wrestling / Columns
Your News, My Views 11.14.06
Introduction…
Welcome to the weekly dose of news and views that you crave. I, as always am you host Larry Csonka and we have stuff to talk about. Not exactly a lot of news this week, but we have some stuff to discuss. I got to relax a bit this weekend, which was nice. Saturday I did work, while the wife and kid attended Veterans Day festivities. Warsaw NC apparently has the longest running Veterans Day celebration so it is a huge deal here. Parade, food, vendors, rides for the kids, ceremonies; the whole shebang really. They had a great time. At breakfast, we went to good old “Bojangles”, had some biscuits and gravy BTW, we saw a guy from my church all in his fatigues and Hana got all excited. She said, “Wow, Mr. Mike is a soldier! That means he is a hero.” Not only was I proud of my little girl, but she also made his day. The restaurant was busy due to the Fire hall selling out of BBQ, so lots of work for me as always. I relaxed Saturday night with the family, which was a nice night of watching Star Wars, the wife was SO happy as she loves the flicks more than I do. Up at 7am Sunday as we had Methodist Men’s breakfast, then service and lunch and then FINALLY I relaxed for most of Sunday and am feeling refreshed. Well, enough of that, time for the column!
Things I want to talk about…
-All 6-Star Wars movies, on a continuous loop on Cinemax all weekend.
-The Bengals and San Diego in a shoot out, with Cincy losing.
-The Steelers and Saints in a shootout and the Steelers winning.
-Rocky I-IV on Spike all day Sunday.
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Kinda…I have ONE copy, UNOPENED left of the Chris Benoit: Hardknocks DVD. I am looking to unload it. I don’t want to sell it, but am instead looking to make a trade! If you are interested, make me a trade offer through email! ([email protected])
WWE/ECW news, notes and happenings to the EXTREME:
Your News: Ring of Honor Tag Team champion Claudio Castagnoli has signed a developmental deal with WWE and will likely report to Deep South Wrestling next month. Castagnoli also currently holds tag titles in CHIKARA and Combat Wrestling Zone.
My Views: And so ends the run of the Kings of Wrestling. This is good and bad news I feel. Good for Claudio as he has worked hard and will get some good pay for all of the work. Bad for the fans of the KOW as they have had a pretty great year, and I was looking forward to seeing more. Best of luck to Claudio and I hope he is used right and we get to see him on TV soon.
Your News: WWE.com has a new cartoon coming soon that will apparently be about Mr. McMahon’s ass.
My Views: And people wonder why the shows have been lacking as of late. They are focusing on man ass still. WWE: We Hate Money.
Your News: Ashley Massaro will be posing for an issue of Playboy Magazine next year around WrestleMania time. The issue will be released and promoted around WrestleMania.
My Views: As always, the WM Pictorial. Should be pretty good I guess. There is a chick that looks a lot like here that already did some Playboy stuff named “Ryan.” I just wish that there was some evidence of this obviously NSFW photo shoot…for comparison sake. I am an investigative journalist you know. Yes, that was sarcasm…just enjoy the free nakedness.
Your News: WWE is looking into once again doing small charity event type shows, likely in high school gyms.
My Views: Sound cool to me. The boys will make money and they can help people raise money.
Your News: WrestleMania(R) 23 Has Already Set Record for Highest Grossing Live Event in WWE(R) History With Tickets
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–By noon today, WWE fans had made WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., the highest grossing live event in World Wrestling Entertainment® history.
With tickets still available, WWE has already grossed more than $4.35 million in ticket sales for WrestleMania 23, shattering the company’s previous record of $3.9 million for WrestleMania X-8 at the Toronto SkyDome on March 17, 2002. Higher ticket prices for premium seating helped WrestleMania 23 achieve the record ticket sale gross.
Almost 50,000 tickets are now in the hands of fans for WWE’s annual pop culture extravaganza, putting the company on pace to achieve its objective of entertaining more than 78,000 fans at WrestleMania 23 on Sunday, April 1, 2007, which would make it the largest number of fans ever assembled in the history of Ford Field.
My Views: This is just amazing considering that WrestleMania is 5-months away and there are no matches announced. That is the power of the WWE and WrestleMania name. They will probably sell 20,000 of the 28,000 left, with the rest going for promo stuff. This will be a mega event crowd wise, no doubt about it.
…Intermission…
LINKS for the needy~!
Conversations with JT~!
JT: I was thinking, you should really practice some more positivism in your writing.
Larry: You think?
JT: Yes, I really do.
Larry: Ok, let me try. “I am positive that you are a fag.”
…AND I’M BAAAAAAACK!…
TNA stories, scuttlebutt and rumors:
Your News: TNA had numerous adverts and mentions during the UFC Ultimate fight Night Show.
-TNA ran commercials focusing on Kurt Angle in several markets during RAW.
– TNA taped an interview with World Series MVP David Eckstein in Louisville. It will air on the prime time Impact show on the 16th.
