The Bell to Bell News Report 06.14.09

Posted by Randy Harrison on 06.14.2009

A slight format change is on tap in this week's Bell to Bell. Will it stay or will it go? You decide. There's also coverage of the unfortunate death of Mitsuharu Misawa, Hernandez's TNA return and Mick Foley's gripe with 411 inside, so click on in...




Hey all, and welcome to another edition of the Bell to Bell. A bit of a break in format this week as I'm going to go a little free-form and just hit on a variety of topics that have caught my attention throughout the week without focusing on each specific show and every news story. While I get that it's my gimmick to cover everything from the past seven days, personal and professional commitments are going to keep me from that promise, at least for this week. Next week's Bell to Bell will be right back to the same column that you all love...and seemingly ignore if my comments section is any indication. OHHHHHH...total SELF-BURN!! And truth be told, I might end up keeping this format if people end up liking it more, so who knows what you'll see next week. Anyhow, I'm sure that you've heard enough explaining and you want to see some wrestling news and opinions so let's get to it!

And by the way, before we begin. Yes, it sucks to have both of the teams that I was following lose their championship series on the same night, at virtually the same time, both on home ice. I would say the usual stuff about how I am happy that they both made it as far as they did and that is certainly true, but for now it just sucks that both of them went out the way they did. In the case of the Wings, at least there's next season and they're bringing back almost the entire line-up which should be a good thing. Look for them to add another name or two in the off-season and they'll be all geared up for another run at the Cup come next October. With that out of the way, let's get into the rasslin'-related stuff, shall we?

MAIN EVENT

Extreme Title Changes RULE!!



I would have to say that the major story of the week was virtually every championship changing hands at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. I honestly can't remember a non-WrestleMania pay-per-view where it felt like more has taken place in terms of new title holders. I'm not sure if it was a situation where the WWE felt like they needed to give the pay-per-view a boost with a show like that or whether it's to try to get over the Extreme Rules show as the show where anything can happen, but it was certainly unexpected.

The biggest title change came at the end of the night when CM Punk defeated Jeff Hardy (who had just defeated Edge in a good-to-great Ladder Match) for the World Heavyweight Championship. Hardy had grabbed the title for the second time, in one of the most unique ways possible I might add, and I thought that the show was over and started picking up the various snacks and drinks strewn about. I dropped everything when I heard Punk's music hit for two reasons. One, I knew that there was still another match (likely another title winner as well) and two, I knew that this was probably the beginning of a Punk heel turn that I have been wanting for quite some time.

There's a lot of criticism of Punk and his style and there are a lot of people that say that he's boring and bland and doesn't deserve his spot at the top of the card. Up until Sunday night I would have agreed with that statement, even as a fan of the guy's work. To me, he is about a hundred times more entertaining as a heel, especially when he's so smug and arrogant that you want to just slap the shit out of him. You can already see that that's the type of heel they're looking for him to be as evidenced in his post-title celebration as well as his promo on Smackdown. His "you cheered the last time I did it when it was a bad guy, why aren't you cheering now?" logic was tremendous and I think that it's going to go a long way for him.

While Punk's win was the biggest, I don't think I'd be stretching anything if I said that Tommy Dreamer's ECW Championship win was the most surprising of all the title changes. Sure, Batista was a bit of a shock considering the injury rumors that were swirling around the guy, but I know that I was certain that Dreamer was going to go out of the company the right way by coming up short and taking the pin in his last match before getting an emotional send-off. The match itself wasn't that great and could have benefitted from a little more time, but the finish was one of the most genuinely shocking things that I've seen on a pay-per-view show for quite some time. Dreamer deserves the belt for all of the things he's done for the original ECW and for the new ECW, so I'm considering it a version of a Lifetime award. I'm sure he won't get a long run with the belt, but it's still good to see Dreamer with the gold....or silver as it were.

