wrestling / Columns

The Wrestling News Experience: 06.24.13

June 24, 2013 | Posted by Stephen Randle

Monday, June 24th, 2013

From 411Mania’s Canadian offices in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, this is The Wrestling News Experience, with Stephen Randle!


Ka-wa-sa-ki!

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Experience. I am Stephen Randle, and I just want to say: Eleven in a row, baby! That’s the baseball team I was promised before the season began! Hey, there’s still plenty of room on the bandwagon, but those who never left got all the good seats.

Also, does anyone else find it odd that all the climate change deniers that mock the idea when it snows in winter as usual, disappear once we start hitting record highs in the summer months? Why yes, it is freaking hot out this weekend, why do you ask?

Moving on.

Last week, Mark Henry suckered everyone in with a rumour of his impending retirement, but punctuated what was in fact a clever ruse with a World’s Strongest Slam on an unsuspecting John Cena. It looks like Henry has his sights on the one title in WWE he’s never held, and after seeing what he is capable of, Cena’s title could definitely be in jeopardy.

It was, in fact, a night full of surprise attacks, as Dolph Ziggler make a surprise appearance, hot on the heels of the man who he (and many others) feels took things too far in their World title match at Payback, taking down Alberto Del Rio after the World champ walked out of his marquee match against CM Punk. And Punk himself was not immune to the pattern for the evening, as he found himself on the wrong end of a devastating F5, delivered, of course, by the returning Brock Lesnar. With Punk distancing himself from friend and advisor Paul Heyman earlier in the evening, it’s obvious to suspect that the former brains behind ECW might have sent his biggest client in order to show Punk the error of his ways.

Plus, determined to prove his worth one more time, Daniel Bryan took on Randy Orton. Unfortunately, the match was forced to end due to an injury suffered by Bryan, despite his determination to continue. After a rematch against Orton resulted in a count-out win for the world’s most dangerous vegan, both men find themselves square at one, admittedly tainted, win apiece, with the rubber match set to take place tonight!

In the meantime, AJ served notice on the Divas division, but was likewise given a warning by none other than Stephanie McMahon, who seems to be asserting her power on a daily basis. In fact, Stephanie, Vince, and Triple H all seem to be attempting to exert their influence over WWE at the same time, and if we know one thing, it’s that McMahons simply can’t co-exist.

All this and possibly more, tonight on Raw!

Faction Wars, Part…Um…A Lot

So, Sting’s going to re-form the Main Event Mafia in order to take on Aces and Eights, in revenge for them costing him the ability to ever have a TNA World Title shot for the rest of his career (or you know, possibly six months or so), and has already recruited Kurt Angle, one of the original members, into the group. Of course, Kurt was the guy who turfed Sting out of the original MEM, but this time they’re faces so that probably won’t happen. After all, nobody ever turns on Sting, especially not trusted stable-mates.

In any event, who do we have left from the original group who could be added to the team? The following may potentially contain spoilers for next week’s episode of Impact, which has already been taped. If you don’t want to know, skip to the next paragraph. Well, Booker T is currently GM of Smackdown, so he’s probably out. Scott Steiner has spent most of the last year describing TNA with an increasingly vile series of curse-words, so that would be a surprise, definitely. I think Nash is cashing checks from WWE lately, but hell, the person paying Kevin Nash could change by the day if they offered him an extra dollar. And Samoa Joe, who came into the MEM late, will be joining this week, so at least they’ve got the two best alumni at this point.

With that said, who is likely to take up arms on the side of Sting and be a new member? Well, my obvious choice is Impact GM Hulk Hogan, assuming they amalgamate him into this angle as part of his larger issue with Bully Ray. Who else? Well, if I recall the original MEM charter correctly (and I’m sure that I don’t), members must have held a World title at some point in their career. Checking the TNA roster, that gives us the following list: Abyss, AJ Styles, James Storm, Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Anderson. Okay, that last one isn’t too likely. I’d ditch Roode and Aries as well, since they’re currently heels, and Storm is involved in the tag division, so he’s a long shot. Meanwhile, AJ Styles has made it clear that he’s a man alone. So, that pretty much leaves Abyss and Jeff Hardy, and I’d have to say both are pretty easy picks to add to the angle, since both already have major issues with the Aces (in one persona or another). Plus, it just wouldn’t be a Sting angle in TNA if Abyss didn’t get involved somehow.

