Thursday Sports Entertainment News Report 09.06.12

Greetings, folks, and welcome to another edition of Thursday Sports Entertainment!

WORLD (WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT) NEWS TONIGHT

Cameron (aka Ariane Andrew) has been suspended by WWE following her DUI arrest on August 24th. The suspension started on Friday and will run fifteen days, through September 14th. Cameron had been in the air headed to Australia when the company found out about the suspension and she was pulled off the last date of the tour.

As previously reported, there is a ton of heat over the fact that the company didn’t find out about the arrest until reports came online. It didn’t help that she was part of the first act featured on WWE’s Saturday Morning Slam which is a kids-oriented show. The length of the suspension is not yet confirmed, though one source noted, “They suspended Tiffany too, and we never saw her return, so who knows if Cameron will, either?”

Frankly, I’m shocked that she only got off with a suspension. Granted, the future is yet to come, but right now this is essentially a slap on the wrist. To me, there are three separate offenses here 1) The DUI, 2) the attempted bribery and 3) the cover up. DUI is a serious offense because you endanger not only your own life, but the lives of innocent people on the road as well. When WWE talent gets a slap on the wrist for such a dangerous crime, it sends the wrong message. Personally, I think Riley and Cameron should have been kicked to the curb right after they were arrested.

The former Abraham Washington took to Twitter to comment on the Cameron situation:

So a dancer in the WWE gets a DUI and is suspended by the WWE for only 15 days while @BJRatedR gets fired for speaking his mind, etc. #BS

As I said before @WWE allows you to disgrace other countries flag, have DUI’s, smoke marijuana, and do steroids but you can’t speak ur mind!

Now, AW may come off like a whiny little bitch, but the man has a point. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of rationale around how WWE disciplines their talent. Actually, there is, but it’s not a very honorable system. Basically, if you do anything to harm Linda’s campaign or draw the ire of network executives/the media, you’re out. Anything that can slip under the radar is okay. Not a good message to send to your talent.

There has been some debate over whether or not CM Punk bladed during his steel cage match with Jerry Lawler on RAW. F4Wonline.com said he did blade, while Punk himself has responded with sarcasm about paying large fines and then tweeted a photo showing staples in the top of his head.

@AndrewTheMark tweeted a photo of the match it looks like Punk has his hand in the position to blade, but you can’t actually make anything out.

Here’s the thing: Punk bladed. This isn’t even a discussion. If you check out last week’s Fact or Fiction, someone under the name Guest#3046 posted all the evidence you need. I had to modify the comment a bit, as the video reference he provided is no longer available on YouTube. I did manage to get another video, and adjusted the times accordingly. Here’s his comment in its entirety, followed by a video of the incident:

Until I rewatched the match I thought he was busted hardway by the cage but

Posted By: Guest#3046 (Guest) on August 30, 2012 at 01:49 PM

Once you watch the video knowing what to look for, it’s very obvious. My question is: if you’re going to break one of WWE’s strictest rules, why do it on RAW against an announcer? Surely Punk would have been better off saving a blade-job for a bigger match?

And speaking of Punk being stupid:

CM Punk tweeted about the Republican National Convention. He wrote: “I’m stoked to be in Sydney and nowhere near the RNC to hear how they intended to limit the rights of women and destroy the education system.”

I think politicians on both sides are exactly the same – they want to use the public to build their own personal fortunes and expand their power base. I don’t think any of them stand for anything noble and that there hasn’t been a true leader of the USA in decades. Only sheep buy into the propaganda that both parties try to sell, and it seems CM Punk is such a sheep. I’m no Mitt Romney defender, believe me. But to casually toss out vitriolic, hyperbolic statements like Punk did is just sheer ignorance. This guy likes to think he’s soooooo smart and has a better moral code than everyone else. Okay Punk, how about you refuse to work with Steve Austin? Austin is a wife-beater, and if that ain’t “limiting the rights of women,” I don’t know what is. Let’s see how strong your moral code is when it involves losing a WrestleMania payday, you pompous phony.