The other title change on the night saw Chris Jericho regain some gold for the first time during his short stint on Smackdown as he beat Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship. While this is HUGE for Jericho as its his, I believe, 108th run with the IC belt, the bigger story was his stealing of Rey's mask. Granted, this didn't exactly set the world on fire when Kane did it, but Jericho has had success with the gimmick in the past (Quasi Juice anyone?). I'm not completely sold on it yet though as it has me worried that Jericho's days in the main event title hunt might be past for now, but I'm not going to panic yet because he's working with one of the most over people on Smackdown so they must still have some level of confidence in his ability to draw heat. I'd hope that Jericho/Rey could run through the summer before he moves on to a feud against a possibly face Edge for a shot at CM Punk and the title through the fall. I will say that at least Jericho has come further than anyone ever thought he could from watching him in matches like this in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoons as a youngster.



That promo was god-awful. Who would have ever figured that he would become as great on the mic as he has when you saw stuff like that nearly twenty years ago.


Featured Bouts


Good thing that face tattoo is only painted on...

-- The WWE released Umaga last week, just days after he helped put over CM Punk at Extreme Rules in the Samoan Strap Match. When the story broke there were rumors that Umaga had askd for his release, but later in the week it was revealed that Umaga had in fact become a casualty of the WWE's Wellness Program and that he was fired for refusing rehab treatment for whatever he had tested for. There is no word what Umaga was caught with, but it's a shame considering that he was one of the few big men that seemed like he could actually go in the ring. He really won me over as a fan of his work during his feud with John Cena and provided the company with a solid upper-midcard heel that could work with just about anyone. Hopefully Umaga is able to get whatever problem he has under control and that he'll be able to avoid becoming another statistic in the sad world of professional wrestling.


He either crapped his pants or tore another muscle...50/50 at this point really...

-- In an absolutely SHOCKING development, Batista is injured, suffering at torn tendon in his bicep that will require surgery and keep him on the shelf for four months. I was someone who thought that Batista was coming back too soon from his previous injury as it was thought he was only due back to action right around this time. He came back early and he got hurt....again. As much as the people seem to love the big guy, it's time for him to hang it up. He's more injury-prone than anyone on the roster after Kennedy's release, his act is incredibly stale as a babyface and he's too old for the WWE to consider booking him as someone to build the company around. Batista has sulked before when he felt like he wasn't getting the push that he deserved and if he's not going to be happy as someone working near the top of the card but not in the main event it would probably be better for everybody if he just walks away before he ends up injuring himself so severely that he's not able to fully recover or he ends up hurting someone else by compensating for yet another injury. The sooner he takes a powder, the better off we'll all be.


At least he's not hunting you all down one at a time like this guy probably would...

-- Mick Foley made news this week, talking in one of his blogs about an upcoming book release and then writing another blog taking sites like 411 and 411 specifically to task for some of the comments left regarding his book and his career. Foley essentially tried to lift the veil on some of the nameless, faceless idiocy that tends to run rampant in the comment section of the site and made a bit of a statement on the wrestling fan's tendency to eat their own at the drop of a hat (or a spelling mistake as it were). While I don't necessarily agree with Foley giving in to the retards and actually giving their opinions a second thought (he should be above the problem, not part of it by calling names and whatnot), I do think that he actually raised a point about how negative the average wrestling fan tends to be about everything. I'm not sure if it's a bit of self-loathing that lashes out at people for being a fan of something that tends to be the butt of jokes, but there tends to be a very cruel side to wrestling fans. Granted, it's happening everywhere in society, spurred on by the anonymity that the internet provides, but it's still something that seems to permeate into every part of the IWC. Again, I don't think that Foley is completely right as everyone has the right to their own opinion, but there is something to be said for voicing your opinion without cutting someone to shreds while doing it.


The Midcard


A sad end for a true legend...RIP Misawa...

