The Steel Cage

I had the opportunity to watch the Darren Aronofsky’s much-acclaimed film, “The Wrestler” at a Manhattan screening last week, and have been dying to write about it since. As a wrestling fan and a person working at the very outskirts of the wrestling industry, it was, in many ways, one of the most important films I’ve ever watched.

Even more fortunately, I’ve since had the opportunity to sit down and chat with many of the stars and makers of the film, including director Darren Aronofsky, writer and Merrick native Robert Siegel, and Mickey Rourke, whose starring performance as broken down 80’s wrestling star Randy “The Ram” Robinson is being talked about as one of Hollywood’s all-time transcendent performances.

I’ll bring you highlights of some of those interviews in the coming days. For now, let me just tell you what I thought about the movie.

First, let me emphasize, I don’t work as an entertainment writer or a film critic for Newsday, so the following should not be construed as a Newsday review of the film. While I am connoisseur of good films, I’ll try to focus on what I know best – wrestling.

Continue reading "Thoughts and Observations About 'The Wrestler'" »

I know some of you are looking for any news relating to the widely reported skirmish between John Bradshaw Layfield and Joey Styles that ended with Styles knocking JBL out. You know as much as I do - apparently JBL was at his hazing worst during WWE's recent trip to Iraq and took it a bit too far, and Lil' Joey floored him with one punch.

What I was most curious about when I read the story was what was going to happen to Styles? Would he punished for not "going along" with the time-honored locker room hi jinks and for daring to raise a hand to one of Vince McMahon's favorite boys? Or would he garner some respect for standing up for himself?

We may have gotten something of an answer last night, when Punk dragged Styles out to do his "Oh My God" schtick. Styles was put over stronger on television than he has in years.

For my money, I am glad that someone stood up to JBL. I appreciate the importance of a veteran playing the role of "enforcer" in the locker room. But there's a difference between being an enforcer and a bully. And, on numerous occasions, it would seem JBL has been the latter.

Now that former world champion JBL has been so disrespected, maybe he can find a home in the Main Event Mafia.

WWE.com is featuring this video from Pres. Bush, in which we applauds WWE for its upcoming Tribute to the Troops show, as well as its various other initiatives to support the troops. He may be a lame duck, but it's still a heck of a coup to have the sitting President of the United States go on the record with this kind of praise for a wrestling company. And it's well earned. For all Vince McMahon does wrong, he's always been a big supporter of the U.S. Armed Forces, from the days of sending Hulk Hogan on USO Tours, to free ticket offers to troops.

A happy belated Thanksgiving to all. I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend with good food, good company, and good wrestling. I chose to view Survivor Series 1994 as I tidied up the dining room. I still get a kick out of the Bret Hart-Bob Backlund submission match. Owen was such a great heel.

Some thoughts on recent news items:

. I was surprised to hear that longtime Vince McMahon "yes man," Bruce Prichard, got the axe – but, then, maybe I shouldn’t be. If I’ve learned anything from my years following WWE, it’s that – no matter how much blood, sweat, tears and years you put into WWE – McMahon’s loyalty only goes so far. Anyone remember WWE senior referee Earl Hebner? I interviewed Earl soon after his firing, and there was definitely another side to the argument that cost him his job. But even if he was in the wrong, I was surprised that he’d be rather unceremoniously dumped after 20 years of service. A few years back, I came pretty close to landing a job at WWE – making it past a few rounds of interviews at Titan Tower, meeting Shane and Vince, before they decided to go a different direction. I was, of course, bummed – especially since I really hit it off with the head of the department for which I was interviewing. He had been there for some ten years. About a month after I was rejected, that guy was fired. It really opened my eyes to how fickle WWE could be, and made me appreciate the bullet I dodged by not going to work there. I’d probably be unemployed right now.

. I was excited to hear about the return of the Fan Axxess events leading up to WrestleMania 25 in Houston. For several years, WWE held these events at convention halls or sports complexes for 2 to 3 days before the big show, and they were an absolute blast. Autograph signings, memorabilia, live matches – They were a WWE fan’s dream. Then in the last several years they’ve replaced the events with “Fan Axxess Tours,” where they’d run stripped down version of the shows at various malls in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, with some D-list superstars making appearances. They’re smart to bring back the original versions, especially considering the revenue possibilities. They used to sell tickets to the events for something like $40 and have up to three sessions a day. And they’d all get packed.

. Some Raw thoughts: Chris Jericho is just so great. I’m not always a fan of seeing the exact same match with the same stipulations headline two pay per views in a row, but since we didn’t get to have any interplay between Jericho and John Cena in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series, I don’t mind a second helping now. Jericho’s promo that kicked off the show once again showed why he is one of WWE smartest performers. It was so much deeper than what we usually get.

. It was actually a heck of a night for heel promos, as JBL also came up with a gem in his segment with Shawn Michaels. I am just so impressed by JBL’s mic skills, in part because they are so natural. As great as Jericho is, you can tell that there’s a lot of memorizing that goes into them. JBl seems to be flying off the cuff at any given moment, and always delivers. That said, Michaels’ Bambi eyes were a bit much.

. Mike Knox looks huge – and not in a “I’ve been taking my special vitamins” sort of way. It may just be the long hair and scraggly beard, but he’s starting to look like a money monster heel.

. I’m sick of Stephanie McMahon already. She’s got that smarmy, smug Eric Bischoff go-away heat, in part because, like Bischoff, you can tell she’s just so proud of herself. Bring back Shane, or better, leave the McMahons off TV all together.

. I can’t believe WWE would build up Dolph Zeigler for so long to debut him in a squash match against Batista. That’s not to say I’m sold on the character anyway. We get it: He likes to introduce himself. Where exactly do you go with that? For one, it’s a bit too much like Mr. Kennedy. I’m amazed by the lack of creativity in the creation of WWE characters these days.

