The Steel Cage

Word coming out of the weekend is that Edge suffered a fairly serious ankle injury during a house show match with Jeff Hardy that could potentially sideline the “Rated R Superstar” for several months.

It’s bad news for the Smackdown brand, which has really been banging on all cylinders as of late. Edge has most certainly been part of the blue brand’s winning formula, and his new championship tag team pairing with Chris Jericho was filled with potential for hot storylines and matches.

If there is something of a silver lining to be found in this unfortunate news, it’s the potential for WWE to expedite the elevation of a mid-card wrestler into the main event scene to help fill the void created by Edge’s hiatus. The obvious candidates for such an elevation would be John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler.

As a heel – like Edge – Ziggler may actually have a better chance at getting a big break than Morrison, who would has Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy and the Undertaker to compete with for a top babyface slot.

Having returned to the Smackdown brand last week, this also could have been an ideal opportunity for Matt Hardy to be moved up in the ranks, but reports are that he too is on the DL for several weeks after receiving surgery for a stomach injury.

Injuries are always going to happen in wrestling, no matter how healthy and careful a wrestler is. There’s no question that giving wrestlers more scheduled time off could help avoid such unexpected absences, but the truth is that Edge was only back full time for seven months since his last three-month break last fall.

Similarly, Batista was back from his last extended injury absence just two months before he ended up back on the DL. Fans speculated that Mr. Kennedy’s departure was in part related to him being “injury prone.”

Not only has it become the norm to see top WWE stars suffer injuries; it’s unfortunately become the norm to see the same top WWE stars suffer several injuries within the course of just a year or two. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen John Cena, Batista, Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and other WWE main eventers each take more than one extended hiatus because of an injury.

We could come up with all kinds of theories about WWE performers’ training habits to explain the frequent injuries – and they certainly could have something to do with it. But I wouldn’t want to undercut the extreme physical demands of wrestlers’ jobs by simply saying they should take better care of themselves.

The reality is, when your job is to take part in a simulated fight several nights a week, every once in a while you’re going to get hurt for real.

And sometimes, “once in a while” comes more frequently than you would like.

Happy Independence Day weekend everyone.

To celebrate the holiday, I thought I’d take you back 16 years to July 4, 1993.

It was billed as the Stars & Stripes Challenge and it took place aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid Museum in Manhattan. Then WWF-champion Yokozuna put out the challenge for anyone to try and bodyslam him.

Many men stepped up, and many failed.

But then, down from the heavens came a great American. His name was Lex Luger, and with relative ease he picked up the gargantuan Yokozuna and slammed him to the mat.

Or so the story goes. Actually, Lex’s slam looked like hell, especially compared to Hulk Hogan’s more impressive slam on Andre the Giant five years earlier.

Anyhow, as cheesy as the whole angle was, it was actually a pretty major turning point in WWE history. It was also a pretty radical about face for Luger, who just weeks earlier was playing the arrogant heel character, “The Narcissist.”

Continue reading "A 4th of July Wrestling Landmark: Lex Slams Yokozuna" »

With ECW having lost three of its hottest young acts on Monday night in the form of the Hart Dynasty, Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne, it was really encouraging to see the brand reload its young talent on last night’s show.

In case you missed it, ECW general manager Tiffany last night announced the return of the “new superstar initiative.” And throughout the night several new faces from WWE’s farm system, Florida Championship Wrestling, made their debuts.

Right off the bat, some showed the makings of being something real special. Some – not so much,

Here are my thoughts on the new call-ups:

Yoshi Tatsu: In FCW, he went by Yoshitatsu, without the space, which I think sounds much cooler. Obviously, it’s hard to judge Tatsu’s potential, considering his debut match consisted of a single move. The fact that WWE would have him go over clean on a veteran like Shelton Benjamin in such a quick fashion may indicate that WWE has a lot of faith in the newcomer. Or it might just indicate how deep in the dog house Benjamin is these days.

I’ve never been a big fan of the race-based gimmicks, so I didn’t love what I saw. Does every Asian wrestler have to be martial artist? And please don’t bring up Jimmy Wang Yang, which in being so anti-stereotypical, is in some ways the most stereotypical race gimmick of all (remember Kirwin White?)

I was baffled, and somewhat put off by Benjamin’s r teasing of Tatsu’s ethnicity. It was neither clever nor funny, and while I understand that he was supposed to be the heel, I couldn’t help but think that WWE might think twice about sending a wrestler out to similarly make fun of a black wrestler by using a bunch of racial jokes. WWE has actually made great strides recently in featuring arguably the most racially diverse roster in American wrestling history, so it was disappointing to see them take this route with Tatsu’s debut.

Abraham Washington: I suppose Washington gained a reputationin FCW for having decent promo skills, but they were most certainly not on display last night. His late night talk show host gimmick has potential in theory, but it died an ugly death last night.

That whole segment with the Bella Twins was painful to watch and seemed to drag on forever. The problem with giving a wrestler a comedy monologue gimmick is that it is dependent on WWE’s writers scripting his jokes. And if we’ve learned nothing else from watching WWE over the last several years it’s that there are no worse comedy writers than WWE’s creative team.

Not surprisingly, Washington bombed miserably in front of the live crowd. However, I’m willing to give him another chance. It’s clear that he was nervous in that position, and who could blame him? If he has a reputation for being a funny guy, then I hope WWE experiments with letting him write his own stuff.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with his wrestling skills, which we are yet to see on display.

. Sheamus: The “Celtic Warrior” probably comes into WWE with more buzz than any of the other call ups. And he showed last night that it was for good reason.

The former Sheamus O’Shaunessy looked really impressive in his squash match debut last night. He has an incredibly unique look and wrestling style. With his hard-hitting European-inspired strikes, he somewhat reminded me of Nigel McGuinness. And his urinage/backbreaker finisher looked awesome.

He also looked comfortable and confident in his few seconds on the microphone before the match. So far, I’d place my money on Sheamus to be the one with the most potential of the new ECW class to break out from the pack and make a real impact.

Tyler Reks: “T-Reks” comes into WWE as the reigning FCW heavyweight champion and one half of the FCW tag team champions, with Johnny Curtis.

We didn’t get to see much of him last night in his short backstage segment with Zack Ryder (Long Island, represent). What I know is that he’s a tall, muscular bodybuilder type who does a surfer gimmick and moves around pretty well in the ring. He reminds me a bit of Chuck Palumbo, which could ultimately be his downfall.

While Reks has the kind of look that John Laurinitis might go gaga over, I’m not convinced he’s got all the tools to go very far in WWE. But, of course, it’s much too early to tell. We may get a better idea of what he’s capable on Thursday night, when he takes on Ryder on Superstars.

Incidentally, it’s very encouraging to see WWE continue to use ECW as a place to feature and develop its new, young talent. Outside of Tommy Dreamer, ECW may have nothing to do with the “Extreme Championship Wrestling” of the 1990s, but as the place to see WWE’s future stars, the brand has most certainly carved out an identity distinct from Raw and Smackdown.

The mini-tournament to determine a number one contender for Randy Orton’s title at Night of the Champions is a total farce. In case you didn’t know, WWE actually taped two weeks of Raw last night, so the NOTC main event has already been finalized. I won’t spoil anything, but really I don’t need to. The fact that it comes down to John Cena and Triple H only further solidifies how incredibly stale Raw is these days.

Skipping past NOTC, here are my predictions for the raw main events for the remainder of the PPV year:

August: John Cena vs. Randy Orton
September: John Cena vs. Triple H
October: Randy Orton vs. Triple H
November: John Orton vs. Randy H
December: Triple Orton vs. Randy Cena

And so on and so on.

You’ve got to laugh whenever WWE puts mid-carders in matches in which a pay per view world title shot is on the line. Such was the case last night, with MVP and The Miz in the tournament, and a couple weeks ago when they did the battle royal to determine the number one contender for The Bash. As of any of those guys had a chance of headlining a pay per view. If Triple H or John Cena are in the match, then the result is a foregone conclusion.

For the record, just since 2007, this is how many times we’ve seen the following combinations on pay per view:
A match involving John Cena and Triple H (The “fresh” combination of the bunch): 4 times
Royal Rumble 2008
WrestleMania 24
Backlash 2008
Night of Champions 2008

A match involving Randy Orton and John Cena: 7 times
Backlash 2007
Vengeance 2007
SummerSlam 2007
Unforgiven 2007
No Way Out 2008
WrestleMania 24
Backlash 2008

A match involving Randy Orton and Triple H: 11 times!
New Year’s Revolution 2007
No Mercy 2007 (twice)
WrestleMania 24
Backlash 2008
Judgment Day 2008
Extreme Rules 2008
Royal Rumble 2009
WrestleMania 25
Backlash 2009
The Bash 2009

This of course does not take into account the dozens and dozens of times these three have faced off in some kind of match on free television.

It was ironic that, on the same night that it became apparent that these tired combinations would be dragged on for at least one more pay per view, WWE gave the illusion of elevating wrestlers through the 15-person draft trade.

Make no mistake, some good came out of the moves – especially for Smackdown, which should benefit from the addition of the hot Hart Dynasty act and the return of Matt Hardy.

But don’t think for a second that addition of Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne to Raw is an indication that WWE has big things in store for them. On the contrary, I expect both to remain in the mid-card – perhaps the lower mid-card – for many, many years to come. Swagger has a chance to break into the main event scene, but it won’t be any sooner than 3-5 years from now, and perhaps never. This move could effectively stop the momentum they gained in ECW dead in its tracks.

Meanwhile, what young, talented up-and-comer got the biggest push of the new Raw arrivals last night? Fourteen-year WWE veteran Mark Henry. Sheesh.

I like Mark Henry well enough, and think he tries really hard, but he most certainly would not be on my shortlist of guys deserving of a main event push on WWE’s top show. Still, it was telling that the crowd popped big when he pinned Orton clean. Fans are starved for anybody new being elevated into the main event picture - even Henry.

Thank God for Friday nights.

Last Night’s Bash pay per view was just OK. There was some good and some bad, but with WWE offering some 14 pay per views a year that would cost nearly $600 to buy, this was definitely a skippable one.

Some thoughts:

. The scramble match concept may be the worst in wrestling. Yes, even worse that TNA’s King of the Mountain match. The logic behind the match is so flawed in so many different ways. For one, it does tremendous damage to the value of a championship to have it change hands so many times during a single match. You might argue, “Well, none of the title changes during the match are official," but then why bother to call each person who scores a pin “the current champion”?

My biggest problem with the match is that by design it does not reward the best competitor – but rather the one who scores the last pinfall. So a wrestler could theoretically go on a tear pinning everyone in sight dozens of times during the match, but if someone else scores a bogus just before the clock runs out, he is the champion.

I’m glad Tommy Dreamer kept the ECW title, but his win was anticlimactic, which will often be this case in this sort of match. I’ll give credit to WWE for experimenting with a new match concept, but this one clearly doesn’t work and should be left to die right alongside the Punjabi Prison and the Kennel From Hell.

. Much like last year’s feud between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels, I cannot get enough of Jericho and Rey Mysterio. WWE may not think much of this feud – positioning it so low on the card for two pay per views in the row – but it has easily been the best thing on WWE television for several months.

These two top themselves again last night with a potential match of the year candidate. What’s been great about this feud is how both men have been able to incorporate exciting, innovative and high-flying wrestling into a believable, intense feud. The two get something that is often lost among wrestling bookers, and that is that wrestlers wrestle. They’re not simply there to hurt their opponents or incapacitate them long enough to gain a pinfall. Rather, each wrestler should strive to show that he is better than his opponent at their line of work. It’s showmanship. It’s the reason you might go for a double springboard moonsault, when a single one would do.

Mysterio and Jericho have done an excellent job of marrying both the passion of a blood feud and the thrills of a cruiserweight match. Add to that the ring psychology that has made everything Jericho touches turn to gold over the last year.

Unfortunately, you get the sense that last night’s match may have been the blow off between these two. It’s too bad because, even though Jericho and Mysterio have already wrestled each other several times on pay per view, there’s still plenty more mileage to go in this feud (mask vs. hair, anyone?)

How ironic is it that on the same show where WWE’s hottest feud is, apparently, ended prematurely, another chapter is added to the most tired wrestling rivalry in modern history – with hints dropped that more is on the way?

. Thankfully, neither of WWE’s two world titles changed hands. It’s rather sad that, on a show that featured three title changes, WWE is to be commended for being relatively disciplined.

. Dolph Ziggler is showing signs that he could belong in the top mix in a few years.

. I don’t have a big problem with a Kane – Khali feud. The battle of the giants is a long-cherished tradition in wrestling. And better they stink up just one match on a card wrestling each other, than two matches wrestling other opponents.

. Neither of WWE’s women’s title may mean much these days, but I’ll give Michelle McCool credit for coming along as far as she has since debuting as just another bikini model a couple years ago. And you have to love WWE taking a dig at one of the best wrestlers in their competition by giving a girl A.J. Styles’ finisher.

. The addition of Edge and Chris Jericho into the tag team title match appeared to be a legitimate last-minute decision, perhaps spurred by the realization that Edge was sorely missed on this show. I’m all for seeing more of Edge and Jericho on all three WWE brands as the defending tag champs. But, as I mentioned before, I’m not thrilled about Jericho moving on from his feud with Mysterio so soon. And neither should Rey. More than arguably since Eddie Guerrero, Jericho got the very best out of Mysterio.

. I really liked Jeff Hardy vs. C.M. Punk, including the controversial finish. WWE is doing a terrific job developing the ambiguously heel character of Punk. He keeps taking shortcuts to win matches or, at least, save his title, but in every instance has plausible deniability for his actions. Although it should be used only sparingly, the “Dusty Finish” of having Hardy apparently win the world title was executed to perfection here, and served to really take the air out of Hardy’s fans, and create more resentment toward Punk. I’m thoroughly enjoying this storyline, which is just another reason why Smackdown is the show to watch these days.

. Whether the finish to the John Cena vs. The Miz match was a good one may depend on where they go from here. If WWE continues to bring The Miz along as main-event heel in waiting, and keep him in the upper mid card mix, then it’s fine. But if the Miz returns to being opening-match filler, we’ll remember this match as the night The Miz officially had his legs cuts out from under him. I don’t have a problem with Cena winning this match. He’s WWE’s biggest star, and should be winning most of his matches. But the short length of the match, and the decisiveness of Cena’s victory, makes me worry that WWE was never all that serious about elevating The Miz. That would be a shame.

. I’m proud to say that I barely paid attention to the night’s “main event” and really only tuned in for the finish. It wasn’t out of spite. I just truly didn’t care to see Randy Orton and Triple H wrestle the equivalent of three more matches on this show. There was no possible result that would have intrigued me – not Randy winning, not Triple-H winning, not the ring collapsing in the middle of the match (Well, OK, I might have enjoyed that.) Having been stretched out over the better part of the last two years, this rivalry is about as stale as any I can ever recall. And WWE has only shortened the shelf life of the feud by raising the stakes so much in it. This feud has featured Triple-H breaking into Orton’s house; Orton DDT’ing and sexually assaulting Triple-H’s wife, Triple H repeatedly attacking Orton and his cronies with a deadly weapon, and Orton trying to kill nearly every member of Triple H’s family. And we’re supposed to get excited by a “Three Stages of Hell” match?

Meanwhile, Chris Jericho and rey Mysterio have had a far more compelling feud fighting over a secondary championship and a mask.

I was aghast by the fact that the door was left open for, at least, another match between these two. Does WWE have any reason to think this feud is working? Ratings haven’t gone up, nor has buy rates. It just seems to be bad business to keeping dragging this out. It’s time for Triple-H and Randy Orton to both move on to new opponents.

Sure enough, at the height of the World Wrestling Federation's "Rock N' Wrestling" phenomenon, someone had the foresight to try to cash in on the tremendous popularity of Michael Jackson at the time.

Well, sort of.

Skip ahead to about the 10 minute mark on the video below to check out the one and only Michael Saxton.

This is the only video I could find of Saxton, who takes on Adrian Adonis in this Sept, 1985 squash match. The New Jersey native was just a jobber, but was regularly featured on WWF programming during this particularly hot year for the WWE, as he put over many of the company's top heels at the time.

The resemblance pretty much started and ended with his Jheri curl hairstyle, but Saxton did his best to play the part - wearing sequined jackets that looked similar to those worn by The King of the Pop at the time, and sometimes even a glittery white glove.

He'd also try to mimic Jackson's dance moves, as you'll see in this video. Suffice to say he was about as good a dancer as he was a wrestler.

Check out the opening for WWF Championship Wrestling from 1985. I vividly remember watching this show every weekend as a kid and bobbing my head to the familiar theme music.

I’ve never been much a fan of wrestling promotions wasting much time acknowledging other wrestling promotions on the air – ala WCW’s constant taunting of WWE during the late 1990s. But, after have more frustrations than usual with the TNA and ROH products – I came up with a fun idea for a WWE jobber tag team.

Introducing the team of Total Nonstop Alex and Rick of Honor.

Alex might be a in his 40’s, perhaps carry a guitar to the ring, and constantly wax nostalgic about the good old days of the Monday Night Wars – You know, when wrestling had real stars. Before each match, he could also dictate his own innovative stipulations, including something ridiculous like a reverse battle boyal or a match in which you fight over a briefcase that has a pink slip inside. He’d try to put his opponent through a table onto a bunch of thumbtacks in each and every match.

Rick would be considerably smaller, and not have a very major league look. Unlike his partner, who isn’t use to working a match that lasts longer than two minutes, Rick couldn’t comprehend being in a match that lasts any less than a half hour. He’d also constantly attempt to set up incredibly elaborate spots, only to be interrupted by a punch to the face.

Of course, I say this all in jest, especially since I’m actually a big fan of ROH. And, honestly speaking, there would be no good reason for WWE to acknowledge either of its two “competitors” on TV, especially when its audience is so much bigger than that of TNA and, especially, ROH.

But I’d still like to see it, if just for my amusement.

I watched some of last Sunday’s TNA Slammiversary pay per view, and had to laugh as I watched the King of the Mountain main event match for the TNA world title. While I know TNA has been using this gimmick match for a few years now, I must admit I’ve never paid that close attention until last Sunday night.

You almost get the sense that TNA is putting us on. A promotion that is criticized regularly for over booking can’t possibly think it’s actually a good idea to offer such a convoluted match idea – much less two in a single night.

For those of you who are less sadistic than I am and, as such, don’t follow TNA at all, here’s how the King of the Mountain works.

In its simplest sense, it is a reverse ladder match. But, in fact, there is not much simple about it.

Through a series of qualifying matches, five wrestlers are chosen to take part in the match. Once the bell rings, the only way a wrestler can win is if he becomes “elligible.” You do this by scoring a pinfall or submission against any other wrestler in the match.

However, in last Sunday’s match, Kurt Angle became elligible because he was attacked by Samoa Joe before the match ever started. As it turned out, Joe was working with Angle, so they both somehow predicted that the referees would come up with this ammendment to the rules on the fly.

Now once you pin or submit someone to become elligible, the person who you beat has to go into a small penalty cage outside of the ring for two minutes– excluding them from winning the match during that time.

You win the match by taking the TNA championship belt, climbing up a ladder, and hanging it on a hook. You know, because that’s original.

For the record, Angle went on to win last Sunday’s match, and the TNA title. The best part of the match was the fact that Angle has grown out his hair and beard, and is looking pretty bad-a**, kind of like Randy Couture.

I’d like to say that this is the most assinine idea for a concept match I’ve ever heard, but I must remind myself of TNA “Feast or Fired” match and it’s Christmas Lights Cage match.

Here's yet one other way this past Monday's Raw was completely backwards.

For two weeks now, WWE has slotted its marquee main event matches in the middle of the show, and closed the show with an anticlimactic semi-main event. Last week, Randy Orton won the WWE title in a four-way match at the top of the second hour, then C.M. Punk defended his world heavyweight title a little later. And the show closed with a battle royal to determine the number one contender. Predictably, the match was won by Triple H.

This week, Triple H and Orton had a pay per view worthy last man standing match for the WWE championship in the middle of Raw, and the show closed with a stale John Cena-Big Show match.

Isn’t the point to save your biggest segment for the end of the night?

I can’t believe how oblivious WWE writers are to the fact that fans are beyond sick of seeing Randy Orton and Triple-H in a ring together.

This Sunday will mark the eighth time that these two will have wrestled on pay per view since October of 2007. Scratch that. It will mark the eighth, ninth and tenth times.

And how does WWE lure us into paying $40 to see wrestling’s most tired pairing go at it three more times on Sunday? By giving the same match away for free six days earlier.

This goes beyond complaining. I am imploring WWE: Please don’t make me watch Randy Orton vs. Triple H anymore. It’s bordering on cruelty. Please. I’m begging you.

And that’s the scary part. I am not at all convinced that this Sunday’s “Three Stages of Hell” match will be the blow off – especially considering we still haven’t seen Orton and Triple-H in a Hell in a Cell match.

Rather than just issue an apology every time I go a few days without a post, I thought I’d drop in with this explanation of sorts behind the relative infrequency of updates here.

Believe me, I feel as bad as anyone when this blog grows “cold.” We had a hot few weeks here in the Steel Cage leading up to WrestleMania, and since then my contributions have waned considerably.

What all of you should know is that, while many people know me exslusively as Newsday’s “wrestling guy,” this is actually not what I get paid to do here. In fact, some of my bosses would likely prefer I not write for this blog at all – and certainly not during work hours.

I actually get paid to cover transportation here at Newsday – trains, buses, roads, etc. Those of you who read the paper can flip through it most days and find my byline, usually beside a photo of a Long Island Rail Road train.

Being a beat reporter here – especially on a highly competitive beat like transit – can be extremely time-consuming and exhaustive. Some of you may be used to wrestling news sites like the Torch’s and Observer’s, where the editors full-time jobs are reporting and writing about wrestling. For me, it is a labor of love. And I truly do love writing about wrestling more than anything else. But I don’t get paid for any of this, and sometimes it just doesn’t fit into the schedule.

You might think that I could dedicate more time to this once I punch out and go home, but awaiting me at home is a five-month old. So, fat chance.

I’d like to tell you I’ll post more frequently here, but my availability to do so can be pretty unpredictable.

Those of you who still stick around, I really do appreciate it, and I will try to be better.

The payoff to the whole Donald Trump-buys-Raw angle was backwards. Like many of you, I’ve heard that the angle had to be rushed because WWE was gettting in some hot water with investors who have were not familiar with terms “work” and “shoot.” And so the whole angle only served to squander what was a potentially good publicity stunt – the offering of a commercial-free Raw and a refund for fans who bought tickets to attend the show in Greenbay this past Monday.

Last year, McMahon sought to buy some good publicity for WWE through his assinine “McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania.” But the stunt only benefitted the handful of fans who won a cash prize and otehrwise alienated scores of TV viewers who were forced to sit through the God-awful give away segments.

Here, WWE actually had the opportunity to buy good will with all its fans, and lure in some new ones. Television viewers would get more bang for their buck by not having to sit through a half hour-plus of commercials. And fans who bought tickets to the show would get their money back. As a one-time publicity stunt, it was a great idea. And it seemed to pay off, as Raw drew its highest ratings in months.

But here’s where the whole thing is backwards. Whereas McMahon was anxious to have loads of praise heaped on him for his dopey sweepstakes idea last summer, he foolishly let all the accolades for the far better commercial free / live attendance refund go to a celebrity making a cameo appearance on his show. All McMahon gets credit for is for “buying” Raw back from Trump and bringing commercials back next week. That seems incredibly foolish.

Some of you might be satisfied with the age-old justification for any bad decision made in pro wrestling: “It’s fake. Get over it.” But that’s not good enough, especially considering that the last time we saw McMahon, during the whole Randy Orton-McMahons feud, he was being portrayed as a babyface. And while it’s true that most WWE fans know that it was WWE (along with the USA Network and KFC) and not Trump that was responsible for all of this past Monday’s perks, the idea of a pubclity stunt is to get people to notice who usually wouldn’t.

Rather than redirect the good will that came with last Monday’s commercial-free / free attendance Raw to a guest celebrity, McMahon should have saved it for himself – or at least a new babyface GM for Raw.

Although WWE failed in its execution of the publicity stunt, I think it was nevertheless a worthwhile effort, and a nice gesture to fans. I hope they bring back the commercial-free/free attendance next year. Hopefully next time WWE will be smart enough to take the credit.

I know I’m a few days late, but I wanted to ring in with my thoughts on last Saturday’s night’s Ring of Honor title change in Manhattan. In case you hadn’t heard, Austin Aries won a three-man elimination that included Tyler Black and former champion Jerry Lenn to capture the championship.

I usually don’t miss a New York City ROH show, but couldn’t make last Saturday’s, so I can’t really speak to the quality of the match. But, to me, the most significant news coming out of the show is that none of the news coming out of the show feels terribly significant.

It may just be me, but I feel like ROH has cooled off considerably in the last several months. Strangely, the very TV deal that ROH officials and fans alike believed would take the company to the next level seems to have only exposed a lot of the company’s shortcomings.

Rather than capture the cutting edge environment that ROH was founded on, ROH on HDNet has, on most weeks, felt antiseptic and stale. Yes, it is free of a lot of the sports entertainment silliness of WWE and TNA, and features more quality wrestling than any other show on television. But the shows are also way too old by the time they air, feature a subpar announce team, and, in general, are just not all that exciting.

But then again, the only way any of you would know this is if you actually got HDNet on your cable provider. That’s a whole other dilemma.

Part of the problem is that ROH’s roster is just not what it used to be. The only breakout star the company has created in the last year-plus has been Tyler Black. Meanwhile, ROH has recently relied on a number ex-WWE, WCW and TNA stars, like Jerry Lynn, D-Lo Brown and Ric Flair, to help sell tickets, instead of working hard to introduce and elevate younger talent. Some of the new talent that is being elevated just isn’t clicking. That’s true of Rhett Titus, Brodie Lee, and a couple others.

It hasn’t helped that ROH’s biggest attraction, Nigel McGuinness, has spent most of the last two months on the shelf. And, for all his credibility as “The Best in the World,” Bryan Danielson hasn’t been much of a factor as of late either.

