WELCOME~!
Welcome back kids! It’s Tuesday, it’s the wrestling zone, there is news to discuss and I am here as always! I hope that this finds everyone doing well, relaxed, and having a good start to the week. We’re back again to talk all of the big news of the week, and we have a good bit to discuss. Also a quick note, I have decided that the Tuesdays after a PPV, there will not be a special essay. There is just too much to do, and while the essays are short, I don’t want to half ass them. So there will be one next week, and I will work off of the list of suggestions that you fine people have provided me. Let’s get to work!
BUYS or NO BUYS BUYS or NO BUYS is a new feature here, similar to what I used to do in discussing random events and small bits of wrestling news. BUYS or NO BUYS is a phrase I use all the time, even outside of wrestling. In a way it is just another way of ranking GOOD or BAD. So each week I will kick off the column with BUYS or NO BUYS, discussing the world of wrestling, this website and or my life. Feel free to skip it, I won’t be offended.
MANY BUYS to the movie THE LAST DRAGON! I was discussing the movie with my little brother who had NEVER seen it, s we had to watch it last week. He was of course hooked by the sheer awesomeness of the movie. Seriously, I now have to go and get a copy of this movie to have in the collection. I HAD a VHS of it, but it died last year. Yes, I still have some VHS stuff.
NO BUYS to Bobby Engram, Ted Ginn Jr. and Ike Hilliard! Actually, fuck all three of you assholes. Seriously, these assholes combined for FIVE YARDS THIS WEEK. FIVE FUCKING YARDS, which means ZERO fantasy points for me. Yeah, fuck you guys.
MANY BUYS to bowling day! We had another great bowling day this week. Hana continues to improve and threw 2 games over 100, games of 101 and 103. She is getting better and slowly understands things more and more each week and is making spares more regularly. Again I am slowly getting back to form and finally had back to back 200 games (201 and 220), which felt great. I need to get more consistent, that’s for sure, but each week I go and throw, the more it feels like old times.
NO BUYS to rocks in the yard. The one bitch of this house we have is that the grass is still growing in some patches, still a new housing development and all. But they did a piss poor job of removing the rocks from this place. This week as I was on the old John Deer mowing the lawn, I found one of these rocks. The mower shot this thing out like it was a rifle round…and it broke one of my windows.
MANY BUYS to the destruction of the old man! As I mentioned last week, I would be golfing when most of you read the column and I was. The old man wanted another golf battle, and he insists on doing anything he can to get his advantage. A new course I had never been too, again, early tee time, again and he cheats like a motherfucker. But that’s fine, because I won again and shot a solid 89 on a course I had never played. By the time most of you read this, I’ll be kicking both his, and my father-in-law’s ass on the course.
NO BUYS to car trouble. Last Thursday saw the ball joint basically explode on my truck, which then led to a few other issues. I spent all day Friday working on the bastard, which is now fixed. It still sucked though.
…LINKZ… Remember that fun, free, addicting flash games await you at 411’s new sister site, TigerFlashGames.com! Go there or Ashish will cry!
Jeff Jarrett has been against adding any more titles to the company, but there is now talk of adding another singles title at some point in the future. Previously the idea of an X-Division tag title was floated around, but was then axed in favor of bolstering the regular tag team division, which I agreed with. Jarrett feels that the more titles there are, the more they work against the value of titles, and I have to agree here. They have four titles and plenty of talent, but unfortunately since day one TNA has NEVER been able to book all of the divisions effectively at the same time. At the beginning it was the X-Division. When Raven came in it was the world title, AMW carried the tag division at different times. Last year we saw the Knockouts run wild for a bit, but never have the effectively been able to work all of the divisions well at the same time. I think right now that they need to focus on what they have and make it work.
But if I were to speculate, let’s look at titles they could add.
#1. The National Heavyweight Title: The National Heavyweight title does have some NWA lineage back to the Crocket days, where Jack Briscoe, Larry Zbyzko, Dusty Rhodes, Tully Blanchard and many other wore the gold in its years and it was a title that worked well back in the day. This could be a good stepping stone title for the promotion to use for up and comers, which is something some feel that they need. Then there are the guys on the cusp of the main event, or that get just nudged out of it and need something to do, and this title could work for that purpose.
