The Steel Cage

“The Wrestler” continues to gather a lot of buzz heading into Oscar season, with Mickey Rourke receiving best actor nominations for the Golden Globes and Screen Actors’ Guild Awards, and several film critics, including Roger Ebert, calling it one of the best films of the year.

But while everyone raves about Rourke’s performance, praise is also warranted for the film’s makers. They include Merrick native Robert Siegel, who wrote the movie’s brilliant screenplay. “The Wrestler’s” uncanny authenticity owes a lot to Siegel, who was committed to writing a movie that truly captured the world of pro wrestling, down to its smallest and strangest nuances.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Siegel, who also has a brief cameo early in the film as an autograph-seeking fan. In this interview, he talks about the prospect of the movie benefiting the wrestling industry, performing in front of real wrestling fans, and working closely with pro wrestlers – including some of whom died during the making of the film.

AC: This movie was originally talked about a lot in the wrestling community as the “Nicolas Cage wrestling project.” But it sounds like it was only a brief period that you were flirting with Nick Cage. Can you talk about that.

RS: That was a brief period in the middle, yeah. It originated with Mickey (Rourke.) Mickey was always the guy we wanted, but it was very difficult to get the funding with Mickey as the star, which is funny in retrospect, because now it’s become “The Mickey Rourke movie.” He’s the big attraction. But when we first started, he was kind of a liability - to financiers at least. You know, who wants to make a movie starring Mickey Rourke? We couldn’t even get the really low budget that we were asking for. We weren’t really looking to make a hundred million-dollar movie here. So at a certain point it seemed to Darren that it would be impossible to get it made with Mickey. And it felt like the only alternatives were to get somebody with more box office clout or don’t make it. So there was a brief period where Nick Cage was on board. And I know Darren went to one Ring of Honor (show with him.)… And it only lasted a week or two. And I think Darren did some soul searching and I talked about it with him. And he decided that, even if we have no money or next to nothing, we’re going to make this with Mickey because it’s the right call. And it’s hard now to imagine anyone else playing that role.

AC: Did you have any thought in this movie being some kind of public service for the pro wrestling industry in that you’re really kind of casting a light on something that most people don’t know about - what becomes of these down and out wrestlers – and getting some attention paid to it?

Continue reading "Interview with "The Wrestler" Screenwriter Robert Siegel" »

So I'm hoping you guys can help me with something:

I just searched out a track listing for the new WWE music collection (coming out later this month), and I'm seeing all kinds of reports that the set was originally supposed to be a 3-CD set called Anthology II, with tons of old-school stuff like Demolition, the Saturday Night's Main Event theme, etc. The release was supposed to be part of the WM25 celebration, so it seems.

But now it looks like the CD is only gonna be a single CD, with none of the old-school stuff, which stinks, and I ain't interested ... The old-school stuff is absolute money, and come on, Demolition? Finally? I'd have paid 100 bucks for that! 200 if they included the Quebecers!

Anyone know the back story on the change? There's a page on the WWE corporate site that seems to indicate that the second anthology album was indeed in the works at some point ...

Nora "Molly Holly" Greenwald will be jumping into the icy waters of White Bear Lake on Jan 31st to raise money for the Special Olympics. You can help out by clicking here.

I'm just now starting to read the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's final report regarding the use of steroids in pro wrestling. You can find it here.

To say the least, the report is eye opening, and has the potential to be one of the biggest wrestling stories of this or any year.

Among some of the revelations:

. In the first year that WWE tested for steroids, 40 percent of its wrestlers tested positive.
. As has been widely reported, the WWE's wellness policy is ridden with holes that allow wrestlers "therapeutic exemptions" to the steroid restrictions. The contracted official who dealt with those exemptions admitted that they were all "shady."
. WWE's disciplinary measures for wellness policy violators are also weak - allowing suspended wrestlers to work shows at WWE's discretion.
. TNA is not much better. A quarter of its wrestlers tested positive for steroids during the company's first tests last January.
. The report concluded that the problem of steroids in pro wrestling is serious, and one that promotions "are not effectively addressing." It said that existing drug testing efforts "suffer from a lack of independence and transparency. As a result of these weaknesses, the organizations appear unable to effectively prevent the use of steroids and other illegal drugs by professional wrestlers."

But perhaps more revealing than any facts or figures in the report are the actual words of some of WWE's top decision makers, including Vince and Stephanie McMahon, in the form of transcripts from their interviews with the committee. I'm still working my way through them, but just a few pages in to Vince's interview, it is clear that he is his usual defensive, combative self - not unlike the Vince we saw interviewed by Bob Costas years ago.

McMahon and his attorney may have perfectly justifiable legal reasons not to answer some of the questions. But, inevitably, the transcript would leave almost any reader with this age-old question: What are you trying to hide? Any major corporation with a drug testing policy worth anything should be willing, and able to answer simple questions.

I'd love to do some more digging on this topic, but this blog has limited my ability to be an effective, objective reporter on the subject of pro wrestling. A year ago, I was all over this story, and was pushing Congress for answers on a possible probe of steroids in wrestling before it was clearly considering doing much. I also broke several of the first stories coming out of the earliest days of the probe, including McMahon's decision to no-show a hearing on steroids in sports.

At the time, I was skeptical that Congress would ever seriously look at the topic, and so I was both surprised, and impressed, by breadth of this new report.

But now what? Pressure - from lawmakers, the media, and the public - is necessary to enact real change in the wrestling industry. But, honestly, I'm starting to think it will never happen - especially after reading the candid, disappointing insights of the only person who could make those changes. Quite simply, Vince McMahon just doesn't get it.

I'll give WWE some credit. I do think they're doing something about the problem. Evidence of that is available in the noticeably smaller size of many wrestlers, and the many suspensions we've heard about in the last year - including of some pretty big names. But it's clearly not enough. If WWE wants to be beyond reproach, it should just go ahead and adopt a drug policy similar to that used by the International Olympic Committee or other legitimate sports.

Unless the goal of your drug policy is simply to silence critics, while leaving plenty of room for talent to use drugs, why wouldn't you adopt a more stringent policy?

Happy new year everybody! Without any further delay, here's part two of my 2008 awards. Let's call them "The Fonzies."

Feud of the Year: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels
If I was running a wrestling school, I’d make a DVD compilation of the various angles and matches that comprised this rivalry mandatory viewing for students. More than the quality of each match, or the content of each promo, this feud excelled at the most important aspect of a rivalry – It got you excited to see them wrestle each other. The reason you couldn’t wait to see their next match was because you knew they couldn’t wait to get their hands on one another. After Jericho put Michaels face through a TV screen, it was hard to imagine the feud getting any more intense. But that was just the beginning. In the months that followed Jericho nearly forced Michaels into retirement, punched his wife in the face, and got the ultimate last laugh – he won the world title. Every one of Jericho’s antics just got HBK more and more enraged. And, as we all know, an impassioned Shawn Michaels makes for great television viewing.

1. The Undertaker vs. Edge – Like Jericho, Edge’s smarmy antics – including getting his girlfriend to strip ‘Taker of his world title – made this rivalry red hot, leading to the big pay off in “The Cell.”
2. Austin Aries vs. The Age of the Fall – ROH’s sinister cult tried for months to recruit Aries, but he turned the tables by stealing Lacey away from them. The ensuing “matches” were intense, bloody and a lot of fun.
3. The Main Even Mafia vs. The Front Line – In a company suffering from attention deficit disorder, this rivalry was a welcome embrace of traditional wrestling faction warfare, and has led to a noticeable uptick in ratings.

Honorable mentions: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H, John Cena vs. Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness, Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair

Heel of the Year: Chris Jericho
Nobody embraced so fully the persona of a true bad guy as Chris Jericho. He traded in his flashy outfits for a stuffy suit, did away with his jubilant personality in favor of self righteous indignation, and, in general, was just a complete jerk. The highlight of his year may have come at the Great American Bash, where he defeated Shawn Michaels by ref stoppage. He interrupted Michelle McCool’s Divas’ championship celebration later that night to notify fans to save their ticket stubs. They had just witnessed Shawn Michaels’ last match, he said. What a piece of garbage. Jericho's act wasn't just entertaining. It accomplished a good heel's single most important duty - getting the babyface over.

1. Nigel McGuinness: In a promotion built on “honor” and “respect,” McGuinness’ disgraceful behavior – including regularly wearing his title belt backwards – absolutely outraged fans.
2. Edge: He’s become the standard of what a heel should be, and was at his best when he was stringing along poor, gullible Vickie Guerrero.
3. Randy Orton: He missed a lot of the year, but when he was around, his twisted, “viper” persona was the embodiment of evil.

Honorable mentions: Kurt Angle, JBL, Santino Marella, Jimmy Jacobs, James Storm.

Why not? Everyone else does them. Rather than delve into overly specific categories (ie: Best brawler, best promos, etc.) and ones without much competition (ie: Best announcer, best promotion, etc.) I’ll stick with the basics.

Here are my first two categories. I’ll be back over the next several days with the rest of my choices. Feel free to post your picks in the comments section, as well as your inevitable trashing of mine.

