saturday night’s show featured Tony Kozina having a match with Ryan Kidd that wasn’t your typical wrestling match. Kidd, a 16 year old that looks even younger, apparently made Kozina very angry backstage so he took it out on him in the ring. The match was posted on YouTube, and you can watch it & decide for yourself if Kozina was out of line:

It certainly wasn’t the most entertaining match of all time. Kozina spent way too much time doing phony MMA stuff that doesn’t excite anybody, then stiffed him several times before choking him out. Judging from this match I’m not sure what Ryan Kidd is even doing in a wrestling ring, but what Kozina did was over the line in my opinion. I haven’t seen the lion’s share of Kozina’s work, but whenever my friend & I watched FIP shows a few years back we always dreaded his matches because they were usually the worst. I’m not sure who died and made Tony Kozina the Great Protector of the wrestling business, but it’s a bad look for him that’s not going to get him booked anywhere useful. He can keep working in front of 25 people with his Team Ambition buddies, but he’s not going to do anything better than that.

Sunday’s Team Ambition appearance…well, there are two sides to every story. They showed up late to a show in Milo, Iowa, and left just before they were scheduled to compete in the main event. Jeremy Hall, the booker for APW, wrote the following:

Roughly a half hour later, with only 30 min left in the show, Davey arrives and storms into the locker room. I meet him at the door and ask to speak to him in person. I follow him outside and am greeted by everyone, Davey, Tony, Kyle and one of Davey’s trainees. Unknowingly I was walking into a verbal ambush. I can’t post most of the conversation here because of the language used by Davey. I was told at least twice that if this were “the old days, I would be taken around the corner and dealt with if the situation wasn’t fixed”. Was even informed that if he called Jim Cornette, he would tell Davey, and I quote, “Kick his ass.” Davey said they were there now, the shows not over we want to go on. Not out of fear, but as a means to resolve the situation I agreed to again change the ending of the show and have Davey and Kyle on the show. Davey said they wanted $375 upfront so they can “get the f*ck out of this town” as soon as it’s over. I agreed to pay upfront as a sign of good faith, if they would do it for $350. Davey agreed. To my understanding, situation now solved, an agreement has been met and cooler heads have prevailed.

They gloat now about how they got one over on the small time chump in Milo, Iowa, now referring to themselves as Team Bandits. The reactions of everyone that was in the locker room and things that have been posted is a way of showing their individual outrage on the situation. I did not ask anyone to post or say anything. I appreciate the support from all my peers on the situation. It was never EVER about money and I never accused anyone of not putting on a quality performance. It was about me standing up for myself, my company, refusing to be taken advantage of and most importantly it was about the respect they demanded, but I was never shown in return.

Here’s Kyle O’Reilly’s take:

Following my match the previous night and our training session that morning, my back had been giving me a lot of grief. After a full weekend of wrestling, and a full schedule of upcoming appearances, we decided amongst ourselves it would be best for everybody involved if we got our singles matches changed to an 8 man tag team match for the show. By no means was this an excuse to call it in and have a lazy match, this was simply a way of evening the work load and still putting his guys over clean in an outstanding 30 minute match. This request was met with hesitance from the promoter, claiming that his fans had expected specific singles matches from us and that he couldn’t come to an agreement with us on the matter. After several back and forth attempts of an agreement, he simply told us we were then cancelled off his show. “You can’t just cancel us like this” Tony replied, “I just did” was his response. Let me remind you we are in the middle of a cornfield laden highway in friggen Iowa and we’re being told that we no longer have a booking for today and to just go home.

The majority of you reading this is probably in complete disagreement with me on the matter and thinks what went down in Milo, Iowa yesterday was a crime. Most of you reading this probably have a strong dislike for me, being my wrestling style, my selling, my promos and character ability (or lack there of) or just you know me and personally dislike me for whatever reason. I’m okay with that. Hopefully this whole incident won’t affect anybody’s desire to book me or Team Ambition. However, if it does that’s okay because I’m a man of honour and regardless of what you say or think I’m going to continue being the best possible professional wrestler I can be. I’m standing by the decision that was made whether I regret it or not. It’s in the past and to those people who are hiding behind a computer screen “Wishing Team Ambition would get in a car wreck and sustain career ending injuries” just makes me sad for you. You live everyday through other people’s successes and mistakes and you feed off it to just have something to talk about amongst your pro-wrestling sewing circle. To anybody making an overly elaborate blown out of proportion attempt to create hateful energy towards myself you can stop wasting your time. Go and read a book, put on some “Beatles”, smoke a fat joint and try to incorporate a little love and positivity in your life. Focusing on negative aspects only dumbs everyone around you down, get over it and move on. XOXO

So Team Ambition agreed to work a show. They decided on the day of the show that the plans didn’t work for them, and they wanted everything changed. They showed up during the show, made the promoter change things to make them happy, then bailed. No matter what the promoter did to offend them, taking the money & running automatically puts them in the wrong. You do the job that the fans paid to see you do. Sure, there weren’t many of them, but whether you’re working for 20 or 20,000 people they at least deserve that much respect.

One of the main criticisms of the Team Ambition guys is that they take themselves way too seriously and would rather be MMA guys than pro wrestling guys. If MMA is their love, I feel they should try it out. Why let pro wrestling hold them down? I mean, it’s not like it’s working out too well for them. They’re wrestling shows in front of 25 people and splitting chump change between them. If you’re Davey Richards and you can’t even get somebody to pay you $200 to wrestle…why bother? If you’re Tony Kozina and have never accomplished anything meaningful in wrestling after years in the business, why are you still around? If you’re Kyle O’Reilly and your goal in life is to be Davey Richards…what kind of person wants to be Davey Richards? Something tells me that these guys aren’t going to find a whole lot of people wanting to book them in the future, even if their faux-MMA style is beloved by a very, very small percentage of the wrestling fan base.

If there’s one thing that these guys lack, it’s honor.

The 411 on Wrestling had discussion of Raw, Impact, SmackDown, CHIKARA, DGUSA, PWG and more! If it’s wrestling, we talk about it!

The Ocho had our Top 5 Olympic Sports, baseball trades, football training camp stuff, and much more! Almost sports analysis from almost sports analysts!

Fact or Fiction featured Trent Howell & Nick Marsico in wrestling banter combat! That’s right, I put my friends in the column. BROTHER.

The 411 Staff debates whether or not Sin Cara is a bust. I guess it depends on what your expectations for him were. If you expected nothing, that’s pretty much what you’ve gotten.

Byers ranks the top eight sidekicks. I think Ralphus was criminally underrated.

Weyer reminds us that wrestling is an escape from real life.

Rutherford serves up a sandwich.

Napier ranks the top ten tag team finishers.

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…