Your News, My Views 11.13.07

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Today in Wrestling History:

Births and Deaths:

ECW on SCI-FI Preview: Survival is Serious!

With the 21st annual Survivor Series this Sunday, all forces in the Land of the Extreme are focused on survival. This week on ECW on Sci Fi, that focus includes Superstars from SmackDown as well. In preparation for the pay-per-view showdown, Rey Mysterio makes his journey back to his ECW roots where he teams with Kane to battle Finlay and the Extreme Mastodon, Big Daddy V.

Days before they collide in the Traditional Survivor Series Tag Team Match on Sunday, these four men will experience a Survivor Series prelude in the Land of the Extreme. Which team will survive? Will it affect the action, live this Sunday?

A few others with Survivor Series on their minds are those involved in the ECW Title Match. As first announced on WWE.com last week, champion CM Punk will defend his gold against both John Morrison and The Miz in a Triple Threat Match at Survivor Series. Judging by recent weeks, it doesn’t look like Miz or Morrison will let the other be the man to dethrone the Straightedge Superstar. Will some solution emerge or will CM Punk continue to hold the gold as the two envious men cancel each other out? What last measures might each of these men take, just days before the high-stakes championship encounter?

Love hurts. Kelly Kelly felt that firsthand on the last ECW on Sci Fi when she was left nursing her wounds at the hands of Layla. Kelly hasn’t had much luck in her recent contests, suffering quick defeats to Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix and Layla in the past week. It appears as if she’s serious about doing some damage in the ring. Moving forward, will she improve on her performance? Will she or Mahoney be looking for revenge on The Miz and Layla?

Your News: CNN has put up highlights from their interview with Vince & Linda McMahon which aired as part of their documentary on pro-wrestling which aired Wednesday nigh. Highlights are below and my thoughts, my honest and non-spin, unvarnished thoughts are in BOLD.

Vince on whether WWE is in crisis mode since the Chris Benoit tragedy: To a certain extent, but in no way is this a crisis mode. With Chris Benoit’s death, and the fact that no one in our organization or anyone who ever met Chris thought he was capable of murdering his family, from an emotional standpoint you can say that’s a crisis because it has affected everyone in the WWE including our fans, as well as obviously those in the organization and those who were friends of Chris’. There’s an emotional scar that will always be there. But from the standpoint of a crisis, this is not a crisis in terms of business as such. Our business has not fallen off in any conceivable way from a financial standpoint. Again, notwithstanding we all are trying to recovery from the emotionality of this.

Hell yes they are in crisis mode, and they are in crisis mode during this interview and you can tell when you watch the interview and read these comments.

Vince on whether WWE is unfairly on the hot seat: Well, let me just say to think that the WWE owes any responsibility for someone who was a mild-mannered man, and someone who had complete control of his faculties as far as we knew, to put the WWE on the hot seat for someone who is a murderer is unfair. Nothing from the WWE under any set of circumstances had anything to do with Chris Benoit murdering his family. How did we know that Chris Benoit would turn into a monster?

Now rightfully they shouldn’t be getting the blame for Benoit on the whole, maybe they could have done better testing because obviously they guy was a walking pharmacy, but we can let that slide I suppose. Right. Also, I LOVE that in every interview Vince makes sure to say some variation of, “How did we know that Chris Benoit would turn into a monster?” Classy Vince, instead of saying it was a shame and that you wished you could have done something, it’s cover our ass time and FUCK BENOIT THAT MONSTER! Classy.

Vince on wrestlers dying so young: Well again, I think that from a responsibility standpoint that we all as individuals are responsible for our own actions. If someone passes through our organization, certainly our organization is not responsible for someone’s own personal activities. So, from a humanitarian standpoint, however, as of late, we’ve instituted a policy in which those who have even just passed through our organization can, in fact, receive attention from us in terms of, if necessary, drug treatment facilities and things of that nature. We’ll provide that to them at no cost. So, from a humanitarian standpoint we’ve reached out to those individuals who have previously been associated with us.

