The Bell To Bell News Report 11.15.09

Posted by Randy Harrison on 11.15.2009

This week saw Chris Jericho and The Undertaker's historic first meeting, more Hulk Hogan/TNA drama, Jamie Noble's retirement and a whole lot more and the best place to find out about all of those topics, as well as the weekly wrestling recaps, is the Bell To Bell! Now with 400% more Super Dave!!





It's another week and it's another edition of the Bell to Bell and if things seem a little short this week, it's due to an extreme lack of news as well as my live coverage of UFC 105 from England cutting severely into my writing day. That being said, there's still going to be plenty to get to as we've got talk of TNA going head-to-head with Raw on Monday night (at least once), more Hulk Hogan to TNA talk, Linda McMahon cutting ties with the WWE as her Senate campaign gains more steam and a whole lot more. Along with coverage of the weekly shows and a few bits and bites sprinkled throughout, this should be another stacked edition of the column, even with next to nothing of note happening this week. Hell, I'm so pressed for time I can't even give my hockey updates, but rest assured, they'll be back next week. Who knows, maybe I'll just scrap the whole "wrestling" part of the column and just talk hockey for twelve pages. Anyhoozle, let's ring the bell and get this sucker on!



You know the drill...





Ding Ding....













Monday Night Raw Results:

Kelly Kelly vs. Alicia Fox - Winner: Alicia Fox (pinfall, scissors kick)
Sheamus vs. David DeVille - Winner: Sheamus (pinfall, Razor's Edge)
Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger - Winner: Evan Bourne (pinfall, Air Bourne)
Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry - Winner: Randy Orton (pinfall, RKO)
Chris Jericho and The Big Show vs. D-Generation X - Winners: D-Generation X (pinfall, Michaels pins Jericho after errant Big Show KO punch)


The WWE took their show on the road this week, heading across the pond to the UK for their shows beginning with Monday Night Raw, coming from Sheffield, England and hosted by British boxing superstar Ricky Hatton. I usually start out by talking about the host of each week's Raw and this week will be no different. There are a lot of people who have been complaining about Hatton being pretty unintelligible and hard to understand and while I can see their arguments, I have to say that I had very little problem picking up what he was saying. I don't know if it's that I have a little Commonwealth blood in me or that I am just used to hearing thick British accents, but I was alright with him. Granted, his personality was WAY too wooden to have him be entertaining in his own right, he was at least decent and he got to box a little, so he was in his element.

The Big Show/Jericho vs. DX main event was actually a lot of fun for me as all four guys are capable enough and have been around long enough to know what makes a good TV main event. This one had John Cena on commentary to play off of his title defense against both members of DX as well, though he didn't really add a lot to the proceedings. I'm not sure if it was jet lag or if he was just off on Monday night, but Cena was almost boring on commentary and it would have almost come off better if he hadn't been at ringside. All of that being said, the finish of the match and the announcement of next week's main event with the same two teams taking on the team of Cena and The Undertaker was pretty cool and gave the Raw fans in England a bit of a boost from the surprise appearance of the Dead Man.

The feud between Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston continued this week as the two men and their respective Survivor Series teams interacted in MVP's VIP lounge before Orton took on Mark Henry. While I'm loving seeing Kofi step up and leave his goofy gimmick in the past for this new deal that could seriously make him a star, I have to wonder why they're having to take this angle down the same tired racial angle they seem to be going with. They were doing great with just having them having issues based off of events happening week to week on TV, but by adding in this "subtle" racism bit, it's coming off as hokey and a little hackish. If they're not careful, they could end up turning this into a rehash of the Booker T/Triple H deal moving into WrestleMania XIX where Booker was hot and the racial deal (along with losing handily in the title match) pretty much killed him as a top-level face. I'd hate to see the same thing happen to Kofi as he's got a ton of potential. Hopefully they can turn things around and get away from trying to force the race card into this feud before it's too late.