My Views: The adverts during UFC were really good. Also, Mike Goldberg pimped the TNA replay and prime time special. The commercials during Raw were something else that was great and had to be done. I also saw a lot during the Rocky marathon as well as during football on Sunday. The interview with Eckstein is also smart, as if he is putting over the company they “could” draw in those elusive casual fans. All in all this is a lot of good work, and add into this all of the media appearances that Angle is doing and they have a good formula going. Whether it pays off or not is the question.
Your News: TNA is apparently close to securing a TV deal in Mexico with TVC. TVC currently airs programs for AULL and other Mexican Independent groups.
My Views: Good deal. TNA needs as much exposure as they can get. Also, International TV means money from TV rights sold. And we all know that TNA needs cash flow.
Your News: There is a new date set for the Portugal Supershow featuring TNA Stars. Scheduled to perform are Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Team 3D, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christian Cage, Rhino, Christy Hemme among others, as well as other wrestlers from the UK and Portugal, has been added for Oporto on January 6, 2007 in Rosa Mota Pavillion. Portugal will receive the show Impacto Total (Total Impact) being promoted under the Portuguese Wrestling Association (APW) banner on January 5th (In Lisbon – Campo Pequeno Bull Fighting Ring) and January 6th (in Oporto – Rosa Mota pavillion). Both shows will feature the same talent. The first matches announced are a 10-men gauntlet for the Portuguese Title for the Lisbon show, and the Portugese title will be up for grabs on the Oporto show.
My Views: This is another thing that TNA really needs to do. They really need to explore International touring. That is money in the bank and could lead to more TV deals and that is also more money and growth.
Your News: TNAwrestling.com has learned that due to reasons beyond TNA’s control, tonight’s show in Bloomfield, Connecticut, has been canceled.
The situation is still ongoing at the arena, as just a few hours ago police and local officials arrived without prior notification to inform TNA of their decision to cancel the show.
TNA representatives are still attempting to clarify from those same officials the reasoning behind the cancellation of tonight’s event. TNA Wrestling would like to apologize to our loyal fans in Connecticut for these unforeseen circumstances. We are equally disheartened that we will be unable to entertain our fans.
My Views: It is never good news when any promotion has to close a show due to any reason. It creates doubt in the fan base, and that is something that TNA cannot afford right now. The apology was classy and well worded, but it doesn’t change the situation.
Your News: Apparently 15 cop cars showed up at the Bloomfield Tennis Center and informed UWF (the promotion promoting the show with TNA) that the event would not be happening due to permit issues, citing inadequate exits for the estimate number of fans who would be attending the event. UWF was expecting 800 fans for the show. UWF then attempted to move the show to Danbury, CT at the Police Athletic League building but that option didn’t work out.
-One TNA wrestler said the police arrived onto the scene like they were breaking up a major drug bust. Police wouldn’t even let fans get to the building to get refunds.
-UWF did arrange for the fans that were at the building to get autographs from TNA wrestlers.
-TNA wrestlers were paid for the show but UWF likely lost a lot of money due to their investment in the show.
-TNA did have camera crews filming everything, so that footage may show up on the TNA website and/or YouTube.
My Views: And then the drama begins. They tried to move the event but were stopped there as well. The description of the scene with the cops and all is wild for what was in essence a small show. UWF did the right thing by trying to make good with some autographs to keep people calm and somewhat happy. It is also good that the guys got paid for going there, it wasn’t their fault this all happened. The footage will be interesting to see. Unfortunately I feel it will be full of TNA drone calling this a conspiracy theory since they were in CT.
Your News: Some other sites (1WRESTLING) started to speculate that WWE might of done something to get TNA’s show stopped, since Connecticut is where WWE headquarters are located. In response to that, WWE Vice President of Corporate Communications Gary Davis issued the following statement to Bob Ryder (who works for TNA).
“Please make clear to your readers that there is no truth to the assertion that WWE had anything to do with the cancellation of the TNA event in Bloomfield. I don’t know why the event was cancelled, but, whatever the reason, it had nothing to do with us.”
Hermie Sadler released a statement that can be read here regarding the whole situation.
My Views: Speaking of a TNA drone. See, this is why no one can take 1wrestling seriously. Ryder works for TNA so he will spin the news their way in order to get hits for his site. The fact that he even made the statement is pure stupidity and WWE had every right to reply, as that wasn’t called for. Hermie Sadler’s statement was fine, but he also stresses “anonymous calls” which I feel alludes to WWE having the show pulled.
Let me say this, I have no proof that they DID have it canned or they DIDN’T have it canned. But to come out and say it with no proof and create this giant conspiracy theory is stupid. You will not create buzz because the only people that will know are the Internet and they already watch or don’t watch the show. If WWE had it cancelled through some contacts, which I am NOT saying they did, it I shitty but also a business move. That doesn’t make it right, but in essence you invaded their territory. Who knows, but damn it made the weekend a little interesting for once.