Yes Vince, a classy fucking humanitarian. We had policies, dropped policies, reinstated a shitty whole ridden policy and now that the mainstream media and Congress found out how shitty the wrestling business is, we’ll cover out ass with by offering rehab to anyone that worked for us. A classy ass covering humanitarian you are sir.

Vince on whether WWE should be blamed for all the deaths in wrestling: Well, again, I think there’s a tendency to look at us as the last man standing in terms of the organization we have become, what is known as pro wrestling, WWE. When you look back on it when a lot of these individuals were around and performing, there were a lot of organizations. They worked for a lot of organizations, many of them did not, as a matter of fact, work for our organization, or if they did, they just passed through. So again, I don’t know how our organization could be responsible for all of the deaths, you know, no matter who’s counting it, and no matter the efficacy of that count, by the way, which is subject to a great deal of scrutiny. So I think that a number of individuals have passed away. Does it speak well for an industry in total in the past? I think that what the barometer now is what are we, as the last man standing in terms of wrestling organizations, what are we doing about the benefit and health of our performers? I think that’s the most important part.

Now I will say that they obviously shouldn’t be blamed for EVERY death in wrestling, that isn’t fair. But I will so say that as the biggest company in the world they do set the tone of the business, and they have for years and I feel that they should have a certain amount of responsibility as far as the way they set the tone for the business. For years the deal was to get into New York you had to have “enough gas money saved,” and they weren’t talking about the car trip.

Linda on her dealings with Chris Benoit: I had had interaction with Chris. I wouldn’t call myself his friend. We were an acquaintance; we certainly dealt professionally together, but there were times that I would see Chris with his sons — two boys, Daniel and, and [one from] his first marriage. And I would see the boys backstage, both of whom looked like Chris, and they were so excited to be there. Chris was just the ultimate father. He was often requested by our Make-a-Wish charity to be the superstar that interacted with the Make-a-Wish children. So there was just nothing to indicate what went on in that house, what the actions, what the motivation was behind what went on in that house, that tragedy.

Linda seems to be nice about it, although while being nice and saying he was great she also quickly noted that he wasn’t a friend, just an acquaintance.

Vince on the Chris Benoit tribute show: Right, it was a last-minute split decision, obviously, to do that. We had footage, a lot of it, from Chris Benoit’s performances in the past, and again, everyone was in a state of shock. I don’t think any performers really felt like performing, because as far as we knew, someone had killed Chris and his entire family. There was no thought that Chris could have done this, given, again, the fact that he was a mild-mannered person. So based upon that information we very quickly put together a tribute show.

I agree with this stuff, we’ll move on.

Vince on WWE’s Wellness Policy not being as strict as the Olympic drug policy: Let me ask you a question. It seems as though this lady [sprinter Marion Jones] who was recently found that she was lying and had to return her gold medals. Jeez, I wonder how she passed those tests in the Olympics. Hmm, let me see. So whoever this is, Tygart, whatever his name is, from the Olympics, better look into his own policy before he starts criticizing ours, because there’s obviously a loophole somewhere in the Olympic policy. So I can throw it right back at this guy Tygart, whatever his name is, just like he can throw it here. Our policy stacks up just as well as anyone else’s in sport, although again emphasizing we are entertainment, and no one in entertainment, no one has this kind of wellness policy.

Vince should never question anyone else’s policy, considering they designed one with loopholes and have a sketchy history of testing, not testing, testing and changing testing. Just shut your mouth and spin your company, don’t try to insult others Vince, it looks bad brother.

Vince on why he just doesn’t let the wrestlers do whatever they want since they are independent contract: Well, I think it’s important for us to make certain that our athletes, for their well-being, take care of themselves. We first established one of our drug programs in 1987 because we perceived from an entertainment standpoint we had a problem. It was called cocaine. And we did. We cleaned that up, then we had another policy put into effect, and our latest, as I said, was in February of ’06, which is by far the most comprehensive. So, if you do care about your athletes, and we do, you want them to be as healthy as they possibly can be, then why not do this? Why not be a leader in the entertainment business? Why not have other forms of entertainment follow you?

