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Pro Wrestling--- TNA Wrestling Completely Ruined by Vince Russo's Incompetence
by Ivan Trembow

Review of TNA Wrestling: Against All Odds
Rating (out of 10): 2.0
Best Match: None in particular
Worst Match: Team 3D vs. Homicide & Hernandez

Well, it's official. The incompetence of TNA Wrestling head writer Vince Russo has not only ruined TNA's weekly TV show, but based on the Against All Odds pay-per-view on Sunday night, Russo's incompetence has also ruined TNA's monthly PPVs.

Even with the horrible TV shows of the past few months with three-minute-long matches and endless amounts of terrible skits straight out of 1999, at least I could look forward to seeing a few of TNA's stars have a good wrestling match or two on PPV every month. Well, that's no longer the case.

Where were TNA's three best in-ring workers? Samoa Joe was a damned "ringside enforcer," AJ Styles was in a chain match, and Christopher Daniels wasn't on the show at all.

So, we didn't get much in the way of quality wrestling (watching an addict push himself closer and closer to the edge of the cliff does not count), but we did get plenty of horrible skits, overbooked matches, and just plain stupid finshes.

Russo's incompetence almost makes Stephanie McMahon look competent by comparison, which is a very difficult thing to do. It's nothing short of amazing (and sad) that Jarrett, Russo, and Co. have managed to manipulate TNA President Dixie Carter into thinking that Russo is anything but the absolute worst of pro wrestling bookers.

But hold on, I can't wait for the scaffold match next month! (Actually, yes I can.) I guess I'm going to have to try to buy more Ring of Honor DVDs in the future if this is the kind of garbage that TNA is going to be producing.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:24 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- TNA Impact Ratings Analysis on the Day of TNA's Weekly Primetime Debut
After premiering each new episode at 11:00 PM on Spike TV since October 2005 (first on Saturday nights at 11:00 PM, and then starting in April 2006 on Thursday nights at 11:00 PM), TNA Impact's weekly start time will be 9:00 PM starting tonight, November 16th.

The first week of Impact in primetime will be a special two-hour episode airing from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and each subsequent episode will air from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM (yes, it still seems as though Spike TV doesn't understand that one hour of original programming per week is not enough for a pro wrestling promotion if you want to establish characters and have longer matches).

Since August 17th, when the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 4 aired as TNA Impact's lead-in, Impact has averaged a 0.8 overall rating, as well as a 1.1 rating in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic and a 0.9 rating in the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic.

The ten episodes of UFC Unleashed that aired in the Thursday at 9:00 PM timeslot from August 24th to November 2nd beat out TNA Impact's ratings by a slight margin on average. In that timeframe, UFC Unleashed averaged a 1.0 overall rating (compared to Impact's 0.8), as well as a 1.3 rating in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic (compared to Impact's 1.1), and a 1.1 rating in the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic (compared to Impact's 0.9).

However, The ratings for UFC Unleashed dropped off quite a bit in the past few weeks, and looking only at the last four weeks of UFC Unleashed ratings, it was actually out-drawn by TNA Impact in the key demographic, despite the fact that Impact aired at 11:00 PM and UFC Unleashed aired at 9:00 PM.

The last four weeks of UFC Unleashed on Spike TV (from October 12th to November 2nd) averaged a 0.9 overall rating, which is slightly higher than TNA Impact's average overall rating of 0.8 in the same timeframe.

However, in that same four-week period, UFC Unleashed was only able to average a 1.0 overall rating in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, compared to 1.2 for Impact. Additionally, UFC Unleashed averaged a 0.9 rating in that time four-week period in the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic, compared to 1.0 for Impact.

If TNA and Spike TV are looking for the "numbers to beat" for TNA Impact on Thursday nights at 9:00 PM, it depends on what you're using as a basis for comparison.

If you're using the ratings for the two replays of The Ultimate Fighter that aired from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM on November 9th as the measuring stick that TNA in primetime has to beat, then the numbers to beat are 0.6 overall, 0.6 in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, and 0.6 in the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic. That's not a very big barrier to break, and it would be shocking if TNA can't beat those numbers.

If you're using Impact's own ratings from the past five weeks when it was airing at 11:00 PM as the measuring stick that TNA in primetime has to beat, then the numbers to beat are 0.8 overall, 1.1 in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, and 0.9 in the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic. Impact in primetime should be able to beat those numbers, but probably not by very much. A move to primetime does not magically increase ratings in and of itself, especially if the product is still crammed into a one-hour timeslot (and it's now going head-to-head with two of the most-watched shows on television, Grey's Anatomy and CSI).

If you're using UFC Unleashed's ratings from its last four weeks in the Thursday at 9:00 PM timeslot as the measuring stick that TNA in primetime has to beat, then the numbers to beat are 0.9 overall, 1.0 in the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic, and 0.9 in the 18-to-49-year-old male demographic. Impact may or may not be able to beat the 0.9 overall mark on a weekly basis, but it should be able to surpass those particular demographic ratings.

It will be interesting to see which of these numbers TNA Impact is able to beat, and which of these numbers TNA isn't able to beat. With The Ultimate Fighter not on the schedule again until April 2007, Impact will have a decent amount of time to prove itself in primetime. While the timeslot is important, but it's much less important than the actual quality of the product (ie, whether Vince Russo's booking makes the product better, or whether his booking actually makes the product worse, as his history would indicate).

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:53 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- Kurt Angle Fired by World Wrestling Entertainment
The Wrestling Observer and Pro Wrestling Torch are reporting that Kurt Angle has been fired by World Wrestling Entertainment. While this is a grave sign of what WWE thinks about Angle's current condition, this development may also bring forth the only chance that we're not going to wake up one day soon and see the headline, "Kurt Angle Found Dead," because that's what is going to happen if he doesn't get the help that he needs.

According to the Observer, Angle failed a drug test earlier this year due to large amounts of prescription pain medication being found in his system, and he served a 30-day suspension for the drug test failure.

According to the Torch and Observer, Angle recently suffered a torn groin muscle in addition to all of his other injuries, which include a broken neck and herniated discs in his back.

It got to the point that due to liability reasons, WWE management did not let him go out and wrestle at a recent TV taping even though he wanted to wrestle despite his condition. WWE management has had a reputation for decades of encouraging wrestlers to work through injuries, and it's unheard of for WWE to say to a wrestler who wants to wrestle, "No, you can't."

For WWE to have now flat-out fired Angle from his multi-year WWE contract, his condition must now be such that he's considered a very high risk for WWE to keep under contract. There have been many, many cases over the years of a former WWE wrestler dying and WWE's public statement to the media essentially being, "Well, he wasn't under contract with us when he died."

A few weeks ago, before Angle suffered his latest injuries, the Torch reported, "[Angle] is known to be reliant on pain pills to get through his matches, and it has been a concern for years that he may have built his tolerance up to dangerous levels. Angle has a well-established determination to work through pain and injuries, and a desire to please Vince McMahon and hide any pain he may be experiencing."

In late 2005 after the untimely death of Eddie Guerrero, just as Angle's physical problems reached a point that it was regarded as a life-or-death situation for him, the Pro Wrestling Torch reported than an unnamed wrestler was on an unofficial "death watch" among his colleagues. That wrestler was widely believed to be Angle, but the Torch insisted on pussyfooting around the issue instead of saying whatever they wanted to say (click here for my previous editorial on the Torch's coverage).

The Torch's Wade Keller would later write, "[Angle] may push himself so hard without a break that any chance of another entrance into the ring is extinguished. With a neck, back, and overall body as broken down as anyone in the industry today, any match could be his final."

The Torch's Jason Powell was a little bit more direct in saying, "As much as I admire Kurt's work ethic and desire to be the best in the business, I wouldn't put someone in his physical condition in the ring."

Angle himself has made no secret of the fact that he works through career- and life-threatening injuries on a daily basis. Angle said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times in early 2006, "I get a lot of self-satisfaction from going out there and performing in front of the fans. Throughout my career, I never told people about my neck problems until one day I couldn't even lift my arm anymore, and that's when the cat was out of the bag. I've had re-occurring neck injuries. I actually have one right now. I have a broken neck, levels C7 and T1, but I continue to wrestle, because I love it, because of the fans. Is it worth my health? No, but I'm addicted to wrestling. I've done it my whole life, 27 years combining amateur wrestling and pro wrestling. So I'll continue to wrestle as long as I can... I refuse to quit. Vince McMahon is literally going to have to fire me in order for me to stop wrestling."

The Pro Wrestling Chronicle wrote an excellent editorial on Angle's situation in late 2005. Key excerpts: "Angle's checklist reads like an almanac of worst case scenarios. Nerve damage to his face. Six knee surgeries. A broken neck. Torn muscles. Bone chips removed from his upper spine. Destroyed ligaments. Dislocated shoulders. Several years ago, Angle said to the press with pride, 'Look at my face. It looks like I have aged fifteen years in the last five.' Angle can no longer hear out of his left ear. It has been drained 80 times."

The Chronicle also recounted the story of how Angle won his Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, prior to his years as a pro wrestler. "Five months before the 1996 Olympics, Kurt Angle cracked two vertebrae and pulled four muscles in his back, causing two herniated discs to stab into his spinal cord. The pain was intense. Doctors told him that he risked paralysis competing, but Kurt was proud. Mepivacaine was the painkiller that Kurt Angle chose, and for the next half of a year he took it constantly to make training, and eventually winning a gold medal possible."

If you look at pictures of Kurt Angle from the mid-90s or even from 2000 and compare those pictures to what he looks like today, you can barely tell that it's same person. As the Chronicle put it, "Kurt's physical changes over the past half-decade are shocking. His head has increased in size dramatically, which may or may not point to use of Human Growth Hormone. Angle has suffered concussions, and has major nerve damage as a result of his neck problems. His triceps appear to be on the verge of atrophy, and one of Angle's biceps is noticeably larger than the other. Kurt Angle has a history of heart disease in his family. He has a glassy look in his eyes, and is a self-admitted user of painkillers. And he shows no signs of slowing down... Kurt Angle has proven in the past that pride is more important to him than anything. It has cost him his health, it has cost him his family, and at the rate he is going, sooner rather than later... his pride may cost him his life."

The WorldWrestlingInsanity web site reported just this week, "Kurt Angle is spiraling out of control.... His life is literally falling apart before our eyes. Angle is working himself into an early grave. It is public knowledge that Angle has a severely injured neck. He doesn’t try to conceal that fact nor does he downplay it. However, he has been downplaying other recent injuries that have plagued him. According to Angle’s own words in an interview with the British newspaper, The Sun, he cannot get out of bed in the morning without taking some sort of pain medication."