Wrestler of the Year: Chris Jericho
When Jericho stumbled out of the gate following his much-hyped return last year, I thought he would be stuck in mid-card status for much of 2008. But Jericho seemed to realize better than anyone that “Y2J” was in desperate need of a makeover. With the kind of dedication you might find in a wrestler with his half his level of experience, Jericho set about being the very best in WWE – crafting a brilliant storyline with Shawn Michaels, completely overhauling his character, and delivering smart, exciting matches. Anyone who wondered is Jericho’s heart was still in wrestling after his two years away had their doubts removed.

Runners up:
1. Edge: In the pressure-cooker that is the final match at WrestleMania, Edge more than delivered – as he did on the mic and in the ring in big feuds with the Undertaker, Triple H, and Jeff Hardy.

2. Shawn Michaels: Was one half of both the greatest match (against Flair) and greatest feud (against Jericho) in recent wrestling history.

3. Nigel McGuinness: What every promotion wants in a world champion: incredibly over, incredibly dominant, and incredibly talented. He was the only person in wrestling to hold his title through all of 2008.

Honorable mentions: Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Randy Orton, Triple H, Kurt Angle.

Match of the Year: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV:
Some may pick apart some blown spots and rough patches in this match, but it all contributed to telling one of the most compelling stories ever told in a wrestling ring. We weren’t just watching the storyline of Flair fighting for survival – we were witnessing the real thing. Everybody may remember the poignant moment in which HBK told Flair, “I’m sorry. I love you.” But the moment that stands out in my mind won’t make it on any highlight reels. Flat on his back, and with Michael’s weight on top of him, Flair tried to bridge up to his feet. 80,000 fans held their collective breath to see if the old timer could pull off the young man’s spot. He couldn’t. But damn it if he didn’t try.

Runners up:
1. Jeff Hardy vs. Edge vs. Triple H at Armageddon: Receiving minimal hype, and taking place at an otherwise forgettable card, this match had little potential to be great. But great it was, and the visual of Hardy standing atop of the castle as WWE’s new king is one that fans will remember for decades.

2. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho unsanctioned match at Unforgiven: The best match of their terrific series, and the one that really communicated the hatred between both the competitors. Amazingly, it did so with minimal bloodshed.

3. Nigel McGuinness vs. Tyler Black at Take No Prisoners: The Cinderella story is a time-honored theme in wrestling. On this night, relative ROH newcomer Tyler Black wore the glass slipper to perfection – taking the champ to the absolute limit before finally being defeated.

Honorable mentions: The Undertaker vs. Edge at WrestleMania XXIV, The Undertaker vs. Edge TLC match at One Night Stand, John Cena vs. Triple H at Night of Champions, Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle at Lockdown, Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness at ROH’s Sixth Anniversary Show in NYC.

I'll be back soon with my awards for best feud and best tag team of the year.

It was a fun weekend to be a wrestling fan in NY - midtown Manhattan in particular. Ring of Honor ran its last show of the year - "Final Battle 2008" at the Hammerstein Ballroom. And the following night, WWE returned to Madison Square Garden just across the street for a Raw brand house show.

I got the chance to attend both, and here are a few observations:

Continue reading "Observations From Weekend ROH, WWE Shows in NY" »

Here's an interesting trivia question: What WWF match aired on pay per view in 1989, but not on that year's Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam or Survivor Series?

I speak, of course, of this gem, which aired on December 27, 1989. The match was part of a WWF pay per view special titled "No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie." For a few bucks, fans could see the 1989 theatricial masterpiece "No Holds Barred" followed by this match, taped weeks earlier, pitting Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake against "The Macho King" Randy Savage and Zeus in a steel cage. Sean Mooney called it at the time "the tag team event of the decade." Right.

It is fair to say that "No Holds Barred: The Match" was almost as good as the movie, which destroyed the wrestling movie genre so bad that it took 20 years for Darren Aronofsky to resurrect it. Although, I must admit, I'd take Zeus as my tag team partner over Randy "The Ram" Robinson any day.

Can you believe a decade has past since the night Goldberg's heralded winning streak came to an end at the hands of Kevin Nash at Starrcade? Goldberg was "officially" 173 and 1.

Goldberg was one of the few legitimate top drawing stars WCW created during its boon period in the mid 1990s, and most historians remember this night as another of the many nails driven into WCW's casket. That said, it's interesting to hear the crowd's reaction to this one. They're clearly excited about Nash beating Goldberg, and there are several good reasons for that. For one, Goldberg's schtick was definitely growing stale at this point. What's more, Nash had always portrayed himself as a "cool heel" - even to the detriment of doing his job in helping getting babyfaces over.

And so, in retrospect, this was clearly a mistake - made worse by the fact that Nash was booking WCW at the time. I have to admit, I was cheering the former Big Daddy Cool this night as well. But what fans want in the short term isn't always what's best for business in the long term. That's why we still have a babyface John Cena.

December 27, 1998:

As the year comes to a close, 2008 will undoubtedly be remembered as a landmark year for Ring of Honor. It was the year that two of the company's former top stars won world titles in WWE and TNA, the year that the company first made it to the Hammerstein Ballroom, and the year when the company's popular, longtime booker was given his walking papers.

As ROH prepares to put on its last show of the year - Final Battle 2008 this Saturday night at the Hammerstein in Manhattan - ROH owner Cary Silkin spoke with me about what the last 12 months have been like for the country's number three promotion. In this interview, Silkin talks publicly, for the first time, about his controversial firing of Gabe Sapolsky two months ago, as well as about the changes he's sought in the product, criticisms about ROH's sub-par production quality, and the company's prominent role in the critically acclaimed film, "The Wrestler."

AC: In as much as you want, what can you say about what happened with Gabe’s firing or what your side of the story was?

CS: A lot of it boiled down to simple business and as a company there needed to be some changes. Gabe was a very successful booker for most of his run. I think historically, six years-plus as a booker might be a record. And, you know, things just weren’t working. And it was the right time to make a change. It’s pretty much as simple as that. He did a tremendous amount of good things in his time, but it had sort of run its course and the change was important.

AC: Were there hard feelings?

CS: I mean, you’re never happy about firing someone. It was a close knit group, you know? I’m sure there were hard feelings. You feel bad. I don’t know if “hard feelings” are the right words, but you feel bad. I mean I was friendly with him. So it was rough, but we all move on.

AC: What’s the feedback been from fans? I imagine more than if most companies lost a booker, Ring of Honor’s fans might have been especially attached to Gabe, since he went back to the beginning of the company and I think they really kind of related to him.

Continue reading "ROH's Cary Silkin On Firing Sapolsky, New Direction, Production Quality, and "The Wrestler"" »

Now that I've got some of you talking about whether today's women's division is better or worse than that of about five years ago, let me throw this question out to you: If you were putting together a women's division and had the pick of any woman who's competed in the last five years or so, who would you recruit?

Here's my quick list:

1. Trish Stratus: Undoubtedly the centerpiece of my women's division. Rather than put the title on her, I'd make her the sympathetic babyface perennially in the title hunt.

2. Awesome Kong: The monster heel, and women's champion. The perfect Goliath to Trish's David.

3. Gail Kim: In TNA, Kim came as close as anybody I've seen to capturing the same kind of babyface charisma that Trish had in her prime. For a while, she was arguably TNA's biggest ratings draw.

4. Mickey James: A capable backup quarterback for Trish. She's got a lot of the same tools, but has been stuck in a lousy division for a long time now.

5. Beth Phoenix: Another talented member of the current Diva crop, saddled with bookers without vision and colleagues without much talent.

Continue reading "Building the Perfect Women's Division" »

Happy holidays everybody. Sorry for the one-week absence. 'Tis the season to be busy.

I thought last night's Raw was a lot of fun, capped off with a highly satisfying surprise appearance. Here are some observations:

. Now that's how you do the "mystery partner" gimmick. I'm a big believer in under-promising, and over-delivering. WWE did not make too big a fuss about who Cena would pick as a partner to take on Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix, so when Trish Stratus' music started playing, the pop from the hometown Toronto crowd was huge.

. Man, do I miss Trish Stratus. She is, by far, the best female wrestler to come out of the modern American wrestling era. Her appeal was part sex appeal, part spunk and part athletic ability. But most of all she had that special something that wrestlers of any gender strive for - the X factor. I've likened Trish to the Hulk Hogan of women's wrestling (and I mean that in a nice way) in that she just exuded charisma in everything she did. I'm glad WWE broke from tradition in letting her retire as women's champion. I hope, and fully expect, she'll be able to add "WWE Hall of Famer" to her achievements one day.

Continue reading "Thoughts on Trish, Solid Booking, WWE Titles, and Batista's Injury" »

I realize that this will probably be an unpopular post, and one that may be much maligned. But I still feel inclined to put it out there.

The Jeff Hardy WWE Title win was no doubt a feel-good moment; it's always great to see someone so beloved reach the pinnacle of the business.

But I'd argue that after the short-term fix, in the long-run, it's a move that will do much more harm than good, both for Jeff and the business.

