Your News, My Views 7.17.07

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Introduction…and Things I want to talk about~!
Welcome to the weekly dose of news and views that you crave. I, as always am you host Larry Csonka. Screw the intro crap, screw on notice because we’re ranting baby. I am going to discuss the things I have been discussing, a lot of people have been discussing; but in a more aggressive way. You may like it or you may hate it, I don’t care. Oh yeah, look at Ashish’s video game site and make him happy so he can buy another stuffed monkey.

It is Friday as I begin this, and while others, and myself have touched upon many sentiments I feel I need to discuss it a bit more. Skip if you wish, but keep in mind that I am not here to bury the wrestling business, but just wish to help save it.

On the Larry King show… it was a joke for the most part. Larry King didn’t give two shits about the issue, he was hoping for a good rating based off of a sexy news story. Bret Hart, to me, had good points but seemed too worried about “protecting the business” at times, and in my opinion, his credibility went down a lot as well. Maybe he is hoping WWE will promote his book. John Cena played the WWE poster child and did his job, saying WWE tests and pushes you based on talent, while his massive physique was hidden under a suit. Chris Jericho was great for a lot of his interview, talking about the Chris he knew and such. But then he started going along with the, “WWE doesn’t push you based on size deal,” which was funny because as he said that I believe the Snitsky squash was on Raw. He did a lot of WWE defending, so much to a point that I expect him back sooner than later. Jericho and Hart prove that wrestling (not even so much WWE, although that is their bread and butter) is indeed the Hotel California…

Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door
I had to find the passage back, To the place I was before
‘Relax,’ said the night man, ‘We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave!’

On Ken Kennedy… he is an idiot. The two worst things that happened was him going on a TV show and him writing his little blog deal. I will say that he has a point about some people that were in wrestling coming out of the woodwork for their time of fame, but some of those people have a very valid point. Some of them may in fact be bitter and frustrated, but a lot of them put way more into the business than you ever will and are worried about it’s future and what friends that they have left. Kennedy says things are different than they were 15 or 20-years ago. He says that, “Everyone wrestled every day and then went out and partied like rock stars until dawn, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, snorting cocaine, taking fistfuls of pills, and injecting massive amounts of steroids. They would take pills to go to sleep, snort coke or take speed to get up and do this day after day after day! This would not be even remotely tolerated in today’s environment.” First of all the schedule was very different back then, I agree, but to say that EVERYONE partied and did pills and such is just as bad a statement as the media is making about some things right now. He says it wouldn’t be tolerated in today’s environment, but we still see it. WWE has, before the policy sent guys to rehab and fired them. But THE BUSINESS AS A WHOLE, that’s the important part, not just WWE, THE BUSINESS AS A WHOLE keeps it going. Back in the day WWE would fire these guys and WCW would pick them RIGHT up and Vice Versa. It goes on today with TNA. WWE fires Angle, Hardy, Hall, James and so on and TNA SNAGS them right up. They put no end to it, they keep it going and going and going.

This dumb ass Kennedy claims that there is no steroid issue in wrestling. This idiot also doesn’t even know the WWE Wellness policy, claiming it is the same as the NFL. Well Ken, the NFL doesn’t set failure at 10-1! Kennedy said, “Someone, I can’t recall exactly who said it, said that the WWE allowed a 10:1 Testosterone to Epitestosterone level, which is false. We have a 4:1 level exactly like the NFL and the NBA.” Read the WWE policy:

1.A Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T/E) ratio above ten (10) shall be conclusively regarded as a positive test result.

2.A Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T/E) ratio greater than four (4) but less than ten (10) shall require follow-up testing and/or medical evaluation to determine if the test shall be interpreted as positive for the active use of Testosterone or evidence of other steroids influencing the T/E ratio.

3.A Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T/E) ratio of four (4) or less shall be regarded as a negative test result.