The Pro Wrestling Torch reported today after the news broke, "The fact that Angle has been wrestling a full time schedule has been of concern to colleagues for the past few years... several friends and colleagues of his say he has been using a lot of medication to get through his matches and mask his pain for years, to the point that people feared for his life."

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun in early 2005, Kurt Angle talked about his injuries and the fact that he was having trouble playing with his young daughter at that time.

Kurt's wife, Karen, spoke up and said to the interviewer, "If he gets to the point where he really can't play with her, that will be it. No matter what you have in your house, no matter how good your life is, you can't give that up. If that's what happens, that's when I'll put my foot down and make him stop." According to the Baltimore Sun, "At that moment, Kurt Angle smiled and said, 'I'll never stop.'"

Kurt Angle eventually reached a point where he had to choose between his family and his career, and he chose the latter. Angle's wife divorced him in the summer of 2005. They briefly reconciled in early 2006, only to separate again recently.

Karen Angle is now a few months' pregnant with their second child, a boy, who might never even get a chance to meet his father unless Kurt Angle takes his firing from WWE as an opportunity to get the help that he so desperately needs.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 12:42 AM

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Pro Wrestling--- Earlier this week, I posted my thoughts and analysis regarding the top ten finishers in the annual Pro Wrestling Torch Reader Draft, which is the most accurate barometer in the pro wrestling industry of which wrestlers are viewed as the most valuable by the hardcore fans of the business.

Samoa Joe was the run-away #1 finisher, with the rest of the top ten (in order from #2 to #10) being AJ Styles, Chris Benoit, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Shelton Benjamin, Christopher Daniels, Triple H, Edge, and Christian.

The Torch Newsletter also published the combined reader rankings from #11 to #50, and some of the increases and decreases were very interesting.

Matt Hardy
Matt Hardy finished #29 this year, which is indicative of his standing in the business right now. When he was going to become a free agent and had a chance to jump to TNA, he chose to instead put his faith in WWE, the same company that had fired him three months earlier because his girlfriend cheated on him. Now look at him. He is intentionally being buried by WWE management (as reported by both the Torch and Observer) so that Vince McMahon can prove that he "was right all along," and it's getting harder and harder to find people who will try to deny that fact with a straight face.

To add to his behind-the-scenes troubles, Matt Hardy now also has The Undertaker humiliating him and calling him out in the locker room, reportedly calling him a mark before a recent show in front of a large group of wrestlers (according to the Observer). That is an ironic thing for The Undertaker to say given the fact that he has lived his "Dead Man" gimmick for fifteen years, and has even placed his gimmick higher on his priority list than honoring his dead co-workers.

Anyway, Hardy finished #9 in the 2004 Draft and would probably have finished even higher than that in 2005 if he had gone to TNA and gotten the huge push that was waiting for him. Instead, he's #29 in 2005, and his stock is only going to continue to fall if WWE continues to get its kicks by screwing with him.

Jeff Hardy
Matt Hardy's brother, Jeff, didn't even finish in the top fifty, and it's not difficult to understand why. If he ever gets clean and motivated, Jeff Hardy could be a valuable asset to any pro wrestling promotion. Instead, he just blew his last chance (at least for now) with TNA because he no-showed yet another pay-per-view event. This time, he didn't even call with a half-assed excuse. He actually sent TNA management a text message just two hours before his match was scheduled to start which basically said, "I overslept by several hours and missed my flight... my bad."

It's hard to imagine Jeff Hardy going back to WWE if they're legitimately going to start drug-testing (although that remains a big "if" at this point), which means that Hardy's only choice now is to prove himself on the independent scene if he wants to have any future in the wrestling business.

Trish Stratus
Trish Stratus continued her long streak of being the highest-ranking female on the list, as she finished #38 in the overall rankings. Barring injury or political BS, it's likely that she will finish even higher next year due to the excellent acting that Trish is currently displaying in her evolving storyline with Mickie James.

Trish was just another pretty face when she debuted in WWE in about 1999, but since then she has become one of the best female in-ring workers ever due to pure hard work and determination. She has also turned into one of the most reliable promo-cutters in the business, and is now showing off her acting ability as well.

The only problem is that WWE management wants to send the message that they can replace any female at any time with someone who will work for dirt-cheap just to be on TV, so unfortunately Trish's days in WWE might be numbered. Also, earlier in 2005 when Trish had to miss a few months of in-ring action with a herniated disk in her back, WWE management expressed displeasure with the fact that she took a few months off, which now means that she could be just one injury away from being unceremoniously dumped by WWE. It's this kind of culture and mentality that often leads to wrestlers doing "whatever it takes" to make the next house show and stay on the road, regardless of what it does to their physical well-being.

Brock Lesnar
Now that he is once again an active pro wrestler (albeit only in Japan for now), Brock Lesnar jumped all the way back to #11. Apparently, people haven't forgotten just how amazingly good Lesnar was before his meltdown/nervous breakdown/stress overload in early 2004 caused him to quit WWE.

WWE is currently trying to hold Lesnar to a six-year no-compete clause, even while refusing to pay him the amount on his original contract if he were to return to WWE. If it were a sure thing that Lesnar would be able to legally work in the United States before 2010, instead of just a possibility, he would have definitely finished even higher than #11. That's looking likely for 2006, because WWE withdrew its latest ridiculous request for a temporary restraining order in its lawsuit against Lesnar, and all indications thus far point to Lesnar's side winning in court.

Kane
Kane experienced the most drastic fall in the results, dropping from #18 in 2004 to not even being in the top fifty this year. Maybe it's because people finally figured out that he can't work and has had maybe two or three good matches since he joined the company in 1997.

The only difference between Glen Jacobs (who plays Kane) and Mark Calloway (who plays The Undertaker) in terms of their overall careers is that Undertaker is worse as an in-ring worker and worse on promos... but Undertaker was blessed with a unique gimmick that got over with fans, and was also extremely fortunate to have gotten to work with Mick Foley and Shawn Michaels in their primes. Switch their roles around, and Mark Calloway would be considered even more of a failure than Glen Jacobs is today.

John Cena and Batista
The two world champions in WWE, Batista and John Cena, finished #15 and #18, respectively. It's hard to argue that either of them deserved a higher ranking, although picking Batista over Cena is border-line ridiculous in my opinion. It's even more ridiculous than it otherwise would be when you factor in Batista's current severe injury, and the fact that he is injury-prone in general due to his freakish muscle mass.

Ken Kennedy (pause ... Kennedy)
The highest-ranked newcomer on the list was Ken Kennedy, who finished #20 overall. It's a shame that Kennedy suffered a severely torn lat muscle in his back last month, just as he was starting to gain a huge amount of momentum. Kennedy suffered the same injury that Batista is currently "pain-pilling" his way through, but Kennedy's tear was much more severe (requiring surgery), and he is expected to be out of action for at least six months. Hopefully, Kennedy will pick up right where he left off in mid-2006.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:25 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- Samoa Joe Dominates Annual Draft Feature in Pro Wrestling Torch
The Pro Wrestling Torch has released its annual list of the Top 50 Reader Draft Picks, and Samoa Joe ran away with the #1 position in a vote that was not even close. The draft feature has been an annual staple in the Torch Newsletter since 1997, and it is generally an excellent barometer of which performers are perceived by the hardcore fans to be the most valuable in the pro wrestling industry.

Each individual reader who participated in the balloting process submitted a list of their top ten hypothetical picks (I published my ballot recently on this page), and wrestlers were given ten points for each #1 ranking, nine points for each #2 ranking, and so forth.

In lieu of publishing the entire Top 50 rankings, I will just list the top ten finishers and write extensively about this. Later this week, I will be back with some additional comments on many of the wrestlers who didn't make the top ten.

Top 10 Reader Picks in the Pro Wrestling Torch 2005 Draft
(based on combined fan voting)
1. Samoa Joe
2. AJ Styles
3. Chris Benoit
4. Shawn Michaels
5. Kurt Angle
6. Shelton Benjamin
7. Christopher Daniels
8. Triple H
9. Edge
10.Christian


Breakdown of Top Ten Wrestlers

1. Samoa Joe
Joe was also my #1 choice, and he won the overall ballot in a run-away. Torch editor Wade Keller wrote, "Samoa Joe's margin of victory over second-place finisher AJ Styles was larger than any other margin among the top five finishers. In other words, he ran away with first place. It was no contest."

This is not surprising given that there were literally more Match of the Year candidates in 2005 that had Samoa Joe in them than there were Match of the Year candidates that did not have Samoa Joe in them. Also, the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer has given a perfect five-star rating to a grand total of four matches since the mid-1990's... and Samoa Joe has been in three of those four matches.

Here's a brief excerpt of what Wade Keller wrote about Samoa Joe in the Torch Newsletter this week: "Joe represents a no-nonsense style that is as remarkable, compelling, and original as Hulkamania, Austin 3:16, and the rise and incredible falls of Mick Foley during their breakthrough years... [Joe] is like nothing wrestling fans have seen over the past two generations... There is something about him, and even more so his strong, realistic, no-nonsense in-ring style, that could be the next trend that leads to a boom period."

2. AJ Styles
Styles was also #2 on my list. Wade Keller wrote, "Styles gets shared credit for Joe's rise because he has been such a perfect opponent--- a Magic Johnson to his Larry Bird... I'm with the readers on this. I have expressed my belief in a smaller, athletic style being a gold mine for the first promoter to properly invest in it and portray it as the top-of-the-card style. Styles would be the ideal choice to head up such a division." I think that sums it up well. Styles' amazing talent is surpassed only by that of Samoa Joe, and his in-ring style is a perfect foil for Joe's extremely stiff style.

3. Chris Benoit
Amazingly, Chris Benoit has finished in the top five of the annual draft feature in eight of the nine years since its inception in 1997. No one else has ever placed in the top five on five different occasions, much less eight. I excluded Benoit from my top ten only because he's in his late 30's and has been working at a world-class, high-impact level for over 15 years now (minus one year that he had to sit out after breaking his neck). Benoit's in-ring style and work ethic combine to put a tremendous amount of stress on his body, and unfortunately one has to think that it could be just a matter of time before injuries start to catch up to him. If none of that were a factor, he would have definitely been in my top five.

One also has to consider the recent Torch news item about Benoit being depressed and much more isolated in the locker room ever since his long-time best friend, Eddie Guerrero, died last month. (The Torch also reported that Benoit may be "questioning his loyalty to WWE," which would make sense given the way that WWE shamelessly exploited Eddie's death to further a pro wrestling storyline two weeks after he died...)

Benoit is probably doing a lot of soul-searching right now because he shares two of the issues that his best friend struggled with for so many years... A) Putting an incredible physical strain on his body with an in-ring work ethic that would be almost impossible to sustain with only the doctor-prescribed amount of pain pills, and B) Maintaining a body type that is carrying far more muscle mass than his frame was ever meant to hold. While Benoit is an absolute freak in terms of working out (doing 1,000 Hindu squats per day, going up and down dozens of flights of stairs per day, etc.), just being physically fit does not mean that he is in good health.