The most polarizing segment for many fans seems to be the deal with John Cena, Hornswoggle and DX, something that while it gave me a chuckle or two, really didn't have much of a place here. I get it that the title match is essentially face vs. face vs. face and that it would be hard to build the match on any sort of actual hatred or ill feelings between the three men, but going the comedy route with the only segment featuring all three of the participants was just wrong. I'm not saying that every match has to be built like the guys hate each other because then nothing stands out. But having the two guys who will be challenging for the title cracking jokes and slinging sarcasm with the guy that holds the belt seems a little silly to me. I'm not going to go so far as to say that it makes it seem like they don't want the belt, but you'd be hard-pressed to know it from that whole segment. They really need to put Hornswoggle out to pasture for good as he's contributing very little, if anything, to the brand and it's been that way for some time in my opinion.

That's about all that there was to talk about from Raw this week outside of a botch-tastic ladies match, Sheamus beating another jobber into bolivian and the Chavo/Hatton boxing match, which while entertaining, just continues to prove that worked boxing matches in wrestling will look awful 100% of the time.






ECW on SyFy Results:

Paul Burchill vs. Goldust - Winner: Goldust (pinfall, Final Cut after Hurri-ference)
Vance Archer vs. Jason Blackwell - Winner: Vance Archer (pinfall, reverse DDT)
ECW Championship: William Regal vs. Christian (C) - Winner: Christian (pinfall, Killswitch)


ECW's show this week was heavily built around Christian's ECW Championship defense against hometown hero William Regal and on that level, the show was a success. The main event came off as a really big deal and was probably one of the hottest ECW title matches in a long, long time. Regal did a great job in not falling into full-on babyface mode despite the hometown cheers and Christian did well to not let the crowd's reactions get him off of his game. Even though it's all pre-determined, the competitors still have to go out there and perform and it takes a lot of focus to get past a hostile crowd when you're not expecting it. Both men did their parts to get the crowd involved and the match was better for it.

They got almost twenty minutes to work with, even counting commercial time, and they used it to its fullest, starting out slowly and building a great match that was a mix of old-school psychology and new-school highspots and action. The finishing sequence with both guys going for big moves and finishers and reversals may have been a bit cliched for a title match as it seems to be how nearly all title matches finish these days, but it worked with the crowd coming nearly unglued for every big spot before unleashing a pop for the pinfall that faded into a mixed reaction as their boy lost to the foreigner. Great work from two ring veterans and something that really deserved to be on pay-per-view to let both guys shine even brighter.

The rest of the show outside of the title match was a bit of a disappointment for me if I'm being completely honest. The Burchill/Goldust match saw the wrong guy go over as Burchill heads into his big match with Hurricane off of a loss. Granted, The Hurricane cost him the match to put a little more heat onto their showdown, but it doesn't do him any favors at all to lose the way he did. Vance Archer's squash was a lather, rinse, repeat of last week's match and he seems to be in the same mold of most debuting ECW stars, while the Abraham Washington segment was death as it usually is, dragging Yoshi Tatsu into its disastrous wake. If it hadn't been for the great title match to close the show, I would have been tremendously disappointed, but instead I'm just left wondering what could be if ECW ever decided to put on a solid show under a huge title match like that.





WWE Superstars Results:

Matt Hardy vs. David Hart Smith - Winner: Matt Hardy (pinfall, small package)
Zack Ryder vs. Shelton Benjamin - Winner: Shelton Benjamin (countout)
Ted DiBiase vs. MVP - Winner: MVP (pinfall, small package)


The most wrestling-heavy show in the WWE's weekly schedule was at it again this week with a heavy focus on the midcard of all three brands featuring the solid wrestling action we've all come to expect from Superstars at this point. This week though, we got the added bonus of having a little bit of angle advancement sprinkled in as well, especially in the case of the main event that played off of the events of Raw in recent weeks as well as helping to build towards the Team Kofi/Team Orton Surivior Series match.