See Ken, you can be just under 10 and NOT be in trouble. You get a follow up, which is the out. If you are in between 4 and 10, you’re bascially fine. Stop toting the company line. You make the company sound great for takign care of you while injured, you were injured via MUSCLE TEARS…a side effect of steroid useage! He is right in a way that it IS the person’s choice, as I said Vince doesn’t walk around with a platter of drugs, but the pressue is there in the business to take these drugs. I have said for years that Vince has conditioned the audience that bigger is better, and people know this and THAT is why they take these drugs. I also agree that th emedia coverage, most of it has sucked. But you going out here and ranting and making these comments are JUST as bad! Fit Finaly was also bad on Nacy Grace. He tried to say the same thing in defense of the company and he doesn’t even know the damn policy.

Bottom line on all of this is that WWE did themselves, their stars, their shareholders or the business as a whole no help at all. They have gone on the defensive in a bad way and especially Friday night sent the WRONG people out there to talk. If it was anyone else on Nancy Grace, they would have been eaten alive by Mero and Alvarez. But the fact is that they both have a lot of respect for Finlay and didn’t want to make a fool of him, instead they were calm and just quoted the proper counters. Finlay said things like, “Steroids played no part in Eddie Guerrero’s death, he was clean his last few years.” First of all the long term steroid usage did contribute to it, and even he would has quit, which he didn’t, he still would have had the enlarged heart. Also as many have said, Eddie was “clean” in wrestling standards, which means steroids, growth and painkillers. In normal life, that is far from clean. Finally, Guerrero’s death certificate specifically points to steroids as a major contributing cause of his death. Finlay was totally out of the loop and or unprepared, hence WWE was STUPID for sending him on the show. And again I say this; this is NOT a WWE problem but a business wide problem. While mainstream media seems to ignore them now, if things heat up TNA will be involved and considering they have NOTHING on paper, they are even bigger trouble. Yes they have some blood testing; yes they have sent people to rehab and such, but nothing official and THAT is where they are fucked. The WWE’s policy, flawed and full of holes as it is, at least looks like they have tried and that is where they are safe. I was mocked when I said this whole thing could snowball and have a catastrophic effect on the business as a whole, but the fact is that this has not gone away and is still rolling on. It will only get worse when the toxicology is fully released, as it is more fuel for the vulture’s fire.

And on a final note about some things that have been asked of me, and that is “who will be effected the most without steroids” well, simple. The small guys. Kane is a big dude, legit height and weight. Even now as he is older and not jacked as he was, he is still big. The Undertaker, even when not gassed up like his last run is legit tall and big. You cannot change being naturally big. But guys like HBK, AJ Styles, Petey Williams, Shane Helms, the Jericho’s, Mysterio’s, Benoit’s, Saturn’s, Guerrero’s and so on and so forth are naturally small men. They use the “gimmicks” to get bigger to a degree but are always going to be small. You take the gas away from guys like that and they are just small guys, and in the wrestling business, especially in North America, the fans have been conditioned that bigger is better, sad but true.

In the end, the business needs to stop trying to “protect itself” and hide the secrets and stop being so stubborn. It is this defensive posture that is getting them in trouble and that is going to cause more problems than solutions. If they want to protect the business so badly, they all need to get together and make changes. People need to stop making the choices to jack themselves up, get high, take painkillers and such. Seriously, if you need 30 Vicotin a day to operate, that is a sign that you need time off. Stop worrying about losing your spot. Guys like Kennedy say that the WWE protects them, they only protect the right people. If the business as a whole worried about everyone and helped them, they wouldn’t worry about losing their spots. They wouldn’t be afraid to take time off and they MAYBE wouldn’t become addicted to painkillers and whatever else they decide to take to dull the pain, like Marijuana. You can sit here and get pissed at me and call me sanctimonious if you please, but this business is simultaneously the greatest and worst in the world. I know guys that work 3 shows a month and have a 40-hour a week job at the Piggly Wiggly and are ON THE GAS because, “It’s the business, its part of it, it’s the image.” How fucked up is that kids?

