News to Start Your Weekend 7.20.07
Posted by Nick Marsico on 07.20.2007
If this was a radio show (which I do have, by the way, RocketBusta Radio), Ric Flair wouldn't be able to hear it.
I don't really have anything noteworthy to mention up here at the beginning this week. I'm just sitting around waiting for the thunderstorm to start, because thunderstorms rule. I love the rain, and thunder and lightning are just an added bonus. I guess I can spend some time up here plugging my AWESOME radio show, titled, as you damn well should know, RocketBusta Radio. Listen every Saturday night at 8 eastern. Or download it. Or subscribe for the podcast. Oh, and buy a shirt! I'd also like to wish ‘Lil James Norden a happy birfdee. Our little boy turned 39 yesterday. Or, as he likes to say, "29 again!" Tee hee. Oh, and CHOCOLATE RAIIIIIN~!
==================== so khali's the champion, eh?
Edge's "not so serious" injury turned out to be a torn pectoral muscle, one that is going to immediately take him out of action and will keep him out for 4 months of recovery after surgery. Obviously that means he can't defend the title at the Great American Bash, which is a shame, because I was kind of looking forward to another Edge/Kane match. The feud was actually pretty decent as well; it fit in quite nicely as a placeholder for whoever Edge's next real program will be against, and it felt fresh in a company that has been dominated by the same two guys on top and a flurry of the same guys around them vying for the belts. It isn't something that was lighting the world on fire or anything, but it was an entertaining, simple little side feud that was quite inoffensive, and at least the build and focus on the PPV was solid. But in one second, that was all negated.
So they rehashed the same thing they did back at the beginning of 2006 when Batista went down with an injury and had a big battle royal to determine the new champion. I'm really not a fan of battle royals deciding champions. Number one contenders is tolerable, as long as it's not for one of the big four PPVs (such as, if Kane were to have won a battle royal instead of just getting randomly put into the title feud, it would have been okay). Couldn't they have done anything else? I realize that they want to have a world title match on the PPV, but I don't think it's really necessary. The point of the title match at the GAB was to give Edge some face time on PPV and give him another successful defense under his belt. With Edge gone, that's not necessary, and they have the hugely built Lashley v. Cena match on the card, the most hyped non big four title match in a long time, and it was done very well. Edge v. Kane wasn't going to be the match drawing a lot of buys; it's the WWE Title match. I've been recently advocating the idea of only defending either the WWE or World title per non big four PPV, and this would have been a good opportunity to start that trend, especially with SummerSlam coming up next month, so they wouldn't have to hotshot a feud to headline the next show. Of course that isn't realistic at all, but it's a nice thought.
I would have preferred a one night tournament on SmackDown, with the two finalists meeting one on one for the title at the PPV. That would instantly, I believe, give the show a few more buys based on the fact that a new champion was guaranteed. They could have thrown the number one contender stipulation on Batista v. Khali, since Khali is coming off a fairly strong pair of unsuccessful WWE title shots and has been looking like a beast since coming to SmackDown, and since Batista did pin the now former World Champion clean in their last match against each other. Automatically the Batista/Khali match means more than just "two big guys who want to beat each other up". I dunno, I just think it would lead to a stronger buyrate with much more to see on the PPV.
I'm not even honestly all that against Khali being the champion. I think his character is great since moving to SmackDown. He's become almost like the stereotypical heel that talks big shit but backs down when there's a fight, but it's not really being a chickenshit because he doesn't emote other than "yaaaaaa I'm angry and possibly a tad hungry". He has been made into a human being rather than just a mindless killing machine, and not only is it very funny to see him casually conversing with mini Bisch, but it adds some depth to his character and makes him into a more worthy candidate to hold the belt than he was before now. I don't expect it to lead to any masterpieces or anything, but it could lead to some entertaining TV as long as he holds on to it longer than this weekend. I think this could actually lead to a bit of a resurgence late in Kane's career as well. If he pulls it out and can get the win and the title on Sunday, it would be the perfect catalyst for a Batista heel turn, as he was given the luck of getting another title shot mere weeks after losing any shot at the belt for as long as Edge's reign lasted. Heh… I guess that kind of renders most of the past 4 months of Batista's career pointless. Unless they do something like turn Batista heel after once again coming up short in a title match. A match he got much sooner than anybody could have expected in a stroke of luck for him. Kane gets a world title and he all of a sudden has a direction, and Batista has a reason to turn heel. Kane v. Batista with a heel Batista would be pretty fresh, and would add some more depth to the SmackDown title picture. You would have them as well as Mysterio and Khali/Henry dabbling around. Just those 5 guys could give you more than enough to last until Edge and Undertaker come back at the end of the year.