Benoit is in his late 30's and has a WWE contract that expires in early 2006. Given that he is one of the most respected wrestlers in all of WWE, someone who the entire locker room looks up to (from the veterans to the younger wrestlers), the choices that Chris Benoit makes in the next few months could have an enormous impact on the pro wrestling industry.

4. Shawn Michaels
After having finished as the top vote-getter in the first two years that the annual Torch draft existed (1997 and 1998), Michaels retired from wrestling due to a severe back injury. Ever since he returned to the ring in 2002, everyone has been holding their collective breath waiting to see how his back would hold up to the rigors of a full-time WWE schedule. Not only has Michaels' back held up, but he is arguably just as good as ever at the finer aspects of working a pro wrestling match in the ring. Michaels has been climbing in the rankings every year since 2002 and is now back in the top five for the first time since 1998. As Wade Keller wrote, Michaels is "making a case as the best in-ring worker ever with every additional year he stacks on top of his already stellar resume." I excluded Michaels from my top ten only because of the fact that at 40 years old, he's only going to be able to maintain his current in-ring athleticism for so many more years.

5. Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle needs help and should not step foot into a wrestling ring again until he gets it. The Pro Wrestling Torch has reported in a series of news items that are getting less and less subtle every week that Kurt Angle's life is in danger due to an extreme addiction to high levels of prescription pain pills. Rather than taking time off to let injuries heal (or undergoing major surgery that could be career-ending), Angle wants to prove to WWE management that he can continue to work the full-time WWE schedule and be a reliable main event wrestler. He continues to work despite the fact that he still has what is essentially a broken neck, and he also has an additional major injury (to his back) that he suffered this year. Angle has already lost his wife and children due to his extreme dedication to continuing to work the WWE schedule at all costs, and if someone doesn't do something, this story is not going to have a happy ending.

The Torch was more direct than ever about Kurt Angle's situation in this week's issue. Wade Keller wrote, "[Angle] may push himself so hard without a break that any chance of another entrance into the ring is extinguished. With a neck, back, and overall body as broken down as anyone in the industry today, any match could be his final."

The Torch's Jason Powell was also very direct: "As much as I admire Kurt's work ethic and desire to be the best in the business, I wouldn't put someone in his physical condition in the ring."

We can only hope that someone in WWE steps up and forces Kurt Angle to get the help that he needs before it is too late.

6. Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin has never gotten the push that he deserves in WWE and probably never will no matter how talented he is, for reasons that are obvious to anyone who has followed WWE for any number of years. Benjamin was my #7 pick due to his unlimited potential and his streak of amazing athletic performances earlier this year at WrestleMania 21, and in singles matches against Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho.

7. Christopher Daniels
Ironically, when I made Christopher Daniels my #4 pick last week, I wrote that "even with Daniels being as acclaimed as he is, I still think he's under-rated." Now that has come to pass once again, as he finished with a great ranking in the overall Torch reader voting but is still under-rated. Daniels does not have the health concerns associated with him that Benoit, Michaels, and Angle have. I would choose Daniels over Benjamin because while Benjamin has the potential to one day have four-star-plus matches on a regular basis, Daniels already has an established track record of doing so.

8. Triple H
The only reason Triple H is on anyone's top ten list is because he's the final main-eventer from the Monday Night War boom period who is still an active, full-time wrestler, and he's going to draw from that well into it's completely dry. Triple H took several months off this past summer in order to attempt to start a family with his wife, Stephanie McMahon. Perhaps coincidentally (or perhaps not), he has gotten noticeably smaller and lethargic ever since he started trying to have a family. I would strongly doubt that Triple H is going to be told to "have a family on your own time," which is what the late Rick Rude was once told when he wanted to start a family.

As Wade Keller wrote in this week's Torch Newsletter, "[Triple H] has seemed lethargic and uninspired... worn out or bored. His character hasn't advanced in years. His matches, while still good, seem all too familiar." Though it's usually left unsaid by the insider pro wrestling media outlets like the Torch and Observer, the fact is that Triple H wouldn't be where he is today if he hadn't started a relationship with Vince McMahon's daughter and subsequently married her. Talent did have some role in Triple H's almost non-stop run of PPV main events over the past six years, but nepotism had a much bigger role.

9. Edge
Edge is in a constant cycle of being punished by WWE management in part for being a younger, fresher, and more talented version of Vince McMahon's son-in-law. Ignoring the fact that he hasn't gotten the full-fledged main event push that he deserves, and ignoring the fact that in real life he slept with Matt Hardy's long-time girlfriend and showed no remorse for doing so (and the fact that his now-former wife publicly outed him as a steroid user when she found out about the affair), the fact remains that Edge is one of the most talented wrestlers in the business today, which is why I made him the #5 choice on my ballot. Like all-too-many WWE wrestlers, Edge is likely to "pain-pill" his way through a major injury (in his case, a torn pectoral muscle) by returning earlier than he should, although at least he's actually taking some time off from in-ring action to let his pectoral muscle heal to some degree (unlike Batista, who is working a full-time schedule with a torn lat muscle in his back).

When Edge recovers from his injury, I imagine that most wrestling fans will remember that Edge has delivered world-class, four-star matches when he has been put in a situation where he is called upon to do so. In the last year in particular, he has also evolved with his smarmy heel promos to the point that he is now one of the best promo guys in the entire business. In addition to playing the arrogant jackass heel, Edge is also capable of turning it up a notch and delivering extremely intense, impassioned promos, as seen on several occasions this past summer. I expect to see Edge ranked even higher next year.

10. Christian
Christian was the #9 pick on my ballot and the #10 pick in the overall Torch standings. It's ironic that Christian and his old tag team partner, Edge, both broke into the top ten in the same year, and it's also ironic that Christian continues to be perceived as one small notch below Edge.

While Edge and Christian are both among the best in the industry on the microphone (in two completely different ways), I don't think you'll find too many people who would argue that Christian is better than Edge in the ring. There is something about the speed and intensity of Edge's in-ring work in main event-type situations that Christian just doesn't seem to fully have a handle on yet.

On the other hand, while Edge remained mired in WWE politics this year, Christian became the first WWE wrestler to turn down a WWE contract renewal offer in order to sign with TNA instead (and he won't be the last). Christian, who is only moderately muscled and certainly not a musclehead, didn't have the right "body type" to get a main event push in WWE. Wade Keller wrote the following about Christian's break-out year: "Although Christian doesn't fit the mold in terms of body type that Vince McMahon saw as a potential main eventer, fans didn't care--- they were entertained by him."

I'll be back later this week with my thoughts on many of the wrestlers who didn't make the Torch's top ten.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:13 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- This site is back from its unofficial Christmas vacation, just in time to participate in the Pro Wrestling Torch's annual Top 50 Draft feature. The concept of the draft is for readers of the Torch to choose the ten wrestlers that they would theoretically draft if they were "launching a brand new promotion and could hand-pick any ten wrestlers from the world, regardless of their contract status, to use as the promotion's core wrestlers" (according to the Torch's official description). Each year, the Torch prints the top fifty vote-getters and also includes the ballots of the various Torch writers.

As for the criteria of the draft, the Torch's official position is, "There are no stipulations put on whether you should pick young wrestlers, old wrestlers, big wrestlers, small wrestlers, wrestlers who are great in the ring but can't talk, or wrestlers who are great talkers but are poor in the ring. The point of the poll is to get a pulse on who well-read, informed fans believe are the most valuable wrestlers out there today."

In December 2004, the top ten draft picks among Pro Wrestling Torch readers were (in order from one to ten): Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Triple H, AJ Styles, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Matt Hardy, and CM Punk.

Below are the ten wrestlers that would be on my list in such a hypothetical situation, along with my brief comments on each selection.

Also, to answer the obvious question before it starts getting e-mailed to me, the reason that I didn't include Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, or Shawn Michaels on my list even though they are the top three in-ring workers in WWE is because they are all in their late 30's or early 40's. Additionally, Kurt Angle was excluded from my list not only because of age, but also because of the serious personal issues that he needs to address for his own sake.

My Top Ten Draft Picks
1. Samoa Joe--- As I wrote in my review of TNA's Turning Point pay-per-view, it's hard to fathom how anyone's top two draft picks this year could be anyone other than Samoa Joe and AJ Styles, unless you have absolutely no regard for in-ring work-rate. The reason I have made Samoa Joe my #1 pick is because he is "different" than anyone who has ever come before him. Plenty of other wrestlers have worked the "strong style," but Joe exudes charisma and toughness in his own unique way. With Samoa Joe, you can't say, "He's kind of like so-and-so, but much better." He is a unique entity unto himself. He's not "kind of like" anyone.

2. AJ Styles--- The only reason he is #2 on this list instead of #1 is because you can point to a handful of X Division wrestlers in TNA and say, "AJ Styles is kind of like those guys in terms of his in-ring style, but he's far better than all of them and is also capable of having back-and-forth, brutal wars like the one he had with Samoa Joe," whereas Samoa Joe is completely unique. This is not meant as a knock on Styles at all, because he is right up there with Samoa Joe, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and Shawn Michaels on the list of "best in-ring workers in North America."

3. Chris Jericho--- Chronically under-rated and disrespected for years, it is only now that he is gone from WWE TV that Chris Jericho is starting to get the respect that he deserves (albeit still not from WWE management). He is the total package of in-ring wrestling ability, interview ability, and personality.

4. Christopher Daniels--- Even with Daniels being as acclaimed as he is, I still think he's under-rated. Daniels is in the same class as the top wrestlers in WWE, but you rarely hear that comparison made.

5. Edge--- I think of Edge in the same sentence as Chris Jericho in that he has the complete package of promos and in-ring wrestling. He is younger than Jericho and is better on promos, but isn't quite as good as Jericho in the ring and doesn't have as much main event polish. (Also, the other wrestlers would have to keep an eye on their girlfriends around Edge, as Matt Hardy could tell you.)

6. Rob Van Dam--- It has been so long since RVD has been allowed to be RVD that I think most people have forgotten what he was like in ECW. Judging Rob Van Dam simply on his work in WWE would be an injustice to him. He should be allowed to work his own custom-made style, which would contrast nicely with the style of a lot of my other draft picks.

7. Shelton Benjamin--- He has a world of potential, but it has never been realized in WWE and sadly, it probably never will be. Benjamin had an excellent match with Shawn Michaels on Raw earlier this year, but most people forget that he also had an excellent match with Chris Jericho the night before on PPV. His star-making performance at WrestleMania tells you what you need to know about Benjamin, and his treatment in WWE since WrestleMania shows what WWE management thinks of him.

8. Paul London--- London is great at highspots, great at making regular moves look special, and also great at psychology when given more three minutes to work a match. Huge upside.