On one hand I completely believe him when he says he cares about his performers. But on the other hand, I also subscribe to the Zoo mentality, in which they use the animals for display to make as much as they can, and when they aren’t viable they kill them off/get rid of them. It’s a what have you done for me lately, not a what could you do for me business, and Vince has always been that way.

Vince on how he can defend WWE’s drug policy when so many wrestlers have admitted to doing drugs in WWE despite testing: Well, again, what happened is that we were, along those same length of time by the way, we were testing, and we were getting very good results, and taking action. We suspended that. The reason we suspended it was because we were competing for our lives, our corporate life that is, in terms of Ted Turner coming after us. So, as a matter of fact, a letter that I wrote to Ted said, why don’t you emulate our drug program? Let’s be fair about all of this. And the cost of that at that time — we were not a public company — was extraordinary. We suspended that. We had to compete, we lost money, it was a private company, we lost millions of dollars for more than one year and quite frankly did not have the funds to continue this program, and especially when our competition would not.

“The reason we suspended it was because we were competing for our lives, our corporate life that is, in terms of Ted Turner coming after us.” IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY. I have said this time and time again. But people will defend him because Vince is the “savior” of wrestling or some shit. Fuck that.

Vince on his so-called liking of “big guys”: I take exception to the fact that — our locker room now in terms of weight, as far as big guys are concerned, is lighter than it’s ever been in history. There’s an expression in our business that here is where you make your money: It’s your face. It’s what you do with it. It’s your personality; it’s what you do with it. It’s your delivery, your elocution, it’s storyline. It’s all those things that are theatrical as well as athletic in the ring. And again, in terms our weights of average are way below anything we’ve ever had before. We have performers anywhere from 5-feet-5, Rey Mysterio, you know, to someone like the giant Kali, who’s over 7 feet and over 300 pounds.

The roster is the smallest it has been in years is because the business as a whole is smaller than it ever has been. Don’t come off like you’re all magnanimous to the smaller worker Vince, you’re picking the biggest of the small still and we all now it. While they do have a lot of diversity on the roster, they aren’t exactly going out of their way to highlight small wrestlers. HOW BOUT THOSE CRUISERWEIGHTS VINCE?

Vince on the demanding wrestling schedule: Let me just say this in terms of the pace. The average top talent in World Wrestling Entertainment wrestles approximately 120 days a year. Those that are under contact to us, and being paid, obviously, sums of money that are not top talent, wrestle an average of 70-some days a year. I don’t know about you, but compared to the average person out there, that’s a pretty good gig. Hundred and twenty days a year, on average, if you’re a top talent. I’m not talking about yesteryear. I don’t know who it is you’re quoting in terms of the talent you spoke to, but in yesteryear it wasn’t that. It was much greater in yesteryear. I’m talking about today. And I think that’s all we can talk about.

A pretty good gig if every day of work wasn’t equated to a car crash. And still today they are working more than 120 days. Cena works about 275 due to different appearances and his wrestling. Maybe 120 in the ring, but overall that poor bastard is ran ragged. Another possible link to his injury. But again, I laugh at Vince trying to make everything out to be better. Yeah they are working a bit less now a days, but then a lot of guys aren’t even making enough money to draw even. That’s a hell of a life.

Vince on the Benoit dementia report: There’s no question we are. We’re concerned about everything. But again, you’re frying me with facts, if they are facts, that are after the fact. How did anyone have any idea that Benoit, that Chris Benoit, had any brain injuries? The only way you would know that is an autopsy. And again, the findings themselves state that Chris Benoit had the brain of an 85-year-old man with dementia. And I would suggest to you, that from a layman’s standpoint, Chris Benoit could not do what he did for a living. He could not function as a normal human being. He couldn’t even go to the airport if in fact that report were accurate. And he was an 85-year-old man with dementia. You tell me, from a common sense standpoint, if you know of an 85-year-old man with dementia, can he function normally? Much less at a high level? Remember verbiage, remember where the cameras are, learn, know how to perform, and things of that nature, in a high level athletic standpoint? Come on, the answer, obviously, is no. So, I think you have to question the validity of this report right from the get-go. Notwithstanding that, if it does have validity, we want to know about it. We’ve asked these people to give us the information. We’ve asked them, let other people in the scientific community critique your information. They haven’t done any of that. If in fact we find that something like this is occurring, then we will take every conceivable measure to do something about it. It’s only good business if you do things like that. It’s good business if you protect your performers, sometimes even from themselves, from doing things that they want to do. That’s very important. It’s good business to do that, and we’re very good business people.

