The 450 Splash

My Trip to Wrestling Universe

2008-05-06T19:24:00.007-04:00

~Last week, I took a trip down to Wrestling Universe, a pro wrestling merchandise store at 12-60 150th Street in Whitestone, N.Y. The store sells DVDs, action figures, t-shirts and other wrestling memorabilia.

Jack Balian, the owner of Wrestling Universe, said that he opened the store in 2004 after working at a comic book and trading card store for 11 years.

The store also is the site for autograph signings from past and present wrestlers.

Balian also mentioned that current WWE superstars, John Cena, Batista and Rey Mysterio have all held autograph sessions at Wrestling Universe and that former WWE performer and current Ring of Honor regular, Tammy Sytch, former WWE/ECW star Dawn Marie and current TNA wrestlers, Team 3D, are all slated to appear at Wrestling Universe within the next couple of months.

However, Balian is more than just preoccupied with running Wrestling Universe, he is also one of the promoters of an independent wrestling organization called Pro Wrestling Syndicate.

PWS is a small, local promotion that has been around for a little under a year. Their next show is scheduled for Saturday, May 17 at Holy Cross High School, 20-26 Francis Lewis Boulevard in Flushing.

TNA wrestler, Abyss, ROH regular, Jack Evans, former ECW star, Justin Credible and others are all announced for the show.

Balian, who has been a wrestling promoter since 2001, is in charge of the business aspect of running the company such as booking venues for shows, hiring wrestlers to perform and advertising events. He even uses his store as a tool to spread the word about an upcoming show.

The wrestling store owner said that he has been a fan of pro wrestling for as long as he can remember and when he was younger, he decided to try and trade in his fan signs for wrestling boots.

“I went to wrestling school for a year to try and be a wrestler myself but I didn’t like it,” he explained. “I wanted to be more behind the scenes, so I tried promoting, which I happened to like, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Balian mentions that the best experience he has had as a wrestling promoter was meeting and speaking with the late Eddie Guerrero, a former WWE wrestler who died of heart failure in 2005.

The wrestling promoter said that Guerrero provided him with “a lot of advice” when he booked the wrestler for a show in 2001.

Balian adds that he also enjoys his role as a store owner in addition to moonlighting as a promoter.

“I enjoy having people come into the store, shop and appreciate what’s being done,” he said.

I then poised some questions to Balian from past editions of my “Mondays w/the Smart Marks” feature.

-I asked him if he agreed with a few comments WWE wrestler, Santino Marella, made regarding women in pro wrestling as found in my April 7 post of MSM.

“I think [women in pro wrestling] is needed, definitely,” said Balian. “It helps round out different aspects of the demographic.

“The male fans like seeing the women, young girls admire them and older women respect the athleticism the female wrestlers possess.”

“So their greatly needed and sometimes, these women are going harder and having better matches than the guys.”

However, despite the effort given by female wrestlers to put on a good show, it seems many of the fans refuse to give them praise, something that Balian says should not be the case.

“I think fans should just stick to being fans,” he said. “If you think you can do a better job, then you should be trying to do whatever you can to get involved and do it better instead of just being a fan.”

Despite fans at times seeming overly critical, Balian adds that ultimately everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

“I can’t knock [the smart marks] though because when you pay your money you can do and say what you want, within reason,” he said. “But sometimes, I think people just want to point out the negatives in everything and not give credit where it’s due.”

I also asked Balian to comment on the growing influence of MMA on pro wrestling.

“I think that it’s good that there is an MMA influence in wrestling but you can also just call it strong style,” he said.

[*Note* Strong Style, also known as shoot wrestling, refers to a style of pro wrestling where the strikes and techniques applied are real. The outcome of a match may still be predetermined but the moves do not look as rehearsed. This style of wrestling is very common in Japan and Ring of Honor also displays strong style-type matches.]

When asked about where he sees professional wrestling going in the next few years, Balian seemed optimistic about its future.

-“I think pro wrestling will only continue to grow,” he said. “WWE, I think, is going to continue to be the #1 pro wrestling brand without a doubt, but I also think TNA will prove to be stronger competition for them in the next few years.”

-He adds, “Ring of Honor is the clear #3 right now, but I think if they continue to expand and continue getting more exposure and merchandise out to the fans, they should be right up there with WWE and TNA soon.”

Balian also shared his thoughts on a few promotions he thinks are poised for mainstream attention.

-“I think PWG [Pro Wrestling Guerrilla] out of California is right there as far as being the next breakout promotion, they just recently signed a national DVD distribution deal, so that should expand their audience. Also, Chikara put on some solid shows and I wouldn’t be surprise if they are more known in the next five years.”

Mondays w/ The Smart Marks

2008-05-05T19:00:00.002-04:00

This Week's Question:
Sometimes first impressions aren't everything. What wrestlers have you all seen that you didn't like at first, but, for whatever reason, they eventually grew on you and why?

"Santino Marella. He didn't do anything and got the Intercontanental title but now he is the funniest caracter in WWE."

-16-0 (Wrestling Clique)

"I would have to say Cody Rhodes. He just came in as a nobody (sort of, dusty rhodes son but other than that he wasn't anyone) and he is now tag team champ. I didn't like watching him at first, but once I started to actually watch his matches I realized that he has some good talent. If you actually sit there and pay attention to him, he is a REALLY good wrestler, he does some awesome moves. He could be RAW material if he worked harder. And the sad thing is that he may not make it far because of his lisp. I mean Dusty Rhodes did, but, Cody is good on the mic for what I have heard so far, but the lisp kind of throws things off, especially if he is heel."

-cerebralassassin1987 (Wrestling Clique)

"I say MVP. At first, he was basically crap but then his feud with Kane started to kick in and I started to like him. Not to mention he looked like a Power Ranger."

-JoseBxNYC (Wrestling Forum)

"Well, I don't know if this really counts, but when Santino Marella first started out, (as the italian dude from Milan who won the IC title) I hated him.

Ever since they turned him into a comedic heel, he was golden. I, personally, never saw it coming. And never suspected he'd be so awesome."

-something clever (Wrestling Forum)

"The Miz. When he first debuted he was annoying and had nothing to offer in the ring. Now he's a solid worker and imo the most improved wrestler on the WWE roster."

-Ownage (Wrestling Forum)

"I remember thinking HHH sucked as "Hunter Hearst Helmsley" The royal character. I think he turned out fairly well."

-Suntan Superman (Wrestling Clique)

"Gotta say MVP, when he debuted at No Mercy against a jobber (Marty Garner) I was disappointed then he started to improve in the ring, kept delivering great promos and now he's one of my favorite wrestlers on the roster and in my eyes the future of the company."

-ShyBiSkye (Wrestling Forum)

"Ooh, Finlay. Yeah, I'm 20 (what does that have to do with anything?) but I know alot about the original ECW and WCW (that's what it has to do with it. I'm fairly too young to remember the old ECW and WCW) and I do know that Finlay had a career threatening injury back in WCW. Something about a glass table and his leg. But he bounced back and I'm glad to see him in WWE......although.....I'm a Hornswoggle hater. Lose the dwarf and get back to your roots Finlay!

Oh and Jeff Hardy's gonna end up going back to TNA or even ROH (despite ROH hating Jeff and wanting Matt). He's bound to get fired again. Always getting caught up in wellness disputes >.> He used to be good. Now he's crap.

I never thought Curry Man would be a good wrestler in TNA, until I remembered that it's just Christopher Daniels in a mask. I watched some of his old matches for Japan and he's pretty damn good as Curry Man. Kooooooonichiwaaaaa!"

-TKW Pure Ownage (Wrestling Forum)

"Definitely Satino. When he first debuted, I was pissed that he was put over Umaga and won the Intercontinental Title in his debut, and was bored of him already in the few next weeks.

But ever since his heel turn, he has been hilarious. He is one of the main reasons I watch Raw, his mic skills are great and he's not too bad in the ring."

-Fail (Wrestling Forum)

5/2 WWE Smackdown Results

2008-05-04T15:32:00.004-04:00

(pics from WWE.com)

~Last week on Smackdown, The Undertaker successfully defended the World Heavyweight Title against Batista, Edge beats CM Punk, MVP appears on Smackdown as the US champion for the last time, Natalya beats Cherry and Vladimir Kozlov claims another victim. Here's what went down this week:

-WWE Tag Team Champions, John Morrison & The Miz defend their titles against Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore.

-Vladimir Kozlov destroys Colin Delaney.

-Natalya & Victoria beat Michelle McCool & Cherry.

-Mark Henry roughs up Nunzio for the second time in two weeks. The first was on the 4/22 edition of ECW.

-Big Show tells Henry to pick on someone his own size.

-Matt Hardy successfully defends the WWE United States Title against MVP in a rematch from Backlash.

-Batista, fresh off his loss to Shawn Michaels at Backlash , is in the ring with Smackdown color commentator, Mick Foley, and he says that he hopes for Shawn's sake that he actually hurt himself during their match and was not faking it because if he's not hurt, he will be. Them's fightin' words!

-Zach Ryder & Curt Hawkins defeat Jesse & Festus.

-Finlay, with aid from his son, Hornswoggle, beats some guy named Julio Dinero.

-The Undertaker was supposed to defend the World Heavyweight Title against The Great Khali but Smackdown General Manager, Vickie Guerrero, comes out, with her boyfriend, Edge, and cancels the match. She says that The Undertaker's new submission finisher, dubbed "that move", is actually an illegal choke thus the matches that he's won using "that move", including his World Heavyweight Title win against Edge at Wrestlemania and the rematch at Backlash , have been thrown out and he is stripped of the title.

-The Great Khali goes to take the belt away from The Undertaker...

-...but he get caught in "that move". Edge's buddies, Zach Ryder & Curt Hawkins sneak in the ring while Khali is being choked out and take the World Heavyweight Title anyway.

Wow, I did not see The Undertaker losing the World Heavyweight Title like this. I think I'm sensing a little pattern here with WWE, it seems that they are really pushing these cliffhanger endings, and I'm certainly a fan of them.

Speaking of patterns, I hope this isn't the beginning of Jesse & Festus getting buried week in and week out. Festus loss a match to The Undertaker a few weeks back and this week, him and Jesse loss to Edge's friends. Hopefully, they'll get back on the right track next week.

I find it funny that Big Show is telling Mark Henry to pick on someone his own size but almost two months ago, Show was talking about ending the career of Floyd Mayweather, who is nowhere near the size of the Big Show.

I am digging these segments with Vladimir Kozlov. He is quickly becoming one of my Smackdown favorites.

5/1 TNA Impact Results

2008-05-02T22:31:00.007-04:00

~Last week on Impact, it's announced that Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle vs. Scott Steiner for the TNA World Title will headline TNA's next PPV, Sacrifice, the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament is announced to crown new TNA Tag Team Champions, Matt Morgan jumps Kip James for no reason, Eric Young continues to deny that he is "SUPER" Eric Young and the Motor City Machineguns continue to lose matches in TNA. Here's what happened this week:

-The show starts with Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (The Motor City Machineguns) and Shark Boy and Curry Man having a match.

-However, Scott Steiner, TNA X-Division Champion, Petey Williams and Racka Khan interrupt and clear the ring.

-Scott Steiner says that he'll beat Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle at Sacrifice and become the new TNA World Champion.

-Kurt Angle comes out but he gets beat down.

-Then TNA World Champion, Samoa Joe, runs down and clears the rings.

-AJ Styles says his usual tag team partner, Tomko, has been suspended by TNA and that he will need a new partner for the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament.

-Angelina Love & Velvet Sky are challenged to a match by Gail Kim & ODB for later that night. Love & Sky accept.

-AJ Styles asks Booker T to be his tag team partner, but Booker has no idea who he is. [Ha]

-Homicide y Hernandez (the Latin American Xchange) beat Kaz & "regular" Eric Young in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Qualifying match.

-Kip James attacks Matt Morgan as revenge for that beatdown Morgan gave him last week.

-AJ asks Kevin Nash to be his partner, but that doesn't happen.

-Gail Kim & ODB beat Angelina Love & Velvet Sky.

-Both Robert Roode and James Storm decline being AJ's tag partner.

-AJ Styles & "SUPER" Eric Young beat Jimmy Rave & Lance Hoyt in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Qualifying match. What?

-The Terror Dome is announced as the newest TNA speciality match that will debut at Sacrifice.

-Cheerleader Melissa defeats Daisy Haze.

-Samoa Joe & Kurt Angle beat Scott Steiner & Petey Williams.

-Scott Steiner ends up laying everybody out.

-TNA Management Director, Jim Cornette, comes down to the ring and announces that 4 teams have qualified for the Deuces Wild Tag Tourney (Team 3D, Christian Cage/Rhino, LAX, AJ Styles/Super Eric Young) and that there are 4 spots left. He goes on to say that those spots will be filled by 4 teams made up of 8 randomly paired TNA wrestlers. He announces that those wrestlers will be Matt Morgan, Kip James, BG James, James Storm, Booker T, Robert Roode, Sting and TNA Women's Champion, Awesome Kong.

The looks on the faces of the other participants of the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament when Awesome Kong was announced as an entraint was just priceless. I'm curious to see just where, and how silly, TNA will take this.

I don't know exactly where the new TERROR DOME~! is going to fit into the Sacrifice event, but it sounds cool.

Booker T not knowing who AJ Styles was had to be the highlight of the night.

Speaking of AJ Styles, he and SUPER Eric Young had a pretty solid match with Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt, I especially liked the finish.

-This episode of Impact also marked the return of the Canadian Destroyer~! I love that move.

4/29 ECW Results

2008-04-30T20:37:00.006-04:00

(Pics from WWE.com)

~Last week on ECW, Mike Knox acts like a sore loser towards Tommy Dreamer, Kofi Kingston continues to rack up wins, Mike Adamle continues to stink up the joint with his horrible play-by-play skills, No Layla El and Kane gets jumped by Chavo and friends. Here's what went down this week:

-Kofi Kingston beats Shelton Benjamin for the second week in a row.

-Mike Knox defeats Tommy Dreamer.

-Matt Striker holds his talk show segment, "Matt Striker's Classroom" and this week's guest is the new Smackdown Color Commentator, Mick Foley. Striker immediately starts talking trash to Foley.

-However, Foley's not having it and hits Striker with the Mandible Claw.

-CM Punk wins his match against Chuck Palumbo by disqualification and gets laid out after the match by Palumbo.

-ECW commentators, Mike Adamle and Tazz, randomly leave the broadcast area and head backstage.

-Chavo Guerrero and his bodyguard, Bam Neely, beat ECW Champion, Kane, in a 2-on-1 handicap match.

Who the hell is Mike Knox?

Having both Mike Adamle and Tazz leave the broadcasting area was just...weird. I'm honestly not even sure if it was a work or not because when Adamle first left, Tazz kept asking him where he was going and then he was awkwardly silent...or maybe that's just acting 101. You be the judge.

I was really hoping for a feud between Shelton Benjamin and Kofi Kingston but instead it seems like Kofi is just going to bury him every single week. Come on, Kofi can lose at least one match to Shelton.

Mike Adamle's announcing skills are just bad, period.

ECW was really missing something this week...I think it was Layla El. Luckily, my ECW results post won't be Layla-free.

Now my post is complete.

4/28 WWE Raw Results

2008-04-29T23:36:00.013-04:00

(pics from WWE.com)

~Last week on Raw, there was loads of Backlash hype, "Hillary Clinton" and "Barack Obama" got destroyed by Umaga and Raw General Manager William Regal won the King of the Ring Tournament.

-The brand spanking new WWE champion, Triple H, comes down to the ring and announces that the "Age of Orton" is over.

-The former champ, Randy Orton, cuts HHH's celebration short and comes down to the ring. Orton tells the new champ that he is going to use his rematch clause at WWE's next PPV, Judgment Day. Eventually, Orton changes his mind and says he wants his rematch that night.

-WWE Women's Champion, Mickie James, Maria, Ashley, Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly & Cherry beat Beth Phoenix, Victoria, Natalya, Melina, Jillian & Layla in a Backlash rematch.

-JBL runs over Robbie McAllister aka the guy who got caught at the TNA show in March. JBL calls out John Cena after the match.

-Paul London & Brian Kendrick defeat Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch.

-Paul Birchill & Katie Lea beat Super Crazy in a 2-on-1 intergender handicap.

-Raw GM William Regal is officially coronated as King of the Ring after winning the tournament on Raw last week. He says that since he is Raw GM and King of the Ring, he is now the most powerful man in WWE.

-Mr. Kennedy, who is appearing on Raw for the first time since the Money in the Bank Ladder match at Wrestlemania 24 back in March, comes down to the ring and challenges the new "king".

-He gets a punch in the mouth for his efforts.

-Cody Rhodes beats Santino Marella.

-The Highlight Reel is up next and host, Chris Jericho, presents Shawn Michaels with the "Best Actor in Sports Entertainment" award for his "performance" at Backlash.

-Triple H and Randy Orton have their WWE Title rematch but halfway through the match, Raw GM William Regal goes to the production crew and says he felt disrespected by the WWE fans during his coronation, so he tells them to take the show off the air. So the show suddenly ends without a conclusion to the HHH/Orton match.

