The Custom Made News Report 01.06.08

Posted by Ryan Byers on 01.06.2008

New entrants for the Royal Rumble, the first wrestling death of 2008, fallout from 411's Year End Awards, Final Resolution preview, results from the big New Japan vs. TNA show, and much more!

Welcome, one and all, to the first Custom Made News Report of 2008. I'm Ryan Byers, and I'm kicking off what will be my fifth calendar year here on 411mania. I've decided to celebrate by writing entirely too much about professional wrestling, and you get to reap the benefits of it right here in this column. Let's dive in to the news!

The Word from Dixieland

PPV Preview: TNA Final Resolution

TNA Final Resolution

- This will be the fourth Final Resolution pay per view.
- This will be the fourth consecutive year in which Final Resolution has emanated from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida.
- On the three prior Final Resolution shows, there have been eight title defenses.
- In those eight title defenses, championships have changed hands four different times.
- The TNA X Division Championship has changed hands most frequently at Final Resolution, with two title switches occurring.
- This year, the X Division Championship will not be defended at Final Resolution.

Bobby Roode & Traci Brooks vs. Booker T. & Sharmell

- This will be the first mixed tag team match in Final Resolution history.
- In fact, if this match goes on before the Women's Title bout, it will be the first time that women have wrestled at Final Resolution.
- As such, this will be the first time that either Traci Brooks or Sharmell has wrestled at Final Resolution.
- Booker T. will also be making his Final Resolution debut.
- Bobby Roode's record at Final Resolution is 1-1.
- Bobby Roode's record in tag team matches at Final Resolution is 1-0.

Frankie Kazarian vs. Dustin Rhodes

- Dustin Rhodes' Final Resolution record is 1-0.
- This will be the second time that Rhodes has faced a former X Division Champion at Final Resolution, as in 2005 he defeated Kid Kash.
- Frankie Kazarian's Final Resolution record is 0-1.
- However, this will be Kazarian's first opportunity to wrestle in a singles match at Final Resolution.

Abyss vs. Ricky Banderas

- This will be Ricky Banderas' Final Resolution debut.
- Abyss' Final Resolution record is 1-1.
- Surprisingly, Abyss has NEVER wrestled in a gimmick match at Final Resolution.
- This contest is currently not scheduled to break that trend.

Lance Hoyt & Jimmy Rave vs. LAX

- Homicide & Hernandez's record as a team at Final Resolution is 1-0.
- Homicide also wrestled in a dark match prior to the 2006 Final Resolution show, teaming with Konnan to defeat the Naturals.
- This will be Jimmy Rave's Final Resolution debut.
- This will be Lance Hoyt's debut on an actual Final Resolution card.
- However, Hoyt has had dark matches on two Final Resolution shows.
- Hoyt's record in those matches is 1-1.

The Dudley Boys & Johnny Devine vs. The Murder City Machine Guns & Jay Lethal in an Ultimate X Match

- This will be the second Ultimate X Match in Final Resolution history.
- This will be the first Ultimate X Match at Final Resolution to involve teams instead of single competitors.
- This is Johnny Devine's debut on an actual Final Resolution card.
- However, Devine does have a prior appearance in a dark match prior to Final Resolution.
- The Dudley Boys' Final Resolution record is 0-2.
- This will be the first time that the Dudleys have NOT wrestled for a championship at Final resolution.
- This is Jay Lethal's debut on an actual Final Resolution card.
- However, Lethal does have a prior appearance in a dark match prior to Final Resolution.
- Alex Shelley's Final Resolution record is 2-0.
- Chis Sabin's Final Resolution record is 1-2.
- In 2006, Shelley and Sabin were opponents at Final Resolution, as Shelley teamed with Roderick Strong and Austin Aries to defeat Sabin, Matt Bentley, and Sonjay Dutt.

Gail Kim (c) vs. The Amazing Kong for the TNA Women's Championship in a No Disqualification Match

- As previously noted, there has never been a match at Final Resolution involving female wrestlers.
- As such, this will be the first time that Gail Kim and the Amazing Kong have wrestled at Final Resolution.
- This will also obviously be the first time that the TNA Women's Championship has been defended at Final Resolution.
- Depending on the order of matches for the evening, this will be either the fourth or fifth gimmick match in Final Resolution history.