That’s right Vince, shut it down, shut down that report and keep refusing to let out your records for testing and such that you have on Benoit. Keep telling yourself that there is no way that his brain was that bad off and that dementia couldn’t have been there because you saw him perform everyday and you thought he was fine. Keep telling yourself that the dementia meant nothing. Benoit was on cruise control, a robot, demented due to years of various drug use and unprotected chair shots. Get into cover your ass mode dude, you do it well. Unfortunately you didn’t come off convincing at all.

Vince on whether WWE is now totally free of steroids: I don’t think that there is any organization in the world, be it entertainment or be it sport, that can tell you that they are totally drug free, otherwise we would not see that lady have to turn in [her] gold medals from the Olympics. The Olympics can’t control this. They try. We can’t control this. We try. All you can do is be a responsible businessperson, and a caring human being, to be able to do everything you possibly can for your performers and/or athletes. Above and beyond that, there’s a certain amount of personal responsibility that goes with walking the streets.

But the fact is that you didn’t always try. You had drug polices and then dropped them when the business was bad and had to go back to bigger. That’s NOT being a responsible businessperson, and a caring human being; that’s being out for the money, which you were. Hell you were still during this policy when you constantly changed it and allowed the loopholes. While the performers do have personal responsibility, and that should not be forgotten, the WWE hasn’t done everything that they could. They were in damage control mode, and no matter how many will spin it, they did not come off well here at all. Of course with the way CNN did things, they came off just as bad.

Your News: WWE has gone on the offense against CNN for how they portrayed John Cena during their wrestling documentary that aired Wednesday night. In the documentary, when asked if he had taken steroids, Cena was shown saying “I can’t tell you I haven’t, but you’ll never be able to prove that I have.”

WWE.com has put up the unedited video footage of CNN’s interview with CNN which clearly shows that CNN completely used that quote out of context. In the unedited footage, when CNN asks Cena if he has used steroids, his answer is “absolutely not.” The answer CNN used came a bit later after Cena went into an explanation. He even says that he can take drug tests, and will pass them, but people will still accuse him of taking steroids. He then said that people will believe what they want, and will think he has done steroids, but that they wouldn’t be able to prove that he has.

My Views: Now while CNN did edit it in some replays, the fact of the matter is that they did blatantly manipulate the footage to their advantage. They wanted to make things sexy, they wanted to make the WWE’s top star out to be a steroid thug. And while he may very well be just that, the fact of the matter is what they did was shitty journalism. This was tabloid journalism at its worst and they know it. Wrestling does enough wrong as it is, you don’t have to invent things to report on. Bottom line, FUCK CNN and their shitty reporting.

Your News: Triple H took a major shot at Bret Hart in a WWE.com article where he is asked what WWE would be like now if it was Shawn Michaels who was double crossed at the 1997 Survivor Series instead of Bret Hart. Triple H’s response: “That never would’ve happened. We’re not that stupid.”

My Views: You know, its 10-years later and no one can let this go. I love how HHH is able to say that they wouldn’t have fallen for it because they are too smart. He is just laying it on and laying his big and bad power position he has. Of course, this is all happening because Bret Hart took a shot at Triple H (and Shawn Michaels) in his book, blaming the two of them for “killing the business.” He can’t let it go either.

Your News: WWE.com has an article up featuring Bret Hart looking back at the Montreal Screwjob. “I wish things had never changed and that I was still [in WWE],” said Hart. “I look back on that incident as a bad decision by Vince McMahon and WWE. I think we all can look back and know that there was a better way to do things. It’s a shame that things happened the way they did, but in the end, I think people have always respected me for being someone who always stood behind his beliefs, and stood up for himself.”