Continue reading "Why I hate the Jeff Hardy WWE Title move" »

Now that I write this blog for Newsday, I feel I can justify spending 20 minutes of my workday watching some wrestling. And so, after a little Googling, I found the video to Sunday's night triple threat main event bout involving WWE Champion Edge, Triple H and Jeff Hardy.

First things first, I must admit to regretting not plopping down $40 for Armageddon, which I felt, on paper, looked rather skippable. While I was right about the undercard being pretty weak, the main event was the kind of match that can not only save a pay per view from a thumbs down rating, but can it make it a truly historic event. Such was the case at WrestleMania 13, which featured an absolutely atrocious undercard, but also had what may be my very favorite match of all time - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin.

The same went here. The triple threat match was not just good - or even very good. It was truly great, and I don't use that term lightly.

Continue reading "Hardy's Title Win Was One of The Greatest Matches I've Seen" »

Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” continues to receive praise as one of the year’s best films. In fact, “At the Movies” called it the very best film of 2008.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Aronofsky and talk a bit about what he learned about the wrestling business, who he holds responsible for the problems faced by former wrestling stars, wrestlers unionizing, screening the movie for Vince McMahon, and his thoughts on Ring of Honor.

AC: I guess you were the one out of everybody who was really gung-ho about doing a wrestling movie. When you set out on it, did you have in mind doing a kind of public service in casting a light on the life of a wrestler, and how sad and tragic it is and how, for the most part, it goes mostly unnoticed by the vast majority of people?

DA: No, I think that’s just come out of it. I think you can avoid it when you meet all these legends who are still out there trying to hold on to some glory, or just trying to survive, some of them. You can’t avoid it. It’s sad that there’s no security and that often their regular lives have suffered for their fame.

Continue reading "Interview with "The Wrestler" Director Darren Aronofsky" »

. I didn't get to see all of Armageddon last night, but I have heard the big news about Jeff Hardy winning the WWE Championship. I've got mix feelings on it. On one hand, I commend WWE for making a move that fans clearly wanted to see, even when there were perfectly legitimate reasons why not put the belt on Jeff Hardy, not the least of which is his spotty track record. So my beef isn't that Hardy won the title, but how he won it. Again, WWE is guilty of short-sighted, impatient booking. In Hardy, WWE had its biggest real underdog hero in a long time. WWE used to be very disciplined about having such an underdog chase the title for months and months, building to a climax at WrestleMania where he'd finally beat the company's top heel for the big prize. Hardy vs. Edge could have been a legitimate main event at WrestleMania, and the satisfaction of watching Hardy finally realize his dream would have been that much sweeter. Instead, Hardy wins it in a three-way match at a relatively forgettable pay per view. And they still have to find something to put in the WrestleMania main event slot. WWE blows its you-know-what yet again.

. Playing devil's advocate, there is one legitimate upside for WWE in having Hardy win the title at Armageddon. It communicated to some fans that there is no such thing as a "skippable" WWE pay per view. Let's be honest. The Armageddon line up wasn't exactly loaded, and I imagine more fans than usual - myself included - took a pass on ordering this show. So having a fairly monumental happening in the way of Hardy finally reaching the top of the mountain let viewers know that every WWE pay per view is important.

. I was tempted to go on a rant here about how there have been too many world title changes this year, especially when compared to last year. But I did the math, and much to my surprise, there has been only one more switch in the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships this year than last. Granted, all three of last year's WWE Championship changes happened on the same night at No Mercy. Regardless, WWE should be mindful of such things. Again, imagine how much more significant Hardy's win would have been if Edge had held onto the belt a full six months before dropping it to him at WrestleMania?

. I'm glad to see that Hardy's first world title is the "real" one - the WWE Championship. I know - It's all a work, and the titles are essentially props for each brand. But I've always thought it meant a little more to win the same championship worn by Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan than it did to win the one handed to Triple H six years ago.

. It looks like somebody in the WWE writing meetings has watched "The Wrestler." The JBL-Shawn Michaels storyline about HBK not wanting to become one of those has-beens wrestling in front of high school gyms on weekends is the most WWE has ever referenced what becomes of ex-stars, and is ripped right out of the film. With the movie getting so much buzz, WWE may figure it's better to be proactive in acknowledging some of the more tragic aspects of the wrestling business, along the way making it clear that stories like that of Mickey Rourke's "Randy 'The Ram' Robinson" are the exception to the rule. The storylines also places the blame for wrestlers' misfortunes squarely at the feet of their individual choices - and not Vince McMahon.