Everything else that needs covering…
Your News: Britney Spears has filed for divorce from Kevin Federline. That article is available here.
Several gossip sites are reporting that Spears left Federline days ago after he snapped into a rage, screaming at Spears and destroying property. The reason for the outburst was apparently because Spears laughed at a tape of Federline’s WWE appearances.
The news seems to work out well for WWE since Federline will get a lot of publicity from this and is scheduled to continue working with WWE, including a match against John Cena on the 01/01/07 RAW.
My Views: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! God I hate that guy. I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that he was burning through all of her cash, nope, not at all.
Your News: These are the bands scheduled for the tapings:
11.11.06: Morning Taping – Lloyd Banks
11.11.06: Morning Taping – The Deftones
11.12.06: Afternoon Taping – Pepper
11.14.06: Morning Taping – Jibbs
11.14.06: Afternoon Taping – Good Charlotte
11.15.06: Morning Taping – Yin Yang Twins
11.15.06: Afternoon Taping – Pitbull
11.16.06: Morning Taping – Gym Class Heroes
11.16.06: Afternoon Taping – New Found Glory
My Views: Yeah I really don’t have a ton to add. I don’t like a ton of what would be considered “current” music. This is here for strictly informational purposes. I hope that this makes someone happy that enjoys some of these groups.
Your News: Kevin Federline’s new album sold only 6,000 copies in its first week, good for #151 on the Billboard Charts. By comparison, John Cena’s album debuted at #15 on the charts.
My Views: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! God I hate that guy, what a draw!
Your News: Apparently the paid attendance to Kevin Federline’s concert at the House of Blues in Chicago last night was 38. Tickets were given away all day to get the audience up to 100 or so.
My Views: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! God I hate that guy, what a draw!
Your News: On her MySpace page today, Francine said that she plans to retire from the wrestling business once she finishes up her remaining dates through the end of the year. She said the reason was that she wants to have a normal family life.
My Views: Well it all has to come to an end at some time. I really wish she would have had a shot in the new ECW, but it was nice that they hired and had Francine’s mom on TV a few times.
Today in Wrestling History:
Births and Deaths
Reader Email Time:
From Hoyt on Survivor Series –
Wait, wait, wait…Matt and Jeff…together again…FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HOW LONG?…and the “E” just throws it out there with DX and ELO and two random ECW’ers?…yeah the “E” hates money.
If all goes well I will have a column up on the Survivor Series matches this week and will discuss this there.
From Mark on Cyber Sunday –
Cyber Sunday was a heck of a lot better than that junk of a PPV TNA gave in October.
BTW, Umaga is about 4 times more over than Fat Ass Samoa Joe will EVER be in TNA. I bet he regrets not joining the big time and “wrestling” in front of 200 non-paying fans.
And I totally disagree. Also, Umaga isn’t as over as Armando is the one who is over. I do like the Umaga push though.
From Daniel on Survivor Series –
Hey dude. Just read the news on the second 10 man tag at Survivor Series. I guess I can deal with that, except the fact that they thrust MVP into it….I suppose Vince and Co thought there was no one else on the roster they could choose, but what about, say,…..Regal? Especially with the unfortunate loss of Dave Taylor, for the love of God, give Regal something to do….I hope he doesn’t get booked into oblivion, but if I know the WWE’s track record well enough, I kind of fear the worst. That’s it for now. Keep up the good work.
Regal is horrible misused I will agree. But they seem to have a hard on for MVP, so what can you do?
From William on Randy Orton –
Is there something wrong with Orton? he seems a bit “slow”, maybe a tiny
stroke?
Send this to ASK 411, I am sure Cook will have a great answer for you.
Finally from Sean on Cyber Sunday –
I have ordered a number of TNA and WWE ppv’s this year, but cyber Sunday’s card looked so weak that I never ever considered ordering it. WWE hypes it up to be this interactive thing where fans can choose. they set options to where they’ll know who the fans will choose. I even doubt that as I heard voting could still be done after the ppv ENDED. now I think that helps my “WWE creates fake voting server to appease fans interest and then book crappy like they would anyway” theory.
also, most of the time I blame bad booking for wrestlers looking bad and what not, but lately on RAW mostly, the wrestlers look complacent and don’t put any energy or creativity into their matches. It’s the same thing every week, just at a different time with a few things switched a little. if you’re a wrestler like Carlito or hardy, you are pretty safe and don’t have to worry about being fired, so why try? they’ll continue to get pushed when they don’t deserve it because their job is to NOT blow spots. its just laziness.
RAW is definitely a shell of its former self. you get one decent match every week, but most of the time that is screwed because they give it a crappy ending such as interference or heel tactics, which I despise. Smackdown is much better, and even on ECW cm punk and Knox put on a better match than RAW has had in a few weeks. wwe’s booking team couldn’t even book for Smackdown vs. raw 06’s gm mode. its pathetic.
Don’t fruit the beer.
MAN LAW~!
