News to Start Your Weekend 3.23.07

I watched the first 25 or so minutes of ROH’s new Dedicated DVD, and I’m very impressed with the improved sound quality. It was one of my main problems with the DVD production, but it’s quite nice now. The new entrance name bars are pretty cool as well, but they have to do something with the actual lettering. It just doesn’t look clear and sharp. Do something about that. Otherwise, bravo. I watched the majority of the Davey/Rocky Romero match and it was a damn good opener. I have a feeling it’s going to turn out to be a better show than the one they ran the next night that I attended, a show that was very disappointing.

One of this week’s biggest stories is the announcement of the location of next year’s WrestleMania. It will be WWE’s third big time outdoor event, following WrestleMania IX and SummerSlam 1992. WrestleMania 24 (hopefully they call it XXIV, because the regular numbers are killing me) will be held at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, former home of the XFL’s Orlando Rage! People have been talking about the possibility of rain… you know what happens if it rains? The fans get wet. There will be a canopy over the ring to make sure the ring doesn’t get soaked like it did in that infamous event down in South America years ago. It’ll get a little wet from wind and some sideways action, but it likely wouldn’t end up being bad enough to seriously hamper anything. It probably won’t rain anyway. If nothing else, though, it would make for quite the visual as long as it doesn’t screw up the cameras like it did for the Super Bowl.

Brock Lesnar may be making his MMA debut for the HEROES promotion, an off-shoot of the K-1 fighting/kickboxing entity. The soonest he may fight would be the June 2nd event in Los Angeles, and his opponent might turn out being Hong Man Choi, a 7 foot 2 South Korean fighter. Brock’s been training for a while, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when he finally does fight. Kurt Angle apparently doesn’t have much faith in him, as he mentioned in a recent interview how he beat up Brock in a legit wrestling match almost straight out of college after he himself had been out of active wrestling for 5 or 6 years. Angle also says he is looking to get into MMA, probably with the UFC promotion, and wants an extended run rather than just a one or two fight stay. He claims he’s 100% in shape, but also says that every once in a while he needs to get something clipped in his neck because his arms can’t move. Or something like that. Either way, I find it very hard to believe he’s even 90% or will ever be more than that.

– Mick Foley’s Hardcore Diaries book debuted at #7 in the NY Times Bestseller List this week. It’s his third autobiography/wrestling book and his fifth full book overall. I’m looking forward to this one if only because of the Test jokes. Hell, I made a Test joke a few weeks back that I think Mick would find funny even though he probably doesn’t like that the guy got fired. It was in my column from a few weeks back that never got posted. In fact, it was really just about the only worthwhile thing I wrote in that column:

– Test has once again been fired by World Wrestling Entertainment. As far as he’s concerned, it was his decision, as his Myspace said that he didn’t like the goings on in the company or something. Politics and such. Oh well. You were wasted in 1999, but you’ve been worthless since then. Oh, I also like how the dot com loves to continue pimping the mobile service. It’s just fantastic: “As first reported by WWE Mobile Alerts…” I love it. Test’s firing was so important and exclusive that you have to have WWE Mobile so you can know first!

ZING~!

– Some chick apparently got a tryout at Deep South and it isn’t going to work out for her or something. Her name was Christine LeMaster. Only reason I’m even bothering with this is because when I read this a couple days ago I wanted to mention that they should have hired her to make her Chris Masters’ valet. Or sister, or something. Probably not as hot at Ryan Shamrock, though.

– Ludacris is going to be performing at WrestleMania 23 next weekend. Wasn’t he supposed to show up at WM XIX? Or was that Fabolous? Either way, I don’t think either have done anything worthwhile in years. Well, in Fabolous’ case, in the past ever ever. I don’t like Ludacris because he isn’t Ja Rule. Ludacris doesn’t have the ridiculous voice and yell ‘MURDAAA’! I loved that song with Ashanti. YOOOOUA LIPS! YOOOOUA THAAAIS! Fucking hysterical.

– Heh, JR basically called Muhammad Hassan a no-talent loser in a recent blog entry. Nice. JR may not know the difference between tables and chairs, but he still rules.

– Hulk Hogan said on Bubba the Douche’s show that he’s considering putting together a legends of wrestling tour. It probably won’t ever happen, and if it does, it’ll bomb as bad as his XWF promotion or any of those other legends of wrestling shows and PPVs. I really hope it is just a fiasco if it does get set into motion, too.