The show started out with a strong match between Matt Hardy and David Hart Smith that showcased how far Smith has come as a performer since his disastrous Raw stint a while back that was mercifully ended when he got popped for a Wellness Violation. Smith looked fantastic in this one, even with the loss, as he got in a bunch of offense that looked crisp and didn't suffer from the slower pace of the match. I don't think that he'll ever be someone that can put on a high-paced, action-packed, type of match, but he's got the skills to be a guy that can make a slower match just as exciting, provided he continues to grow the way that he has been. Again, the finish was weak and did no favors for Hardy or Smith, but the match itself was quite good.

The middle of the show dragged a little as Zack Ryder and Shelton Benjamin continued their feud with Ryder getting cost the victory by his new girl Rosa, who distracted him enough to let him get counted out. As much as I didn't like the finish in the first match, I REALLY didn't like this finish as it makes both guys look bad, especially Ryder. For all of the momentum he's managed to inexplicably gain in the past few weeks and months, it's starting to feel like they're running out of steam with him and this whole Rosa deal is an example of it. I honestly have no idea where this is going, but there isn't a lot of ways that this can end up being a good thing for Ryder from where I'm sitting.

The main event continued the build to Survivor Series for MVP and Ted DiBiase as they met in a singles match prior to their teams matching up at the pay-per-view. This one played off of the Kofi/Orton angle as well as the Orton/Henry match from Raw, as well as the VIP lounge segment, making this one a little more meaningful than the usual Superstars main events. The match was pretty good, with more interaction on the outside between Henry and Cody Rhodes to spice things up as well. Unfortunately, the booking team must have gotten a little lazy as they had an incredibly similar small package finish for this match with DiBiase partially distracted by the outside action. If they had come up with a different finish, this one would have been even better and seeing all six guys in this feud working together so far has my hopes set high for the Survivor Series match.






TNA Impact Results:

Abyss vs. Dr. Stevie - Winner: Dr. Stevie (pinfall, Raven-ference/blackout)
Alissa Flash vs. Traci - Winner: Alissa Flash (submission, Fujiwara armbar)
Jay Lethal vs. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart - Winner: Jim Neidhart (pinfall, powerslam)
The Beautiful People and Awesome Kong vs. Taylor Wilde, Sarita, ODB and Tara - Winners: The Beautiful People and Awesome Kong (pinfall, Kong's implant buster on Wilde)
Motor City Machine Guns and Amazing Red vs. Homicide, Sheik Abdul Bashir and Kiyoshi - Winners: Motor City Machine Guns and Amazing Red (pinfall, Shelley frogsplashes Bashir after Sabin neckbreaker)
Beer Money Inc. vs. The British Invasion - Winners: Beer Money Inc. (pinfall, DWI on Magnus)
Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles - Winner: Samoa Joe (submission, rear naked choke)


My god, where to begin with this trainwreck of a show. I don't say trainwreck in the sense that it was all bad (though a good part of it was), but just in the sense that there's just too goddamn much going on in this show every single week. I know that it feels like a constant complaint of mine, but I'll keep talking about it until they finally wise up and start to slow down. If you want to have a wrestling show with seven matches in two hours, have it that way. If you want to have a show full of interviews, skits and backstage segments, have it that way. If you keep trying to cram both shows into a timeslot where only one show can fit, you're going to completely burn out the audience and your storylines until you're left with virtually nothing for either. I can't stress it enough that TNA needs to slow down before they get too far out of control. Faster isn't always better, especially when it comes to wrestling.

On to the show itself, which actually had some bright moments for me including the return of Raven, who has been a long-time favorite of mine. Sure, he's not in the shape he used to be and I doubt that he'll be around for very long as TNA seems to ship him in for three weeks and then forget about him for six months, but he's still one of the brightest minds in the business. This whole Abyss/Dr. Stevie thing has been slowly dying and if anyone can bring it back from that to have a somewhat fruitful conclusion, it's a guy like Raven. I haven't been interested in this feud in a while, but I'm wanting to see where this goes with Raven involved, especially with his history with Stevie.