Although I’m not a huge fan of his work, I think Aries is a fine pick to carry the company’s top title. But seeing as how he’s long been an established main eventer in the company - even holding the ROH title once before – I don’t think “A-Double” is the answer to making ROH feel fresh again.

It may be a bit telling that, for its next date in the Manhattan Centre, ROH will be returning to the Grand Ballroom, rather than the larger and more prestigious Hammerstein Ballroom, which it has been using for the last year.

Having the championship passed around a small group of already-established headliners, airing a frustrating TV show with mediocre announcers, relying heavily on ex-WWE and WCW stars, and saddling new talent with dopey gimmicks? Maybe ROH finally has entered pro wrestling’s major leagues.

. The concept of a commercial-free Raw is intriguing. I'm sure WWE's production crew won't miss a beat in handling this new challenge. Of course, the problem with WWE pulling stunts like these as part of the Trump storyline is that it inherently makes the usual fare we get on Raw look inferior to Trump's fan-friendly vision of the show. And of course, we will be returning to the standard "McMahon-owned" Raw before long. WWE is essentially training fans to be further dissatisfied with Raw as they know it. Smart.

. I dug the Punk-Edge-Hardy match, especially the innovative finish with Punk capitalizing on Hardy's swantan bomb to score the pin while nursing a bum leg. WIth Teddy Long announcing Punk vs. Hardy as the Smackdown main event of the Bash, that puts Edge out of the main event picture. That's an unfortunate side effect of WWE's reliance over the last several years on the same handful of wrestlers to carry its main events. What do you do with Edge now? I imagine he could still have some role in this match, perhaps as a special ref, but eventually, one of these guys will have to step down from the main event scene. I fear it will be Punk.

. Just as a sidenote, the swanton bomb is one of the worst wrestling finishers ever. It doesn't look like it hurts at all - except maybe for Hardy, who takes the brunt of the impact on his butt and legs while barely grazing his opponents. I know fans have been trained to pop for it, but it really looks like crap.

. Why do the Colon Brothers continue to wear to sets of championship belts? If they were, indeed, unified, why not just have one set of straps? I vote for WWE to bring back the old "WWF" tag team title belts worn by the likes of the Hart Foundation, The British Bulldogs, and, yes, the Godwynns. They look something like the Smackdown-version belts, but much classier.

. Not surprisingly, Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio had another barn burner in their opening match on tonight's special three-hour Raw. I can't get enough of these two guys. Leave it to Chris Jericho to establish the significance of Mysterio's mask better in two months than WWE has in seven years. Since turning heel last year, Jericho has been nothing short of inspired. He is fully invested in everything he does, whether it was his instant-classic feud with Shawn Michaels, his legends storyline going into WrestleMania, and now this storyline with Mysterio. Jericho remains the very best thing in wrestling today.

. As a reader posted in a comment to my last post, why take the world title off of Randy Orton only to put it back on him a week later? WWE knew of Batista's injury before his cage match with Orton last week at Extreme Rules. So it just seems absurd to put the world title on him. WWE may have been thinking back then of the drawing power of having a match to fill a vacant world title on the three hour Raw. But as I wrote earlier, every time WWE casually books another world title change, it only serves to diminish the value of the titles.

. This is the kind of thing that gets me accused of being "overly negative" by WWE loyalists, but the whole deal with Donald Trump buying Raw is just plain stupid. What's more - just like last year's "Million Dollar Mania" debacle, it wasn't even well done. If WWE learned anything from Trump's involvement in WrestleMania 23, it's that he can't cut a promo if his life depended on it. That was no different here, and making matters worse was the poor timing in the back and forth between Vince live in the ring and Trump clearly on Memorex. I imagine this is NBC Universal's latest attempt at cross-network "synergy." But the hokey videotaped antics of Trump will do nothing to lure new fans to Raw, and will turn off existing viewers - myself included. I really wish Vince McMahon would stop getting starstruck by every two-bit celebrity who is willing to endorse his product. Thankfully, this should all be over in a couple weeks.

. I really like what WWE has been doing so far with the Miz, and his segment tonight may have been the best to date. Firing a T-shirt gun point blank into the tiny little belly of Hornswoggle? Now that's a heel. The Miz is really getting over as a top baddie on Raw. I hope WWE continues to protect him, gives him some big wins on pay per view, and keeps him far, far away from Triple H.

. After his lackluster run as a world champ last year, C.M. Punk is finally carrying himself like a real star. His promos are compelling, believable and, best of all, unique. There's no yelling at the top of his lungs. No trying to be too cute or funny. It's just Punk being Punk. His rationalizing of cashing in his guaranteed title shot against a vulnerable Jeff Hardy has been spot-on, and actually made a lot of sense. Regardless of how long he keeps the belt, I hope Punk stays in the main event scene for years to come.

Tonight’s three-hour Raw “3-For-All” is likely to deliver more of what we’ve seen far too much of in recent weeks – title changes.
WWE featured no less than six title changes in the course of six days – including five on a single night – last week. Just half way into the year, at four times, the WWE championship has already changed hands more times than in did in all of 2008. The World Heavyweight Championship has been even more of a hot potato, changing hands six times this year.
WWE still has a long way to go before it reaches WCW’s disgraceful benchmark of 22 world title changes in 2000, but at this pace, who knows?
Of course, booking 101 dictates that, the more a title changes hands, the less each title change means. I wouldn’t suggest a return to the days of six-year title reigns, like that enjoyed by Bob Backlund. But I’d like to see an unofficial cap of around three world title changes a year in each brand – with the occasional year-plus reign, as WWE rightfully did with John Cena in 2006-2007.
Even more frustrating is the fact, for all the rapid fire world title changes, WWE has not crowned a first-time world champion all year (No, the ECW title is not a world championship.)
And so what we’ve gotten for the most part is the usual world champ’s club of Triple-H, Edge, Cena, Orton & Batista all trading the title back and forth for the thousandth time.
Things are considerably more exciting on the Smackdown brand, where C.M. Punk may technically be a two-time world champion, but only now seems to be getting the kind of push that comes with the big belt. With Hardy and Rey Mysterio both waiting in the wings for title shots, things feel considerably more fresh on the blue brand than on the red.

I was surprised to hear the news of Umaga’s firing last week – shortly after competing at Extreme Rules against C.M. Punk.

Right out of the gate after debuting on raw the night after WrestleMania 22, Umaga rose to become one of WWE’s top heels. He had a unique look and wrestling style that was actually something of a breath of fresh in a company that was almost exclusively pushing bodybuilders and underwear models.

After a strong first year that included a lengthy unbeaten streak, and having a central role in the much-hyped “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23, “The Samoan Bulldozer” cooled off considerably even before he took an extended injury hiatus.

But almost as soon as he attacked C.M. Punk at the Madison Square Garden Smackdown several weeks ago, it appeared that Umaga was re-energized and motivated to become once again becoming a WWE player. His work with C.M. Punk over the last couple of weeks was very impressive, and even after his loss in the strap match, I thought Umaga was in a good position to remain one of the Smackdown roster’s top heels – maybe even getting a run with the Undertaker in the near future.

WWE reported days after Umaga’s firing that he was let go after refusing to receive treatment following his second wellness policy violation. I’m still not sold on the legitimacy of the wellness policy – especially when it comes to controlling steroid use in WWE – but kudos to WWE for sticking to its guns. I’m puzzled as to why Umaga would balk at an opportunity to save his job and, perhaps, his career.

I’m not sure where Umaga goes from here. I’m not convinced he’d be a great fit in TNA, and Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett would be well advised not to rush to hire a guy who was just fired from WWE for using drugs. I could see Umaga returning to the WWE fold after a bit of a cooling off period – ala Jeff Hardy or, a more recent example, Chris Masters.

But make no mistake, Umaga’s loss is a significant one.

Hi everybody. I just got finished with a pretty major project that was all consuming for the last couple weeks, so I hope to get back to a semi-regular schedule updating this blog with news, thoughts and interviews.

First off, I was shocked to hear the news over the weekend of the passing of Japanese pro wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa, who died on Friday night after taking a basic suplex in the tag team main event of a Pro Wrestling Noah card.

The Wrestling Observer reported earlier today that the cause of Misawa’s death was a spinal cord injury from the move – and not an underlying heart condition, as some suspected.

With that bit of news, Misawa’s death becomes the most significant in-ring wrestling related death in history. I don’t count Owen Hart’s death, because it really wasn’t caused by any wrestling related injury, but rather a freak accident during his ring entrance.

Although many American wrestling fans may never have heard of Misawa – or maybe only come upon the name in the occasional Pro Wrestling Illustrated story – there’s no disputing that Misawa was one of the – if not thee – biggest name to come out of Japan in the last 20 years. He was also one of the very best workers, in Japan or anywhere.

Over the years, I’ve sought out some of his matches on DVD and on Youtube, just so I could see for myself what all the hype was about. The passion, intensity and excitement that I witnessed in his matches – especially his classic series against Kenta Kobashi – was almost unparalleled. I was struck by how much the fans absolutely revered Misawa, despite not having anything close to a flashy look. He wore pretty bland green and white trunks and had an unremarkable physique. But, trust me, there was nothing lacking in the excitement department. American promoters could learn something from that.

I’ve never claimed to be a “puroresu” aficionado, but Misawa’s death immediately resonated with me as soon as I read the news, as it should with any fan of pro wrestling. This is a tragedy that transcends cultural boundaries, as it highlights the very real dangers of our so-called “fake” sport. This wasn’t a “high-risk” move, steel chair shot, or crazy stunt bump. It was a basic back suplex. And when you think about it, it’s pretty amazing this sort of thing doesn’t happen a lot more often.

I won’t embed here of link to the graphic video of the chaotic moments in the ring following Misawa’s accident – as the locker room emptied in to the ring, and EMT’s frantically tried to resuscitate him – but it’s easy enough to find if you’re looking for it. It’s a truly horrifying scene, and I really feel for all the fans in attendance, and wrestlers in the ring, who had to witness it.

In case you missed it, in the main event of tonight's Extreme Rules pay per view, Jeff Hardy defeated Edge in a ladder match to capture the World Heavyweight Championship. But Hardy's reign would be short lived, as just after Hardy competed in the exhausting match, C.M. Punk came to the ring to cash in his Money In The Bank guaranteed title shot.

Two Go To Sleeps later, and Punk became a two-time World Heavyweight Champion.

Punk's win was actually the third world title change of the night. Earlier on the show, Batista beat Randy Orton in a cage match to win the WWE Championship.

It all made for an eventful pay per view for sure. I don't think any WWE pay per view has ever featured three world title changes. But it also continues the unfortunate trend of hot-potato title changes on WWE pay per views. Rather that feeling like momentous happenings, world title changes have come to be the norm on pay per views - so much so that the real news is when a world title doesn't change.

Even less significant, all of the winners of tonight's world title matches are past world champions.

It's not to say that the show wasn't enjoyable, or that the title changes weren't good calls, but it's all just a bit much. I could certainly have done without the Batista title win. Batista as world champ is as stale as it gets, and it took something away from the Hardy and Punk wins later in the night.

Punk has done tremendous work on Smackdown as of late, and I'm really interested in seeing what he'll do as world champion. His first title reign was marred by the fact that Punk was on a brand loaded with top stars where it was inevitable that he would have be overshadowed. What's more, it was true that he was pushed too fast at that point, and was at least a year away from having earned a world title at the time.

But now on Smackdown, Punk is a good fit as the top dog, and I trust that the show's writers will get behind him as a real champion. I hope they leave the title on him for a while. Title defenses against Hardy, Edge, Mysterio, Jericho and even the Undertaker are all compelling match ups.

A few Friday afternoon thoughts on our favorite sorta-sport.

. I’m looking forward to Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay per view. For the most part, WWE is pretty good smart about its use of match stipulations, which makes a 3-hour pay per view featuring exclusively “extreme rules” matches a legitimate novelty and – hopefully – a drawing card. It’s been ten years since we first saw Edge and Jeff steal WWE shows with their innovative uses of ladders in the Edge & Christian – Hardy Boyz feud. If I todl you then that the same two men would be headlining a WWE pay per view with a world title on the line, you may have thought I was nuts. This is a solid main event for the show – and I hope it goes on last.

. I’m not as intrigued by the Randy Orton – Batista feud, in large part because Batista does nothing for me these days. I’m also not at all a fan of Ric Flair’s involvement in the feud – or much of anything he’s been doing on WWE TV lately. As most fans suggested, Flair would have been smart to leave the sport on top with his amazing send off last year. Instead, he’s become an embarassing parody of himself on WWE lately. And if what we saw from his “street fight” with Orton last week is any indication of what he’d do in an actual wrestling match, I most certainly would prefer that he stay retired. That’s especially the case if the plan is for Flair to return for a feud with Batista, who struggles to have good matches against young, healthy, athletic opponents – let alone a 60-year –old Flair who has been out of the ring for more than a year.

. Is anyone out there watching WWE Superstars? I’m not.

. My favorite thing in WWE these days may be the Hart Dynasty in ECW. Some people might consider it stale and unoriginal to simply reform the Hart Foundation. But I really enjoy watching a new, young and talented generation of Harts pay homage to their wrestling roots, while still portraying original characters and forwarding their unique wrestling styles. For the first time since he arrived in WWE in 2007, David Hart Smith is starting to look like the star said he would become when he first started wrestling nearly a decade ago. The so-called“last graduate of the Hart Dungeon,” Tyson Kidd, has been a blast to watch, and most certainly has a bright future ahead of him. And Natalya fits right into the group as the scrappy, yet attractive, mouthpiece. It’s a hot act, and reason enough to watch ECW on Tuesday nights.

. You run a promotion that gets criticized for relying too heavily on over-the-hill names from tha past, including your world champion, Mick Foley, Sting, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett and others. So what do you do? Bring in Shane Douglas & Raven, of course. TNA is just gets more and more frustrating to watch each week. I long ago gave up believing any argument that the veterans are there to help get over the young talent. We’ve been hearing that for years, and have yet to see any evidence of it. AJ Styles & Samoa Joe are in about the same spot they’ve been for the last several years, if not lower. Talented guys underneath, like Jay Lethal or Alex Shelly, don’t have a prayer of getting out of the lower mid card. The problems that plague TNA have been doing so for years, and there’s no hope of anything changing.

I’ve got mixed feelings about WWE’s firing of Mr. Kennedy late last week. While it’s true that just in my last post I wrote that I wasn’t sure there was “any saving” of Kennedy’s character after a very rough two years for him, it still seems like a somewhat rash to release a relatively young and fresh performer who at one time was being groomed for a world title push.

On the plus side, Kennedy had certainly shown glimpses of greatness over the last couple of years. While many wrestlers could be trained to wrestle in the ring, or deliver a scripted promo, almost as soon as Kennedy arrived in WWE he displayed one attribute that some seasoned wrestlers never have – confidence. For better or for worse, Kennedy thought he was a star, and so he carried himself like one. That helped make up for the fact that, in the ring, Kennedy wasn’t anything terribly special. He was an above average worker, but not at the level that you would expect for someone pushed so hard, so fast.

But if I was to tally all of Kennedy’s pros and cons, it’s a good bet that the con side of the page would have be a bit more full. While it’s true that Kennedy at one point seemed primed for a main event run, the reality is that WWE was not exactly overflowing with breakout stars in the mid card at the time. WWE was willing to gamble on Kennedy only when very few other options were obvious.

But, before long, Kennedy’s numerous shortcomings became apparent. Weeks before it appeared Kennedy would cash in his Money In The Bank title shot in 2007, he got injured – and was forced to drop the MITB briefcase to Edge. He returned months later and was reportedly handpicked to be the centerpiece of one of WWE’s biggest angles in recent history – The mystery of Mr. McMahon’s illegitimate son. But Kennedy squandered that when his name came up on a list of WWE wrestler illegally buying steroids from an online pharmacy under investigation. He was suspended just days before the payoff of an angle that should have made his career.

Making matters worse was the fact that Kennedy’s suspension around the same time an interview was published in which Kennedy made several less-than-honest comments about WWE’s wellness policy and his own steroid use.

The downhill slide continued. His first match back from his suspension was against WWE’s top star John Cena. And as luck would have it, Cena suffered a serious injury in that match that forced him to vacate the WWE title and go on the shelf for several months.

He was drafted to Smackdown last June, but was soon injured. He barely even appeared on television for much of the next year, but for some embarrassingly bad promos to hype his straight-to DVD movie “Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia.”

Although Kennedy claimed in interviews that he would be ready to return to the ring in time for WrestleMania 25, he in fact did not return until last Monday on Raw, where he gave another cringe-inducing promo before taking part in the night’s ten-man tag team main event.

According to some live reports, Kennedy appeared to have injured his wrist in that match. Four days later, he was wished will on his future endeavors.

Soon after his firing, Kennedy’s web site released a statement that he was his health was “100 percent.” He also posted this video on his blog after his firing, suggesting his wrist is just fine.

While it may seem extreme to fire Kennedy, I could certainly understand the rational behind the move. This wasn’t a young, lower mid-carder, like say John Morrison or the Miz, who was worth a few extra strikes because of his upside. Conversely, this wasn’t a big name headliner like Jeff Hardy or Randy Orton who get chance after chance because they are legitimate draws.

Kennedy was an above average talent who was given chance after chance after chance to make in WWE, but for many reasons – some his fault, some not – squandered all of them. Should WWE have blindly kept on rolling the dice on pushing Kennedy as a top tier act – even as his gimmick and charisma had long past their expiration date? On the other hand, should WWE just put Kennedy back in the doghouse, and continued to pay him what I imagine was a fairly big salary to do jobs in opening matches?

Of course, there’s probably a whole lot more to the story that we may never know. In the end, I’d agree with what Jim Ross wrote in his blog – that Kennedy would benefit from “a change of scenery.” “Ken Anderson” would seem like a perfect fit in TNA. Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter are probably drooling at the prospect of signing a recognizable WWE star who is still in his early 30s and could actually wrestle. Although TNA would probably like nothing more that for him to rehash his “Misteeeerrrr….” Schtick, Kennedy would be smart to repackage himself and work hard in creating a new identity for himself in TNA.

Kennedy would be smart to look at Christian as an example. Christian came left WWE as a mid-carder, and came back as a seasoned main eventer and multiple-time world champion. Granted, WWE may be punishing Christian a bit for going to TNA, but they nevertheless gave him his job back – likely at a considerably better salary than he was earning in TNA.

Kennedy might even be better off than Christian in that he did not walk out on WWE. Vince McMahon can’t resent Kennedy for earning a living by taking a job in TNA. And if he does well for himself there, Kennedy’s stock could be a lot higher in a couple years when WWE is going through another dry spell and is looking for an injection of fresh talent. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Before I sign off, I’d like to tell my one Mr. Kennedy story, which is actually one of the cooler experiences I’ve had as a wrestling fan. I was in Chicago in 2006 for WrestleMania 22, and went out the night before the big show with my wife, brother and sister in law to a local bar. There were a bunch of wrestlers there, including Kennedy, who was still a relatively new face in WWE – and whose dropping microphone bit was still novel at the time.

I had a few in me and was in a silly mood. As we packed into the car to leave, I spotted Kennedy in the parking lot and shouted out, “Misteeeerrrr!….”

Without skipping a beat, Kennedy walked over, stuck his head into the car and added, “Kennedy!… Kennedy!.”

We all got a big kick out of that. And for that alone, I mean it when I say I wish Kennedy the best, wherever his career takes him.

With all apologies to those of you for whom WWE can do no wrong, but last night’s Raw was quite the clunker – weighed down considerably by that God awful opening segment. Here’s a general rule of thumb: whenever WWE features a match involving a celebrity impersonator, you are in for some brutally bad television.

The Vince McMahon vs. “E. Stan Croenke” segment was neither funny, nor entertaining, nor productive in any way. First of all, while McMahon might be tickled pink to have his name mentioned on Sports Center alongside that of a “legitimate” sports figure like Croenke, I’d venture to guess that the vast majority of WWE fans have never heard of the guy, which made this segment all the more unnecessary.

It’s a shame that, despite the gigantic ratings WWE continues to do on TV, McMahon still finds it necessary to look for mainstream “rub,” whenever necessary. Rather than looking to piggyback on celebrities, he should realize that WWE superstars are the celebrities. By going as far as to bring in someone to impersonate Croenke, McMahon effectively acknowledged that Croenke was a bigger name than he was.

I’m all too happy to embrace my immaturity, but that “What rhymes with ‘Enis’?” stuff was about as lame as it gets. I’ve commended WWE for toning down the suggestive content and for trying to make the product more family friendly. But you don’t get a pass for telling a racy joke just because you tip-toe around the punchline.

I appreciate that WWE writers tried to make the most of the added viewers that might have tuned in because of all the press the story got by prominently featuring The Miz in the segment. But the damage had already been done by that point.

That said, I actually didn’t mind the basketball-themed main event, and actually got a kick out of watching many of WWE’s super-serious wrestlers let their hair down and have some fun with the NBA gimmick. That match was all that was needed to address the “Denver Debacle,” but that dead horse had long been beaten by the time this match came into the ring.

Here’s another criticism that might sound a bit nit-picky, but really speaks to ineffective booking. The last we’ve seen any members of the McMahon family on TV has been as part of the deadly-serious Randy Orton feud, which included Stephanie McMahon being DDT’ed and sexually violated in the ring and Triple H breaking into Orton’s home and accosting his wife. It culminated with Triple H suffering the ultimate humiliation – dropping his world title and getting punt kicked in the head a month ago. He hasn’t been seen since.

The only other McMahon that has been much visible, Shane, was taken out on a stretcher several weeks back after Orton & Legacy destroyed him.

Surely, when the patriarch of the McMahon family finally made his return to TV, he would be absolutely seething. Or maybe he would be completely, emotionally crushed. Whatever the case, it would be serious business.

And yet, there was McMahon last night, all smiles and making wee-wee jokes. Way to sell your top storyline.

One last note – I can think of few greater falls from grace than that of Mr. Kennedy, who was reportedly on pace to winning a world title a couple years ago, and has instead evolved to a forgotten, injury prone, embarassing parody of himself. It’s literally uncomfortable watching Kennedy do his mic work.

His babyface promos are cringe inducingly bad. I’m not sure there’s any saving him at this point, but his only hope is a complete overhaul of his character – and dumping the one-dimensional “Misteeerrr!…” once and for all.

As you can probably tell from my lack of posts recently, it's been a busy time here at the Newsday -- those of you in our readership have lots of fun surprises to look forward to in the near future. Throw in some recent travel and my usual malaise with the WWE product, and poor Alfonso has been single-handedly keeping the blog afloat recently.

But today seemed like a good day to get back in the swing of things, as today is 10 years since one of the hardest moments we've all had to experience as wrestling fans -- the death of Owen Hart.

I started at WWE as an intern on May 10, 1999. The product was a hot as it had ever been, and as a lifelong fan and a full-time drinker of Vince's Kool-Aid, this was the very definition of a dream come true.

Thirteen days later, I went to my friend Paul's house to watch the "Over the Edge" Pay-Per-View. Paul wasn't a wrestling fan; we were just going to hang out, and he was interested in this weird world I had just entered.

The show started like any other, and I -- being the uber-dork I am -- was taking notes on a big yellow pad, hoping to get an idea or two that they might let me write about for the site. As the Hardcore Title match between Al Snow and Hardcore Holly ended, something felt weird. The tone in the announcer's voice struck me. After a video package, the wide shots of the crowd gave me pause.

Paul was laughing at me; like many, he was of the viewpoint that it was all fake and any level of actual concern was ridiculous. He wasn't being mean, just playing off everything he'd ever heard. But I could tell this was different. I think most of us could. Even in this era of "Crash TV," there were some places you just didn't go.

The show went on for a bit, and my curiousity ate away at me. Finally, after an eight-man tag match, J.R. made the announcement that Owen Hart had died, and I was absolutely in shock.

Even once that happened, it took me a few minutes to convey the reality of the news to Paul. He still thought it was a storyline -- but after I explained to him the nuances of this happening, he was as in shock as I was.

At the time, I remember thinking continuing on with the show was a totally natural thing; I didn't even second-guess it. Paul might have, I don't remember. But I was drinking the Vince Kool-Aid -- on with the show, Owen would have wanted it that way, etc. Do I have issues with the decision now? Of course I do. But at the time, I supported it 100%, and hindsight is always 20/20.

Work the next day was miserable. The hallways were incredibly quiet. A mid-morning conference call laid the groundwork for a memorial site we'd put together (which wound up featuring one of the earliest pieces I ever wrote for WWF.com).

It was hard.

Two and a half years later, we lost Paul on 9/11. So thinking back to Over the Edge became even harder -- Paul and Owen were both the types who loved to laugh, loved to play jokes and make others happy. Both were taken from us way too soon.

In 2002, I traveled to Kemper Arena in Kansas City with my WWF.comrade Phil Speer to cover the Backlash PPV -- the first WWE PPV from Kemper Arena since Owen's death. We came up with an idea to interview the superstars about their favorite Owen memories -- and the response was overwhelming. As I did last year, I'd like to post the link to that story for ya:

Click here to read it

Owen is one of the few people in the wrestling business who seems to have been universally loved. He also seemed to be one of the few people who maintained a reality as it related to his family life and his life outside the business. It's too bad he was taken from us so soon; who knows what the business might be like today if more superstars had had Owen to learn from.

Ten years is a long time. Goodbye, Owen. We'll never forget you.

Laymen, philosophers and scientists alike have long struggled over the concept of “infinity.” What exactly does “forever” mean?

Well, none other than Ric Flair has cracked this universal mystery. According to the “Nature Boy,” forever works out to just about 14 months – give or take a few weeks.

You see, Flair was unequivocal last year when he proclaimed that – unlike the multitude of wrestlers who have claimed to retire only to return to the ring a short time later – he was serious. Flair vowed that, once he hung up his boots, he would never, ever wrestle ever again. He repeated that mantra right through his storyline feud with Chris Jericho heading into this year’s WrestleMania.

As you may have noticed, all indications are that Flair will officially come out of retirement in the coming weeks. It seems likely that he will end up in some kind of match with Randy Orton and Legacy in the coming weeks. As well, Flair is reportedly in talks with some international promoters to wrestle overseas, including in Europe.

Last week on Raw, Flair seemed to address his sudden about face, telling Batista that he never wanted to retire – that he was forced to do so.