. I hate when the members of a tag team – especially tag team champions – have separate ring introductions, like C.M. Punk and Kofi Kingston do. How are we supposed to take them seriously as some kind of unified force if they can’t even bother to walk to the ring together? I can just see Kofi and Punk in the back now: “No, we’ll use my entrance music.” “No, mine! I’ve got pyro!” “Ah, screw it. Let’s just go out there separately.” How silly.

. Speaking of tag teams, I’m amazed by how much “Priceless” has cooled off since the red-hot debut of Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase as a pair a few months back. One part of the problem is that Manu is a sorry replacement for Dibiase, who had the talent, the look and the charisma to be a star. I’ve seen none of those attributes in Manu so far, and he’s really weighing down his team (almost literally.)

. A rare Smackdown note: I really enjoyed how the Beat the Clock series at last week’s show played out. The concept is one that I’ve always enjoyed, and WWE came up with a very creative and intriguing pay off – Jeff Hardy and Triple H winning their respective matches in the exact same time. That’s good storytelling – reminiscent of Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorf dropping off the side of the cage and having their feet touch the ringside floor simultaneously 22 years ago. Can you believe it’s been that long?

. I also got a kick out of The Miz & John Morrison’s bell-ringing routine with Festus. I’m usually not big on too much comedy in my wrestling, but there were some really funny, incredibly silly moments there. Overall, the Miz and Morrison have become one of WWE’s hottest acts. I hope they get another run with the tag titles, and a nice long reign filled with meaningful feuds and pay per view matches.

I reported a story in today's Newsday about the two fans accused of stealing commemorative chairs from Sunday's Great American Bash at the Nassau Coliseum.

Here's a few things I found out about the alleged heist:

. That's a police evidence photo of the commemorative chairs given away to ringside fans at the Bash.

. Police said the defendants, Timothy Vandewater and Keith Powell, had upper level seats to the show, but snuck down to the lower level. From there, they admired the ringside chairs.

. The chairs the two men are accused of stealing actually weren't from the Bash. WWE officials say Vandewater and Powell snuck into a trailer and made off with chairs from another pay per view event.

. WWE officials said one of the men also tried to steal some sort of lighting equipment case.

. The roadie who stopped the two men was an independent contractor and refused medical treatment at a local hospital because he didn't want to risk his job by possibly missing WWE's next tour stop last night at the Mohegan Sun. He said he'd go to a hospital in the next city, police said.

. As of yesterday, the two young men still hadn't been arraigned, meaning they have already spent two nights behind bars over the alleged stunt.

. Police said the roadie was a pretty big guy and showed a lot of restraint in how he handled the two young men.

. After all the trouble that the two defendants and the roadie went through, in the chaos of the chase, the men dropped the items the chairs they were trying to steal, and another fan made off with them, WWE officials and police said.

. A WWE spokesman said the incident would not put a damper on WWE's future plans to return to the Coliseum.

You can read my story here.

So D.H. Smith moves to SmackDown, the same place where his cousin Natalya is, potentially setting up a longterm storyline with next-generationers. Though Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. remain on Raw (for now), this makes me four-for-four with my draft predictions from earlier in the week.

But don't give me any of the credit. Actually, give the credit to WWE.

Because my predictions were just based on common sense, on what would be the most logical thing to do booking-wise.

And they actually did it. So kudos to them for the longterm foresight.

(And here's hoping that they do some kind of storyline with Triple H and Edge where Triple H is outraged that the only reason Edge is the champion is because his romantic interest is the boss. Remember, Vince -- reality sells!)

That being said, let's look at the rest of the moves in this afternoon's under-the-radar supplemental draft.

Continue reading "WWE supplemental draft results and thoughts" »

First off, I have to apologize for the infrequent posts as of late. I’ve been quite busy, as evidenced in pages A6 and A7 of your Newsday.

This may be a bit late, but I wanted to ring in about what I thought was the most intriguing moment of last Monday’s Raw. Even more intriguing – none of us saw it on television.

I’m speaking about the 12-minute dark match that took place before the show went on the air. In one corner was Lance Cade – the five-year WWE veteran who seemed poised to get a decent push as a mid-card heel after breaking up with his tag team partner Trevor Murdoch.

In the other corner was a pale, plain, light heavyweight – likely unrecognizable to the majority of the fans. Yet somehow, this relative unknown made Cade tap out.

The mystery man’s name – Bryan Danielson.

Continue reading "RAW's Hottest Star Wasn't on TV Last Monday" »

Just watched the stream on TMZ, and wow, what an emotional day in court.

Nick Bollea was sentenced to eight months in jail and five years' probation for the car accident last August that caused severe injuries to John Graziano.

Nick was taken into custody immediately following his sentencing.

He was also sentenced to 500 hours of community service and had his license suspended for three years.

Nick has 30 days to appeal.

Pro wrestling journalist Irvin Muchnick has done some really good work investigating the Chris Benoit case over the past year, and I just read this very interesting piece over at Slam Wrestling.

With the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder-suicide coming up next month, you'll be hearing more about the case once again. I'm actually reading an advance copy of Scott Keith's book about Benoit and the curse of the Hart Family Dungeon, and it's really sad and eye-opening. And I'm planning to post some of my own thoughts on the crime and also on working with Chris.

But for now, I'll just say that Muchnick does bring up some great points about how the investigation has been pushed aside, and how poorly WWE handled the case. I completely agree with his point about that joke of an interview on Larry King with Vince's propaganda army.

The whole thing is just still so surreal and sad. And yet I still believe that no one's learned a damn thing from what happened.