AJ Styles & Travis Tomko (c) vs. Samoa Joe & Kevin Nash for the TNA Tag Team Championship

- This will be the first time that the TNA Tag Team Championship has been defended at Final Resolution.
- This will be the first time that a Tag Team Championship match at Final Resolution will not feature two duos that regularly team together.
- This will be Travis Tomko's Final Resolution debut.
- AJ Styles' Final Resolution record is 2-1.
- Samoa Joe's Final Resolution Record is 1-1.
- Kevin Nash's Final Resolution Record is 0-1.

Kurt Angle (c) vs. Christian for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

- This will be the first time that the TNA World Heavyweight Championship has been defended at Final Resolution.
- Kurt Angle's Final Resolution Record is 1-0.
- Christian's Final Resolution Record is 2-0.
- This will be the third consecutive year in which Christian main events Final Resolution.
- This will be the second consecutive year in which Christian has fought for the World Heavyweight Championship at Final Resolution.
- In last year's main event, Christian defeated Sting and Abyss in a three-way match to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

TNA vs. New Japan Series Ends in Dead Heat . . . but Angle Will Return!

For what seems like several months now, I have been previewing New Japan Pro Wrestling's January 4 Tokyo Dome show, which featured significant participation from the roster of TNA. Various matches from the show will also be featured on a television special in America, which will be aired on January 17 on SpikeTV immediately after TNA's regular Impact broadcast. The results from the big show are now in. In total, there were six matches that featured TNA wrestlers squaring off against NJPW wrestlers. By the end of the night, each company had won three of those bouts, though it was TNA that won the evening's most significant interpromotional contest.

The opening match saw the TNA team of Christian, AJ Styles, and Petey Williams defeat New Japan's Minoru, Prince Fergal Devitt, and Milano Collection AT. Minoru, who some TNA fans may remember from his participation in the last World X Cup, was ultimately pinned by AJ's Styles Clash. NJPW quickly fired back, though, as their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Wataru Inoue made his first successful defense of the championship by pinning Christopher Daniels, who is "fired" in TNA storylines but was still announced as representing them on the other side of the Pacific. In the shortest interpromotional match of the evening, Manabu Nakanishi vanquished the monster Abyss with a modified German suplex. During the course of the match, Abyss proved that there are some things which never change no matter what country you're in, as he spread thumbtacks out across the ring mat, only to have his plan backfire. Yes, Nakanishi easily overcame Abyss and made sure that the American tasted his own tacks. Perhaps it's time to employ a new strategy in your matches, Chris. With New Japan leading the interpromotional series two matches to one, the Dudley Boys evened the score in their hardcore tag team match against Togi Makabe and Toru Yano. Yano was powerbombed through a table, Makabe was given the 3-D, and the US tag team picked up the victory.

In more tag team action, New Japan's IWGP Tag Team Champions Travis Tomko and Giant Bernard put their titles on the line against Rick and Scott Steiner. Though Tomko regularly appears for both NJPW and TNA, he was billed as being on the New Japan side here, and, though Rick Steiner is by all accounts done with TNA, he was still billed as representing that company. Before the match could begin, TNA front man Jeff Jarrett made his presence known at ringside, complete with his trademark guitar. The instrument would come in to play during the match, as one of the corner men for the Tomko/Bernard team got El Kabonged. This was not nearly enough to turn the match in the favor of the Steiners, though, as Rick was hit with Tomko and Bernard's "Magic Killer" finish and pinned. The contest was significant not only because of its interpromotional nature but also because the Steiners were perhaps NJPW's most dominant foreign tag team in the 1990's, and Tomko and Bernard's victory here represented a passing of the torch to a new breed of gaijin.

Kurt Angle and Yuji Nagata concluded the series in a match for what has become known as the "IWGP Third Generation Title Belt." (Which, on TNA television, has incorrectly been referred to as the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.) This was the belt that Brock Lesnar held while IWGP Champion. When he left the promotion, he took the strap with him, and he ultimately agreed to lose it to Kurt Angle in a match for a Japanese promotion known as the Inoki Genome Federation. New Japan has never acknowledged Angle as IWGP Champ, as they crowned a new titleholder almost immediately after Lensar left the company. Nagata, who actually teamed with Angle in the Olympic gold medalist's prior NJPW appearance, vowed to get New Japan's stolen property back here. Long story short, he failed, tapping out to the ankle lock. This left the TNA vs. NJPW series deadlocked at three victories apiece.