I thought that ending was just crazy. It was a good cliffhanger and I'm actually excited to see how this plays out next week.

Poor, poor Robbie McAllister.

I really wish Randy Orton was still WWE champion. This isn't because I think HHH sucks as champ but I was really getting into the whole "Age of Orton" thing and I felt like as soon as it was introduced, the "Age of Orton" ended and he lost the belt.

I'm a big fan of Kennedy and I have high hopes for his feud with William Regal. I'm also still pretty skeptical of having William Regal as King of the Ring but he is a solid talent so maybe he'll grow on me.

WWE Backlash Results

2008-04-28T23:12:00.012-04:00

~Last night, WWE's April PPV event, Backlash, took place in Baltimore, Maryland. Here's what went down.

-The show starts off on the right foot with Mick Foley being announced as the new Smackdown color commentator. He replaces Jonathan Coachman. Woo-hoo.

-Matt Hardy defeats MVP to become the new WWE United States Champion.

-Kane leaves Chavo Guerrero for dead and retains the ECW Championship.

-WWE Champion, Randy Orton, reminds everyone that they are living in the "Age of Orton" and that the WWE Title is going to stay with him after Backlash.

-Big Show beats The Great Khali.

-Shawn Michaels fakes a knee injury during his match with Batista. Then, Batista gets suckered into Sweet Chin Music and loses the match to Michaels.

-Beth Phoenix pins Ashley to get the win for her team in the 12-Diva tag match.

-The Undertaker kills Edge to retain the World Heavyweight Title.

-Triple H is the last man standing and beats JBL, John Cena and Randy Orton to become the new WWE champion.

-Randy Orton is put on suicide watch.

Foley was AWESOME on commentary! No dead air. No awkward pauses. Insightful analysis. Mick Foley, where have you been these last few months for Smackdown?

Speaking of commentary, Mike Adamle wasn't bad tonight. However, he did mess up the name of the referee in the only match he called that night (Kane vs. Chavo), which I thought was kind of funny.

I really liked the finish to the Matt Hardy/MVP match. It really was a solid opener and a big win for Hardy.

The finish to the Michaels/Batista match was pretty sweet as well. Michaels is such a good seller, I can never tell when he's really hurt and when he isn't. Batista = Silly Rabbit.

My girl, Layla El, was looking good, as usual, in the 12 Diva tag match.

They are selling the new gogoplata finisher The Undertaker does as certain death for anyone who happens to get caught in it. I prefer 'Taker's old finisher, the Tombstone Piledriver, but I can respect the fact that Undertaker wants to upgrade his moveset every once in a while.

Ha ha ha. Khali chop?

Overall, I thought Backlash was a solid show. I enjoyed all the matches, some way more than others, but I enjoyed all the matches. Plus, the addition of Mick Foley to the Smackdown commentary team was great. My only beef was the fact that loads of people were cut from the show like CM Punk (minus a three second cameo), Shelton Benjamin, John Morrison & The Miz, Santino Marella, Umaga, Finlay, Carlito, Festus, Jonathan Coachman (just kidding with that one) and that's all I can think of at the moment, but that was my only minor problem with the show.

Mondays w/ the Smart Marks

2008-04-28T19:55:00.006-04:00

~This week's question:

Lately, there seems to be more of a MMA influence in pro wrestling. For example, a few weeks back, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle, for a large part of their match at Lockdown, used MMA-based offense like low kicks and ground and pound, The Undertaker uses a gogoplata as a finisher and I think ROH's Davey Richards uses a kimura as a submission finisher. What do you all think of this?

Here's an example:

Do you think pro wrestling should include more elements of MMA, if so, what? Or should MMA and wrestling just stay seperate?

"I hate Taker using the Gogo I absolutely hate it.

It's one of the toughest submissions in [Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu] and can only be achieved if you are well versed in the rubber guard and are able to catch an opponent.

While Taker may enjoy mma he should have used a much more realistic finisher that someone his size could easily pull off like an anaconda or a triangle, not one of the toughest submissions the gogo."

-Suffy (Wrestling Clique)

"I dont think Wrestling should do MMA but rather do a Japanese style influence its hard hitting without the rules of MMA and i think these could work better than Wrestling trying to do things that there not."

-Jay M. Punkster (Wrestling Clique)

"When you say "MMA" people automatically make the association of "MMA = real fighting," because it is. And if MMA is real fighting, then what is pro wrestling? So, at no point in time should pro wrestling ever acknowledge the existance of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Doing so immediately draws attention to the fact that pro wrestling is "fake," and destorys kayfabe, the viewers suspension of disbelief, and sometimes even the fourth wall. Anyone who ever says "MMA" on a pro wrestling telecast should be shot.

Having said that, it wouldn't hurt pro wrestling in general include more realism and be a bit more respectable. In fact in my opinion the more realism the better. If I had my way there would never be a closed fist punch on a WWE televast ever again, sleeper holds would be sold as devestatingly effective and finish matches, and there would never be a phantom strike again either because I think that if you're going to hit somebody in pro wrestling then you should hit 'em. I don't think full blown shoot style is really necessary (although I love it), but like, even just watered down punishment style would be nice. That would improve the quality of WWE's wrestling by about 700%. Hahaha.

But yeah, pro wrestling should stay faaaar the fuck away from MMA.

Although, on the flip side of the coin, MMA and it's fans need to recognise that MMA's roots are in pro wrestling and pay pro wrestling some fucking respect for a change, because the organised MMA we see today is just shoot pro wrestling.

And for the record, the Kimura and gogoplata aren't MMA based offense, they're Jiu Jitsu based offense. MMA has no native techniques because it's not a martial art, it's a sport comprised of many different competitors who utilise many martial arts. Labelling a Kimura lock as "MMA based offense" or as an "MMA technique" because it's utilised in MMA sometimes is like calling a regular punch "MMA based offense" just because MMA fighters throw punches."

-Katsuyori Murakami (Wrestling Forum)

"Wrestlers doing MMA is pretty generic.

That is all."

-Dakstang (Wrestling Clique)

"I personally like the odd MMA move injected here and there - gives wrestling a different feel to it and freshen up the product a bit. I like taker's Gogo hold - just not during the match itself. If it was built up as a move outside of matches - like orton's punt to the head - it would be fine. but by applying it during the match, his shoulders are on the mat and should technically be counted as a pin, much like the surfboard hold."

-aaron (Wrestling Clique)

"Also in the way [The Undertaker] applies [the gogoplata] it's an illegal choke."

-Suntan Superman (Wrestling Clique)

Weekend Update

2008-04-27T21:26:00.011-04:00

4/25 Smackdown Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~Last week on Smackdown, The Undertaker and Batista fought to a no-contest, Big Show got laid out by The Great Khali, Cherry upset Victoria and MVP beat Tommy Dreamer. This week's episode is headlined by The Undertaker vs. Batista rematch for the World Heavyweight Title.

-The show starts with "La Familia" (Edge, Chavo Guerrero, Smackdown General Manager, Vickie Guerrero, Bam Neely, Zach Ryder, Curt Hawkins and Teddy Long). Edge says he'll be the new World Heavyweight Champion after he wins his match at Backlash and he says Chavo Guerrero will beat Kane to be the new ECW Champion.

-Randomly, CM Punk comes out and reminds everyone that he holds the Money in the Bank briefcase, meaning he can receive a world title shot whenever he wants within the next year. GM Guerrero announces that it'll be Edge vs. CM Punk later that night.

-Shannon Moore picks up a win over The Miz.

-Natalya runs through Cherry.

-Matt Hardy and WWE US Champion, MVP, have a confrontation before their match at Backlash. Hardy says he's gonna win the belt and MVP doesn't like that.

-So, MVP hits Hardy in the face with the belt. Take That!

-Edge defeats CM Punk.

-Vladimir Kozlov beats on some chump.

-Shawn Michaels, who has a match against Batista at Backlash, interferes in his match against The Undertaker.

-This leads to The Undertaker winning the match and retaining the World Heavyweight Title.

John Morrison was on commentary during the Miz/Shannon Moore match and he had some pretty funny lines. They should replace Coach and put Morrison in instead.

Cherry still has horrible theme music.

Speaking of Cherry, she got completely handled by Natalya this week. In my opinion, Natalya had a solid in-ring debut and I'm excited to see more matches featuring her.

Although the Big Show/Great Khali match at Backlash will probably be pure garbage, there was a pretty good highlight video of the Show/Khali feud shown. I think this is going to be way better than the actual match.

That was a solid segment with MVP and Matt Hardy! I know Hardy's gonna take that title though.

Vladimir Kozlov is the man!.

The last 5 minutes of the Edge/CM Punk match was just awesome. The crowd was so into it. I think it was the match of the night.

WWE Backlash Preview

~WWE's latest PPV event, Backlash, is gonna take place later tonight. Here's the announced card:

WWE Title Fatal Four Way Match
Randy Orton (champion) vs. Triple H vs. John Cena vs. JBL

World Heavyweight Championship Match
The Undertaker (champion) vs. Edge

ECW Championship Match
Kane (champion) vs. Chavo Guerrero

Batista vs. Shawn Michaels
Special Guest Referee: Chris Jericho

Big Show vs. The Great Khali

WWE United States Championship Match
MVP (champion) vs. Matt Hardy

12-Diva Tag Team Match
WWE Women's Champion Mickie James, Maria, Ashley, Michelle McCool, Cherry & Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix, Melina, Jillian, Layla, Victoria & Natalya

Right off the bat, I'm looking forward to the Michaels/Batista match because Shawn Michaels can make anyone look good in a match and because I wanna see what Chris Jericho is going to do.

Of all the title matches going on, the only title switch I see is in the US Title match between MVP and Matt Hardy. I don't think MVP really even needs the belt anymore, because I think he's still a strong performer and has enough credibility without the gold around his waist. At this point, I think Hardy needs it more, especially since he is just coming back from an injury.

I'm interested to see how Randy Orton retains the WWE title this time. I know that it's possible that he could lose, but I'm digging the "Age of Orton" and I think he'll get a decent run with the title, maybe at least until August.

I'm also interested to see just how bad Big Show vs. Great Khali is going to be.

More Screwups with Mike Adamle

~Once again I would like to point out that I am optimistic about Mike Adamle improving as a play-by-play "analyst" on ECW, but these videos highlighting all his mistakes are just too funny to me. Here's all his screwups from the latest episode of ECW.

4/24 TNA Impact Results

2008-04-25T10:53:00.007-04:00

~Last week on Impact, Awesome Kong successfully defends her TNA Women's title against Roxxi Leveaux, The TNA Tag Team Titles are declared vacant by TNA Management Director, Jim Cornette, Petey Williams wins the TNA X-Division title over Jay Lethal and Kurt Angle challenges Samoa Joe to a rematch for the TNA World Title on this episode.

-The show starts with Matt Morgan jumping Kip James for no clear reason.

-Booker T comes out to the ring and calls out Sting and tells him that he had Sting all wrong and that he was sorry.

-James Storm and Robert Roode interrupt the lovefest and they challenge Booker and Sting to a match.

-Cornette comes out and says he makes the rules in TNA and announces the "Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament" to crown new TNA Tag Team Champions. It'll consist of 8 teams, 4 matches and the winners go to Sacrifice, the next TNA PPV event. At Sacrifice, he will take 4 regular tag teams and 8 singles wrestlers to make 4 more teams and it will be a surprise who tags together. The winners of the tournament at Sacrifice will be the new tag team champions.

-AJ Styles says he doesn't care what Jim Cornette says, he and Tomko are still the tag team champions. He then sneaks Karen Angle, his and Kurt Angle's wife, into the arena.

-Team 3D beats Black Reign & Rellik in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Qualifying Match.

-The TNA Knockouts go crazy.

-Kurt Angle, rocking the towel on his head, says he's ready for Samoa Joe.

-Eric Young denies that he's SUPER Eric. Silly rabbit...

-Christian Cage & Rhino defeat Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley in a Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament Qualifying Match.

-Jim Cornette calls out all the TNA knockouts. Once the women are all out to the ring, he announces that they all (minus Awesome Kong) will compete in a match at Sacrifice that will start as an over-the-top-rope battle royal and when it gets down to the final two women, the match will change to a ladder match. The winner gets a shot at Awesome Kong for the TNA Women's Title and the loser of that match will get their head shaved. Wonderful.

-Booker T & Sting beat Robert Roode & James Storm.

-Kurt finds AJ Styles and "their" wife, Karen and tells them to get lost.

-TNA World Champion, Samoa Joe, defeats Kurt Angle and retains his title.

-Scott Steiner, the #1 contender for the TNA World Title, comes out and starts some stuff with Joe.

-Cornette comes out for the millionth time and announces Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner vs. Kurt Angle for the TNA World Title at Sacrifice.

I thought that this match on Impact would be Angle's last change at the belt, that's what they were saying all night. So, why is he getting another shot at the belt? I like Joe vs. Angle but my goodness, give me something new already.

I just can't help but think TNA is just having a tournament just to have a tournament. Weren't LAX the #1 contenders for the tag team titles after Destination X? When did they get their title shots? I'll tell you when, they never got them. There is really no reason to have the tournament because they could have just had AJ Styles and Tomko get beat by a team and have them keep the belts, that makes more sense to me.

The women's match where the loser gets their head shaved has got to be one of the dumbest gimmick matches I have heard in a while. Just. Completely. Stupid.

No Petey Williams or Canadian Destroyer on this episode.

No explaination is given as to why Matt Morgan killed Kip James, which makes no sense. However, I did find the beatdown at the beginning of the show to be pretty funny. Calling James "old man" while he beat on him was just icing on the cake.

TNA showed a SWEET video package focusing on Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe. I didn't like the announcer screaming the whole time but it was still good stuff.

Speaking of Kurt Angle, he sure knows how to speak to a woman.

Damnit!! The Motor City Machineguns never, EVER, win.

ECW Results, ROH Video Wire, Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

2008-04-23T20:51:00.011-04:00

4/22 ECW Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~Last week on ECW, Mike Adamle made his debut as the new lead commentator of ECW, Colin Delaney got smashed by Mike Knox, Kelly Kelly won a dance-off and Kane & The Undertaker ran through The Miz & John Morrison. Here's what went down this week.

-Kelly Kelly & Tommy Dreamer defeat Layla & Mike Knox.

-Then Knox lays Dreamer out.

-Jimmy Wang Yang beats John Morrison.

-Kofi Kingston continues his winning streak with a victory over Shelton Benjamin.

-Mark Henry steamrolls Nunzio for no reason.

-Edge hosts a "very special edition" of his talk show (it seems everyone in WWE has one), The Cutting Edge. This week's guest is ECW Champion, Kane. Edge then starts talking junk to Kane.

-Kane starts yelling back.

-Kane then gets jumped by Edge, Chavo Guerrero, his bodyguard, Bam Neely and those two other blond guys.

-And then Chavo hits Kane with a chair to end the show.

I think Mike Adamle is improving, slowly, but I think he was way better this week than last week. He forgot Jimmy Wang Yang's name again this week but I think he'll get it down eventually.

Although she lost her match, I still love me some Layla El.

I hope the Kofi Kingston/Shelton Benjamin match leads to a feud between the two. I think Benjamin and Kingston are two great athletes and, if they are given enough time together, they could have some really awesome matches together.

I thought Jimmy Wang Yang looked pretty solid in his match against John Morrison. Yang also hit a pretty sweet moonsault to end the match.

4/23 ROH Video Wire

~Ring of Honor released their another video wire this afternoon. Here's the clip:

Here's what goes down:

-Austin Aries and Lacey makeout.

-Jimmy Jacobs thanks Aries for joining his group, Age of the Fall. He then tells Aries to stop all this makeout business with Lacey, Jacobs' girlfriend. Aries says hell naw, that he never joined AOTF and that he's taking Lacey with him.

-Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH World Title is made official for May 10 in NYC.

-Jimmy Jacobs confronts Lacey about the stuff Austin Aries said and she says she doesn't want to talk about it and leaves. Jacobs cries in the middle of the ring while the fans throw streamers. Funny stuff.

I really enjoyed this edition of the video wire. I thought the MCGuinness/Castagnoli segment was short and sweet. The whole Aries/Lacey/AOTF angle took a rather strange turn that I didn't really see coming but I'm willing to continue to see where things are gonna go. Plus, I laughed really hard when the fans threw streamers in the ring when Jimmy Jacobs was crying. How cruel, funny, but how very cruel.

Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

~This week's wrestler spotlight is on whoever the person was who played Bill Clinton on Raw Monday night.

Overall, I thought the segment featuring "Hillary Clinton" and "Barack Obama" wasn't bad but "Bill"'s antics were classic and stole the show.

4/21 WWE Raw Results

2008-04-22T23:22:00.010-04:00

(Pics from WWE.com)
~This week's episode of Raw is a "special" 3 hour edition featuring the return of the King of the Ring Tournament and a "special" appearance from Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain.

-The show starts with WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho, getting a win over WWE United States Champion, MVP, in a KOTR first round match.