– Jeff Jarrett is set to return within the next couple of months. It’ll be weird if he comes back as a face like was the original intention. It’s been nice to have a break from him, but much like Triple H, it will be fine to have him back as long as he doesn’t get the title any time soon and as long as he doesn’t dominate the show when he’s not the champion. Both him and H have done both, but during the short periods where both have stepped back a bit, they’re both much more enjoyable to watch. Let’s hope that turns out to be the case with Jarrett’s return.

– Speaking of the title, it now appears that instead of running some sort of angle or having somebody trash the NWA belt, TNA is just going to let it die quietly and phase it out while phasing in TNA titles. For the NWA title, Bryan Danielson, Adam Pearce and Brent Albright are some notable names who have put themselves out there to get a shot at the NWA title once TNA is done with it. It seems like there will be a tournament to crown the new champion.

– Speaking of returns, Triple H says he’s shooting for an in-ring return at SummerSlam. I have been thinking about going to the show, as it is in my backyard in Jersey around 30 minutes from my house, so if he’s in a good match it may help sway my decision to pull the trigger and buy some tickets.

– Mick Foley appeared on the Opie & Anthony show a couple days ago and claimed he would be making a “major announcement” on April 2, the night after WrestleMania.

– Rebecca DiPietro got fired. I’m sure we’ll all miss her. I heard they’re going to be rehiring Joy Giovanni, though, and I liked her a lot. She’s a MILF, and she was actually likeable, much unlike Rebecca, who was a pretty hot girl, but had absolutely NOTHING else going for her. Her complete lack of anything other than looks really took away from her attractiveness.

– Randy Orton has been pulled from all of his upcoming media appearances, possibly because they don’t trust him to not put his foot in his mouth when talking about the recent steroid controversy.

– To counter whatever crap Ludacris will probably end up doing at WrestleMania, Aretha Franklin will be performing America the Beautiful at WrestleMania. She sang the song in Detroit 20 years ago at WrestleMania III as well.

– Bret Hart has a new book coming out called Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling. When I first read the story I thought it was about a Bret Hart cartoon that was coming out. When I saw that it was just a book, I was thoroughly disappointed. I guess I’ll just have to watch that Simpsons episode again.

– The USA Network will be airing the Hall of Fame ceremony next Saturday night/Sunday morning at midnight. It’ll probably only be an hour long like it was last year and feature the bigger names. So we’ll see King, Perfect and Dusty. Dusty looks to be the odds on favourite to have the standout speech of the night, following the Iron Sheik’s speech from the WrestleMania 21 weekend and Sensational Sherri from last year.

This week’s biggest story has to do with the steroid allegations that involve Kurt Angle, Edge, Eddy Guerrero, Rey Mysterio and Gregory Helms. Angle already did his responding, but I’m honestly so far away from caring about Kurt these days that I won’t even both with that. Edge and Helms have responded though, so here are those. First, Edge:

Dear Blogees (did I just create a word?)

Until next time, from everybody’s favorite, clean urine,
Edgemiester!

And Helms:

“Now, before I clear the air, I wanna ask a question? If you get hurt and a doctor prescribes you a medicine/drug and therapy to help you and you take it, did that become wrong somewhere? Did I miss a meeting? No need to answer because apparently the answer is yes. Apparently pro wrestlers never get hurt and if they do they aren’t allowed to get treatment. So anyway, here’s the story, several years ago I had hurt my knee and was advised by 2 different doctors to undergo this particular therapy. I didn’t ask for it, hell, I didn’t even know about it, all I knew is that I didn’t want to have to have surgery. Not to mention that I would like for my life after wrestling to be as painless as possible. I won’t be able to wrestle forever and I would hope that I’m entitled to the best quality of life availalbe to me when that time comes. I would like to think that it’s well in my human rights to take whatever a doctor tells me to if it helps my condition and relieves my pain. Isn’t that what everyone goes to a doctor for? Shane Helms committed no crime and did absolutely nothing illegal. And that is a FACT!!! Trust me, there are a million ways to get any kind of legal or illegal medicine/drug you want. However, I was under the assumption that going thru a doctor, getting treatment and therapy for a totally LEGAL medicine was the right way to go about dealing with this particular injury. And this injury that might have led to surgery had I not taken the therapy that I did. It’s strange how that part of the story was conviently left out! Besides, look at me! I’m not 300 lbs of muscle, the biggest I’ve ever been is 215, I’m not abusing ANYTHING other that the abuse my body takes doing the job I love. Hell, I didn’t even drink alcohol until I was 27.