#2. The Hardcore Title: With the roster they have, guys like Abyss, Rhino and some others would be right at home here. TNA has had a lot of “hardcore style” matches on their PPV’s and they have mostly delivered, for those that like the style, and a lot of the live crowds do like the style. If they could put the “hardcore” or “garbage” style all into this division, and phase it our of the main event picture this could be something that people could get behind. I enjoy these matches when done well, and think they have their place as well as an audience. Getting it into it’s own division with it’s own belt would work wonders and they could move onto making the main event more “wrestling” and prove that they are an alternative.
#3. The TV Title: Oh yes, you knew it was coming. I loved the old NWA/WCW title. A guaranteed title match on TV, and tons of booking possibilities. The title would add to Impact with more “important” main event style matches, and then the possibility of a title change on TV, one that wouldn’t devalue the title is there. Also, guys could gain that “fighting champion” moniker that can help elevate them. Then there are the guys on the cusp of the main event, or that get just nudged out of it and need something to do, just like the National Heavyweight title I discussed.
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Internally there are concerns about the recent decline in house show business, and there should be. In some markets, they draw only slightly more than ROH. Considering the star power and that TNA Has two hours of prime time weekly TV, to say that it is a bad thing is an understatement. Seriously, there is no reason why they shouldn’t kill ROH in ticket sales, but they don’t. Part of it is poor promotion and the other part is the fact that TNA has continually alienated their audience over the last 6-years. Many feel that the major problem is that so many of the guys pushed on television don’t do house shows. An example of this was last weekend when Jeff Jarrett, Team 3-D, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, the Beautiful People and LAX were all off of the house shows. Think back to the New York house shows, and the fact that LAX was NOT booked. With Homicide’s history in the area with ROH, JAPW and other companies, that was a huge error. For the most part the house show business has been profitable for the company, but if the lack of promotion and lack of stars continue, that won’t last for long.
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The fan festival for the TNA Bound for Glory PPV was the most successful one the company has ever held, and from what I have heard, the event got rave reviews. It is also being reported that the Bound for Glory PPV itself had the highest paid attendance in the company’s history, beating out this year’s Lockdown show. With the news of declining house show business above, this is very good news for the company. Now they have to follow up on it, and of course, proper promotion is the key.
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In another bit of good news for the company, they have signed a new TV deal with 52MX in Mexico. The channel will air Impact on Saturdays at 1:30pm and 6:00pm, as well as on Sundays at 11:30am and 4:30pm. With WWE signing a new TV deal in Mexico, it is good to see that TNA is getting some exposure there as well. The major reason that this is good is because TNA would love to work that market and have shows down there. They previously had to cancel shows there, and if they can secure an audience with the new deal, then house shows in Mexico become a true reality. Add that to the seemingly positive relationship that they have with CMLL, and that could also be an aid to them if they revive some of the X-Cup matches on those house shows. That is also a possibility as Shelley and other have worked in CMLL recently, and also some of the CMLL stars worked the TNA Texas House shows.
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Mick Foley’s contract is for 6-months, and while they are building to a Foley vs. Angle match, I am concerned that there is no guarantee that he will wrestle under this deal. Yes Mick Foley coming in is nice, and some people have really enjoyed it, but I still have concerns with the signing. I still am not sure that Foley wrestling is the best idea, but I will admit that it is not the worst idea. But I have to say that as of now I feel that this is another classic TNA mistake by not having a guarantee in the contract that he will wrestle. If this is true, TNA has no one to blame but themselves. Foley could easily get upset and decide not to wrestle, and then what will he have been worth?
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK Do you want?
Stamford Occurrences and Outbursts:
It was reported last week that Vince McMahon wants better acting from the wrestlers, something I discussed last week in detail. But now it is being reported that McMahon wants a more realistic style in the ring. Norman Smiley, who is working as a trainer in FCW was told he was brought in because of his background in the more realistic Japanese style. See, there was a reason for old Norman to get hired. WWE is not looking to work a UWFI style by any means, but they don’t want blows and moves that look like they miss and to be sold. To me that makes complete sense. Basically they want to tighten up the overall in ring product. Now while this does make sense, it could also be an “interesting” time to watch. Remember when they made the switch to HD and wanted the talent to “snug up” their work? What we ended up with was black eyes and a good amount of hard way blood. That could very well happen again if guys get careless, and that is why this will be interesting to watch.