. From what I saw of the show, there was some pretty good action last night. I knew Rey Mysterio and C.M. Punk were more than capable of putting on a good match, but I worried that they wouldn't get the time and/or that the fans wouldn't be into them. I was wrong on both counts. Batista vs. Randy Orton was also good, and had an innovative and satisfying finish.

. This isn't quite Armageddon-related, but I wanted to sound off on how cool I thought it was that the World Tag Team Championship changed hands at a Canadian house show over the weekend. I'm always for WWE doing anything to make house shows feel more important. It's amazing to me that the majority of WWE events each year are so inconsequential. I know there are realities to consider when having the same matches take place every night with similar results. But WWE should always be looking for ways to make these events mean more. Having a title change hands on the show - and then showing photos of the match on TV - is a good start. I've long thought WWE should have a feature called the "Live Event Match of the Week" or something like that, where they pick a match from a house show (It could be an undercard match) and showcase it on TV, if only to give viewers a sense of the excitement and intimacy of attending a live event. It was also a nice touch that WWE had The Miz & Morrison win the titles at a "Supershow," thereby explaining why an ECW team was taking on one from Raw.

... so after reading some of the back story and watching part of SmackDown last night, the writer in me has an idea as to who attacked Jeff Hardy, and if played out this way, I think it could actually be pretty fun.

What if the person who attacked Jeff was ...

Continue reading "A thought on who attacked Jeff Hardy at Survivor Series ..." »

Capping off what has been a pretty strong year of pay per views for WWE is this Sunday’s Armageddon, which I am honestly not too excited about. I don’t have any major complaints and, on the contrary, I think WWE has done some solid, fundamental booking in building up to this show. But, for a number of reasons, there isn’t very much I’m looking forward to.

Here’s a quick preview:

World Heavyweight Championship:
John Cena (c) vs. Chris Jericho

Yes, it’s a rematch from last month’s Survivor Series match, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Jericho continues to be one of the highlights of WWE programming over the last year, and is one of the most effective heels wrestling has seen in years. That said, WWE’s primary mission going forward appears to be rebuilding its top star, Cena. I can’t argue with that. Cena has been a ratings godsend for WWE, and it’s important that he be protected through WrestleMania and beyond. I’d expect a clean Cena win here, although it’s possible that they allow for some DQ to stip to stretch the feud out to at least another pay per view.

WWE Championship Triple Threat Match
Edge (c) vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H

Honestly, the first I learned this match was taking place was in pulling up the card to write this minutes ago. On paper, it seems like a fine match, with all three competitors more than able to put on a 4-star outing. I think it’s fair to say that the weak link of this match may be Triple H, who, despite being a tremendous worker, just isn’t creating a lot of buzz in WWE right now. Hardy is the sympathetic underdog who fans are rooting for to finally get a run with the world title. Edge is WWE’s top heel, back from a lengthy hiatus. And Triple H is, well, Triple H. Usually, that’s more than enough to carry a show, but he’s definitely gotten stale. I’m guessing we get a heel turn by WrestleMania. Edge finds some screwy way to retain the title here.

Batista vs. Randy Orton

Once again, WWE wastes one of its last remaining “dream matches” by making it seem relatively inconsequential. The first ever one-on-one match between the former Evolution partners should have been reserved for the main event of a major pay per view, and perhaps have a world title at stake. Instead, it’s a midcard match on a relatively forgettable card. What’s more, rather than keep these two apart for weeks, we’ve seen Batista and Orton mix it up in a number of different situations in recent weeks. I’ll guess Orton wins, to keep him strong, and give Batista more fuel for an eventual, much overdue heel turn.

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio: Intercontinental Contendership Tournament Final

It just seems so out of place to make a wrestler climb such a mountain to get a shot at a title that has been given little importance in recent years. I’m glad to see Punk back on pay per view, in a relatively important singles match. These two have the skills to make this a strong match, but I don’t expect fans to be very revved up about it. I’ll predict Punk wins, and defeats Regal for the IC title at a later date.

Matt Hardy vs. Vladimir Kozlov

Having not seen ECW in months, I have no idea how this match came about. I do know that neither competitor is terribly over with fans these days. Plus, this sounds like quite the clash of styles. This one just may have the proverbial “bowling shoe” potential. Since the ECW title isn't on the line, I'll predict Vlad to win, and maybe earn a title shot in the near future.

Mark Henry vs. Finlay – Belfast Brawl

Speaking of bowling shoes… It’s amazing to see 1 ½ ECW matches on this card. Honestly, I could do without either. If you’re going to have these two wrestle on pay per view, it’s smart to make it a “garbage” match with lots of plunder. But even that isn’t enough to intrigue me in the least. Henry wins.

