The Wrestling News Experience: 10.27.08

Monday, October 27th, 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, proud holder of two tickets to the WWE Supershow in Toronto. A little far back from the ring, but at least this time I’m not in seats that can see the back of the video screen. Plus, maybe I’ll run another contest, just in case there’s other readers stupid enough to go to a wrestling event three days before Christmas. Or maybe I’ll finally take pity on Lansdell and take him up on that drink he owes me.

Also, my girlfriend has managed to get hooked on Lego Batman, which bodes well for her to be effectively distracted when Wrath of the Lich King comes out in two weeks. I can always hope.

Moving on.

PPV In Review – WWE Cyber Sunday 2008

Some weird amalgamation of my two worst enemies (that I’m not related to) have the live recap of the PPV.

Shelton Benjamin defeated R-Truth to retain the WWE United States Championship (pinfall, Pay Dirt)

Rey Mysterio defeated Kane in a No Holds Barred match (pinfall, springboard splash)

Boy, that was a great master plan of Kane’s. How, exactly, was he planning to end up ahead in this whole feud?

Matt Hardy defeated Evan Bourne to retain the ECW Championship (pinfall, Twist of Fate)

The Miz and John Morrison defeated Cryme Tyme (Morrison pinned Shad, Moonlight Drive)

I’m shocked that this beat out the World Tag Title match. Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t be.

Who wouldn’t vote for that man?

The Honky Tonk Man defeated Santino Marella. Marella retains the Intercontinental Championship (DQ, Phoenix-ference)

Well, that was a big fat waste of time. Not much time, though, since it only lasted a minute or two.

The Undertaker defeated The Big Show in a Last Man Standing Match

Triple H defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the WWE Championship (pinfall, Pedigree)

Well, I guess Jeff used up his chance or something, because this time, he goes down cleanly to the Pedigree. I’m sure the upcoming Kozlov-Triple H-headlined PPV’s will entirely be worth the wait, right?

Batista defeated Chris Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship (pinfall, Batista Bomb)

Well, what a BS week for Jericho that was. First, the abortion that was the Gauntlet Match, and now he loses the World title. What was the real point of putting the belt on him again? Because I’m pretty sure Shawn-Jericho in a ladder match could have been just as awesome without the title on the line.

What’s On Tap – 411 Exclusive Raw Preview For October 27th

Last night, in horribly disappointing news, Chris Jericho was robbed of his World Heavyweight title by Batista and special referee “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. One can only imagine how the former champion will respond to this outcome tonight, and you can be sure that it won’t be pretty.

Also, Santino Marella managed to retain his Intercontinental title over the Greatest IC Champion of All Time, and it is almost certain that he’ll be making some noise about that fact. However, all is not sunshine and roses in the land of Glamarella, as dissension once again rose between the Milan Miracle Man and his main squeeze. What could the midcard power couple have in store for each other tonight?

Plus, will Charlie Haas continue to irritate JBL with his impersonations? Will Jamie Noble ever get his revenge on William Regal and Layla? And will CM Punk and Kofi finally get their hands on the tag team champions and their Samoan cohort? All this and more, on another edition of Monday Night Raw!

Around The Horn

In case you’ve been under a rock this past week, you might have missed the news that Vince McMahon, certified billionaire, genius, and possibly insane dictator, has banned all use of the terms “wrestler”, “Superstar”, and “sports entertainment” from his promotion. Apparently, Vince now runs an “entertainment” organization, and wants it referred to as such. I forget, what’s the second letter in WWE stand for? Obviously, this is purely being done as a bit of legal loop holing, because if Vince can get his promotion branded as “entertainment” instead of “sports”, he can avoid things like Boxing and Wrestling Commissions, which tend to crack down hard on things like blading, even in a “fake” match. An even more cynical bastard than me might point out that no longer being considered sports-related might distract people like the federal government from things like steroids. After all, you never hear of Cirque de Soleil getting hassled over their drug policy, and honestly, that’s a group of people who really should be checked for use of banned substances.

The effect of Vince’s decree, obviously, has been immediate and widespread, and even seems to have affected us here at the Experience. Curse you and your abnormally long reach, Vince! We here will fight to remind you at every turn that your business is, was, and always will be about wrestling!

Dammit!