From a storyline standpoint, that’s reasonable enough. But, of course, Flair’s retirement last year transcended storylines. After a great career – perhaps the greatest ever – Flair was calling it quits. In numerous “shoot” interviews, Flair made it clear that this was the real thing, and that he was at peace with his decision. He said as much to me when I interviewed him last month.

And so I have a lot of mixed feelings about Flair stepping back into the ring. Having been in attendance for his Hall of Fame induction, his epic final match against Shawn Michaels, and his farewell tribute on Raw the following night, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit robbed about the fact that I will not be able to boast having witnessed the end of Flair’s legendary career.

I’m also very much bothered by Flair continuing to unfairly put pressure on Shawn Michaels by saying that he would only come out of retirement if Michaels was OK with it. What’s Michaels supposed to say now? “No, I won’t allow you to wrestle anymore.”

Obviously, Flair is a grown man, and make the decision for himself whether he wants to return to the ring or not. While I think Flair is exaggerating more than a little bit when he says he can still outperform “90 percent” on the locker room, I don’t doubt that a motivated and in-shape Ric Flair (and judging from his biceps, he looks to be in great condition) can contribute to the WWE product.

But, there are no two ways about it – Flair’s decision to come out of retirement will absolutely cheapen one of the most touching and “real” moments in wrestling history. And it will make it that much tougher for WWE to sell its next “retirement” stipulation – as if anybody still believed them anyway.

My other big problem is how Flair will come out of retirement. It might have been easier to swallow Flair going back on his word if it was for a truly epic match – say a feature match at WrestleMania against a major name, with some big stakes. I’d certainly be interested in seeing Flair work with Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness or other young technicians in ROH, or even have one more go at it with Rick Steamboat. But to come out of retirement for a rehashed feud with Randy Orton during WWE’s off-peak season? It just seems like a waste of one of the biggest hands WWE has in its deck to play.

Ultimately, there is one lesson to be learned by this whole thing, and I’ve said it before: Wrestlers should never claim to be permanently retired. If a wrestler wants to step away from the ring – even if there’s a good chance it may be forever – he should always leave the window open just a tiny crack. Steve Austin did that. The Rock did it too.

I’d guess the next major names in the business likely to leave the ring would be Shawn Michaels, Sting and the Undertaker. The day they do make that decision, they all deserve a send off fitting of their legendary careers. But I hope, nowhere in their farewell speeches, do they utter the word “never.”

It’s funny what WWE considers a big news story.I have received no fewer than four press releases over the last 24 from the company regarding the “Denver Debacle.”

In case you’ve missed the news – and if you did, I’d love to know how – the owners of the Denver Nuggets double-booked the Pepsi Center in the city for next Monday, when both Raw was scheduled to be hosted there and the Nuggets are set to have a play off game.

Amazingly, this story has gotten more press than most anything coming out of WWE over the last year, including several far more newsworthy stories that are a lot less flattering for the WWE.

I’ll give Vince McMahon this much – He knows how to spin the mainstream media as well as anybody. When a wrestler dies young, a doctor gets locked up for steroid distribution, or WWE runs a horribly offensive angle on TV, the chairman is nowhere to be found. But when WWE is in the rare position to come off as the sympathetic victim, it’s a full court press.

Remember the CNN “Death Grip” special that included some of the most thorough mainstream reporting to date on the problems of drugs in wrestling? In the end, all that most fans remember about the program was that it irresponsibly took a John Cena quote out of context. It was a brilliant bit of razzle-dazzling by McMahon.

Here again McMahon is in the unique position of coming off as the wronged party. Those heartless Nuggets owners are leaving all those poor Denver WWE fans out in the cold for some silly basketball game. Boo-hoo.

McMahon went as far as to say that Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke “should be arrested.”

Yikes. If I was McMahon, I’d be real careful about talking about billionaire entertainment entrepeneurs deserving to be arrested for irresponsible booking.

I, for one, can’t wait for this stupid story to go away. But I’m sure we will be reminded of this whole mess ad nauseum this coming Monday night.

A “debacle” indeed.

Last night's Judgment Day made history in a very peculiar way. The last time a WWE pay per view did not feature any title change was Judgment Day 2008 - a full year ago.

And while I commend WWE for pulling back a bit from his hotshot booking, ultimately last night's show did suffer from feeling a bit inconsequential. There wasn't much newsworthy coming out of the event, but for the return of Ric Flair.

And while many of the night's matches were pretty good, nothing was strong enough to make the show worth $40. It was completely skippable, and further proof that WWE is in something of an "off-season" right now.

While my predictions on the night's match results may have been less than stellar, ultimately this show unfolded much as I thought it would. What I expected to be good was. What I expected to fall short did.

A few thoughts:

. As I expected, the opener between C.M. Punk and Umaga was very stiff and physical - a style both men enjoying employing. Also as I expected, C.M. Punk did the job in his hometown. That's OK, as I don't mind seeing more from these two - especially with next month's Extreme Rules no-DQ show.

. Christian vs. Jack Swagger was also pretty good, but after having seen these two wrestle several time already, this one didn't feel all that special. With the ECW roster being pretty thin on legitimate title contenders, I could see this rivalry being stretched over one more pay per view, but the writers will have to come up with something to get some interest back in this feud. Ultimately, I think it makes more sense for Swagger to hold the belt, and have Evan Bourne chase it. Christian will eventually end up on Smackdown, where he'll no doubt mix it up with Edge.

. John Morrison and Shelton Benjamin had the athletic showcase I expected out of the two men, but also as I expected, it didn't feel like it meant all that much. At this point, Morrison certainly has more of an upside than Benjamin - arguably WWE's biggest underachiever - but I'm not sure I like him in the babyface role. He's doing the same smug jerk routine as a heel, but now he's playing for the fans' cheers. An odd fit.

. Also as expected, Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio had the match of the night. I'm glad they kept the IC belt on Rey, who hasn't had a chance to defend it in many high profile matches since WrestleMania. I don't mind having this feud last several more months, especially if Jericho is creatively inspired to do something really special with it, as he did with Shawn Michaels last year and even in his "legends" feud.

. Randy Orton vs. Batista looked a lot like I thought it would, which wasn't a good thing. Batista has just very much lost the "it" factor. People can attribute it to his nagging injuries, sub-bar mic skills or anything else, but I have my own theory. After seeing what smaller, sleeker and more athletic wrestlers like Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy and some others can bring to the table, I think Batista's modern-day Ultimate Warrior shtick's time has passed. Modern fans - perhaps children in particular - just don't care that much about a guy with gigantic muscles who can't move around. They want to see guys who are youthful, colorful and exciting, like Rey and Jeff. I think Triple H's acted has also suffered from this trend. I'm not sure much of anything can salvage Batista right now, although I imagine he might feel a bit more fresh as a heel.

. John Cena vs. The Big Show was clunky for the first several minutes, and then climaxed with some impressive power spots. That's about what I expected. I wonder how much longer WWE will run with Big Show in a such a prominent position on the cards. He still has value as larger than life attraction, but his size, questionable conditioning and unorthodox charisma limits his potential as a money drawing heel.

. From a quality standpoint, Jeff Hardy and Edge was just fine. But, like everything else on this card, it suffered from just not feeling very important.

It's long past time WWE roll the dice on headlining a show with someone other than the seven or eight usual suspects. I always think back to that 1997 In Your House pay per view where Bret Hart defended the world title against "The Patriot" Del Wylkes, who had debuted in the WWF just a couple of months earlier. Granted, the match wasn't put on last - nor should it have - but it was incredibly refreshing to see a new face in the main event mix, even if everybody knew it was just temporary.

I really do wish WWE would rotate some new blood into its main events, especially during these post-WrestleMania down months. They just might create some new stars along the way.

Judgment Day is traditionally one of the least anticipated pay per views of the year. The post-WrestleMania buzz is mostly gone. It's still several months from SummerSlam. And unlike No Way Out, which features the Elimination Chamber, Extreme Rules, or Unforgiven, which last year introduced the Scramble concept, there is no gimmick to set this show apart from all the other pay per views of the year.

That is not to say tonight's show won't be any good. On the contrary, the line up looks very strong, with several matches likely to be in the three-star and up range. Interestingly enough, it is the Smackdown brand that is largely carrying this show. In fact, Raw's two main matches have the potential to be the worst of the night.

Also hurting this pay per view is the damage WWE has done to its world championships through its rapid fire title changes over the last several months. The last seven WWE pay per views featured at least one of WWE's two world titles changing hands.

And so when Judgment Day is sold on the question, "Will Jeff Hardy or Batista win the world title?" the answer from many fans is, "Who cares?" Even if they did, odds are at least one of them would lose it next month anyway.

Here's the card:

Edge vs. Jeff Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship
These two have had a number of very good matches together, including at house shows. The nonsense quotient has been kept to a minimum in this feud, so I'm looking forward to it quite a bit. I'd say it's too early for Jeff to win the title again - especially if he has re-signed his contract - but, again, with WWE booking the way it has been, there's a very real possibility Jeff will win the belt tonight. I'm going to predict some kind of screwy DQ ending that will build interest for a gimmick rematch at Extreme Rules.

Batista vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship:
Batista has been very flat as Raw's top babyface in Triple H's absence, and so this match doesn't have nearly the intrigue that it should. I still think WWE is moving toward a heel turn for Batista, although I don't think it will involve him joining Legacy. I'll guess that Triple H comes out to get his hands on Orton, somehow costing Batista the match, and stoking the flames for a feud between those two. I don't expect this to be much good, as Batista has become extremely limited in what he can do in the ring.

Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio
This certainly has the potential to do some show-stealing. Jericho is still my favorite act in WWE, and Mysterio has the ability to bring the very best out of him. I expect that the style of these two athletes will mesh together well, and, given enough time, that this will tear down the house. I'll predict Jericho wins the IC belt for 86th time.

John Cena vs. The Big Show
I'm a big advocate for WWE treating Cena like its modern day Hulk Hogan, and that includes putting the world title on him and leaving it there for a long time. That was WWE's formula between 2006 and 2007 and it led to Cena become the megastar he is now. Without a world title for much of 2008, Cena was forced into mid card feuds, like this one, in which he was vulnerable to doing jobs, and hurting his cache. I expect this will be much the same. Big Show will beat Cena in a snoozer with some big stunt spots. Cena will even things up in a wild gimmick blow off match at next month's PPV.

Umaga vs. C.M. Punk
I very much like what WWE's been doing with Punk on Smackdown, and think he's on course to earning the world title push that was prematurely thrust upon him last summer. Umaga is a fresh heel opponent for him, and I like the physicality I've seen between these two over the last several weeks. I expect this to be the sleeper surprise of the evening and, as is always the case when a wrestler is in his hometown, that Punk will lose.

ECW Championship: Jack Swagger vs. Christian
As I mentioned in a post last week, there's an argument to be made that ECW is ahead of Raw as the second most exciting WWE brand these days, and that's in large part due to the work of these two men. Christian came back from TNA a better wrestler and with main event experience, and it shows in his ECW work. Meanwhile, Swagger is one of WWE's best bets for a breakout, main event star over the next five years. I've liked what I've seen from these two in their matches until now. I expect the same here. I'll pick Swagger to win the belt back - perhaps leading to Christian moving to one of the major brands sometime this summer.

John Morrison vs. Shelton Benjamin
Athletically, there may be no two better wrestlers on this show. But neither man has made the necessary connection with the audience for this to feel consequential. And so, while I expect this match to be good, I don't expect it to mean all that match. WWE would be smart to put this on as the opener, because anywhere else on the show, there's a big risk of the live crowd being completely out of it.

I'll try to be by tonight with some live blogging of results and my thoughts on the show.

I'm not here to plug WWE merchandise, but damn if this DVD doesn't look cool as hell.

I'm sure it will get a lot of buzz going about whether this means that Randy Savage is back in Vince McMahon's good graces - and maybe lead to Savage being inducted in the Hall of Fame next year.

For what it's worth, there's no indication that this DVD is intended to bury Savage, like the Ultimate Warrior's set did him. On the contrary, this trailer does nothing but heap praise upon Savage. It's well earned.

Just watching the few clips in this trailer makes me nostalgic for Savage - one of the most dynamic and passionate wrestlers of his time - and a darn good athlete as well. He can lay claim to carrying Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior to some of the best matches in their WWE runs. And whatever feud Savage was involved in, he always sold it to the hilt.

WWE could use a guy like the Macho Man these days.

ESPN reports that Phil Astin, the Atlanta-area doctor who prescribed Chris Benoit the loads of steroids that were found in his house, was sentenced to ten years in prison today.

Astin reportedly faced as many as 20 years behind bars, but his sentence appears pretty hefty nonetheless. It would seem that prosecutors there are trying to send a message through Astin, but I seriously doubt there will be any significant impact on the wrestling industry.

It seems that in wrestling, and in sports in general, doctors, trainers and other hangers-on are often the fall guys for athletes abusing drugs, rather than the athletes themselves.

About 17 years ago, Dr. George Zahorian was sentenced to prison for his role in WWE's first steroid scandal. Meanwhile, Vince McMahon was aquitted in his steroid distribution trial. Just last year, McMahon brazenly no-showed a Congressional hearing on steroids, and there were no significant ramifications for his actions.

While possessing steroids without a prescription is illegal, I'm yet to hear of a single wrestler who has been indicted for being on the juice. The same kind of apparent favoritism seems to take place in other pro sports, as well.

I don't mean to over simplify what is a very complicated matter of law. It's good news that a doctor who recklessly prescribed steroids to pro wrestlers is out of business, and being punished. I just wish justice would be doled out more even-handedly when it comes to the problem of drugs in wrestling.

I apologize again for the infrequent posts. Lots of stuff happening on the day job(s) and home front.

What's more, this time of year is about as close as the pro wrestling world comes to an off season. WrestleMania is in the rearview mirror. The next "major" pay per view, SummerSlam, is still about four months away. And all WWE's brands are still working out some growing pains with their new roster additions after the draft.

It all adds up to a less-than-thrilling time to be watching wrestling. That's not to say that the product on television is bad right now, it's just not terribly compelling.

As such, last night's Raw was neither earth-shaking nor boring. It was an entirely fine, if underwhelming, go-home edition before this Sunday's Judgment Day.

Here are a few thoughts.

. Batista just doesn't have what it takes to be WWE's top babyface. When he was on the B-Brand, Smackdown, he had enough star power and excitement to stand above the pack. But on Raw, where fans have been accustomed to megastar babyfaces like John Cena, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, headlining a pay per view with Batista just seems a little anticlimactic.

. Speaking of Michaels, WWE sure does miss him. The time off he's taken since his epic match against the Undertaker at WrestleMania is well deserved, but without him on the show, WWE is short one guaranteed fair-to-excellent match on every card. As much as I miss him, I wouldn't mind if WWE gave him off until SummerSlam, where I'd love to see him take on Ricky Steamboat in a bona fide dream match.

. It was another week of elevating the Miz and MVP. As pleased as I am to see WWE get behind these two, I'm still reluctant to get too emotionally invested in their pushes - especially The Miz'. My guess is that his big push comes to a screeching halt the moment Triple H returns to Raw and lays him out in about 30 seconds with a Pedigree.

. I mentioned it last week, but it was driven home even further last night. I really think Smackdown has the better of the two rosters right now. That may change once Michaels and Triple H return to action. But I'd personally take a top three babyface roster of Rey Mysterio, C.M. Punk & Jeff Hardy over Batista, John Cena and MVP any day. Similarly, Chris Jericho, Edge and Umaga feel much fresher than Randy Orton, Big Show and Matt Hardy.

. This may sound nuts, but I might argue that even ECW is more exciting than Raw right now. On ECW, we've gotten some exciting work lately from the likes of Christian, Jack Swagger, Tyson Kidd and Evan Bourne. On Raw, we've had Batista switch places with Triple H in a tired feud with Legacy, and an aging Shane McMahon living out his indulgent wrestling fantasies.

That's all for now.

. At best, I watch TNA Impact on fast forward most weeks, and still, I don’t much like what I see. I was once a big fan of Mick Foley, but think his ascent to TNA champion is a huge step backward for a company that needs to represent the future of wrestling if it is to compete with WWE.

With all due respect to Foley, who long ago earned his stripes as a bona fide wrestling legend, he has no business holding the world title of the number two wrestling company in the country. He is old, broken down and out of shape. And he should have been the first to speak out against the decision to put the title around his waist. But instead, he seems content to have TNA’s star struck decision makers swoon over him, as they do anybody who headlined a WWF or WCW pay per view ten years ago.

TNA was founded largely to fill the void created when WCW was put out of its misery eight years ago. And, ironically, the TNA of today and the WCW of the early 2000’s are almost indistinguishable: Uninspired, middle-aged main eventers from long ago big footing young talent.

Samoa Joe, once considered the future of pro wrestling, has been relegated to an out-of-shape, miserable creep who kidnaps women, beats up immigrants, and threatens people with knives. The whole promotion is something of an embarrassment, but unfortunately, it’s also doing the best ratings in its seven-year history, so don’t expect a change in managerial philosophy any time soon.

. For years I waited for the day that Ring of Honor got a major production overhaul and broke through on national television. That has all happened and yet I am someone non-plussed, as I think many ROH fans are. ROH on HDNet has been largely uninspired so far.

Yes, there has been some good action. But the aura of excitement and innovation that brought ROH to the dance is largely absent from its television show, which, while well produced, would not make any fan flipping through the channels stop. The look, feel and commentary on the show is bland at best. And while it is certainly a coup to land Ric Flair as the “ambassador” to ROH, it makes the company look quite minor league when Flair can’t even get the company’s name right (“The Ring of Honor.”)

I certainly understand that it’s still very early in the show’s run, and I’m willing to give the ROH a chance to turn things around. But to iron out some of its kinks, ROH needs to recognize them first. Here’s hoping they do.

. Speaking of ROH, I’ve been remiss in not mentioning until now the new organization being promoted by former ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky – Dragon Gate USA. A lot of people credit Sapolsky with providing the vision that allowed ROH to rise from a small Philadelphia independent to a legitimate national promotion.

Sapolsky, who was fired from ROH last October, is now looking to carry on his passion for exciting and athletic pro wrestling with DGUSA.

I’ve had the chance to see some Dragon Gate action live at past ROH shows, including the Dragon Gate challenge in Orlando over WrestleMania XXIV weekend. There’s no question that the stars of DG practice pro wrestling as an art form, utilizing some of the most jaw-droppingly innovative moves you’ll ever see in wrestling.

I do wonder, however, how a show comprised almost exclusively of Japanese talent will play here in the states. I don’t doubt that there’s an audience for that type of niche, but it could be considerably smaller than even ROH modest crowds. The language barrier and cultural differences could make it difficult for the company to grow and for new fans to discover DGUSA.

But I, for one, am anxious to see what the company’s first shows have to offer. I’m considering taking part in the bus trip from New York City to Philadelphia for the promotion’s first show on July 25. For more info on the trip, go here.

. While were rounding up all things non-WWE, let me take a moment to mention ESPN Classics ongoing re-reruns of old AWA shows. Man are these bad.

The little bit of AWA I watched as a kid was in the mid-80s, when Rick Martel and Stan Hansen wore the world title, and the Road Warriors were dominating the company’s tag team division.

I’m fully aware that the company’s best days were well before that period. And, as evidenced on ESPN Classics, its worst days most certainly came after I was watching.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, AWA’s roster was paper thin, and featured the likes of Teijo
Kahn, Rocky Mountain Thunder, and the awful Col. DeBeers. It was rounded out with some aging names like Wahoo McDaniel and Baron Von Raschke.

Yes, there were a few bright spots, including the Midnight Rockers, but these shows are largely unwatchable. It’s amazing that AWA kept its “world title status” in Pro Wrestling Illustrated right until it went out of business in 1991.

Vince McMahon announced during a shareholder’s conference call last week that he is considering adding a Wednesday show, which would mean that WWE would be on TV Monday through Friday (Technically, WWE already is on TV every weekday, now that the WWE Classics show has returned to MSG for the summer.) For this to be a good idea, WWE would really have to think outside the box to come up with a format for the new show. Just a couple of weeks in, I’m already bored with WWE Superstars, which looks no different than Raw, Smackdown or ECW.

Here are a few ideas that WWE might want to consider:

. A Reality Show: If “The Wrestler” proved anything it is that, if done right, there is a lot of entertainment value in documenting the bizarre, behind-scene lives of professional wrestlers. If WWE production crews followed one wrestler on the road each week, and took a shoot-style approach to capturing life on the road, it could make for some truly riveting television. Alternatively, WWE could decide to dedicate an entire season to a particular personality, or personalities – such as the McMahon family. Now that would be something else.

. A Not-Quite-Reality Show: I always thought it could be interesting to have a hybrid kayfabe/reality show that caught fans up with wrestlers’ lives between their appearances on Raw or Smackdown each week. The wrestlers could be completely in-character, and selling their storylines, but doing so in a reality-show format. The show, for instance, could capture married couple Edge and Vickie Guerrero bickering at home on their off days; Matt & Jeff Hardy’s awkward family situation since their falling out; and Triple H recovering from his physical and emotional wounds at home after losing his title to Randy Orton. That might be a terrible idea, but it’s at least worth a thought.

. A Divas Show: I wouldn’t be nearly as interested in this one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE was seriously considering it. There is certainly something to be said for making an effort to develop the personalities of WWE’s interchangeable ladies, but I’m certainly in no rush to watch an hour of beach photo shoots each week, interspersed with awful matches.

. A Talk Show: If WWE is in the mood to recycle old brands, how about bringing back the old Tuesday Night Titans format? Have Todd Grisham or Michael Cole (There’s no way they’ll put JR’s mug on TV for a full hour) host a late night talk show that would feature WWE stars as its guests. They could remain in character and help sell their storylines. Fill out the rest of the hour with some highlights from Raw, Smackdown and ECW, and you have a show – although not necessarily a good one.

. A “Sports-Center”-type Show: It’s very likely that WWE will settle on another recap show to run on Wednesday nights. If they go that route, I’d like to see WWE at least take an original approach to such a show. ESPN and other sports cable networks regularly feature sports highlight shows that include “expert analysis” from commentators and former athletes. Rather than produce another mundane recap show hosted at WWE’s studios by that tiny little guy we get in the pay per view preview show, why not try for a more serious sports-like approach. Round up the announce teams of all three brands, and maybe having rotating spot for a wrestler, and have them talk about the week in WWE, look ahead at the next week and the upcoming pay per view, and talk about what it all means.

. A “Variety” Show: One of my favorite short-lived WWE programming formats was “Confidential,” which featured an array of documentary-style features, classic matches, and light-hearted interview segments. Such a show could encompass all the ideas I mentioned above, and more. It could feature a “Classic Match of the Week,” a Florida Championship Wrestling “Showcase Match” that would introduce WWE viewers to some of the developmental talent, and could even include something I’ve been suggesting for a long time – a “Live Event Match of the Week” that would feature action from the previous week’s house show. Such a show could also include segments from the WWE Classic On Demand cult favorite – the “WWE Legends” roundtable series.

So, all that said, what do I think we’ll end up with? A recap show, with the little guy, and maybe a first-run match or two. Maybe they’ll call it “Wrestling Challenge,” just to cater to the old timers.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks covering the MTA’s “doomsday budget” in my day job, so I, again, apologize for the lack of posts in recent weeks.

So let’s try to cover a lot of ground with today’s post:

. I wasn’t able to catch all of Raw last night, but laughed when I read how Shane McMahon held his own against three wrestlers – including WWE’s world champion – in the night’s main event, and didn’t even take the pinfall loss. I seriously think WWE intended this as a sort of inside joke. I can’t imagine they could be so tone deaf as to not see how preposterous it is to have the chubby, non-wrestler son of the boss manhandle some of WWE’s top talent. Hopefully, the end of last night’s show means we won’t be seeing Shane in the near future. Why is it that we always find ourselves wishing for the same fate for all the McMahons after they’re on TV for more than a week or two.

. Maybe I’m alone here, but I’m seriously thinking Smackdown is becoming the WWE show to watch – especially since the changes that were made in the last WWE draft. With Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio and C.M. Punk as the brand’s top full-time babyfaces, and Edge, Chris Jericho and John Morrison as some of its top heels, Smackdown has the opportunity to really feel fresh and new, and not get bogged down by oxygen-stealing, muscled-up megastars like Triple H, Batista or John Cena. It’s a great opportunity for Punk, Hardy and Mysterio to headline some pay per views, and even get runs with the world title. That was nearly impossible a few weeks ago.

. I’m also intrigued to see some of Raw’s mid-card draft picks also getting some serious pushes in recent weeks, including MVP and the Miz. However, with Raw having so many major names and egos to cater to, I’m not too optimistic about these guys staying in the main events very long. Of the two, I think MVP has shown the most potential to become a major player over the next year. His promo on Randy Orton last week was star-making.

A particularly busy week has kept me from posting anythign here since last Sunday’s pay per view, so I apologize.

I did want to stop by today if only to quickly mention Saturday night’s New York Wrestling Connection show taking place at the Lindenhurst Middle School on 350 S Wellwood Avenue. Doors open at 6 p.m. and there is a 7 p.m. bell time.

The event, dubbed “Silent Battle,” is being held in conjunction with the Firefighters Cancer Support Network and is dedicated to the memory of Jack Kasin, a longtime firefighter with the Islip Volunteer Fire Department who passed away in February.

The card is headlined by Matt “Spike Dudley” Hyson challenging “King” Mega for the NYWC championship. Also on the card, TNA X-Division star “Black Machismo” Jay Letal takes on "Your's Truly" Alex Reynolds.

Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased at NYWC’s web site.

Support your local independent wrestling promotion.

I'll do my best to keep you updated on tonight's show as it moves along. Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and Jim Ross are doing the three-man commentary thing again.

1. Christian defeated Jack Swagger to capture the ECW Championship: Good opener. Lots of dramatic nearfalls in the end. The finish came when Swagger untied the corner turnbuckle pad, and the ref stopped him. Meanwhile Christian was doing the same thing at the other corner. Swagger charged in, and Christian drove him headfirst into the exposed turnpost. Christian hit the Unprettier and got the pin. He celebrated like it was a major title win. Michael Cole said it was Christian's first title win of any kind in five years - and later added "in WWE."