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There have been a lot of changes in the WWE creative process as of late. This is nothing new, but it appears as if Vince is not happy with the ratings being stagnant and has taken back over control. Normally the writers will finish the scripts on Friday, and submit them to Vince for approval. In the past scripts would see minor changes and then get approved by McMahon, but as of late the finished product, after his changes are often completely different. This is actually nothing new in the way the company works. Traditionally when Vince has either been upset with the ratings (staying the same or dropping) there is usually a three-step process that happens.
1. He gets pissed and it is like walking on eggshells around him. This happened a while back at a Raw.
2. He takes more creative control. Now while everything goes through Vince in the end, and that is now happening.
3. He makes his return to TV.
We’ve already been through one and two, so how much longer until Vince makes his way back to TV?
Let’s start the contest, closest to the date wins a DVD. Seriously. Leave your guess in the comment section.
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Early in the year it was reported that WWE PPV was on the rise, and that trend is continuing. Here are the latest numbers:
*Backlash 2008: 200,000 buys (194,000 buys in 2007)
*Judgment Day 2008: 252,000 buys (242,000 buys in 2007)
*One Night Stand 2008: 194,000 buys (186,000 buys in 2007)
*Night of Champions 2008: 273,000 buys (243,000 buys in 2007)
This is a rise in buys of 54,000, with the big winner being Night of Champions, which was up 30,000 buys. That was a good thing as every WWE PPV to that point, minus WrestleMania had done better than the year before. And then the number for the WWE Great American Bash PPV came in, the show was headlined by three main events: WWE Title – HHH vs. Edge, Parking Lot Brawl – Cena vs. JBL and World Title Match – Batista vs. CM Punk. The show ended up doing 195,000 buys worldwide, with 122,000 in North America. This is down significantly as the show last year did 250,000 buys worldwide and about 162,000 buys in North America. Overall the show is down 22% from last year, which I doubt makes WWE happy at all. Of course some want to scream doomsday, the sky is falling, Punk can’t draw and all of that good stuff. But we have to remember that they had HHH and Cena in top matches as well, so the blame doesn’t get placed on one person. At the time I said, “With the other shows doing so well right now we’ll call this nothing to worry about, but if the trend continues, then there could be an issue.”
I won’t quite call this a trend, as it is only three, but the WWE Summerslam buyrate came in this week at 465,000 buys, 270,000 of those would be domestic PPV buys. This is down from past years as the show did totals of 537,000 buys in 2007 and 529,000 buys in 2006. As of today the show is down 72,000 buys from the previous year. Again, I will not call this a trend and say that the sky is falling, but there is cause for concern. The GAB dropping is nothing too much to be concerned with. A show like No Mercy is nothing to be concerned about, but when WRESTLEMANIA and SUMMERSLAM drop and drop by the numbers they have, then I am concerned if I am WWE. These are the BIG shows, “The Super Bowl of Wrestling” and “The Biggest Party of the Summer” are essentially THE big two shows for the company, and to see them both down is NOT a good thing at all. Yes Backlash, JD, ONS and Night of Champions were up in buys, but only by 54,000; and that doesn’t cover the Summerslam drop, let along the drop from WM. Obviously WWE is not going out of business, but when you consider the sate of the economy as it is currently, the drops in PPV buys could certainly become a trend. And if that is the case, other area could be hit hard as well and that could lead to a very weak quarter for the WWE, financially that is.