9. Christian--- The only reason Christian is not higher on my list is because so far there appears to be a limit on how good he can be in the ring during singles matches. I think if he reaches his fullest potential as an in-ring worker, he could consistently have three-star matches and three-and-a-half star matches, with a couple of four-star matches per year as well, but he's not going to consistently have matches in the four-stars-or-higher range. His amazing interviews and charisma more than make up for his lack of world-class working ability.

10. Austin Aries--- This pick is based primarily on potential. We all know that Austin Aries can work a great match, but I also see in him an intangible charisma and intensity in everything he does, from the way he walks to the ring to the way he executes simple moves and makes them look good in doing so. He's one of the people who is always in the sentence about the guys who are the "future of the wrestling business," and rightfully so.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:58 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- The TNA Turning Point pay-per-view event would have been better if it had simply ended with the phenomenal Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles match (which I wrote about here), but instead we had to sit through another Jeff Jarrett match. Jarrett vs. Rhino was the standard Jarrett match, with the only notable variation being Rhino's crazy bump off the scaffolding. That's the kind of legitimately dangerous bump that should be sold for several minutes, if not longer, and I feel that Rhino did himself and the match a huge disservice by going back on offense less than 60 seconds after the bump. The teased count-out finish would have been incredibly stupid, and the finish that actually did take place was only slightly less stupid.

I hope TNA's real-life president, Dixie Carter, was listening and realized that it wasn't just "heel heat" when the crowd was chanting, "Fire Jarrett!" He could still work backstage and still be a booker (and a pretty good one at that), but there is absolutely no reason that Jeff Jarrett should still be in the main event picture or on television at all. Internal politics aside, the fact remains that the Carter family owns the majority of TNA and can do whatever they want with the company. All we need now is for Dixie Carter to grow a backbone and do what needs to be done with Jarrett.

The show-closing announcement about Sting signing with TNA is being sold as a far bigger deal than it actually is, and you can already tell just how much of a full-time schedule Sting is going to work in TNA by the fact that he couldn't even be bothered to show up for the big announcement. I'm assuming that Sting is going to be thrust into the main event picture even though he is 15 years older and nowhere near as charismatic or talented as TNA's other recent big signing, Christian. Even if part of the deal to sign Sting was that he had to be in the main event slot, is there a person on this earth whose last name is not Jarrett or Carter who honestly believes that Jarrett vs. Sting would be any more of a draw than Rhino vs. Sting, or any number of other people vs. Sting?

Even though he hasn't had a good match since 1998, it's possible to bring Sting into the promotion and get some former wrestling fans to sample the TNA product without making him a title challenger. He could be put in the same "special attraction" role that Undertaker has had for years in WWE, where he's pushed prominently but also separately from the world title picture. It would be fitting since Sting and Undertaker are both 45-year-old men who can't put on good matches, and were never particularly good in their peak years, either.

The X Division tag team match with Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries & Matt Bentley was a very good match. It should have been booked to go longer than it did, but within that timeframe there was a lot of world-class action and also some solid character development. TNA developed the character of Alex Shelley over the past several weeks, a move that is a welcome and long overdue addition to the X Division.

You can't go from having no character development to all of a sudden having nuanced character development for all of the X Division wrestlers, and Alex Shelley was the obvious choice to be the first person to get this treatment. The past few weeks of TNA Impact on Spike TV have shown that Shelley's character is about a lot more than setting up the stupid video camera at ringside to film his matches. He has had a cocky demeanor that is very reminiscent of a young Chris Jericho. Logic would dictate that TNA should now spend the next month giving Austin Aries (or Chris Sabin, or Roderick Strong) a unique identity that separates him from all of the other X Division wrestlers, and then the next month give the same treatment to another X Division wrestler, and so on.

The Barbed Wire match between Abyss and Sabu did an excellent job at what it was meant to do, which was to provide the fans with an exciting, brutal, gore-fest. We just had a pay-per-view earlier this year (WWE No Way Out in February) where an entire month of TV was dedicated to pushing the barbed wire stipulation, only to have nobody use, touch, or come in contact with the barbed wire in any way during the match (see dictionary definition: "false advertising"). This match was a huge step up not only from that low standard, but also a step up from the usage of barbed wire in general on wrestling PPVs in the past.

With an excellent promo by Abyss' manager James Mitchell on the pre-show, TNA finally explained why the normally fearless Abyss is so afraid of barbed wire, and it added to the story of the match if you cared to see it. In the storyline, Abyss was able to overcome his fear of having any contact with barbed wire enough to not only enter the ring and have the match, but also to give Sabu a run for his money... but he was still not able to take it to a level where he could beat Sabu in a match that is Sabu's specialty. Now, how much storyline is that compared to the non-existent storyline in most hardcore stunt matches? The answer is, "A hell of a lot more than you would ordinarily see."

Both of these men put their bodies in the line in a dangerous, brutal back-and-forth match with legit barbed wire, as evidenced by the way the barbed wire ripped at their clothes, and stuck to Abyss' hair at the end. More sickening than anything in the match, though, was the fact that the Torch's Wade Keller (who is one of the journalists that I respect the most in any field of journalism) crapped on this match while giving a much higher rating to the Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhino match, which seems a bit silly to me.

The promos back and forth between Christian and Monty Brown leading up to their PPV match have been fantastic from both men (which surprised me in Brown's case but not in Christian's case). While their match at the PPV wasn't as good as the promos leading up to it, it was still a good match. I just hope that Christian isn't big-footed by an untold number of months of Jarrett vs. Sting main events, which wouldn't be all that different from being held down by the Triple H's and Undertaker's of WWE.

Team Canada and Four-Live-Krew had the same match that they always have... that is, until the extremely well done heel turn by Konnan at the end. The reactions of BG James and Ron Killings were also excellent. After Konnan took it a step further by also hitting BG James in the head with the chair, and then hugging Ron Killings and leaving the ring, the look on Killings' face (which basically said, "What the f--k just happened?") was absolutely priceless and fit perfectly with the storyline that was playing out.

There has been no word on why Jeff Hardy no-showed his match on the pre-show, but if it's because he went into another stupor, then TNA should either pay for him to go to drug rehab or fire him if he refuses. Otherwise, they're just enabling him at this point, and if that's the case, this story is going to have a sad ending that none of us want to see.

The tables match between Team 3D and America's Most Wanted was pretty much what I expected. I think they should have made it more clear that it was a non-title match, as I initially thought that Team 3D won the tag team titles when the won the match. I hope Team 3D doesn't get in trouble for accidentally letting the word "Dudleys" slip out in their pre-match promo... actually, I hope they do "get in trouble" so that WWE gets thrown out of court for trying to prevent the Dudleys from using the name that they used for years before they ever worked for WWE.

I was, once again, pleasantly surprised by the announcing of both Mike Tenay and Don West. They did a great job not only with the Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles match, but with the other matches on the card as well. It's different on TV when they're (understandbly) in the "sell the upcoming PPV" mode, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised when Tenay and West do a top-notch job announcing at next month's PPV. It's amazing how far Don West has come, from being an infomercial pitchman who knew very little about pro wrestling in 2002, to at this point being better at the serious side of being a color commentator than Jerry Lawler and in the same ballpark as Tazz.

The storyline with Raven and Larry Zbyszko has started to grow on me in recent weeks and is actually a pretty good storyline at this point, but they really need to come up with something better for the PPVs than to have Raven face a different person from his past each month who isn't in top ring shape (not that Raven is right now, either). Also, we've had a month of hints about a woman in Raven's life making him go soft and lose his edge, so it's time for TNA to deliver on that aspect of the storyline, whatever it might be.

The angle with AJ Pierzynski of the Chicago White Sox did what it was meant to do, which was to get TNA a lot of mainstream publicity. It was nice to see Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt get the rub from this angle, and it was also nice to see Bobby Heenan make a special appearance after his battles with throat cancer over the past few years. It was hilarious when TNA officials presented Pierzynski with a "TNA Championship Ring" after the match, only to have Heenan immediately grab the ring and bite into it, as if to see if it was fake. Heenan still has the intangible quality that made him such a beloved personality in the first place, and I hope that his health continues to improve.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:26 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- Samoa Joe and AJ Styles Tear Down the House at TNA's Turning Point Pay-Per-View
I have seen the future of the pro wrestling business, and his name is Samoa Joe. I have been a huge Samoa Joe fan, based on seeing his TNA appearances and a few of his Ring of Honor matches, but it wasn't until tonight that it truly hit me that he is the future of the wrestling business.

The incredible match between Samoa Joe and AJ Styles on the TNA Turning Point pay-per-view was a hairline shy of five stars, and I would rank it as the best match I have seen in 2005, even better than the two classics between Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels. (Ironically, the widespread choice up to this point for Match of the Year, which I have not yet seen, also features Samoa Joe in an ROH match where he went against Kenta Kobashi.)

This match blew me away on many different levels that often conflict with each other in wrestling matches, but didn't in this case. There was the sheer brutality of the match from start to finish, contrasted nicely by the excellent technical wrestling skills displayed by both men. There was the brilliant in-ring psychology and the story that the match successfully told, contrasted nicely by the amazing highspots such as AJ Styles' absolutely insane running, over-the-top-rope, onto-the-floor Shooting Star Press.

There were great near-falls where you really believed the match could have ended, culminating with a brilliant finishing sequence as Samoa Joe transitioned from a simple roll-up into a rear naked choke in a seamless, realistic, and unexpected way. Also adding to the match were the rabid crowd (which broke out into chants of "This is awesome!" on several occasions), and the excellent announcing by Mike Tenay and Don West.

But more than anything else, what set this match apart from Angle vs. Michaels and other wrestling classics over the years is that instead of feeling like these two guys were putting on the performance of a lifetime, in a suspenseful but still somewhat theatrical way, in this match it really seemed like they were beating the crap out of each other. Samoa Joe's offense is just sick-looking, and very few people in the business are better at selling than AJ Styles.

The match also showed off just how versatile both wrestlers are, with Samoa Joe executing highspots and Styles having bursts of the brutal-looking offense that is Samoa Joe's trademark. (The only thing that detracted from the match was the post-match angle between Joe and Christopher Daniels, which was a good angle that should have been saved for next week's episode of Impact in order to pay the proper amount of respect to the classic match that had just taken place.)

Unless you have absolutely no regard for in-ring workrate, I honestly can't fathom how anyone's top two proverbial "draft picks" could be anyone other than Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. Joe and Styles are just as good in the ring as the top three in-ring wrestlers in WWE (Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, and Chris Benoit), with one key difference being that Michaels, Angle, and Benoit are all in their late 30's or early 40's, while Styles and Joe are both in their mid-20's and still improving all the time.