After a plug for the Stars of the 1990s, Christian met up with Edge backstage. Edge asked Christian if he thought he was better than him because he had a title and Edge didn't. Christian asked Edge what happened to him - that he used to be fun. Edge blamed his attitude on Cena.

Steamboat vs. Jericho is next.

2. Chris Jericho defeated Rick Steamboat: Steamboat has gotten in better shape in the last month, and also spent some time under a tanning bed - and applying "Just For Men" on his newly dark hair. Steamboat looked very good in this match, but his age also showed more than it did in the few minutes we've seen of him in the ring recently. There was a long rest hold period in the middle of the match, and Steamboat seemed to be a step behind a few times in the match, including when he struggled to apply a Figure 4. Steamboat almost got the pin with a small package, but Jericho got the tap out win with the Walls of Jericho moments later.

3. Kane defeated CM Punk: There was some stiff action in this one, with Punk really laying into his kicks and strikes on Kane, who sold an arm injury through much of the match. The end came when Kane caught a Punk kick, put one hand on Punk's throat and another on his leg, and chokeslammed him for the pin.

4. Jeff Hardy defeated Matt Hardy in an "I Quit" match: Lots of submission holds during this match. It ended when Jeff rested Matt on a table in the ring, duct taped his wrists and ankles, tied him to the table, and then brought in a ladder. As Jeff stood atop the ladder, Matt pleaded with Jeff not to jump - telling him he was sorry for everything he had done, that the bond of brothers was more important than anything, and that he shouldn't listen to the fans. He also said their mother in heaven wouldn't want him to do it, nor would their sick father. Ultimately, Matt said "I quit" before Jeff jumped. The bell rang - and Jeff jumped anyway, legdropping him through the table. I think that's what you call a "blow off."

Randy Orton was interviewed backstage.

Khali and Ranjin Singh came out for the kiss cam segment. Santina announced that she couldn't kiss Khali because she was already in love - with JR. Ranjin said to prove it Santina should kiss JR. Ross declined. Beth Phoenix came out and challenged Santina to a match for the Miss WrestleMania crowd. Ranjin said she had not right to interrupt their segment. Beth tore into Khali - calling Punjabi women ugly and him an idiot for not realizing Santina was a man. Khali bopped her on the head and knocked her to the ground. Santina covered her for the pin. Khali then tried to kiss Santina, but she ran away. Khali ripped her top off. Santina ran away covering her chest. Khali and Beth were bad in this segment, which was not nearly funny enough to make up for the time it took. I much rather would have seen a Rey Mysterio match here, or almost anything else.

Surprisingly, the six-man WWE Championship match is up next, meaning they're closing with Edge vs. Cena. Smart move, as Edge-Cena is likely to be the better match.

5. Randy Orton, Ted Dibiase & Cody Rhodes vs. Triple H, Shane McMahon & Batista when Orton pinned Triple H to capture the WWE Championship: This match got really good at the end. All hell broke loose with all six men brawling in and out of the ring. Triple H was about finish Orton with the Pedigree when he saw Batista about to use a chair one of the Legacy guys outside the ring, so he ran over to stop the potential DQ. When he turned around, Orton had an RKO waiting for him. He got a very close nearfall (so much that the timekeeper actually ring the bell.) A moment later, Orton punt kicked Triple H's head for the win.

Orton and Legacy ran to the back with the championship belt in tow, as paramedics tended to Triple H, putting him in a neck brace and on a stretcher. The announcers got very somber. Lawler said Orton's win could very well "destroy the McMahon family."

6. Edge defeated John Cena in a last man standing match to win the World Heavyweight Championship: The first two-thirds of this match was the usual, boring WWE-style LMS fare, in which the pace is always slowed down by the tedious ref's count. Late into the match they got into some really creative spots. Cena game Edge the Attitude Adjustment off the top rope, and then a second AA onto fans at ringside while standing on the table. The two men started brawling throughout the arena, and into the lobby. BAck in the arena, Cena bulldogged Edge onto the ramp. Edge DDT'd Cena onto the ramp. Cena was about to finish Edge with the Attitude Adjustment on the stage when Big Show came out and chokeslammed Cena through one of the giant spotlights next to the stage, causing a big explosion. Pretty awesome looking spot. The ref counted to ten and gave Edge the win. Smackdown has a world champ again.

I'd say the show was on the high end of expectations, with several matches in the 3-star plus range and two world title changes.

Looking at the Backlash card makes me think about the Vince Russo theory of booking: People like swerves, so we'll just give 'em a ton of swerves. People like title changes, so we'll just give 'em a ton of title changes. People like stipulations, so we'll just give 'em a ton of stipulations. And so on.

The problem with this type of booking, obviously, is that it's classic hot-shotting -- and when you do anything too often, people get sick of it very quickly, and nothing means anything anymore.

Between the recent moving around amongh the brands and the stipulations added to the top three matches on the show, this is a show that seems way more complicated than it needs to be. A few swerves and stipulations here and there is a nice hook for a Pay-Per-View, but give me too many, and I'm lost, and I don't care.

That being said, here's my thoughts on the card:

Continue reading "WWE Backlash preview and predictions" »

Tonight's Backlash pay per view event has the potential to draw one of the lowest buy rates in recent history for a number of reasons.

The pay per view comes three weeks after fans were asked to spend $55 on WrestleMania, and a week after a UFC event that probably gave WWE come competition for the PPV dollar. Of course, the economy will also be a factor. But most of all, it's just not that great a card.

Backlash is traditionally a sequel of sorts to WrestleMania, featuring a lot of rematches in variations of rematches. That's usually OK, but the problem this year is that even the WrestleMania matches didn't feel fresh. So rematches of matches we've already seen too much of don't seem very appealing.

WWE also hasn't done itself any favors with giving away variations of the main event of this show on almost every television show in the last couple weeks. We've seen Randy Orton vs. Triple H, Shane McMahon & Batista vs. Ted Dibiase and Cody Rhodes, McMahon vs. Rhodes, and Bastista vs. Dibiase. So why should we pay to see Triple, Batista & McMahon vs. Orton, Rhodes and Dibiase?

What's more, none of those free-TV outings have been terribly entertaining. Add in a terrible TNA-esque stipulation, and it makes for one of the least appealing pay per view main events in a long time.

Here's a look at the whole card:

Triple H, Batista & McMahon vs. Legacy: The above-mentioned ridiculous stip dictates that, if any member of Orton's team pins any member of Triple H's, Orton wins the WWE title. Some suspect that this may be a creative way to take the belt off Triple H without him getting pinned. Many are also predicting that one of Triple H's partners will turn on him. I'd say Batista is a good candidate for a heel turn, but I don't buy that he'll join Legacy. That would pave the way for a Batista - Triple H program, and maybe an Orton - Cena program for the title to carry us through the summer.

John Cena vs. Edge, Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: This seems like an ideal opportunity to get a world title back on Smackdown. This could be a very good match - better than their WrestleMania 3-way, and should end with Edge wearing the world title again. The pace at which world titles are changing hands in WWE is ridiculous. Somebody in WWE should watch the Russo-booked era of WCW to see how similar booking worked out for him.

Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy, I Quit Match: It's pretty amazing that they're already going for what seems like the blow-off to this feud, which never quite got off the ground, killed Jeff Hardy's momentum, and split up one of the most popular brother acts in WWE history. Hopefully the "I Quit" match will make for a more realistic, impassioned match than their goofy garbage match at WrestleMania.

Rick Steamboat vs. Chris Jericho: Putting Steamboat in a full-fledged singles match is a risky move by WWE, but I don't blame them for trying to make the most of Steamboat's sudden popularity. I, for one, hope they stretch out Steamboat's comeback to one more dream match - against Shawn Michaels. I'll go out on a limb and predict Steamboat's gets the feel-good victory here.

Kane vs. C.M. Punk: This one really feels thrown together at the last minute. They didn't look good together on Raw Monday night, so there may be pressure on them not to stink up the joint tonight. I think both men are professional enough that they'll put something watchable together here, ending with Punk picking up the win.

Jack Swagger vs. Christian for the ECW Championship:
This is an important match for Swagger and Christian, both of whom have not exactly been featured players on WWE's main shows as of late. Christian is more than capable of having a good match, and Swagger has shown glimpses of greatness over the last several months. I'd expect this to be a solid opener.

Also on this card, the Great Khali will try to kiss Santina.

It's hardly a stellar card, but there's the potential for some of the night's matches to exceed their low expectations.

I'll try to be after the show.

I just received this press release in my inbox. The biggest question I take away from it: What's MVP doing on Smackdown? Wasn't he just drafted to Raw? You gotta love the brand split.

Sherri Shepherd of “The View” will make a special appearance on MyNetworkTV’s “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” airing May 1st. The event, to be held at Madison Square Garden, will culminate with Sherri getting in the corner with WWE Superstar MVP. Her magnetic personality and hilarious sense of humor never fails to delight audiences on the popular morning talk show but tune-in to see how this daytime superstar matches up against the WWE Superstars.

Will she get into the ring? You never know what is going to happen on Friday Night SmackDown.

Find out what the ladies on “The View” had to say about Sherri and the WWE…

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/overtheropes/2009/april15-21/9971730

“WWE Friday Night SmackDown” features all of the action, excitement, drama and great athleticism of the star-studded cast of WWE Superstars, including Edge, Undertaker, Chris Jericho, CM Punk and Rey Mysterio.

I recently picked up the new WWE "Stars of the 90s" DVD released last week. I haven't gotten through all of it, but what I've seen so far has been a lot of fun. The DVD does a pretty good job at hitting on most of the 90s biggest stars. If it has a big flaw, it's that it neglects a lot of WCW's biggest stars of the 1990s, including the cruiserweight sensations of the Nitro era, Vader, and some others.

The "dissing" of WCW continues on discs 2 and 3, which feature 16 90's era matches. Just three are from WCW, and none are what anyone would call classics.

I wouldn't have had a problem if WWE left WCW off this DVD set altogether. But if WWE made the choice to include WCW, then it should have done its due diligence.

On the bright side, the DVD does a pretty good job of featuring a lot of stars from the pre-Attitude era 1990s. I hate whenever WWE does some Raw retrospective, as it did with its 15th anniversary show a while back or the 500th Raw, that it acts like Raw started in 1998, and neglects to show almost any footage of Monday Night Raw from 1993-1997. On the contrary, this DVD set features a lot of early and mid-1990s stuff, including features Yokozuna, the Lex Express, and Diesel. There are also lots of early-and-mid-90's WWF matches in discs 2 and 3.

I was most interested in seeing how one particular match held up.

In my recent WrestleMania VIII retrospective, I wrote about how WWE blew the opportunity to present the ultimate dream match on the show - the first pay per view showdown between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Instead, WWE went with Hogan vs. Sid and Flair vs. Randy Savage on the show.

In essence, that made Hogan's first match against Flair at Madison Square Garden in November of 1991 probably the most notable clash between the two icons in their first run together. Indeed, it was not the very first time the two met - as they performed essentially the same match on a number of house shows leading up to their MSG battle. But back in the days when Madison Square Garden house shows were still a big deal, this match carried a lot of weight. Also, it was televised.

I attended the match in person and remember enjoying quite a bit, but I hadn't seen it in ages, and so I was anxious to watch it on DVD.

I was struck by a few things: For one, it was incredible how much Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan on commentary downplayed the significance of the match. From their announcing, you would have no idea that this was widely considered the "match of the decade" between two of the biggest names ever to grace a wrestling ring. McMahon and Heenan treated it like just any other MSG main event.

While the announcers may have lacked the enthusiasm that one might expect for this dream match, the crowd most certainly did not. In fact, it was the incredible heat in the building that made this otherwise mostly pedestrian match special.

The match largely features Hogan no-selling for Flair, and Flair begging off until Mr. Perfect handed Flair some brass knuckles. Flair knocked Hulk out and got the 3-count. I remember being in the nosebleed seats of the Garden and celebrating Flair's win over Hogan, only to be disappointed when officials from backstage came out and pointed out the foreign object, causing the ref to reverse his decision.

As it turned out, Flair and Hogan had the exact same finish to this match several times at house shows across the country, but in the pre Internet-days, it's a safe bet that 99.9 percent of the crowd didn't know this.

So does the match hold up? Yes and no. It's a lot shorter than I remembered, and Flair didn't get to do very much in this match other than to bump around for Hogan's bad-looking punch lines. But the crowd was definitely electric, and you still get the sense that history was being made when you watch the match today.

The two would go on to have several more memorable matches during their WCW run, but this is still my favorite.

I just got through reading the feature story on Hulk Hogan written by Erik Hedegaard in the latest Rolling Stone magazine. Although the story has primarily made headlines for a line in which Hogan likened his strained relationship with his wife to that of O.J. and Nicole Simpson, that’s among the least interesting tidbits in this compelling article.

Here’s a bit of what I learned:

Hulk Hogan is a liar: OK, that’s hardly a revelation, but he had some real gems for the Rolling Stone reporter. Among them: After hiding a razor blade in his mouth to juice during matches, he’d sometimes go to the bar and drink all night – still with the razorblade in his mouth; He’s shrunk four inches in recent years; He used to take 400-500 pain pills at a time; And, he’s made over $1 billion during his career. Uh-huh.

Thankfully, on one lie that has been repeated so many times that most people believe it’s true, somebody finally called Hogan out. After Hogan repeats the myth about setting an indoor attendance record with 93,000 people in Detroit for WrestleMania – more than the Rolling Stones did for the same venue days earlier – Hedegaard tries to set the record straight.

“Factually, this isn’t exactly true," he wrote, "but to Hulk it is, and always will be,”

Hulk Hogan really wants to make a comeback: This is pretty much the theme of the whole story, during which Hedegaard spends a couple of days with the Hulkster as he contemplates whether or not he has it in him to compete at the recent WrestleMania. In the end, physical limitations kept Hogan from taking part in the event, but it’s somewhat revealing to see how badly Hogan is craving the wrestling spotlight these days. If Hogan can get himself in shape to do even the bare minimum in the ring, I’d think the odds of seeing Hogan back in WWE within the next year are better than average. Hogan-Cena at WrestleMania XXVI anyone?

Hogan once had “mismatched nipples”: An “innie” and an “outtie,” to be specific. He was also fat as a kid, enjoyed shoving rocks up his nose, was a state champion bowler, and a heck of a little league baseball player.

The little bit of hair Hogan has left is fake: You see, Hogan’s ex-wife Linda used to be the one to color his hair to be the blindingly blonde shade we’ve all come to know. After their split, Hogan tried to bleach his own hair, only to have much of it fall out. Left with few options, Hogan got hair extensions to recreate his signature skullet.

Hulk Hogan and Oprah Winfrey have similar taste in books: Although he pays a lot of lip service to being a Newborn Christian, Hogan credited his newfound spirituality largely to following the “laws of attraction” discussed in Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling book, “The Secret,” which was made by popular by Oprah Winfrey. In case you don’t know, the book basically advocates that positive thinking will produce positive results. As an example, Hogan says it was the "positive message" that he communicated to fans as the Hulkster that led him to achieving his success.

Conversely, negative thinking produces negative results. Hogan suggested that’s why his son Nick got in the car accident that nearly killed John Graziano. You see, Nick was up the night before watching car crash videos on Youtube.

Vince McMahon scratched Hogan's back before Hogan scratched his: I found it odd that Hogan, with his love-hate relationship with McMahon, would have such glowing things to say about Vince during last week's ESPN "E:60" piece on WWE. He may have been returning the favor after Vince praised Hogan in this article for being "iconic" and having lots of "charisma" and "the gift of gab."

Hulk Hogan is in a lot of pain: The story opens with Hogan reciting a laundry list of his ailments – some of which I can only assume he is exaggerating (the whole shrinking four inches bit.) But, if only from Hedegaard's observations, it’s clear that Hogan is hurting real bad these days. Yang describes the difficulty Hogan had just standing up during the interview, and an episode in a sushi restaurant during which Hogan started writhing in back pain, only to act like nothing happened a moment later.

Hulk Hogan is capable of doing some really stupid things: Yang pretty much put his journalistic objectivity aside when he observed Hogan – you know, the guy whose son is responsible for a young man being in a vegetative state – floor the gas pedal in his Viper sports car as his daughter Brooke sat in the passenger’s seat. Hogan got a good laugh about his little stunt, but Yang did not. “Has common sense escaped him totally?” Yang wondered. “Why would he do this?”

Hogan is (somewhat) honest about his drug use: In addition to his tall tale about the hundreds of pain pills he would chug at a time, Hogan also discusses in the story doing steroids, cocaine, and marijuana. He also reveals that he owns a 9-mm gun, which he has turned over to his attorney.

The Hulkster is heartbroken: One theme weaved throughout the entire story is Hogan’s feelings of sadness, frustration, and bitterness over the fact that his ex-wife Linda is running around with a boytoy younger than the estranged couple's two young children. Without taking sides, there’s also plenty of unbiased evidence in the story that Hulk, in his own way, wanted to work out his problems with Linda, but she had another agenda. When he arrives at the sushi restaurant near the end of the story, his first question to the host is whether “the ex-wife” has been around the place.

It’s a shame that the only thing being talked about in this story is the O.J. line, which the magazine clearly tried to pump up – even pulling it out of the story and running it in giant print on one of the pages. It’s about as honest and revealing a look at Hogan as I’ve seen in a long time.

There are also some great photos, including one of an aging Hulk Hogan wearing the WWF championship belt (circa 1987), and a sweet vintage photo of a massive Hogan playing with a tiny, 3-year-old Brooke.

I just wanted to drop in with a quick update coming out of TNA's Lockdown pay per view.

In the main event, Mick Foley escaped the cage to defeat Sting and capture the TNA world championship.

I'm willing to give TNA a chance, but putting a world title on Mick Foley at this stage in his career is bound to cause some eye rolling. With all the company's talk of using the established veterans to help put over the new guys, all I know is that the main event featured one 40+ year old, out-of-shape wrestler against a 50+ year old champion.

In the other newsworthy event of the night, Bobby Lashley debuted at the end of the Lethal Lockdown six man match. That was a pretty good surprise.

Also, Team 3D beat Beer Money Inc. for the TNA tag titles, and Angelina Love won the TNA Knockouts Title in a three-way match.

There was no sign of Taz tonight.

From what I saw of the show, it wasn't half bad.

A 9-year-old in New York City has died after a leap from a 13-story apartment building, and there's speculation he could have been imitating Jeff Hardy from a video game.

A sad story that will open up a whole new can of worms for WWE. Wire story appears below.

Continue reading "Another child's death being connected to imitating pro wrestling" »

After disappearing from television for the better part of two years, Total Nonstop Action’s co-founder and headline attraction, Jeff Jarrett, is back in a big way. Just yesterday, his new 4-DVD set, “Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain” was released. And this Sunday, Jarrett will be part of the eight-man “Lethal Lockdown” cage match at TNA’s Lockdown pay per view event, which is being held at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. I hope to make the two-hour drive down to Philly to catch the show live.

I’ve written this before, and I’ll repeat it here: For all his faults, I’ve always found Jeff Jarrett to be one of the most genuine and gracious people in the wrestling business. And, during this extensive interview, Jeff held true to his reputation – candidly and sincerely answering every question I posed, even as he stood outside his accountant’s office, late for an appointment.

In this in-depth interview, Jeff discusses how TNA’s increased schedule has affected wrestlers quality of life, the departures of some TNA talent, TNA’s controversial booking philosophy, the reasons behind Impact’s recent ratings growth, returning to the ring after losing his wife, his relationship with Vince McMahon, and criticisms about pushing himself too hard.

Alfonso Castillo: When we last spoke years back we talked about how the business model of TNA may have been more attractive to wrestlers in that it didn’t have the hectic road schedule. You guys were primarily running out of Orlando so your wrestlers only had to work a couple days a month. Now you are going out on the road a lot more and I’ve heard some grumbling that that’s turning off some wrestlers who came to TNA just because they thought the schedule was going to be so much better. I heard that might be one of the things that factored into Christian’s decision to leave the company. Is that something you’re aware of and concerned with – changing the business model of TNA and maybe making it not as attractive as it was to wrestlers before who weren’t looking to travel as much?

Jeff Jarrett: Without a doubt, you can look at every one of our wrestler’s schedules, and we’re very, very, very conscious of that. I think, more so, we’re aware of it. I once worked for both companies – WWE and WCW – and I realized what working over 20 days a month could do to, not just your body, but almost your mental outlook, your life, your family life. You’ve got to be able to balance everything in life. And we’re well aware of it. And I don’t believe there’s a guy in the company that’s on the road more than 15 days a month, and I certainly know they’re not wrestling more than 15 days a month. So, we’re very conscious of it, and it’s something that we’ll always keep a pulse on.

Continue reading "Jeff Jarrett Interview" »

In-house notes: I should be getting some interviews up here in the next couple days with Jeff Jarrett, Triple H, Edge, Ric Flair and Mark Henry, as well as the Long Island co-author of the new WWE Encyclopedia.

I’d also like to quickly mention that The Steel Cage was a finalist in the blog category in Newsday’s 2008 Publisher’s Awards. We lost out to Newsday.com’s food blog, Feed Me. If you had told me a couple years ago that a blog about wrestling would be the first runner up for an award handed out by Newsday, I wouldn’t have believed you, so it’s quite an accomplishment. Thanks go out to all our readers for making the Cage such a success.

I wanted to quickly drop in with my thoughts on the Vince McMahon feature on last night’s ESPN E:60 program. Overall, I thought it was well done and mostly absent of the glaring errors in fact (but for repeating the mythical 93,000 indoor attendance record for WrestleMania III) and of the snarkiness that usually comes with mainstream media coverage of pro wrestling (but for the groan-inducing line from one of the other ESPN reporters in the intro about whether WWE “scripted” its response to the questions. Ugh.)

For a fan with even a passing grasp of the inner workings and history of the wrestling business, there probably wasn’t too much to learn here – except that Vince McMahon once went by “Vinnie Lupton.” But, for a non fan, this was probably about as good a primer on WWE’s history and appeal as you could put together in a ten-minute segment. ESPN brought up some of WWE’s scandals, including regarding McMahon’s steroid distribution trial and, of course, the Chris Benoit tragedy in 2007.

ESPN did its homework by interview some big players in the industry, including Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart and longtime wrestling columnist Mike Mooneyham.

The highlight was ESPN’s footage from a WWE production meeting – the first time such a meeting was captured on video. McMahon was smart enough to kick the camera crews out just as they began to discuss the details of a forthcoming Shawn Michaels-Undertaker angle, but it was still pretty incredible to get a glimpse into the inner sanctum of WWE, and see who, literally, had a seat at the table. They included a make-up free Stephanie McMahon, David Finlay and Michael Hayes.

The piece was not without its flaws. I would have liked to see some acknowledgment of the wrestling business outside of WWE – perhaps including interviews with Jeff Jarrett. But, as a reporter myself, I am well aware of the restraints of time and space, and there is realistically only so much ESPN could include in a relatively short piece.

A couple other observations: Under the harsh microscope of ESPN’s high definition production, a lot of the familiar faces interviewed for this segment really looked rough, including McMahon himself. Even WWE’s HD cameras have never picked up the level of detail in McMahon’s 63-year-old face It wasn’t pretty.

As well, it looks like time has finally caught up with Hulk Hogan. He has long prided himself on looking a lot like the old Hulkster of the 1980’s even as his peers from that era have aged poorly. But, in ESPN’s quality HD, and without his sunglasses on, Hogan looked every bit his 55 years, and then some.

Big Show, too, looked pretty haggard in his brief interview, although it’s somewhat understandable considering he may have just come out of a match.

Only one person looked better than I expected – Bret Hart. Even at 51, after being out of the ring for nearly a decade, and suffering a stroke, “The Hitman” looked a lot like his old self.

Overall, it was very well done.

I may have not gotten all my predictions right on last night’s WWE draft – but I was right on target with my biggest prediction: It just wasn’t all that interesting.

There are a few factors that contributed to what I thought was a rather ho-hum draft. For one, as I said yesterday, the lines between the brands have been so blurred that it just doesn’t mean all that much that a particular wrestler belongs to a particular brand.

Secondly, most of the wrestlers who moved brands last night also jumped brands in last year’s draft. Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Kane, C.M. Punk and Triple H were all “drafted” less than a year ago. Fans just didn’t have enough time to really equate any one of the wrestlers with a particular brand.

Lastly, the whole draft system just doesn’t make sense, and WWE is yet to give us any explanation. I much preferred the days when they would have the general managers of each brand come out and actually make a pick. That’s precisely how drafts work in real sports. But in the last couple drafts, WWE has given the impression that the selections are random, in which case, it isn’t really a draft at all.

While I’m on that note, am I the only one who was beyond irritated by the stupid Mortal Kombat-inspired random select graphic that would scroll through all the WWE superstars before revealing the selection? I timed it, and each one took 17 seconds. Multiply that by 12 selections, and that’s a whopping 3 and a half minutes of wasted television time – longer than four of the night’s first five matches.

Again, it would have been so much better to have Vickie Guerrero, Teddy Long or Tiffany come out and make their picks to a big live pop.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the night’s moves:

MVP to Raw: This is a potentially good move, as it gives MVP, who has about as much breakout potential as any up-and-comer in WWE, a chance to perform on WWE’s A-brand. The downside, of course, is that it might be tough for MVP to have much upward mobility on such a star-studded brand. Grade: B.

The Big Show to Raw: Just a week after WrestleMania, it seems apparent that Show is destined to return to being the mid-card novelty act that he was before he got the big main event program with Edge and Cena. I don’t expect WWE to do a whole lot with Show on Raw. Maybe he gets a main event program with John Cena on an off-brand pay per view. Grade: B-

Melina to Smackdown: not to sound too much like my partner Seth, but, really, who cares? For the most part, the Divas are completely interchangeable, and cross brands more than their male counterparts. Grade: C

Matt Hardy to Raw: Just months after being demoted to ECW at the last draft, Matt is called up to the A-Show. To me, it’s a testament to how much the Jeff-Matt feud flopped, that they are already splitting the brothers into separate brands. As much as I thought Matt’s move to ECW was a slight on him, the reality is that Matt does not have the tools or the charisma to make it on Raw. To me, this move all but kills off any chance Matt had to become a main event heel over the next year. I just can’t see Matt getting a run with Cena or Triple H any time soon. Bad move. Grade: D.

