411Mania's Squared Circle News Report 08.22.09

Posted by Dustin James on 08.22.2009

411's Dustin James is back to discuss SummerSlam 2009, Kurt Angle's arrest, the top 10 SummerSlams of all-time, Erik Watts shooting on Jeff Jarrett and much much more!

Welcome back inside the Squared Circle! How is everyone doing this week? I hope you are doing good because we are exactly one day away from SummerSlam 2009! WOOOOO! Just to make sure you are extra excited for the show, I have gone ahead and included a SummerSlam preview as well as a top 10 list that includes my favorite SummerSlams of all-time. We are definitely SummerSlam heavy this week, so it's a good thing you joined me.

As for other things? Well, UFC 102 is next weekend and as everyone knows by now....it's in my home town of Portland, Oregon. So not only will I be attending the show but I also got a ringside ticket to share with a buddy of mine so I may even make the PPV broadcast! So, if you see a handsome dude with tons of good looking women around him....that's probably Georges St. Pierre. I'll be the slightly-less-attractive guy sitting close by HOPING that one of the good looking women slips out of her top. Hey, that's just how I roll.

Anyway.......



LET'S GET IT ON!!!!!



Biggest News Of The Week:

SummerSlam Preview!


It's finally here.....


Yes! The "biggest show of the Summer" has finally arrived, so of course this is going to be the biggest news of the week! Basically, this is going to be a lot like 411's own "Roundtable Preview" (for which I never participate in, so let's just kill two birds with one stone) so you guys can just make fun of my predictions in the comments section. Let's get on with it........


Kane vs. The Great Khali

My interest in this match on a scale of 1-10 is somewhere between 0 and 0.5. That's right, I have absolutely NO interest in this sucker so let's just move on.

Winner: Kane


MVP vs. Jack Swagger

I'm actually looking forward to this match. It's not too often you see a RAW mid-card feud on a big PPV such as SummerSlam. The WWE brought both these guys over to RAW with guarantees of huge pushes. So, who's going over? For some reason I believe the WWE has bigger plans for Swagger than MVP....perhaps a possible feud with Cena?

Winner: Jack Swagger


DX vs. Legacy

Hmmmm, let's see. It's HHH & HBK vs. two young guys with potential to earn the WWE a lot of money for years to come. Who do YOU think is going to win? I'm going with the smart choice....

Winner: DX


WWE Intercontinental Title
Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler

It's finally time to see Dolph Ziggler win some singles gold in the WWE! Back when he was on RAW no one could have predicted that Ziggler would possibly win the IC title in the near future, as a matter of fact....some people were counting down the days until his release. However, the man is on a roll right now and I just can't see him losing this match. Rey needs to drop the IC title anyway and move on to bigger and better things.


WWE Unified Tag Title
Chris Jericho/Big Show vs. Cryme Tyme

Is anyone really giving Cryme Tyme a chance here? This one is almost as easy to predict as the DX/Legacy bout. If Cryme Tyme does indeed win the titles here, I'll personally hand my column over to the first reader who asks for it.

Winner: Chris Jericho/Big Show


ECW Title
Christian vs. William Regal


I'm not going to lie to you (very often), but I actually don't follow ECW at all. It's a loooooong story, but just trust me. However, I'm a MASSIVE Christian fan and therefore I refuse to pick against him. PEEPS 4 LIFE!

Winner: Christian


WWE Title
Randy Orton vs. John Cena

While part of me wants to believe that Orton is going to retain his title due to the fact that Cena has been pretty much invincible during this feud, it's just been too long since "THE CHAMP WAS HERE!" The WWE loves having Cena as champion and Orton just hasn't done a great job as champ. I believe one of the main titles is going to switch hands tonight and in my eyes, this is the one!

Winner: John Cena


World Heavyweight Title
Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk

The popular opinion right now is that Hardy is going to lose his title seeing as he's set to leave the company in a few days. However, there is a rumor going around that Hardy's last show will actually be RAW on Monday and if that's so....that would be the perfect spot for him to drop the title to someone like Punk. Will the WWE actually do this? Probably not, but it doesn't hurt to mention it. This should be a great match and let's hope all of Hardy's fans enjoy his last PPV match of 2009.

Winner: Jeff Hardy

So that's that. SummerSlam actually looks like a so-so card on paper. I probably won't be purchasing it due to the fact that I spend all of my money on MMA PPV's and midget porn, but I highly recommend you purchase the show so you can bitch about it on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

VIVA LA SUMMERFEST~!

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Remember This Guy???



P.N. News


Yo Baby, Yo Baby, Yo! Yo Baby, Yo Baby Yo!.......

Who doesn't remember that horrible slogan from the early-90's WCW? The man who brought us that lovely slogan happened to be none other than a fat, horrible rapper named "PN News". His gimmick was that he was "The Rapmaster". He would rap during his entrances and would even have the music guys start his music up before he hit his finisher. He was pretty popular for about two months until he accidentally broke "The Angel of Death's" leg during a match. The company then took him off of television and let him go once his contract expired. That's really too bad because I honestly thought PN News had the potential to squish a fellow wrestler....and that's something I have always wanted to see.....


Hey look...it's PN News vs. the man who trained Goldberg (AKA Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker!):

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Random News Bits:


- As everyone knows by now, Kurt Angle was arrested last weekend with some pretty serious charges. Apparently, Angle had been dating Trenesha Biggers (Rhaka Khan), who a lot of people have mentioned is WAY crazier than Angle, and on August 14 the two got into a huge fight. The fight was so serious that Biggers filed a protection order against him. The next morning she was at a local Starbucks and saw Angle driving around the parking lot and so she called police to inform them that Angle was violating the protection order. Well, when the police showed up to arrest Angle they found two syringes as well as vials of Hygetropin. Basically, short story....Angle is still crazy and is anyone really surprised by this news? Angle keeps moving up on the "Death Watch" list, which is a sad thing because I really hate having to add anyone to that list. Get your life together Kurt.....

- TNA and Spike TV have agreed on a new three-year deal that will keep Impact on the air until 2012. Not only that, but TNA will also get ten one-hour specials. In the promotion for the specials it said they will "highlight some of the greatest and awe-inspiring bouts in the history of TNA." So I'll leave the rest up to you.....

- Jim Ross has confirmed that Steve Williams' throat cancer has returned and he is due for some serious chemotherapy. This is horrible news as it looked as though "Dr. Death" had kicked cancer's ass, but the disease has unfortunately returned. He's beat it before and let's hope he can beat it again. I'd say the chances are good.

- Hulk Hogan has apparently contacted TNA to see if there's any interest. I'm sure TNA does have SOME interest, but is Hogan's price really worth it? Only if he's accompanied by a topless this.....





I mean....look at those things~!

- You can expect Jeff Hardy to be done with the WWE after next Monday's RAW. However, Hardy has informed people that he expects to return to the WWE, it just depends on if his reality show gets picked up by MTV or not. If it doesn't get picked up, you can expect him back by early 2010. Sooooo....expect him back by early 2010.

- Vince McMahon has ordered the Smackdown crew to start hinting towards the return of the Undertaker. Undertaker was taking some time off to nail this......





I'm honestly just looking for reasons to post pictures of hot chicks......


- Stephanie McMahon recently did an interview with Variety and mentioned the following as future RAW guest hosts:

Floyd Mayweather (good one), Bob Barker (really?), Rev. Al Sharpton (yawnnn), Nancy O'Dell (yawnnn), LeBron James (great one!), Pete Wentz (yawnnn), Ashlee Simpson (interesting), The Osbournes (great one!), Danny DeVito (good one), Regis & Kelly (ehhh), MC Hammer (interesting), Rachel Ray (yawnnnn), Jimmy Fallon (good one), Woody Harrelson (good one), Serena Williams (ehh), and Ashton Kutcher (good one).

Am I the only one who's disappointed that Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens aren't on that list? How about Stephon Marbury? That dude's certified crazy now!

- Val Venis (man, do I miss him) recently sat down with WrestlingEpicenter.com and talked about numerous things. Let's take a look at them.....

*He believes his push slowed down in late 1999 due to the fact that the networks wanted his character toned down. This is totally true. Back in 1998 or so, I actually believed that Venis was going to be a future world champion. Perhaps not with his "porn star" character, but I believed the man would get there someday.

*He said that his character was originally suppose to be a heel that the men would hate and the women would love. However, the men started cheering for him as well (duh, he's a porn star!) and that led to his character becoming a babyface. I personally liked Val more as a heel seeing as Morley plays a pretty bad ass heel.

*When asked about possibly heading to TNA, he mentioned that he would think about it if the right offer came along, but he's loyal to the WWE. This means that Val sees himself returning someday. TNA needs to make this man an offer now just so we can see if he will stay true to his word.

- Erik Watts (who??? exactly!) recently had the following to say to Jeff Jarrett regarding the Kurt Angle/Karen Angle/Jarrett love triangle:

"As far as Jeff tagging up with Angle's ex-wife, what have you, let me explain something about that as far as I'm concerned. That is so weird because boys are just boys. These guys, it's got to be a fascination that if I can't be a bigger star than you, man, I'll show you if I'm sleeping with one of your girls or one of your exes. Because there are so many women that come to these events. There are so many chicks at every one of these events that you have your pick, I hate to say it. You're on TV. You're doing your thing. You can have the choice of people you're with. You mean to tell me that you're gonna sit there and get serious with someone else's throwaways? Whether she left him, he left her, are you kidding? You don't see this in football. You don't see this in basketball. You don't see this in baseball. You see this in wrestling and that's what cracks me up. That's how far the ego goes outside the ring that it's like, oh my gosh, ha ha ha. And what's backfiring is that Angle probably has more stroke. TNA has probably been looking for a reason to do something with Jeff because Jeff is just not one of your smarter individuals. I think he's a good worker and I've said this. Good worker. Horrible on the mic and just not one of your smartest people.

"TNA is a mini-WWE with a six sided ring and mostly midgets wrestling. So, I think that will change as they're bringing in big guys, which I've always said that's been the problem. I've always said the problem with TNA mostly is that when Jeff had so much power there, he wasn't going to have real big guys there. He didn't want the=2 0competition. He wanted to be King of The Midgets."

I have just one thing to say about this.....





- Hit The Ropes Radio recently conducted an interview with former TNA star Petey Williams. In the interview, Williams discusses the creation of the Canadian Destroyer, guys who were uncomfortable taking the move, the reason he wasn't resigned by TNA and more. You can listen to it here.

(Credit goes to The Wrestling Observer for the above news!)

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Wrestling Top 10 Lists:





Top 10 Best SummerSlams

SummerSlam is almost here and that means it's time for me to do a TON of SummerSlam-related top ten's! This week I'lll be ranking MY top 10 SummerSlams of all-time. I know everyone's list is different, but this is my opinion and you can't change it! No matter how many names you call me in the comments section....


This list IS IN a particular order......



10) SummerSlam 2004


Best Matches:

- The Dudley Boys def. Rey Mysterio/Billy Kidman/Paul London

- Kurt Angle def. Eddie Guerrero

- Randy Orton def. Chris Benoit


Worst Matches:

- Kane def. Matt Hardy

- Diva Dodge Ball

- John Cena def. Booker T


SummerSlam 2004 is widely known as the event that kicked off the "Orton Era." It definitely had it's ups (Orton vs. Benoit) and it's downs (Diva Dodge Ball). However, the goods outweigh the bad for this show. You not only had the WWE championship match, but you also had Eddie Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle (you were ALWAYS guaranteed a classic when those two locked up), The Dudley Boys (with Spike!) defeating Mysterio, Kidman, and London in a match that was way more entertaining than it should have been. Either way, not a bad card overall....but not a great one either.

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9) SummerSlam 1997


Best Matches:

- Steve Austin def. Owen Hart

- Bret Hart def. The Undertaker

- British Bulldog def. Ken Shamrock


Worst Matches:

- Goldust def. Brian Pillman

- Los Boriquas def. DOA

- The Legion of Doom def. The Godwins


While this show didn't exactly BLOW anyone's mind anyway, it does have the honor of taking place smack dab in the middle of my favorite WWE time (the Harts vs. America) and therefore it gets a little brownie points. You'd be doing yourself a favor if you watch the show and just watch HHH vs. Mankind (in a CAGE!), Bulldog/Shamrock, Hart/Austin, and Hart/Undertaker. One sad fact is, this was Hart's last SummerSlam before he left for WCW and forced Vince McMahon out of his life for good. Oh...what could have been.....

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8) SummerSlam 1991


Best Matches:

- Ricky Steamboat/The British Bulldog/Kerry Von Erich def. Paul Roma/Hercules/The Warlord

- Bret Hart def. Mr. Perfect

- Virgil def. Ted DiBiase


Worst Matches:

- The Natural Disasters def. The Bushwhackers

- The Legion of Doom def. The Nasty Boys

- IRS def. Greg Valentine


This is one of those events I hold close to my heart due to the fact that I was 10 years old and was right in the middle of my "ULTIMATE WARRIOR" love fest. While I wasn't exactly a huge Hulk Hogan fan, seeing the Warrior & Hogan team up to take out that damn traitor Sgt. Slaughter and his band of thugs was awesome! Not too mention we had the classic that was Perfect/Hart, Virgil FINALLY getting his revenge on Ted DiBiase, and the Randy Savage/Elizabeth wedding for all those love birds out there. This was a fun one for me as a kid, so of course it's making the list.....

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7) SummerSlam 2001


Best Matches:

- Edge def. Lance Storm

- Chris Jericho def. Rhyno

- Rob Van Dam def. Jeff Hardy

- Kurt Angle def. Steve Austin

- The Rock def. Booker T


Worst Matches:

- Test/The Dudley Boys def. Spike Dudley/APA

- Undertaker/Kane def. DDP/Kanyon


You can probably tell from the listing of "Best & Worst Matches" why this one is ranked here. If you take out the two "Worst" matches, you have a pretty damn solid card from top to bottom. Lance Storm & Edge put on a hell of a show, X-Pac & Tajiri had a pretty good little match and I haven't even begun to discuss the great ones that were Van Dam/Hardy and Austin/Angle. While the WWE wasn't able to get the "Invasion" angle correct, they were able to get this PPV correct. I guess it all wasn't that bad....was it?

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6) SummerSlam 1992


Best Matches:

- Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel fought to a Double-DQ

- Ultimate Warrior def. Randy Savage

- British Bulldog def. Bret Hart


Worst Matches:

- The Legion of Doom def. Money Inc.

- Nailz def. Virgil

- The Natural Disasters def. The Beverly Brothers

- Undertaker def. Kamala

- Crush def. Repo Man


Yes, SummerSlam 92 was filled with A LOT of crap. So much crap that I just had to list it all! However, this is a case of the good outweighing the bad. While Shawn Michaels and Rick Martel had a ridiculous ending in their match, it is still the best "NO HITTING IN THE FACE" match I have seen to this day. You also can't forget the awesomeness from the Warrior and Savage, although the match wasn't as good as their WrestleMania 7 match....it was still pretty damn good. And of course, it wouldn't be SummerSlam 92 without the greatness that was the Bulldog vs. Bret Hart. I have said before that it is one of my favorite matches of all-time and it was good enough to get this PPV to the #6 slot!

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5) SummerSlam 2005


Best Matches:

- Edge def. Matt Hardy

- Rey Mysterio def. Eddie Guerrero

- Randy Orton def. The Undertaker

- John Cena def. Chris Jericho

- Hulk Hogan def. Shawn Michaels

Worst Matches:

- Batista def. JBL


Ahh, SummerSlam 2005. The "ICON" vs. The "HERO"! This may have been the last official WWE match I was literally pumped up for. How could you not get excited about HBK vs. Hogan?!? All in all, this PPV was filled with a TON of goodness and not too much crap. If you could take JBL & Batista out of the equation....SummerSlam 2005 was overall a very entertaining PPV. While it doesn't quite rank that high on my list as of today....I'm sure it will slowly move up the ladder over time.

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4) SummerSlam 1999


Best Matches:

- Jeff Jarrett def. D-Lo Brown

- Test def. Shane McMahon

- Mick Foley def. Steve Austin & HHH


Worst Matches:

- Ivory def. Tori


This was another one of those "amazing" WWE PPV's that wasn't filled with a lot of crap. Not only did this PPV feature the WWE PPV debut of Chris Jericho (although he didn't wrestle). It also had The Rock kicking the crap out of Billy Gunn (ALWAYS a good thing), Mankind winning the World Title, and Jesse Ventura finally making his return to the WWE. However, perhaps the best match on the card was a "Love her or Leave her" match between Test and Shane McMahon. This was perhaps the best match of Test's career and one that had the crowd GOING. I can remember actually cheering for Test during this thing...that's how good it was!

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3) SummerSlam 2000


Best Match:

- Chris Benoit def. Chris Jericho

- Edge/Christian def. The Hardy Boys & The Dudley Boys

- The Rock def. Kurt Angle & HHH


Worst Match:

- Right to Censor def. Rikishi/Too Cool

- X-Pac def. Road Dogg

- Eddie Guerrero/Chyna def. Val Venis/Trish Stratus

- Jerry Lawler def. Tazz

- The Kat def. Terri

SummerSlam 2000 was one of those PPV's that had more than it's fair share of crap (especially in the ring), but when you look back at it, it was an extremely "fun" PPV. We were smack dab in the middle of the "WWF Attitude" era and the WWE at the time had one of the best rosters ever. I haven't even begun to discuss how awesome Benoit vs. Jericho, & The Rock vs. Angle vs. HHH were. However, those fail to compare to the greatness that was TLC~! Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Bubba Ray Dudley, and D-Von Dudley impressed the world with this match and we should forever thank them for how entertaining this son of a bitch was. It really helped make SummerSlam 2000 THAT much more special in my eyes.

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2) SummerSlam 2002


Best Matches:

- Kurt Angle def. Rey Mysterio

- Edge def. Eddie Guerrero

- Rob Van Dam def. Chris Benoit

- Shawn Michaels def. HHH

- Brock Lesnar def. The Rock


Worst Matches:

- Undertaker def. Test


There's a few reasons why I consider SummerSlam 2002 my 2nd favorite SummerSlam of all-time. First of all, if you skip the crapfest that was Undertaker vs. Test....then there really wasn't a bad match on the card. Second of all, it kicked off the VERY short but VERY awesome "Brock Lesnar" era in the WWE after he pinned The Rock to win the WWE championship. And last but not least, the awesome return of Shawn Michaels. Back in his prime, HBK was one of my favorites. When he had to retire at a young age due to a back injury, many of us felt robbed by karma that we didn't get to see HBK go on to have a long outstanding career. However, things changed in 2002 when it was announced that HBK would indeed be returning to action and would face his ex-best friend HHH in a "non-sanctioned" STREET FIGHT~! The match was fantastic and it was great to see HBK return to the WWE after such a long lay-off.

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1) SummerSlam 1998


Best Matches:

- X-Pac def. Jeff Jarrett

- Ken Shamrock def. Owen Hart

- HHH def. The Rock

- Steve Austin def. The Undertaker


Worst Matches:

- The Oddities def. Kaientai

- New Age Outlaws def. Mankind

I've said before that depending on where you are watching a PPV can drastically change how you feel about said PPV. It just so happens that I attended (for the only time in my life) a "SummerSlam Party" for SummerSlam 1998. This party featured a ton of my co-workers (80% of the people there weren't even wrestling fans), one of those REALLY big Subway sandwiches, tons of alcohol, and loads and loads of fun. It really helped that the WWE put on one hell of a show with the likes of X-Pac vs. Jarrett, Shamrock vs. Hart, Austin vs. Undertaker, and especially Rock vs. HHH. I remember the ENTIRE room (except me) cheering for HHH during the ladder match. This made for some real excitement for a match that really didn't need any more. It was a great time and a great show and that's the reason SummerSlam 1998 is MY favorite SummerSlam of all-time.

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YouTube! Find Of The Week!


HHH vs. The Rock, SummerSlam 1998, nuff said........

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