Sports Entertainment 720 News Report 11.28.13

It’s Thanksgiving, which means I’ll be working, you’ll be eating, and TNA will do Feast or Fired or stick a promising young talent in a turkey suit.

Fuck you, Jarrod. Seriously miss seeing Alex Shelley on American TV. TNA dropped the ball with him in a big way. C’mon Triple H, I’m sure there’s room for one more indie guy on the NXT roster. Please? I’ll avoid saying eat some turkey for me tomorrow, because I’m actually a vegan. Which I think automatically makes me a heel. But in the good way, not the X-Pac heat way that others are accused of having. Okay, Let’s do this! Fire it up! Here. We. Go.

I try to avoid stupid clichés like talking about what I’m thankful for on Thanksgiving. But here I am writing a Thursday column and here we are at Thanksgiving. I’ll try and keep it a half step below thankful and just list the people I’m grateful for in the wrestling industry today. I left people like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan off the list because they’re on my TV every week in a major way. These are the people who make an impact in one way or another, but may not always be in the main event.

AJ Styles
It seems like when TNA starts to shit the bed with their latest storyline featuring a WWE cast off, they eventually come to their senses and give the fans what they want, they put AJ back in the main event. AJ is currently in a storyline where he is defending the TNA world title outside the company against the wishes of Dixie Carter. His contract status is not known at this time, but a motivated AJ Styles is what gives TNA something to be proud of. I will not even try to lie about how excited I was when he ditched his loner gimmick and made a return to his phenomenal ways.

DDP
This man didn’t do much in the ring this year, but his contributions outside of the ring are what make me thankful for him. DDP is at times a real life version of his 2002 motivational gimmick when it comes to his DDP Yoga system. But this year he turned around the lives of Jake The Snake Roberts and Scott Hall in a major way. At the beginning of this year, Hall and Roberts were two guys that would you’re your “Yeah, I saw that happening” list if they died. But now they both have turned it around, and we have DDP to thank. And how can you not like this shameless promotion for WWE 2K14, featuring all 3?

Kevin Steen
Kevin Steen started the year as ROH world champion, and held the title until April 5th. He’s the main reason I keep watching Ring of Honor every week. Steen hits the road every weekend wrestling all over the country, and his Weekend Escapades highlight what it’s like to be an indie wrestler in 2013. He steals the show every time, and his schooling of people’s use of English online is even more humorous when you consider that it’s his second language. This video is especially great for his use of Eddie Edwards’ new WWE name in the “Say hi Eddie” portion of his video.

AJ Lee
In this world of 3 minute diva matches and the world of Total Divas, AJ Lee is the one female wrestler worth tuning into Raw or Smackdown to watch. She took her man crazy gimmick and found a new love of her life, the WWE Divas Championship. She may never get a 5 star match in her career, but she certainly entertains every time she is on your screen. I could give 2 shits about anything Total Divas related, and AJ is definitely the cure for all of that crap. She hit the nail on the head with this promo:

And now, the fake news.

Damn it John Cena. Why in the bloody blue hell would you say this to TMZ about Hulk Hogan: “You can’t have a WrestleMania 30 without Hulk Hogan. I really, truly hope he’s there in my heart of hearts. Because as WrestleMania turns 30, I think we need The Hulkster. But, we’ll see if we can get him there to do whatever he can do.” It seems like WWE uses TMZ as a public relations firm to get the word out in the mainstream-ish media. How many former wrestling fans just freaked the hell out at the possibility of Hogan at Wrestlemania 30? I for one need a drink.

Roderick Strong is set to debut for Evolve’s shows in Florida in January. This will be the first time a ROH wrestler has competed for the promotion. Is Sinclair Media loosening their hold on talent or is this a one time gig?

Davey Richards– or is it John Cahill now?- won’t be able to make a trip to Japan for his NOAH commitments due to a neck injury. Richards/Cahill worked a tag team match with Eddie Edwards against The Ascension as the American Pitbulls in NXT, so one has to wonder if the injury occurred during the match or if Richards just needs to go to his car to get some wrist tape.

AJ Styles will be making a tour of Europe in March as part of “An Evening With AJ Styles” which will include a meet and greet and a Q and A. I really hope that TNA keeps Styles off air for awhile to give off the impression that he is indeed not under contract. I also think it would be great if he said the hell with it and signed whatever shitty contract WWE offered him so he could really have the chance to shine.

Word is that WWE isn’t expecting a good buyrate from Survivor Series based on a lack of social media response. So if the buyrate is low, does this mean that they might catch on to the fact that nobody wants to see Big Show vs Randy Orton? Does this mean they might realize that Randy Orton shouldn’t even headline Raw? I remember 2009 Randy Orton punting everyone and everything and he was on an incredible roll before he was steamrolled by Triple H at Wrestlemania. Now here we are almost 5 years later and Orton’s involvement with Triple H is bringing him down again. Or will they somehow blame this on Daniel Bryan?

Tonight on Impact, the “infamous” TNA Turkey Costume is back. Which promising young star will be forced to wear the Turkey Suit? Unless it’s Robbie E I’m going to bitch about it next week. And you can’t have a Thanksgiving without a Survivor Series elimination match as Team Angle battles Team Roode in an 8 Man Elimination Match. Really? Is this episode going to be called Furvivor Feries? Also tonight, Ken Anderson continues the feel good TNA moment of 2013 as he hosts a funeral for Aces and Eights. I for one will be the one snickering in the back.

Each week I filter through all the self promotion, Q and A’s, retweets, and TV references to bring you the best of Twitter in the Sports Entertainment world.

I love reading peoples pages who only repost motivational thoughts… be real. Life isn’t always that peachy. Your screaming PAIN w/that bs