Another development that I really enjoyed was getting to see Desmond Wolfe continue his pursuit of Kurt Angle by trying to take Angle out again this week in a great little segment that I really enjoyed. The bit with Wolfe trying to trick Angle with the looped videotape and Angle being too smart for it was good stuff and it was good for the angle to see Angle get some in on Wolfe after being somewhat dominated the past few weeks. In the end, Wolfe continues with his strong push by leaving Angle laying again, dropping him like a bad habit with a DDT on the floor before WAFFLING Angle with a nasty chair shot as he continues to make big waves in TNA. I'll say this, so far the move to TNA looks to have been the right one for Wolfe/McGuinness as I don't think he'd be getting anywhere near this kind of push in New York.

The main event for this week's Impact saw Samoa Joe and AJ Styles meet in a non-title match-up that was an attempt to continue the build to the triple-threat match with Daniels at the upcoming pay-per-view. This one actually bothered me because the match and the whole thing barely got any time, even though it's the go-home show for the PPV and this is the match that the show is being built around as the main event. The match was about what you would expect from five minutes of Samoa Joe and AJ, and the finish was just bad as Daniels distracted AJ to let Joe lock in the choke to pick up the win. What this does to legitimize Styles as a champion is a mystery to me as now he's jobbed out heading into just his second defense on PPV in his current reign. There's making challengers credible through solid booking and trying to hotshot credibility by having them beat the champ and the only way that doesn't end up hurting the champion or the challengers isn't what happened on Thursday night.





Friday Night Smackdown Results:

R-Truth vs. CM Punk - Winner: CM Punk (pinfall, sunset flip reversal while holding the ropes)
Mickie James vs. Natalya - Winner: Natalya (submission, Sharpshooter)
Finlay vs. Drew McIntyre - Winner: None (no contest, referee throws out the bout)
John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler - Winner: None (no contest, double-countout)
Lisa Taylor vs. Beth Phoenix - Winner: Beth Phoenix (pinfall, Glam Slam)
The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho - Winner: The Undertaker (submission, Hell's Gate)


Some old foes and new enemies threw down on Friday night as the WWE wrapped up their UK TV tour with Friday Night Smackdown, a show that had some slow moments but pretty much delivered on all of the key points that they had to on the way to Survivor Series. When you add in that we got to see Chris Jericho taking on The Undertaker in a one-on-one contest for the first time, it's easy to see why I was a big fan of this week's show.

The good stuff started out with the CM Punk/R-Truth match where Punk got some retribution for his loss to Truth via the shenanigans of referee Scott Armstrong by picking up the win while holding the ropes. Punk is still languishing as far as I'm concerned as he should still be near the top of the card after what should have been a career-making turn in the Jeff Hardy feud, but he's still doing the best that he can to make this watchable, carrying R-Truth to believable matches while trying his best to make the whole angle surrounding his beef with the referees as entertaining as possible. Call me a Punk mark or whatever, but I'd rather see him at the top of the card with Jericho and The Undertaker and Bastista than The Big Show.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Beth Phoenix this week as she continued to regain her lost credibility by destroying another jobber. Last week she looked incredibly impressive and this week was no different as she laid waste to poor Lisa Taylor before finally putting her out of her misery with the Glam Slam. Phoenix should be the future of women's wrestling in the WWE as far as I'm concerned and they're finally doing the right thing in pushing her as an ass-kicking machine instead of a comedy sidekick to Santino or an aimless Diva like the rest of them. While there's still the issue of having precious few talented wrestlers for Phoenix to face, it's nice to see her back to laying beatdowns rather than playing the fool.

The main event that I brought up earlier with The Undertaker and Chris Jericho was a damn solid match, probably the best match that Taker has had since he's made his most recent comeback. Taker still looks like he's lost a step, but this one was the closest he's looked to the Undertaker of old since before he left. Leave it to Jericho to drag a match like that out of The Undertaker as he is still on his absolutely amazing roll that has lasted for the majority of the past year or so. It was cool to see Jericho go step for step with Taker before finally succumbing to the Hell's Gate, which keeps Jericho fairly strong since he didn't get pinned.