Triple H to Raw: No surprise here. After trying, and failing, to spark some interest in the floundering Smackdown brand for ten months, The Game returns to Raw. It’s actually a good fit, as Triple H was spinning his wheels on Smackdown, where there wasn’t much for him to work with. I expect now that Cena will lose his world heavyweight championship to Edge at Backlash, making Triple H Raw’s sole world champion. Grade: A-.

C.M. Punk to Smackdown: I like this move a lot. Having Punk wear the ECW, world heavyweight, Intercontinental and world tag team championship in a year – and win back-to-back Money in the Bank matches, it’s clearly WWE is sincere about wanting to elevate Punk. But, the reality is that Raw is too crowded for him to really stand out. On Smackdown, he’s got a much better chance to headline shows, and maybe successfully cash in his briefcase against Edge for the second year in a row. Grade: A.

The Miz to Raw: I don’t get this move at all. WWE had stumbled upon their hottest tag team act in years in the Miz & Morrison, and they split them up? While the Miz & Morrison both have large upsides as singles competitors, I suspect the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. On their own, I think both men are likely to end up in mid-card purgatory. If one gets a push, I’d think it would be Morrison, who has more charisma and talent that the Miz. I don’t like this move. Grade: D.

Kane to Smackdown: Kane’s been playing the same mid-card role for a long time, and now gets to do so on his third brand in a year. If there’s an upside, it’s the potential in a renewed Undertaker-Kane feud. But, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it makes much of a difference where The Big Red Machine lands. Grade: C.

Chris Jericho to Smackdown: I’d say this was the biggest shocker of the night. I’m not sure how to feel about it. While it is true that Jericho could certainly inject some life into Smackdown’s stale, it’s a little unfortunate that the person I consider to be arguably the best all-around performer in WWE won’t get to perform in front of its biggest TV audience. That said, I am excited at the prospects of a Jericho-Jeff Hardy program, and a feud between Jericho and the Undertaker. Grade: B.

Vladamir Kozlov: WWE had high hopes for the Moscow Mauler, but it would seem they’ve given up Kozlov after his umpteenth lackluster in-ring performance. On ECW – the home of WWE’s young, athletic future stars – I wouldn’t expect Kozlov to be a good fit. But the move serves the purpose of stopping him from stinking up Smackdown matches. Grade: C.

Maryse to Raw: Believe it or not, I actually like this move. Among all the generic blonde Divas, Maryse has shown some charisma, and a definite knack for playing a smug, French heel. As Raw’s women’s champ, she’ll be able to show off her skills in front of a larger audience. Grade: B+

Rey Mysterio to Smackdown: This was the biggest no-brainer of the night. Rey just never clicked on Raw, and was sorely missed on Smackdown, which tends to draw a larger audience of children and Hispanic viewers. Rey had absolutely no chance of getting another world title run as long as he was on Raw. On Smackdown, those odds increase to almost no chance. Grade: A+.

With the lines separating WWE’s three brands being as blurry as ever, I sense there is not as much anticipation going into tonight’s draft special as there have been other years. Just about every week, we see Raw wrestlers appear on Smackdown, Smackdown wrestlers appear on Raw, and ECW wrestlers appear on whatever brand will have them. Heck, ECW’s John Morrison & The Miz won Raw’s tag team championship and regularly defended it on Smackdown.

Still, I have to figure that, with WrestleMania in the rearview mirror, WWE may start to get a little more serious about its brand separation.

Going into this year’s draft, it’s as apparent as ever that Smackdown is the B-Brand. In the past, that’s been the result of simply neglecting the blue brand in favor of its live Monday night counterpart. But with Smackdown having taken a significant hit to its viewership following its jump to MyNetwork, I don’t blame WWE for investing more heavily on Raw and concentrating its top stars there. And so, I expect it to be another round of heavy fleecing for Smackdown tonight.

Here’s a few moves I’d like, and expect, to see:

Rey Mysterio to Smackdown: This is just a matter righting a great wrong. Mysterio was a good fit on Smackdown, which has historically boasted a larger Hispanic demographic than Raw. More importantly, he’s just lost in the shuffle on Raw, where there are too many big stars that will inevitably get booked ahead of him.

Triple H to Raw: It’s been clear over the last several months that Triple H wants to come home to the A-Brand. Having spent much of the last year in B-level feuds with the likes of Vladamir Kozlov, the Great Khali and Jeff Hardy, I’m sure he’s itching to return to the home of the big names, and the big ratings.

Randy Orton to Smackdown: This could be the big shocker of this year’s drafts. If WWE Champion Triple H moves to Raw, where Cena already has the world heavyweight championship, they’ll need to get a world title over to Smackdown. This would open the door for Orton to win the title in the Backlash six-man tag match. Orton’s been on Raw for a long time, so I wouldn’t mind freshening up his act over on SD.

C.M. Punk to Smackdown: Another up and comer who would benefit from being a big fish in a smaller pond. He could go there and cash in his MITB title shot against Orton.

Edge to Raw: I sense a babyface turn in Edge’s future. On Raw, he could feud against his “wife” Vickey Guerrero, and also go on to feud with Chris Jericho over the next year.

Jim Ross to Raw/Michael Cole to Smackdown: Last summer, I wasn’t totally down on the idea of moving JR to Smackdown, where he was originally supposed to partner with his friend Mick Foley. But it’s apparent that Ross is desperately needed back on Raw, where the Michael Cole – Jerry Lawler team just isn’t cutting it. Similarly, Cole would probably be more comfortably back at his old stomping grounds on Smackdown. Another way they could go is to send Lawler to Smackdown to reunite him with Ross on Friday nights.

Obviously, there will be a number of other moves of mid carders that won't have as much significance. I suppose a few people will also be exiled to ECW.

Sorry for the lack of posts since returning from Houston. I’ve had to spend a little time on the jobs I actually get paid for.

Speaking of Houston, with most of the wrestling world’s attention being focused on WrestleMania, some have overlooked another major wrestling title change coming out of the city last weekend. After a 500-plus day reign, Nigel McGuinness dropped the Ring of Honor Championship Friday Night to Jerry Lynn.

Because McGuinness was set to take some time off anyway to heal an injured arm, some fans may question the legitimacy of Lynn’s championship victory. But I think he’s a fine choice to hold the company’s title.

Ironically, on the same weekend that Mickey Rourke punched out Chris Jericho in the mediocre climax of a storyline built around “The Wrestler,” ROH delivered a more satisfying pay off to their own “Wrestler”- themed angle. Some may recall that McGuinness’ issue with Lynn dates back to December, when McGuinness chewed out Lynn during a Manhattan show and called him a washed-up has-been, just like Rourke’s character “Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson.” It’s also worth noting that ROH was prominently featured in the movie.

The parallels between “The Ram” and Lynn were numerous. Both were aging pro wrestlers who had achieved some national fame years ago working in major promotions, and now continued to ply their trade on smaller shows to earn a living doing what they love.

In fact, as I watched the opening scene of “The Wrestler,” featuring Rourke using a classroom as a dressing room following a match, I immediately thought back to the night Bobby Cassidy and I shot this video. It was in 2006, and I was working on a big project about wrestlers’ lifestyles that never saw the light of day. We picked up Jerry at MacArthur airport and drove him to the Deer Park rec center where he worked a show for the New York Wrestling Connection.

The long blond curly hair, the muscular-yet-aging physique, and the physical and emotional scars of a life spent in the ring. The similarities were eerie.

What’s more, Lynn has always been a hell of a wrestler – sometimes too talented for his own good. During our ride from the airport to Deer Park, Lynn told me about how miserable he was during his WWE run, and how officials there told him, in so many words, to try and be less exciting.

And so, it’s nice to see Lynn, so late in his career, find a place that truly appreciates his unique gifts and talents. I hope he enjoys a good, long run as champ there.

As for Nigel, it’s a tough break for one of my very favorite wrestlers. He may want to take this time off to try and open up some lines of communication with WWE. They’re absolutely nuts for not having taken a look at him until now. He’s got the look, the size, the attitude and the skill to be a major player, but he isn’t getting any younger. I’m not lying when I tell you I’ve seen Nigel be as over as any heel I’ve ever seen – having trash rain down on him from the stands just for standing in the ring and striking a particularly despicable pose. He’s fantastic.

Tulsa, Okla. -- Sorry it's taken me a full day to post some of my WrestleMania thoughts -- after the show last night I did an audio recap with Jason Powell of prowrestling.net and then drove into the night and for much of the morning to make it to the Texas Rangers' home opener today on time ... and I've been driving since then too. Got hungry at one point, and checked out this place in Norman, Okla. Perhaps you've heard of it?

Seriously, if you ever find yourself in Norman (near Oklahoma City -- there's also another franchise location), definitely stop by. There's a ton of photos and memorabilia to mark out over, and the food is pretty good too! I had JR's favorite, which was some kind of chopped brisket sandwich with a hot link, cole slaw and really good french fries. Prices were really decent -- even bought a bottle of barbecue sauce for the road.

Anyway, back to Mania. If you've listed to the audio recap I did with Jason Powell, you've already heard most of this, but feel free to read it anyway! And I apologize again for the quality and frequency of my updates from Mania itself -- almost no wireless access at Reliant Stadium, and typing updates on an iPhone proved very problematic!

Here we go:

Continue reading "WrestleMania thoughts and ... Boomer Sooner!" »

I’m back in my hotel now after making the two-mile walk from Reliant Park. And judging from the insane swarm of break lights on the roads outside the stadium, I’m sure I made the right call by getting a hotel nearby.

It’s interesting reading some of the viewer feedback for this show so far. A number of you are pretty down on this show. I’ll say this much – attending a WrestleMania live can certainly taint your view of the show, for both the better and the worse. I had a less than great time at WrestleMania 22 at the All State Arena, where I had the most uncomfortable seats ever for a show, and some cranky company with me. And although most fans are generally pretty fond of that show, I’ve never been too crazy about it. Similarly, I had a fairly good time at Mania 23 in Detroit, and it made me like that show probably more than it deserved.

As for tonight, I had a great time at Reliant Stadium – one of the best ever for a WrestleMania. It was great experiencing the show for the first time with my young son, who is obviously too tiny to get any of what was going on, but was most certainly mesmerized by the awesome sights and sounds of the spectacle.

I’d say WrestleMania 25 undoubtedly deserves this much praise – most of the show was on the high side of expectations.

Although most fans were unable to see it, the tag team championship unification match was very well executed and was a solid opening match for the live crowd.

The Money in the Bank ladder match was a spot fest, as usual, but the eight men managed to, once again, come up with new and innovative uses of the ladders. There were some blown spots – most notably Shelton Benjamin’s powerbomb on MVP, but it was still a fun match that really got the crowd going.

Kid Rock’s concert may have gone a bit long. But I don’t disagree with having some mainstream attraction on the show, and to that end, Kid Rock is a good fit.

The 25 divas battle royal had no chance of being “good,” so all we could hope for was that it was entertaining. The antics of “Santina” certainly accomplished that.

The Jericho-legends match was a lot of fun, and thanks to Steamboat’s inspired effort, loads better than anyone could have expected it to be. Personally, it was my second favorite match of the night.

The stuff with Rourke at the end was a little awkward, but it didn’t take away from a solid match overall.

I didn’t have high hopes for Matt vs. Jeff. It wasn’t a bad match, and certainly had some memorable spots, but it never really clicked as feeling “real” as a match between two warring brothers should. Still, it was on the high end of expectations for what I expected to be a garbage match.

JBL vs. Rey was barely a match, but it provided two bona fide WrestleMania “moments” – Rey winning the IC title, and JBL quitting.

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels was, quite simply, one of the very best matches in WrestleMania history – if not the best. After being kept apart for 11 years, expectations for this match couldn’t have been any higher, and somehow two men with a combined 40 years in WWE surpassed them. An absolutely inspirational match that serves to remind fans why we love this sport. I’d love to screen this match for every non fan who has stumbled upon WWE, or worse, TNA while flipping through the channels only to see the kind of ignorant booking, slapstick humor, or any of the other junk that unfortunately takes up way too much of the product. This was professional wrestling at its absolute highest form. It was a masterpiece. If ever I was forced to defend professional wrestling at a trial, a DVD of this match would be my entire case.

Following that match would have been a tough act to follow for anyone. And so Edge, John Cena and the Big Show deserve a lot of credit for taking a match that didn’t have a ton of heat going into it to begin with, and really getting the fans wrapped up in it. It was well laid out , well executed and had a thoroughly satisfying conclusion.
John Cena’s ring entrances have become another selling point for WrestleMania each year. I’m already curious to see what he’ll do in Arizona next year.

The Austin celebration was a nice feel good moment, and a fitting tribute to one of the very biggest stars the sport has ever seen. I found it interesting that he said the Hall of Fame last night that this weekend would be his “farewell” to his wrestling career, as he pursued acting as his fulltime profession. This may have been the last we’ll see Stone Cold for quite a while.

I’d love to say that this event ended on a high note, but it most certainly did not. The Triple H – Randy Orton match might have made for a fine main event at almost any other show of the year, but as the main event of WrestleMania 25, it felt absolutely uninspired. It’s a real shame, as these two are capable of so much more, and have had considerably better matches. Their last man standing match at No Mercy 2007 (Triple H’s third match of the night) was phenomenal. But this was just paint by numbers.

When I interviewed Triple H at the Times Square press conference last week, I asked him about what it was like having fans walk out on his WrestleMania X8 main event with Chris Jericho, which followed the amazing Rock-Hulk match. He told me that he had agreed that Hulk-Rock should have gone on last, but against his better judgment the powers that be felt the world title was more important. If that story is true, than it makes it harder to accept why anyone would have thought to put Orton vs. Triple H on last tonight. Everyone should have anticipated Taker-Shawn stealing the show. That said, I would rather have the Orton-HHH match be a dud than having risked fans being a bit burnt out by the time Taker-HBK took the ring as the night’s last match.

That match was too good to jeopardize in any way, even if that was at the expense of the night’s main event.

Overall, I think it was a good show. I’d put it below last year’s WrestleMania XXIV, and above the previous year’s WrestleMania 23 – if only because of the incredible Taker-HBK match.

In a few hours, I’ll be home, and this whole adventure will be over. It’s a bit bittersweet, but I have tons of photos and memories to keep me going for the next year.

I hear Arizona is lovely around this time of year.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

Ugh.

Triple H just beat Randy Orton in what was probably the worst "real" match of the show. Triple H worked his typical match, never taking it out of second gear. It was slow, poldding and predictable, with the kind of big spots that might be suitable for Backlash or Judgment Day but fall way short for the main event of WrestleMania 25.

The fans who stuck around for this match were pretty dead. They can't blame it on having to follow Taker vs. Michaels, because Cena, Show and Edge kept the crowd for their match.

It was a flat final match, but not bad enough to spoil an otherwise very good WrestleMania.

I'll be back later with more thoughts from the show.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

Predictably, the triple threat match was a bit of a downer following the incredible Undertaker - HBK match. But the three men worked hard and pulled it together in the end.It turned out to be an OK match.

They went with the happy endiung, giving Cena the win. There were some pretty innovative spots in this one.

The Hall of Famers are coming out now. Then it's the main event - Triple H and Orton.

I must say, this show has definitely been on the high side of expectations so far. But for the Rey - JBL non-match, everything has been pretty darn good, and some of it has been great. Even the Divas battle royal was fun, thanks to Santina.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

Whata match! WWE needed this match to be great to really make this show memorable, and it exceeded even the highest of expectations. Just phenomenal on every level. The "streak" gimmick only works if WWE can convince fans that it is actually in jeopardy. And, by the end of the match, even I was thinking HBK had a chance to win it.

It's going to beat this for "match of the year." WWE is crazy for not having put it on last. There's a real chance fans will be completely out of the last two matches after that. If you don't think so, just watch the Y2J vs Triple-H match at WrestleMania X8. It followed Hulk vs. Rock.

The crowd is super hot following that match. They better not squander it.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

The show must be running long because Rey beat JBL in about a minute to capture the IC title. After the match JBL announced that he "quit." No Austin.

HBK and Taker is next. I'm turning off my Blackberry for this one.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

The Hardy vs. Hardy match was about what I expected, which wasn't great. Some of the crazy spots were fun to watch, but with the MITB match having taken place just three matches earlier, it was a bit of overkill Plus, I hate "grudge" matches in which the contestants take so much time setting up these intricate high spots. If you were Jeff Hardy, wouldn't you just punch the crap out of your brother rather than lay him on a table, put a chair on top of him, put another table on top of that, and then dive onto it all? It's a bit much for my taste.

JBL is out. I'm guessing we're minutes away from some Stone Cold Stunners and beer drinking. That's why they haven't introduced the Hall of Fame class yet.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

Matt beats jeff in good match

Rey wins ic title in about 30 seconds

Jbl quits

Matt beats jeff in good match

Rey wins ic title in about 30 seconds

Jbl quits

How great was Rick Steamboat? His performance may have been the highlight of the show so far. I was cheering and screaming like a kid for the Dragon.

Overheard in the stands: "He wrestles better than C.M. Punk."

That match had all the makings of a debacle, and it instead was a lot of fun. The bookers laid out the match as good as possible, with Steamboat doing the majority of the work for the legends. He really did look like his old self. Too bad the cameras missed him "skinning the cat."

The stuff with Rourke was just OK. His timing getting into the ring was bad and too drawn out. He's such a flake that WWE should probably consider it a blessing that their original plans for a Jericho-Rourke match fell through.

Matt and Jeff are up next with their garbage match.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

Snuka taps out, piper pinned, steamboat pinned

Jericho wins

Fights flair postmatch, knocks flair out, challenges mickey rourke, rourke knocks down jericho, flair and rourke celebrate

Crowd is super hot. I hope you can hear this on tv

Punk wins mitb

Kid rock performs - i get a soda

Santino wins divamania

Jericho vs legends next

Spanish announcers at one table, other is jr, cole and lawler

And fink comes out, though lilian in ring right now for announcements

In what may have been the best dark match in WrestleMania history, Primo and Carlito Colon upset the Miz and John Morrison to win the unified tag team champsionship.

This was a really good ten minute match with a lot of big high spots, including some out of the ring involving the lumberjacks. Lots of nearfalls for big pops from the crowd.

In the end, Primo reversed a suplex (may have been Morrison's finisher. Hard to tell from my vantage point) into a modified backstabber for the win.

They hugged and celebrated with both sets of belts.

Lilia, the Spanish announce team, JR and Lawler are all coming out now.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

Colons - primo pins morrison - good match

Such big news they did it before the show ...

They all look like ants from up here. Good hot crowd. Hope youll be able to hear at home - harder to capture crowd heat on tv at the bigger arenas.

Again, hope youll pardon my typing!

They're doing the tag titld unification match now????

They started showing some video of last year's WrestleMania highlights on the various screens here, so I can better tell now what it looks like.

They're doing the tag team unfication match now before the show goes live. Grisham and Stryker are doing commentary. With the video on now, the stage essentially looks like Raw's but muxh much bigger. Now with people coming out, I realize how huge the stags screens are compared to the people But the moving stars graphics makes for a cool effect.

The lumberjacks for the tag title are;
Khali, Cryme Tyme, Noble, Haas, Helms, swagger, Goldust, YangN Ziggler, Dreamer, Bourne, R-Truth, Regal, Burchill, Ezekiel and Kendrick, Hawkins and Ryder, Knox and Kozlov.

Morrison and Miz are out. Now the Colons.

I'm outta here. Got a WrestleMania to watch.

After a torturous hour-plus on line in the Texas heat, I have finally arrived at my seat in Reliant Stadium, with about an hour to go before WrestleMania hits the air.

I've been saying that one of the things that will make the difference between whether this year's show is truly memorable or not is how Reliant Stadium is set up. I can now attest to the fact that the place looks... just OK.

From what I can see, it's not nearly as dressed up as it was last year in Orlando, or even the year before in Detroit. Here's the set up: The ring's gotblack ropes with a blue apron that alternately reads WrestleMania and 25th Anniversary on each side.

There are three large HD screens hanging over each side of the ring except that facing the stage. The scoreboards are also displaying video of the event.

There are just two WrestleMania banners hanging grom the rafters on two corners of the building. And the electronic scrolling banner that wraps around the building is also displaying blue Mania graphics.

There's a looong black ramp that goes from the ring to the stage and has many lights along the side.

There's not much to say about the stage. The stage floor itself is like a big starburst, with Mania logos on the sides. There's a giant WrestleMania star logo sort of hovering above. And the stage appears to me just a number of screens in front of a black curtain.

Nothing too fancy. Unless they pull back those curtains to reveal something really magnicifent, then the live set up for tonight's event will indeed be the latest of many, many disappointments with this year's Mania.

The place is about half full now with the the floor pretty filled and the elevated seats largely empty.

I'll be back soon with some observations.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

Houston -- im about 5 rows from the very top of the stadium -- took fordver toget in here, but an impressive setup

Pardon the typos! And wireless setup sucks

Only 2 announce tables at ringside, not 3 ... Hmmn ... Does that mean anything?

Stage has that big star on it and the triangle spikes jutting from front

Will update i hope ... Where's alfonso?

Houston -- im about 5 rows from the very top of the stadium -- took fordver toget in here, but an impressive setup

Pardon the typos! And wireless setup sucks

Only 2 announce tables at ringside, not 3 ... Hmmn ... Does that mean anything?

Stage has that big star on it and the triangle spikes jutting from front

Will update i hope ... Where's alfonso?

Houston -- im about 5 rows from the very top of the stadium -- took fordver toget in here, but an impressive setup

Pardon the typos! And wireless setup sucks

Only 2 announce tables at ringside, not 3 ... Hmmn ... Does that mean anything?

Stage has that big star on it and the triangle spikes jutting from front

Will update i hope ...

- seth

We're now just hours away from WrestleMania 25. While the whole "25th anniversary" deal may be a farce, reaching this milestone is certainly worth celebrating nonetheless. I vividly recall watching and listening to the hype about the first WrestleMania back when I was 7 years old. Wrestling has come a long way since then, for both the better and the worse. But WrestleMania remains the true super event of the sport. Other wrestling companies may be quick to label their premiere annual event "our WrestleMania," but, of course, the truth is that nothing can even come close.

And that goes for many sports and entertainment industries outside of wrestling. If you ask me, the production that goes into WrestleMania outdoes the World Series and the Super Bowl. Only last year's opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympic Games looked more impressive than what I witnessed in Orlando last year.

Make no mistake about it - This year's WrestleMania card is the weakest its been in about ten years. You would probably have to go back to WrestleMania 2000, with its myriad three-and-four-way matches to find a more lackluster line up. Some of that was out of WWE's hands, as was the case with the Mickey Rourke-Chris Jericho match falling through. In most other cases, it's the byproduct of inefficient booking throughout the year that saved almost nothing special for WrestleMania.

But, despite this card feeling as rehashed and stale as any in Mania history, I am still looking forward to a great show. For one, WWE is truly filled with the very best this industry has to offer, and I don't doubt their capacity to deliver the goods on the biggest stage of them all. We may have seen Randy Orton vs. Triple H dozens of times over the years, but I do believe they will work their hardest to make tonight feel special. That goes for most of the other matches as well.

That's why it's impossible to judge WrestleMania on match quality alone. Whether it's Vince McMahon getting his head shaved by Donald Trump, fighter jets soaring over the Citrus Bowl, or watching Ricky Steamboat dance backstage with Slick, the show is filled each year with those "WrestleMania moments" that transcend star ratings. Tonight will be no different.

But, in the end it is about the matches and their winners and losers. And so here are my quick WrestleMania picks:

WWE Championship - Triple H vs. Randy Orton: Match order can tell you a lot about a show. If this match goes on last, as most predict it will, then I'd say Triple H is a sure thing to win this match and send the fans home happy. I predict the show will close with the entire McMahon family celebrating mid-ring at the "25th Anniversary" of the worldwide sensation they created.

World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match: I think two scenarios are most likely. The most obvious is that WWE's top star, John Cena, wins the title here. Because Vickie said her heart woudl go to the winner of this match, this could lead to a comedy storyline in which Vickie falls for Cena. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and pick The Big Show to win the title, get the girl, and extend his rivalry with Edge.

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels: It's ironic that the most anticipated of all the WrestleMania matches will likely also have the most predictable outcome. The only real question is whether Taker will win with the choke or the Tombstone. This one indeed is worth the proverbial price of admission. And for the record, Edge told me in our interview earlier this week that he and a lot of others in the locker room felt this match should go on last. You'll get no argument from me there.

Jericho vs. The Legends: With Jericho being such en effective heel and fans hating him so much, the only satisfying conclusion to this match will have him lying on his back as a legend gets the pin. I expect Jericho will get through Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka before being stopped by Ricky Steamboat, who of course will get some help from Ric Flair and Mickey Rourke.

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy: This hardly feels like Bret vs. Owen at WrestleMania X, but I suspect WWE ig going in the same direction with this brother vs. brother feud. Matt will get the decisive win tonight, adding fuel to this so-far disappointing feud. To me, the exclusion of Jeff Hardy from a main event spot on the show is the biggest booking mistake in a card filled with them.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Over the years we've had such top stars as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton, Edge and Jeff Hardy compete in this match. This year, it is definitively a showcase of mid-carders. And as such, there;s not much intrigue in this year's installment of this WrestleMania tradition. Because he appears the most likely to get a main event push in the next year, I'll pick MVP as the winner. And I'll make a second prediction: whoever wins this match will be the first MITB winner NOT to win the world title when he cashes it in.

JBL vs. Mysterio: JBL will retain his IC title. The real mystery is in JBL's hyped big announcement? I know there's talk of him retiring and returning to the Smackdown announce table to fill Tazz' vacancy. It might be that. But it seems to me that this may be the perfect opportunity to get Steve Austin on this show. I'll guess JBL's announcement will somehow disparage Austin (perhaps JBL will proclaim himself the greatest wrestler ever from Texas) causing the Rattlesnake to come to the ring, dole out a stunner and drink some beers.

Morrison & The Miz vs. The Colons: M&M show up on ever brand anyway, so might as well make them WWE's unified tag team champions.

25 Diva Battle Royal: The most sound prediction I've heard about this one came from Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on the Wrestler Observer radio show: If Mae Young is in this match, she has to win it. There's no way they're tossing an 80-something-year-old woman out of the ring.