Actually, that wouldn’t be a bad little group. Just please, don’t throw in Eric Young. That gets less surprising every time they do it.

– Rosa Mendes, who was sent home from the last WWE European Tour for personal reasons, has announced that she will be back on the road this week. Yes, the WWE Divas division has gained…nothing, actually, Rosa never wrestles because she’s pretty horrible at it. And considering they keep letting Aksana into the ring, you know Rosa must be lethal.

– Jason David Frank, best known as the original Green Power Ranger (and then the White Ranger, and I think he was a Red Ranger for a while…stop me when my nerd credentials have been authenticated) has let it be known that he would love to face CM Punk in an MMA match. Yeah, I’d love to face a guy who doesn’t actually fight in MMA to a fight as well. I know, I know, Punk knows jiu jitsu and has incorporated it into his wrestling. And I’ve gotten in fights while intoxicated, but that doesn’t make me a drunken boxer.

– I swear, that analogy made sense in my head.

– Indy darling and BFF of CM Punk Colt Cabana recently received two WWE tryouts for a colour commentator role. Rumor has it, before Cabana could start his tryout, WWE fired Matt Striker in order to show him what would happen if he dared make any clever references to actual wrestling. No word on if Cabana was offered a job afterwards.

– WWE is apparently concerned with Fandango’s recent concussion because he has suffered several in his career already, back when there wasn’t such a focus on the potentially career and life-threatening injury. Or, as Vince calls it, “the good old days, when men were men and steroids were classified as vitamin supplements”. Seriously, if Vince ever really does develop dementia due to his advanced age, how would we know?

– And after a several year absence, WWE has begrudgingly allowed Toronto to finally get another Raw taping in September, presumably on the condition that fans not go against script and cheer and boo whomever they want to. It’s fairly likely that the next Toronto WWE taping after that one is scheduled for the tenth of never, ever, ever again.

1. Mark Henry

It takes a strong man to pull off a salmon suit, and he is the World’s Strongest Man. I was calling for Henry to be Cena’s first feud post-Mania, but the kick-off was so awesome that I don’t even mind that they delayed it.

2. CM Punk

It’s kind of amazing how smoothly he slides back into the crowd favourite role, simply by challenging someone to a fair fight in order to prove that he’s the best, and standing up for Dolph Ziggler’s right to a rematch. Why does WWE have trouble creating strong babyface characters again?

3. Dolph Ziggler

If there was any doubt that he at least has a shot to succeed as a babyface, he at least managed to keep the crowd on his side with his unexpected attacks on Alberto Del Rio. We’ll be watching this new stage of his career with great interest.

4. Brock Lesnar

Speaking of people appearing and attacking opponents in the Raw overrun, the Beast is back again, much quicker than expected, and set up for a feud that could be quite good. Well, at least it should be better than he last one.

5. Magnus

The former Gladiator is the early clubhouse leader after one week in the BFG Series, thanks to being smart enough to take the submission win. Given the other competitors, this will probably be short-lived, but it’s always better to have the points than need them later.

6. Daniel Bryan

He’s caught in a little bit of a fake/real injury angle that I’m not a fan of, but it looks like the push is on, and getting wins over Randy Orton, as I’ve said many times in the best, is one of the best ways to elevate a talent right now.

7. Christian

It’s about time, and good timing, because Dean Ambrose needs an opponent to have US Title matches with, and Kane is definitely not the right answer.

8. Antonio Cesaro

The latest beneficiary of the “Jack Swagger tanks his own push” reshuffle, if he gets any part of Swagger’s previous push out of the deal, he’ll come out much farther ahead in the end.

9. Dean Ambrose

For those not yet sold on Ambrose’s promo skills, check out the absolute shit-eating grin he sported when he greeted Vince McMahon like an old buddy, followed by a smug look at Vickie just to underscore that yes, he knows how untouchable The Shield is and no, there’s nothing she can do about it, all while carrying on the wrestling equivalent of small talk. Sometimes, it’s not what you say, it’s what you’re doing while you say it.

10. The Wyatt Family

Still coming. Still going to be awesome. The waiting becomes tiresome, though.