The reason that I'm even more impressed with Samoa Joe than I am with AJ Styles is because Joe is "different" than anyone who has ever come before him. You can point to a handful of X Division wrestlers in TNA and say, "AJ Styles is kind of like those guys in terms of his in-ring style, but he's far better than all of them and is also capable of having back-and-forth, brutal wars like this one."

With Samoa Joe, you can't say, "He's kind of like so-and-so, but much better." He is a unique entity unto himself. He's not "kind of like" anyone.

I'll be back in a couple of days with my review of the rest of the TNA Turning Point pay-per-view.

Injury Update from the Wrestling Observer on Monday, December 12:
"There were no major injuries at last night's TNA PPV. James Storm had a stinger and momentarily lost control of his legs, but is fine today. Well, as fine as he's going to be. He will be working the main event tomorrow night. Samoa Joe and AJ Styles were brutalized and the worst off. Styles needed seven stitches on his lip, and Joe suffered a dislocated jaw. Both are also scheduled to wrestle on the TV tapings tomorrow."

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:38 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- In the "Holy S--t!" Deparment, Christian (Jay Reso) has quit WWE and will likely be going to work for TNA. Despite being one of the most promising young talents in the pro wrestling industry, Christian was never given a full-fledged push by WWE management and probably never would have been, simply because he doesn't have the heavily roided-up body that WWE management craves. So when his WWE contract expired recently, Christian decided not to re-sign with WWE. If more WWE wrestlers decide to do this over time, the pro wrestling industry as a whole will be a lot better off.

Here's what Dave Meltzer reported about this situation on the Wrestling Observer web site:

"Jay Reso's final match in WWE was last night at the TV tapings in Los Angeles. While the WWE web site reported him quitting, which was accurate, what happened was a week ago in San Francisco, he was given a new contract and told to sign on the spot [his old contract had expired]. He didn't sign [and decided to leave WWE]. He did come back to work and do another job last night when he quit. --- Wrestling Observer"

In an update to the story, Meltzer also reports that even though he is under no contractual obligation to do so, Christian has made himself available for tonight's Raw show in Anaheim and tomorrow's Taboo Tuesday PPV in San Diego, just to be extra professional in how he's doing this. Meltzer also alludes to the fact that WWE released the information itself about Christian quitting on WWE.com because they were incredibly paranoid and worried about the possibility that word of Christian's departure would first appear on one of the insider pro wrestling web sites.

"From what we understand, Christian is in Anaheim for TV and was planning on going to San Diego for Taboo Tuesday, even though he probably won't be voted in. WWE may change those plans, but he was expected to be at both dates to be a professional. The big question has been why WWE released the information before late Tuesday night after the show. Paranoia is striking deep. --- Wrestling Observer"

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 5:20 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- My Review of TNA's Bound for Glory Pay-Per-View
Bound for Glory was the first TNA pay-per-view event that I have purchased since December 2002, when I stopped watching because the shows completely stunk at that point. I started the watching the product again when they got the weekly show on Spike TV, and I don't regret a penny of the 30 dollars that I spent to buy the Bound for Glory PPV, which I felt was one of the best pro wrestling PPVs so far this year. I would give the show an overall score of 9.5 out of 10.

The four-way Monster's Ball hardcore match with Rhino, Sabu, Abyss, and Jeff Hardy was absolutely insane, as all four wrestlers carried their end of the match and Jeff Hardy threaded the needle and successfully pulled off one of the riskiest stunts I can remember seeing.

It wasn't just the height, it was the fact that he was so far away from the table that had Abyss on it. My thoughts as he was about to jump were, "There's no freakin' way he's going to be able to jump that far," and my thoughts immediately afterwards were similar to the crowd's thoughts, as this was the biggest of many "Holy S--t!" moments on this event. The move seems even riskier when you think about it a little bit more. Coming up just short of the target would have resulted in Hardy landing on his head and neck on the entrance ramp, while jumping slightly past the target would have resulted in Hardy landing on his head and neck right past the table. I think that match deserves somewhere between four and four-and-a-half stars, as it was an excellent showcase that was far from a one-spot match.

Immediately following one of the hardest matches any two wrestlers could possibly have to follow, there was AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels in a 30-minute Iron Man Match. The crowd was exhausted from having collectively crapped its pants over the course of the previous match, but Styles and Daniels were still faced with the task of keeping the crowd entertained for 30 minutes. Not only did they do that, but they had one of the damnedest matches I have ever seen. I would put this match at just short of five stars, and I'd say it was right up there with the Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels classic from WrestleMania earlier this year.

Unlike some Iron Man Matches over the years, this match actually told a story. You had Styles dominating the first ten minutes while being unable to put Daniels away; then Daniels dominating the second ten minutes while being unable to put Styles away; and then both wrestlers fighting through exhaustion and doing a brilliant job of selling moves over the last ten minutes, before Styles got the pinfall in the final seconds.

AJ Styles crying in joy after the match also added to the atmosphere, because the only matches that come to mind from the past couple of years which have been that emotionally draining to watch were Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels from this year's WrestleMania, and Chris Benoit's title win from last year's WrestleMania. It's time for everyone to wake up and smell the coffee, and the "coffee" in this case is that AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels are just as good or better than anyone on the WWE roster outside of Angle, Michaels, and Benoit.

The biggest surprise of the night for me was the four-way match with Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong vs. Alex Shelley vs. Sonjay Dutt. I just expected a "decent to good" match out of this, and instead a "very good to excellent" match ensued. Even more than the other three guys in this match, Austin Aries is just so crisp and believable in every move he does. Note to Vince McMahon: Look at Sonjay Dutt and how incredibly talented he is, and how over he is with the live crowd. Wow, it's a wrestler from a foreign continent who is able to get over without some kind of racist, exploitative, tasteless gimmick! I'm sure that fact would surprise Vince McMahon, but it wouldn't change his policies because he wouldn't get his jollies from pushing a foreigner in a non-racist, non-exploitative way.

The biggest disappointment of the night for me was the Samoa Joe vs. Jushin "Thunder" Liger match. It's not that it wasn't a very good match, because it was. Instead, my disappointment stems from a combination of the sky-high expectations and the inexcusable fact that the match was only booked to last seven minutes.

You can't tell me that they were short on time and had to cut the match to seven minutes, because they could have easily cut more time from the seven-minute Diamonds in the Rough jobber match, or the seven-minute Team Canada formula match. Being the first match on the PPV portion of the card also made Samoa Joe look bad. You can be elevated by being in the opening match of a PPV if it's a showcase match, but seven-minute PPV openers are normally reserved for jobbers, not someone who has the potential to be the future of pro wrestling in the United States.

The Ultimate X Match with Petey Williams vs. Matt Bentley vs. Chris Sabin was an excellent match that is probably going to be under-rated because of the clearly botched finish. I can understand the frustration that was obvious in all of the wrestlers after the match, because they were 12 or 13 minutes into a match that was a few more minutes' worth of incredible action away from being a four-star-plus match, only to have it end so awkwardly and abruptly. It looked like Williams caught the "X" thinking that the ref was going to order it to be lifted back up again, but instead the ref said that the match was over and Williams was the winner. That was clearly not the planned finish.

Having never seen Monty Brown in a singles match on PPV, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of his match against Lance Hoyt, who looked pretty good himself as a more talented version of Andrew "Test" Martin. Just based on the past few weeks of TV shows, I could see that Monty Brown had the charisma, the in-ring intensity, the power moves, and the connection with the live crowd, but this match showed me that he can actually have a quality wrestling match, too, which is more than I can say for Batista unless he's in there with a solid hand like Triple H to carry him. Brown would never get the push that he deserves in WWE since A) They have a long and storied history of institutional racism and B) They didn't "create him," but it's nice to see that he appears to be on the verge of getting a huge push in TNA.

The Team Canada match, Diamonds in the Rough match, and Tag Team Title match were the lowest points on the card, and even they were decent matches. However, I do question the decision to put the Diamonds in the Rough match on the PPV, due to the fact that they were short on time and this match hadn't even been announced as of the TV show that aired one night before the PPV.

The only reason I didn't give this event a 10 out of 10 is because of the final 30 minutes. The Gauntlet for the Gold Match to earn an immediate NWA Title Match came off to me as a complete clusterf--k. I understand that they had to scramble to come up with a back-up plan since Kevin Nash was legitimately hospitalized with chest pains on the day of the event, but it could have been handled a lot better.

First of all, why would Jeff Jarrett (and Shane Douglas, of all people), be so upset when Larry Zbyszko said that the number-one contender would be determined by a Gauntlet for the Gold Match? Instead of just naming a number-one contender who would have to face Jarrett after previously wrestling once that same night, now the number-one contender would be someone who would probably have to wrestle twice before their title match even started. And this is supposed to be unfair to Jarrett, as opposed to the challenger? That just didn't make any sense.

Another thing that made no sense in the Gauntlet for the Gold Match was Monty Brown getting eliminated so early when they had just spent so much time talking about how he was due for a title match. Also, Samoa Joe should not have been in this match if he wasn't going to win, because he is the person who everyone wants to get a World Title shot (as evidenced by the fact that when there were a half-dozen big-name wrestlers in the ring, the entire crowd was chanting, "Joe, Joe, Joe"). And what reason is there to not include Raven in the match unless Larry Zbyszko is now a heel commissioner instead of a babyface commissioner?

My biggest problem with the Gauntlet for the Gold Match was that having AJ Styles participate in the match detracted from the incredible match that he just had with Christopher Daniels. If you're not going to have the X Division Title Match as the main event, that's fine, but the least you could do is make it the separate and equal accomplishment that it's suppsed to be. The way it came off having Styles come out and vie for the World Title (unless he was booked to win it, which he wasn't) is that Styles was the equivalent of the Intercontinental Champion who wanted to come out and take a shot at the real belt. I think that severely undercut the image of the X Division in a lot of fans' eyes, just minutes after the incredible Iron Man Match had built up the division so much.

I was glad to see Jeff Jarrett lose the title to Rhino in the main event, and I think it's about time that Jeff Jarrett either leaves the main event picture or stops being an in-ring wrestler altogether. It is such BS to hear people argue the Jarrett party line of, "Who else are they going to put in that position?" Even if one hates Rhino, the answer to that question could still be Monty Brown, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles, all of whom are ready to go right now as cornerstones of the World Title picture if they're needed in that role.

I also don't want to hear the BS line of, "Jarrett has name recognition!" because any name recognition that Jarrett has is the kind that turns people off, namely because most new viewers would associate him with the final "Death Years" of WCW, when he was at the top of a company that was putting out some of the worst pro wrestling shows in the history of the industry. That's not the kind of name recognition that the bigwigs at Spike TV and Panda Energy should be seeking.

