The Wrestling News Experience: 10.20.08

Monday, October 20th, 2008

From 411Mania’s Canadian offices in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, this is The Wrestling News Experience, with Stephen Randle!

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Experience. I am Stephen Randle, once again under the semi-tyrannical reign of a Conservative minority government. Good thing it only cost 300 million dollars to end up with no real change. Which, I guess, means our choice in leader is appropriate.

In less controversial news, suck it Boston Red Sox. Hey, the Leafs are all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at this point anyway, I have to have something sports-related to celebrate.

If you think my columns have been short before, be warned, Wrath of the Lich King comes out in a month. Also, I’d like to see you write a longer one of better quality.

Moving on.

What’s On Tap: 411 Exclusive Raw Preview for October 20th

Last week on Raw, Batista got the last laugh against Chris Jericho, forcing him into a match against CM Punk with the Animal as referee. Jericho, however, is not the sort of person to take this kind of thing lying down, so expect some form of retribution to be forthcoming tonight.

Also, Kane seems intent on ruining Rey Mysterio’s life even more than before, and seems to be continually getting the upper hand on the smallest wrestler on the Raw roster. What will the Big Red Machine have in store for Rey tonight?

Plus, Santino Marella’s mouth will likely write some more cheques that his ass will be expected to make good for at some point in the future, Charlie Haas continues to search for a winning personality, and JBL will probably ramble about the economy again. We get it, he’s an evil financial cowboy. We knew that five years ago.

Around The Horn

In front office news, a sexual harassment suit has been filed against an employee of WWE by a former employee, citing events from two years ago. I know, an organization that portrays women as sex objects on a weekly basis gets hit with a sexual harassment suit, I was shocked myself. Shocked that this doesn’t happen more often, that is. And that it actually doesn’t involve any wrestlers, male or female. Of course, when (if) the “legitimate” media gets a hold of this, we can be sure that it’ll be another sign that wrestling is evil and so forth. Maybe we’ll get lucky and wrestling has fallen far enough away from the mainstream again that nobody will pay attention.

Word on the street (and by street I mean the Internet) is that Ric Flair is potentially planning to wrestle some matches in Japan and Korea. The only stumbling block is that Flair is publically worried about what Shawn Michaels will think, since he promised HBK that their match was his last match ever. Well, I suppose you could always ask him for forgiveness. Of course, if he really is Shawn Michaels, you’re already forgiven.

Ric has also said that his son, Reid Flair, is about a year away from being ready for a WWE debut. I expect that means he’ll be brought up within the next six months and kept on TV despite being too green for the position he’s in, until he either somehow gets better or gets fired during next year’s housecleaning. Have people forgotten Ric’s first son’s attempt at wrestling?

Rob Van Dam, who looked to be the first wrestler in a while to leave WWE and actually have no plans to get back into wrestling, will be appearing in France for Nu-Wrestling Evolution, the European-based promotion responsible for burning out the pro wrestling market for WWE, which is why their ticket sales were down last European tour, and not just because the shows have become dull and predictable again and even the Europeans are catching on. Sorry, I took a left turn on my point there. Anyway, there’s no news on if RVD will actually be wrestling or just appearing, but I fully expect that rumours of his impending return to WWE or TNA will be in full swing by…about ten minutes ago.

Domestic violence charges against former WWE and WCW wrestler Big Vito have been dropped, as Vito was cleared of all charges. I guess he wasn’t represented by the WWE legal team, then.

Steve Austin is set to work on his next movie, which is about a convict on parole who is forced into the world of illegal underground fighting. Hopefully this will be a good rebound effort from The Condemned, which, in case you haven’t seen it, was about a convict who is freed from prison and forced into the world of illegal deathmatching.

Oh, and in case you’d forgotten, this week’s Impact will be the second live broadcast of the show since its inception, as TNA hopes to capitalize on…er…I guess the continued presence of Mick Foley and the new champion in Sting and his “war” with the new generation, aided and abetted by Kevin Nash. Vegas is reportedly taking bets on the chance that Nash injures himself during the main event tag match, so if you have a free five bucks, it’s probably a better bet than most NFL games this year.

And before I leave this segment, did anyone watch Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling? Does anyone else shudder at the prospect of a celebrity wrestler trained collectively by Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake, and one of the Nasty Boys? Even worse, you know Vince will get hold of the winner and put them on TV. And you thought you’d never have to see another Dennis Rodman wrestling match again, too. You were wrong. Dead wrong.

The Injury Bug Bites

Inactive List as of 10.13.08

WWE Raw

– Dolph Ziggler, out 30 days as of October 10th (Wellness violation)
– John Cena, out 2-3 months as of August 27th (neck)
– Hardcore Holly, out indefinitely (rehab)
– Melina, out indefinitely as of June 23rd (fractured heel)
– Randy Orton, out 4-8 months as of June 1st (broken collarbone, re-injured August 15th)

WWE SmackDown

– Hurricane Helms, out indefinitely as of May 17th, 2007 (neck surgery)
– Mr. Kennedy, out 6 months as of August 4th (dislocated shoulder)
– Umaga, out indefinitely as of August 20th (PCL)

ECW

– The Boogeyman, out indefinitely (calf)

TNA

– Kaz, out 4 months as of October 1st (triceps)
– Moose, out 6 months as of July 7th (broken femur)
– Scott Steiner, out 4-6 months as of June 24th (torn ACL)

Transactions

– Jimmy Rave, TNA, day-to-day pending diagnosis (back injury)

– Johnny Devine, TNA, released from his contract

– Karen Angle, TNA, released from her contract

Apparently done to relieve the stress that was elevating between Karen and Kurt in light of their ongoing divorce. If WWE were actually pretending that TNA existed, they’d sign Karen in a second and have her take shots at Kurt on TV. Ah, for the backstabbery of the old WCW-WWF days…man, I’m a little messed up, aren’t I?