I'm really looking forward to the show. I'll check in with some live observations once I'm in my seat. See you then.

-Click here to see photos from WrestleMania

*** -- at least, according to WWE.

Fort Stockton, Texas -- It's not even dawn yet here, but I still have a few miles on the road before Mania, so I'm up, albeit without much sleep. Would have gotten more, but I kept having nightmares about Vince's (alleged) spray-on tan at last night's Hall of Fame ceremony.

I mean, come on, are you kidding me? The guy's an (alleged) billionaire and he comes out looking like Grimace from the McDonalds commercials?

Anyway, here's a couple of quick random thoughts for ya before I head out (with Limp Bizkit's "My Way" -- the theme from WM X7 -- soon to be blasting on the car stereo):

Continue reading "Seth's Mania Journal: It's Finally Here -- Today's the One-Year Anniversary of WrestleMania 25! ***" »

A few quick notes about Rick Steamboat's induction:

.He struck a great looking collar and elbow tie up with Flair on his way out.

.He pointed out Mickey Rourke, who is in the audience, and told him this is his "Oscar."

.He thanked his ex-wife Bonnie, who is also here and was crying, for giving him a great son and for making his tights.

.He told Jericho he would take him to school tomorrow. Jericho stood and they had a stare down.

.He told stories of working with a young Triple-H, Austin and advising Johnny Ace to carry his skateboard in his other arm. Ace is now his boss.

McMahon is coming out for Austin's induction. Biggest pop of the night. He has a pink tie.

Watts' video package said he pushed black wrestlers and "advocated" for Ron Simmons to becone the first black world champion. Someone should tell that to Hank Aaron.

Jim Ross is out, and makes fun of Michael Hayes' hair, which he said was styled by DOG The Bounthunter's hairdresser.

He said Watts went from playing football to headlining for Vince Sr. in the Garden in three short years. He said Watts wrestled in various territories and ate the eye of a Navy Seal. He said Watts got into booking and was tough on his wrestlers. Lots of stories about individual wrestlers including HBK. Watts would fire you if you lost a bar fight.

"Every day that I worked with Bill, he demanded perfection... He instilled in me that being OK or being average was not acceptable," Ross said. "I am a better man for working for Bill Watts. I love playing for my coach."

"Boomer sooner!"

Watts is out with a tan hat.Crowd reception is mild. Clearly more than half the crowd has no idea who he is.

Watts put over JR. He said he's turning 70 in May "And what a birthdau present this is."

He pointed out his family in the crowd, including Erik Watts, who is a bit chubbier and grayer than we last saw him.

He said WWE is the keeper of history and wondered what took them so long to put him in the hall."I came out of the womb ready," he said.

Watts said wrestling is in good hands with the "studs" here tonight.

He told some old stories, including a former tag partner referring to him as "Big Dick Watts" on a promo, and tripping and falling on his face on the way to the ring when a fan called out to him, "Hello Big Dick."

He told stories of working with Bruno Sammartino, and how strong he was. "Back then we didn't even know what a steroid was." Yikes - Bruno and steroids in the same story. Who invited this guy?

Watts is waying over his time.
He said he cried for four days when Ernie Ladd died.

He said he never so proud as when Ron Simmons won the title. He recalled the many black stars he worked with - Atlas, Rocky Johnson, Koko and others. He put over Dusty and Gordon Solie.

He remembered meeting Austin in WCW. Big pop. He remembered fining Michaels when he first worked for him, and said he is "so proud" of him. He put over Dick Murdoch and Jim Duggan.

Andre and Murdoch are having a drinking contest, Watts said.

Uh-oh. Some scattered "What!" heckles have started.

Watts says he looks forward to going to heaven and meeting his hero Jesus. They finally played his music and gave him the boot. Whew.

Going live in 1 minute. That's all for me until I'm back at the hotel. Tune into USA to see the rest.

I saw Finkel at Axxess last night, where he emceed from the ring. His voice is so great. I miss hearing it. But its incredible how much weight he's put on. He's huge.

Mene Gene is out to induct The Fink. Grisham called him his "personal hero." Gotta love Mean Gene.

Gene is sharp in a gold tie. He's reading from a prepared speech, going on about an announcer that is adored throughout the world and is one of a kind. "But enough about me."

Okerlund says Finkel is the longest running WWE employee, came up with the name "WrestleMania," and has appeared at all 25 Manias.

"He is a walking encyclopedia," and blogs from home most nights for WWE.com.

He's the first ring announcer to be inducted into the Hall of Fame - Howard Finkel.

"Good evening Houston," Finkel bellowed as only he could. He's reading a speech.

"Never in my wildest dreams" did he think he'd parlay his god given voice into a career as a ring announcer. He can't remember how many matches he's introduced but he treated everyone as a main event.

His milestones: His debut in Connecticut at a WWE show. A fan told him then the world would find out he was "the very best at what you do."

I just noticed a giant clock on the otherside of the arena that faces the stage and counts down the speakers. Fink had about 5 minutes.

The superstars in front of him are the greatest performers ever. He's recalling being a Bushwacker, a member of the APA and Jericho's lackey. He recalled his "epic" tuxedo match with Harvey Whippleman. He recited a little rhyme about his career.

18 seconds left!

He's listed the many names he announced as a world title winners and recalling a single word that made his calls memorable. And so stealing from that he announced himself as the "NEW!" inductee into the Hall of Fame. Classic.

Bill Watts is up next. The crowd seems relatively indifferent.

No mention in the extended video package of the many Von Erichs' deaths.

Michael Hayes is out to "Bad Street USA." He's got a long black coat, cowboy hat and bolo tie.

He said, with respect to the Guerreros and Funks, no Texas family transformed wrestling like the Von Erichs. He told the story of Fritz becoming a wrestler, and said as successful as he was in the ring "he was more successful at home with Doris" with whom he pumped out all the Von Erich boys.

He talked about the revolutionary look of WCCW from the Sportatorium on TV.

He talked about the evolution of the "greatest tag team rivalry" in history - the Freebirds and Von Erichs.

Hayes said the Vin Erichs were loved from fans all over the world, and they loved them back. They were "a Texas legend, an American tradition and a worldwide sensation."

"The surviving member" of the Von Erichs is out, Kevin. He looks great and got a huge pop.

"If it looked a lot of fun to do, it was... I don't regret a thing," he said.

He started wrestling for 35 dollars in Houston. He's amazed by how much it's changed and called WWE "the very best of entertainment."

He wished his brothers and dad "were here to absord this great moment with me." He gave props to the Hayes, Buddy Roberts and Terry Gordy.

He talked about wrestling in Africa just after Kerry died. He said people said he was "out of brothers, but no I wasn't" because he still had the Freebirds.

"A lot of people might say 'Aw poor Kev,' but let me tell you this - 'Lucky Kev.' The Von Erichs are not gone." He pointed out the various Von Erichs in the audience including his kids.

"I worked with the best men in the business" He said David was a scientist, Kerry "the most pwerful man" he knew. "I just threw kicks."

A great, classy speech by Kevin.

Next up: The Fink.

Koko's video package included footage from his territory days as one half of the "Pretty Young Things." The crowd laughed at footage from the "Piledriver" music video.

Honky Tonk is out to induct him. He's got the black Elvis suit on and really needs a haircut.

He saidd he met Koko 30 years ago in a barn. He saw Koko having a match by himself. He got in the ring with him, "and for the next nine months he beat the living heck out of me."

"I knew from the very beginning that Koko was heading for stardom... There was no one out there that worked any harder than Koko."

He tells JBL that Koko had the. "Dropkick from Hell." He said he thought he had it tough having to travel with a guitar until he realized Koko had to travel with a bird.

He told a Franky story then introduced "The Birdman"

Koko is a bit overweight, but looks good. He's got his shades and a parrot and is doing "The Bird."

"How sweet it is. Its good to be back in the WWE one more time," Koko said as he took out his prepared speech and put his reading glasses on.

Koko thanked God and talked about growing up in Union City, TN, playing baseball and football in high school. Frankie is talking into the mic, interrupting Koko. Hilarious.

Koko recalls Plowboy Frazier - "Uncle Elmer" - introducing him to Jerry Lawler. He wrestled in Tennessee for years until getting a call from Howard Finkel

Frankie is grabbing at Koko's speech. "Frankie, will you let me finish this?"

He thanked his family, who screamed from the crowd. His last thanks is to WWE "for giving me the opportunity to share my wrestling talent with fans all over the world."

No "thanks" to the original Frankie who died in a fire a few years back.

Grisham jokes that Frankie left "present" on the podium.

Von Erichs are up. Their name got a huge pop.

Show starts with the new "WWE Classics on Demand" sweeper, replacing the old WWE 24/7 one.

Grisham asks all the superstars to stand and be recognized. Just spotted Harley Race, Maria, Matt Hardy and Mysterio.

The Funks are up first.

They've got an extended version of the video they showed on TV that includes footage from Terry's ECW days. What, no Jimmy Jack?

Dusty is out to indust them. He's looking good all in black and dancing with who I think is Kelly Kelly on stage. "What a magical night we have uh-pown-us" Dusty said.

He said Dory is what they called in the old west, a "shootist." He said Terry was a different story. He wrestled him 3,000 times and said Terry was extreme before Tommy Dreamer made ECW famous (huh?) Both are "national treasures," he said.

He remembers the Funks calling him an "egg sucking dog." Terry is "the last surviving outlaw in captivity." Here are the Funks. That was kept way short.

Dory's got a black hat. Both are wearing matching black suits with white ties. Terry shouted into the Mike. Dory is reading a prepared speech, recalling the advice he received from his dad. He drove 2 million miles, flown 3 million. Wrestled thousands of matches. "If I had the chance, would I do it all again? In a NY minute, you bet I would."

Dory thanks promoters, peers, family, doctors including his son, attorneys - "You have saved me over and over," the Guerrero family (pop), Hart family and Gene Kinisky, who he beat for the world title. He mentions that he trained 6 people on tomorrow's show - Edge, Christian, Mickey James, the Hardys and Mark Henry. He thanked WWE for having the "good sense" to hold the "greatest live event on earth... WrestleMania 26." That was not my typo.

Terry is shouting. Thanks wife, daughters, grandkids. "They want to be WWE superstars one day but they have to get an education first. There's no room for dummies in the WWE." He said this is for "ECW."

Terry reads a touching speech about wrestlers he said was written by a great wrestler, Teddy Roosevelt. "Now the music has died. The bell rings no more. They say you're as old as you feel and I feel 105 and I'm ready to go. And I want to go in a wrestling ring." He said he wants to have a battle royal in heaven. "In heaven every seat is front row ringside" but it's also "BYOB."

They cut Terry off with his music.

It seems WWE is committed to moving things along this year. I can't blame them.

Nect up: Koko B. Ware. Scattered boos.

Christian just arrived in a tan suit and wuth a beautiful blonde.

They're coming in packs now: Finlay, Shad Gaspar, Tito Santana, DDP, Tommy Dreamer, Sgt. Slaughter, Edge, kingston, was that Sean Stasiak?, Duggan, Puper, kendrick, R-Truth, Big Show, Greg Valentine, Mark Henry, Jeff Hardy in a white suit, Pat Patterson, the Miz, Teddy Long, Punk, Melina & Morrison, Regal, Jericho scowling as always (huge boos), Nick Bockwinkle looking great, Blackjack Lanza, JBL, Randy Orton, the Colons including Carlos Sr., Ron Simmons, Bobby Heenan looking a bit like Roger Ebert does these days and Mae Young.

The McMahons come in last: Triple-H with Steph, Shane and Marissa and Linda.

Show's about to begin.

Todd Grisham just came out to welcome the fans. He told them to note the signs posted throughout the arena (I didn't notice them) that tell fans to be respectful throughout the ceremony and not shout any "cat calls."

"You will be removed immediately," Grisham warned. Scary.

The wrestlers and their families are coming in. Vickie Guerrero is the first star out. She's dressed in a yellow gown and is accompanied by two young women who I assume are her daughters.

There are a lot of old timers sitting near the front. They must be the families of tonight's inductees.

Here's Tony Atlas in a tan suit. He got a nice pop from the crowd. He's seated way in the back, as are all the early arrivers.

Hornswoggle is here, in a dark suit and red tie. He got a big response. Did I mention I saw his house earlier today.

Steve Armstrong, Funaki and Billy Kidman are here. Kidman bowed for the cameras. I love dissecting the politics of the seating assignments. It's like a wedding. There are a lot of developmental guys in the back.

ECW champ Jack Swagger is looking sharp in a pinstriped blue suit and yellow tie.

FCW trainer Steve "Skinner" Keirn is in all black with a red tie.

First "big" name; John Cena, who was soundly booed. He's got a dark gray suit, light blue shirt and red tie. No pimp outfit this year?

Mike Knox looks eerily like Hillbilly Jim when he cleans up.

The first "dressed down" superstar: JTG, in an air brushed white leather jacket.

Mickey James is lovely as always in a black and whitw gown.

HBK and Rebecca Hickenbottom are out. Absolutely gorgeous. Rebecca looks good too. That was a joke.

Cody Rhodes is here with his gal. Gerry Brisco and family. Mike Rotundo, looking very Schyster-esque in his tie and glasses. The Ted Dibiases are here.

I just heard from someone that for the tickets to this year's event failed to mention the dress code.Someone's head should roll.

The whole Khali family is here. They're adorable.

Quickly: Jimmy Snuka, Jamie Noble, Ezekiel, Arn Anderson.

I'll be back soon.

Ijust got to my seat at the Toyota Center, where this year WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony is set to begin in less than an hour.

The place looks great, with loads of spotlights scanning the arena, two massive high def screens on either side of the stage, and a large electronic banner screen hovering above the stage.

The stave itself is well lit with an arc of lights hanging overhead. The podium in crystal clear. Behing are a number of tower walls that look like pane windows and another HD screen. There are no seats set up on the stage, so perhaps they will not have the inductees and their presenters remain on the stage after each induction.

I have noticed one very disappointing thing about this year's ceremony: the apparent disregard for the business dress code by most fans. Every time I've attended one of these, there are always some fans who show up in their street clothes (I was reluctantly one of them last year after running late and not having time to change before the event.) But I'd say about 75 to 80 percent of the fans in the building and lined up outside are in T-Shirts & jeans or shorts and sneakers.

Another thing that made me shake my head: Among the many Steve Austin items available at the concession stand is a black and white foam "What?!" thingy. Why in the world would WWE do anything to encourage annoying and disrespectful "What?" chants during tonight's ceremony?

Anyway, I wanted to offer a few more observations before the wrestlers and their families come in and take their seats.

I walked all around Reliant Park, and got my first glimpse of Downtown Houston while heading in for the HOF ceremony. And still I have seen nary a single poster, billboard or sheet of paper stapled to a utility pole promoting WrestleMania. Honestly, were it not for the swarms of wrestling fans wandering the streets, there would be almost no indication that what should be a major attraction for a city if taking place here.

Even at Reliant Stadium, which is hosting the show, there are no banners hanging. There are, however, banners promoting the rodeo event coming to the show. I don't know who's to blame, but it would seem somebody dropped the ball.

I dropped in on the afternoon session of Fan Axxess today and had another good time. I was able to climb inside the set up ring with my son and take some photos that will someday haunt the kid. I got a real kick out of the "Hornswoggle's House" attraction set up under the ring. It includes a tiny living room set and all amenities a leprechaun would need to live under a ring.

Randy Orton was in the main ring for a lengthy Q&A session with the fans. He offered some candid answers.

There’s nothing like a nice hotel room. And this is nothing like one.

Between the cigarette burns in the sheets of my non-smoking room, the rubber hand holding my closet door closed, and the TV remote control that will allow you only to scroll down for channels – and not up – suffice to say I am not staying in the Plaza. I am however, within walking distance of Reliant Park, and that perk goes a long way.

After being delayed in Chicago for two hours, I finally got into Houston around 6 p.m. yesterday. Now, while I’ve only driven from the airport here, and a bit around Reliant Park, I haven’t seen so much as a poster promoting the fact that WrestleMania is taking place in this city.

When I’ve visited different cities for WrestleManias in recent years, there’s always been plenty of local promotion. Detroit took the cake. With giant billboards all over the freeways, banners hanging from lamp posts, and posters on the storefronts of nearly every downtown bar, the Motor City definitely had a “big event” feel for several days leading up to the big show.

Chicago, Orlando, and even New York City five years looked more amped up for WrestleMania than Houston does. Maybe when I do some more driving today and head downtown for the Hall of Fame, my opinion will change. But so far, I give Houston a “D” for its WrestleMania spirit.

I stopped by the last session of Fan Axxess last night and had a pretty good time. In the early part of this decade, the Axxess shows were an annual highlight of WrestleMania weekend. During Mania X8 weekend in Toronto, I had a better time at the Fan Axxess shows than I did at Mania itself. They scaled the fan convention back plenty by the following year in Seattle. Several years ago, WWE did away with the Axxess events, replacing them with Axxess “tours” that would bring a few of the attraction’s features on the road to malls and the like.

Axxess is back in a big way this year. WWE leased the massive convention space at the Reliant Center, right next door to Reliant Stadium where WrestleMania will be held. The place looks great. There’s a ring with an entrance stage and ramp where live matches are held (I caught part of Cryme Tyme vs. The Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel last night) and where stars give interviews; a number of autograph tables with gigantic lines, another ring surrounded by the “Hell in a Cell” cage that fans could step into for photo ops, the Undertaker’s graveyard – with tombstones for all his fallen WrestleMania opponents, and many other attractions.

My favorite: The memorabilia tent that included such items as Vince McMahon’s old mustard colored sports jacket from his announcing days, and one of Ric Flair’s robes.

Of course, there are tons of booths selling Mania merchandise as well, including glossy programs for WrestleMania and the Hall of Fame, and an “I Was There” T-Shirt. I think I’ll just tell people I was there and save my money.

Each session lasts about four hours, but I was a tired, and a little bored, after about half that, so I left in the middle of the annual THQ superstar video game challenge, held inside the ring. Some of the pairings in the contest were intriguing this year, including Dusty Rhodes vs. Cody Rhodes and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase vs. his young namesake.

The highlight of my night – being trapped inside an action figure box. No kidding. They have these oversized WWE action figure containers that you can walk into and get a photo taken. I took my kid into one, and while I was in it, Jeff Hardy left his post signing autographs and headed right toward my area, creating something of a mob scene. Scared that my son would get trampled in the chaos, I was forced to remain in the giant action figure box until the coast was clear.

I may check out another Axxess session later today. Indeed, WrestleMania weekend brings out the unabashed mark in me, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a photo with me and my kid inside a WWE ring, surrounded by a steel cage.

I’ll be back tonight, live blogging from the Hall of Fame starting at around 7 p.m. Stop by here to read about some of the candid comments and stories that won’t air during the one-hour USA telecast.

Phoenix -- So I'm on my way to Houston via all points west (confused yet? so am I !), currently right near the site of next year's WrestleMania 26, which will take place in Glendale, Ariz.

I'm starting to get pumped for this year's show. Sure the build hasn't been terrific, but I'll be there in person with 70,000 people for the biggest show of the year. I might complain about WWE from time to time (OK, most times), but I do so because I really do love pro wrestling, and shows like this still get me pumped up.

Heading towards Houston does bring back memories of WrestleMania X-Seven, a show I worked while I was with WWE, and still what I believe to be the single greatest pro wrestling card of all time. Here's some memories of my weekend working that show.

Continue reading "Seth's WrestleMania 25 journal: Hello from the site of WrestleMania 26" »

Greetings from Islip MacArthur Airport, where I am waiting to board a flight bound for... Chicago!

What? You say, WrestleMania is in Houston this year? Unfortunately, I've got a layover in Chi-Town, where I'll catch a connecting flight to Houston. I should be arriving there around 4 p.m.

To further complicate things, I've got my 11-week-old son with me. This is sure to be an adventure in many ways.

Because I'm blogging via Blackberry during this trip, please forgive the unusually large amount of typos. That's saying a lot.
Anyhow, we've run into all kinds of technical problems posting up my one-on-one video interviews from the WrestleMania press conference in Times Square earlier this week. So, seeing as how some of what I heard actually has to do with Sunday's big show, I thought I'd stop in here with a few notes from my chats with Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Edge and Triple H:

Ric Flair:
I asked Flair how tough it would be for him to watch from the sidelines as Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Rick Steamboat compete on the big WrestleMania stage this Sunday. He said it actually isn't as tough as some people might think. He reiterated what he's said about respecting Shawn Michaels too much to go back on his word, and said he's at peace with his decision.

We talked a bit about his first WrestleMania match in 1992, and he spoke about how much fun it was working with Randy Savage and Liz, and how great their storyline was.

I asked him about his recent experience working in Ring of Honor. He said he generally enjoyed it and thought ROH was a company that had a lot going for it and had a lot of respect for the business, but still needed some direction.

I asked him about whether he regrets agreeing to the retirement stipulation in his match last year, and he said he sort of did, because he still feels he can go. He said he's kept himself in good condition, training with his son Reid, and feels like he could wrestle tomorrow if he wanted to.

I asked how he thought Piper, Snuka and Steamboat would look Sunday night, and he said that they would all look good. In particular, he said Steamboat would blow everyone away with his work, adding that Steamboat had been training a lot for Sunday's match and looks fantastic, although he couldn't attest to his physical shape.

I asked him how far away we were from seeing a Reid Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat Jr. match and he said it would definitely happen, and likely sooner than many people would imagine.

Mark Henry
I asked Mark Henry whether he had any reservations about working in a ladder match , and he said he had none. Asked about the fact that there had never been anyone his size in a ladder match, he said that there had never been a big man like him. Asked if he was confident he could actually climb up the ladder, he said he only planned on climbing up once.

We talked about his introduction into WWE 13 years ago when he was an Olympic hopeful who many people thought would never make it as a pro wrestler. Asked why he has stuck it out so long, he said he truly loved the business and was committed to it.

I brought up last year's situation with Michael Hayes and asked him how they get along these days. He said he was a business man and comes to work every day simply to do his job.

I asked him, ss an advocate for African American wrestlers, what his thoughts were on Koko B. Ware's induction into the Hall of Fame. He said Koko deserved the honor, as does everyone else getting in this year.

I asked what were his thoughts on naybe someday joining the Hall of Fame, and he said he would be honored to, but would like to do so not because of his accomplishments as a black pro wrestler, but rather his overall merit.

Gotta board my plane now. Talk to you soon.

Since we’re talking all things WrestleMania, I pose this admittedly inane question: What was the coolest WrestleMania logo ever?

I’m still fond of the “classic” WrestleMania logos of the earliest ‘Manias. By ‘Mania X, WWE started seriously tweaking the design. A lot of the more recent Manias have stayed fairly true to the original logo (X22, XXIV), while some have almost completely abandoned it (WrestleMania 23.)

Some have stuck with the original Roman numeral format, while many have gone with standard numbers.
Some have even used a combination of both (Manias “X-Seven and X8.)

I for one, miss the connecting “R” & “S” – last seen at WrestleMania 22.

My favorites: WrestleMania 2, with the big red “2” that screams “80s”; WrestleMania XI, with its moody black light effect; WrestleMania XIX, with its bulky letters and soothing blue and white color scheme; and WrestleMania 21 – largely because my wife went to the trouble of drawing the logo on a cake for the pay per view party we hosted that year.

My least favorites: IX (the Roman coliseum theme stunk all the way around); 13, which debuted the use of standard numbers; XX, which was too clunky and drab; and 23, which just didn’t look like a WrestleMania logo at all.

This year’s star-logo is OK, although I, too, hate that it repeats the stupid “25th Anniversary” misnomer.

Trust me – I appreciate how absolutely trivial this is.

Will Triple-H successfully defend his WWE Championship - and the McMahon family name, or will Randy Orton win his second consecutive 'Mania world title match?

Will Chris Jericho embarass Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and Rick Steamboat, or will the legends prove they still have some gas left in the tank?

Who will be this year's Mr. Money in the Bank? Is there any chance "The Streak" could end this year?

Make your picks for this Sunday's winners at the Steel Cage's WrestleMania 25 poll here.

A few in house notes regarding the big wrestling weekend.

. As Seth has already mentioned, He and I will both be in Houston for this Sunday’s show – on our own dimes, no less. It’s tough to sell Newsday’s editors on this being a legitimate work assignment. Nonetheless, we will, in fact, be doing plenty of work for this blog. In addition to WrestleMania on Sunday, I’ll be at the Hall of Fame Saturday night, and will try to catch at least one of the Axxess shows. Like last year, I hope to regularly check in here with all the sites and sounds of Houston, including everything you didn’t see and hear on the USA telecast of the HOF ceremony.

. There have been some technical difficulties in posting some of the interviews I conducted at yesterday’s WrestleMania press conference. I hope to get them up here ASAP.

. Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net conducted an hour-long chat last night with yours truly. We talked all things WrestleMania, and also broke a bit of news about Sunday’s show. It was a lot of fun and you can check it out by signing up for VIP benefits at the site. Highly recommended.

. I’m also going to try to be on the Over the Ropes radio show this Saturday from 9-10 pm on mywcwp.com.

. Also check out the poll we just put up here, where you could make your WrestleMania picks. I believe we’ve got 25 names for the Diva battle royale up – although some of there are speculative. It should be fun seeing the results of the Taker-HBK poll. I’m guessing 95% Taker.

. Be sure to download your official Steel Cage WrestleMania program – guaranteed virus free. Putting together a nifty little ‘Mania program has been a hobby of mine since I was a kid and I’d do it on my mom’s typewriter.

. Thanks to all of you, March was the best month ever for the Steel Cage in the year-plus that Seth and I have been doing this thing. We had more than 181,000 hits in March. I’m sure a lot of that could be attributed to general WrestleMania madness, but I’d like to think that my riveting WrestleMania retrospective series is responsible for at least a dozen or so of those hits.

As an Oscars junkie, I've always appreciated the various ballots I can pull out of newspapers or print from web sites and have with me to help me keep score as I watch the show.

That was the inspiration behind this - the official "Steel Cage" WrestleMania 25 program. Download, print it up, and keep it with you as you watch the big show on Sunday.

Trust me, when you're on hour number three of the show, and the Divas battle royal hits the ring, you'll find yourself asking, "How many matches are left?" This should give you the answer.