After the match, we got Kane saving The Undertaker from an attack by Jericho and The Big Show, which likely means that we're going to be seeing those two teams in a match next week. Hopefully they don't do something stupid like hotshotting the tag belts onto Taker and Kane because they just don't need them right now, especially when it comes to having a long reign from Jericho and Show going all for naught.








Slow week this week, so we'll just hit the big ones without separating things too much. Nothing really stood above anything else as a top story and the rest of it was just kind of there, not to mention that I'm just about gutted for time, so let's get to the news!



-- Kurt Angle was in the news this week, mainly stemming from his issues with the former Rhaka Kahn that saw him arrested and booted from his house. This week brought a small slice of vindication for Angle as the assualt charges that Kahn (real name Trenesha Biggers) brought against him have been dropped. This is a big boost for Angle as it appears that the whole sordid ordeal that looked like it could have ended incredibly poorly for the former Olympic gold medalist will be resolved without him having to spend a significant amount of time in court or in jail. Hopefully, this was a wake-up call and Angle learned his lesson about dipping his pen in the company ink. That, along with staying away from straight-up crazy bitches, and I'm also hoping that this is the last we'll have to hear about Angle's personal life for quite some time.

There's no denying he's a talented performer and I'm still of the mind that he should take some time off to get his house 100% in order, but that's ultimately his decision. If you ask me, what would be best for Angle is to have Wolfe seriously injure him at the pay-per-view, take some time off to spend with his kids and getting everything settled personally and when he comes back, he's white-hot and into the big payoff of what is shaping up to be a tremendous feud with Wolfe.



-- In an attempt to distance herself from her carny past and legitimize herself as a credible candidate in the race for the Connecticut Senate, Linda McMahon has officially resigned from World Wrestling Entertainment. Now, we spoke last week about how McMahon was in need of something to attempt to remove the stigma that being associated with wrestling is doing to damage her campaign, but I don't think this is going to have much effect, if any. This will just be pointed to by Republicans as her knowing what the product is and trying to distance herself from it, or they will point to it as a phony resignation that will likely be forgotten as soon as the campaign is over.

While the second part of that statement is probably pretty accurate, I think that it would take a LOT more than having Linda resign her position for her opponents to stop using wrestling as a cheap-shot tactic to try to discredit her campaign. As I just said, I don't expect this resignation to last for very long as I don't see her campaign having enough steam to get her the nomination so expect to see another SEC filing in a few months or so that she is on her way back into the company in her former position. I have no idea what her credentials are in terms of her being fit to serve in the Senate, but it's a shame that in this day and age, what she did with her day job prior to her campaign will probably be one of the huge deciding factors in the success of her political career. I guess issues will always take a back seat to mudslinging.



-- The Hulk Hogan to TNA story continued this week as Hogan talked on the Bubba The Love Sponge show about not, I repeat NOT coming into TNA to be an in-ring talent and that he will instead be focused on running the business side of things to try to grow the product. To that end, some of the names that Hogan is looking to bring into the company are guys like Steve Austin, Randy Savage and The Nasty Boys (I guess he lost Brutus Beefcake's cell number when Linda kicked him out or something), furthering concerns that Hogan may not be the right man for the job in TNA.

While it's definitely the right call for Hogan to not get into the ring to wrestle, the guys that he's talking about bringing in are so far past their shelf life that it couldn't do anything good for the company. Austin's neck is held together with paper clips and duct tape and he has nothing to offer the company in the ring. Savage has terrible knees and was a flop the last time he was in TNA. I don't even need to talk about how bad an idea having The Nasty Boys involved with TNA would be. If this is the kind of thing we can expect from Hogan's reign in TNA, the writing is on the wall and there's a real chance that this could begin the death march of the company.

All of this has to be pretty sobering news for the younger stars of TNA, who already had worries about Hogan's entrance into the company as pointed out last week with the meeting Dixie Carter had with all of the TNA employees. I talked before about how bringing in older talent takes up spots that younger guys could be using and if that ends up being the case, we could end up having TNA turn into a glorified weekly version of Hogan's upcoming tour of Australia, which can't be a good thing. While Hogan being involved in TNA could lead to guys like Ken Anderson and the former Umaga joining the company, I'd bet that they'd get the short shift as well in favor of Hogan's friends and the old farts that he enjoys working with.