-"Mr. Money in the Bank" CM Punk beats Matt Hardy in a KOTR first round match.

-JBL says he's gonna win the WWE title at Backlash in his match against WWE Champion, Randy Orton, Triple H and John Cena.

-The Great Khali gets disqualified from his KOTR first round match and that allows Finlay to advance in the tournament.

-Big Show, who got tossed to the ground by Khali on Smackdown last Friday , comes down to the ring but Khali punks out and leaves the ring.

-Raw General Manager, William Regal, gets the final spot in the KOTR semifinals after beating Hornswoggle.

It's announced that the semifinal matches will be Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk and Finlay vs. William Regal.

-Shawn Michaels and Batista have a quick little staredown before their match at Backlash this Sunday.

-Hillary Clinton appears in a pre-recorded message, calling herself "Hill-Rod" [ha ha] and says she can "take a hit for the American people".

-Carlito beats WWE World Tag Team Champion, Hardcore Holly in a non-tournament match.

-Hardcore Holly and his tag partner, Cody Rhodes, beat down Carlito and Santino Marella after the match.

Triple H says he's gonna leave Backlash with the WWE Title around his waist.

-CM Punk beats Chris Jericho in a KOTR semifinal match.

-Barack Obama speaks next and he asks the crowd if they "smell what Barack is cooking?" [ha ha].

-William Regal defeats Finlay to earn the final spot in the KOTR finals.

-John McCain talks to the crowd now and says he's "the man" and that it'll be "game over" come November [ha ha].

-John Cena says the WWE title is going to be going home with him after Backlash.

-"Barack Obama" and "Hillary Clinton" have a match but...

-Umaga, who must be a Republican, comes down to the ring and beats them both down.

-A celebration ceremony in honor of Mickie James winning the WWE Women's Title last week is crashed by Beth Phoenix, the former champion, and a bunch of other haters.

-Everybody starts kung-fu fighting.

-William freakin' Regal defeats CM Punk to win the 2008 King of the Ring Tournament.

-WWE Champion, Randy Orton, Edge, JBL & Chavo Guerrero beat John Cena, Triple H, Kane and World Heavyweight Champion, The Undertaker in an eight man tag team match to close out the show.

Man, I was feelin' that tournament after the first two matches. I think Jericho, Punk, Hardy and MVP are all solid picks for the KOTR. Finlay, ok. But The Great Khali? Hornswoggle? and why William Regal? What about Shelton Benjamin, I know he's not doing anything. Umaga, maybe? I would have put Big Show in the tournament way before Khali. Aside from that, I thought the matches were overall, pretty solid but having William Regal win just ruined it for me because winners of the King of the Ring usually go on to become WWE champion. To me, it makes no sense to put the WWE title on Raw GM William Regal. On the flipside, like I said the matches were all pretty good.

Eventhough I'm not happy that Regal won the tournament, he does use a brutal looking submission finisher called the "Regal Stretch".

The Great Khali had a "oh sh...." look on his face when the Big Show came out, which was awesome to see.

WWE simulated a match between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008. I thought it was pretty funny.

I am probably in the minority, but I actually enjoyed the promos by the Presidental candidates and it's a pleasant surprise to know that they were even willing to appear on WWE television.

I thought the whole Clinton vs. Obama segment was pretty funny to me. The Bill Clinton lookalike stole the show, in my opinion.

Mr. Kennedy returns next week!!

Weekend Update

2008-04-20T19:48:00.014-04:00

ROH 4/18 & 4/19 Results

~Ring of Honor held two shows over the weekend, one in Detroit and the other in Chicago Ridge.
Here's what went down:

Ring of Honor Results - 4/18/08
Detroit, Michigan

-Mitch Franklin, Pelle Primeau, Ernie Osiris defeat "Unreal" Mike Elgin, Danny Daniels, Mike Nakazawa.

-Silas Young defeats Rhett Titus.

-Jigsaw defeats Joey Matthews.

-ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli defeat Kevin Steen & El Generico.

-Necro Butcher defeats Delirious in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

-Jack Evans & Ruckus (Vulture Squad) defeat Brent Albright & Chris Hero.

-ROH Tag Team Champions, The Briscoes defeat Austin Aries & Kota Ibushi Austin Aries.

-Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black (The Age of the Fall) defeat Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (The Motor City Machineguns).

Ring of Honor Results - 4/19/08
Chicago Ridge, Illinois

-Austin Aries defeats Silas Young.

-Necro Butcher beats Alex Sugarfoot Payne & Mitch Franklin.

-Claudio Castagnoli & Pelle Primeau defeat Brent Albright & Adam Pearce.

-Mschif defeats Lacey, Daizee Haze and Ashley Lane in a 4-way match.

-Chris Hero beats Delirous.

-Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley beat ROH Tag Team Champions, The Briscoes, in a non-title match.

-Kota Ibushi defeats El Generico

-Zach Gowen, Tyler Black & Joey Matthews defeat Jack Evans, Ruckus & Jigsaw

-ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness successfully defends his title against Kevin Steen.

The first thing that jumps out at me after reading these results are that Kota Ibushi and the Motor City Machineguns picking up wins. Since debuting last week, Ibushi has been racking up the losses and Sabin & Shelley, TNA regulars, haven't won a match in god-knows how long. The machineguns seemed to have tied up their series with the Briscoes at 1-1 with a win in Chicago and the Briscoes winning their match last year . Who knows when the third match is coming.

All signs are pointing towards a potential Nigel McGuinness vs. Claudio Castagnoli feud/match. McGuinness told Castagnoli in the last ROH Videowire that if he helped him win his match against Kevin Steen & El Generico in Detroit, then he could earn a ROH World Title shot on May 10 in NYC. I'm sure the match will probably be good and all but I just don't see Claudio Castagnoli as ROH champ, I just don't see it.

Necro Butcher just seemed to be kicking ass all weekend.

4/19 WWE Smackdown Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~This week's episode starts with Batista as a guest on WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho's talk show, The Highlight Reel. Jericho talks some trash about Shawn Michaels, Batista's opponent at Backlash, WWE's upcoming PPV, and then Jericho talks some trash about Batista.

-That doesn't work out too well for Chris Jericho.

-WWE United States Champion, MVP, beats Tommy Dreamer in a non-title match.

-Hornswoggle beats Matt Striker. [*Note* That pic is pretty funny]

-Chavo Guerrero defeats Jaime Noble

-Then Chavo's new bodyguard, the "One-Man Fence" Bam Neely beats down Jaime Noble.

-Guess who's happy now.

-So, Mark Henry is getting handled by Big Show.

-But then The Great Khali, who had his peace offerings rejected by Show last week, comes down to the ring and lays Big Show out.

-Cherry picks up a win over Victoria.

-Vladimir Kozlov (and his spotlight) runs over some guy for the third week in a row. No pic for this one.

-World Heavyweight Champion, The Undertaker and Batista are in the middle of a non-title match but then Edge and Chavo Guerrero interfere.

-Batista takes out Chavo.

-Taker takes out Edge.

-The match ends in a countout and Smackdown General Manager, Vickie Guerrero, announces that The Undertaker and Batista will have a rematch next week with the World Heavyweight Title on the line.

No Jesse or Festus this week, which sucks.

Batista and The Undertaker have a bit of history together steming from last year and WWE showed a pretty good video montage covering everything, which I thought was cool.

I'm digging the slow build to the Batista/Shawn Michaels match and I'm also digging Jericho's role as the annoying instigator throughout this feud. I hope this feud continues in some shape or form after Backlash (hopefully Michaels vs. Jericho) because it's pretty damn entertaining.

I'm also starting to get into the whole Vladimir Kozlov gimmick, spotlight and all. However, all that screaming kind of gets on my nerves.

Match of the Night, in my opinion, was Chavo Guerrero vs. Jamie Noble. I really enjoyed that match.

Cherry has the worst theme music. Ever.

4/17 TNA Impact Results, ROH Doubleshot & Videowire, More Adamle Screwups

2008-04-18T23:04:00.002-04:00

~I'm going to warn you now, this post will seem very rushed than usual and that's because I want to get to the Mike Adamle clip. Well, at least I'm honest.

ROH Video Wire

~The latest video wire showed:
-Highlights from Nigel McGuinness vs. Kevin Steen for the ROH World Title in Edison, NJ on April 12.
-Kevin Steen going buckwild after losing the match due to McGuinness cheating.
-Claudio Castagnoli challenges McGuinness to a World Title shot on May 10 in NYC
-Kevin Steen continues to wild out.
-McGuinness tells Castagnoli that he hasn't proved anything to him and isn't getting a title shot.
-Brent Albright refuses to break Daizee Haze arm eventhough his employer, Larry Sweeney demands it.
-Kota Ibushi hype
-Castagnoli begs for a title shot.

ROH Doubleshot Weekend

~Ring of Honor will be holding two shows in Detroit and Chicago Ridge on April 18 and 19. These two shows feature the return of TNA's Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin (the Motor City Machineguns) to the ROH ring, hopefully they can get some wins of the weekend because they can't seem to buy a win in TNA.

Michigan State Fairgrounds & Expo Center "Michigan Mart"
April 18th, 2008
Detroit, MI

Tag Team Main Event #1:
The Age Of The Fall of Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. The Motor City Machine Guns of Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin

Tag Team Main Event #2
ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico

Tag Team Main Event #3
World Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kota Ibushi & Austin Aries

Vulture Squad vs. Sweet N Sour Inc.
Jack Evans & Ruckus vs. Brent Albright & Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney

Falls Count Anywhere
Necro Butcher vs. Delirious

Joey Matthews vs. Jigsaw

Adam Pearce vs. Silas Young

Frontier Fieldhouse
April 19th, 2008
Chicago Ridge, IL

ROH World Title Match
Nigel McGuinness (Champion) vs. Kevin Steen

ROH Tag Team Champions Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (non-title match)

Kota Ibushi vs. El Generico

The Vulture Squad vs. The Age Of The Fall
Jack Evans, Ruckus & Jigsaw vs. Jimmy Jacobs, Tyler Black & Joey Matthews

Four Corner Survival
Daizee Haze vs. Lacey vs. MsChif vs. Ashley Lane

Delirous vs. Chris Hero with Larry Sweeney

Claudio Castagnoli & Pelle Primeau vs. Brent Albright & Adam Pearce with Larry Sweeney

4/17 TNA Impact Results

~Today's TNA recap is brought to you by TNAwrestling.com:

"- The broadcast kicked off with new TNA World Heavyweight Champion Samoa Joe speaking out on his win and the new era in TNA. However, Joe was interrupted by “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner, who announced he was cashing in on his “Fight For The Right” title shot at May’s Sacrifice against the World Champion! After that, Kurt Angle came out to announce that he was using his rematch clause immediately and wanted the title match next Thursday on “iMPACT!”.

-Also on the broadcast, “Black Machismo” Jay Lethal successfully defended the X Division Championship against Johnny Devine. However, after the match “Maple Leaf Muscle” Petey Williams cashed in on his Fight For The Right X Title shot, beating Lethal after the Canadian Destroyer (and a shot from his steel case) to become the new TNA X Division Champion!

- “iMPACT!” was also filled with controversy, as AJ Styles and Tomko lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Kaz and Super Eric in a three-way bout (also featuring The Latin American Xchange). However, the title was held up by TNA Management Director Jim Cornette when Super Eric refused to unmask, as it was Eric Young who was actually in the bout. Cornette – obviously frustrated with the situation – told the world he would make an official decision on next week’s broadcast!

- In the main event of the broadcast, it was Sting, Booker T and BG James defeating Robert Roode, “Cowboy” James Storm and Kip James in six-man action. Booker T beat Storm with the axe kick, but only after Matt Morgan interfered to give their team the advantage. After the bout, Booker T took exception to Morgan’s interference and had words with Morgan and Sting over the situation! In fact, Booker challenged Sting to fight him next week before leaving the arena!
- “The Instant Classic” Christian Cage and “The War Machine” Rhino defeated Team 3D in tag team action after some miscommunication between Brother Ray and Brother Devon. After the bout, TNA security had to step in between Team 3D, who nearly came to blows!
-TNA Knockout Women’s Champion Awesome Kong successful defended her title against Roxxi Laveaux, who won the “Queen Of The Cage” match at Lockdown."

(Source: TNAwrestling.com)

More Screwups Courtesy of Mike Adamle

~And now for the main event. In my last post, I had a clip of just a small, small sample of the HISTORIC debut of Mike Adamle on ECW. Well, I found a better one that accurately sums up Adamle's first night as ECW's lead announcer.

It's never a good thing to kick a man when he's down, which is why I'm gonna try my best to be optimistic about Adamle's future showings. I mean, he can't get any worse.

4/15 ECW Results, Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

2008-04-16T21:17:00.015-04:00

4/15 ECW Results

~This episode of ECW starts with the announcement that ECW lead commentator, Joey Styles, is receiving a "promotion", leaving commentary for a behind-the-scenes job with WWE.com. WHAT?

-Replacing him is going to be Mike Adamle, the former announcer for the old-school American Gladiators and a fairly new WWE signee.

-CM Punk, Jimmy Wang Yang, Shannon Moore and Kofi Kingston beat Shelton Benjamin, Duece, Domino & Elijah Burke in a eight man tag.

-Elijah Burke and Shelton Benjamin don't approve.

-Then there was a diva dance-off featuring LAYLA~! Maryse, Eve, Lena Yada and Kelly Kelly.

-Kelly Kelly wins. I don't approve.

-Tommy Dreamer and Mike Knox are about to have a match but ECW General Manager, Armando Estrada, changes the match to Mike Knox vs. Colin Delaney.

-Colin doesn't approve.

-Mike Knox buries Colin Delaney.

-ECW Champion, Kane & World Heavyweight Champion, The Undertaker defeat WWE Tag Team Champions, The Miz & John Morrison in a non-title match squash match.

-The Miz doesn't approve.

Why kill your tag champs to make two guys, who are already viewed as strong and popular, more strong and popular.

More King of the Ring HYPE!!!!

I've noticed that Elijah Burke has a rather interesting move set. He uses this rising pimp slap and he does this other thing when his opponent is on the ropes and he jumps and...I can't even describe it, but it's cool stuff.

For some reason, I'm also digging Elijah Burke's theme song.

Adamle was awesome in his debut...and yes, that was a lie. He was terrible, horrible and just plain bad. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because it was his first time calling a WWE event and I'm sure it's not easy. Among the loads of mistakes Adamle made included calling Shelton Benjamin, "Sheldon", other times he would completely forget the names of wrestlers, "uno, dos, adios"? and overall he just seemed lost. I kind of have a soft spot in my heart for Mike Adamle because I was a big American Gladiators fan back in the day and I thought Mike Adamle was awesome. I think he'll get back to that level...in a few years. But that's ok, I'll wait, I guess.

No amount of Mike Adamle screwups can take away my joy of seeing Layla El.

Tazz was just acting a fool during that "diva danceoff". It's ok though, I know it was all done for my entertainment, right Tazz.

Who in the hell is Mike Knox?

Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

~The champ is here! The new champ that is.

This week's Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight is on the brand spanking new TNA World Champion, Samoa Joe.

I don't know what else I can say about Joe that I haven't said in my "Major Players in Pro Wrestling: TNA" post. Joe is a bad man and watching him destroy people in the ring is amazing to watch.

Samoa Joe originally became a household name in Ring of Honor, but it's arguable to say whether ROH made him or if he made ROH. I personally think Joe made ROH. Hearing about Samoa Joe and his wrestling style was what led to me first learning about ROH. While there, Joe would go on to hold the ROH World Title for almost two years, a feat that rarely ever happens in pro wrestling because title reigns usually last a few months (or even days in some cases).

Eventually, Joe was picked up by TNA and spent a million years screwing around before TNA decided that he needed to be their world champion and the face of the company. Hopefully, he can have a title reign similiar to the one he had in ROH and he doesn't lose the belt within the next month.

4/14 WWE Raw Results

2008-04-15T23:53:00.015-04:00

(pics from WWE.com)

~The show starts with JBL getting in Raw General Manager, William Regal's face and lets him know that he is pissed that his one-on-one match with WWE champion, Randy Orton at Backlash has been changed to a four-way match including Triple H and John Cena. Regal's not having it, tells JBL to deal with it and announces that he'll have a match with Triple H later that night.

-Shawn Michaels comes out and talks about his feud with Batista, who is still pissed that Michaels retired Ric Flair at Wrestlemania. WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho randomly decides to come out and pester Michaels.

-Things don't end well for Jericho.

-It's announced that the King of the Ring tournament will be making its return next week's special 3 hour edition of Raw. YES!

-Carlito & Santino Marella defeat Brian Kendrick & Paul London and become the new #1 contenders for the WWE World Tag Team Titles. YES!

-Mickie James beats Beth Phoenix to win the WWE Women's Title. YES!

-GM Regal announces that Chris Jericho will be the special guest referee for the Shawn Michaels vs. Batista match at Backlash.

-JTG beats Trevor Murdoch.

-WWE Champion, Randy Orton, defeats GM William Regal in a non-title match.