Yeah, it's armchair booking, but it's not like I put much time or thought into it. It's fucking easy to book for this company. The writers, at this point, have so many fairly well developed and over characters to work with that they really shouldn't have to rely on doing the most simple thing possible, even though all of the stuff I noted above is all still quite simple. It's all pretty obvious too. Oh well, We'll see what happens.
==================== the newses for the week of joolie 16
- So Randy Savage is going to be on the Surreal Life, Balls Mahoney is going to be on the second season of ‘Who Wants to Be A Superhero?", and Hogan may or may not get divorced on his show that's faker and more scripted that pro wrestling. Rosey is also going to be on the next of ABC's fat people shows, this one called ‘Fat March'. Apparently his angle is that he got fired from the E because he's a fatso. Well, the Savage thing could be fun.
- Both Marcus Cor Von and Ric Flair have been off TV this week, citing "family emergencies". Uh-oh. Well, I think we can rule Flair out of any shenanigans. WWE management called him up, but he didn't respond to any of their questions since it's kind of hard to have a telephone conversation when you're deaf.
- Out of nowhere, word has come out that TNA's Bound for Glory show will no longer be held in Chicago this October. No reason has been given as of yet and no replacement city has been named. In other TNA news, they will be making their debut in New York on September 3 at the New York State Fair in Syracuse.
- WSX will be released on DVD in November. All 10 episodes (the 9 that aired and the final one that never saw the light of day) will be on the set, as well as every WSXtra internet webisode and some promos and whatnot that have never been seen before. I might check it out to see the last episode. But then, I had the last 5 or however many aired after the fireball show, and I never bothered watching them. WSX, we'll miss you about as much as the XWF.
- WWE received an award for selling 640,000 tickets via Ticketmaster in 2006.
- George Caiazo, known as John Kronus, died on Wednesday. No details on his passing are known at this time.
==================== ring of honor results and news and that goodness
- Ring of Honor ran its first shows in Japan on Monday and Tuesday, playing Tokyo on Monday and heading over to Osaka on Tuesday. Crowds were said to be sell outs of about 1,200 and 800 respectively. Gabe Sapolsky wrote in diaries on the ROH message forums about how well received the talent was in Japan and how well the entire tour went. Head over there to read everything from him directly.
Ring of Honor in Tokyo – July 16, 2007
- Rocky Romero & Davey Richards def. Jack Evans & Kotaro Suzuki
- Shuhei Taniguchi def. Akihiko Ito
- Jimmy Rave def. BJ Whitmer
- Bryan Danielson def. Go Shiozaki
- Delirious def. Roderick Strong (Fight Without Honor)
- Naomichi Marufuji, Jay & Mark Briscoe def. Matt Sydal, Ricky Marvin & Atsushi Aoki
- Takeshi Morishima def. Nigel McGuinness (ROH World Title)
Ring of Honor in Osaka – July 17, 2007
- Jay & Mark Briscoe def. Jimmy Rave & Genki Horiguchi (ROH Tag Titles)
- Nigel McGuinness def. BJ Whitmer
- Jack Evans def. Roderick Strong
- Matt Sydal, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito def. Delirious, Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi
- Jay & Mark Briscoe def. SHINGO & Susumu Yokosuka
- CIMA, Bryan Danielson & Naomichi Marufuji def. Rocky Romero, Davey Richards & Masaaki Mochizuki
- The full brackets have been announced for next weekend's ‘Race to the Top' tournament. All 8 of the following matches will take place in Long Island on the 27th and the rest of it will happen the next night in Edison:
Bracket A
BJ Whitmer vs. Pelle Primeau
Davey Richards vs. Jigsaw
Bracket B
Erick Stevens vs. Chris Hero
Delirious vs. El Generico
Bracket C
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Hallowicked
Matt Sydal vs. Mike Quackenbush
Bracket D
Jack Evans vs. Kevin Steen
Brent Albright vs. Matt Cross
- Also scheduled for the first night is a title defense for the Briscoes, who will take on Nigel McGuinness & Bryan Danielson.