People, here is the bottom line, it is blunt and people don’t want to hear it. People get into the business because they love it. They learn the realities and politics of it and they do what they think they have to do to get to the top. They take steroids to get bigger because they think they have to. They then take painkillers to deal with all of the injuries so that they can stay on the road and maintain the schedule of a star. They take uppers to stay awake to train, cut weight, stay lean and make the next town if they drive and then a downer of some kind to fall asleep because they are exhausted and need rest, but are hopped up on the uppers to sleep. Then they wake up, can barely move and take a bunch of painkillers to function, and then have to take some uppers because the downers are still working and the painkillers make you even more sluggish. And why do you do this? So you can start the day all over again. I know a lot of this from personal experience, personal and through friends. It is a sad and self-destructive circle of the business. It does come down to choice, and the person needs to saddle a lot of the blame, but the people running the business aren’t exactly doing a lot to change the perception, are they? How many people have to die before the people running the business and the people IN IT realize that it has to change? Digest this and then let’s move on.

And now back to Gene Krupa’s syncopated style…

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Today in Wrestling History:

1993 – Brian Lee defeated Tracy Smothers for the Smokey Mountain Heavyweight title

1994 – Event – Bash at the Beach, Florida Arena, Orlando, FL

1994 – Hulk Hogan defeated Ric Flair for the WCW Heavyweight title

1994 – Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma defeated Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan for the WCW World Tag Team title

2002 – Reckless Youth defeated Danny Carney to win the 2002 Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup in Glen Burnie, MD

Births and Deaths:

1969 – Born – Frank Finnegan

1974 – Born – Beau James

1975 – Born – Yuji Kondo

1988 – Died – Bruiser Brody, Stabbing @ 42

…AND I’M BAAAAAAACK!…

WWE/ECW news, notes and happenings to the EXTREME:

Your News: Edge has an undisclosed injury that he is telling people is not serious. He apparently suffered the injury during his segment with Kane, which will air tonight on Smackdown. He is still scheduled to work the Great American Bash PPV.

-Ric Flair is battling an ear problem and missed Smackdown this week because of it. Apparently the problem is a chronic one that he has been dealing with on and off for years.

My Views: It may have come from the really awkward backdrop he took, as he looked to tuck really weird on it and landed very hard. That’s just speculation, but that’s the only odd thing I saw. That being said he could have tweaked his back and or neck from it. Let’s hope it is nothing, because they cannot afford another major injury.

Flair’s ear sounds like the same thing he discussed in his book. Hopefully it is taken care of, but this again may be another sign that it is time to hang it up for Flair, and that may not be the worst thing in the world.

Your News: WWE’s Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling 2-Disc DVD has been moved up to a release date of 8/7.

My Views: Rock on. I have the other World Class DVD, yet to watch unfortunately, but plan on seeing it and getting the WWE version. I have a feeling that this will be similar to the Rise and Fall of ECW and Forever Hardcore, where when you combine the two you get a pretty complete look at the subject.

Your News: Mike Knox was backstage at the Smackdown/ECW taping on Tuesday. He may be brought back soon to ECW under a new gimmick.

-WWE has signed Nick Cvjetkovich (Original Sinn) to a developmental deal. Cvjetkovich used to work for TNA as a member of Jim Mitchell’s New Church. Cvjetkovich has been working down in OVW for the past few months.

-WWE has signed Teddy Hart to a developmental deal. Hart has already reported to the Florida Championship Wrestling territory in Tampa.

My Views: I was wondering when and if he would be brought back. Actually they should use he and Newkirk as a tag team as they were in Deep South. They were a decent team and could help a very limited tag scene on Smackdown.

-Sinn was a fun guy to have in TNA. He wasn’t bad and had a distinct look. He used to work in the circus and used that talent as James Mitchell threw darts as his back once. I just wonder how they will use him.

-As we should know by now, Hart has worked with ROH, TNA, and in Japan in the past. Hart is the grandson of the legendary Stu Hart and son of wrestler BJ Annis and Georgia Hart. WWE also has his cousins, Nattie Neidhart and Harry Smith, and friend TJ Wilson under contracts and in the Tampa territory. Again this goes with my Hart Foundation 2k7

Your News: WWE released Smackdown referee Chris Kay a few weeks ago.

My Views: Reports say that Kay was fired due to repeated drug test failures. Tremendous, we had a referee playing rock star with his recreational drugs. Douche bag.

Your News: WWE sent out the following release last night.