That was not the last the crowd would see of Kurt Angle, though. The main event of the evening was not an interpromotional match, and it featured the legitimate IWGP Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending his title against Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura defeated Tanahashi clean in the middle of the ring to become the forty-eighth name in the lineage of the IWGP Title. After the bell, Angle reappeared with the TNA and fake IWGP Title belts, getting in the face of Nakamura. Words were exchanged by the two men, and days later it was announced that they will meet in a match on February 17 in Tokyo, in which the winner will walk out with both IWGP belts.

Top to bottom, this seems like a very strong show, although I will be interested to see which matches actually make it on to the airwaves for the SpikeTV since the special is only supposed to last one hour (forty-two minutes minus commercials), while the total match time for the bouts involving TNA wrestlers was over an hour and a half. One would assume that the Angle match will be included, since it was the biggest match of the night that involved a TNA wrestler and because the American star got the victory. The opening six man tag match wouldn't appear fit for American consumption, as it features a mix of both faces and heels on the TNA team. Meanwhile, Chris Daniels is not even part of the company in U.S. storylines, so his bout would also appear to be off the books. Abyss' match might work since it was relatively short (around six minutes), though I can't understand why the promotion would want to air the entire bout in the states given that their man lost. A similar comment could be made about the IWGP Tag Title match, because it featured both TNA wrestlers losing AND a non-TNA wrestler getting the pinfall. Oddly enough, it seems that the best complete match to show in addition to Angles' contest would be the Dudley Boys' bout, as it both featured a TNA victory and nothing that would contradict the promotion's current storylines. Also, at just over thirteen minutes, it would be a good compliment to the near twenty minute Angle/Nagata bout. This would provide roughly thirty-five minutes of wrestling and entrances, which could be combined with ten minutes of highlights from other bouts to create a well-balanced television special. With TNA at the helm, though, god only knows what we'll actually get.

Year End Award Fallout

For those of you who may have missed it, the staff of the 411mania Wrestling Zone posted its Year End Awards this week. (You can read the columns in which the winners were revealed here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.) First of all, I would like to congratulate all of the 411 staff members who put the time and effort in to both voting for the awards and writing up the beautiful blurbs that were featured in the columns. A special tip of the hat goes to our very own JT~! who coordinated the feature, tabulated the votes, and put everything together. I had a run at putting together a massive, multi-writer feature like a while back, and let me just say that it's far more work than a lot of people would realize.


John Cena, 411mania's Wrestler of the Year

I'm not just here to congratulate our writers on a job well done, though. I'm here to discuss some of the fallout from the awards. Thanks to our brand new "comments" feature (found at the bottom of every column on the site), the heated discussion that generally surrounds the results of our awards features reached a whole new level of public notoriety. Since this column is basically a soapbox that I can climb upon for the purpose of addressing any topic that I want, I'm going to take a second and respond to the most frequent criticisms that have arisen in the fallout of the awards.

In reading the comments that were posted in response to the feature, it appears that there were two distinct camps of individuals who were greatly offended by the awards that were given out. One camp felt that the results were unduly biased in favor of Ring of Honor and typically held the opinion that there should have been more winners from World Wrestling Entertainment. The other camp felt that the results were unduly biased in favor of World Wrestling Entertainment and typically held the opinion that there should have been more winners from Ring of Honor. Almost none of the commentors seemed to hold the opinion that the 411 staff's voting produced an even-handed look at the professional wrestling world in which both companies were represented fairly. Though some may decry my efforts because I am a member of the staff and therefore have a vested interest in making the site appear as credible as possible, I am here to provide everybody with what I consider to be an objective analysis which will conclusively show that the two promotions were in fact treated fairly in relation to one another.

"But how could this be!" some will exclaim, "Clearly there was a bias in favor of ROH because they won pay per view of the year instead of Wrestlemania!"

"Bullshit!" others will yell, "John Cena was the wrestler of the year, and there's no way he should've gotten it over Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, or Takeshi Morishima!"