- On the second night, on top of the rest of the tournament, a $10,000 Tag Team Challenge will take place. Captains will be chosen, and their teams will be announced next Saturday morning on ROHWrestling dot com after the results of Night 1 are out. Nobody still in the tournament can be involved in this match, which will be an 8 man tag team contest.
- The DVDs for ROH's 5/11 and 6/8 shows have been released. They are the ‘Reborn Again' and ‘A Fight at the Roxbury" events. The DVD for the full 5/12 event (the ‘Respect is Earned' PPV as well as all of the other matches taped that night) is up for preorder now and will ship in mid August.
- Bryan Danielson will receive his ROH World Title shot on August 25 at the Manhattan Center in New York City. You bet your ass I'll fucking be there.
- Finally, the ‘Respect is Earned' PPV will finally begin airing tonight on iNDEMAND, and it will air throughout the rest of this month, and probably through August as well, but no schedule past this month has been announced. The PPV will stop airing on DISH Network this Sunday, July 22, so if you have DISH and haven't check out the show yet, please do. It's more than worth your 10 dollars.
==================== tv stuff
- RAW did very well to give the final push for the Bash on Sunday. Every match was given some good time on the show, and everything was very effective in my opinion. I'm looking forward to the WWE Title match more than I've looked forward to any match in a while.
- Randy Orton put in a good performance this week, both cutting a good promo backstage and having a decent long squash with Cody Rhodes. I hope this leads to a better match between the two on PPV. They could put something good out. Orton proved that sometimes he can come off not looking like the most mediocre performer in the world.
- I hope King Booker doesn't just become return match fodder for Triple H. I'd like to see Booker get a fairly convincing win before Triple H eventually wins the feud, which I'm not against. I just don't want him to come back, step right over Booker like he's nothing and then move on. It would be a shame.
- I think Jeff Hardy has a fairly decent chance at winning the IC Title at the Bash. I didn't like the four way match, because it was basically just a bunch of people laying around and a spot every once in a while, but the crowd was absolutely rabid for Jeff. Ya know, I've really begun to get back on the Jeff Hardy bandwagon. He came back and immediately looked much better than he ever did in TNA, and he's only been improving over the months he's been around.
- Punk and Burke had another good match to start off ECW.
- I like the new look ECW Champion, and I'm glad he finally has new music. It kind of sounds like Jimi Hendrix' "Fire", just with no passion whatsoever. The name will be something that I'm sure we'll all eventually get used to.
- I'm annoyed that they're already doing Angle v. Joe IV. They rushed the first three, and just when I thought they were finally going to be smart about it, they're rushing this one as well. Oy.
==================== reader email
Thad Conner or Adam, if either of those are your real name, isn't offended by the Benoit jokes, and happens to be rather fond of them, as it appears.
Jim Moore found my lose one/gain one word joke from last week to be very humorous. He also liked Steve from Bayshore's line. Jim also met yesterday's birthday boy last week at a book signing for his #4 on the NY Times Best Seller list book, Happy Endings. He also wants to see Big Daddy V make a visit to the Opie and Anthony studios dressed as he does on ECW.
- Chris Jacobs wishes Lita was still around so they could come back with the Kane/Edge/Lita/Hardy love story on SmackDown. Chris noted that Hoyt has a tramp stamp and also had this very amusing thought:
You know Nitro could run people down via text. He is all into what is "IN" and texting is such a big thing, you could have him and melina text each other in little skits on and off, and have Nitro's opponent doing a promo in street clothes (because I doubt the cell phone will hang off there tights, well it will but that is dumb) and have the cell phone go off, they check it, kinda read what it is, get pissed at Mr. Johnny and cut a quick "im gonna kick his ass" promo and leave.
That's actually quite a funny idea. I dig it.
Alan Gemmell thinks the ROH shows in Japan are going to be, in his words, "FUCKING AWESOME". From what I've read, it looks like they may just be exactly that, sir. I'm looking forward to the DVD releases.
==================== this is the part where i leave you for a week
Unless, of course, you listen to RocketBusta Radio, which airs tomorrow night, Saturday July 21 at 8 PM. It's your duty. Send me feedback here if you listen in and tell me what you think.
I was 5 for 7 on last week's TNA PPV, missing only the Christian/Harris match and the Ultimate X. Quick ‘n Dirty for the Great American Bash:
