Wrestling Musings – Page 78

It’s Snowing

When I was praying, I had asked God for many things. Among these things, I had asked God to wait until Christmas time to starting pouring in the snow.

It’s snowing today. Not much, but it’s snowing.

Apparently, Eddie Guerrero is God’s Favorite Wrestler too.

Speaking of which, I saw the tribute show. That was a hard show for me to watch emotionally, but it turned out to be a well-produced show. Wrestlers would speak a few words and also there would be memorable Eddie moments, such as when he won the title and when he spewed Big Show with crap.

Friday Night Thursday Smackdown Thursday (and also RAW)

No, this ain’t no lie. This is not a figment of my imagination. Straight from canada.wwe.com comes a reasonable facsimile of this image (before I destroyed it) confirming that Canada will be getting its share of Smackdown ONE DAY EARLIER than our neighbors down south. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky. Anyway, some quick thoughts… So RAW has come and passed. And since it was Labor Day yesterday, I got the day off and was able to sit down and watch the show. And what did WWE give me for this rare event? That’s right, boys and girls: a crappy show. Not in the sense that it was bad, but… the show has actually caused me to fall asleep! Never before had a wrestling show had caused me to fall asleep… save for a couple shows which made want to relieve myself in the commode. But seriously… to think this show was pretty decent a year ago, even with Crapper H on top. Not even the knowledge that we’re getting Smackdown a day earlier than UPN will make up for a pathetic RAW show. Which, I guess, brings us to the whole point of this post. Friday Smackdown Thursday – Debut Episode Predictions

Okay. I wouldn’t normally do something like this, but since the debut episode of Friday Night Smackdown already has a full card booked, I’d thought I throw in my predictions for the match. Just so you’d know, I posted this around 12:00 pm Tuesday morning, long before any spoilers get out. And even though I might check out spoilers when they get out Wednesday (or even on Thursday when the Score, a Canadian sports channel, shows Smackdown one day earlier), I’ll delay the actual posting of results until Sunday. So yeah, Friday Night Smackdown (or Thursday Smackdown Thursday in Canada – no, that’s not the real name, moron!) has a full card booked and a decisively difficult challenge ahead: presenting PPV-caliber matches within a one-hour block. Will it be a successful outing? Who knows? Of course, since we don’t the details of how the booking will be now that the show’s been cut in half, I’ll just list out the card as announced. If any matches get cut, we’ll find out. In any case, here are my predictions. Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan in a SUMMERSLAM REMATCH for the United States TitleMy pick is obvious: Chris Benoit. He’s been on such a roll lately: first he beats OJ for the title in half a minute, then defeats the coffee cup, then defeats the commode, and beats OJ again! All under a span of two minutes. So let’s up the ante a bit. Not only will Benoit beat OJ, but he will also beat him in LESS than 23.4 seconds! I guarantee it… since they somehow have to fit the match in a one-hour slot. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio in a Steel Cage SUMMERSLAM REMATCHWho’s your PAPI?! Nuff said… win, Unca Eddy, win! LOD2k5 (Animal and Heidenreich) vs. MNM (Mercury and Nitro) in a SUMMERSLAM GREAT AMERICAN BASH REMATCH for the (Teddy Long’s Smackdown) Tag Team Championship Heidenreich was reported to have left for Louisianna to find his family who have gone missing in the Katrina disaster. If this match happens, we might expect new tag team champions. Batista vs. John Bradshaw Layfield in a Bullrope SUMMERSLAM REMATCH for the (Teddy Long’s Smackdown) World Heavyweight Championship I’ve said it before… DAVE WINS. That’s it, now leave me alone! Later.

Further Thoughts About This Bret/WWE Deal

Yeah, so I had a few more thoughts on this surprise deal with Bret Hart and WWE… and there are some concerns.

So there’s the fragile peace that exists between Bret and Vince, seemingly for the sake of putting together a DVD set of Bret Hart’s career. I’d imagine this is part of Bret’s motivation for participating in this project, since he was always conscious of how his legacy in the business would be perceived. I also have to imagine that Bret might have some inkling as to how WWE would have presented him had he not done the deal. After all, we all know about the Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior DVD that WWE released recently – a glorified burial of Warrior that seemed a bit extreme. It wouldn’t have been outside the realm of possibility that a similar project would be in the works for Bret.

Later on, I’ve learned there were rumors regarding a possible title for the Bret set: “Screwed: The Bret Hart Story.” Somehow, I don’t think that title is going to stick if they want Bret to stick around… then again, I wouldn’t put it past Vince to be that petty.

The Handshake That Froze Hell

Hear that, kids? It’s the sound of Hell freezing over.

Now, you see that picture above? That’s the thing that froze Hell.

From WWE.com:

It was a sight many fans never thought they would see again, until now. Bret Hart and Vince McMahon met face to face today before shooting began for the upcoming DVD chronicling the Hit Man’s career.

During shooting, McMahon and Hart both talked about Bret’s beginnings, SummerSlam 1992, the historic Owen Hart-Bret Hart rivalry, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the infamous Montreal incident, Bret’s jump to WCW and much more.

Afterwards, the Hit Man said he was “happy with how everything went today,” regarding the Bret Hart-WWE joint production.

Should be interesting going forward.

The Death of McWrestling (Or Is It?)

(2019 Note: You know, this was the 105th post on the original DTM Blog and yet it has graced this new unified site as the overall 100th post. In all honesty, I could not think of a better “landmark” posting to mark the occasion. For the record, I’m using the expanded version that was later posted on the Webstation and not the blog original, which is shorter.)

Sometime in March 2001, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) had purchased all related assets of World Championship Wrestling from AOL-Time Warner after the company had lost close to $60 million in the previous year.

I’m not going to tell the story of how the company, who had reinvigorated the wrestling industry with the creation of the New World Order angle, went from top of the world to the bottom of the comode, since that story is well documented in the book entitled The Death of WCW by RD Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez. However, let’s go on with the fallout of that purchase… based on various internet sources, said book, and my own (vague) recollections. Some of this might be inconsistent, but I’m not in possession of a time machine.

Continue reading “The Death of McWrestling (Or Is It?)”

Summer Clean-Up At McWrestling

WWE has decided not to proceed with any renegotiations with Bubba and D-Von Dudley. We wish both Bubba and D-Von the best in all future endeavors.

Also, World Wrestling Entertainment has come to agreements on the release of the following Superstars. WWE would like to wish them the best in their future endeavors.

* Joy Giovanni
* Kenzo Suzuki
* Matt Morgan
* Charlie Haas
* Jackie Gayda
* Marty Jannetty
* Dawn Marie
* Mark Jindrak
* Maven
* Shannon Moore
* James Yun (Akio)
* David Heath (Gangrel)
* Billy Kidman
* Spike Dudley
* Kevin Fertig

Man, I haven’t seen this many wrestlers laid off since last year… seriously, though, this is just sad… especially since some of these guys are more talented than those getting actual pushes at the moment. In any case, good luck to all these guys in their future… well, you know.

On the bright side, WWE has hired Matt Striker, the guy who had the best chance of beating Kurt Angle to win his gold medal until a quick submission hold forced him to tap as fast as he got out of being a teacher… because only a teacher who uses sick days to wrestle and gets fired for it can get a job at World Wrestling Entertainment. This, when over a dozen guys were dropped just a couple weeks ago. Just so they could hire a disgraced teacher.

Eh, who cares?

Later.

Why?

I get that it’s WWE and they need to do something to paint their stamp or mark their territory and such… but why do we need to tease an invasion of WWE talent to this ECW reunion show? Why does this need to happen? I get that ECW is supposed to be part of that rebellious spirit, but ECW is owned by WWE. This is a one-night thing to celebrate a beloved promotion long gone and recreating that old vibe. Do we need all this extra shit?

I’m actually looking forward to this one, despite only have caught a bit of ECW during its waning years. At the same time, though… there’s another one around that same time, no? Or did I miss that one? I need to keep up with this shit more often.

Your WWE Hall Of Fame 2005 Roll Call

or those who don’t know, the WWE will be inducting more people into their Hall of Fame, which was revived last year for the first time in… years. And they are:

“Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff
“Cowboy” Bob Orton
“The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart
Iron Sheik
Nikolai Volkoff
“Rowdy” Roddy Piper
And of course, Hulk Hogan (f*ck Marvel).

Good money’s on Mr. T to be the next inductee…

(2019 Update: He’d get inducted… in 2014.)

WWE + 1 half of Mortal Kombat = Wrestlemania 21 X-BOX

WWE Wrestlemania 21, the new X-Box video game, has been announced for a March release.

According to a Game Informer article, it’s developed by Studio Gigante. Studio Gigante was not only the team who developed the X-Box fighting game Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, but is a group led by John Tobias, co-creator of Mortal Kombat.

Somehow, I half-expect Triple H’s finisher to literally Randy Orton’s spine as opposed to his regular finisher… I wish I could say that was just a lame joke, but considering how Randy’s been booked as of late, there are worse fates.

Should TNA Use The WWE Tape Footage?

On a recent edition of the WWE’s Internet show Byte This, former ECW owner and current WWE scripter Paul Heyman said that TNA would never be true competition to WWE. Is there truth to that statement? Maybe, but TNA is really doing well at bringing paranoia to a federation that has lost all touch with the wrestling audience.

TNA has had a decent week/month to say the very least. Their first real PPV, their Fanfest, their matches on one of Fox Sports’ regular programs, the mysterious tape with WWE wrestlers getting pissed because TNA brought them cookies during a commercial shooting all seem to be giving TNA some much needed attention, which can only be a good thing. Now that they’re getting noticed by a large number of people, it’s their chance to make the most of it.

If you’ve heard, WWE is threatening legal action against TNA if they use the cookie footage. They’re demanding that TNA surrenders the tape and whatnot. What does TNA do? They put up a poll for fans to vote as to whether they tape the footage or not. Here’s the link:

[LINK NO LONGER VALID]

My vote? Show the fucking footage and prepare for the consequences. A lawsuit from WWE might be the right, legal thing to do, but it would only further their reputation as bullies of smaller companies (according to TNA). Not only that, but it will show a sign of weakness from WWE as they will be considered threatened by a company they claim is beneath them.

So, as Chris Jericho stated, make the right decision. Vote for the cookie footage to go on the air.

2011 Update:
TNA did eventually show the footage on one of their PPVs (along with a poor man’s Vince impersonator that made me long for the Billionaire Ted skits… hey, at least those were somewhat entertaining.), but blurred out the majority of WWE talents’ faces in order to avoid legal issues. You can make out who’s there, though, if you’re keen-eyed and can recognize tattoos. The footage can be found on TNA’s 50 Greatest Moments DVD if you’re so inclined… it might also be on YouTube.