My Views: While he thinks there was a better way to do business, it was hardly a bad decision by Vince McMahon. It is because of this that the evil Mr. McMahon character was fully revealed and let loose. Sure Bret is right that he stood behind his beliefs, and stood up for himself, and that’s fine, but EVERYONE needs to let this go.

Your News: WWE has come to terms on the release of SmackDown Superstar Chris Masters. We wish Chris the best in all his future endeavors.

My Views: I have discussed this several times, but it is a shame. They gave him the gimmick of a jacked up guy. They told him repeatedly he was too small, so he took more shit to get bigger. Then he fails a test, gets depression, goes to rehab, comes back smaller, but still big. HHH of all people mocks him for being small, he gets back on the gas because of this shit and then fails again and then they drop him. Poor bastard.

Your News: WWE has released developmental talent Ryan Wilson.

My Views: Ryan Wilson was working as Jacob Duncan in OVW and had a brief stint with TNA as Trytan awhile back. He sucked as Trytan, but when he worked as part of the red shirts he was pretty good and showed a lot of potential. But everything I heard about his OVW stint was bad, and this doesn’t surprise me at all.

Your News: Carlito lost twice during WWE’s shows in Puerto Rico (where he is a major star) over the weekend and WWE.com has now put all of his merchandise on clearance.

My Views: Rumors were swirling last week that Carlito had asked for a release. Now when you see that he was jobbed hard in PR, where he is huge and they have his gimmicks put on clearance, that is a bad sign for Carlito. Some say that he has every right to ask for a release because they haven’t given him a proper push. BULLSHIT. Carlito was brought in to SD and given the US title and a major push. When he was brought to Raw he got the IC Title and a big push. His whole career was a big rocket strapped to his ass. HE FAILED! He is lazy, he is green, he is unmotivated, he throws shitty punches, he can’t run the ropes, and he does some of the “slowest” high flying I have ever seen. You don’t bitch and moan for a push or good angle and THEN work hard. You bust your ass and PROVE that you deserve one. He never has and never had too. So fuck him, I hope he gets his release and goes home to cry to his daddy while main eventing shit-holes in Puerto Rico with Scott Hall. As far as his stuff being put on clearance and jobbing in Puerto Rico, all I have to say it…

Your News: TNA still has no “official/public” drug policy.

My Views: They need one and need one soon, because they look even worse than WWE does in their crisis mode right now. I think that I will leave this hear every week until they do have some kind of policy in place and on paper, as well as made available to the public. WWE is being asked for information, and when they are being brought in front of a congressional hearing, you don’t think they will mention you guys? Fair is fair, you want to be a big boy and the #2 company, so you may get your wish. The ball is in your court TNA. Will you take steps to help better the business and save lives, or will you stay the same and bring in anyone that had failed a drug test or been fired for drug related issues? Still staying here until this becomes official.

NEW ADDITION: During the latest TNA Conference call, which I was a part of and recorded, Dixie Carter was asked about steroids and testing, and she said:

“TNA has an active drug policy prohibiting steroids and other illegal drugs. We want a drug free environment that they feel that they need to do. We offer rehab and education, and plan to evolve the policy accordingly as they learn more.

Well that’s lovely Dixie, and since I wasn’t allowed on to ask you, I will discuss that since you are under a PRIVATE company in Panda, you have decided that you don’t have to show anything on paper. That you don’t have to prove you have anything. You say you have a policy and that you enforce it, but let me say the evidence on TV each week tells me different.

NEWER ADDITION: Reports are that TNA Management have informed talent that they will begin drug testing in 2-months. Translation, GET CLEAN EVERYONE because the testing should be starting very soon. I just hope that they do take this seriously

Your News: – TNAWrestling.com is running the “Road to Genesis” special on their website. The show features the Ultimate X Match between LAX and XXX.