WWE(R) Canadian Shows Cancelled

STAMFORD, CT, July 10 – Due to a scheduling conflict, the WWE show dates scheduled from July 14-17 for Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton have been cancelled. Ticket refunds can be obtained at the place of purchase.

My Views: Scheduling conflict my ass, you didn’t want to go into Canada and feel any kind of backlash since Benoit is a God there. I love when they try to bullshit their way out of things.

Your News: The rumored Iron Sheik talk show segment which was teased in the vignette with Jonathan Coachman is not moving ahead and is being dropped.

My Views: I am actually glad about this. Sheiky uncut is awesome, but he would be so tamed on Raw that it wouldn’t be worth it. Add to that the fact that they don’t need a drug mule like him on the roster, especially now, and it all makes sense.

Your News: Snitsky had his teeth dyed to look more brownish and yellow. He wasn’t asked, he just went and did it on his own to show his commitment to the character.

My Views: Well, there’s dedication to the craft I guess. He still sucks.

Your News: The Toxicology on Chris Benoit comes out today.

My Views: Get ready for the fireworks.

Your News: Penny Bordeau-Durham, the wife of Mike “Johnny Grunge” Durham, was interviewed by WSB-TV out of Atlanta last night. She said that had it not been for Dr. Phil Astin giving out medication “like candy,” her husband might still be alive today.

Interestingly enough, she stated that they were very close friends with the Benoit’s, going as far as to say that they were at the Benoit home all the time. She called the reports of Daniel having Fragile X “ridiculous,” saying that Nancy would have told her if that was actually the case.

My Views: Well, I don’t know if he would be alive. He did recreational drugs and was well over 400lbs when he passed, so he would have been gone sooner than later, unfortunately. But him getting pills like tic tacs surely did not help the matter. As far as the rest, who can say? We didn’t know them, but she seems to think that they were good friends and all, and probably were. This whole fragile x thing has become freaking wild. Did he, didn’t he, where did it all come from. That’s pretty messed up right there.

Your News: WAGA-TV out of Atlanta reports that records seized from Dr. Astin’s office by federal investigators have Lex Luger, Marcus Bagwell, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Nancy Benoit, Bob Holly, Mark Jindrak, and Johnny Grunge as patients of Dr. Phil Astin. The report also stated that the mysterious M.J. and O.G. patients originally linked to Astin are Mark Jindrak and Oscar Gutierrez (Rey Mysterio).

My Views: SHOCKED…shocked I say! We all knew about Lex from when Liz died and he had 8-trilions pills in his crib. Bagwell, knew it and glad he is outed, he’s an asshole. Holly has had a lot of serious injuries and all, but this doctor is dirty so looks like Bob was a member of the roid club for men as well. I have a feeling this is far from over as far as the names coming out from this guy and others. Again, crazy ramifications on the business.

Your News: Former WWE Diva Terri Runnels made the following statement to TMZ.com.

“The boys eat somas like candy….I’ve personally seen a WWE Superstar nearly die right in front of me after taking 13 Somas … while still behind the wheel of his car!….if the wrestlers’ addictions and mental health issues continue to be ignored, I’m afraid that I’ll have more friends turning up dead — all because no one cares.”

WWE RESPONSE: “WWE finds the abuse of drugs and steroids to be unacceptable, and such behavior is actively discouraged. For 20 years the WWE has been doing something to address the issue of steroid and drug use. We instituted our first drug-testing program in 1987. In February 2006, we instituted our latest and most comprehensive drug-testing program ever as part of our new Talent Wellness Program as a deterrent to steroid and drug abuse. We cannot account for the poor personal decisions a small minority may make outside the workplace to undermine these efforts.”

My Views: Terri is mostly right. I am also sure she has seen just such instances, and it is messed up. The one thing she is wrong about is the line, “all because no one cares” People in the business care, I care and lots of others care. The sad thing is that nothing aggressive is being done.

The WWE response is the typical paint by numbers one, which I am tired of.

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…Intermission…

Remember that fun, free, addicting flash games await you at 411’s new sister site, TigerFlashGames.com! Go there or Ashish will cry!