From a storyline standpoint in the main event, I thought it was odd that putting his opponent in a casket was such a big part of Jarrett's goal on this night, because it's only going to lead to Undertaker comparisons (although maybe that's accurate because they are both over-pushed has-beens who can't work). Also, why have Tito Ortiz on the show as the special guest referee if he's barely going to have any role in the match, and then he just magically disappears when the babyface gets the crap beat out of him by the heels after the match? They could have made much better use of Ortiz.

Finally, if the booking team was serious about Rhino as a franchise-level World Champion, they should have had him win the title and then gone off the air with his big moment being the show-closing image. The Dudleys (excuse me, "Team 3D") run-in could have easily been booked to happen earlier in the match, and the way that the post-match clusterf--k took place made Rhino's title win almost seem like an afterthought by the time they went off the air.

Beyond the in-ring wrestling and booking, one thing that really stood out to me is how much Don West has progressed as a color commentator since the last time I heard him in December 2002. I suppose it wouldn't seem like that much of a difference for people who have watched TNA that entire time, but for me it was amazing to hear how much better he has gotten in the past three years.

I'd say that Don West is now just as good at what he does (color commentary) as Mike Tenay is at what he does (play-by-play), in that they're both very good, but not perfect. Tenay seems to have inherited what used to be West's biggest flaw, which is the screaming and over-selling of big moves and moments. West has gotten much better in that regard since 2002, while Tenay seems to be screaming a lot more than he was in 2002.

Overall, the last 30 minutes of the broadcast (aka, the Jeff Jarrett Show) sucked both from an in-ring standpoint and a logic standpoint. Fortunately, that was preceded by one of the best three-hour stretches on any pro wrestling PPV this year.

More than anything else, this show firmly established in my mind that TNA is the place to find the best in-ring pro wrestling action that you can get on pay-per-view. WWE is the place to go if you want to see The Adventures of the McMahon Family, lots of bad skits, and the occasional great match on a PPV, while TNA is the place to go if you want to see the best in-ring wrestling action in North America.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:52 AM

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Pro Wrestling--- The TNA Wrestling "Bound for Glory" pay-per-view starts tonight at 7:30 PM Eastern Time, and I'm looking forward to it. This will be the first TNA PPV that I have purchased since December 2002, when the product completely stunk. Now it's home to some of the best in-ring wrestling action in North America, as you know if you've been watching "TNA Impact" on Spike TV this month.

On tonight's card, there are three matches that are clearly "Match of the Year" candidates on paper: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels in a 30-minute Iron Man Match, Samoa Joe vs. the Japanese legend Jushin "Thunder" Liger, and the Ultimate X Match with Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams vs. Matt Bentley. In particlar, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe are better in-ring workers than the vast majority of WWE's roster.

In another pro wrestling-related topic, the topic of Kurt Angle getting a separation/divorce from his wife was recently brought up on the Pro Wrestling Torch Message Board. I believe it was in a newspaper interview where Kurt Angle said for the first time publicly (a few months ago) that he had been separated from his wife and was in the process of getting a divorce.

Previously, there had been many, many times in newspaper articles where Angle openly talked about how worried his wife was about his physical well-being and his neck condition, and the fact that she previously wanted him to retire instead of risking paralysis. Angle said many times in interviews that he had to convince his wife to "give her blessing" for him to continue wrestling at various times when he has had setbacks with his neck condition and probably shouldn't have been wrestling.

In the last year or so, those quotes in interviews changed to, "I'm going to keep wrestling no matter what," as opposed to, "I'm going to keep wrestling as long as it's not incredibly unsafe for me to do so, and as long as my wife and I are on the same page about it."

Though the full circumstances of Angle's separation from his wife are not known, I think it's safe to say that at least a big part of it was that Angle finally had to choose between his WWE career and his family, and he chose his WWE career.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling

posted by Ivan Trembow at 6:26 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- Tito Ortiz Returning to Pro Wrestling Company
The Pro Wrestling Torch and the Wrestling Observer are both reporting that former UFC fighter Tito Ortiz is headed back to the NWA-TNA pro wrestling promotion, where he was a special guest referee earlier this year. Ortiz will be brought back in early October when TNA gets its new show on Spike TV, in an attempt to draw more UFC fans into the TNA product.

It's not currently known whether Ortiz will continue to do things like special guest referee gigs and other non-wrestling appearances, or if he will actually become an in-ring pro wrestler and have matches in the promotion. TNA Impact, which is now being advertised during The Ultimate Fighter, will be a weekly one-hour pro wrestling show on Spike TV. Each new episode of TNA Impact will debut on Saturday nights at 11:00 PM following the UFC's Saturday night programming block.

Incidentally, Vince McMahon is reported to have "flipped his lid" once again after last week's episode of WWE Raw, when he found out that not only was Spike TV prominently advertising the UFC during WWE Raw as it normally does, but the network was also airing commercials for a competing pro wrestling company during WWE programming. Spike TV is said to be at a point now where they "hate WWE" because of all the problems that they have had with WWE, and Spike executives could care less at this point if UFC or TNA commercials continue to infuriate Vince McMahon.

Mixed Martial Arts--- Liddell vs. Couture III Tentatively Set for February; More on Lindland's Release
The third match-up between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 4, 2006, according to statements made by UFC president Dana White to a reporter at the Portland Tribune.

In an article about Matt Lindland being fired from the UFC, allegedly for wearing an unauthorized t-shirt, the author of the article also wrote, "[Dana] White says the much anticipated rubber match between [Randy] Couture and light-heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell probably will take place on February 4th, the night before the Super Bowl."

Liddell and Couture have met twice before, with Couture dominating their first fight in June 2003, and Liddell dominating their second fight in April 2004. After Liddell and Couture each won their respective fights at UFC 54 last month, it was widely believed that Liddell's next UFC Light-Heavyweight Title defense would be against Couture.

However, it wasn't known if the UFC would include that fight on the UFC 56 card this November, or if the company would hold off until UFC 57 early next year. Based on Dana White's comments to the reporter at the Portland Tribune, it appears that February 4, 2006 is when this fight will happen.

In the meantime, the UFC 56 pay-per-view on November 19 of this year is very likely to be co-headlined by Ultimate Fighter 2 coaches Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin, as Hughes defends his UFC Welterweight Title against Karo Parisyan, and Franklin defends his UFC Middleweight Title against Nate Quarry.

The Portland Tribune article also revealed a very interesting detail about Matt Lindland's UFC contract. As previously reported, Lindland's pay for his fight at UFC 54 was $15,000 to fight and an additional $15,000 to win. The Portland Tribune article has revealed that Lindland's scheduled pay for the remaining two fights on his UFC contract would have been $45,000 for each fight and $45,000 for each additional win.

(Certainly, if the UFC was going to release Lindland at some point, the ideal time to do it would be right before he was set to get a massive raise. It is surely just a magical coincidence that Lindland's contract was terminated right before his salary was about to triple... right?)

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 10:42 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- Matt Hardy could have changed the pro wrestling industry. Instead, he now stands as a shining example of one of the worst aspects of the pro wrestling industry, namely the fact that money always seems to be able to make real-life personal problems or moral values go away with the stroke of a pen.

Summary of the Matt Hardy Situation Up To This Point
For those unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, here's a brief recap. Matt Hardy has not appeared on WWE television since the summer of 2004. He had to have surgery last summer to repair a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus in his knee. In March of this year, word came out through the insider pro wrestling media like the Pro Wrestling Torch and Wrestling Observer that at some point while Hardy was off the road due to injury, his long-time girlfriend Amy Dumas (Lita in WWE) started an off-camera, real-life relationship with Adam Copeland (Edge in WWE). The fling between Dumas and Copeland ironically started just after Copeland got married for the second time, to a woman named Lisa with no ties to the pro wrestling business.

The timeline of real-life events was that Dumas started cheating on Hardy in late 2004, Hardy found out about it in January of 2005, and the insider pro wrestling media became aware of it in March of 2005. Once word got out on the Internet, Hardy did not deny it and confirmed that he had broken up with Dumas because she had cheated on him. He also made other comments at the time, like calling Adam Copeland a piece of crap.

This presented several problems for WWE, namely that A) There was a WWE wrestler talking about personal, non-wrestling situations in a public setting that was not a WWE publication and B) It severely screwed up the continuity of WWE's storylines, because at the time Copeland and Dumas had never been in the same storyline together in WWE, and Dumas was actually a babyface character who was supposed to be getting cheered by fans.

Once word spread among insider fans, Dumas was bombarded at WWE events with crowd chants of "You Screwed Matt" or "Slut, Slut, Slut," essentially ruining any plans that WWE had for Dumas in a babyface role. WWE also felt that Adam Copeland was a much bigger star than Hardy, which meant that Copeland would get preferential treatment over Hardy from management.

WWE's response to the situation was morally reprehensible, yet at the same time not all that surprising, as WWE chose to fire Matt Hardy. His knee had been 100% healed and ready to go since early March of this year, but WWE never brought Hardy back to television, and then fired him in early April. It was the ultimate double punch to the gut for Matt Hardy, as within a span of a couple months he found out that his long-time girlfriend was cheating on him and then he got fired from his job.

As with all WWE releases, Hardy had a three-month no-compete clause, meaning that he could do interviews and he could schedule future independent wrestling dates for himself, but he would not be able to wrestle for any other pro wrestling promotion until early July.

WWE was shocked at the huge fan reaction to Hardy's release, as they had always perceived "insider pro wrestling fans" to be a tiny segment of their audience, and yet here were entire arenas full of people chanting things at Dumas and Copeland on WWE television, not only in the United States but also at WWE shows in Europe.

The Tough Decision that Matt Hardy Faced
At some point, the persistent crowd chants convinced WWE that there was the potential for money to be made, and so WWE made Matt Hardy a big-money offer sometime in June to have his old job back. Of course one's natural reaction would be, "Of course he's not going to go back to the company that basically fired him for being cheated on," but it's never that simple in the wrestling business.

The importance of Hardy's decision was momentous. He had already agreed to a large number of appearances on smaller independent wrestling events for the months of July and August, and he would honor those commitments whether he decided to re-sign with WWE or not. He had been in the advanced stages of negotiations with WWE's only national competitor in the United States, NWA-TNA, and was very close to signing a deal with TNA.

As with anyone in the pro wrestling business, Hardy essentially had two choices: A) Work for WWE or B) Work for everyone except WWE. Choosing to return to WWE would require Hardy to swallow his pride and agree to participate in a storyline based on his real life personal problems.

Hardy only had a limited amount of time to make his choice, as his WWE no-compete clause was set to expire in early July, and at that point he would either have to sign a contract with TNA (which would contractually allow him to work for any other pro wrestling promotion in the world other than WWE), or not sign with TNA.

How Matt Hardy Could Have Changed the Pro Wrestling Business
If Matt Hardy had chosen Option #2 and chosen to work in TNA, Ring of Honor, smaller independent promotions throughout the United States, and various big-money promotions in Japan, he could have changed the pro wrestling industry for the better in the United States.

I don't mean that Hardy's decision could have turned NWA-TNA into a viable "Big Two" promotion in the United States, because TNA's problems run a lot deeper than any talent signing will ever be able to solve.

What I mean is that Matt Hardy could have made not just a decent living, but a damn good living, by being his own boss, being a top star in TNA and ROH, being the highest-paid wrestler on the American independent scene, and improving his craft by wrestling a totally different style of match in Japanese promotions.

In 2005, if you want to be a successful pro wrestler and not work for WWE, that's how you're going to do it. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels would probably be the biggest examples of this model, but on a much smaller scale financially than it would have been for Matt Hardy.

The way it could change the pro wrestling industry is that the next time someone like Chris Jericho had his WWE contract come up for renewal, he really would have a legitimate choice, and that choice wouldn't simply be "Work in WWE" or "Work in TNA." That choice would be, "Work in WWE and make a very good living," or, "Work everywhere other than WWE and make almost as much money, while having tons of advantages you would never have in WWE."

If he had chosen Option #2, Matt Hardy could have been the person to establish that there really is a viable alternative to working in WWE if you want to be a "big-time pro wrestler." That would have been greatly beneficial to both non-WWE wrestlers and WWE's own wrestlers, who would be given higher pay and better treatment if WWE management knew that the wrestlers had a viable alternative that they could turn to when their contracts ran out. That's how Matt Hardy's decision could have brought much-needed change to the pro wrestling industry.

Matt Hardy Makes His Decision
Tonight on WWE Raw, the wrestling world found out what Matt Hardy's decision was, as he made his first live appearance on WWE television in almost a year. I can respect Hardy's decision to accept the WWE offer because it was a higher dollar figure and also because in general you don't want to get on Vince McMahon's bad side by turning down a contract offer.

What I can't respect is the fact that Hardy is now essentially whoring himself out to WWE by participating in a fake storyline based on his real life personal problems, and is now taking orders from the very same people who fired him earlier in 2004 under the most gutless of circumstances.

While Hardy publicly called Amy Dumas a whore for cheating on him, one has to wonder who the real whore is: Dumas for cheating on Hardy in the first place in late 2004, or Hardy for getting cheated on, getting fired, and then accepting money to turn his personal life into a worked storyline.

WWE's Approach to Hardy's TV Return
With Hardy back under WWE contract, the way in which WWE chose to re-introduce him on TV was in a "worked shoot" storyline the likes of which the wrestling world hasn't seen (at least not to this extent) since the WCW storyline with the late Brian Pillman. On tonight's Raw, WWE tried to present Hardy's appearance as if it were unplanned and as if he were a non-WWE employee who jumped over the guard-railing and got involved in a match.

Of course, you would need to have an age of under six or an IQ of under 70 to believe that the Matt Hardy run-in on Raw was a "real fight," but that's apparently what WWE thinks of its audience.

As part of the scripted WWE storyline, Hardy jumped over the guard-rail and attacked Adam Copeland, aka Edge, then grabbed a microphone from the ring announcer and said the following words (which were scripted by WWE): "Adam, you bastard, I'm going to make your life miserable! And Lita, you whore, I'm going to make your life miserable, too! And the WWE can kiss my ass!" Hardy was then tackled and dragged away by officials, security guards, and even fake cops to make the storyline seem as real as possible.

At this point, WWE seems to be serious about presenting the storyline as if Matt Hardy does not work for WWE, as if he's just a crazy renegade who will constantly appear at WWE events by jumping over the guard rail, attacking his enemy, and being dragged away by security.

It's a storyline that has been done many times in pro wrestling over the years. The two main differences are that A) This one was inspired by real life events, and B) It's not the 1980's anymore, it's 2005 and nobody is going to buy for a second that Matt Hardy is really traveling to WWE Raw each week, jumping the guard rail, attacking Edge, and being shown on WWE television while supposedly "being a renegade who doesn't work for WWE." It can be thrilling from a pro wrestling standpoint (as it was tonight), even knowing that it's worked, but it's just ridiculous if WWE and Matt Hardy actually want people to believe that every appearance he makes on WWE television is a shoot.

When Did Matt Hardy Make His Decision to Return to WWE?
As wrestling fans, we know from watching Raw tonight that Monday, July 11th was the date on which it was revealed to the world that Matt Hardy had decided to accept WWE's offer to return. However, what's not known for sure is when Matt Hardy actually made the decision to return to WWE.

After looking into this a bit and talking to some people with insider knowledge of the pro wrestling industry, it appears likely that Hardy agreed to re-sign with WWE sometime in the week before the June 20th Raw in Phoenix, which would mean that any interview or web site post that Hardy has made since that time has been in 100% work mode. And yes, what I mean by "100% work mode" is basically lying to people in order to make it all the more surprising when he showed up on Raw on July 11th.

Based on the people I've talked to, here are the reasons why it appears that the week of June 13th through June 20th is when Hardy made his decision to return to WWE. For one, it was during that week that Hardy's attitude about NWA-TNA behind the scenes changed from being extremely excited about signing with TNA, to stalling on making a commitment to sign with TNA. It also just so happens that he stopped taking new independent bookings on that same week.

It also just so happens that Hardy's name was briefly mentioned on the June 20th episode of Raw in Phoenix (the one with the wedding), which was the first time in nine months that Hardy had been acknowledged on WWE Raw by anyone other than the fans with their "We Want Matt" chants. It's unlikely that WWE would have acknowledged Hardy on WWE television if there wasn't some kind of an agreement in place for him to re-sign with WWE.

Initial Concerns about Hardy's WWE Return
The first thing that most people probably noticed when they saw Matt Hardy on TV for the first time in almost a year is the fact that all of that inactivity seems to have caught up with him. As the Torch's James Guttman wrote, Hardy looked a bit more like "Fat Elvis" (referring to Elvis in his later years) in the face than he looked like Matt Hardy when we last saw him. That will probably go away over time, but it can't be good for his in-ring cardio and work-rate in the short term.

Another thing I noticed is that while he seems to have gotten a bit plump elsewhere, Matt Hardy's arms have grown immensely in size, and they now bear more of a resemblance to the muscle mass of Batista's arms than the way Hardy's arms used to look. That's not going to be good for Hardy's in-ring cardio and work-rate in the long term, and could also make him more injury-prone in the future.

One also has to remember that there's always a chance that WWE's creative team will botch Hardy's current storyline and then blame him for it, and then justify any future lack of giving Hardy a decent push by saying, "He can't draw money, look at how bad X, Y, and Z turned out." That has happened to plenty of wrestlers over the years, and Hardy is not immune to that.

However, my main concern with Matt Hardy is that even if his current on-air feud is a rip-roaring success, I'm afraid that once it's over he will go back to being in the same WWE creative hell in which he has spent most of the past several years.

There's a chance that six months from now, Hardy will be back to being lost in the shuffle, with the most vindictive writing team in any form of entertainment burying him on the undercard as payback for daring to speak out against WWE in early 2005... and he'll be stuck in a multi-year, exclusive WWE contract from which he can't escape. That should be Matt Hardy's biggest fear, and unfortunately it's a very real possibility.

Sidebar: Hardy Eliminates Any Remaining Doubt about WWE-ROH Relationship
One other thing that Matt Hardy said on WWE Raw tonight was something he said to the fans just before he was dragged away by the fake security guards: "I'll see you at ROH, Ring of Honor!" Ring of Honor is a small, critically acclaimed independent promotion with an ever-growing cult following (a sentence that could have described ECW in the mid-90's), and Hardy will be working for ROH a few times in July in order to fulfill commitments that he made after he was fired by WWE and before he agreed to re-sign with WWE.

The mention of ROH on Raw was meant to make Hardy's appearance seem all the more "shocking" and "real," and was designed by WWE management to make casual fans think, "Oh my God, he just mentioned another pro wrestling promotion by name, so this must be real!" In fact, Hardy's mention of ROH only serves to confirm in my mind that WWE and ROH have a working relationship.

Though I can't say it for a fact, I am almost certain that WWE and Ring of Honor have a "working business relationship" with each other, in much the same way that WWE and ECW did in the 90's. WWE has the same motive to work with ROH that they had to work with ECW for all those years, which is to mine the place for talent (see WWE's recent signing of Ring of Honor main-eventer CM Punk). The recent announcement that a WWE-contracted wrestler, Steven Richards, would be appearing on a Ring of Honor show made me highly suspicious that WWE and ROH were in cahoots in some way.

Now all remaining doubt has been eliminated in my mind tonight by the fact that WWE employee Matt Hardy said on WWE television, "I'll see you at Ring of Honor!" Every word that Matt Hardy said on Raw tonight was scripted by the WWE creative team, which means that the WWE creative team actually scripted Matt Hardy to mention Ring of Honor by name. Now, ask yourself: Would WWE ever script that under any circumstances if there wasn't a "working business relationship" between WWE and ROH?

I'm not saying that there is necessarily anything wrong with WWE and Ring of Honor working with each other. I just think that both parties, WWE and ROH, should be a bit more open and honest about it.

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 11:58 PM

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Pro Wrestling--- Anyone who has followed the pro wrestling industry for a long time can tell you that it is an industry filled with sadness and death. The majority of the pro wrestlers I grew up watching as a kid are now dead, many of them from drug overdoses (like Curt Hennig), many of them from enlarged hearts due to prolonged steroid use (like Davey Boy Smith), and some of them due to freak accidents (like Owen Hart).

The frequency of pro wrestlers dying doesn't make it any easier when someone else you grew up watching passes away, and this is especially true in a case like Chris Candido where it comes out of nowhere. When word came out late Thursday night that Candido had died at the age of 33, I was shocked, and I still am. Candido was a wrestler who had all the charisma and athletic ability needed to be a star on the big stage, as he was for a long time in ECW and a brief time in WWE. Like so many other pro wrestlers, Candido was plagued by drug addiction and was thought to be on the brink of death for several years.

In the last couple of years, something very common happened--- the drug-addled wrestler tried to refocus his life and get clean. However, in Candido's case, something very uncommon in pro wrestling happened along the way--- He actually succeeded for an extended period of time. For every story in pro wrestling about a wrestler who tried to get clean and actually succeeded and is still alive today (like William Regal), there are ten cases of a wrestler who tried to get clean before ultimately failing to do so and passing away at a young age (like Rick Rude).

By all accounts, Candido had been 100% clean since making his comeback to pro wrestling in August 2004, and drugs played no part in his death. Candido started over from the bottom of the pro wrestling industry, working small independent shows for very little money, before finally re-emerging on the national stage in NWA-TNA in just the past few weeks.