All in all, there’s not very much to get excited about on this show. Unless a bunch of friends want to pony up a couple bucks to split the cable bill, I’m thinking I’ll take a pass and catch the season finale of Survivor. Like wrestling, it’s got heels, babyfaces, alliances, and double crosses. And unlike wrestling, I’m guaranteed a clear winner.

If today’s announcement of the Golden Globe nominees are any indication, “The Wrestler” is on track to make a big splash come the Academy Awards. Marisa Tomei was nomindated for best supporting actress, and, as many people expected, Mickey Rourke got a nod for best actor.

Last Sunday, I got the opportunity to take part in a roundtable discussion with Rourke during press day for “The Wrestler” in NY. It was your typical movie junket, so I only had the opportunity to get a couple questions in, but below are some highlights from the discussion, which delved into many wrestling related issues.

On getting into shape to play Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson:

“It was a process over six months of putting on the weight. I had to put on muscle and not fat and I had never done that before. I’ve had to lose weight – 20 pounds over 12 weeks. And I thought that was murder. So, I thought, ‘Oh great, I get to eat.’ You just can’t eat anything or you’re going to put fat on. But you’re going to put fat on anyway because you're eating six or seven meals a day. You have to make sure you're doing the weight lifting and the cardio, so it’s like never ending in the gymnasium for me. I have to admit, since I’ve done the movie, I haven’t walked into a gym. I’ve just done weights at home. I just can’t go to a gym yet, because it was hell…

Continue reading "Interview: Mickey Rourke On What Wrestler He Tried to Look Like, Getting “The Rock” To See His Movie, Meeting Piper, & Learning High Spots" »

So here's a post I started writing when Brock Lesnar won the UFC Title a few weeks but hadn't had much time to finish until now ...

Brock was coming into his own as WWE Champion during my time on creative, and was such a cool person to work with. So I thought I'd pass along a few thoughts and insights on the Next Big Thing.

Continue reading "Some thoughts on Brock Lesnar" »

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.

I’ll be back later, and throughout the week, with some thoughts on “The Wrestler,” which I got to see last week, and with some interviews with the cast and crew, including director Darren Aronofsky and star Mickey Rourke.

For now, I just wanted to stop by with a few quick thoughts:

. I’m looking forward to checking out the Slammy’s tonight - in high def, no less, if what I'm told about Cablevision picking up USA HD is correct. The news, of course, will be in getting a peak into the political machinations of WWE in their choice for tonight’s winners. We’ve already gotten a revealing glimpse into WWE’s hierarchy in who was included as nominees in various categories, and who was not. How, for example, is Shawn Michaels left out of the running for “Superstar of the Year” when his feuds with Ric Flair and Chris Jericho were, head and shoulders, above everything else WWE put out this year? I know, none of this should be taken too seriously – and, trust me, I’m not – but it’s always fun to get a glimpse behind the curtain.

. I only saw about half of TNA’s pay per view, “Final Resolution,” last night, so I’ll avoid giving a review. But I will say this much – even in a company known for its headache-inducing match stipulations, TNA bookers outdid themselves last night. First you had the return of “Feast or Fired” – a concept that was an utter disaster when it was first trotted out last year. There is, quite simply, no logical way to justify booking this mess. As the concept goes, wrestlers compete to capture four suitcases. Three have title shots inside. One has a pink slip. So in trying to win the match, you are essentially going after a one in four chance of getting fired. The reward? A shot at one of TNA’s titles, which you could probably have an opportunity for anyway if you just wait your turn. It was the stupidest concept for a wrestling match ever ever ever. That is until later in the night, when we saw an eight man tag team match in which A.J. Styles could win Sting’s world title if any member of his team could pin any member of Sting’s team. Not only was the gimmick stupid, but it was, as they say, bass ackwards. The concept put Styles, the match’s top babyface, in the traditionally heel role to possibly win a world title without having earned it. And this wasn’t even the only time on the card when the wrestlers were miscast. Earlier in the night, Kurt Angle took on Rhino in a match in which Angle had to win to get a shot at Jeff Jarrett. If I’m correct, we’re supposed to want to see Jarrett, a babyface, take on Angle, a heel. But Jarrett refuses to do so. So to get that match, I suppose we, as fans, should have rooted for Angle to beat Rhino. But Rhino is supposed to be the babyface leader of TNA’s Front Line. What a mess. It doesn’t matter that some of these matches played out reasonably well, they should never have been booked to begin with.