Am I making an excuse? Not at all. Making up an excuse would be admitting that I did something wrong or illegal. I did neither. I’m just a guy that has torn his body to shreds for the job he loves. And there are times that I’ve had to do to the hospital and get different kinds of medicines/drugs/whatever to help me heal. I’m not Wolverine, I can’t heal from every injury instantaneaously (sic). I get hurt! And I’ll get hurt again. I’ve said a million times, I never got into wrestling for the fame or the fortune, I got into because I genuinely love it. I put 100% of my heart into it and unfortunately my body pays the price. That’s not a complaint, that’s simply . . . reality.”

I’m siding with the wrestlers on this, not the douchebags in the media. I don’t think I qualify as media, although I do seem to be a douchebag as far as a lot of people who do and don’t read me are concerned. Edge did in fact admit to taking steroids a few years ago when he and Christian were on the ‘Off the Record’ show up in Canada, and while Helms has bulked up since he was Sugar Shane, that’s the kind of build a man’s body generally gets when he starts getting older and working out more. He was but a boy when he was the skinny heart throb with 3 Count.

TNA’s new ‘TNA Today’ show that they’re putting up on You Tube is really an opportunity missed. I haven’t seem much of it yet, but they should be using it as an extra hour or so of time a week to advance their shows and have matches. They are doing some interview and video packages, but the show is more akin to the old LiveWire show that Michael Cole and Shane McMahon’s wife Marissa Mazzola used to host on Saturday mornings than a real worthwhile show to have. The Don West/Jeremy Borash sale segments are quite funny, but they should be cross promoting the show. They should use it to promote and further along stories from Impact and they should promote the show during episodes of Impact as something important. They should tape some extra matches at tapings and on PPVs that get aired on the shows and make the show much more akin to what Heat used to be when it first started rather than a fun clip show type thing.

They’re doing it every day and each show is between 10 and 20 minutes long. What they should do is make it special. Do exclusive backstage interviews, exclusive matches and use it to build angles that are happening on Impact, especially the ones that don’t get as much time as the big angles. They do have to put the main event guys on as well like the WWF did with Heat 7-8 years ago, though.

It would be smart to do more simple stuff Tuesday thru Thursday – Tuesday and Wednesday would show basically what we see now plus a good 6 or 7 minute exclusive match. Thursday can be a show that really pushes that week’s episode of Impact, doing a good rundown of what is upcoming and a preview of the show as well as a recap of the past week’s Impact. Friday and Monday should be the two most important episodes.

Friday is the day after Impact, and it can be promoted as the fallout show for the week’s TV featuring a match (often that gets set up on the Impact broadcast) as well as in-ring promos and the like. It will be like a second Impact almost, just on a smaller scale. This show, as well as Monday, would focus more on the main event guys and the big angles on the show, while Tuesday thru Thursday would be less intensive with that.

Monday would be the big start of the week show, and would be especially important on days following the Sunday PPV events. Those shows can begin the follow up on the happenings of the PPV and can be promoted on Impact and the PPV as a big deal. It would be much different from all of the other shows and much more like an actual show, with a pair of matches and interviews.

TNA has 43 or so minutes worth of time to worth with every week. With the TNA Today thing, they have an extra 60 plus minutes a week, which would be a really big deal if they can promote it well. The majority of the audience would watch it, and it could even get some new viewers, since they would be able to watch it whenever they want and wouldn’t have to take time out of what may be a busy Thursday night TV watching schedule or whatever else they do.

I wonder if they’ll just bail on this concept like they did with the Global Impact shows they ran weekly for a few weeks last year. That would be a shame, especially with the potential this thing could have. It’s also a shame, however, that they’ll probably not do this, because it could prove to be quite beneficial.

Shaw Paul wrote me an email about Teddy Hart:

After reading your News To Start Your Weekend bit I just wanted to ask about Teddy Hart. You refer to him as a “douche bag”, im not gonna bitch you out about it, I just wondered what you are goin by is all.