Then, last Sunday night on the "TNA: Lockdown" pay-per-view, a wrestler landed awkwardly on Candido during a routine dropkick. Though I didn't see the pay-per-view myself, the resulting snap of Candido's leg was said to be Joe Theismann-like in its brutality. Candido suffered a fractured fibula, fractured tibia, and dislocated ankle on Sunday night.

Candido was taken to the hospital and on Monday morning he underwent reconstructive surgery on his leg. Determined to fulfill all of the commitments that he made before the injury took place, albeit in a non-wrestling role, Candido showed up at the "TNA Impact" television tapings on Tuesday. Candido performed as a manger on the show while in a wheelchair, just 24 hours after his surgery. Candido would continue performing in a non-wrestling role for several months until he was medically cleared to wrestle, at which point he would return to being an active wrestler.

On Thursday evening, Chris Candido collapsed in his home and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Doctors determined that his death was caused by a blood clot that was brought on by complications from his surgery three days earlier.

The sudden and senseless death of Chris Candido has hit he wrestling industry very hard, as he had friends in many different wrestling promotions around the country, including WWE. Ring of Honor wrestler CM Punk may have best summarized what most of Candido's wrestling colleagues are reportedly feeling when he said, "Nothing f---ing matters. Not all the hard work, the miles, the sleepless nights... nothing. It's not right."

In closing, I will end this post with an excerpt of what the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer had to say in regards to the death of Chris Candido:

"There are times when pro wrestlers pass away and everyone starts talking about what wonderful people they were, and sometimes, you almost have to bite your tongue. This is not one of those times. Through thick and thin, through the bad times, and they were many, I don't think you'll find anyone arguing whether Chris Candido was a really nice guy. He made a comeback at a time when everyone in the industry had given up on him. He was recently brought into TNA just as a test to put people over, and wound up winning a roster spot and was liked by everyone.

Chris loved pro wrestling, even though it came close to killing him at one point in his life. It was more living out his childhood dream than making money. I think he enjoyed it every bit as much when he was barely making ends meet than when he was under a six-figure contract. He was on the road right out of high school. He had a bright future. He squandered that future. But he was determined to end the story of his wrestling career on a high note and with the respect of the people in the profession that he had at times let down. He was on the road to doing all that.

What happened is one of those things that happen in life. There is no rhyme or reason. Life isn't fair. You can question all you want about a guy who fought back from something that most never come back from, but then suffered a fluke broken leg, and suddenly, with no warning, this happened. Chris was very excited about his future in wrestling, particularly because he was starting to escape from the shadow of his past.

No death of someone at a young age isn't sad in some form, whether you know them personally, or followed their lives simply watching them work from a young age. Many people followed Chris from when he was a very young man, and some since he was just a teenager. But for many reasons, this one is harder than most. It's not just because it doesn't appear to have been self-inflicted, but because this was the phone call for years that many people feared we could get at any time. And just when we thought we knew that phone call would never come, it came."

Labels: Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 4:07 PM

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Mixed Martial Arts/Pro Wrestling--- Tito Ortiz' Potential Future in Pro Wrestling

by Ivan Trembow for MMAWeekly.com

Former UFC fighter Tito Ortiz has signed on to make a special appearance on the next TNA pay-per-view, which will take place on Sunday, May 15th and will be called "Hard Justice." TNA stands for "Total Nonstop Action" and is a pro wrestling promotion that puts on shows three times per month in Orlando, Florida. TNA's official web site made by the announcement by saying, "Former UFC Champion Tito Ortiz has signed to be a major part of TNA Wrestling 'Hard Justice' May 15th on Pay-Per-View."

The announcement from TNA leaves it up to the reader's imagination as to whether Ortiz will actually be doing a pro wrestling match for the company or will simply be making a non-wrestling appearance. In fact, Ortiz' role will be limited to being the "special guest referee" in the scheduled main event of Jeff Jarrett vs. AJ Styles.

The Pro Wrestling Insider web site previously reported that TNA wanted to sign a special guest referee for the Jarrett vs. Styles match and was in negotiations with not only Tito Ortiz, but also Roy Jones Jr., George Foreman, and Mr. T. Jones' and Foreman's asking prices were deemed to be too high by TNA management, and Ortiz was deemed to be a bigger name in 2005 who would create more interest among fans than Mr. T would at this point.

Ortiz, who recently confirmed on his official web site that his days as a UFC fighter are over, could potentially make more special appearances for TNA in the future, but at this point he has only signed on for a one-time appearance. TNA's top main event wrestlers get paid on a per-appearance basis at a rate of anywhere from $1,000 per appearance to the most extreme cases of $5,000 per appearance for names like Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, who are huge names among pro wrestling fans.

It is very likely that Ortiz is being paid somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000 for his special guest referee appearance on the May 15th TNA PPV. TNA cannot afford to pay more than that because their PPV buy-rates are in the range of 20,000 to an all-time high of 35,000, while the promotion's TV ratings are in the range of 0.1 to an all-time high of 0.3. TNA is currently behind on pay with many of its wrestlers, but it is extremely likely that as a free agent name that they want to impress, they would make sure to pay Ortiz in full.

When Ortiz held out of his UFC contract in 2003, he was in negotiations with WWE management to potentially become a pro wrestler in WWE. Those negotiations never advanced to a point where a deal seemed likely at any time, simply because WWE is very firm in not wanting to bring in anyone who isn't going to be willing to be on the road working for them anywhere from 200 to 300 days per year, and Ortiz is not willing to work that kind of schedule.

On the other hand, TNA has made a habit out of signing free agents to short-term contracts and inserting them in main event story lines, which they did with Ken Shamrock in mid-2004. If Ortiz were interested in doing actual pro wrestling matches instead of just making "special appearances" for TNA, it's very likely that TNA would be interested. However, the downside for Ortiz is that TNA only runs three shows per month (two TV tapings and one PPV taping), and he would only be making $1,000 to $5,000 per appearance.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:48 PM

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Pro Wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts--- UFC and Pro Wrestling? Zuffa Says No
by Ivan Trembow
Originally Published on MMAWeekly

According to a report published by the Pro Wrestling Torch, Zuffa was recently offered the opportunity to do an inter-promotional story line with Nashville-based pro wrestling company NWA-TNA (which stands for National Wrestling Alliance-Total Non-Stop Action). The Torch reports that TNA head booker Jeff Jarrett met with Dana White and other UFC officials sometime before UFC 47 in Las Vegas, where Jarrett proposed that the UFC and TNA should work together on a story line that would lead to UFC fighters making appearances on TNA wrestling events, and vice-versa. Zuffa respectfully declined TNA's offer.

From Zuffa's perspective, they really had no choice but to turn down TNA's offer. Pro wrestling is an openly worked form of "sports entertainment," and there is still a big stigma attached to it despite the fact that wrestling promoters have admitted since the late 1980s that match outcomes are predetermined. Mixed martial arts is just starting to hit its stride and gain momentum in America, and the last thing it needs is to be associated with pro wrestling and have a very large percentage of the American public automatically make assumptions like, "It must be fake if it's involved with pro wrestling!"

Being involved with a pro wrestling company in any meaningful way would carry this risk, but having UFC fighters and TNA wrestlers go back and forth between the two different venues as part of a story line would completely eliminate any chance for MMA to ever gain mainstream media credibility in the United States.

Another reason that it wasn't practical for Zuffa to accept TNA's offer is because TNA simply doesn't have a very big following. The company's weekly pay-per-views were expected to draw between 50,000 and 100,000 PPV buys per week before the company hit the airwaves, and instead it is drawing a mere 5,000 to 15,000 PPV buys per week. Even the worst-performing UFC events still draw somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 PPV buys, and there is the occasional spectacular buy rate like UFC 40 with as many as 150,000 buys.

Despite the fact that it's nationally available on pay-per-view every week, TNA is still a small company that has never run a show outside of Nashville and usually draws four-figure PPV buys. UFC events draw more PPV buys than any other live event programming in the United States other than WWE events and two or three big-name boxing events per year.

The only factor that worked in TNA's favor when making its proposal to Zuffa was the fact that TNA apparently has a weekly TV deal in place with Fox Sports Net. It's worth pointing out that Fox Sports Net has had "deals in place" that have fallen through at the last minute with many companies over the past five years, including the UFC and several different pro wrestling start-ups. TNA has been in negotiations with Fox Sports Net for several months, and TNA's Jeff Jarrett reportedly told Zuffa at the Las Vegas meeting that TNA has finalized its deal with Fox Sports Net and will begin airing on the network in June. Whether that ends up being the case or not, the potential exposure on cable TV would seem like a nice opportunity if it weren't for all of the mitigating factors.

Other than the aforementioned credibility issues and the fact that TNA's audience is a fraction of the UFC's, there is one other giant obstacle that prevented a TNA-UFC deal from ever being a realistic possibility. It's not something that anyone thinks about on a day-to-day or even week-to-week basis, but the fact remains that Zuffa cannot afford to upset World Wrestling Entertainment and its often erratic chairman Vince McMahon. WWE and Zuffa have had a friendly relationship at arm's length over the past several years, with McMahon keeping an eye on the company with the goal of eventually purchasing it years down the road, and Zuffa's Dana White describing WWE as being "very supportive of the UFC" in an interview with MMAWeekly last summer.

Zuffa significantly changed the look and feel of UFC broadcasts to be more like boxing and less like pro wrestling, in large part so that the UFC couldn't be perceived as "competition" to World Wrestling Entertainment in any way, shape, or form. So if Zuffa ever does upset WWE in some way or is perceived as competition to WWE, why on earth would Zuffa care, you might ask? Well, as reported on MMAWeekly over a year ago, WWE has a long-term contract with Viacom that makes them the exclusive provider of "sports entertainment" programming on all Viacom-owned stations.

This means that WWE has the right to veto any TV deal that Viacom might sign with any pro wrestling company, and that extends to MMA as well. Pro wrestling and MMA are considered "sister sports" in the sense that the UFC is essentially what pro wrestling would look like if pro wrestling had real fights instead of two performers cooperating with each other to put on entertaining matches.

Zuffa has been negotiating for a weekly TV deal with the Viacom owned cable network Spike TV for several years, dating back to before the network was even known as Spike TV (it was formerly known as TNN). Zuffa may or may not have reached a point in negotiations that will allow a weekly UFC TV show to begin airing on Spike TV this fall, and there should be no doubt that forming a partnership with a WWE competitor like TNA would cause WWE to invoke its veto power and prevent the UFC from ever making it on Spike TV or any other Viacom-owned network.

Maybe the UFC and TNA could have had a wonderful relationship under different circumstances, at a different time, and in a culture that viewed pro wrestling differently, but the pitch that TNA made to Zuffa simply wasn't practical and Zuffa did the right thing by turning it down.

Labels: Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Total Non-Stop Action (TNA) Wrestling, UFC News, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 6:37 PM

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