Paul Heyman has reportedly signed a new agreement with WWE. Heyman’s initial agreement this year was set to last until SummerSlam, but obviously the company ended up wanting more than that. Heyman is now wow working with CM Punk, which was one of the things that brought him back to the company as they’ve been close friends for years.

Heyman will appear on a semi-regular basis from here on out.

Paul Heyman’s surprise appearance on RAW both delighted and upset me. It delighted me because the man knows how to sell an angle, but it upset me because I had a great joke lined up that he ruined. The joke was as follows:

And congratulations to Colt Cabana, who finally made an on-screen appearance on RAW!

But that went out the window once we got this reveal:

Ah well. Sometimes you gotta take the bad with the good. And in this case, the very very good.

And the Punk news never stops, this time regarding Kurt Angle:

Kurt Angle posted the following to Twitter in regard to Pro Wrestling Illustrated listing CM Punk at #1 on its yearly 500 list:

Punk is not in top 10. Pwi is About title Runs. Not Wrestling. Orton is Better. AJ, Roode, Aries, Me: are Better.

I think my feelings re: Punk are clear. But the man deserves to be #1. This ranking is from June 1, 2011 until May 31, 2012. June of 2011 was the time of the “Pipe Bomb Promo” that got everybody buzzing. It was soon followed by the Money in the Bank PPV, where Punk & Cena put on an awesome match that saw Punk leave WWE with their top title, creating even more buzz. He then engaged in some semi-memorable angles, but at the end of the day, he spent nearly that entire timeframe with the flagship wrestling title around his waist. You can’t take that away from the man. What has Kurt Angle done in the past year? Not make the Olympic team? Come on. He works in the 2nd best wrestling company and isn’t even the top guy there.

Celebrity Net Worth has compiled a list of the 27 wealthiest wrestlers in the world. You can find the full list at the link above, and the top ten below. It should be noted that Vince McMahon makes more than any of these men with a net worth of $500 million, but he’s technically not a wrestler.

#1: The Rock Net Worth – $70 Million
#2: Steve Austin Net Worth – $45 Million
#3: John Cena Net Worth – $35 Million
#4: Big Show Net Worth – $30 Million
#5: Triple H Net Worth: $25 Million
#6: Kurt Angle Net Worth – $20 million
#7: Chris Jericho Net Worth – $18 Million
#8: Shawn Michaels Net Worth – $17 Million
#9: The Undertaker Net Worth – $16 Million
#10: Mick Foley Net Worth – $15 Million

Hmmm, this looks familiar. Oh yeah, I wrote about this three weeks ago. That’s right, this entire newsbit was to let you know that Sean Kelly is a man ahead of the times!

According to a report out of the UK, The Rock stopped a robbery on the set of Fast Six. Rock reportedly caught sight of a group trying to break into vans containing expensive equipment during the shoot in East London. Rock was dressed in his FBI gear for the shoot, and charged the group of men and chased them off. A source had the following to say about the situation…

“It was so funny. The Rock looked like an action hero because he had his flak jacket on and an FBI badge in his hand. All of a sudden there was loads of gunfire and this giant dressed as a copper (police officer) was about to mow them down. The lads jumped out of their skin and scarpered (ran off) down the canal path and left the crew in peace. Now the crew are joking that they should drop security and just have The Rock do it.”

Good Lord, if I saw the Rock charging at me I’d hightail it as well. You have to give Rocky credit for chasing after the burglars, though. If one of them was carrying a gun, this story could have ended a lot differently.

THE AWESOME LADYBUG GIRL REVIEWS SMACKDOWN!

I’m pleased to announce that Victoria is BACK to give her first ever, full-length review of SmackDown! She’s been pestering me for weeks to watch wrestling, so we watched the 8/31 episode of SmackDown a few days ago. I figured SmackDown is better for her because a) It’s on Friday, so there’s no school night concerns b) It’s two hours, so it’s easier for her to watch and c) It gives me time to recap everything for this column.