My Views: Now see, this is a great indication of what is wrong with TNA. The Road to Genesis is a PPV hype special. So instead of focusing completely on THIS PPV and the matches on it, they are going to feature a match from the last PPV, involving four men that are NOT on the PPV that they are hyping. This company amazes me sometimes. Sure, it’s a nice thought to give us a cool match fro free, but once again, NO BUYS!

Your News: Traci Brooks legitimately passed out at ringside during the latter stages of the Samoa Joe vs. Robert Roode match. She was standing there and just collapsed. Earl Hebner and EMT’s came out to check on her.

My Views: And knowing that my analysis of the match had to change. I thought that they were running an angle with THE FAN and if that was the case, splitting the crowd angle wise hurt the match. But now that we know she did actually pass out, that changed what I had thought. So disregard anything I say on that in the podcast. Thankfully she wasn’t seriously hurt and was walking around later in the evening and is reportedly fine. That’s one that doesn’t happen often.

Your News: TNA may look to use Scott Hall more after his performance last week, and could appear as early as this Thursday’s Impact.

My Views: Early rumors are going around that they may reform the Outsiders for a short tag team run. On one hand they don’t need to keep signing talent. The roster is big enough. Also, they don’t need to keep signing older, past their prime guys when they have a great roster of young and hungry athletes. They already have name value with guys that can go, they don’t need more guys that can’t just because they have a name and WERE a draw.

Your News: At the New Japan show Sunday, Christopher Daniels and Senshi defeated Prince Devitt and Minoru, Rhino defeated Tore Yano, and Tiger Mask IV defeated Ron Killings via forfeit. There were travel issues with Killings.

My Views: TNA made an impact, pardon the pun at the show. It’s a shame that Killings no showed/had travel issues, but it seems like they did a good job of preparing for the January WAR show. It’s nice to see Daniels and Senshi pick up and good win, and hell, it’s just nice to see Rhino win.

Your News: According to Fox News, Tampa News 10 and TMZ, there had been a warrant issued for the arrest of Nick Hogan and as of this morning he has turned himself into Clearwater police. Hogan was involved in a one-car crash back in August. This accident severely injured his friend, John Graziano. Graziano has severe brain injuries and will likely require specialized care for the rest of his life.

My Views: Now in addition to Reckless Driving Involving Serious Bodily Injury, Nick is also charged with use of a motor vehicle in commission of a felony, a person under the age of 21 operating a vehicle with a breath-alcohol level of .02 or higher and illegal window tint. Good job asshole. The sad thing here is the fact that John Graziano is basically going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. A dude that went to Iraq and survived that, only to come home and have this happen, and at the hands of his friend at that. It is such a shame, and I have no pity for Nick and his stupid choices.

Your News: Nick Hogan’s attorneys issued this statement today on behalf of the Hogan family regarding the arrest of Nick Hogan.

“Nick and the entire Hogan Bollea family are saddened that criminal charges have been filed in regards to the tragic single car accident on August 26, 2007. Nick will meet and answer these charges in the appropriate arena a court of law. The family’s primary focus and concern still remains for the continued recovery of Nick’s longtime friend John Graziano. The Bollea’s will also continue to stand by the Graziano family and help them in any way they can.

The tragedy to both families is compounded by the fact that unfortunately John was not wearing his seatbelt. Thankfully, Nick was wearing his. Because of what happened to John, the entire Bollea family will make it a priority to increase public awareness about the importance of always wearing your seatbelt.

There has been much speculation as to the speed and wet road conditions surrounding this accident. Although all the evidence has not been evaluated, preliminary reports from the experts indicate that this was not, in fact, a high-speed accident.

Because Nick is still a juvenile and has no prior criminal record, we are disappointed that he is being charged as an adult offender. However, we are confident that the evidence will demonstrate that this was an accident. We ask all who follow these events to keep an open mind as to the facts until they have been ultimately determined. Finally, we thank all who have prayed for John’s recovery and ask for your continued support and prayers.”

My Views: I love how they try to make the VICTIM look bad by saying he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. That’s classy. Also, the “preliminary reports from the experts” should read “preliminary reports from the experts WE PAID FOR” indicate that it wasn’t a high-speed chase. I understand that he is their son and as parents they want to protect him, but this is another case of Nick fucking up and them trying to get him off. As for him being tried as an adult, he drank, he drove, he ruined and essentially ended another person’s life, and I am fine with it.

Your News: Reports out of Florida state that John Graziano, the passenger in the Nick Hogan car wreck, has been moved to a VA Hospital and that his condition is improving.

– Nick Hogan’s lawyers have provided video footage to media that they claim proves Nick wasn’t racing his car last August prior to getting in a wreck that he is now facing criminal charges for. The security camera footage shows the Hogan’s Supra and a silver Dodge Viper, driven by Daniel Jacobs, at traffic lights moments before the accident. Hogan’s lawyers argue the footage also shows the Viper getting stuck behind a stalled vehicle, contradicting the testimony of several witnesses who claim Bollea and Graziano were racing when the high-speed accident occurred.

Hogan’s attorney Kevin Haslett told TMZ.com the following:

“This video is so important because there are people that law enforcement relied upon who said that Nick was driving a particular way on this particular stretch of road. They are claiming that he was speeding during that time period, driving recklessly, losing control of his car. One witness even claims he got to the intersection on Missouri Avenue and Court Street and had to slam on his brakes and nearly went into oncoming traffic. The allegation of street racing is totally inconsistent with the video. If there is any race going on, even if the Viper was in a race, Nick wouldn’t know he was in it because he was so far ahead. That videotape is a complete 180 from what people claim happened.”

My Views: Yes, we get it, make Nick out to be a little angel. But things are getting bad, because a new tape has surfaced that shows Nick Hogan in his car and another car next to him revving their engines at a stop light just before they had the accident that left the passenger of Hogan’s car critically injured. Prosecutors plan to use the tape to try and show that Hogan was racing. He has a past history of speeding and other violations, but the Hogan family will throw all the money and PR hype out thee to try and spin it. But I won’t spin things, he fucked up, again, Hulk and Linda are shitty parents and did nothing but add to Nick’s personality and now someone has, essentially lost their life.

Your News: Much like Jim Hellwig changed his name to Warrior, Joanie Laurer has officially changed her name to Chyna. TMZ covered the process of her changing her name. She also challenged Vince McMahon to a fight. “Do I want to go back to get abused by you and get punched in the head every day and have people not stand up for me besides the fans? No. Would I like to go back for one day representing myself and all these people to kick your ass and your ass only? Cause you are the boss, right Vince? Then I would love to do it. You know my number. You know where I live, obviously. And you know my name. Bring it, Vince!”

My Views: Does anyone really give a shit? Seriously? Really? Do you? Upon this news, a n artists rendition was created, which illustrates what we all feel perfectly:

If I remember correctly, when I read the articles on 411 mania when Nick Hogan was in an accident, I believe some articles said that he was issued speeding tickets before the accident. I think he even had two
even if the law didn’t. Not forever, but for a few months. And what business does he have driving a 1000 HP vehicle when he has all these speeding tickets? He probably didn’t earn the money for that car either.

Seems like Hulk Hogan didn’t take any disciplinary action when Nick got speeding tickets to make Nick regret that he was ever speeding.

This just goes to show what happens when you let your kids get away with things.

The Hogan’s statement through their attorney says that Nick’s passenger
wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. That’s just an attempt to lay the blame on the
victim, instead of on Nick, wear it belongs. If the roads were wet, then
Nick should’ve been driving under the speed limit, or at the most, driving
no faster than the speed limit. If he was driving at a safe speed, he
wouldn’t have lost control of his car, wet roads or not. I’ve driven on the
freeway and have surface roads, winding roads, straight roads, dry roads,
wet roads, daytime driving, nighttime driving, many times and have never
lost control of my car.

He may not have been *speeding, *but he was driving too fast for conditions.

I did all of my Nick Hogan talking up above, but I don’t disagree with you.

From Shawn on Judas Mesias –

Which company should be Judas top priority? It seems like a potential conflict might come up in the future between the two since AAA is very well known for rushing guys back to the ring after an injury. Let’s not forget Konnan and TNA beef with each other. AAA is paying him more money. He’s also a main eventer and is performing in front of thousands of fans every show. I would assume AAA comes first to him. How long do you think Judas will last in TNA?

It all depends on who is paying more money. They do have plans of a big push in TNA, but the injury stopped that. While he is performing in front of bigger live crowds in Mexico, he has the big TV audience here. It just depends on what he personally wants out of wrestling.

From Shane on Jay Lethal –

Have you noticed in the last couple of shows the Lethal and SoCal interaction? Do you think TNA may be thinking about expanding this gimmick more with a Miss Elizabeth partner for Lethal?

yes, they have been teasing it for a while, and put it into motion at the Genesis PPV.

From Paul on Scott Steiner –

Love your work. I just wanted to see if you or anyone else noticed Scott Steiner this past week on Impact. The Takedown challenge with AJ Styles was a complete bust; it was obviously just another way to showcase the Tag Title match at Genesis. I’m referring to the “wicked ass promo that he dished out on AJ Styles prior to the match. I’ve been watching wrestling along time and have seen more than a few Steiner promos that have left me looking for a gun or a train to step in front of, but I have to admit that Steiner’s promo this past week had to of been one of the best in the company’s small existence. He did not stutter or falter which has been commonplace in the past. He sounded so convincing and badass that he left me salivating for more. That was a wicked promo from a guy who I would usually prefer not says anything. If we can get more of the same wickedness from him every week them I’m all for it. I suggest everyone get a chance to watch that promo, it was definitely a classic in any era of wrestling

Scott Steiner is awesome, I know that myself, Byers and many others have been saying it for a while.

Finally from Shane, who wants to play fantasy booker –

OK, I know fantasy booking sucks, and I know that I have no clue how to run a multimillion dollar entertainment enterprise, but I really think it’s time for pro-wrestling to truly evolve, in a way it hasn’t since it was truly turned into all-out entertainment by Vince McMahon.

It’s time for Shawn Michaels to not rejoin DX with the same guy who beat him
with a freakin’ SLEDGEHAMMER unless there are dire fucking reasons, it’s
time to get rid of the lowbrow humor, it’s time for wrestlers to have realistic
weaknesses and strengths, it’s time for announcers to stop being idiots –
when Funaki gets a match on HeAT fighting Ken Kennedy or someone else up the
card, don’t have the announcers tell us that Funaki has a chance and this and
that – he’s lost 500 times in a row, and NO ONE believes he has a chance.

Look, I know I probably sound like I’d sink the ship, and truth be told… I
probably would. But it seems like wrestling as a concept has such potential
to really be an intriguing show with more interesting characters, where the
more you watch, the deeper in you get. It’d be so cool if there was contender’s
lists and every win and loss meant something – then every moment would seem
important, even if only a little so. If Jamie Noble moved up a little bit on
the leader boards every time he beat some other cruiserweight, it might add a
tiny bit of interest.

I think the storylines need to be more in line with wrestling, and the chair
shots and interference should be an extremely rare thing. I know a lot of people think this wouldn’t fly because it’s built for what many believe to be a lowbrow audience, but look at the hits on TV today.

House. 24. Grey’s Anatomy. Heroes. These are episodic shows that try to have
some character depth, and when you follow the show for a significant period
of time, you know the characters and how they feel about each other and the
such, so things are always more interesting.

It just seems insane to me that in today’s day and age a show can actually
just ‘drop’ storylines and confuse the audience the way wrestling must confuse
the average fan. A guy can just have a character change; oh, now he’s a bad
guy – just like that, completely out of character, and now he has to cheat to
win? Why? “Stone Cold” beat everyone fair and square, and a lot of times more
than once, and now he’s a bad guy so he doesn’t have it anymore. It’s just
incredibly stupid.

And I know a lot of people, and maybe you’ll even fall into this character,
that will say that that’s the way wrestling is, it wouldn’t be wrestling
anymore if you did that, go to Hell, etc… but c’mon now. It’s really archaic
when you stop and think about it logically.

Anyway… rant over, I swear. Hope you have a good one.