Download file

I got back not long ago from attending WWE’s WrestleMania 25 press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square (formerly the WWF New York restaurant.)
Nothing terribly newsworthy took place, but there were plenty of good promos, some laughs, and the usual antics from the unruly New York fans.

I got a number of one-on-one interviews with some of the talent after the press conference, including Ric Flair, Edge and Triple H, and I hope to bring you video highlights and transcripts from the interviews in the coming days. Highlights include Triple H talking about the Ultimate Warrior and Chris Benoit, Flair talking about the problems in ROH, and Edge talking about his hesitation in Vickie Guerrero becoming an on-air character so soon after her husband’s death.

Here’s a quick run through of the day’s events:

Continue reading "WrestleMania 25 press conference highlights" »

Not a ton of time this week, so away we go:

WWE Title: Triple H vs. Randy Orton. As I mentioned recently, the only logical finish for this match is for Orton to win the title. He's the hottest act in the company right now, and a world title win at WrestleMania would help keep his momentum going. Fans aren't exactly screaming for a Triple H win to defend Stephanie's honor (which is kinda like defending Kane's hairline -- do fans buy her character as a babyface at all?), and an Orton title run with the babyface chase is where the money is. Forget Orton being a heel -- he's a STAR right now, and WWE needs to give him the ball and let him run with it.

World Title: Edge vs. John Cena vs. Big Show. I would love to see Edge retain here. But with your other world title match likely being won by a heel, I think they'll go the babyface route and put the title on Cena. It's WrestleMania after all. I just wonder if he'll adapt this title belt with the spinners too -- isn't it kinda odd that they still use the Cena belt on the show he's not even on anymore?

Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker -- Taker.

Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy. Matt has to win here for this feud to mean anything. I read one suggestion online that would have Matt win this match, then Jeff somehow securing a spot in Money in the Bank and winning that, which would be very cool, and very reminiscent of the "Owen beats Bret, then Bret wins the World Title" thing at WM X. Would make sense too, since Jeff was slated for Money in the Bank last year before a wellness suspension.

Money in the Bank: MVP vs. Shelton vs. Finlay vs. Henry vs. Kane vs. Kofi vs. Punk vs. Christian. Assuming no Jeff Hardy surprises, I'd love to see Christian or Shelton win, but they won't. Finlay, Henry and Kane make no sense. I'm going MVP in this one.

Chris Jericho vs. Snuka, Piper and Steamboat. Jericho eliminates Snuka and Steamboat. Flair and Rourke get involved (possibly with others just to get some surprise cameos) and Piper wins. I'm predicting Piper gets the win (rather than Steamboat) because he's more mainstream. I do think Steamboat will do most of the work though.

IC Title: JBL vs. Mysterio. JBL wins, then retires as IC Champ in his home state.

Tag Title Unification: Miz & Morrison vs. Carlito & Primo. I'll take the popcorn and large soda please. (Miz & Morrison win)

25-Diva Battle Royal. Don't care. Would like to see Trish win (is she even in it?), but would make more sense for a current diva to win.

Enjoy the show! Alfonso and I will both be in Houston to watch, and will be checking in with updates and analysis. And don't forget to check out the members section of prowrestling.net, where I'll be joining Jason Powell after the show for an exclusive audio recap.

-- Seth

I'm sure Alfonso will be updating you on his plans for this coming weekend in Texas, but I wanted to let you know I had some interesting plans of my own -- I'll actually be near Houston on Sunday, so I'll be attending WrestleMania 25 in person.

I won't be backstage or anything (doubt I would be welcome!), but will instead be among the masses -- the 70,000 people expected to attend this year's show.

I'm definitely a more mainstream fan these days -- I didn't even attend the Nassau Coliseum house show 15 minutes from my house last month, but when the opportunity to attend WrestleMania presented itself, it was too good to pass up.

To this day, working WrestleMania X-Seven weekend in Houston during my WWE days is a great memory, so the chance to relive that will be just awesome.

I'm hoping to be able to post live updates here at the Steel Cage blog during the show, and after the show, I'll be doing an audio recap with Jason Powell over at prowrestling.net to share my opinions from beign in the crowd in Texas. Hope you'll be able to join us.

And hope you'll enjoy the show. I'll actually be watching this time!

-- Seth

Be warned, this is a long one:

The Invasion angle. Bret Hart’s WCW run. Jeff Hardy winning his first world title at an off-brand pay per view.

The halls of pro wrestling history are filled with missed opportunities. But perhaps none was bigger than that missed at WrestleMania VIII.

The WWF had the chance at the time to present the dream match of all dream matches – a match so epic in its proportions that fans talked about it, and magazines wrote about it, for years before it ever seemed there was any possibility of it happening.
And in the spring of 1992, the match was served up to the WWF on a silver platter – Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair.

I’m not sure I want to live in a world where anybody would pick Sid Eudy over Ric Flair using just about any criteria, other than to flesh out a softball team. But, somehow, Vince McMahon – the man widely considered to be the greatest wrestling promoter in history – made the call to go with Sid in the main event of WrestleMania VIII rather than Flair.

And with that almost unforgiveable decision, the WWF squandered the opportunity to make WrestleMania VIII arguably one of the very best, and undoubtedly most historically significant, wrestling shows of all time.

Continue reading "WrestleMania VIII" »

First of all, let’s drop this “24 WrestleManias in 24 Days” charade. At this pace, I’ll be lucky to complete them in 24 months. Nevertheless, I’m plowing ahead, and you can count on this being a regular feature here in the cage going forward.

For the record, the Pro Wrestling Torch site tried to knock out a series of roundtable audio discussions on all the WrestleManias in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania 22 back three years ago. They’re currently on WrestleMania IX. So I’m actually well ahead of the game.

For many of the same reasons WrestleMania 2 remains near and dear to my heart, I have a fondness for the undisputably mediocre WrestleMania VII. As I’ve written, after taking something of a hiatus from the wrestling world during 1989, watching a videotape of WrestleMania VI brought me back in a big way. By 1991, I was a bona fide WWF superfan, and was revved up for WrestleMania VII months before it came around.

Like most of the early WrestleManias, there wasn’t much thought given to putting together a card that would deliver quality matches, but rather one that would showcase most of the company’s colorful characters, feature a few big grudge matches, and have Hulk Hogan celebrating at the end of the night.

To that end, this event actually wasn’t so bad. The night’s big matches delivered, at the very least, some feel good moments. And one even delivered a heck of a match, thanks largely to Randy Savage.

But this WrestleMania is largely remembered not for what it did deliver, but for what it did not – namely the largest attendance for a wrestling show ever.

Continue reading "WrestleMania VII" »

The obvious choice for the last match at a WrestleMania would normally be a world title match, but each of them this year has an innate problem:

-- The only logical finish for the Triple H vs. Randy Orton match is for Orton to win the title, but having a heel victory in the main event of WrestleMania is not how you want your fans to walk away from the biggest show of the year. It sucked the life out of WrestleMania 2000 when HHH won the main event as a heel.

-- Although I expect babyface Cena to walk out of the Triple Threat with Edge and Big Show as champion, the match just has no "oomph" to it. I really wish they'd just done a singles match with Edge and Cena, which has a "WrestleMania" feel to it and could have been a slam-dunk as a last match.

So what would I do?

Continue reading "What should be the last match at WrestleMania 25?" »

. WWE went with just about the worst of all possible options in having Chris Jericho take on Jimmy Snuka, Rick Steamboat and Roddy Piper with Ric Flair in their corner at WrestleMania. I understand WWE was forced to change their original plans when Mickey Rourke pulled out of the match, and plans B and C – likely Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin – just weren’t possible. But there were still better alternatives to this scenario, which pretty much takes away any hope of Jericho – one of WWE’s very best workers – from having a good match. I would have literally rather seen Jericho take on Batista or Rey Mysterio, with either of those two opponents sticking up for the legends.

Or even better, they could have gone with Jerry Lawler, who was a perfect fit for the storyline, could probably still work a decent match with Jericho. While it’s true that it would have taken some doing to convince fans that Lawler was a worthy opponent for Jericho in such a high profile match, that’s nothing that Lawler couldn’t have taken care of with a couple of weeks of promos. Lawler made a career out of selling himself as a main eventer largely through his talking skills.

And while I’m glad the decision was made not go with Flair, at least a Flair-Jericho bout would have had the potential to be a good match. Instead, Jericho is going to be relegated to just stooging for a bunch of out-of-shape old timers in a comedy match. I don’t doubt that it will be entertaining in its own way, but Jericho deserves better.

This really is a shame, as Jericho’s match was one of the last hopes to make an otherwise lackluster WrestleMania card truly feel special.

. In better WrestleMania news, I was glad to hear that John Morrison and The Miz will be taking on Carlito and Primo in a tag team title unfication bout at the show. This match certainly made sense, but with WrestleMania usually being pretty packed, I didn’t expect booker to make room for the likes of Carlito and Primo on the main card. I’m glad they did, if only because it allows one of WWE’s hottest acts, M&M, to do their thing on the biggest stage of them all. What’s more, it should help the prestige of the tag team scene to have both titles on the line at WrestleMania. It’s definitely a good idea to unify the titles, especially since the Miz & Morrison show up on all the brands anyway.

. I hope WWE formally announces on television this upcoming Monday the induction of the Von Erichs into the Hall of Fame. I may not agree, but I could understand why, days after Andrew Martin’s passing, they would be squeamish to celebrate a family that was almost synonymous with premature deaths. But hopefully WWE comes to its senses and does the right thing next week.

. What is WWE waiting for in announcing the ECW Championship match at WrestleMania? Leading up to the biggest show of the year, Jack Swagger has hardly even been on television in the last few weeks. It’s a little late to develop a meaningful feud for him, so my guess is that they’ll go with another battle pre-show battle royal with the winner getting the shot on the show. It will allow everybody not inluded on the main show to perform in front of the big crowd, and could produce a meaningful opponent for Swagger, including possibly Khali, Evan Borne or Tommy Dreamer in the payoff to his title quest storyline.

This Saturday marks Ring of Honor's television debut (on HDNet) -- and there's a fairly big name involved who used to be a very major player at WWE.

Former WWE creative team member David Lagana helped with production of the show, bringing a ton of experience to a company with limited TV exposure, and to a network that had previously only hosted MMA.

David and I worked together on the SmackDown creative team during my time at WWE, and he's an incredibly creative guy. So much of the stuff you saw on TV week in and week out came from his twisted mind -- and I mean that in the nicest way possible! After spending years in Hollywood, David was a ranking member of the creative inner circle at WWE from 2002 until last year. For a non-wrestler, that's an eternity. Believe me -- I spent five months there and it felt like a lifetime.

ROH is well known for its awesome in-ring action, and I'll be curious to see how it translates to TV ... especially since it presents a viable third alternative to WWE and TNA if it works. Check out the preview below.

... the Ultimate Warrior.

Think about it:

-- Warrior wrestled just last year, and when he did, there was buzz of doing a match with Vince at Mania. This would be even better.

-- WWE wants to promote the "Legends of Wrestling" video game.

-- Jericho's one of the few guys who could carry Warrior to a passable match.

-- Warrior is one of the few guys they could throw in there and have it feel like a real "WrestleMania moment."

-- WWE is trying to create a "big moments happen on PPV feel," and this would definitely do it.

The handicap match with Steamboat, Piper and Snuka sucks. Stone Cold's too injured. Hogan's recovering from surgery. Flair won't do it, and rightfully so.

If Vince can reach a deal with him for a one-time payday, why not?

The last thing I’d ever want to come off as is a WWE apologist, but I do think some of the finger pointing at WWE in the recent death of Andrew “Test” Martin has gone a bit overboard.

By no means, is WWE blameless. In as much as WWE for the last 30 years has been, by far, the largest promoter of pro wrestling in the world, it has certainly contributed to the tragic culture of pro wrestling that has led all too many pro wrestlers down the same road that Test appeared to be on. Steroids, pain killers, muscle relaxers, alcohol.

Like all performers who travel down that road, Test’s sacrificed his health in pursuit of becoming a huge wrestling star. But he didn’t become one. And so it’s not as easy to say that WWE created Test’s problems.

For me, it’s easier to pinpoint WWE’s responsibility in the deaths of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit than it is for that of Martin – and that’s not just because Guerrero and Benoit were under a WWE contract at the times of their deaths.

For many years, fans were singing the praises of Guerrero and Benoit - widely considered two of the best workers in the world. But it wasn’t until they added unnatural amounts of muscles to their small frames, worked WWE’s torturing scheduling for years and years, and neglected to address mounting injuries that both men made it to the top of their profession. WWE essentially rewarded their life-threatening behavior with world title runs.

But that wasn’t the case with Test. He never really “made it.” And he shouldn’t have. And WWE knew that.

WWE was right to give Martin a break back in the late 90’s. He was tall, had a great body and a superstar look, and got some solid training early on from the likes of Dory Funk and Bret Hart.

But Test never had the tools to make it to the next level in the wrestling business, and certainly did not have the upside to make up for his substance problems. So mediocre was Test’s ring work that it even became the butt of many jokes in Mick Foley’s WWE-published books.

WWE clearly recognized Test’s limitations and in 2004 – before WWE had a wellness policy - they let him go. He never won a world title. I don’t think he even main evented a WWE pay per view.

Upon the recommendation of some WWE talent who were close with Martin, and after spending some time with him over WrestleMania weekend in Chicago, WWE officials gave Test a second chance in 2006. It was a perfectly defensible move – especially considering that Test would now have to abide by WWE’s new wellness policy.

By no means was he given a big push out of the gate. Instead he was relegated to ECW. After a few months, it was clear Martin would not be able to abide by WWE’s new drug policy, and the company again let him go. It would have been irresponsible to continue to let him perform in the ring – potentially risking the lives of his opponents.

Again, in as much as Martin may have developed his drug problems while trying to cope with the grueling demands of being a fulltime WWE star in the 1990s and early 2000’s, WWE is partially responsible for what became of him even after he parted ways with WWE. But WWE lived up to that responsibility by paying for his rehabilitation years after Martin and WWE last worked together.

If anything, TNA’s business dealing with Martin were more shameless than WWE’s. Months after being booted from WWE because of his well-known drug problems, TNA – which did not have a drug testing policy at the time – had no problem hiring Andrew “The Punisher” Martin and immediately injecting him in the semi-main event of Hard Justice 2006.

But even TNA realized before long that Martin was too big a liability and let him go.

With the mortality rate in pro wrestling being so high, it’s almost laughable to consider any premature wrestling death as an isolated incident. But it certainly does appear that Martin was an extreme example of pro wrestling’s excesses, and probably not indicative of the kind of lifestyle led by most of today’s wrestlers.

I’m all too happy to hold WWE accountable for the welfare of wrestlers who come through its locker room. But I’m not sure how much more they could have done here.

Was just doing some web searching and I found archived a copy of the interview I did with Test about WrestleMania X8 being in his hometown.

If memory serves, the interview was conducted in February 2002, at some point during the No Way Out PPV TV swing.

Click here if you'd like to read it.

The first time I met Andrew "Test" Martin was backstage at Madison Square Garden at some point in late 2000. I was hoping to interview him for a story I was working on for Raw Magazine about the Spanish announce table, focusing on his match with Shane McMahon at SummerSlam 1999.

Upon approaching him, he seemed aloof and self-involved, and I got the distinct impression he only agreed to talk to me because I'd already talked to Shane for the article, and he thought it might be a good political move for him to talk too. As we talked, he made little eye contact, and gave short, pointed answers.

Maybe he had something on his mind, or maybe he was just really, really busy. But that was my first impression of Test.

At some point about a year later, I was working on content for the WrestleMania X8 magazine previewing the Skydome show coming up in March 2002. I remember Test being high on my list of interview subjects, since the biggest show of the year would be in his hometown (Toronto) on his birthday (March 17).

The moment I brought up that WrestleMania was to be in his hometown on his birthday, his face lit up. I don't remember exactly what he said, but I remember seeing the pride in his face and the hope that he would be included on the card.

Seeing his honest reaction and hearing his heartfelt words, suddenly I was starting to like the guy.

Continue reading ""I'm actually wondering who's next? Who's next to die?" -- Remembering Andrew "Test" Martin" »

There is sad news coming out of the pro wrestling world with word that Andrew Martin, best known as "Test" to WWE fans, was found at the age of 33.

Thankfully, the spate of premature deaths among former wrestling stars seemed to slow down during 2008. But the passing of Martin - a pretty key figure in WWE during its "Attitude" era boon of the late 1990s - is a very significant one.

Martin took part in several WrestleManias, included WrestleMania X-Seven, at which he defended his European champiosnhip against the late Eddie Guerrero. He was also at the center of memorable angle in which he was set to marry Stephanie McMahon.

As always, it is much too early to jump to any conclusions about the cause of Martin's death, but his reputation - and his massive muscles - certainly were certainly well known in wrestling business, and were, reportedly, part of the reason he became something of a liability in his most recent runs in WWE and TNA.

Here is the story from the Pro Wrestling Torch:

Former WWE star Andrew "Test" Martin was found dead in his Tampa, Fla. apartment on Friday night, according to a report by PWInsider.com. Martin was 33 years old and nearing his birthday on March 17.

After being released by WWE in 2006 when he was on the ECW brand, Martin re-surfaced in TNA where he had a brief run until being released from the company.

Martin semi-retired from pro wrestling, then he was arrested on a drunk driving charge in Florida one year ago.

Martin was formerly in a relationship with WWE diva Kelly Kelly, who said in a February interview on the Bubba Love Sponge radio show that they remained close friends after their relationship ended.

Asked if Martin being released from WWE while Kelly was still with WWE had an effect on their relationship, Kelly said that was a strong factor.

"He's never been one at home waiting around," Kelly said. "He's on the other side of the coin now. I think that had a lot to do with it." She said Martin was planning to attend school to become a personal trainer.

No further details on the cause of death are known right now.

Location! Location! Location!

If ever there was evidence of how important the setting is for a successful wrestling event, it would be WrestleMania VI. Aside from its main event, WrestleMania VI’s card was every bit as lackluster as that of WrestleMania V, and probably worse. But, set in gigantic dome with 67,000 screaming fans, it took on an epic feel that elevated the entire event into one of the most historic WrestleManias in history.

For me personally, there is probably no more significant wrestling event in my life than WrestleMania VI. As I mentioned in my last post, after following the WWF throughout much of the 1980s as a young fan, I dropped out for most of 1989 – fed up with the tired formula of Hulk Hogan slaying one giant after the next.

Then, in the spring of 1990, my fifth grade teacher, Mr. McNeil, suggested I give WWF another chance, and highly recommended watching WrestleMania VI, which he offered to lend to me on VHS. I took the tape home, popped it into my VCR and sat down for a three-hour viewing. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it changed my life forever.

That’s mostly because of one man – The Ultimate Warrior.

Continue reading "24 WrestleManias In (Nowhere Near) 24 Days: WrestleMania VI" »

I’ve said it here before, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years of following wrestling it’s not to get my hopes up for any big announcement, revelation of a mystery, or surprise partner/opponent. More times than not, you’ll be disappointed.

That’s why I’m a little amused by hearing some of the speculation about who Chris Jericho will face at WrestleMania.

A recent Wrestling Observer poll asking fans who they expected to see Jericho take on at WrestleMania had 34.5 percent of the respondants picking Steve Austin. Another 23.9 percent chose Jerry Lawler. At 11.3 percent, more people chose Hogan than Ric Flair. He got only 10 percent.

Some of you have even suggested Terry Funk and the Rock.

Let me offer you a piece of advice: Don’t hold your breath.

I’ll be all too thrilled to be proven wrong, but I’d be surprised if WWE had any major plans for this angle besides Flair coming out of retirement, or possibly bringing Batista back early for the spot. It may even be somebody like Rey Mysterio, who still hasn't been penciled in for a match at WrestleMania.

I know it’s WrestleMania 25, it’s in his hometown, and it comes on the same weekend that he’ll be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but I just don’t see Steve Austin coming out of retirement after six years for this match. For one, he’s not a very good fit. Jericho has been targetting legends from the 1970s and 80s. Austin is, arguably, Jericho’s contemporary – having even feuded with him eight years ago.

What’s more, Austin has not given much indication that he’s itching to get back into the ring. And, with just three weeks to go before WrestleMania, it seems a little bit late to start building for such a huge match.

It’s apparent that this whole angle was started with Mickey Rourke in mind to step in the ring against Jericho. That soon fell through, which is probably all for the better. With Rourke having lost the Oscar, I’m not sure how much interest there would be in seeing him get in the ring.

I’m sure older wrestling fans with an appreciation of Jerry Lawler’s rich wrestling history would love to see him step in , but the reality is that the vast majority of WWE’s fan base sees Lawler only as a middle-aged, pudgy color commentator. They would not buy him as the centerpiece of such an important WrestleMania match.

I’m sure McMahon would have loved for Hogan to fill in the spot. He’d be just about perfect. They certainly negotiated. But, as of just a few days ago, Hogan was getting around on crutches. It won’t be him.

I’m starting to think that, maybe, Jericho won’t have a match at all at WrestleMania. Rather, WWE might go forward with some sort of in-ring segment at Mania in which he proclaims to have destroyed all WWE’s legends, only to have Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, Rick Steamboat and some other familiar faces all run in and beat him up. Maybe Hogan is up for something like that.

But my first pick is still Ric Flair. He’s available, familiar to modern fans, itching to get back in the ring, and would fit the storyline.

That doesn't mean I want to see it.

(I want to thanks to some readers for correcting my statistics and pointing out that there were two other examples of WrestleManias featuring exclusively past WrestleMania main eventers. I've included the revisions below. It does water down my statistics, but my point holds true nonetheless.)

This is the kind of trivia that no doubt will attract comments like, “You’ve got too much time on your hands,” but I think it bears mentioning.

Nexth month’s WrestleMania 25 will be the fifth time in Mania history that every contestant in a world title match has previously wrestled in a WrestleMania world title match.

The other times it happened were at WrestleMania XII headlined by Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart – (Hart had wrestled in world title matches at WrestleMania IX and X; Michaels wrestled Diesel for the world title at WrestleMania XI) – WrestleMania X-Seven, which featured The Rock defending his world title against Steve Austin (both mens' third Mania main event); Mania V, which featured Savage, who was in the finals of Mania IV’s tournament, and perennial early WrestleMania main eventer Hulk Hogan; and WrestleMania 23. Its two world title matches also all had repeat Mania main eventers in the Undertaker, Batista, Cena and Shawn Michaels.
Besides those instances, every year since 1985, somebody has competed in his first WrestleMania world title match.

That may seem like a fairly useless bit of trivia, but I think it actually illustrates a very important point – WWE is not making new stars.

Every year when WrestleMania comes to a close, some fans start dreaming about what next year’s show will look like. Undoubtedly, as early as a few months ago, many fans were counting on Jeff Hardy wrestling in his first WrestleMania main event.

But instead, all the participants in this year’s two WrestleMania world title matches are ‘Mania main event veterans. Cena’s headlines WrestleManias 21, 22, 23 and XXIV. The Big Show was part of WrestleMania 2000’s fatal four way main event. Edge headlined against the Undertaker last year. Randy Orton defended his world title in a triple threat match last year. And this will be Triple H’s eighth WrestleMania world title match.

And while, technically, this year will be the fifth time that this has occurred, really the other times WrestleMania has featured exclusively repeat main eventers, those matches felt a lot more fresh than these two.

Not only have we seen these particular wrestlers compete in the main events of past WrestleManias, but we’ve seen pretty much these same matches many, many times in recent years both on free television and pay per view.

That’s not to say that their upcoming matches won’t be good. On the contrary, I fully expect all the wrestlers to deliver WrestleMania main event-worthy performances. But so much of the appeal of past WrestleManias was the feeling that you were watching something really special. That’s part what made Hogan-Andre, Hogan-Warrior, Hart-Michaels, and Austin-Rock so great.

Granted, it’s a different time now than it was back then. WWE needs to fill five hours of first-run television each week, in addition to a three-hour monthly pay per view. But WWE needs to build toward the future, and start having faith in some talent, besides the veteran main eventers club, being able to carry a big match on their shoulders. After wearing world titles over the last year, Jeff Hardy and C.M. Punk are both back in the mid-card at WrestleMania.

I wouldn’t argue that Punk deserved a WrestleMania spot, but certainly it is not a lot to ask for some upward mobility. Instead, he’s in his third consecutive Money In The Bank ladder match.

On the other hand, I absolutely think WWE is making a mistake by not having Hardy in a WrestleMania main event. A lot of WWE’s defenders were blasting me, and others, for criticizing WWE months ago for jumping the gun in putting the world title on Hardy at Armageddon, rather than waiting for WrestleMania to make the moment all the more special. They said, “Have patience. WWE knows what its doing. They must have something even bigger in store for WrestleMania.”

Well, did they? We’re three weeks away, and one of the two main event angles for the show involves the Big Show having an affair with Vickie Guerrero. The other is a retread of a feud that we saw on pay per view four times in 2008 alone.

Can anyone possibly argue that it wouldn’t have been better for business to have waited for WrestleMania for Hardy to have won the title? Similarly, how much more meaningful would Cena’s current world title chase been if he didn’t win it in his first match back from injury at the Survivor Series?

Again, none of this is to say that I’m not enjoying WWE’s current top feuds and storylines headed into WrestleMania or that I think that WrestleMania won’t be any good. I just hope that come WrestleMania 26, we’re seeing some relatively fresh talent in the main event scene, rather than yet another pair of world title matches featuring some combination of Triple H, Cena, Randy Orton and Edge.

It’s true that all of those guys are worthy of WrestleMania main events, but maybe some others are too.

From the wires:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — No charges will be filed against an elderly former pro wrestling champion in the death of a fellow dementia patient whom he attacked, prosecutors said Thursday.

Verne Gagne, 83, clearly lacked the mental capacity necessary to have intended to harm Helmut Gutmann, 97, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said. He said it would be unjust to bring charges.

Continue reading "Verne Gagne won't be charged" »

With just over three weeks to go to WrestleMania 25, here is my best guess of what the final card will look like. This includes nine matches – the same amount as last year – as well as a battle royal before the pay per view event to fit most everyone onto the show.