-Chris Jericho cheats to successfully defends his title against Umaga by putting his feet on the ropes to get the pin.

-Paul Burchill bumrushes Hacksaw Jim Duggan and steps on the back of his head, slamming his face into the ring mat.

-Triple H and JBL were trying to have a match, until Randy Orton runs into the ring and messes everything up. Orton and JBL beat down HHH.

-Then, JBL changes his mind, lays out everybody and poses with the WWE title.

The King of the Ring is an eight man single-elimination tournament. It was originally an annual WWE tradition but for some reason they stopped holding the tournament as frequently. The last time they held the KotR was in 2006 and it was won by Booker T (who was in WWE at the time). I've always been a big fan of the King of the Ring and I can't wait to see who's in it.

Carlito hit an awesome backstabber on Paul London. London sold it like it was death.

WOW! Mickie James winning the Women's Title came out of n-o-w-h-e-r-e. Even the announcers sold it like her win was the biggest shocker in the world. James is a solid wrestler and I think it's great that she's getting another run with the title especially after she was completely forgotten at Wrestlemania in favor of "Bunnymania".

The Age of Orton continues!!! I am digging the sudden finishes in Orton's matches lately. He'll be getting completely handled and then out of nowhere he'll hit the RKO and picks up the win. I think it's great.

Umaga got some promo time. I don't know what he said but it sounded like he meant business.

Poor Hacksaw Jim Duggan, I think it's time you pull a "Ric Flair" and retire.

Those were some brutal clotheslines from JBL.

TNA Lockdown Results

2008-04-14T23:12:00.011-04:00

~TNA held their "most dangerous event of the year" last night. Why is it so "dangerous"? It's because all the matches take place in a steel cage, that's why. This is actually the first time I have ever seen a Lockdown PPV because...I've always decided to just skip it. Don't ask me why. Anyway, on with the show.

-The show starts with the Xscape Match for the TNA X-Division Title featuring X-Division champion, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Johnny Devine, Curry Man, Shark Boy & Consequences Creed.

-Jay Lethal, with a little help from his friend Sonjay Dutt, wins the Xscape match and retains his belt.

-Roxxi Leveaux beats Angelina Love to win the Queen of the Cage match and to become the #1 contender for the TNA Women's Title.

-Samoa Joe says he's not ready to retire from pro wrestling and predicts a TNA World Title victory over Kurt Angle.

-BG James defeats Kip James.

-After the match, BG and Kip bury the hatchet.

-But then Kip changes his mind and lays out BG.

-SUPER Eric & Kaz win the "cuffs in the cage" match by handcuffing everyone else involved in the match to the cage.

-Gail Kim & ODB defeat Raisha Saeed & TNA Women's Champion, Awesome Kong.

-Booker T & Sharmell beat Robert Roode & Peyton Banks.

-Afterwards, Roode doesn't seem too happy with Peyton Banks.

-It was pure madness in the Lethal Lockdown match between Team Cage and Team Tomko

-Team Cage ends up winning the match over Team Tomko.

-Samoa Joe defeats Kurt Angle for the TNA World Title

That arena was PACKED~!

It's about damn time Samoa Joe got the belt. The match started off a little slow but it picked up towards the end and was just awesome. There were points in the match where Joe really brought the whoopin' to Kurt Angle.

Curry Man should have won that Xscape match, not that I'm disappointed with Lethal winning the match and keeping the belt but Curry Man is far more entertaining.

I thought Roxxi Leveaux and Angelina Love had a solid match. I'm interested to see how well Leveaux does against Awesome Kong, plus I think Leveaux finisher is cool.

Kaz was involved in two awesome spots in the "cuffed in the cage" match. He hit a Flux Capacitor on Jimmy Rave and seemingly got tossed from the sky by Lance Hoyt.

SUPER Eric soaring off the cage and into the ring was pretty awesome too.

However, I think Christian Cage showed better form when he went for the same move in the Lethal Lockdown match.

The MVP of the Lethal Lockdown match was Rhino. Well, he really wasn't the MVP but he did pick up the win for Team Cage. I kind of lost faith in him after that horrible Elevation X match last month, but he was on point at Lockdown. I hope he moves on to bigger and better things soon.

Overall, I thought this was TNA's best PPV of the year so far with Angle/Joe hands down as the match of the night. Lethal Lockdown was pretty good and both women's matches were solid. I wonder how long Joe's title reign is going to last.

Mondays w/ the Smart Marks

2008-04-14T17:21:00.004-04:00

~This week's question:

Every wrestler has a finishing/signature move to end a match, some are better than others. What do you all think are the top 3 finishers of all time?

"1. The Razor's Edge
2. The Stone Cold Stunner
3. The Figure Four Leg Lock"

-Dakstang (Wrestling Clique)

"Stone Cold Stunner
Pedigree
Tombstone"

-Chelseafan (Wrestling Forum)

"Tombstone
Diamond Cutter
Canadian Destroyer"

-austinrockera (Wrestling Forum)

"HBK's superkick.
Sid's Powerbomb.
macho mans elbow drop."

-manimgoodinbed (Wrestling Forum)

"Easy
1. HBK Sweet Chin Music
2. Petty William Canadian Destroyer
3. HHH Pedgree
4 Orton's RKO
5 Carlito's Back staber"

-Frost99 (Wrestling Forum)

"canadian destroyer. always looks good"

-CM Jobber (Wrestling Forum)

"Sharpshooter
Canadian Destroyer
Diamond Cutter"

-Chain Gang (Wrestling Forum)

"The Tombstone Piledriver
The F-5
The Sharpshooter"

-TKOW (Wrestling Forum)

"Pedigree
RKO
Canadian Destroyer"

-Doddsy (Wrestling Forum)

Here are some clips of some of the more popular finishers:

Stone Cold Steve Austin's "Stone Cold Stunner"

Triple H's "Pedigree"

Bret Hart's "Sharpshooter"

Shawn Michaels' "Sweet Chin Music"

Randy Orton's "RKO"

And of course, Petey Williams' "Canadian Destroyer"

Weekend Update

2008-04-13T18:14:00.010-04:00

4/11 WWE Smackdown Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~The show starts with The Great Khali in the ring surrounded by several dancers from India for a "Punjabi Peace Offering" to the Big Show, whose been punking him out these last few weeks.

-Big Show comes down to the ring and Khali "offers" him water from the Ganges River, a bottle of India's "finest" scotch, a live chicken and a goat.

-Show doesn't like the gifts and lays out Khali with a punch. He's so ungrateful.

-WWE Tag Team Champions, The Miz & John Morrison and Shannon Moore & Jimmy Wang Yang have a do-over from last week's match. Only this time, The Great Khali doesn't interfere and the tag champs pick up the win.

-Finlay makes his return to Smackdown after getting beat by JBL at Wrestlemania 24 with a win over Matt Striker (via a shilielagh).

-Finlay's son, Hornswoggle hits Striker with the "tadpole" splash from the top rope. Why? Just because he can.

-Victoria comes down to the ring with the woman who jumped Michelle McCool last week and introduces the woman as her "new best friend", Natalya Neidhart.

-Victoria ends up beating Michelle McCool in a match thanks to distraction from her "new best friend".

-Shawn Michaels and Batista have yet another verbal confrontation in the ring. Michaels acts as if he's gonna hit Batista with the Superkick but ends up getting out of the ring before Batista can respond.

-Vladimir Kozlov (with aid from his spotlight) demolishes some guy.

-Matt Hardy beats Chuck Palumbo.

-WWE United States Champion, MVP, reminds Hardy, who holds the gold.

-World Heavyweight Champion, The Undertaker, defeats Festus in a non-title match.

Ha ha ha. Punjabi peace offering? "Big Show, this is a chicken. So you can always have eggs and you'll never go hungry, because we know you like to eat." Ha ha ha.

-I thought the women's match was pretty decent. Short, but pretty decent. Also, Natalya Neidhart's voice sounds funny to me.

I'm really digging the slow build of the Batista/Shawn Michaels feud and I'm really interested in how their match at Backlash is gonna turn out.

Vladimir Kozlov has got to have the most boring entrance in the history of pro wrestling. He strolls to the ring to the theme of a spotlight.

I wanna know who the "genius" was that thought it would be a good idea to have Festus, who is an up-and-coming star being built up as an "unstoppable monster", put him in a match with The Undertaker and have him get beat. How unstoppable is he now? Granted, Festus got loads of offense in and he wasn't completely walked all over by 'Taker but still, WWE has a bunch of people they aren't doing anything with who they could have fed to the World Heavyweight Champ besides Festus.

TNA Lockdown PPV Preview

~TNA's latest PPV event, Lockdown, is happening later tonight in Lowell, Massachusetts. This event is rather unique because every single match on the card is taking place in a steel cage.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match
-Kurt Angle (champion) vs. Samoa Joe

Lethal Lockdown Match
-Team Cage (Christian Cage, Sting, Kevin Nash, Rhino & Matt Morgan) vs. Team Tomko (Tomko, AJ Styles, Team 3D & James Storm)

Xscape Match for the TNA X Division Championship
-"Black Machismo" Jay Lethal (champion) vs. Curry Man vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Johnny Devine vs. Shark Boy vs. Consequences Creed

Mixed Tag Team Match
-Booker T & Sharmell vs. Robert Roode & Payton Banks

-BG James vs. Kip James

"Cuffed in the Cage" (I honestly have no idea what that means)
-Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (The Motor City Machineguns) vs. Homicide y Hernandez (LAX) vs. Scott Steiner & Petey Williams vs. Lance Hoyt & Jimmy Rave (The Rock'n'Rave Infection) vs. ("SUPER")Eric Young & Kaz vs. Black Reign & Rellik.

Women's Tag Match
-TNA Women's Champion Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed vs. Gail Kim & ODB.

"Queen of the Cage" Match
-Angelina Love vs. Velvet Sky vs. Salinas vs. Rhaka Khan vs. Traci Brooks vs. Christy Hemme vs. Jacqueline vs. Roxxi Laveaux.

I'm pumped for the Angle/Joe match. They've had about four matches in the past and all of them were solid, so I'm expecting them to raise the bar a little higher in this one. Plus, it seems they are going to work a style of match that leans more towards MMA than pro wrestling, so I'm very interested in how that turns out.

Lethal Lockdown looks ok but I'm not too excited about it. The same goes for the BG James vs. Kip James match. The build towards that match has been, in my opinion, great but I doubt the match is gonna be anything special.

"Cuffed in a cage" on paper looks like a diaster waiting to happen with all the people being crammed into a cage but it does have HERNANDEZ~!, the machineguns, Mr. Canadian Destroyer himself and "SUPER" Eric, so maybe it won't be so bad.

Curry Man~!

I think the women's tag match featuring Awesome Kong, ODB, Gail Kim and Raisha Saeed could possibly steal the show. I'm calling it now.

TNA Video Game Trailer

~Over the weekend, Midway games released the official trailer for TNA's first video game, "TNA Impact" (yep, just like their weekly tv show).

I thought the trailer looked pretty good. Yet, don't they all.

4/11 & 4/12 ROH Results

~Ring of Honor held two shows over the weekend, here's what went down:

Ring of Honor Results - 4/11/08
Boston, Massachusetts

-Erick Stevens wins the four corner survival match over Roderick Strong, Rocky Romero and El Generico and earns the right to face ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness in the main event for the Title.

-Jason Blade defeats Michael Nakazawa

-Eddie Edwards defeats Jigsaw and after the match Eddie Edwards signs with Larry Sweeney's "Sweet and Sour Inc."

-Jack Evans and Ruckus (The Vulture Squad) defeat The Briscoes.

-Claudio Castagnoli,Delirious and Pelle Primeau beat Larry Sweeney, Chris Hero and Brent Albright.

-Davey Richards beats Kota Ibushi.

-Nigel McGuiness retains his title against Erick Stevens.

-Kevin Steen defeats Necro Butcher in a Boston Street Fight.

Ring of Honor Results - 4/12/08
Edison, New Jersey

-El Generico defeats Jack Evans.

-Jigsaw defeats Mitch Franklin.

-Chris Hero kicks Bobby Dempsey out of Sweet & Sour Inc.

-Eddie Edwards and Chris Hero defeat Erick Stevens and Pelle Primeau.

-Brent Albright defeats Delirious.

-Necro Butcher defeats FIP Champion, Roderick Strong, in a non-title match.

-Claudio Castagnoli defeats Kota Ibushi with the Ricola Bomb.

-ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuiness retains the ROH World Title over Kevin Steen

-Jay & Mark Briscoe win the ROH World Tag Team Titles from Davey Richards & Rocky Romero.

Just like I predicted, Steen won his brawl with Necro but lost his title match with Nigel McGuinness. I think he'll hover around the ROH World Title picture some more though.

I did not see The Briscoes winning the tag belts coming. I thought they were gonna let Richards & Romero run with the belts a little longer and I saw The Vulture Squad, not the Briscoes, eventually beating them for the belts. Speaking of the Vulture Squad, they happened to pick up a win over the new ROH tag champs on the night before they won the titles. I'm smelling a future title shot for the Vulture Squad.

Kota Ibushi seemed to have gotten squashed the entire weekend, but I think he'll be back soon and should rack up a couple wins here and there.

Who the hell is Michael Nakazawa?

No Age of the Fall? :(

TNA Impact Results, ROH Doubleshot Weekend

2008-04-11T22:19:00.018-04:00

4/10 TNA Impact Results

~This week's episode of Impact is the last before TNA's latest Pay-Per-View effort, Lockdown. This event is unique because all the matches during this event take place inside a steel cage. On last week's episode, Team Tomko (Tomko, AJ Styles and Team 3D) officially announced James Storm as the fifth member of their team against Team Cage (Christian Cage, Kevin Nash, Rhino and Sting) for their Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown, SUPER Eric made an appearance to save the day, Petey Williams hung from the hood of a moving car, Shark Boy earns a spot in the Xscape Match for the X-Division Title at Lockdown (X-Division Champion, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Curry Man and Johnny Devine are also in the match), Scott Steiner declares himself the #1 contender for the TNA World Title after Lockdown, Samoa Joe trains, Kurt Angle wants Joe to sign a contract and Matt Morgan joins Team Cage as their fifth member. Whew. Here's what went down this week:

-Team Tomko comes down to the ring. Brother Ray of Team 3D gets on the mic and says that Team Tomko isn't sweatin' Matt Morgan's decision to join Team Cage. Ray warns Morgan not to show up to Lockdown and calls him a "seven-foot tall, freakin' moron". He goes on to talk trash about Sting and Kevin Nash.

-Team Cage decide that they have heard enough and they come marching out (minus those stupid "Team Cage" T-Shirts). They pretty much say their going to wipe the floor with Team Tomko and then they approach the ring but Team Tomko run away.

-Samoa Joe says once again that if he doesn't beat TNA World Champion, Kurt Angle for the belt at Lockdown, he will quit wrestling.

-Consequences Creed picks up a win in his debut match over Jimmy Rave of the Rock'n'Rave Infection. Creed earns the last spot in the Xscape Match at Lockdown.

-Sonjay Dutt tries to take away Jay Lethal's girl, So Cal Val, for the millionth time. Funny stuff.

-TNA management director, Jim Cornette publicly fires Matt Morgan from TNA management making him a full-time wrestler.

-Scott Steiner hates on Petey Williams because he's Canadian.

-Petey Williams & Scott Steiner beat Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (The Motor City Machineguns).

-After the match, Steiner shaves Petey Williams' hair. Why?

-Kurt Angle comes out to witness Samoa Joe sign a contract that he will quit pro wrestling if he can't beat Angle at Lockdown.

-Samoa Joe comes out and says he'll sign the contract but it won't matter because he'll win the TNA World Title at Lockdown.

-Roxxi Leveaux defeats Angelina Love

-Super Eric is interviewed, he supposedly "knows not of Eric Young" and says he wants to rid TNA of evil.

-The superhero then goes on the beat Black Reign in a match...

-...But then evil prevails, as Rellik comes out, beats Super Eric down and handcuffs him to the ringropes.

-Kaz comes down to try to make the save but then Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt come down to help Black Reign & Rellik but Super Eric breaks the handcuffs with his "super-human strength".

-Super Eric clears the ring and does his superhero pose.

-Sting & Kevin Nash had their match against Team 3D won until AJ Styles & Tomko interfere.

-Eventually all members of both Team Cage and Team Tomko hit the ring. Matt Morgan clears the ring, then everybody starts brawling all over the building.

I don't know much about Consequences Creed but at least he's instantly put into a match of some importance in the Xscape Match at Lockdown. Unlike in WWE, where they have guys like Kofi Kingston and Vladimir Kozlov who have meaningless squash matches week after week. I was pleasently surprised with his match with Jimmy Rave. Both guys are really solid in the ring.

I don't know why but I've been ignoring the weekly segments of Jay Lethal's best friend, Sonjay Dutt, trying to steal his girlfriend, So Cal Val. They've been pretty entertaining.

I'm sure that video package featuring Scott Steiner and Petey Williams will give me nightmares for the next few months.