Enjoyed the article again this week, keep it up.

You mentioned all the reasons that I as well as countless people who are actually a part of the wrestling business don’t like him. You don’t ‘act’ like a nice, respectful young kid after pulling all the shit he’s pulled and expect people to think you’ve changed. As far as I’m concerned, he’s burned a lot of bridges and is just trying to publicly salvage his image as much as he can.

Rene Boulet wasn’t especially happy with the way I spoke of Anna Nicole Smith and her family last week:

hey,i understand that you dont like anna nicole smith(im not a fan either..believe me..)but whats the point of dissing her LITTLE BABY???calling her a future whore???whats wrong with you stupid ass..cant you have just a little bit of respect for the dead or at least her family?its so brave of you to say things like that in front of your computer in your mama`s basement..arent you supposed to write about wrestling??i LOVE when i hear people say pathetic things like what you just said in front of me…they become MUCH LESS brave all of a sudden..SO EASY TO DISS DEAD PEOPLE…PUNK

We had a bit of a discussion back and forth through email, and it seems like he mostly didn’t like the way I spoke of Anna’s baby daughter. He didn’t seem to get my point overall and as you can tell by the bit of his email that I’ve posted here, he also doesn’t appear to be the most well-spoken or well-written person around. He or she, I don’t know. ‘Rene’ really is a pretty ambiguous name. Though it probably isn’t even your real name. You say that am hiding behind my keyboard? At least I use my real name, as well as my real voice on my radio show, and there are pictures of me all over the place. I’m not hiding behind anything. This is one of my outlets and I’m simply using it. I’m giving my feelings and saying things the way I see them.

This fellow also told me to think for a moment about how Anna’s mother would feel if she happened across my column last week. The woman didn’t really seem to be that emotionally bothered by her daughter’s death or even surprised by it, and if she were to respond to me, it would probably be superficial garbage to get her name out in any sort of press rather than real legitimate feelings. Just like what her daughter’s entire livelihood was based on, just like what Howard K. Stern’s life is based on, and yes, just like what it is certainly possible her baby daughter’s life may end up being based on when she grows up. It won’t even be her fault – I think she’ll be a product of her environment, and it’s a shame, but I don’t think I’m wrong. She’ll learn to use her name and the people she’s associated with to garner some superficial fame and that’s how she’ll get by, and she’ll want us to love her and to think that she isn’t a terrible person like her mother.

She may be an innocent child now, but I don’t see her being an innocent teenager or adult. I just don’t. Sorry. Check back 15 or 20 years from now and we’ll see whether I’m right or wrong. Maybe if she gets lucky and doesn’t end up in the custody of anybody involved in this whole mess she’ll end up okay.

– Listen to RocketBusta Radio Saturday nights at 8 PM and look through the archives for our interviews with Jimmy Jacobs, Colt Cabana, Dory Funk, Jr., Mike Quackenbush and more.

– Check out The Fink’s Payload, my other column here on this very site along with Matt Sforcina.

– Of course, every week I pimp Ari Berenstein’s awesome Column of Honor, so read that.

– Check out all of the news reports for this week as well:

– Meehan Saturday
– Carapola Sunday
– Randle Monday
– Larry Tuesday
– Hayhurst Wednesday
– Small Thursday

– Read Byers’ Impact Crater I often disagree with him, although I have been agreeing with him a lot lately. Either way it’s always a really good read. I’ll edit a link in here when it gets posted up.

– Also, check out one of the newest NWA promotions. NWA Black and Blue will be running their first show in a couple weeks, Saturday night April 14 in Levittown, PA. The show starts at 7PM and the doors will be open at 6:30. All tickets are only 10 dollars. The show will be at the Salvation Army — 215 Appletree Drive in Levittown.

The main event will see Reckless Youth also known as Tom Carter, legendary indy talent taking on WWE legend Doink the Clown. Also, a nice young man I know will be doing the ring announcing, and there will be talent scouts there from the NWA to scout him for future gigs in other NWA promotions, so if you can, come out and support him and all of the boys. For more information and ticket information, check out the NWA Black & Blue Myspace.

– That’s it. I’m done. Next week I’ll have a preview for next weekend’s big double shot in Ring of Honor, a preview of WrestleMania (including the famous quick picks!) and some other newsy goodness as always.

Love ya.