Consider this strike six or so against Hogan's TNA tenure and considering that it hasn't even officially started yet, you'd better start scanning the skies of Orlando for vultures if Hogan runs the company totally unchecked. Their days may be numbered.



-- One of those guys that may have numbered days is Samoa Joe, who is one of the younger stars of TNA that started out incredibly strong before kind of fading in the past few months due to injuries and suspect booking. Joe spoke recently to Alex Marvez and said the following;

"Anybody who knows me knows I'm not worried at all. You can look at this as a challenge as far as my spot in the company. Call it arrogance or whatever, but I'm confident enough in my ability. I'm the only person who could stop me from being successful in this business. No matter who comes in, I'm going to do what I do to entertain and push forward."

Now, I applaud Joe for his belief in himself and his abilities, but if he thinks that he's the only person that can stop him from being successful, he's really got way more to learn than can be taught. He's incredibly talented in the ring, but if he gets on Hogan's bad side a month into Hogan's TNA stint, Joe will be working opening matches and BS angles before he could say muscle buster.

Joe had a chance to really solidify himself as being one of the wrestlers that this company could build their future around, but for whatever reason it's just all fallen apart in recent months. His title reign was virtually non-existent, his time with the Main Event Mafia was muddied and Joe was lost in the shuffle and since the group disbanded, he's been fairly aimless and stuck in four minute matches.

The four minute matches that Joe used to have were alright in that he would get in there, beat the holy snot out of someone and pin them or tap them out, all while looking incredibly impressive. Nowadays, it seems like he can't get a win without shenanigans or he's being dq'd all over the place. Joe may be confident in his abilities in the ring, but he's not getting the chance to show them and with his interview skills still in question after all of this time in TNA, he needs good matches now more than ever.

I've talked a lot since Hogan's signing that the new guys better watch their backs if they want to keep at the top of the card on the leading edge of the future of TNA. Based on the past six months, there may be no one that needs to watch his back more than Samoa Joe at this point, confidence or not.



-- WWE.com posted an announcement from Jamie Noble this past week in which the former Jung Dragon and ROH Champion announced his retirement. While the kayfabe meter always hits pretty highly when an announcement like this is posted on the WWE's website, especially when it featured Noble talking about how injuries he suffered from his beating from Sheamus played a part in the decision, this seems like a legit retirement on Noble's part. It's a shame that he was never able to find that one last piece to get himself fully over in the WWE as there have been numerous times that he has been entertaining and over, but they've all come up short or been quickly scrapped. With his technical ability and mind for the business, Noble would fit beautifully backstage or as a trainer, so let's hope that he stays on board with the WWE in one of those capacities moving forward. Congratulations on a great career Mr. Noble if this is indeed the end. You may not have ever had the main event matches on the big stage, but you were always entertaining and a great in-ring performer.


-- In honor of Super Dave Osborne's appearance on TNA Impact this past Thursday, which entertained me endlessly as I remember Super Dave's exploits on the classic sketch comedy show Bizarre, here's some of the funniest Super Dave clips I could find. Hey, at least this peripherally involves wrestling....right?


Super Dave vs. Mr. T...



Super Dave Sings Dolly Parton's 9 to 5...



Super Dave Sings Dolly Parton's 9 to 5...The Finale...



Super Dave Jumps Off The CN Tower in Toronto....Kinda..




The Final Bell


Well folks, that does it for this semi-rushed edition of The Bell to Bell. Sorry for the hasty exit, but things are still pretty crushed and only getting busier, so I'm off for now. Randle's in tomorrow with the News Experience, I'll be back next week with a full edition including the Dragon Gate USA review that I didn't have time to squeeze in this week. In the meantime and in between time, I'll see you all back here next time for another edition of your week-ending wrap-up of all things wrestling, the Bell to Bell News Report!


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