Speaking of video packages, TNA showed a pretty good video package chronicling the entire Samoa Joe/Kurt Angle feud.

CANADIAN DESTROYER!!!

On the flip side of that, it seems the Machineguns can't seem to buy a win.

That was a sick finisher Roxxi Laveaux hit on Angelina Love. I have no idea what it's called but it was nice.

Matt Morgan is a beast.

That brawl between Team Cage and Team Tomko at the end of the show was fun to watch, let's hope their match is just as good.

ROH Doubleshot Weekend

~This weekend, Ring of Honor will be running two shows, one in Boston on 4/11 and another on 4/12 in New Jersey. Austin Aries was supposed to compete over the weekend but he has some sort of head injury and will miss both dates. Here's the card for both shows.

Friday April 11 2008
Case Gym - Boston University (Boston, Massachusetts)

-Four Way Elimination Match for the ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness (Champion) vs.
winner of the four corner scramble

-Four Corner Survival - Winner Gets World Title Match In Main Event: El
Generico vs. Rocky Romero vs. Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong

- Kota Ibushi vs. Davey Richards

- Boston Street Fight: Kevin Steen vs. The Necro Butcher

- Jack Evans & Ruckus (The Vulture Squad) vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe

- Six Man Elimination Match: Larry Sweeney, Brent Albright & Chris Hero vs. Claudio Catagnoli, Delirious & Pelle Primeau

- Jigsaw vs. Eddie Edwards

Saturday April 12 2008
Inman Sports Club (Edison, New Jersey)

-ROH World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness (If Nigel is still champion) vs. Kevin Steen

-ROH World Tag Team Title Match: Davey Richards & Rocky Romero (Champions) vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe

- Kota Ibushi vs. Claudio Castagnoli

- No DQ Match: Roderick Strong vs. The Necro Butcher

- Delirious vs. Brent Albright

- Jack Evans vs. El Generico

- Erick Stevens & Pelle Primeau vs. Chris Hero & Bobby Dempsey

- Jigsaw vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Mitch Franklin

Both shows are interesting both are filled with a handful of wrestlers returning to the ROH ring and one wrestler making his U.S. debut.

One return is going to be made by "ROH's #1 athlete" Chris Hero. For those who have not experienced the utter foolishness that is Chris Hero, here's a little taste.

Seriously, I'm not that big of a fan of Hero's, but it's only because I'm really not too familiar with him. However, from what I've seen, he has a legit get-off-my-tv feel to him and that annoys me. So I guess he does his job well.

Jack Evans, from the heavens, comes back to ROH after missing a few months of action due to a broken face (ha ha) during a match in Japan. Here's the clip:

I've always found Evans a joy to watch and am glad that he's back.

This weekend will also see the United States debut of japanese wrestler, Kota Ibushi.

I'm not too familiar with Ibushi either...so I decided to youtube him (is that even a real term) and here's one of the things I found on him.

(*Note* Ibushi is the one in the white/blue tights)

From what I've seen of the guy, he is, without a doubt, a high flyer who uses lots and lots of flips and kicks. In terms of performance, Ibushi appears to be very hit or miss. When he's on, the dude is flat-out awesome in the ring (Did you see that double flip in the clip above? Sick!) but when he's off, he looks sloppy and down-right terrible. I think he can make a good impression on the fans who attend the shows over the weekend, but ONLY if he's on "hit" instead of "miss" because ROH fans are notorious for just dumping on wrestlers who they feel can't hang in the ring. I think he's good though.

WWE Raw & ECW Results, Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

2008-04-09T22:10:00.014-04:00

4/7 WWE Raw Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~This episode of Raw starts with the brand's General Manager, William Regal, already in the ring. He announces that Raw's main event for the next WWE PPV event, Backlash, will be WWE Champion, Randy Orton, defending his belt against JBL. Aww hell no.

-Both opponents come down to the ring and JBL tries to play nice.

-Triple H doesn't like Regal's announcement, he decides to come down to the ring and throws his name in the hat for a title shot. GM Regal tells HHH that if he wants to be in the main event at Bashlash, he'll have to beat JBL & Randy Orton in a 2-on-1 handicap match. So, if HHH wins the match, the WWE title match at Backlash will be Randy Orton vs. JBL vs. HHH.

-Umaga demolishes Val Venis.

-Mickie James (!) & Ashley beat Melina & Jillian.

-Brian Kendrick & Paul London continue to rack up wins. This week, they beat Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch.

-Triple H defeats Randy Orton & JBL and as a result is added to the WWE title match at Backlash.

-However, John Cena doesn't seem to happy with this and he comes down to the ring. Cena says he holds victories over HHH, Orton and JBL, so he also wants a title shot. GM Regal says Cena can be added to the match if he can beat JBL & Triple H in a 2-on-1 handicap match.

-Santino Marella & Carlito pick up a surprising win over the WWE Tag Team Champions, Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes in a non-title match. Damn, didn't they also lose last week?

-Cryme Tyme have a Wrestlemania clearance sale

-WWE Women's Champion, Beth Phoenix beats Maria in a non-title match.

-Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel segment takes place next and the guests will be Shawn Michaels and Batista. When the two come face to face, Batista once again whines about Michaels ending Ric Flair's career at Wrestlemania. Jericho plays the instigator. Eventually, Michaels punks out Batista and tells him if he really is mad about it, he needs to do something about it. Batista says he already did.

-GM Regal announces backstage that Batista will have a match with Shawn Michaels at Backlash.

-Randy Orton tells GM Regal that he needs to be treated with more respect. Regal gets mad, for some reason, and tells Orton that he will have a match with him next week. Ok.

-John Cena beats JBL & HHH and is added to the WWE title match at Backlash. So it's gonna be Randy Orton vs. JBL vs. Triple H vs. John Cena.

It's a week later and I still think the "Age of Orton" is a cool name.

Come on! Another multi-man WWE title match?

Umaga just killed Val Venis with his Samoan spike finisher. I've also been a fan of the whole unstable, unstoppable, wild monster gimmick and I think Umaga plays that role extremely well. Hopefully, he gets a bigger role soon.

It was good seeing Mickie James back on Raw. She's one of the better female wrestlers on the WWE roster but she's been kind of lost in the shuffle due to Bunnymania and Maria posing for Playboy.

I'm still bothered by how WWE really expects fans to forget that Brian Kendrick walked out on Paul London a few weeks back. Just who did Paul London piss off, because week after week, he just gets completely handled in the ring, then his partner looks like superman and picks up the win. Also, notice how Raw's ring announcer, Lillian Garcia, accidently announces Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch as the winners of the match.

The Batista/Shawn Michaels match will be interesting because Michaels is a great wrestler, Batista is so-so at best, so I guess their match would end up somewhere in between. Since Michaels made Ric Flair look good in their match, I'm expecting him to make Batista look like pure gold in their match.

4/8 ECW Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~The show starts with CM Punk winning a really solid, back and forth match against WWE Tag Team Champion, The Miz.

-Colin Delaney, fresh off that April Fools joke last week, asks ECW General Manager, Armando Estrada for another chance to earn an ECW contract. Estrada says he'll get a contract if he can beat his friend, Tommy Dreamer, but if Dreamer loses, then Dreamer is fired.

-ECW Champion, Kane, and Chavo Guerrero have a contract signing for the ECW title match at Backlash. Chavo says at Backlash, he's gonna have someone watching his back.

-Out comes this dude in a suit and he starts beating on Kane. Chavo and the dude in the suit lay out Kane.

-Elijah Burke beats Nunzio.

-Kofi Kingston remains undefeated with a win over Domino.

-LAYLA EL makes an appearance and tells Eve Torres that if she sees her again, there are gonna be problems. That's right!

-Tommy Dreamer looks out for number one and keeps his job with a win over Colin Delaney. Delaney remains without an ECW contract.

WWE ran a commercial inviting Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton to have a wrestling match on Raw. Ha ha.

Kofi Kingston really isn't that bad and I find him to be solid in the ring, but he's just winning just to win and there seems to be no purpose. Hopefully he gets something significant to do soon.

Layla El sighting

It's ok Tommy Dreamer. If I were you, I also would have beat my friend senseless instead of losing my job.

The guy in the suit that attacked Kane is a guy named Justin LaRouche, he's supposedly been in the WWE developmental system for a while.

This is the first time I've ever heard of the guy.

Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

~This week's Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight is on this guy:

TNA's Petey Williams

I'm gonna be honest. There's only one reason why I look forward to matches with Petey Williams in them and it's because of this:

And that reason is the Canadian Destroyer, the greatest wrestling move EVER~!

I never get tired of seeing it.

You know what? I think I might just fill my entire spotlight on Petey Williams with clips of the Canadian Destroyer.

That's not too bad of an idea, what else can I say about Petey Williams?

I know he's Canadian and he has a finishing move called the Canadian Destroyer.

The end.

Mondays w/ The Smart Marks

2008-04-07T23:55:00.004-04:00

~Today is the return of Monday's with the Smart Marks. Here's this week's forum question:

Last week on Raw, Santino Marella cut a promo that participating in the Bunnymania match at Wrestlemania was "demeaning" and that WWE Divas should be at home instead of in the ring. Although some people disagree, there are a lot of wrestling fans that don't. What do people honestly thing of women's wrestling in general (WWE, TNA, ROH and other indies)? Are the matches "demeaning" to the female talent and reflect badly on the male wrestlers? Or do these views have no place in today's day and age?

*Note* Here's the Santino Marella promo by the way:

"It depends on the show we are watching. WWE I can't stomach for the most part because their women are more eye candy and like on the skills. They do try so I'll give them that, but to try and to deliver are 2 different things.

TNA I love as much as the guys. The story lines are better than just being s*****. I'm digging the Angelina Love/Velvet Sky gimmicks as the evil popular girl kind of gimmick. Kong is Kong. Gail Kim sounds like a cartoon duck, but she can go in the ring. ODB is the best thing since sliced bread. Roxxy can go. The action and the overall talent of that group is legit and they aren't all barbie doll figures and TNA doesn't do the Bra and Panties kind of junk. They treat them like other indy promotions do for the most part and that s like any other wrestler.

WWE's use of the women are in a complete different manner than others use them. Basically in WWE they are eye candy. For some people that is fine, but they can put on just as good of a show as the men. TNA womens wrestling is a perfect example of that.

If you want good wrestling action out of the women, then WWE is abysmal outside of a mediocre match here and there. But if you want eye candy and not so great action, WWE Divas should do the trick."

-Griff0rd (Wrestling Clique)

"Yeah, I find matches like this, demeaning and sexist. However as im pretty sure your gonna see in alot the posts following, Im obvously not the target audiance. I do enjoy proper woments wrestling such as the stuff that was in GAEA and now SHIMMER."

-casinokid (Wrestling Forum)

"i dont see womens wrestling as demeaning at all,if women are genuinely intrested in becoming wrestlers thats great but how many women from wwe and tna are actual wrestlers?

most of them have fake t*** and nice asses giving the spotty,ugly fucking nerds to w*** over when wwe/tna has finished.i dont really think what the wwe or tna is doing with these so called divas or knockouts will ever help the sport of womens wrestling."

-trustinme (Wrestling Fourm)

"Its mainly WWE that does the lame matches that degrade female wrestlers. SHIMMER & now TNA have actual womens wrestling being portayed as equal to the men. Most Indies will have talented females who can entertain the majority of the audiance, but stick them infront of a bigger crowd & that'll fall to pieces."

-God (Wrestling Clique)

"They choose to do it. It's up to other women to decide whether it 'demeans' them imo. I personally don't find it sexist."

-Certs (Wrestling Fourm)

"You guys are simply generalizing. Yes, they have eye candy such as Kelly, Layla, Maria, and so on.. but how it is demeaning?

They love doing what they do and the fans love them for it.. On the flip side, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Candice Michelle and others wrestle.. The matches aren't given as much time as the TNA knockouts, but they are still there.. Back when Trish and Lita were around the Women's title was pretty well respected as well.."

-Blitzkrieg (Wrestling Clique)

"I tend to fast forward through the majority of the WWE women's matches. I can watch the TNA matches as long as ODB, Kim or Kong is in them. WWE is all about the T&A. While it's nice on the eyes, it is boring as hell to watch."

-barfly467 (Wrestling Clique)

4/4 WWE Smackdown results

2008-04-05T23:51:00.014-04:00

(Pics from WWE.com)

~The show kicks off with a World Heavyweight Title-less, Edge, an ECW Title-less, Chavo Guerrero and the rest of their posse, which includes Smackdown General Manager, Vickie Guerrero, Assistant GM Teddy Long, Zach Ryder and Curt Hawkins. Both Edge and Chavo say tell Vickie that they both feel bad for losing their titles at Wrestlemania. So, Vickie Guerrero grants Edge a rematch with The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Title and Chavo Guerrero a rematch with Kane for the ECW Title. Both matches will take place at WWE's next PPV event, Backlash. Vickie also announces that the main event for this episode of Smackdown would have The Undertaker taking on Kane in a match.

-That makes everybody happy.

-Matt Hardy defeats WWE United States Champion, MVP, in a non-title match.

-Festus runs over Zach Ryder.

-Batista chews Shawn Michaels out for retiring Ric Flair at Wrestlemania. Let it go Batista.

-The Undertaker and Kane have a staredown.

-The debuting Vladimir Kozlov beats Matt Bentley (who is actually the nephew of Shawn Michaels in real life).

-WWE Tag Team Champions, John Morrison & The Miz and Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore try to have a match until...

-The Great Khali attacks!!!

-Big Show comes out and just like on Monday's Raw, punks out The Great Khali.

-It's time for the finale of the Smackdown Diva Competition. It's down to Michelle McCool and Cherry and as expected McCool wins. As a result, she gets a shiny new bike.

-Victoria, who was eliminated from the contest a few weeks back, starts hatin' on Michelle and says that she is the #1 woman on Smackdown and not "McDrool". Well them's fightin' words and this causes a fight to break out between Victoria and Michelle McCool.

-Michelle seems to be getting the better of the exchange until some "unidentified woman" comes out of the crowd and attacks Michelle McCool and Cherry.

-The new World Heavyweight Champion, The Undertaker, and the new ECW champion, Kane, try to have a match until...

-They get jumped by Edge, Chavo Guerrero and them other two people but...

-That doesn't end very well for the former champions.

I understand that Smackdown GM Vickie Guerrero can make a match between Edge and Undertaker because they both are Smackdown wrestlers. But how in the hell can she make a match between Kane and Chavo Guerrero, two ECW wrestlers, for the ECW title? ECW has a general manager, if I were Armando Estrada, I wouldn't take that.

As much as I love Festus, I hope they keep Jesse and Festus as a team. I don't know why, I just like them as a team.

Jeez Batista, are you the only one in the world who could see how old Ric Flair was? I mean, I thought it was funny when Flair declared that he would "never retire" but if I knew he meant it, my smile would have left my face so fast...Besides that, I think this was a good transition towards a feud between Batista and Shawn Michaels.

I don't know about Vladimir Kozlov, his entrance has no music, just a spotlight (*snickers*). I have never ever seen that before. Seriously though, I didn't think his debut was all that bad. It was short and painless.

The "unidentified woman" was actually the debuting Nattie Neidhart. She's had quite a buzz about her for a while now and is said to be a solid wrestler from what I hear.

That broadcast announcing team on Smackdown of Michael Cole and Johnathan Coachman is just terrible, horrible, no-good, bland, boring, need I say more. They are just bland bad, period.

Latest ROH Videowire, 4/3 TNA Impact Results

2008-04-04T23:14:00.018-04:00

4/2 ROH Videowire

~Ring of Honor released their latest edition of the videowire fresh off their two shows in Orlando during Wrestlemania weekend.

Here's what happens:

-Erick Stevens and Roderick Strong going back and forth elbowing each other in the face during their brawl on 3/29. You'll have to watch to see who wins.

-ROH advertises some new DVDs available.

-Roderick Strong, Davey Richards and Rocky Romero (The No Remorse Corps.) cut off Erick Stevens' mohawk.

-Kevin Steen talks about his Last Man Standing match with the Necro Butcher at the next ROH event on 4/11 in Boston and his upcoming ROH World Title shot against ROH champ, Nigel McGuinness the following night in 4/12. He says he'll be the most unlikely ROH champion ever. I'd have to agree.

-Footage is shown of Austin Aries joining the Age of the Fall and the Briscoes saving Tammy Sytch from an AOTF beatdown.

I'm really interested to see where ROH goes with this Austin Aries/AOTF thing. Aries is already such an established character/wrestler in ROH that he really doesn't need the Age of the Fall to stand out (which is why I was hoping he would side with Tammy Sytch). So there are three possible things that could happen here:

1) Aries' inclusion will help bolster the ranks of the AOTF and they become the strongest group in ROH.

2) A power struggle will begin between Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs, the AOTF's leader, will begin.

3) Well...I actually don't have a third senerio. But the point is, I want to see where ROH is taking this.

I don't know why but I laughed watching the No Remorse Corps. cut off Erick Stevens' mohawk.

Kevin Steen will probably win the Last Man Standing match and then have a great showing but will ultimately lose to Nigel McGuinness the next night. I just don't see McGuinness losing the belt anytime soon, especially not to Kevin Steen.

4/3 TNA Impact Results

~TNA's next PPV, Lockdown, is next Sunday...anyway here's what went down:

-The show starts with TNA Management Director, Jim Cornette, yelling at his assistant or security guard or whatever his title is, Matt Morgan. Cornette reveals that he completely went off on Morgan because his "assistant" went behind his back and made the 4-on-4 lethal lockdown match between Team Cage (Christian Cage, Kevin Nash, Rhino & Sting) and Team Tomko (TNA Tag Team Champions, AJ Styles & Tomko and Team 3D), a 5-on-4 match by allowing James Storm, who last seen falling to his "doom" at Destination X, to join Team Tomko.

-Team Tomko comes down to the ring and gloat about having an extra team member. Then "Cowboy" James Storm comes down to the ring and joins his new team.

-Team Cage (rocking rather stupid "Team Cage" t-shirts) come out, say some stuff and call out Matt Morgan to explain himself. However, when Morgan comes out, he starts high-fiving the members of Team Tomko (which doesn't look to good for Team Cage). Christian Cage says he doesn't care about the odds and that he's got an "ace" up his sleeve.

-TNA World Champion, Kurt Angle is doing an interview but then Eric Young interrupts and says "Super" Eric is in the building. Angle says he's the only superhero around.

-Hernandez & Homicide (LAX) and Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (The Motor City Machineguns) beat Jimmy Rave & Lance Hoyt (The Rock N' Rave Infection) and Rellik & Black Reign in an 8-man tag match.

-After the match, Rellik & Black Reign beat down everybody until...

- "Super" Eric comes out of nowhere and cleans house.

-James Storm reveals that he attacked Sting last week because he doesn't respect him.

-Tomko & AJ Styles beat Christian Cage & Rhino after Rhino attacks the referee during the match, which is a no-no.

-Matt Morgan says he'll be the guest referee in the Sting vs. James Storm match in the show's main event.

-Shark Boy beats Elix Skipper (where the hell has he been?) to qualifies for the Xscape Match for the TNA X-Division Title at Lockdown.

-Curry Man dances.

-Traci Brooks defeats Peyton Banks.

-After the match, most of the Women's roster comes out and everybody is fighting until...

-Sharmell comes out with The Strap and clears the ring.

-They show another Samoa Joe training video. Bad Ass.

-Kurt Angle (rocking a suit and dress shoes) comes down to the ring and announces that next week he wants Samoa Joe to sign a contract that states if he doesn't pin or submit Angle at Lockdown, that he'll quit wrestling forever.

-Scott Steiner comes out and interrupts Kurt Angle (it seems he's getting that a lot tonight) and says he's coming for a TNA World Title shot after Lockdown for the next TNA PPV in May, Sacrifice. Steiner says he'll be getting ready for Samoa Joe because he doesn't think Angle is gonna retain the TNA World Title at Lockdown.

-Matt Morgan is talking about money with Jim Cornette and says at Lockdown, they should have a "Queen of the Cage" match. The way the match would work is all the women on the TNA roster (except Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, ODB, Peyton Banks and Sharmell, who all have other matches to be in) on the outside of a cage and then they have to fight each other to get in. The first two to get in are in the match and then the winner is determined by pinfall or submission, so it's a reverse battle royal. Cornette says Morgan is crazy and Morgan leaves to get ready to ref the Sting/Storm match. After his assistant is gone, Cornette repeats the idea as if it was his thought. Wow.

-Sting and James Storm are in the middle of a match, right, so then in the middle of the match, Storm picks up Sting's baseball bat. Matt Morgan, the special guest referee, takes the bat away...and tosses it to Sting. He then looks away as Sting beats Storm with the bat and picks up the win. INJUSTICE!!!!

-Team Tomko is none too happy about what Morgan did and the group comes down to the ring and gets in the guest referee's face.

-He's not having it and lays them all out.

-Then Morgan reveals that he's wearing one of those goofy "Team Cage" t-shirts, meaning that he will be the fifth member of Team Cage at Lockdown.

I found that segment with Kurt Angle and Eric Young was funny. He's still denying that he and "Super" Eric are the same person.

Rhino taking out that referee was also funny stuff, he should do it every match.

An easy payday for Elix Skipper. Show up for the first time in a few months, move around a little bit, then lay down for three seconds. Sounds like a great career.

"Super" Eric RETURNS~!

Every week, a bigger and bigger fan of LAX and their matches. I really hope they get the tag belts soon. By the way, Hernandez is no longer refered to as the "Mexican Superman", he's now "Super-Mex". I know, "Mexican Superman" sounded WAAAYYY better.

Sharmell, I think it's time to but The Strap away.

No Canadian Destroyer again from Petey Williams. He actually wasn't even in a match this week, instead he was hanging off the hood of a speeding car. Why? Just because he can.

I'm hyped for that Samoa Joe/Kurt Angle match at Lockdown! That promo Samoa Joe gave near the end of his training video...awesome.

I'm also hyped about Matt Morgan's in-ring debut at Lockdown. I thought he looked very impressive tossing everyone around at the end of the show.

4/1 ECW Results, Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

2008-04-02T23:33:00.008-04:00

4/1 ECW Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~The show starts with the new ECW champion, Kane, coming down to the ring and saying that the “Age of Kane” is upon us [no, he didn’t say that but I thought the name “Age of Orton” from Monday’s Raw was pretty cool).

-CM Punk, holder of the Money in the Bank briefcase, comes down to the ring and teases cashing in his opportunity for a world title shot against Kane (I hope not).

-Former ECW Champion, Chavo Guerrero makes an appearance and challenges Kane and CM Punk to a tag match against him and “Goldylocks” Shelton Benjamin in the show’s main event. Kane and Punk accept.

-Mike Knox beats Stevie Richards.

-The WWE contract-less, Colin Delaney, is offered an official WWE contract by ECW General Manager, Armando Estrada. Then Estrada tells Delaney that it was an April Fool’s Joke [HA!] and says if he wants to get a WWE contract, he’ll have to beat The Big Show in a match.

-So yeah, that doesn’t happen, Colin Delaney is still without a WWE contract and Big Show got an easy payday.

-ECW Champion, Kane & CM Punk defeat Chavo Guerrero & Shelton Benjamin

I like Kane as ECW champion. That’s one of the few things I like about ECW. Since it’s considered a lesser brand than Raw and Smackdown, they give people who don’t normally get a chance to shine, a platform to stand out.

Who the hell is Mike Knox? I remember the days when Stevie Richards was on a winning streak. Those days seem so far away now.

That April Fool’s Joke was great! I actually believed it.

Where, oh where, was Layla El??

Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

~This week’s Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight is actually gonna be a wrestlers spotlight because two wrestlers are going to be featured today. I’m focusing on two wrestlers because they’re in a tag team together and you really can’t imagine one without the other, like peanut butter & jelly or ham & cheese or shampoo & conditioner, you get the idea.

This week’s Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight is on these guys:

Jesse & Festus

WWE’s Jesse & Festus are a relatively new tag team with Jesse providing the speed and Festus bringing the power. This team is unique because Festus is a little…special, and only seems to come alive when he hears a bell ring. Before and after that, as Santino Marella once said, “he’s got brain damage, Charlie Brown”.

I used to hate on Jesse & Festus when I first saw them because I just didn’t like their gimmick, but I’ve definitely come around and have found the duo to be one of the few bright spots on Smackdown.

Besides the comedy, Jesse & Festus really are a solid tag team, plus they’ve got the best theme song in pro wrestling today.

I don’t have much else to say about this team, so here’s another clip.

3/31 WWE Raw Results

2008-04-02T21:34:00.021-04:00

(pics from WWE.com)

~This episode of Raw is the first after Wrestlemania 24. I'm curious to see where WWE is going to go with some of the things set up from Wrestlemania, like Randy Orton retaining the WWE title, Ric Flair retiring and what's gonna happen to Big Show and Umaga after losing their matches to Floyd Mayweather and Batista, respectively.

-The show starts out with John Cena's music playing, but Cena doesn't come out. Then Triple H's music plays but after a while, you get the sense that he isn't coming out either. Finally, the music of the WWE Champion, Randy Orton, who survived a triple threat match against both HHH and Cena at WM24, plays and he comes out. Orton asks the crowd if they were "expecting someone else" [nice!]. He pretty much says he's the greatest champion ever and that everyone is witnessing the "Age of Orton".

-Then JBL, who defeated Finlay in a Belfast Brawl at Wrestlemania, comes down to the ring. JBL says that Orton's whole title reign has been built on luck. He goes on to say that Orton could never beat him, declares himself the new #1 contender to the WWE title and leaves the ring.

-Then Matt Hardy, who made his return at Wrestlemania during the Money in the Bank ladder match, comes into the ring from the crowd and attacks Orton. Hardy was put on the "injured list" a few months back after being attacked by Orton.

-Matt Hardy runs into Raw General Manager, William Regal, backstage and demands a match with Randy Orton. Regal says he'll think about it.

-CRYME TYME~! returns to Raw and pick up a win over Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

-Shawn Michaels, who ended Ric Flair's career at Wrestlemania, comes down to the ring and complains about "pulling the trigger" and being the one responsible for putting an end to the career of the Nature Boy.

-It's announced that Matt Hardy will face Randy Orton in a non-title match.

-Shawn Michaels is backstage and he runs into Batista, who saw Ric Flair as a mentor to him. Batista gives Michaels the evil eye.

-Brian Kendrick & Paul London (Huh? More on this near the end of my post) beat WWE World Tag Team Champions, Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes in a non-title match.

-WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho, defeats CM Punk, who won the Money in the Bank Ladder match at Wrestlemania meaning he can get a WWE, World Heavyweight or ECW World Title Shot whenever he wants within the next year (although we all know no one would bother to waste that kind of opportunity on the ECW title). Boooooo, good match though.

-Big Show, fresh off getting knocked out by Floyd Mayweather at Wrestlemania, comes down to the ring. He starts talking but then The Great Khali comes down to the ring. It seems like they're about to fight but Khali punks out and leaves the ring.

-Santino Marella gets a slap from his ex-girlfriend, Maria, after making some sexist comments about the WWE's female wrestlers.

-WWE Champion, Randy Orton, beats Matt Hardy in a non-title match.

-Santino Marella gets beat down by all the female wrestlers in the WWE and as a result, ends up losing an inter-gender match to Maria.

-Ric Flair comes out and officially retires from professional wrestling. He then receives one of the greatest send-offs I, personally, have ever seen, to close out the show.

I think the "Age of Orton" is a cool name.

CRYME TYME CAME BACK!!! They were fired a while back and I was pretty bummed out about it because they were a really entertaining team plus the WWE tag team division is pretty non-existant. Maybe this means WWE is going to renew their focus on tag team wrestling, I doubt it but you never know.

Highlights of Ric Flair's career were shown throughout the night, which I thought were cool to watch.

WHAT?!? Didn't Brian Kendrick walk out on Paul London a few weeks back? Am I just supposed to forget that and pretend like it didn't happen? Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to because, thankfully, WWE seems to really want to re-establish their tag teams, once again I don't think anything will come of this but who knows. Kendrick and London are a good team though.

Hardcore Holly put down a huge whuppin' on Paul London in their match. London seems to be getting a lot of that lately.

It was a little disappointing to see CM Punk lose to Chris Jericho. Not because it's Chris Jericho, but because as "Mr. Money in th Bank", it shows that WWE wants to make Punk their next big star and I feel a lost puts all that on the wrong foot. However, you can't win them all and WWE has up to a year to build Punk into a legit WWE or World Heavyweight Title contender whenever he cashes in the "Money in the Bank".

A Big Show/Khali feud? Spare me now. The crowd dumped all over this segment but the "Show is gonna kill you" chants toward Khali were funny.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be all into a possible Randy Orton/JBL feud either.

Santino Marella was comedic gold again. However, I personally don't agree with his comments on the WWE Divas because they're not all terrible in the ring. Unfortunately, Santino's "views" are echoed by a lot of WWE fans.

That beatdown he got later was...interesting.

I think Matt Hardy and Randy Orton had, what I thought was, the match of the night. But, I hope Hardy will now go back to Smackdown and go back to feuding with WWE United States Champion, MVP, which was what he was doing before he got injured. By the way, I really dug the finish to that match.

I hope Flair meant it when he said he is never going to wrestle again, it would be a shame for him to tarnish such a great farewell by coming back two, three or eight more times. That entire moment was just...wow...my words just can't do it justice.

part 1

part 2

No Monday w/ The Smart Marks?!?!?

2008-04-01T17:44:00.005-04:00

~I know, I know. Yesterday I was supposed to post the latest edition of Mondays with The Smart Marks...but I didn't.

But that's ok. It's ok because today I have a special, one-time-only feature exclusive to The 450 Splash. So without further ado, I present...

ONE Tuesday with The Smart Marks

This week's question:
Wrestlemania 24 just ended. What was the biggest surprise from the show?

"Punk winning MITB was by far the most surprising thing for me. Followed closely by Beth and Melina winning."

-MrMonty (Wrestling Forum)

"Nothing was really close to being a big surprise in a pretty predictable WM. When I saw that the Edge/Taker match was last it was a clear sign Orton was retaining and Taker was winning, so that took a little intrigue out of it.

A mild surprise was just how good of a match Flair and Michaels had, looks like the Naitch still had something left and he gave it his all. Another surprise was that Michaels wasn't seriously hurt, the way he landed on the announcer's table ... that HAD to hurt."

-k3v5h (Wrestling Clique)

"Just wanted to say I thought that MITB was an incredible match."

-Killah RKO (Wrestling Forum)

"Not too many huge surprises but I didn't see CM Punk MITB winning at all - I definately had him fourth most likely behind Jericho, Kennedy and MVP. However, it makes some sense with his recent RAW appearances and the new kid friendly direction of the WWE. I'm really not sure when he'll cash in but I expect him to switch shows and establish his credibility throughout the summer. My early prediction, cashing in against a WHC Edge late this year or early next."

-Highlight Reel (Wrestling Forum)

"I marked out more tonight than ever before. I'm a huge Orton fan and when I saw HHH hit the Pedigree, I thought, "Great, another HHH title reign." But Orton kicking HHH and pinning Cena was booking genius. I'm so pumped that Vince has confidence in Randy. Orton is the future of the company and I'm glad to see his reign continue.

Undertaker-Edge was awesome, they put on a great match. Pace picked up towards the end. Lots of nearfalls. There were many times I thought Edge was going to end the streak particularly when the Edgeheads came. Great way to end WM with Undertaker in the ring with the belt.

The Flair-Michaels match was absolutely brilliant. The best ever vs. one of the best ever. Great spots by Michaels. Great feel and psychology. Great emotion particularly the ending with Shawn saying sorry. Those three matches alone make this a great WM.

Kane getting the ECW title is great. The man is a great worker and is very over with the crowd. I'm glad to see him get rewarded.

Batista v Umaga was pretty awful, I expected better.

MITB was great. All the guys had some great spots. Amazing display of athleticism. Lots of close calls with each guy almost getting the case. Surprised to see Punk win, but I guess those reports of heat on him were exaggerated.

I missed the JBL-Finlay match and the Bunny match, so no comment there. But, I really enjoyed this year's Wrestlemania."

-gatorca14 (Wrestling Forum)

"orton reataining the title... and kane becoming ecw champ"

-A-Bomb (Wrestling Clique)

"Epic show? One of the best ever? Will you wake up.

JBL - Finlay - predictable that Mr politics would win.

MITB - They give it to an up and comer so it was predictable that it would be Punk - the drug free guy.

Batista - Umaga - predictable that Botchtista would win.

Michaels/Flair - predictable cos everyone knew Flair was retiring.

Triple Threat - predictable cos it was not the main event match and Orton hasn't been hyped up
like the others which usually indicates that a champ will retain.

Mayweather/Show - The celeb was not going to lose. Very predictable.

Taker/Edge - Taker doesn't lose at Mania. Oh so predictable.

This was the most predictable WM of all time. Someone earlier laughably claimed that WWE had given the fans swerves. They must be off their rocker. And Coach commentating a Wrestlemania main event? Damn.

I feel sorry for those who forked out money for this joke of a show.

THUMBS DOWN!!"

-Mr. Charisma (Wrestling Forum)

"Weren't that many surprises for me really. Well, I was suprised at how short the ECW title match was and Melina/Beth winning BunnyMania."

-xXxRisexXx (Wrestling Clique)

"I thought Mania was pretty solid. The Money in the Bank stole the show by far. Very creative this year. All men involved got their time to shine, Matt showed up, and I'm happy Jericho didn't win. He would have looked weird carrying around the briefcase. Honestly, I think he's beyond something like that. He'll get his title matches using other avenues. CM Punk is an ok choice, but I'd rather have seen Kennedy or MVP. They really need to start pushing all these guys. Everyone was fantastic in that match.

The Triple Threat was good. I'm not surprised Orton won given how the feud had gone, but there was certainly some doubt. Nice to see him retain.

Show/Mayweather was meh.. but better than expected.

JBL winning was a nice surprise.

This is about the only way Flair could have gone out and I'm glad it's finally over. Great career. HBK is unreal. He can make any match interesting.

Taker winning wasn't surprising obviously, but the match was great. The booking, spectacular. They made it look like Edge might have a chance there for a second which is all I needed.

Divas crap was awful. Should have included Mickie or Kelly Kelly, even Maryse. Santino was gold again, though.

Batista is awful.

Kane winning is the ECW title is meh. I guess he deserves it.

All in all, solid show. Oh, and I want to reiterate how much I love Kim Kardashian."

-Blitzkrieg (Wrestling Clique)

WWE Wrestlemania 24 Results

2008-03-31T14:20:00.025-04:00

(pics from WWE.com)

~WWE's 24th annual Wrestlemania event occured last night from the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. This is WWE's biggest event of the year and is always good for producing a memorable moment or two, or ten. I would normally include "Monday w/ the Smart Marks" in this post, but I think Wrestlemania deserves a post by itself. I'm still pumped about the show, here's what went down:

-Kane wins the 24 man battle royal and earns the right to fight Chavo Guerrero for the ECW Championship later on in the show.

-JBL beats Finlay in a “Belfast Brawl”. A really good opener.

-Mr. Kennedy yells in Kim Kardashian’s face.

-CM Punk won the amazing Money in the Bank Ladder Match and earns the right to receive a WWE, World Heavyweight or ECW Title shot at any time within the next year.

-Santino Marella tries talking some more trash to Snoop Dogg, but he’s not having it and has Festus attack him. Funny stuff.

-Smackdown wins the Smackdown vs. Raw challenge match when Batista beats Umaga.

-Kane defeats Chavo Guerrero in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it match to become the new ECW Champion.

-Shawn Michaels ends Ric Flair’s career by beating him in a match. This match was WAY better than I thought it would be.

-After the match, Flair takes one last walk to the back while receiving a standing "o" from the Orlando crowd.

-In the Bunnymania match, Raw Color Commentator, Jerry Lawler tries to play the hero again and punches Santino Marella when he prevents Maria from winning the match. Eventually, WWE Women’s Champion, Beth Phoenix & Melina pick up the win over Maria & Ashley Massaro.

-Afterwards, Snoop Dogg comes out of nowhere and clotheslines Santino Marella, kisses Maria (I thought Snoop was married) and leaves with her and Ashley.

-Randy Orton retains the WWE Title over Triple H and John Cena.

-Floyd Mayweather knocks out the Big Show with a chair and a pair of brass knuckles.

-The Undertaker goes 16-0 in Wrestlemania matches and defeats Edge for the World Heavyweight Title to close out the show.

I kind of wanted the Money in the Bank Ladder match to open the show but the Belfast Brawl was a surprisingly good opening, hard-hitting match, so I’m not that upset about it.

The blonde haired Shelton Benjamin was all decked out in gold last night. That man nearly killed himself in the Money in the Bank ladder match.

Speaking of Money in the Bank, that match was CRAZY~! Bodies were flying everywhere. The match continues to be a Wrestlemania highlight every year and I think this year's was the best out of the four. I was pretty shocked that Punk pulled out the win and I’m interested to see where WWE goes with this.

Why was that Kane/Chavo match so short? I actually went to go use the bathroom before Chavo made his entrance and when I came back, Kane was walking out with the ECW belt.

I was not feelin’ that robe Ric Flair had on last night. He looked like a cross between a superhero and a religious cult leader.

There was a point in the Michaels/Flair match where Michaels missed a moonsault from the ring and I thought he broke his ribs. He actually went for the move twice and looked to have missed both of them.

Speaking of things broken, I thought Michaels broke Flair’s jaw with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels went for that move three times.

Flair vs. Michaels was one of the surprises of the night to me. The build-up was great and I was certain that Flair's age would show and he'd drag the match down. I was glad to be wrong on that one. Eventhough he lost, witnessing Flair take his final bow sure was a sight to see.

Edge delivered an awesome promo about him as a kid watching Wrestlemania 6 and how he planned on ending the Undertaker’s undefeated streak.

Snoop Dogg clotheslining Santino Marella was hilarious. I didn’t see that coming at all.

John Cena’s Entrance!!!! That was so sick! One of my new favorite Wrestlemania entrances of all time! I used to play drums in my high school school band and I never got to play anywhere as cool as Wrestlemania.

I DID NOT expect Randy Orton to retain his title. Wow! He really came out of nowhere with that one. I thought HHH would be walking out with the belt, I guess I was wrong, again.

Big Show/Mayweather was another pleasent surprise of the night. I thought they were going to have Mayweather try and pull of wrestling moves, which would have been a mistake. Thankfully, they let Floyd do what he does best, which is punch and run, and they made Big Show lose in a way that I don't think made him lose his credibility.

I really thought the Edge/Taker match was gonna get the short end of the stick and be buried in the middle of the card, it was surprising to see them get the main event. I haven’t made up my mind if it’s a good surprise or a bad surprise yet but I thought the match was decent.

Wow, overall, a damn good show. I don’t know if it is worth $70 in HD but it was a damn good show. Match of the night for me was the Money in the Bank Ladder Match (in terms of excitement) and the Flair/Michaels match (in terms of importance and because it was Flair’s last match). I completely missed the Chavo/Kane match but I thought every other match was surprisingly solid, even the Bunnymania match which I thought was gonna be complete trash.

I've read other fan reports and have seen that people had various petty complaints about the show, like it sucked that Flair/Michaels wasn't the main event or they thought Bunnymania killed the show (the lights actually went out halfway through the match and the women were wrestling in the dark for about a minute or so).

I think sometimes, wrestling fans are so focused on finding and pointing out the negatives in everything, that they forget to sit back and be a wrestling fan instead of a wrestling critic, which leaves them never satisfied no matter how good the show is.

Anyway, I was thoroughly entertained for 4 hours and I don't think I could have asked for more.

Weekend Update

2008-03-30T20:45:00.012-04:00

ROH "Supercard of Honor III" Results

~Ring of Honor closed out their weekend with the second of two shows in Orlando yesterday featuring wrestlers from the Dragon Gate promotion in Japan. Here's what went down:

-Go Shiozaki beats Delirious.

-Kenny King, Sal Rinauro & Chasyn Rance (The Young, Rich & Ready) beat Dingo, Luke Williams & Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne.

-ROH Tag Team Champions Rocky Romero & Davey Richards (The No Remorse Corps.) defend their titles against Jigsaw & Ruckus (The Vulture Squad).

-Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs (The Age of the Fall) beat The Briscoes.

-BxB Hulk & Shingo (from Dragon Gate) defeat El Generico & Kevin Steen

-Nigel McGuinness beats Austin Aries to successfully retain the ROH World Title.

-After the match both the AOTF and Tammy Sytch try, once again, to get Aries to join them. He ends up joining the Age of the Fall. AOTF are about to attack Sytch but The Briscoes come out to make the save.

-Genki Horoguchi, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino defeat CIMA, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito in an all-Dragon Gate six man tag match.

I really didn't expect Aries to join the Age of the Fall, but he would definetely fit in with their whole "death to society" look. I'm interested if ROH is going to do anything with The Briscoes and Tammy Sytch, hopefully she becomes their manager and speaks for them because the Briscoes, although talented in the ring, are god-awful on the mic.

I'm glad to see Richards & Romero get a run with the tag belts. When they won them a few months ago, I was sure they would drop the belts to the Briscoes or the AOTF by the next week. I dig Davey Richards and Rocky Romero as singles wrestlers and from the few matches I've seen of them as a team, I like the pair just as much.

-There goes Kevin Steen's winning streak.

2008 WWE Hall of Fame

WWE held their 2008 Hall of Fame ceremony last night. The inductees included Ric Flair, Rocky Johnson, "High Chief" Peter Maivia, Jack & Gerald Briscoe, Eddie Graham, Gordon Solie and Mae Young.

I wasn't even alive when any of these people were in their prime, despite that, I still found the show enjoyable. Seeing The Rock aka Dwayne Johnson, a former wrestler who I witnessed in his prime, induct his father, Rocky Johnson, was pretty cool.

Also, Flair's speech was really heartfelt.

I wish I could have seen all the speeches but I guess there goes one bonus feature on the Wrestlemania 24 DVD.

Speaking of Wrestlemania 24, it's going on right NOW. I'll be sure to have results up tomorrow. So far, the show is extremely good.

WWE on CNN, Impact, Smackdown and ROH Results

2008-03-29T23:42:00.030-04:00

WWE Featured on Larry King Live

~On Wednesday, various stars from the WWE were on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to hype up Wrestlemania 24.

Featured on the show were WWE Owner, Vince McMahon, Triple H, John Cena, WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Floyd Mayweather.
A full transcript of the show can be found here.

I happened to catch the show and I thought it was pretty entertaining and everyone came across really well. Mayweather kind of alluded to ending his boxing career and becoming a full-time pro wrestler (which would be ridiculous).

Also, video of Larry King beating down Vince McMahon was shown.

Overall, it was good stuff.

3/27 TNA Impact Results

~This week's LIVE episode of Impact is TNA’s answer to WWE’s Wrestlemania 24 (both of which are in Orlando this week). I’m expecting a solid show, but we’ll see.

-The live show starts with a brawl between Booker T and Robert Roode. Peyton Banks and Traci Brooks get involved just before security comes down and breaks up the fights.

-TNA Management Director, Jim Cornette announces that it’ll be Booker T vs. Robert Roode in a match that will be chosen by the TNA fans via text messaging. The choices are a Last Man Standing Match , an I Quit Match , and a First Blood Match. I would really like to see a Last Man Standing match.

-Johnny Devine defeats Alex Shelley in an X-Division Escape Qualifier match. Devine joins TNA X-Division Champion, Jay Lethal, Curry Man and Sonjay Dutt in the match, which will take place at Lockdown.

-TNA shows WWE wrestler, Robbie McAllister (real name Dereck Graham-Couch), in the crowd. He was obviously trying to hide from the TV cameras.

-Team 3D congratulate Johhny Devine on his win and they warn Sting, who’s supposed to be making his return to TNA on this episode, that if he stays away from them, they’ll stay away from him.

-Homicide, Hernandez & Salinas (LAX) beat Scott Steiner, Petey Williams & Rocha Khan.

-Clips of Samoa Joe training for his TNA World Title match against Kurt Angle at Lockdown are shown.

-TNA World Champion, Kurt Angle (once again rocking the ankle tape), has a sparring session with TNA Tag Team Champions, Tomko & AJ Styles.

-Christian Cage, Rhino and Kevin Nash come down to the ring during the sparring session and challenge Angle, Styles and Tomko. Team 3D comes out and they get involved.

-Sting makes his return to TNA and clears the ring. It’s announced that it will be Cage/Rhino/Nash/Sting vs. Tomko/Styles/Team 3D in the show’s main event.

-Booker T beats Robert Roode in a First Blood match.

-TNA Women’s Champion, Awesome Kong, successfully defends her title against ODB.

-Team Cage beat Team Tomko in an 8 man tag match.

-After the match, James Storm, who was last seen on the wrong end of the horrible Elevation X match at Destination X last month, comes out of nowhere and smashes a beer bottle on the head of Sting and helps Team Tomko beat down Team Cage.

I had no idea who the hell Dereck Graham-Couch was when he was first shown (TNA didn’t mention his WWE name probably because of copyright issues). I didn’t find out who he really was until I read a report on Wrestleview.com revealing the guy's identity.

This is Robbie McAllister, by the way.

According to what I’ve read, Robbie or Dereck or whatever he wants to call himself, had that “I’m so dead” look on his face because WWE informed their wrestlers not to be seen socializing with any of the TNA talent during the weekend. It would be sad if this ends up costing him his job but he should have never put himself in that position in the first place.

Booker T gave a decent interview concerning his match with Robert Roode…until he started talking about wanting Roode’s blood. Pretty disturbing if you ask me.

TNA is building the Angle/Joe match at Lockdown as a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight. If that is the case, it could turn out as either really good and innovative or really bad and awkward. I think Angle and Joe can pull it off, but it all depends on how the crowd at Lockdown take to it because there are lots of aspects of MMA that pro wrestling fans may not understand.

That was a real solid match between LAX and Steiner/Williams/Khan. I’ve become a real fan of LAX over the past couple of months, especially Hernandez (who’s being billed as the “Mexican Superman”, nice). I think they are just so exciting.

That was a sick ending sequence in the 8-man tag main event, which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent show from TNA. No “Super” Eric Young though but that’s ok.

3/28 ROH "Dragon Gate Challenge II" Results

~Ring of Honor held the first of their two shows this weekend in Orlando featuring talent from Japan's Dragon Gate promotion. Here's what went down.

-ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness beat Delirious in a non-title match.

-Ruckus & Jigsaw (The Vulture Squad) defeat Sal Rinauro & Kenny King.

-Austin Aries beat Genki Horiguchi in a ROH vs. DG match.

-After the match, Jimmy Jacobs, leader of the Age of the Fall, tries to get Aries to join his group again. Tammy Sytch comes out and tries to get Aries to join her instead. Aries says he doesn’t need either of them and leaves.

-Kevin Steen & El Generico beat Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino in a ROH vs. DG match

-Shingo & BxB Hulk defeat Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black in a ROH vs. DG match.

-The Briscoes beat Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito in a ROH vs. DG match.

-Go Shiozaki, Erick Stevens & CIMA beat Davey Richards, Roderick Strong & Rocky Romero (The No Remorse Corps.)

Despite what Aries said on the show, I think he will end up joining a group. I think he has the look to fit in with the AOTF but I hope (and have a feeling) that he’ll join Tammy Sytch.

I know I would if I were him.

Kevin Steen & El Generico, Steen in particular, has been on a role lately racking up tons of wins. This is a good thing considering Steen won a ROH World Title shot tournament a few weeks back, so he’s being built as a legitimate threat to Nigel McGuinness and the ROH title. I’m not too familiar with Kevin Steen as a singles wrestler but in the tag matches I’ve seen him featured in, I think he’s very good and for a big guy, he sure can fly.

3/28 Smackdown Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~The show starts with a 4 man over-the-top-rope challenge featuring Kane, Mark Henry, The Great Khali and Chuck Palumbo. These guys will be 4 of the 24 man competing in a battle royal at Wrestlemania 24 where the winner faces ECW Champion, Chavo Guerrero right after.

-Mark Henry wins the match. Chavo Guerrero tries to attack Henry but that doesn’t work out too well.

-Assistant General Manager of Smackdown, Teddy Long, announces that Eve Torres is eliminated from the Smackdown Diva Competition, which leaves Michelle McCool and Cherry as the final two. Victoria and Maryse, who were eliminated from the contest in the past two weeks, make fun of Eve for losing. Long says that there is going to be a “Wet and Wild Water Fight” between the five women.

-CM Punk beats WWE Tag Team Champion, John Morrison, in a really good one-on-one match. Both wrestlers will be featured in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at Wrestlemania.

-Kofi Kingston, Jesse & Festus defeat WWE Tag Team Champion, The Miz, Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch.

-Batista beats Snitsky in two seconds.

-Michelle McCool & Cherry defeat Victoria (rocking scuba gear) & Maryse in the match of the night. Ok, that was a lie.

-A match between WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho and WWE United States Champion, MVP, ends in a no-contest when the referee stops the match for no reason. Afterwards, Jericho hits MVP with a ladder, which symbolizes the Money in the Bank Ladder match the two will be in at Wrestlemania.

-World Heavyweight Champion, Edge, delivers a eulogy in honor of (hopefully) ending the Undertaker’s Wrestlemania winning streak.

-Undertaker pops out of a casket in the ring and chokeslams Edge into it to end the last WWE show before Wrestlemania.

I really liked the Morrison/Punk match. I’m so hyped for the Money in the Bank ladder match!

Jesse and Festus have a really cool theme song called “Biscuits and Gravy”. I can't get the song out of my head.

That “Wet and Wild” match was pretty much soft-core porn; I don’t know why I was expecting something else.

Batista has a match with Raw’s Umaga at Wrestlemania, yet WWE is really dropping the ball in terms of interaction between the two. On one show, the two end up brawling (as evident from this week’s Raw, where Batista sneak-attacked Umaga) and then on the next show, they do nothing with it (as evident on this week’s Smackdown, where Umaga failed to show up to even the score). These inconsistencies, I think, have killed the build for this match.

WWE showed an awesome video hyping up the Edge/Undertaker match at Wrestlemania. The video was great but I still feel like this match is being buried under the hype of the Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. John Cena for the WWE Title, Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show, Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair and maybe even the Money in the Bank Ladder Match (or maybe just in my mind).

3/25 ECW Results, Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

2008-03-26T23:00:00.012-04:00

3/25 ECW Results

(Pics from WWE.com)

~The show starts with a 12-on-12 tag team match featuring the 24 wrestlers that will compete in a battle royal this Sunday at Wrestlemania 24, where the winner will face Chavo Guerrero for the ECW title immediately afterwards.