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Early last week, Dos Caras Jr. had stated to local newspapers that he was signing with WWE. And then late in the week said on Friday that he will not be going to WWE and will stay with EMLL because WWE is not offering him enough money. Haven’t we been here before? Seriously, this guy needs to make up his mind. He’s good, but honestly he is not worth all of this hassle for WWE. I understand them wanting to expand and work the Hispanic demographic more, but the drama that is happening here is not needed. Caras said he will stay with CMLL for at least three months and wait for WWE to offer him a better deal, which I highly doubt they will after all of this mess. With all of this happening, Caras Jr. is now on bad terms with CMLL, and supposed to be at the 10/10 Arena Mexico show, and in the main event, and yes, Caras Jr. STILL holds the CMLL world heavyweight title. The sad thing is that it has been known for months that he may be leaving, as he almost was gone months ago but CMLL never set up a program for him to drop the title. This is TNA levels of stupid.
If you ask Dos Caras Jr., he will say that CMLL never cared if he left or not and that after WWE made him his offer, they never came to him to try and convince him to stay. I wonder though, if he was that frustrated, why did he decide to stay with CMLL? I assume that WWE wanted to downside him at around $75,000 or less, and as mentioned when he almost signed the first time, send him to FCW to “learn the WWE Style.” Caras has also stated that the only reason he has continued to work with CMLL is because he’s a professional and honored his contract until it expired. With him being the CMLL heavyweight champion, and if his contract HAS expired, CMLL is playing a dangerous game, especially considering that so many people are jumping between CMLL and AAA. I wouldn’t put it past AAA to try and land him since he holds the title. I also wouldn’t put it past Caras to do so, he thinks CMLL is in bad shape, explaining that there are unhappy wrestlers and lower attendance, again, I’ll discuss that more later in the column. Caras now claims that he will vacate the title, he claims that CMLL thought he would take the title belt to WWE. I doubt that because it wouldn’t mean jack or shit in WWE. But again, to AAA it would be a huge jump.
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Former TNA and current WWE developmental talent Sinn Bowdee will be debuting on Smackdown as a regular performer. Some will remember him from his run in TNA as part of James Mitchell’s New Church. Mitchell would cut promos and throw darts at the back of Sinn, a trick he had previously learned since he was a carnival performer. Seriously. That shit looked crazy and played into the New Church theme perfectly at the time. I never thought he was great in the ring, but he was more than serviceable. I haven’t seen him much since his TNA days, so he could have improved. WWE has already filmed several video packages for the debut, where he speaks in “carny.” I am not sure about the gimmick, as if it is too over the top it may not have much shelf life. I would assume that he feuds with the Boogeyman at some point, I mean, why wouldn’t you? I wish him luck, he certainly has a distinct look and if he can go in the ring, he may have a chance due to being so different.
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In accordance with its Wellness Program, WWE has suspended Nick Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler) for 30 days for his first violation of the company’s policy. The funny thing was that as SOON as he debuted, everyone was making wellness jokes. Seriously, the guy had a completely new body on him, and the only thing funnier than him getting popped for the violation was the fact that he was going as “The Natural” for a while before the name change. One has to wonder if they did the same with him as they did with Harry Smith, and put him on TV just to make an example out of him. Oh well, no loss. Bye Dolph Ziggler, you Billy Gunn looking bastard.
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Today in Wrestling History
1981 – Tommy Rich defeated Masked Superstar for the Georgia National Heavyweight title
1984 – Jesse Barr defeated Scott McGhee for the Florida State Heavyweight title
1985 – Butch Reed defeated Dick Murdoch for the Mid-South North American Heavyweight title
1994 – Shawn Michaels beaten up in Syracuse, NY outside Club 37
2002 – Chris Jericho & Christian defeated Hurricane & Kane for the WWE Raw Tag Team title
1947 – Born – Nikolai Volkoff
1954 – Died – Don Sugai, car crash at 39
1964 – Born – Jack Hammer
1972 – Born – Bo Dupp
Independent and International Insights~!
The National Wrestling Alliance’s 60th Anniversary Tour has two scheduled dates in Penticton, BC at the South Okanagan Event Centre on November 1st and Dawson Creek, BC at the Dawson Creek Event Centre on November 21st. Dawson Creek jokes aside, they have some BIG headliners set for the show. “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash, King V (formally WWE’s Big Daddy V), Trevor Murdock, “Iron Man” Rob Conway and the NWA Canadian Champion Scotty Mac are all scheduled for the event. Nash has obviously signed with TNA, but they are still allowing talent to work outside shows, so this is nothing out of the ordinary. So we have Nash, “King V” is on the card, and I figure that he is making some good coin because he was just released, and most guys recently released are able to command a solid pay due to their name. Trevor Murdock, and I love the new spelling, is likely making solid cash as well and it is good to see him getting booked regularly. While I cannot see these shows doing he ticket sales, I have to give the NWA credit for trying their best to get people in for their shows. Sure Nash and King V aren’t the kings of workrate, and Trevor wasn’t a huge star during his run with WWE, but a lot of people see “former WWE star” and will then throw down cash for that. I really with that the NWA could get their stuff together more than they have, because I think the more options the wrestlers have will also give us the fans more options. As for now, they will continue to be a small bleep on the giant radar of wrestling.
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Last week I made an effort to expand the LUCHA coverage of the column, mainly because no one else covers it and I do enjoy talking about it. This week there is even more to discuss as we have talent jumps and injuries that are changing the lucha scene. AAA lost some talent this week as the jumps between AAA and CMLL continue. Last week Halloween, Pegaso and Rey Cometa finished up and left AAA. Pegaso and Cometa were part of the undercard high-flying Air Force group, and while losing people hurts, they aren’t considered a huge loss for the company. Halloween is a name, but he isn’t seen as a huge loss either. I have always dug Halloween and I personally think losing him is not a good thing. While AAA ended up losing those three talents, they did add someone new to the roster. Rocky Romero made the jump to AAA; he was working as the masked Grey Shadow in CMLL. And he is right in the middle of a stable war, and Sean “X-Pac” Waltman announced him as his new tag team partner. What s this stable you ask? Well, Waltman is running a stable called, wait for it, “D-Generation Mex.” Seriously, D-Generation Mex. Talk about living off of past glory.
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CMLL lost Romero and then last week Shocker was let go by the company. There were reports over the last few weeks of him no showing events, and also of continues drug issues. There were reports that he would be again returning to AAA, as in the past AAA would have been very open to bringing him back. Unfortunately for Shocker the word coming out of TNA is that he is not coming in and that they don’t want him unless he’s clean and drug free. Don’t hold your breath. I wonder of they gave the same speech to Juvi?
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In what is seen as bad news for CMLL, Mistico will not be back until late November or early December. He was going to be back soon, but he aggravated his shoulder during therapy last week, causing him to be delayed in his return. This is bad news for the company due to attendance being low recently. The crowds have been 5,000 and lower recently, and there are no signs that they will rebound anytime soon. Also hurting the promotion is the fact that Hector Garza had been out due to an ankle injury. He was rushed back too soon and ended up re-injuring himself in his first match back. With both men out, and the drama surrounding Dos Caras Jr, the top of the CMLL card is hurting and that has translated to the attendance. One has to wonder how the WWE and TNA TV deals will impact CMLL and AAA.
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In what is very cool news, a complete DVD of “The Original Tiger Mask,” with all of his big matches from 1981-83 was just released in Japan. A similar VHS was released back in the early 90’s during the tape-trading boom, and was very successful as far as sales go. I have a copy of this tape, I think that it is a 137th generation bootleg of the tape but it is completely awesome. This was a MUST HAVE for the beginning tape trader, and man was it a pain in the ass to get back in the day. If you have the means, get this DVD; you’ll love it.
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We close out today’s news on a sad note. Steve “Dr. Death” Williams received bad new last week as catscans done on October 1st and 2nd showed swollen lymph nodes, the fear is that his cancer may have returned. Before these tests, Williams had been cancer free for the last 4-years. Dr. Death will now have to undergo biopsies and other procedures, which doctors say will be unpleasant since they have to go through his stomach and lungs to complete the procedures. I have written about Dr. Death before, and I think if you have followed anything I have written you know I was a huge Dr. Death fan and have a ton of respect for the man. I am long time fan of his, and all I can do is offer my prayers to him during this difficult time. He was strong enough to defeat the beat that is cancer one time, and I wish him the best in this next battle he is about to fight.