WWE Championship Match Triple H © vs. Randy Orton

Triple Threat Match for The World Heavyweight Championship

Edge © vs. John Cena vs. The Big Show

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

Unsanctioned Street Fight
Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair with Mickey Rourke in his corner.

Brother vs. Brother
Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy

Money In The Bank Ladder Match
MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. C.M. Punk vs. Finlay vs. Christian vs. Kane vs. Mark Henry vs. Kofi Kingston

Intercontinental Championship Match
John Bradshaw Layfield vs. Rey Mysterio

25 Diva Battle Royal

ECW Championship Match
Jack Swagger © vs. Winner of Pre-WrestleMania Battle Royal on WWE.com

Pre WrestleMania Battle Royal
Including The Miz & John Morrison, Tommy Dreamer, R-Truth, Vladamir Kozlov, Chavo Guerrero, Carlito & Primo Colon, The Great Khali, William Regal, Jamie Noble, Mike Knox, Jesse & Festus, Evan Bourne and Umaga.

Of course, there could be some tweaking of this card before now and the show, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m not loving this card. There is certainly potential for some good matches on this show, but overall the card seems somewhat uninspired – especially for the “25th Anniversary of WrestleMania” (I know, Seth.)

Nothing has been finalized, but I’m tentatively penciling in Ric Flair vs. Chris Jericho in an unsanctioned street fight as the pay off to the legends angle in which Jericho has been involved. Flair’s now made two WWE appearances as part of the angle, and has said in interviews that he would be interested in getting back into the ring and that he wouldn’t consider an unsanctioned street fight an actual match.

As much as I love Flair and Jericho, I hate the idea of that match. Regardless of the quality of the performance those two are capable of, I just can’t get past Ric Flair cheapening his historic send-off last year by getting back into the ring. I imagine a lot of WWE fans feel the same. WWE should be aware that, as much as some fans might want to see this, there are plenty who are not going to be receptive to it – regardless of how good it ends up being.

I’m sure this wasn’t WWE’s plan A or even plan B. But after Mickey Rourke fell through, Hulk Hogan got injured, and Steve Austin probably turned down the role, WWE likely felt like it had few options to fill the “legend” role in the pay off to this storyline.

Another possible alternative that I haven’t heard discussed much for the Jericho match is simply pairing him with a current WWE babyface who would fight to defend the honor of the legends. It strikes me that two people might fit that bill – Rey Mysterio and Batista, who has said that he would likely be ready for action around WrestleMania time.

Some are also suggesting that Jerry Lawler could be plugged into the spot, and deliver a good match. That may be true, but I don’t think fans – or WWE writers – would buy Lawler as a suitable opponent for Jericho in such a big match.

And so, I sense the plan right now is to go with Flair. That’s too bad.

The match I’m most looking forward to is Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker. A lot of fans have been waiting years to see these two go at it, especially after seeing them mix it up as the final two men at 2007’s Royal Rumble. With WWE showing a rare bit of discipline in keeping Michaels and Taker apart for 11 years, this is about as close to a bona fide dream match as WWE is capable of these days. This should easily be match of the night, and there’s a strong chance it will be match of the year.

The rest of the card ranges from OK to quite disappointing. I’m sure they’re capable of having a solid main event, but I’ve just seen Triple H vs. Randy Orton too many times to get overly excited about it. Similarly, the three-way involving Cena, Edge and The Big Show just doesn’t have a real big match feel to it.

I’m not terribly interested in seeing Matt vs. Jeff Hardy, even though I’m sure they’ll put on a nice show. Unfortunately, this match is destined to be lost somewhere in the mid-card and likely not given too much time. I can’t help but think it’s waste of arguably WWE’s second hottest star behind Cena – Jeff Hardy.

I don’t have a problem with the Diva battle royal. WWE women’s matches are so rarely much good these days, that I think WWE is smart to play its women’s division for its value as a novelty at WrestleMania, and deliver some warm feelings by bringing back some familiar faces from the past.

I suspect they’ll go back to last year’s gimmick of having the ECW champ defend his title against the winner of a battle royal that takes place before the pay per view hits the air. Among the candidates to get that spot are Tommy Dreamer, Evan Bourne, R-Truth, or The Great Khali.

The Money In The Bank ladder match is usually a sure bet for a fun match, but WWE made some odd choices in filling out the match this year. Rather than going with wrestlers who could shine in a high-spot oriented match, like John Morrison, Evan Bourne, or Jamie Noble, they’ve filled it with lumbering heavyweights like Mark Henry, Kane and Finlay. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the match’s other contestants to deliver the athletic quotient of this match.

Inevitably, some big acts are always left off the main card of WrestleMania each year. To me, the biggest shame will be if the Miz & Morrison don't get on the pay per view. They've been such a hot act, and such a big part of all three of WWE's brands in the last several months, that I think they deserve some kind of time on the main show - even if it's just a backstage appearance. Unfortunately, outside of them, there isn't much of a tag team division to speak of in WWE, so the odds of them actually getting a match on the show are highly unlikely.

Despite my strong feelings that WrestleMania IV was the worst of the Manias, I was not surprised to see a lot of fans posting comments about how fond they were of the show. Just as I have a place in my heart for the largely unpopular WrestleMania 2 – the first Mania that I experienced as a wrestling fan – many of you shared your own warm memories about WrestleMania IV – an event I found excruciatingly boring. Many of you cited enjoying the novelty of the tournament format, the unique “regal” setting of the Trump Plaza, and even the ringside announcing.

Fair enough. There are certainly no right or wrong answers. Even shows like WrestleMania IX, a pretty universally panned event, have their fans.

However you felt about WrestleMania IV, there’s a good chance you felt the same way about WrestleMania V. That’s largely because the shows were so similar. Rather than learn their lesson from the static atmosphere of WrestleMania IV and returning to a stadium, or even large arena setting, WrestleMania V returned to Trump Plaza in Atlantic City in 1989 for the fifth installment of “The Granddaddy of Them All.”

And, if you ask me, things weren’t much better. While this show was certainly an improvement from the previous year, it was far from what I would classify as “good,” and would certainly be in my bottom five WrestleManias of all time.

Continue reading "24 WrestleManias in (Nowhere Near) 24 Days: WrestleMania V" »

With all due respect to the "Birdman," Koko B. Ware's induction to the WWE Hall of Fame really does a lot of harm to the credibility of the WWE institution. Some cynics may say the HOF didn't have much legitimacy to begin with, but to their credit, WWE has made great strides in recent years since the early days of inducting the McMahon family driver and jobbers like Johnny Rodz.

But Koko's induction screams, "All bets are off!"

Last year, I posted my wish list of hall of fame inductees, and understandably got some flack from readers who thought some of my picks didn't rise to the standards of receiving such an honor. My list included the likes of Ray Traylor and Rick Martel, both of whom, I admit, are far from "first ballot" hall of famers, if there were such a thing.

But, basically, if Koko gets in, anyone can get in.

I don't mean to sound like Ricky Bobby, but I really mean this with all due respect to Ware. Koko was a pretty good worker in the Memphis territory before coming to WWE, and even in WWE always showed a lot of fire and heart in his matches. He certainly had a fine singing voice. But the fact remains, he was a jobber. A memorable jobber, yes, but a jobber nonetheless.

But it's not just a matter of Koko's win-loss record being less than stellar. Koko just wasn't all that important or influential in WWE. I certainly understand McMahon having a special fondness for mid-80s WWF performers. Amd maybe, when the well has run mostly dry, there will be a place for Koko. But if the unwritten rule is that any colorful WWF character from the 1980s belongs in the HOF, then there are literally dozens of performers who should get in before Koko does. That includes guys like "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and even the man inducting Koko - The Honky Tonk Man.

But WWE should have higher standards than that. Attributes like historical significance, career success, and influence on the sport - as well as workrate - should all be prerequisites for a HOF induction.

This year's HOF class was on pace to being one of the most credible ever - especially with rumors of the Von Erich family also going in. But there's no other way to slice it - Koko's induction cheapens it a bit.

And, of course, I say that with ALL due respect.

So the copy editor in me is gonna kick in right now -- despite what all WWE's marketing might tell you, this year is NOT the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania.

It's the 25th WrestleMania or the 25th annual WrestleMania.

But in terms of anniversaries, it's actually the 24th anniversary of WrestleMania, which was in 1985.

The 25th anniversary of WrestleMania will be next year, at WrestleMania 26.

(Nitpick aside, I'm still really impressed with the build for the show and I'm actually planning to watch. This was just a little detail that I'm surprised slipped through the cracks.)

The worst WrestleMania of all time.

That's not a distinction I make lightly. Reasonable people could disagree on that statement, and God knows there have been a fair share of dogs that have carried the WrestleMania name (Manias IX, 13, XV and 2000 come to mind.)

But, as far as I'm concerned, no other WrestleMania is as tedious to watch than 1988's edition.

Continue reading "24 WrestleManias in (About) 24 Days: WrestleMania IV" »

Notice the "about" part in the headline. As expected, I've fallen a couple days behind. I'll try to have a post about WrestleMania IV up later today, which will help me catch up a little bit.

This is the big one.

For 22 years, WWE has been trying to replicate the formula of WrestleMania III. On paper, it seems simple enough – blockbuster main event/ stadium setting/ gigantic live crowd.

They’ve come close a couple of times, including at WrestleMania VI with the Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior, WrestleMania X-Seven with Steve Austin vs. The Rock, and WrestleMania X8 with Hogan vs. The Rock.

But, try as they might, WWE has never again reached the benchmark that it set here.

Continue reading "24 WrestleManias in (About) 24 Days: WrestleMania III" »

I mentioned in one of my posts yesterday my discovery years ago of the "WrestleMania Curse." Basically it goes like this: If a wrestler dies prematurely, there’s a strong likelihood that his opponent at a WrestleMania did as well.

Of course, this is much less a curse than it is a sad testament to the unusually high mortality rate of pro wrestlers. But when I first noticed back around 1991, back before wrestlers began dying at the pace they began to a few years later, it was a bit eerie - to say the least.

And it doesn’t apply across the board. All of Rick Rude’s WrestleMania opponents are alive, as are Bam Bam Bigelow’s, and several other wrestlers who left us too soon.

But here are the instances of WrestleMania opponents dying prematurely. If anyone can think of any other examples, please send them along.:

Andre The Giant and Big John Studd – Competed in the bodyslam challenge at the first WrestleMania.

Adrian Adonis & Uncle Elmer – WrestleMania 2 opponents.

The Junkyard Dog and Bad News Brown – Both competed in WrestleMania IV’s battle royal.

Curt Hennig and Owen Hart – Mr. Perfect took on “The Blue Blazer” at Mania V.

“Earthquake” John Tenta and Hercules – Did battle at WrestleMania VI.

Saphire and Sherri Martel – Were on opposite sides of the mixed tag team match at Mania VI.

Kerry Von Erich and Dino Bravo – Opponents at WrestleMania VII.

Big Bossman and Curt Hennig – Did battle at WrestleMania VII.

Hercules & Road Warrior Hawk – The LOD wrestled Power & Glory at Mania VII.

Davey Boy Smith & Yokozuna – Were on opposite sides of a six man tag team match at WrestleMania XII.

Owen Hart & Yokozuna – Opponents in the same WrestleMania XII six-man.

Hawk and Crush – Opponents in the six man “Chicago Street Fight” at WrestleMania 13.

Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero – Both took part in a triple threat tag team match at WrestleMania XIX. Guerrero teamed with Chavo, and Benoit with Rhyno.

Day 2:

So much of my love of professional wrestling is built on nostalgia. It’s something of a ritual for me to pop in a wrestling videotape (remember those?) or DVD at night and go to sleep watching it. And yet, in my vast collection of wrestling matches, it’s rare for me to put on anything newer than 10 years old. And it’s usually much closer to 20-25 years old.

Something about old school wrestling takes you back to where you were in your own life when you were watching it happen in real time.

And so, while WrestleMania 2 may be one of the universally maligned of all WrestleManias, it remains, until this day, one of my favorites to watch over and over again. The reason is simple – It was the first Mania I experienced as a true wrestling fan.

Continue reading "24 WrestleManias in (About) 24 Days: WrestleMania 2" »

After doing lots of soul searching on whether or not it is a good idea to take a three-month old baby on a six hour flight, and then to a six-hour event surrounded by tens of thousands of people, I decided I’m better off not thinking of such trivial matters. And I decided to go to WrestleMania anyway.

This will be the ninth WrestleMania I’ve attended live and, as always, I’m really looking forward to it. It’s undoubtedly the most exciting time of the year to be a wrestling fan. I liked C.M. Punk analogy of the locker room atmosphere being like that of a baseball team in a pennant race.

And so, to get into the mood for the big show, I have taken on a monumental task – re-watching all of the WrestleManias in order.

Around this time of year, I always like to pop in some old Manias before going to bed, but inevitably I avoid the more lackluster events. So this is the first time I’ll be re-watching all past Manias in order.

Now, of course, I am not closely observing every three-to-four hour event beginning to end. Rather, I’ve been having them on in the background while I write for the paper, vacuum or feed the little one. Having started my mission about three weeks ago, I am already on to WrestleMania 2000 (exactly the caliber of Mania I would normally skip.)

While I thought I knew all of these events inside and out, it’s been somewhat enlightening to screen some of these events after not having seen them in a while. And so, over the next 24 days (or at least before WrestleMania 25 on April 5) I hope to bring you quick thoughts from my re-experiencing of all of the past “Showcases of the Immortals.”

Starting with:

WrestleMania, March 31, 1985 from Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Having gotten accustomed to the sleekly produced dream cards that have become the calling card of WrestleMania, I haven’t had much interest in watching this old show in a long time. From a production standpoint, it really looked no different than the Garden house shows that used to be televised on MSG next month. And some of the matches, it seemed, were thrown together without much thought.

But I must say that I had a whole new appreciation for the “one that started it all” when I watched it recently. Taking into accounts that WWE had never put together a show of this magnitude, it’s really quite impressive to see it all come together. Here are a few quick thoughts:

. My earliest memories of the first WrestleMania included watching Hulk Hogan and Mr. T promote the show while guest hosting Saturday Night Live the previous night. It would actually be several months before I got to watch this show on a Coliseum Video VHS.

. This goes for pretty much every WrestleMania in the “Anthology” DVD box set WWE released a few years back: It is so annoying seeing WWE dub in new music to replace the original. In some cases, I know there is no other solution, since there are copyright issues at place. But I still can’t stand the re-writing of history – especially the insertion of “Real American” into Hogan’s entrance at Mania I. It was nearly a year before he began using the music.

. On that point, the best WrestleMania compilation ever released by WWE was the 1997 VHS box set that had Manias 1-13 (a second one that included 14 came out a year later.) These are completed un-edited and pretty much exactly what aired on PPV - free of the blurry "WWF" scratch logos of the newer DVD releases and other frustrating edits. The only thing that sucks is the video quality. The tapes are in EP mode.

. Mean Gene actually has a lovely singing voice.

. Tito Santana was the perfect guy to wrestle in the very first match in WrestleMania history. WWE missed the boat in not going further with him at the time. He was dynamic, exciting, handsome, ethnic and way, way over with the fans. Even in his opener against “The Executioner” (Buddy Rose in a mask) he looked great. Tito would go on to have the original ‘Mania “streak.” Along with Hulk Hogan, he was the only man to compete in the first nine WrestleManias.

. It still irks me when WWE talks about King Kong Bundy’s “nine second” win over the late S.D. Jones. Any idiot who could count could tell it took about twice that time.

. It was nice to see Bruno Sammartino get the spotlight, albeit briefly, in the inaugural WrestleMania, where he seconded his son David in a match against Brutus Beefcake. Sammartino and the Garden were synonymous for nearly 20 years.

. Match quality truly meant nothing back then. Even wrestlers with national reputations as good workers were relegated to seven minute, one-star matches. That was the case with Greg Valentine, who wrestled the Junkyard Dog, and Rick Steamboat.

.The Dragon defeated Matt Borne, who would go on to take part in just on more ‘Mania – 1993’s WrestleMania IX in which he played the “Doink” character in his match against Crush.

. Leilani Kai, who wrestled Wendi Richter at this show, was the only person to compete at both WrestleMania I and WrestleMania X, which returned to the Garden in 1994. There, she lost to Alundra Blayze. You’ll sometimes here people give that same distinction to Borne, thinking that he was under the Doink mask in the mixed tag match against Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna at WMX. But that Doink was played by Ray Apollo.

. Mike Rotundo nearly got to claim that he too wrestled at both shows, but the WMX ten-man tag team match that featured IRS was canceled because the show was running long. At WM1, he teamed with Barry Windham in losing to the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff.

. Andre the Giant was already looking broken down in this, his first WrestleMania match. Amazingly, WWE got six more ‘Manias out of Andre.

. What was the only time a world title was not defended at WrestleMania? This was it. The champ, Hogan, instead teamed with Mr. T and took on Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorf.

. It may be hard for younger fans to appreciate, but this main event really was epic in every sense of the word. T was a gigantic TV and movie star, and the notion of him actually competing in a wrestling match was huge. What’s more, WWE packed the match with celebrities, including ringside ref Muhammad Ali and ring announcer Billy Martin. This match actually isn’t half bad, and was easily the best on the show. What’s more, Mr. T actually looked pretty good out there.

. Headed into WrestleMania XX, which came back to the Garden, I interviewed Randy Orton about his memories of his dad, Bob Jr., taking part in the main event of the first ‘Mania. Here’s what I wrote then:

SLAMMIN': LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON "Legend Killer" Randy Orton, seen above pounding Shawn Michaels, was 5 when his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton took part in the main event of the first WrestleMania, part of a three-man team that faced wrestling hero Hulk Hogan, left, and Mr. T. "I was actually home with my mom," said Orton, now 24. "It was such a big night, and I actually stayed home." Twenty years later, it is Randy Orton headlining the event, part of a three-man team that will face good guy Mick Foley and wrestler-turned-Hollywood star the Rock, right. And the Cowboy will be watching from the stands. "For him to be watching me in a top billed match, I'm sure he'll have tears in his eyes," Orton said. "And I know that when I'm in the ring, it'll be a little special."

It’s a big weekend for wrestling fans on Long Island, starting tonight with WWE’s “Road To WrestleMania” house show at the Nassau Coliseum. You can read more about it here.

Here’s a closer look at what the weekend has in store:

. WWE has released the card for tonight’s house show. Here it is:

Main Event: John Cena/HHH vs. Randy Orton/Chris Jericho

Shawn Michaels vs. Vladimir Kozlov

Christian vs. Jack Swagger for the ECW Championship

Intercontinental Championship
CM Punk vs. William Regal (w/ Layla)

WWE Women’s Championship
Melina vs. Beth Phoenix

Also scheduled to appear live:
Rey Mysterio, Kane, Finlay w/ Hornswoggle,
Kelly Kelly, Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas,
Kofi Kingston, Goldust, Santino Marella

. It’ll be interesting to see how big tonight’s crowd is. WWE can usually count on a near-sell out for a pay per view or TV taping – or just about anything happening at MSG. But packed houses for non televised events in the NY metropolitan area’s other venues are not as sure things. The last time WWE ran a house show in the Coliseum was a Smackdown branded event just before WrestleMania 21 in 2005, and it was far, far from a sell out. However, with WWE catering to kids more, I’d expect the Coliseum to be packed tonight with loads of children wearing Rey Mysterio masks and carrying John Cena signs.

. WWE’s is not the only live wrestling event taking place on Long Island this weekend. The New York Wrestling Connection returns to Deer Park Saturday night with a show that promises to have some historical significance. Mikey Whipwreck – former ECW world champion and NYWC’s head trainer for five years – is wrestling his retirement match against Maverick. During his 14-year career, Whipwreck has wrestled just about everywhere, including WWE and WCW, but, having interviewed him several times over the years, I can tell you that his proudest accomplishment is having trained a number of future stars. He was beaming like a proud father last year when two of his most famous student, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, took part in the main event of WrestleMania, where they assisted WWE Champion Edge. Whipwreck also trained former Spirit Squad member and World Tag Team Champion Mike Mondo. As is the case with all wrestling retirements, we’ll have to wait and see if this one sticks. But, I’m glad to see Whipwreck get the spotlight tomorrow night. It’s well earned.

. The Mikey Whipwreck Retirement Show is taking place at the NYWC Sportatorium at 435-13 Brook Avenue in Deer Park. Doors open at 6 p.m. and there’s a 7 p.m. bell time. Tickets are $20 at the door or $15 in advance. For more info, visit the NYWC’s official web site.

. Victory Pro Wrestling also returns to Long Island Saturday night with an event in Centerreach. VPW’s Third Anniversary Show “Blood, Sweat & 3 Years” takes place at the V.F.W. Post 4927 at 31 Horseblock Road. Doors open 6:30pm with an approximate 7:30pm bell time. Advance tickets are available at V.F.W. Post 4927 and at the VPW Wrestling School in Deer Park, Long Island. For more info call 631-357-1810 or email info@victoryprowrestling.com. Tickets are all $15. More information is available at VPW’s official web site.

. Finally, Rey Mysterio is signing autographs Saturday at New York Sports in the Westfield Sunrise Mall in Massapequa from noon to 2 p.m. Autographs are $45. Call 516-541-4475 for more information.

WWE's "Road To WrestleMania" runs through Long Island Friday night, when the Nassau Coliseum hosts its first house show in four years.

I'm looking forward to being in attendance. Before the days of regular TV tapings and pay per views in our areas, Coliseum house shows were pretty much where I'd get my live wrestling fix growing up. It should be a good time.

You can get more information about the event in a story I wrote for Explore LI here.

Among those sure to be on the card at the Raw brand event is Intercontinental Champion C.M. Punk. WWE's "Straight Edge Superstar" recently became the only wrestler in history to wear the ECW Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, World Tag Team Championship and Intercontinental Championship all in the span of 12 months. He's also the entrant in this year's Money in the Bank ladder match.

Last week, I had the opportunity to chat with Punk. In this interview, he talks about his whirlwind year, where he hopes to go from here, WWE's new family-friendly direction, Rick Steamboat's induction into the Hall of Fame, his thoughts on "The Wrestler," and the growth of Ring of Honor.

Alfonso Castillo: Let me start by asking you about, from your perspective, what are some of the differences between what’s known as a “house show” and doing television or pay per view? I know people who don’t like going to house shows, feeling that nothing is ever going to happen there. And then there are some people – myself included – that really enjoy going to the shows because they’re more intimate, there’s not as big production, and there’s more concentration on the actual matches. What are your thoughts?

C.M. Punk: I think you nailed it on the head. I think as a fan of wrestling, you can’t beat going to TV for the grand spectacle of the whole thing with the pyro, the music, and just the entire event atmosphere. It’s larger than life. But when you go to a house show, if you’re a wrestling fan, I think you have a better time because we have the freedom to pay more attention to the audience. We have the freedom to kind of go a little bit off in different directions. It’s more relaxed if that makes any sense. I know personally, I always have a better time on house shows. Sometimes at television you have to think about it. You’re doing a specific timed, television show. On a house show, we don’t have those restraints.

Continue reading "C.M. Punk Interview" »

This is sad. The AP story:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The death of a 97-year-old man who was reportedly pushed by former pro wrestling star Verne Gagne has been called a homicide.
The coroner’s report says Helmut Gutmann died of complications from a broken hip after he was pushed Jan. 26 at a nursing home in Bloomington.
While Wednesday’s news release does not mention Gagne by name, Gutmann’s wife and daughter have said the 83-year-old Gagne apparently threw Gutmann to the floor. At the time, both men suffered from dementia. Gutmann also had pulmonary disease.
Bloomington police are investigating.
Gagne wrestled at the University of Minnesota. He turned to pro wrestling in 1950 and wrestled into the early 1980s.

A WWE press release announces that WrestleMania 26 will take place at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Az., on March 28, 2010.

University of Phoenix Stadium is home to the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, and also hosted last year's Super Bowl, where the Giants defeated the Patriots.

And -- prepare to feel old -- WrestleMania 26 will mark TWENTY YEARS since Hulk Hogan fought the Ultimate Warrior.

. Is it too much a conspiracy theory to find it rather convenient that Triple H - star of the Smackdown brand - finds himself in the number one promoted storyline headed into WrestleMania on WWE's top rated program, Raw? For two weeks now, Triple H has been the focus of Raw's show-closing segment, while WWE's top star, John Cena, has open the show. I'm not complaining - yet - especially since it's true that Triple H's feud with Randy Orton is hotter than that between Cena and Edge right now.

. It was mostly baby steps being taken on the road to WrestleMania last night. And that's OK considering WWE still has plenty of time between now and the big show. I like Cena in the position of chasing the world title, rather than defending it. It would have worked better if he had never won the title upon his return from injury at the Survivor Series - meaning his imminent title victory at Mania would have been the first time he wore a world title in nearly two years.

.The highlight of the show for me was the interplay between Chris Jericho and Ricky Steamboat. That was really good stuff. In fact, Steamboat, with his spot-on delivery of his promo, may have been the MVP of the night. And Chris Jericho just continues to redefine what it means to be a heel. Even knowing it was a work, and being a huge fan of his, I couldn't help but mutter to myself, "What a piece of ----," when Jericho clobbered Ricky with the microphone.

. I'm still not sure where this is all going, but I must say that I'm intrigued by the buzz of Hulk Hogan maybe taking on Jericho at 'Mania. I'm not a huge fan of the Hulkster, but I can certainly appreciate the opportunity for an ideal "Hogan match" when I see one. Jericho is just the type of heel that would cause fans to become unglued when the Hulkster drops the big leg on him and gives him his comeuppance. Sounds like a perfect fit for WrestleMania.

.I'm a little disappointed seeing CM Punk being slotted for the Money in the Bank match for the third WrestleMania in a row. After winning the world title last year, I would have liked to have seen him get a little more of the spotlight at the big show than, once agan, being forced to share it with five or six other guys. Wrestlers should strive for upward mobility from WrestleMania to WrestleMania and it's somewhat disheartening to see the same handful of guys being plugged into the MITB match each year.

. I'll have my full interview with Punk up later this week, but I can reveal now that he told me that his "dream match" at WrestleMania would be defending his Intercontinental championship against Rey Mysterio. That sounds like a great idea to me - especially after seeing the gem of a match those two had on pay per view some months back.