Inactive List as of 06.17.13

WWE

– Booker T, out indefinitely as of June 7th (elbow surgery)
– Christian, out indefinitely as of September 1st, 2012 (elbow)
– Evan Bourne, out indefinitely as of March 19th, 2012 (foot)
– Fandango, day-to-day as of June 10th (concussion)
– Hunico, out indefinitely as of November 1st, 2012 (ACL)
– Jack Swagger, out 2-3 months as of June 5th (hand)
– Kofi Kingston, out 1-2 months as of May 30th (elbow)
– Mark Henry, out indefinitely as of May 20th (shoulder)
– Tyson Kidd, out 4-6 months as of January 10th (knee)

TNA

– Madison Rayne, out indefinitely as of March 17th (pregnancy)
– Zema Ion, out indefinitely as of May 17th (appendectomy)

Transactions

– Christian, WWE, returned to action on June 17th Raw

– Mark Henry, WWE, returned to action on June 17th Raw

– Matt Striker, WWE, contract expired, will not be renewed


WWE Champion: John Cena
– 78 day reign, defeated The Rock on April 7th (WrestleMania XXIX)


World Heavyweight Champion: Alberto Del Rio
– 8 day reign, defeated Dolph Ziggler on June 17th (Payback PPV)


WWE Intercontinental Champion: Curtis Axel
– 8 day reign, defeated former champion Wade Barrett and The Miz in a Triple Threat Match on June 16th (Payback PPV)


WWE United States Champion: Dean Ambrose
– 36 day reign, defeated Kofi Kingston on May 19th (Extreme Rules PPV)


WWE Tag Team Champions: Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns
– 36 day reign, defeated Kane and Daniel Bryan on May 19th (Extreme Rules PPV)


WWE Divas’ Champion: AJ Lee
– 8 day reign, defeated AJ Lee on June 16th (Payback PPV)


WWE NXT Champion: Bo Dallas
– 12 day reign, defeated Big E Langston on June 5th (NXT)


WWE NXT Tag Team Champions: The Wyatt Family
– 47 day reign, defeated Adrian Neville and Bo Dallas (subbing for Oliver Grey) on May 8th (NXT)

NOTE: NXT Title reigns only count what has aired on TV, not when changes occur at tapings.


TNA Heavyweight Champion: Bully Ray
– 106 day reign, defeated Jeff Hardy on March 10th (Lockdown PPV)


TNA World Tag Team Champions: James Storm and Gunner
– 29 day reign, defeated former champions Chavo & Hernandez, Aries & Roode, and Bad Influence in a Fatal Four-Way Match on June 2nd (Slammiversary PPV)


TNA X-Division Champion: Chris Sabin
– 22 day reign, defeated former champion Kenny King and Suicide in an Ultimate X Match on June 2nd (Slammiversary PPV)
– Next title defense: vs Kenny King and Suicide, June 27th Impact


TNA Television Champion: Abyss
– 22 day reign, defeated Devon on June 2nd (Slammiversary PPV)


TNA Knockouts Champion: Mickie James
– 32 day reign, defeated Velvet Sky on May 23rd Impact
– Next title defense: vs Velvet Sky, date undetermined


TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions: VACANT
– titles vacated (and likely mothballed) as of June 20th Impact

DeMarco has The Wrestling 5&2.

Stevens has The Pay Window.

Harder has The Professional 3.

Hiotis has The Brain Buster.

Dino has Smart Marks.

Schroeder has WWE RPI Rankings.

Nguyen has The Ten Count.

This week’s After Dark talks about all the good things from Raw (and a few bad things), plus the differences between predictability and logical booking and which one WWE is leaning towards, and the issues involved in being a wrestling journalist in an industry that actively dislikes wrestling journalists!

Also, don’t forget to join the TWNE After Dark Facebook group, for updates on show airtimes and potential discussion topics, and more!

We continue to come down from E3 and look at all the new details that came out in the following days, the peak of gaming controllers, and Blitz: The League!

Plus, Co-op Multiplayer has a Facebook group of its own, so be sure to join! We’re making Facebook cool again, one podcast group at a time!

The Last of Us **COMING SOON**
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Marvel Heroes
Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Dragon Fantasy: Book One
Guacamelee!
BioShock Infinite
Dead or Alive 5 Plus
Generation of Chaos 6: Pandora’s Reflection
Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable

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Here it is, your Moment of Buddy



It’s So Hot Out There,
Buddy Thinks He Just Saw Moses Leading
Around A Bunch Of Israelites.

Have a good one, and always be a fan.

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Stephen Randle

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