Amidst all of this complaining, though, the one thing that nobody has done is taken a complete look at the results. Once that is done, the lack of any real bias in favor of one promotion or another becomes clear. Awards were given in twenty-seven different categories, with first, second, and third place winners being announced in each. There were two broad types of category, some of which aimed to pick the best of 2007 and some of which aimed to pick the worst of 2007. For clarity's sake, I will refer to these as "positive" and "negative" categories respectively.

If you look at the positive categories, there were twenty-two different instances in which WWE walked away with either first, second, or third place. Ring of Honor had fifteen such victories. In the grand scheme of things, this number is very close. Granted, there are some who may look at these two numbers and try to spin them in to evidence of a bias in favor of WWE. However, those individuals would be ignoring one important factor, namely the amount of product that was produced by both promotions. WWE aired five hours of first-run television programming per week and hosted fifteen different pay per view events in 2007. Ring of Honor, meanwhile, produced roughly forty live events, all of which will eventually be released on DVD and four of which either have aired or will air on pay per view. Given that WWE produced significantly more wrestling than ROH, it only stands to reason that they would have more opportunities to produce good wrestling. This is a far more logical explanation for them eclipsing ROH's number of "wins" than is any pro-WWE bias within the voting process. Furthermore, if there truly was a pro-WWE bias, the company certainly wouldn't have taken either first, second, or third place twelve times in the negative categories, which is exactly what happened.

If that is not enough to eliminate claims of bias for one side or another, let us take a look strictly at first place finishes. In positive categories, WWE had eight first place victories. ROH had seven. This is virtually a dead heat. Again, how anybody could claim that there is either a pro-WWE bias or a pro-ROH bias given these numbers is beyond me. Granted, some WWE supporters may take the extreme position that Ring of Honor should not be recognized at all given their small size relative to World Wrestling Entertainment. However, there is no wrestling company in the world that comes close to approaching the global scope of WWE. If it is your opinion that WWE should be considered tops in every category simply due to their overwhelming size, then perhaps you should simply pick up a copy of WWE Magazine and read their year end awards instead of ours. 411mania's wrestling zone has always been about providing as much coverage as possible of as many different companies as possible, and there will never be a time that we choose to acknowledge one wrestling promotion and one wrestling promotion alone. Period.

Even if you cannot accept this analysis and still feel that either ROH or WWE was slighted in our year end awards, perhaps we can all at least stand united in one belief: TNA sucks. In the negative categories, that promotion finished in either first, second, or third place seventeen times, significantly more than either WWE or ROH. Of those finishes, seven were in the first place position, which again was significantly more than either of the other two major promotions. Nobody seems to be questioning that result.

All the Stuff from Stamford

Snitsky, Holly Qualify for Rumble

In a WWE house show match that took place on Friday night, wrestler Gene Snitsky defeated European import Drew McIntyre in what was billed as a Royal Rumble qualifying match. On Saturday, veteran wrestler and current Tag Team Champion Bob "Hardcore" Holly downed Trevor Murdoch in a similar contest. Apparently WWE's plan is to continue these "qualifying matches" throughout the month of January, both on televised and non-televised events. Snitsky and Holly join Umaga in the match, as the Samoan bulldozer pinned "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan on Monday Night Raw in order to earn a berth in the contest. Meanwhile, Triple H has been precluded from participating the Rumble due to a disqualification loss to Ric Flair on the same show. It remains to be seen whether the losses of Murdoch, McIntyre, and Duggan will actually keep them out of the match or whether WWE will conveniently "forget" about their participation in qualifying matches.

You know that there's not much happening in WWE when this is my lead story for the group.

El Trains Well

2006 Diva Search winner and current ECW personality Layla El is apparently looking to improve upon the hideous in-ring skills that have regularly earned her criticism from writers on this very website. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, El relocated to Los Angeles not long after winning the Diva Search and has since been training under Jesse Hernandez. As far as trainers go, Layla made a rather good choice. Hernandez has decades of experience in the professional wrestling industry, both in the United States and in Mexico. He has wrestled, he has refereed, and, perhaps most importantly, he has turned out to be a rather successful trainer. Former students of Hernandez include former WWE Tag Team Champion Rico Constantino, former WWE Women's Champion Melina Perez, lucha libre superstar Silver King, and Louie Spicolli. If anybody can help whip El in to shape, it's Hernandez.

Foreign Fanatics

North Americans Dominate, Prepare to Retire in All Japan

The first week of January has been a big one for American wrestlers participating on the cards of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Two such men pulled off enormous victories on the company's pair of New Year's shows. It has become tradition for AJPW to run two battle royales not long after the beginning of the year, one featuring heavyweights and one featuring junior heavyweights. This year, there was a bit of a surprise winner in the heavyweight battle royale, as seventy-one year old Ontarian Abdullah the Butcher triumphed over several top names, including Satoshi Kojima, Taiyo Kea, Keiji Muto, and Kensuke Sasaki. Abby has also been successful in tag team action this week, first pairing with Minoru Suzuki to defeat Kensuke Sasaki and Ryuji Yamaguchi and then pairing up with Nobutaka Araya to go over Osamu Nishimura and Manabu Soya.

U.S. native Joe Doering began the year in the same dominant fashion in which he ended 2006. Doering was successful in six man tag team action on both January 2 and January 5, but this was not the big story in his career this week. On January 3, Doering reformed his team with Keiji Muto, which just weeks ago had come out on top of the prestigious All Japan Real World Tag League tournament. They walked in to Tokyo's Korakuen Hall and defeated the duo of Satoshi Kojima and TARU to win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles. Doering even managed to pick up the pinfall, catching TARU with a spiral bomb for the victory.

Doering isn't the only American to have made a name for himself in All Japan's tag division. Several men have taken that route over the years, and now one of them is getting ready to wrap up his career. As was discussed in this very column last month, rumors have recently been swirling about the impending retirement of former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk, Jr. Now those rumors have given way to an official announcement, as on the January 2 All Japan show, Funk's close friend Osamu Nishimura informed the crowd that Dory will be participating in the company's February tour. Said tour will culminate on March 1 in Tokyo, and that card will see the legend wrestle his final match. Though no opponents have been named for Funk in his final tour, I wouldn't be surprised to see him have one more go round against Abdullah the Butcher, who was a key rival to Dory and his brother Terry when the Funks were one of the top drawing acts in AJPW.

The only American wrestler not having a good time in All Japan these days is midwest indy worker CJ Otis, who made his debut with the promotion on January 5. In the second match on that show, Otis was pinned by Katsushi Takemura in a six man tag.

Foreign Indy Stars Abound on WrestleJAM

Dragon Gate's year-opening WrestleJAM tour is beginning to look like a series of shows promoted by Pro Wrestling Guerilla. Seriously, we've got gaijin indy wrestlers all over the place for this one. Some of them are DG regulars, while others are less familiar to Japanese fans. The regulars include Austin Aries and Jack Evans from Ring of Honor as well as British indy sensation PAC. These three men will be participating as part of the Dragon Gate factions with which they have previously been affiliated, as PAC will be working side by side with CIMA and Dragon Kid in Typhoon, while Aries and Evans will be hanging out with the likes of Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk in New Hazard.

Elsewhere on the tour, Human Tornado will be making a rare set of Japanese appearances. His allegiance also appears to be with Typhoon. (Insert your own natural disaster-themed joke about "Tornado" working with "Typhoon." If Earthquake hadn't passed away a couple of years back, I'd try to work him in there as well.) El Generico is currently signed for one match on the tour, in which he will in fact be opposite of Tornado. Finally, here is an announcement that sent shivers of dread up and down my spinal cord: WrestleJAM will also play host to the SPANISH ANNOUNCE TEAM. Yes, despite the fact that they ceased to be relevant in the United States six years ago, the young team of sloppy high flyers will be giving it another go in Dragon Gate. In addition to facing off against the relatively inexperienced duo of Keni'chiro Arai and m.c.KZ, the Maximos will also be receiving a shot at the most prestigious Tag Team Championship in DG, namely the Open the Twin Gate titles currently held by Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino. My only hope is that this is not the beginning of an SAT career resurgence which sees them get more bookings in prominent American promotions.

Indy-Sent Headlines

Journeyman Barber Passes Away

Randy Barber, a long-time enhancement wrestler from the sport's territorial days, passed away on January 2. Barber wrestled in numerous promotions throughout the 1970's and the 1980's, including Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling, Alabama-based promotions Continental Wrestling and Southeast Championship Wrestling, and even the World Wrestling Federation for a handful of matches. His greatest exposure, though, came from his work as a jobber in Georgia Championship Wrestling, which was one of the first (if not the first) wrestling promotions to receive national television exposure thanks to their deal with TBS. During this period of time, he became one of the first opponents for legendary tag team the Roadwarriors, and Barber's skill at making others look good was integral to making Hawk and Animal in to superstars overnight. (In fact, one of Barber's matches against the L.O.D. was included on the Roadwarriors DVD released by WWE in 2005.) Barber wrestled sporadically on the independent level in to the early part of the twenty-first century, though that part of his career came to an end when he was working construction a couple of years ago and had a wall collapse on him. At this time no cause of death is known. All of us here at 411mania wish the best to Barber's family in dealing with this difficult situation.

Future Indy Cards Take Shape

Last week, I reported that three major indy groups (FIP, SHIMMER, and CHIKARA) had scheduled their 2008 return dates after taking brief hiatuses. I figured that story would be the end of things until the shows took place, but it turns out that we've got ourselves some fairly significant developments as it relates to the companies' cards. As such, here is even more news on what the promotions plan on providing when they start things up again.

Full Impact Pro has announced two big matches for its "Redefined" show, which will be taking place on February 16 in Crystal River, Florida. The first is a rematch for the FIP World Heavyweight Title, which changed hands this past weekend on a Ring of Honor card, much to the chagrin of 411's own Brad Garoon. It was Erick Stevens who unseated champion Roderick Strong, and these two will lock up again at Redefined, with Rod looking to reclaim his gold. Elsewhere on the card, one of FIP's biggest and most brutal feuds will come to a head, with tag teams Black Market and the Heartbreak Express facing each other in a no disqualification match. If that stipulation weren't enough, the contract for the contest also requires that the losing team never set foot in Full Impact Pro again. Names signed for the show but not yet booked in matches include former WWE Tough Enough competitor Kenny King, former TNA wrestler Austin "Starr" Aries, current TNA personality Rain (a.k.a. Bobby Roode's stalker), Necro Butcher, and Davey Richards. Tickets for the show can be picked up at FullImpactPro.com.

CHIKARA has two weekends of wrestling action lined up for its return. The first is January 27, which will be a "season preview" show in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. When I reported on the show last week, Shane Storm vs. Eddie Kingston had already been announced. Recently added, though, is Vin Gerard vs. Worker Ant. Gerard used to wrestle under a mask in CHIKARA as Equinox, claiming that he was a young lucha libre star. However, at the end of the 2007 season, he lost a mask versus hair match to Chris Hero, and it was revealed that he was an American who had lied about his nationality in order to get a spot on the company's roster. Since that time, Gerard has been shunned by the locker room. He has been targeting CHIKARA's masked technicos to get a measure of revenge, and it appears that the match against Worker Ant will be the next step in his crusade. The January 27 show is just a prelude to the true CHIKARA season kickoff, though, as from February 29 to March 2 of this year, the company will host its second annual "King of Trios" tournament in Philadelphia. The six man tag team tournament will feature sixteen units going at each other in single elimination action, and now we know the identities of five of those teams. Three consist of members of regular CHIKARA stables, namely the Colony (Worker Ant, Fire Ant, & Soldier Ant), F.I.S.T. (Gran Akuma, Icarus, & Chuck Taylor), and the Order of the Neo-Solar Temple (UltraMantis Black, Crossbones, & Hydra). Meanwhile, two of the announced teams will be comprised of wrestlers from outside promotions. Montreal's International Wrestling Syndicate will be sending three wrestlers in to the tournament, as regular tag team the Super Smash Brothers (Player Uno & Stupefied) will join up with indy sensation El Generico for the first time. Finally, the Ring of Honor wrestling academy will also be represented in King of Trios, as Shane Hagadorn captains a team consisting of himself, Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne, and Rhett Titus. ROH student teams have had a storied history in CHIKARA tournaments, mainly being beaten down by giant woodland creatures. Ticket information for both events is at CHIKARApro.com.

Finally, SHIMMER: Women Athletes will be taping Volumes 17 and 18 of their DVD series on April 26 in Berwyn, Illinois. Though I wasn't expecting any announcements about the card this far out, I was pleasantly surprised just a few days ago when word that "Croatian Panther" Wesna Busic will be making her debut with the company in April. As her nickname implies, Wesna legitimately comes to us from Croatia and has spent ten straight years in the wrestling business. The majority of her work has taken place in various European independent promotions, though she has also traveled to Japan, working for fairly significant promotions like Pro Wrestling ZERO-1. Wesna has a reputation for being an incredibly hard-hitting performer, which you can see in the following highlight reel of her 2007 matches. (Be on the lookout for some absolute MANHANDLING of Amazing Kong by the Croatian Panther.)



Front row tickets for the SHIMMER taping were released last week and have already sold out. The rest of the seats in the venue will be general admission, and those tickets are available here.

Following Up

Here are a couple of small updates to stories that I have discussed in previous editions of the report:

~ Last week, we mentioned that there was a TNA house show in Montreal in which Christian defeated Kurt Angle in a World Title match by disqualification. According to PW Insider, the reason that this finish did not lead to a title change (as would normally be the case under TNA rules) was that the individual responsible for booking the finish forgot that the belt should switch in such a scenario.

~ Former AWA, WWF, and WCW star Rick Martel made a cameo on subsequent Canadian house shows for TNA.

~ Lex Luger, who we reported several weeks ago while in San Francisco for a wrestling convention, is still in pretty bad shape. The official diagnosis is that he suffered a spinal stroke, and all four of his limbs are still paralyzed.

Feeding Back & Wrapping Up

If you haven't picked up on this in prior columns, I enjoy receiving and responding to reader feedback. So, if you've got something to say about what I've written above, feel free to either e-mail me or click the comment link down below. If I deem you worthy, you might just get a response right here in the column, which is something that a pair of fine gentlemen are about to get.

We'll begin with Torad, who is responding to my op-ed piece in which I argued that Montel Vontavious Porter should be the man to retire Ric Flair and Wrestlemania:

Who should retire Flair is an interesting question. I like your reasons for MVP and consider him a good choice, but I just love the Matt story too much to not have it be blown off at Mania. It has all those qualities of epicness that make the big blowoff necessary, and it'll FINALLY get Matt Hardy into the main event. (If done right, MVP too, since he's already teetering on the edge). I initially thought it'd be HHH, but he's apparently going for the title, so he's out. I know your feelings in regards to Kennedy, but I like his work and his character, plus I think he can easily be inserted into your story once he gets some momentum under him (getting a solid victory against HBK in a violent blowoff is the best way right now most likely). What do I think will happen, though? Michaels. Does he need it? Nope, but management's down on Kennedy, and Michaels has nothing to do for the big dance. I think the little moment they had at the kickoff of this angle was the tease to its ultimate conclusion. Michaels beats Kennedy again at the Rumble, and that's when the teases start, more interaction with Flair, etc, but only after NWO does he make the challenge. I'm not sure how they'll play it from there, but I'd imagine somewhat similar to HBK's plan for a face/face Hogan-Michaels. I don't really think it's the best option, but I think Michaels is what they'll do, Kennedy is what they should do, and yours would be even better if it weren't for Matt Hardy.

Though I understand the love for the MVP/Matt Hardy rivalry, I definitely think it should be pushed aside in favor of getting Porter in there against Flair. Granted, the rivalry with Hardy has been a great one, but I'm of the belief that the feud has been designed with purpose of getting Porter over, not elevating Matt in to the main event as Torad suggests. Maybe I buy too much in to what the dirtsheets have to say, but I've been left with the impression that Hardy has not mended many of the fences that he broke down the last time he was released from WWE, which will probably result in him never making it beyond of the U.S. Title picture. If the feud really is meant to only elevate only Porter and not Hardy, you have to ask yourself a simple question: What will do more good for MVP's career: Blowing off the Hardy feud at Wrestlemania or retiring Flair and blowing off the Hardy feud on a different pay per view? One of those options gives Porter a win in one of the better-booked feuds of the last three years. One of those options gives Porter a win in one of the better-booked feuds of the last three years AND creates a moment which will probably be replayed on WWE television for decades to come. If you look at the scenario purely in terms of MVP's career instead of both MVP and Matt's careers, I think that the best course of action becomes clear.

As far as Michaels is concerned, I do currently believe that to be the most likely scenario. The skit with the two men early in the angle did strike me as foreshadowing, though Torad is definitely correct in asserting that the win would not be one that HBK "needs." I'll pass on delving further in to the case for Kennedy, just because I feel like I've said too many negative things about the guy in the past month and want to get off of that kick.

E-mail number two comes to us from Joey Nic, who wants to talk about some general wrestling issues as opposed to anything specific that I've written about recently:

Did you get the World Class DVD? I did and it was great, the documentary was one of the best they ever did and the matches were all good, unlike the AWA and ECW DVD's where the documentaries were great but the matches sucked. Highspots offered the DVD plus the one that came out a few years ago. The scene where Kevin Von Erich walks through the arena Sportatorium for the last time before they tore it down was touching. The story Kevin Von Erich tells about when his father found out he had brain cancer and had weeks at best to live, Fritz stuck a gun in Kevin's face and told him he didn't have the balls to kill himself like his brothers was scary. But I would highly recommend both DVD's. What DVD's did you get this year?

I didn't buy nearly as many wrestling DVDs in 2007 as I have in other years. The only two that I can remember picking up from WWE were the 2007 Royal Rumble and the Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen set. The Rumble was a really awesome show from top to bottom, even though there was one horrid match from Test and Lashley. There was some fun stuff on the Horsemen set, but I'd almost rather that they cut the documentary short to include more matches. It didn't seem like there was much in the documentary that hadn't been covered on other WWE releases and shows like Confidential. I also picked up several indy DVDs, with my favorites being the various releases in the SHIMMER series.

Thanks to a gift card that I got for Christmas, I also just recently ordered the Raw 15th Anniversary DVD from Amazon, and I'm waiting for that to show up. Should be a good time. I picked up Chris Jericho's book in the same order. I haven't seen the WWE World Class DVD or Heroes of World Class, though they're both on my "to buy" list. I think that once I get through the Raw DVD I'll be doing a big order from Highspots including those two releases, the WSX DVD set, and Bret Hart's book. People have been telling me Heroes of World Class is awesome for over a year now, and I don't know why I haven't picked it up.

Do you collect them wrestling magazines? I used to, PWI was my favorite. Now when I go to the news stand and browse through one, every so often I'll buy one. I heard that the writers pick the year end awards and not the fans like PWI claimed. That didn't sup rise me because I have the year end 1991 issue and tag team of the year was Larry Zbyisco and Arn Anderson. 1991 was the year the Road Warriors became the only team to win AWA, NWA, and WWF tag team titles. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that.

I actually never really got in to PWI-esque wrestling magazines. I grew up in a small town where they weren't sold, so I didn't know they existed when I was a kid. I was in college by the time that I found out about them, and at that point I had a few other things on my mind. I did have a subscription to WWF Magazine when I was younger, though. I remember that my favorite column was by a guy named "Vic Venom," who rooted for all of the heels and crapped on the faces. Later on, I learned that the man behind that column was none other than Vince Russo, who worked in the WWF's magazine department before he became one of their writers. I stopped renewing to the mag when I got the internet at home and realized that there was plenty of free wrestling related material to read there. All of my back issues of the magazine have long since been trashed.

Before we head out, here is some additional reading material for those of you who are not satisfied with the preceding thirteen pages of wrestling talk:

~ Sadly, "real life" commitments prevented me from writing my regular Impact Crater column this week. I have to thank 411 vet Steve Cook for filling in. His go at the column can be read here, and be sure to also check out Cook's regular work in Ask 411.

~ Because I was unable to do it in this week's Crater, I updated my 411 Blog with feedback to my last Impact review of 2007.

~ Though I didn't get to Impact, I did have two DVD reviews up in the Movie/TV Zone this week, first checking out the third season of Happy Days and then hitting up the Disney movie Return to Never Land.

~ Not all of the plugs are about me this week, though. Be sure to check out Robbie Brooksbank, the man who stole my initials, as he reviews CHIKARA'S Cibernetico and Robin.

~ And you should also probably take a look at MMA writer Dustin James filling in for Steve Sullivan in the Happy Go Sucky Wrestling Report.

That'll do it for this week. Just seven days from now, I'll be back with more of the same.