Greatest Hits:
The Rock vs. The Hurricane:
Promo Three

Rock-Hurricane promo 3Uploaded by HHHater

Greatest Hits:
The Rock vs. The Hurricane:
The Match

WWE The Rock & HurricaneUploaded by silentrock06

LINKZ~!
Ari and the Column of Honor celebrate their 2nd anniversary. Check it people, it is the best ROH column on the net. Here is Part I and Part II!

Destiny!

The Navigation Log!

Buy or Sell!

Shining a Spotlight on the greatness of WARGAMES!

Byers Custom Made News!

Ron.

TNA VICTORY ROAD PODCAST~!

We’re back with the latest discussion of the TNA Victory Road PPV. We’ll discuss a really fun PPV, some dumb stuff, the future of the show, new equipment, DEAR CHRISTI, the next show and much, much more! 60-minutes of fun~!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD~!

If that doesn’t work, copy and paste the following link into your browser and you’ll be fine: http://www.sendspace.com/file/g8e5qk

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TNA stories, scuttlebutt and rumors:

Your News: TNA issued a mobile alert to subscribers yesterday, announcing that former World Wrestling All-Stars promoter Andrew McManus met with TNA officials to discuss promoting TNA events in Australia. McManus is an internationally known music promoter and formed the short-lived WWA promotion in early 2002. They toured Europe and Australia utilizing WCW and ECW names that WWE didn’t pick up. McManus worked with many TNA stars on the tours and in 2003 when the promotion folded the WWA world and lightweight titles were unified with the NWA and X-Division titles respectively.

My Views: I think that this is very good news and something that is LONG overdue. I have said for years now it seems that TNA needs to do a few International tours a year, maybe 2 or 3. The UK, Italy and Japan were destinations easy to do. Also India where they are popular and Australia is starved for wrestling. Why they didn’t think about this before I will never know, but they are now and that is a good thing.

TNA (via Jarrett) and McManus have always had a good relationship with JJ and other TNA stars appearing on the shows. Their relationship was such that when McManus had to fold, he gladly unified his WWA titles with the NWA and X-Division titles. I think McManus and his connections are a good thing for TNA to get involved with. He did a good job of drawing crowds anywhere from 3-8,000 and has promoted Australia before, which means he knows all the red tape. I think this is a very good thing for the company as they NEED to expand Internationally.

I suggest they book Massive Q for the local Australian shows.

Your News: WWE is opposing TNA’s registration of the “VKM” trademark. WWE has until October 17th to make their claim.

My Views: Wow, what took WWE that long? I figured playing off of Vince’s initials would have had the lawyers attacking right away. I figure Vince tries to be cool and blow them off, but eventually just got pissed. Pissed over nothing because it was LAME as hell.

Your News: TNA filed for trademarks for the terms “Black Machismo” and “Shake and Break” on 6/15.

My Views: Makes sense for Machismo and SHAKE AND BREAK is Angle’s new catchphrase, which I fully approve of.

Your News: TNA has released Jess Ward. Ward was working with TNA as a producer and is a former WWE Tough Enough contestant.

My Views: Ward had gotten suspended by the company when some videos made to help announcer Leticia Cline on her quest to win a Maxim Magazine contest that featured TNA stars in parodies of movies “Basic Instinct” and “Risky Business” popped up on YouTube.com and the company opted not to bring her back. TNA has hired some producers to work in-house full time for the company as well and while Ward was considered a really hard worker by some due to her having a hard work ethic (she would put in tons of hours working on production pieces when needed.) Ward also has a very strong opinion and wasn’t shy at voicing them, which in wrestling is usually not good. She was well liked by the wrestlers.

I think it sucks that she got canned, I have no details why exactly she was fired other that TNA has hired some producers to work in-house full time for the company. Some thing that TNA got upset about the videos making Youtube, but they were funny as shit and actually made their people look funny, which is a form of advertisement and that is something that TNA needs, here is the one video that I found as they were taken down at one time.

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Independent News

Your News: Diamond Dallas Page and Jay-Z are close to reaching a settlement in the trademark infringement lawsuit DDP brought against the rap star. The two sides have reached a settlement “in principle” and will present it to the court on 8/10. If the court signs off on it, the case will be dismissed. DDP has filed the lawsuit against Jay-Z because he alleged that his “Diamond Cutter” hand gesture had been infringed upon by Jay-Z in a number of Jay-Z’s business endeavors.

My Views: I remember hearing an interview with DDP a while back and he wanted to end this with no court and just a meeting. They scheduled a meeting and he had tape of him using the sign dating pretty far back. Basically he wanted a gentleman’s agreement made where he would get some ridiculously small residual, like $1000 a year or something and Jay Z could use the symbol all he wanted. DDP went for the meeting and waited all day and Jay Z and his lawyers never showed. So that’s why it got to this and I hoe it is resolved simply because I am sick of drama.

Your News: Big Vision Entertainment is going to release a “Before They Were Stars” DVD on Samoa Joe in which they will use pre-TNA footage consisting of Full Impact Pro and Ring of Honor footage from before Joe signed a TNA contract in 2005.

My Views: This sounds pretty cool, mainly because maybe this means that ROH, FIP and maybe SHIMMER will be getting some more exposure in stores, which will increase their fan base and that is a good thing for wrestling. We need some good news these days.

Your News: Brooke Hogan is part of upcoming Simon D Mall Tour. http://www.simon.com/dtour:

-July 13th, Ocean County Mall in Tom’s River, NJ.
-July 27th, Montgomery Mall in North Wales, PA.
-August 10th, Town Center at Cobb in Atlanta, GA
-August 19th, Orland Square Mall in Orland Park, Il.
-August 25th, Northgate Mall in Seattle, WA.
-August 26th, Tacoma Mall in Tacoma, WA.
-September 2nd, Laguna Hills Mall in Laguna Hills, CA.

All events begin at 3:00 p.m.

My Views: I really don’t care, I just wanted to make mention that she got new tits. They are much bigger. I approve.

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READER FEEDBACK~!

From Gary on Debra –

Hiya I read a lot of your columns, and they are excellent! I just want to ask you about Austin’s ex wife. Do you think that it is possible that she is just looking for her last 15 minutes of fame? The way that she is just totally degrading Steve Austin and the WWE? The media is totally trashing professional wrestling with this horrible situation.

I think that it is a bit of both. I think that she is grasping for some fame, but that she wants to get her story out. I mean, Austin does have a history of abuse, so I doubt she is lying, maybe over exaggerating, maybe, I have no clue, but I think she saw the situation and as many people who go through stuff like that wanted to get her voice out there and make sure it doesn’t happen to others.

From Joe on Kennedy –

Is it just me or does it seem like Mr. Kennedy is getting the Christian treatment, he gets himself over with promo’s and good in ring performances. It looks like they are going to push the guy to the moon and the fact is he probably could have been made a face just as Christian was getting that over at one point. And then suddenly he starts losing match after match. Although it is young in his WWE career. it just seems he will be lost in the shuffle on Raw.

In a way it is similar. All I know is that I hate the move to Raw. As I said Friday in the R’s, “They took possibly the HOTTEST guy in the company, threw away his BIG return angle with Edge and sent him to Raw, and outside of the awesome promo he had the other week, he is now just another dork. That’s it, nothing else people, he’s just another dork on the roster. Excellent work assholes. I didn’t think you could fuck this one up but again you proved me wrong, here’s you gold star AND a cookie. That’s extra credit for extra stupidity.”

From Rogelio –

Well, it seems that the Benoit Murder Death Kills has stretched all the way to on demand. They have erased him completely off of WWE 24/7! I was watching the latest episode of the Monday Night Wars and he is nowhere to be found. Now I am pretty sure that he wrestled on that episode of Nitro cuz he was still involved in a feud with Kevin Sullivan. That’s really fucked up cuz that means people who has never seen The 4 Horseman will not know who the fuck they are cuz for the duration of his time in WCW he was a Horseman. No Benoit, No horsemen. I hope people have him on DVD or tape cuz as far the WWE goes, he never existed.

A lot of people have said he has been erased, while others have seen him on stuff. I think it will be a long process. All I know is that one thing I agreed with Jericho on is that you can’t write the history of wrestling without Chris Benoit, but it appears as if WWE is trying.

From Jay who just needs to vent –

Mr Csonka,
Big fan of your stuff and just couldn’t help myself as recently I have found myself wanting to throw my remote at the TV whenever any wrestling is on TV. Let me just rant to you about all of the feelings I am having about all 4 major programs of the week.

Smackdown!
My baby, my sweet wrestling baby, has been raped and left for dead on the side of the road. This was easily the best show on television for well over a year, with on average three really great matches a week, sometimes more. Clearly, Smackdown has been the place to build Superstars that RAW then steals and books into the shitcan. Cena, Booker, Kennedy, Lesnar, Angle, Lashley…the list is fucking long. Now hopefully Hayes and Co. will turn this pile of worker shit and maybe spin some gold. And you are right, the only good thing about this ass raping of talent might be Hardy getting a shot at the Main Event. I mean, why the fuck not pull the trigger on Edge/Hardy? It’s fucking gold, and Matt, who isn’t the best talker, doesn’t have to fake the venom spewing when it comes to Edge.

RAW
I am not really sure what to say about this show other than the idiots they push to the main event are generally just fucking lame characters. Lashley has the charisma of a coma victim and the body of a roided out freak. Cena does work hard, but his mic skills are just fucking lame compared to the great talkers. Now RAW has the man, MR FUCKING KENNEDY, and they are already booking him into oblivion. Awesome. So the guy goes from contending to the title on SD to a feud with Super Crazy? You know the funny thing is, they could have a really nice program if Steph let em’ wrestle, but again, they will do something stupid and it will suck and Cena will still be the fucking Champ or Lashley will get the belt which will actually be really funny, and can you imagine the matches these two will put on? BLAH.

ECW
Not much to say on this show, other than Kevin Thorn is like the lame-ass fatty goth kid, actually he’s kind of like Azreal from the old SNL sketch with Chris Kattaan. Punk is cool, the Miz has potential, and Dusty has the book. I actually stopped watching ECW a year ago when is was clear to me how gay it was going to be, and made it a season recording on my dvr the week Benoit debuted. Now, I don’t know…

TNA
Here, to me, is the biggest “what the fuck” show on television. I mean, look at Tan’s roster: Angle, Joe, Christian, Styles, Daniels, Abyss, Sting, Harris, Storm, LAX, EY, Lethal, Sabin, Sensei, Shelley, Nash, Steiners, and I could go on, but my point is, these guys have easily the best fucking wrestling roster on the planet and they don’t have a fucking clue on how to book them. It’s like the Swingers analogy, “you got this little bunny rabbit and these fucking claws and you wanna get the rabbit but you don’t know how to use these claws…” Seriously Larry, how fucking hard is this? They seriously need to fire some motherfuckers, and they need to start with VKM. God I hate these assholes. They can’t work, they can’t talk, and they are dinosaurs form a bygone era. These two morons should be sending a gift basket to whoever’s idea is was to stick them in DX, because that is the only reason they are still around. Tenay and West need to both go. I’m not sure if either of them ever actually calls a hold or a move, but rather uses verbs like “slam” or “power” in different combinations. If the TNA is wrestling, shouldn’t their announcers know something about it? Dude, I don’t know if it’s his fault or not, but Fire Russo anyway. Or just fire the asshole who keeps coming up the DUMBEST GIMMICK MATHCES in the history of wrestling. Match of Champions? Are you fucking kidding me?(Actually the only way this turns out awesome is if Phenomangels would have won. God, could you imagine if that match had happened, it would have been sweeet, but that actually made sense, so instead we get to see the 2 best workers in TNA team up to fight Fat Man and Steroid Boy) King of the Mountain? Did they just put a bunch of gimmicks up on a dartboard and made a match out of the first three gimmicks they hit? An electrified cage? An electrified cage? Ugh. Oh, and get rid of 3-D, their time is up.

Anyway, to sum up all this venom. I have been a huge wrestling fan since I was little (my faves in the 80’s were JYD, Piper, Savage) stopped watching in the early 90’s, picked up again for WCW’s Invasion, Got hooked on Stone Cold and The Rock, stayed for Benoit, Jericho, angle, Trips etc…and now am more knowledgeable than I have ever been before, thanks in part to 411. Now I am at a point were I fear it is becoming un-fucking-watchable, much like the early 90’s again. I hope I can hang on for some quality, but with the loss of Smackdown, and watching my favorite wrestlers getting booked into retardation on various shows throughout the week(Although there may be hope with TNA letting Kurt do his smarmy heel thing…high comedy), I fear my days are numbered. Thanks for listening,

And finally from my boy Stevie J who has some GREAT points to make –

If you’ve seen any of the news coverage since the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide (and it’s been pretty damn hard to avoid even if you try) you have no doubt heard over and over again about “the list.” Despite the fact this information is widely available from sources like About.com and Online World of Wrestling among others, many people have been taking credit for authoring or creating the list. Marc Mero has been the most prominent of those to take credit for this list, and was even acknowledged by multiple people as the creator during tonight’s Nancy Grace show on CNN. As much as I’d like to speak cynically about Mero trying to extend his 15 minutes (or is that 15 seconds) of fame in the squared circle in the wake of this tragedy, it would take the focus away from the grievous abuse and misuse of this list in and of itself.

Let’s at least start with a version of the list that’s largely accurate. Of the many versions that exist online the only one I’m willing to put a stamp of approval on right now exists at The Sun Online, the web presence of the popular UK tabloid. This list was compiled by wrestling historian John Lister and is arguably the one so many other experts have been cribbing from. Quite simply, the list contains the names of over 100 wrestlers who have died under the age of 50 in the last 10 years. At one point during Nancy Grace tonight the version of this list attributed to Mero was shown scrolling rapidly down the screen, too fast for anyone to analyze or scrutinize the factual accuracy.

The Sun’s list excels in accuracy by listing real names and ages for almost all performers as opposed to the kayfabed names pro wrestlers used in the ring. Furthermore this list distinguishes itself by listing THE CAUSES OF DEATH for these wrestlers, and this is where I really have a problem with the irresponsible form of news journalism practiced by Nancy Grace and others. Every time the “drugs, steroids, tragedy, horror” angle gets hammered home one more time on the news, we’re told about “the list” as evidence that the wrestling business and perhaps even WWE itself are complicit in so many people dying so young. The problem is that their very use of this list ends up being a smear on the names and careers of many people who died tragically WITHOUT drugs or steroids being involved. John ‘Earthquake’ Tenta passed away after a long battle with cancer. Owen Hart fell from a great height due to a poorly designed stunt entrance into a wrestling ringpost. Sylvester Ritter, b/k/a Junkyard Dog to his legions of fans, died as the result of a car accident. ‘Gentleman’ Chris Adams was murdered, as was Frank ‘Bruiser Brody’ Goodish. I could go on and on about how many of these names are not linked to drugs or steroids, let alone the WWE, but you can read the list for youself and see the facts.

That’s the problem with Nancy Grace, Geraldo Rivera, Bill O’Reilly and so many other people who purport to want “the truth” and yet are outright lying to the public at large. It’s grossly irresponsible to show this list on TV over and over again every time the subject of wrestling and drug abuse is debated. No one in the business or covering the business is denying that abuse of drugs, alcohol, prescription painkillers and illegal steroids is rampant and widespread. It does no service to their credibility to use the list to make the point when many of the men who tragically passed away before the age of 50 have nothing to do with Chris Benoit, let alone drug abuse. It’s shameful to smear their names in this way, it’s irresponsible to use their names to make a point they have nothing to do with, and it artificially inflates the death toll roll media pundits are trying to pin on sports entertainment. The next time some talking head like Nancy Grace or self-appointed watchdog like Marc Mero trots out “the list” take the time to make a phone call, send a fax or write an e-mail to the show you’re watching. Remind them that John Tenta and Owen Hart did not die of a drug overdose or steroid abuse. Someone needs to speak up for these men – they’re not around to do it themselves.

For more interesting information on wrestling and reviews, check out Bryan Alvarez and Figure Four Weekly Online as well as Mike Campbell over at SPLASH MOUNTAIN!