-Snitsky *sigh* picks up the win for his team. I honestly don't remember who was on his team but I know it wasn't Tommy Dreamer, who got pinned by Snitsky.

-Not content with the beating he just got, Tommy Dreamer challenges ECW Champion, Chavo Guerrero, to a non-title match. Guerrero accepts.

-Shelton Benjamin beats Carlito in a preview to the Money in the Bank Ladder match at Wrestlemania.

-Mike Knox & Layla defeat Stevie Richards & Kelly Kelly.

-To the surprise of no one, Chavo Guerrero beats Tommy Dreamer in a non-title match.

-Afterwards, it seemed like the whole world came out to jump the ECW champ after his win.

I thought the opening tag match was pretty fun to watch and it seems like everyone got a chance to shine...

...But, SNITSKY? Snitsky picks up the win?!? Why this guy?

Carlito and Shelton Benjamin had a really solid match and I think it was match of the night.

part 1

part 2

You know who I wish was featured more on ECW, Layla El.

I don't think I have to say anything else.

I believe it was Dave Chappelle who once said “everything looks cooler in slow motion”. A part of John Morrison’s entrance has him standing at the top of the entrance ramp while the wind is blowing his hair and fur coat in slow motion. I know Morrison wasn't even on the show last night, the entrance sounds pretty goofy and I’ve been trying for months to continue hating on it, but I’ve officially thrown in the towel. I want an entrance like that (with the oversized fur coat and sunglasses).

Wednesday Wrestler Spotlight

~This week's spotlight is on a wrestler who I find to be very entertaining and charismatic and he could also be wrestling the last match of his career this Sunday.

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

Personally, I'm not old enough or eager enough to watch pro wrestling from the 1980's in order to fully know or have an appreciation for everything Ric Flair has brought to the business.

Although, Flair has spent the latter part of his career in WWE, I was first exposed to the man known as "The Dirtiest Player in the Game" by watching World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

My first impressions of him were that he was the man with the million bathrobes who said "wooo" a lot.

Here are some of the "bathrobes" in the Ric Flair collection

Like this one

And this one

And this one

As for the "wooo"s, I don't think an explaination from me would do it justice, so I'll have Ric Flair explain it himself.

In the years that I've seen Ric Flair, I've learned that he is a pretty damn good showman and I honestly can't remember ever seeing a Ric Flair interview or promo where he wasn't enthusiastic or giving 100%. As a matter of fact, he would give so much in his interviews that at times, it kind of seems like he's going overboard.

Nevertheless, Flair is a former 16-time World Champion, considered a living legend in pro wrestling and I'm pretty sure if he is going to wrestle his last match at Wrestlemania this Sunday, I know he'll go out with a bang. Wooo!

3/24 Raw Results, WWE Diva out of WM24 Match, New ROH Tripleshot Weekend Pics

2008-03-25T16:53:00.019-04:00

3/24 Raw Results

(pics from WWE.com)

Its the last Raw before Wrestlemania 24 this Sunday, that means its supposed to be BIG. Well, it's supposed to be anyway. Here's what went down:

~To the delight of screaming children and young girls everywhere but the chagrin of everyone else, John Cena opens the show by coming down to the ring and pretty much says that he's leaving Wrestlemania as WWE champion. All of a sudden, The Big Show, who takes on Floyd Mayweather at Wrestlemania, makes his way to the ring and pimps out his match. JBL, who faces Finlay in a Belfast Brawl this Sunday, comes out next and promises to "deliver the greatest beating in the history of Wrestlemania".

-Eventually, WWE Champion, Randy Orton, Umaga and Triple H all come down to the ring each making reference to their matches on Sunday. Raw General Manager, William Regal decides to join the fun and announces that the night's main event would be a "Wrestlemania Showcase Match" featuring Big Show, JBL, Umaga and Randy Orton vs. John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair.

-WWE United States Champion, MVP, and Carlito defeat WWE Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho, and CM Punk. All four men will take part in the (sure to be sick!) Money in the Bank Ladder match on Sunday.

-The Great Khali walks all over Hardcore Holly.

-Ric Flair comes out, maybe for the last time if he loses to Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania, and calls out his opponent for another heart-to-heart on not going easy on him eventhough if he loses his match, he'll be forced to retire. Flair tells Michaels to give him his best at Wrestlemania, Michaels says he's gonna end Flair's career, Flair FLIPS OUT and slaps Michaels, Michaels repeats what he said and leaves.

-Maria and Melina try to have a match but WWE Women's Champion, Beth Phoenix, Ashley Massaro (more on her connection to these women after the Raw results), Santino Marella and Raw Color Commentator, Jerry Lawler, all feel the need to just walk into the ring before the two women start wrestling. Raw GM Regal makes his second appearance of the night and announces that Melina, Phoenix and Marella will face Maria, Massaro and Lawler instead.

-Team Santino end up winning the match.

-The 8-man tag main event happens next and a bunch of craziness goes on.

-Finlay comes out about a minute after the match starts and him and JBL get into a brawl, so JBL leaves the match.

-Then Umaga is tackled by Batista, his opponent at Wrestlemania, and he's taken out of the match. Big Show then lays out Randy Orton, his partner, and then he leaves the ring. After that, Triple H and Cena start going at it and they disappear leaving Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels vs. Orton.

-Flair is about to beat Orton, when he is sucker-punched by Michaels, who then tries to win the match himself. Flair hits Michaels with a low blow and he rolls out of the ring, making Flair and Orton the only two left.

-Flair picks up the win to close out the show.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode of Raw. I thought Flair winning the main event was a nice touch. I thought the buildup to Orton vs. Cena vs. HHH was pretty decent. Money in the Bank wasn't talked about much but I don't think it needs much hype. The only problem I had was the complete disappearence of Floyd Mayweather, where the hell was he?

They actually let Umaga speak on the mic during the opening segment!! It was so sick! I don't know what he said, he don't care but they need to do more of it because I think it's cool.

WWE premiered a really good tribute video for Ric Flair, who is going to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before Wrestlemania. Things are looking like Flair will lose his match against Shawn Michaels and then retire. However, with WWE, you really never know what's really gonna happen until it happens. I wouldn't be shocked if Flair beats Michaels and then loses a match the next night on Raw and then retires. Anyway, once again, I thought the tribute was good.

On the subject of Ric Flair, What an exchange between him and Shawn Michaels! Right next to the Money in the Bank ladder match, I am looking forward to this match and I really hope they deliver.

One Less "Bunny" in Bunnymania Match

~According to an article from WWE.com, WWE Diva, Candice Michelle, underwent successful surgery early Monday afternoon to repair a broken clavicle (collar bone), an injury she suffered during a match on last week's episode of Raw. As a result, she will be unable to compete in her match this Sunday at Wrestlemania 24.

Michelle, a former WWE Women's Champion and Playboy covergirl, was scheduled to team up with Maria, the latest WWE Diva to pose for Playboy, to face current Women's champ, Beth Phoenix, and Melina.

Collar bone problems are not anything new for the WWE performer, she originally broke it during a match against Phoenix on Raw last October.

Michelle was out of action until she reappeared on WWE television last month. Her match last week was her first televised match since the injury last fall.

Despite Candice Michelle being pulled from the match, Bunnymania (?) will live on. Ashley Massaro, yet another WWE Diva to have graced the covers of Playboy, will take her place and team with Maria instead.

This is some rather sad news to hear, not that I was really looking forward to her match at Wrestlemania, but to just come back from an injury only to be sidelined from the same thing as soon as you return must be heartbreaking. Hopefully she makes a speedy recovery.

New Photos from ROH's Tripleshot Weekend

~Pictures from Ring of Honor's last three shows (3/14-3/16) were posted a few days ago, so I've edited my previous posts featuring results from those events to include the pics.

The edited posts can be found here and here.

Mondays w/ The Smart Marks

2008-03-24T13:59:00.011-04:00

Here's another edition of Mondays with the Smart Marks, where I pose a question to wrestling fans on the Wrestling Clique and Wrestling Forum message boards and post their responses here are the 450 Splash.

This Week's Question:

Next Sunday marks the 24th annual Wrestlemania event and every year there's at least one or eight things that happen that make that show stand out from the rest. What is everyone's top 5 (ranked or in no particular order) Wrestlemania moments and why?

"1. The Rock versus Hulk Hogan, at Wrestlemania X8. My reasons are simple - it was a dream match.

2. Chris Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania XX. Benoit won the title he had been competing all of his life, let alone career, for.

3. Wrestlemania 1. It was the first ever Wrestlemania.

4. Eddie Guerrero retaining the WWE Championship against Kurt Angle. I couldn't see it coming at all.

5. Vince McMahon being shaved bald. It was quality!"

-TR (Wrestling Forum)

“1) Austin limping out of his submission match to chants of "AUSTIN" with him looking up at the crowd. A star was born. That whole match, including the shot of him bleeding in the sharpshooter but that moment for #1.
2) Benoit and Eddie celebrate there gold.
3) Hogan slams Andre
4) Savage and Liz Reunion
5) Austin's entrance at WM 17...just amazing, foreshadowed his heel turn in his face, the texas POP, the theme, the ovation, the MOMENT.”

-Austin101 (Wrestling Forum)

“1.Eddie and Benoit in the ring as world champions to close wrestlemania xx
2.Shawn Michaels winning the championship against Bret Hart in an iron man match
3.Austin and Rock one last time at wrestlemania 19
4.Rock and Hogan at wrestlemania 18
5.Bret and Austin in the submission match at wrestlemania 13”

-mister kennedy (Wrestling Forum)

“5. Austin's heel turn in 2001. Great match, great false finishes and really did not see that coming.
4. Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels Wrestlemania X. I remember watching this match and literally having my jaw on the ground I had never seen a match like that before.
3. Austin vs. Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13, being a Canadian at the time I HAD to cheer Bret Hart at the time, this match made me want to cheer for Austin as well but with the "North American War" between Canada and America. This match was crazy.
2. Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart Wrestlemania 12. Iron man match that kept (and still keeps) me seated at the way through. Two technically sound athletes going non stop for over an hour was really entertaining, throwing my dislike for HBK to the side I was happy to have witnessed this match, my all time favorite Mania match.
1. Eddie and Chris standing together at the end on Wrestlemania XX. These showed that you didn't have to be the biggest to get over with the fans. They wrestled together for nearly 20 years and finally had their chance at the top. I get chills to this day seeing HHH tap out and Benoit get the title. It's a shame how it all ended for him though.”

-C…L…B (Wrestling Forum)

“1.- Austin heel turn at WMX7
2.- Austin last match at WM19
3.- Eddie and Benoit celebretion at WMXX
4.- Jeff Swanton bomb from the top of the ladder at WM16
5.- Hogan slamming Andre at WMIII”

-wweadrian (Wrestling Forum)

“1- Hogan slams Andre
2- Eddie & Benoit celebrate with the world titles
3- Shawn Michaels winning the WWE title
4- Rock/Hogan meet
5- Edge spearing Jeff Hardy while he hangs

But really the list could go on forever as Wrestlemania has had many amazing moments. Other moments i would like to acknowledge are: Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy putting Edge threw a ladder, All of Jeff Hardy's swantons off the ladders, Stone Cold heel turn, Hart/Austin submission match, Edge spearing Mick Foley threw the flaming table and All of the Rock vs. Austin matches.”

-Kyle Edge (Wrestling Forum)

“In no particluar order...
-Rock/Hogan at WM18. The entrances, the crowd, the face off, the finish. Just fantastic.
-Edge spearing Foley through a flaming table to put the exclamation point of a cracking match.
-Ultimate Warrior returning to help Hogan at WM8.
-Edge, on the top rope, spearing Jeff off the belts.
-Hogan/Warrior face off at WM6. Two of the biggest faces of the time squaring off was just unheard of. Plus it was my first 'mania. “

-MITB (Wrestling Forum)

“5) Kane vs. Pete Rose feud, spanning Wrestlemanias 14-16: My favorite celebrity moments in Wrestlemania history. I wish they would bring this back just to shcok people, but I think they figured they'd stick to the rule of three.
4) Elizabeth & Randy Savage reunited at Wrestlemania VII: This is a bit of a forgotten moment, but this actually made people cry when it happened. I don't believe those were plants in the crowd.
3) A bloodied Steve Austin passes out while in the Sharpshooter at Wrestlemania 13: This moment made "Stone Cold" Steve Austin a huge superstar and the ending also turned Bret Hart into a monster heel for the rest of his stay with the company.
2) Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock, Icon vs. Icon at Wrestlemania X-8 - The energy in this match was indescribable. It was one of the greatest things I have ever seen in wrestling.
1) Hulk Hogan slams Andre the Giant: The Biggest Match of all time contained the biggest moment in wrestling history.”

-TripleG (Wrestling Forum)

“1.- Austin vs. Hart WM 13
2.- Savage vs. Steamboat WM III
3.- Brock Lessnar's F'ed up SSP WM 20
4.- Austin vs. Rock WM 18
5.- Hogan slamming Andre at WMIII”

-Mankind2112 (Wrestling Forum)

Here are some clips of the more popular Wrestlemania moments:

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 18 (2002)

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13 (1997)

The late Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit celebrate their World Title wins at Wrestlemania 20 (2004)

part 1

part 2

Hulk Hogan slams Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania 3 (1987)

Shawn Michaels beats Bret Hart for his first WWE Title win at Wrestlemania 12 (1996)

Weekend Update

2008-03-23T23:01:00.013-04:00

~The upcoming week is going to be huge in the world of pro wrestling. Besides WWE's Wrestlemania 24 taking place next Sunday, Total Non-Stop Action and Ring of Honor are also gearing up for a big week.

Wrestlemania 24

~The biggest pro wrestling event of the year takes place next sunday from the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. A bunch of celebrities have been confirmed for the event like Floyd Mayweather, who will be having a match with the Big Show, Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Kim Kardashian and more.

Here's the announced card for the show:

-Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title:
Randy Orton [Champion] vs. Triple H vs. John Cena

-World Heavyweight Title Match:
Edge [Champion] vs. The Undertaker

-Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather

-Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels with Flair’s career on the line

-Bunnymania
Maria and Candice Michelle vs. Beth Phoenix and Melina

-Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Chris Jericho vs. vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Carlito vs. MVP vs. C.M. Punk vs. John Morrison.

-Smackdown vs. Raw Challenge Match
Batista [Smackdown] vs. Umaga [Raw]

-Belfast Brawl
Finlay vs. JBL

-Chavo Guerrero will defend the ECW Title.

-A 24-man battle royal featuring wrestlers from all three brands will determine which wrestler will challenge Guerrero for the ECW Title.

The Orton/HHH/Cena, MITB ladder match and Flair/Michaels all look like they could end up as match of the night to me. Bunnymania? There's still no word on what kind of match Mayweather and Big Show are gonna have. I'm going to be watching to see if Show tosses him over the top rope again.

TNA Impact Live TV Taping

~TNA is taping their TV show, Impact, live this Thursday from Orlando. According to an article from TNAwrestling.com, already confirmed for the show includes:

-Sting's return to TNA

-TNA World Champion, Kurt Angle vs. TNA Tag Team Champions, AJ Styles & Tomko

-Alex Shelley vs. Johnny Devine

-TNA Women's Champion, Awesome Kong vs. ???

-An interview with Samoa Joe and more.

After seeing Angle drop the comedy gimmick on the last episode of Impact, I really want to see where TNA goes with it. I'm also looking forward to seeing Awesome Kong destroying more members of the TNA Women's roster. Also, live tv means live screw-ups, so I'm looking forward to that too.

ROH Wrestlemania Weekend Doubleshot

~Ring of Honor are running two shows also in Orlando on Friday (3/28) and Saturday (3/29). Both shows will consist of wrestlers from ROH and Dragon Gate, a japanese wrestling promotion.

Here's the card for both shows:

"Dragon Gate Challenge II"
Orlando Downtown Recreation Complex
March 28th, 2008

Main Event Six Man Tag
CIMA, Go Shiozaki & Erick Stevens vs. FIP World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong & ROH World Tag Team Champions Davey Richards & Rocky Romero

ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito

ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino

ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Austin Aries vs. Genki Horiguchi

ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black vs. BxB Hulk & Shingo

"Supercard Of Honor III"
Orlando Downtown Recreation Complex
March 29th, 2008

Main Event #1 -
ROH World Title Match - Rematch From "Rising Above" PPV
Nigel McGuinness (if still champion) defends vs. Austin Aries

Main Event #2 - Dragon Gate Six Man Tag
CIMA, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & Genki Horiguchi

World Tag Team Title Match
Davey Richards & Rocky Romero defend vs. Ruckus & Jigsaw

Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens

Grudge Tag Team Match
Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black with Lacey

ROH vs. Dragon Gate
Kevin Steen & El Generico vs. Shingo & BxB Hulk

Delirious vs. Go Shiozaki

I think both shows have pretty solid cards but I'm not sure why Austin Aries is getting another shot at the ROH Title on 3/29, I think the opportunity should have gone to one of the Dragon Gate guys, probably CIMA. I'm a little disappointed BJ Whitmer is not on either card...oh that's right, he left. Oh well.