-- This story would have been much higher up on the list, but I get the feeling that there will be more comng out on it in the next few days and the details at the moment are still a little sketchy. Japanese pro wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa passed away at the age of 47 and apparently did so in the wrestling ring. The story as it goes right now is that Misawa was wrestling in a tag match and after a backdrop suplex remained motionless on the mat. He was tended to by physicians in the ring and rushed to the hospital, but sadly it was too late. I've seen some of Misawa's work through ROH and various video sites and was always impressed by his abilities inside the squared circle. His death will likely affect the company he founded Pro Wrestling NOAH as well as he was the main driving force behind the company. Whether they will be able to survive such a crushing loss is a story that will be told in the weeks and months ahead, but for now let's remember Misawa as he was at his best. Deepest condolences to his friends, family and fans and enjoy.








-- The middle of the week saw Ring of Honor announce that they were officially suspending their pay-per-view broadcasts effective this past Friday when their last pay-per-view show Take No Prisoners debuted. While some people may view this as a negative for the company as pay-per-view seems to be what makes the wrestling world go round, my feeling is that this is a good move at this time. With the tapings the way they are in ROH, it has sometimes felt like there's three different companies carrying on under the one banner with the company on DVD, the company on TV and the company on pay-per-view all feeling like they're heading in the same direction but at three different points. By eliminating one of them (that admittedly wasn't doing great numbers), they can focus on the DVDs and the HDNet show to give a lot more continuity to the brand. Losing pay-per-view might suck for some of the guys that worked those shows and got the pay-offs, but in the long run this is the better move for the company. The PPVs helped get ROH noticed and actually probably helped them get their HDNet deal, but they are best to be put on hold for now and brought back at a time when they can get a better deal on them and they can have them fit seamlessly into their storylines. There is also the option that down the road they could produce live specials or PPV programs with HDNet as well, so the people who are beginning to craft the ROH eulogy might be a tad premature.


Jerking The Curtain


He's Baaaaaaaacccckkkkk.....

-- TNA star Hernandez has been cleared by a doctor according to Jeremy Borash's Twitter page, well ahead of schedule after "SuperMex" had gone under the knife for neck surgery. He was supposed to be out for six to nine months, but has been cleared in FAR less time, leading me to hope that he's not coming back too soon and that he's not gone under with some sort of quack doctor like Kurt Angle did a while back. Any normal neck surgery seems to take a lot longer than a couple of months to recover from and I'm praying that he's 100% so that he's not risking an even more serious injury upon his return.


-- The newest TNA Knockout Tara, better known as Victoria from her WWE days, addressed a salacious rumor that had been making the rounds that she was possibly Chris Benoit's mistress in the weeks prior to the murder/suicide involving Benoit, his wife Nancy and son Daniel. She categorically denied the rumors and offered up a lie detector test to prove her innocence. For as much as I spoke about the wrestling fans in my piece on Mick Foley above, this is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about as someone who is a fan/writer decided to just make something up without any substantial proof or concrete sources. It's a shame that Victoria/Tara felt that she had to even give the rumor the time of day and it just goes to show that the Benoit story is something that will likely never go away for as long as there is a wrestling business.


-- Finally, the WWE has begun circulating surveys about how fans enjoy their pay-per-views and it appears that there may be a movement afoot to begin showing them on closed circuit in HD at various movie theaters throughout the country. One of Canada's major movie chains already has a program of that nature in place, while some theaters are already showing live concerts, Broadway shows and other events via closed circuit. This brings back memories for me all the way back to my early days as a seven year old, getting to see wrestling at the Winnipeg Arena on closed circuit. To me, this idea is even better than going to a bar or a place like that to see the event because at bars, the sound is usually drowned out by music or drunks, but at a movie theater there would have to be a tornado running through the building to drown out the sound, not to mention that you get a bit of a live fan experience as well by watching with hundreds of people. Everything old tends to be new again, and this is one old idea that I think plenty of new school fans would be ready to get behind, so keep your eyes peeled in the future.



The Final Bell


That's it for this week folks. Thanks for bearing with me through the change in format and if you liked it or didn't like it, feel free to let me know in the comments and if it's a popular change, I'll consider moving to the new format on a weekly basis. For now though, I'll leave you as I always do by telling you that in the mean time and in between time, I'll be back next time for an all new Bell to Bell! See you next week everybody!


If you're a fan of MMA, be sure to check out Nokaut.com for more of my work.