– Lance Cade, RAW, released from his contract

At this point, the only thing we know is that Cade’s sudden release was related to an incident on a flight which resulted in a near-fatal (allegedly) seizure. I wouldn’t be shocked if JR gets in more than a little trouble for even letting us know that much.

– The Boogeyman, ECW, returned to TV on October 13th Raw

And he’s coming to get JT!

Who’s Holding Gold

WWE

WWE Champion: Triple H
– 176 day reign, defeated former champion Randy Orton, JBL, and John Cena in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination Match on April 27th (Backlash PPV)
– Next title defense: vs Jeff Hardy, Vladimir Kozlov, or both, Fans Choose The Opponent(s) Match, Cyber Sunday PPV

World Heavyweight Champion: Chris Jericho
– 42 day reign, defeated Batista, Rey Mysterio, Kane, and JBL in a Scramble Match on September 7th (Unforgiven PPV) to claim the vacated title.
– Next title defense: vs Batista, Fans Choose The Special Referee Match, Cyber Sunday PPV

ECW Champion: Matt Hardy
– 42 day reign, defeated former champion Mark Henry, The Miz, Finlay, and Chavo Guerrero in a Scramble Match on September 7th (Unforgiven PPV)
– Next title defense: vs Evan Bourne, Finlay, or Mark Henry, Fans Choose The Opponent Match, Cyber Sunday PPV

WWE Intercontinental Champion: Santino Marella
– 64 day reign, with Beth Phoenix, defeated Kofi Kingston and Mickie James in a Winner Take All match on August 17th (Summerslam PPV)
– Next title defense: vs Roddy Piper, Goldust, or The Honky Tonk Man, Fans Choose The Opponent Match, Cyber Sunday PPV

WWE United States Champion: Shelton Benjamin
– 92 day reign, defeated Matt Hardy on July 20th (Great American Bash PPV)

World Tag Team Champions: Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
– 69 day title reign, defeated Batista and John Cena on August 11th (Raw)
– Next title defense (possibly): vs CM Punk and Kofi Kingston, Fans Choose The Tag Match, Cyber Sunday PPV

WWE Tag Team Champions: Carlito and Primo Colon
– 24 day reign, defeated Curt Hawkins and Zach Ryder on September 26th (Smackdown)

WWE Women’s Champion: Beth Phoenix
– 64 day reign, with Santino Marella, defeated Mickie James and Kofi Kingston in a Winner Take All match on August 17th (Summerslam PPV)

WWE Diva’s Champion: Michelle McCool
– 92 day reign, defeated Natalya Neidhart on July 20th to win the newly-created title (Great American Bash PPV)
– Next title defense: vs Maria, undetermined date

TNA

TNA Heavyweight Champion: Sting
– 8 day reign, defeated Samoa Joe on October 12th (Bound For Glory PPV)

TNA Tag Team Champions: Beer Money Inc
– 71 day reign, defeated LAX on August 10th (Hard Justice PPV)

TNA X-Division Champion: Sheik Abdul Bashir
– 36 day reign, defeated former champion Petey Williams and Consequences Creed in a Triple Threat match on September 14th (No Surrender PPV)
– Next title defense: vs Jay Lethal, October 23rd Impact

TNA Knockouts Champion: Taylor Wilde
– 102 day reign, defeated Awesome Kong on July 10th (Impact)
– Next title defense: vs Awesome Kong, October 23rd Impact

Links For Fun And Nonprofit

Opening Act and Praghave the weekend news reports.

Michael O has Cheers n Jeers.

The Triple Threat is a double-stuffed edition.

Short has The Navigation Log.

Rodriguez has For The Record.

Ari has Column of Honor Part 1 and Part 2.

Sforcina has Evolution Schematic.

And Slimmer has Don’t Think Twice.

The Gab Bag

Several people pointed out that I forgot Maria as a WWE Playboy Diva who still remains employed, which is entirely true. I’ll give myself a free caveat, though, as it’s still been less than a year since her Playboy shoot, so she can still get fired before next summer sometime. And really, when you’re down to guest-announcing midcard matches, winning “on a pole” matches for a title shot at some indeterminate time in the future, and getting hit on by Festus, the writing is probably on the wall.

And One To Go On

411 will have live coverage of Raw tonight starting at 9 pm EDT.

Remember, if you love poker, and are in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo area, check out Player’s Poker League.

Larry’s in tomorrow, I’ll be back next week. That’s our show, here it is, your moment of Zen.

Have a good one, and always be a fan.