For those not familiar with the Awesome Ladybug Girl, she’s my 5 (soon to be 6) year old daughter, Victoria. We started watching wrestling together here and there about two months ago. She loves it, and is constantly asking to watch it with me. The only problem is that her bedtime and the constant presence of her little sister preclude us from watching it too often. Her sister is just over 3, and won’t understand that what’s happening isn’t real. It doesn’t help that my 3-year old daughter is insane and would probably try the moves on other kids in her junior Pre-K class.

So, without further ado – The Awesome Ladybug girl recaps the 8/30 edition of SmackDown!

Right out of the gate Victoria asked “where’s shake a butt guy?” – aka Dolph Ziggler. She calls him that because he shakes his butt as part of his entrance. Methinks someone has a crush…

When the graphic showing HHH tearing up was shown, Victoria said “that’s the guy who broke his arm right?” Followed by a non-chalant “Eh. Game over.”

She started beating her chest once they announced Sheamus. He seems to be her favorite. I think it’s because she knows she is Irish and that he is Irish, too.

(After reading one of the signs in the crows) “Did you see that? It said I and then a heart and then Sheamus.” I never occurred to me that she’s unfamiliar with those kinds of signs.

When Damien Sandow came out, he was greeted to – “aw darn it! You little stinky head bad guy!”

“What language is he (Sandow) speaking?”

After Sandow spent a long time talking, Victoria commanded: “You bad guy poo head, you do nothing but wrestle!” (aka less talk and more action )

On Booker t – “Is his name Booger T?”

On Booker T again – “I don’t understand him”

Victoria thought it was awesome that Rey gave away his mask to kids, instantly making him her second favorite good guy, behind Sheamus. In fact, Victoria asked for a Rey mask for her birthday (which she is getting).

Victoria is attending “church school” to learn about her religion. Part of her lessons includes learning to bless herself. She noticed that Rey blessed himself before the match and was excited by this (another thing she had in common with a good guy). During the match, Victoria blessed herself whenever Rey Mysterio kicked out

– Awesome Ladybug Girl had a physical, repulsive reaction to Daniel Bryan. She finds him so irritating

Victoria asked me “Which do you like better, girl wrestling or boy wrestling?” I lied and said they were both good. Gotta encourage little girls to dream, right?

Sheamus vs Sandow – “I wish they had that gate in this one.” Translation: I wish this were a steel cage match. She saw the Punk/Lawler recap and I explained the concept of the steel cage. She spent the rest of the show asking if the big gate would be used, as she’s never seen a cage match before.

She learned what a countout was in the Sheamus vs Sandow match, and rightly pointed out that “the gate would have stopped him.”

On Sheamus – he always wins. I wish I could have the belt. Guess what else she’s getting for her birthday?

She liked the tag team match, but didn’t say much during it, mostly asking questions about the rules.

On Del Rio – “No! Not the Mexico guy! Not Alberto! He’s Al-fart-o! I can’t understand him!”

This part was pretty cool. Having just watched another anger management recap, Victoria said “I wish he (Del Rio) would fight Kane” and then a minute later Kane came out! She got super excited and kept yelling “how am I right?!” It was pretty amazing how she called it.

She got creeped out by Kane’s fire, asking how they did that.

Victoria obviously loves Ziggler (aka shake-a-butt guy) but will never admit it since he’s a bad guy.

She thinks everyone should call Ziggler shake-a-butt guy for “all of his life”

Victoria had me rewind the part where Ziggler gets kicked in the face a few times. I think it was out of concern.

Usually, when the good guy wins, Victoria’s jumping up and down – cheering & clapping. She gave a half-hearted “yay” when Orton won. She clearly wanted Ziggler to win. As a dad I’d normally be worried by a crush like this, but she’s five and Ziggler is no Jerry Lawler, so there’s nothing to worry about.

So there you go – The Awesome Ladybug Girl’s first ever full SmackDown review! So far, she likes Sheamus & Mysterio the best, secretly loves Ziggler, and despises Bryan and Del Rio.

YOU’RE IN FOR A REAL TWEET

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SIGNING OFF

Thank you for making Thursday Sports Entertainment your destination for Wrestling News, Opinions, etc. Hope to see you again next week, where hopefully there will be a lot less CM Punk news to report. Jesus, that guy is everywhere.

Hasta Jueves,

This is Sean.