. Former ROH Booker Gabe Sapolsky wrote me earlier to tell me about his new blog post, which you could find here. In the post, Gabe talks about how he used to have bursts of inspiration for great storyline ideas in past years, and how those kinds of “explosions” of creativity were fewer and further between over the last year. “Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of my final year and feel that we did some great stuff,” Sapolsky said. “ I stand behind all that work and believe that it deserves your support if you like the ROH style of action, but I wasn't getting those explosions all the time.” I’m sure I missed some of Gabe’s highlights as ROH booker, but he shouldn’t be too hard on himself. Some of the best stuff, creatively, that I saw in wrestling all year was his work. I can remember attending a February ROH show headlined with Nigel McGuinness defending the title against Bryan Danielson. It was a huge match that fans were dying to see. Playing on the real life events that made the fans turn on him a few months earlier, Nigel teased at the beginning of the show that he wouldn’t wrestle Danielson because he had concerns over a concussion. Danielson was so eager to get his title shot, that he promised Nigel that he wouldn’t use any head strikes in his match – effectively neutralizing one of the most dangerous parts of his offense. Throughout the match, there were several points where Danielson could have put McGuinness away with his patented elbow strikes, but he reluctantly held back. So how did the match end? McGuinness elbowed the crap out of Danielson’s head until he knocked him out. The crowd was livid. Absolute genius.

. And since we already hit WWE, TNA, and ROH, let me delve for a moment into the world of indies. Highspots.com held a couple of major shows over the weekend in North Carolina. Saturday’s show was headlined by the debuting Reid Flair and his brother David Flair, with their dad the “Nature Boy” in their corner, taking on the Nasty Boys with Jimmy Hart in their corner. The match was refereed by, of all people, Hulk Hogan. Now that’s as big an indie main event as I’ve ever heard. Also on the card were the Rock n’ Roll Express taking on the Midnight Express (the “Sweet” Stan Lane version), a match featuring Midnight founding member Bobby Eaton’s kid Dillon, as well as the debut of Ricky Steamboat Jr., who I hear exudes the kind of star power that had everybody buzzing about Randy Orton years ago. After watching “The Wrestler” last week, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the circle of life that is the wrestling business, and it seems it was on full display in Charlotte on Saturday. The aging former stars who are forced to still lace up the boots just to make ends meet, the lottery winners, like Hogan and Flair who, for the most part, have been spared the vicious consequences of a life in wrestling, and the future generation, like the Flair, Steamboat, and Eaton boys, who hopefully have learned from the mistakes of their dads and are not necessarily doomed to repeat them.

Word is that Cablevision is adding USA HD to their lineup at some point in the coming days. It will be on channel 738.

A lot of us have been scratching our heads about how to reverse the downward ratings trend for Monday Night Raw recently. Well, WWE may have found a solution. His name is John Cena.

The Wrestling Observer reports that Raw scored a 3.4 rating Monday night. That’s an increase over last week’s rating of 3.3 on the night after Cena’s return from a three-month injury hiatus. That rating, itself, was a big jump from the 2.9 to 3.1 range that WWE had settled into over several weeks.

If anybody thought the days of individual wrestlers being draws were over, this should put an end to it. There’s no other way to read the last two weeks of ratings than John Cena = viewers.

While they may be dancing in the hallways of Titan Tower today, the rating is not completely a reason to celebrate. What it says is that the extra viewers WWE has gotten back in the last two weeks are not necessarily fans of the overall WWE product, but rather fans of Cena. We knew who these people are. Their voices tend to be of the high-pitched variety.

Now that WWE has gotten them back, they need to do everything in their power to keep them, even through the next time Cena is on the shelf, or God forbid, when he leaves WWE altogether. That means building stars with as much appeal as Cena, especially among women and children. The name Jeff Hardy comes to mind.

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.

I've got some posts coming up in the next few days -- including thoughts on all the great comments to my Matt Hardy/Vickie Guerrero commentary -- but before I forget, I wanted to mention something:

WWE 24/7 continues to be the best buy for your wrestling buck, and one of the December offerings -- the 1991 Tuesday in Texas Pay-Per-View -- features what I still consider to be the best wrestling promo I have ever seen.

It's a Macho Man interview from after his match with Jake Roberts. Savage had won cleanly, but Jake DDT-ed him a few times and then struck Miss Elizabeth.

You watch the promo and you feel Macho's pain, and you're ready to spend a hundred bucks to see him get his revenge on Jake. Absolute money.

Clip is below -- though you have to fast forward to about 4:55 in.

The promo is barely two minutes, but talk about emotion -- not the scripted garbage you see in 90% of the segments now. This stuff was so revolutionary for 1991, but even now, it's still amazingly powerful.

What do you think?

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