Seriously, one company doesn’t even have wrestling in the name, and the other just banned use of all wrestling-related terms. So, now all we have is a television program that is poorly acted, badly written, and reliant on clichés and twist storylines. My god, we’d finally be right to call it a soap opera.

Meanwhile, in another promotion without wrestling in the name but which actually seems focussed on it, Ring of Hono(u)r has announced that head booker of many years Gabe Sapolsky has left the organization. No additional comments seem to be forthcoming from either party at this time, but I suspect Sapolsky may have decided to leave the company in order to focus on hunting down and dealing with ROH’s greatest enemy on his own. I’m speaking, of course, about 411 editor Larry “Which wrestling organization is paying me off this week?” Csonka.

Meanwhile, in America South (sometimes called Mexico), NWA champion Adam Pearce lost his title to Blue Demon Jr in controversial fashion. Gee, look at me talking about ROH and NWA this week. I be all indy and s***.

Paul London was seen backstage at TV tapings this past week, possibly with an irritating grin on his face. It’s probably a sign of London being all but wished the best in his future endeavours that the fact that a contracted wrestler was seen backstage at the organization he’s under contract with, and it is considered news.

Jeff Hardy was late to the Smackdown tapings this week, and because Jeff is everyone’s favourite meltdown waiting to happen, this made the news. I’m almost hoping that Jeff violates the Wellness policy a third time, so we can see if WWE will actually stand by their “three strike” policy and release their biggest merchandise mover and person most likely to make teenage girls buy tickets. Of course, I’m a cruel person like that, as most people would just hope Hardy doesn’t violate the policy again, but which is more likely? Hell, Randy Orton got at least one break on his violations (because you can’t tell me that a person not on psychotropic drugs would get that tattoo job), I’m fairly sure WWE won’t let Hardy get away a second time.

And before I leave this segment, we here at the Experience add our condolences to the family of Leah Maivia, part of the massive Samoan wrestling family, grandmother of The Rock, and legend in her own right. Her influence on the business will not be soon forgotten.

The Injury Bug Bites

Inactive List as of 10.20.08

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

No reported injuries

TNA

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

– Dos Caras, Jr, CMLL, signed to a WWE contract

For real this time! Or maybe not, who even knows any more. I guess I wouldn’t be 100% sure until he actually shows up on TV.

Who’s Holding Gold

WWE

WWE Champion: Triple H
– 183 day reign, defeated former champion Randy Orton, JBL, and John Cena in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination Match on April 27th (Backlash PPV)

**NEW** World Heavyweight Champion: Batista
– 1 day reign, defeated Chris Jericho on October 26th (Cyber Sunday PPV)

ECW Champion: Matt Hardy
– 49 day reign, defeated former champion Mark Henry, The Miz, Finlay, and Chavo Guerrero in a Scramble Match on September 7th (Unforgiven PPV)

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

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

World Tag Team Champions: Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
– 76 day title reign, defeated Batista and John Cena on August 11th (Raw)

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

WWE Women’s Champion: Beth Phoenix
– 71 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
– 99 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
– 15 day reign, defeated Samoa Joe on October 12th (Bound For Glory PPV)

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

TNA X-Division Champion: Sheik Abdul Bashir
– 43 day reign, defeated former champion Petey Williams and Consequences Creed in a Triple Threat match on September 14th (No Surrender PPV)

**NEW** TNA Knockouts Champion: Awesome Kong
– 4 day reign, defeated Taylor Wilde on October 23rd (Impact)

**NEW** TNA Legends Champion: Booker T
-4 day reign, introduced new title on October 23rd (Impact)
– Next title defense: vs Christian Cage, Turning Point PPV

Links For Fun And Nonprofit

Canada’s Greatest Failure and Prag have the weekend news reports.

Michael O has Cheers n Jeers.

The Triple Threat discusses Vince’s sanity or lack thereof.

Short has The Navigation Log.

Rodriguez has For The Record.

Bond has Against The Grain.

Ari has Column of Honor Part One and Part Two.

And Mattis has The Best of the Rest.

And One To Go On

411 will have live coverage of Raw tonight starting at 9 pm EDT. Which reminds me, don’t forget, Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 am next Sunday, November 2nd, so be ready to set your clocks back an hour. I’d say we get an extra hour of sleep, but if you’re like me, you’ll be stupid and stay awake the extra hour instead.

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.

Have a good one, and always be a fan.