The Bell To Bell News Report 02.22.09

Posted by Randy Harrison on 02.22.2009

A huge week in wrestling gets condensed into one easy-to-read, chock full of snark piece of goodness as it's time for 411 to go Bell to Bell. Come on in and check out my thoughts on No Way Out, the Sting/Angle saga, the huge changes heading into ROH's HDNet debut and so much more...

Wait, I'm here for two Sundays in a row? I am officially the new Iron Man of 411mania.com!! Yes, I am back this week and have managed to avoid all offers of front row tickets as well as all hideous stomach flu issues, so I'm back to speak on all the hot news and big happenings of the past seven days in the world of wrestling. I'd like to take a quick moment to address the haters who questioned my use of the Phil Collins song catalog during my Against All Odds opinions. I have to say that I was shocked because I consider Phil Collins to be a quality recording artist and I celebrate the guy's entire catalog. Shame on you for hating on that balding, pudgy, rock and roll icon(ish) figure. Now that I've dried my tears and managed to avoid a breakdown, let's get to what we're all here for. It was a big week with Raw and Smackdown getting new champions, Randy Orton delivering the RKO heard 'round the world, Angle and Sting fighting it out in an empty arena and tons more stories. With all due apologies to men everywhere for one of the stories that will be featured this week (I'm looking at you, third news story posted for Thursday), let's ring the bell and get this edition of the Report underway!



Sunday


The Show



WWE No Way Out Results:

WWE Championship Elimination Chamber: Vladimir Kozlov vs. Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy vs. The Big Show vs. The Undertaker vs. Edge (c) - Winner: Triple H (pinfall, Pedigree on the Undertaker)
No Holds Barred: Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton - Winner: Randy Orton (pinfall, RKO)
ECW Championship: Finlay vs. Jack Swagger (c) - Winner: Jack Swagger (pinfall, gutwrench powerbomb)
All or Nothing Match: Shawn Michaels vs. JBL - Winner: Shawn Michaels (pinfall, Sweet Chin Music)
World Heavyweight Championship Elimination Chamber: Chris Jericho vs. Kane vs. Mike Knox vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Edge vs. John Cena (c) - Winner: Edge (pinfall, Spear on Mysterio)

The WWE kicked off the week in a HUGE way with No Way Out, which saw two new champions crowned at a pay-per-view that usually does little more than serve as a placeholder between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. Most years, I'm left wondering why they even bother with having No Way Out as very little happens at the show that is worth noting and usually even less happens that ends up having any effect on the WrestleMania show. This year, they pulled out all the stops and while the middle of the show kind of fell apart for me, two big surprises at the beginning and the end made sure that things would be shaken up big time come April 5th in Houston.

The night started out with the first of the two Elimination Chamber matches, which was a great idea as having them spaced as far apart as possible helped to keep the crowd from getting burned out on the gimmick. The biggest surprise to come out of the Smackdown chamber match wasn't the fact that Triple H was able to become WWE Champion yet again, but rather that the reigning WWE Champ Edge was pinned in less than five minutes and eliminated by Jeff Hardy. Granted, we all know now that it was just the set-up to what Edge would manage to pull off in the main event of the show, but at the moment it happened I was in total shock and had no idea what was going to happen. It's been a long time since I've been able to say that about wrestling and it made the Smackdown Chamber match a lot of fun for me. Everyone brought it and the effort put out by The Undertaker, Big Show and Jeff Hardy in losing efforts made it a very entertaining match. The only down spot for me was Vladimir Kozlov, who looked like he choked under the spotlight, putting on one of his worst matches to date. I'm not sure if it was a situation where the moment overwhelmed him or if he was just having an off-night, but I would expect that after that showing, he might find himself relegated to winning the annual WrestleMania pre-show battle royal instead of finding a slot on the main card. Maybe next year, Vladimir.

From there, as I said, the card fell apart a bit in the middle, with Randy Orton and Shane McMahon having an alright No Holds Barred match, but if you've seen it once with Shane, you've seen it a hundred times. I will say that at least they had the right man go over as if it had been a Shane-O-Mac win, the WWE would have completely screwed over any hopes of having Orton be a viable challenger or champion after WrestleMania. The ECW Championship match was alright and technically sound as you'd expect with Swagger and Finlay in the ring, but it just seemed to be missing something. I can't put my finger on it, but the entire time I was watching it, it just felt like two guys going through the motions a little bit. I'm not sure if it's because they haven't had time to build a feud between these two or if they dogged it a little knowing that this is merely wasting time until the inevitable Christian/Swagger feud over the belt, but it all felt off. I have to chalk this one up as my disappointment of the night because I had actually come into the bout with high hopes after their highly entertaining bout on Sci-Fi a couple of weeks back. From there, it was the JBL/HBK blow-off, with Michaels coming out on top to finally get himself out from under the financial rule of JBL while winning back his freedom. I wasn't expecting this one to be a classic, but these two guys just didn't mesh very well in my opinion. I don't know if JBL is still under 100% with his back injury or if HBK was a little too amped up after spending a couple of months playing the subdued servant, but it all felt about a half a step off. The wheels kind of came off of this feud quickly after Shawn accepted JBL's offer in that things felt rushed and this match was somewhat the same feeling. Both guys talked the shit out of this match to build it, but in the end it failed to deliver, which most were expecting anyhow. At least they kept this one from stinking up WrestleMania and it will likely allow HBK to move on to face The Undertaker while JBL might find himself primed for a Money In The Bank slot.

The main event of the show saw the Raw Elimination Chamber match take place, which featured the second big shocker of the night as Edge attacked Kofi Kingston and took over his spot in the Elimination Chamber by locking himself in Kofi's pod. The only sad part of that situation for me is that it took a lot of the drama out of the main event because you could tell before the match even started who was going to win. The match itself was solid and probably a shade better than the Smackdown Chamber because they were able to really cut loose and do some of those signature Chamber spots where pods get destroyed and all of that good stuff. Smackdown didn't really get the chance for that, since they still had to use the Chamber once more, but in reality it just added that much more to the Raw version and made it seem that much more intense. Some of the highlight spots for me were Jericho's senton off of the pod, Edge's destruction of both Rey-Rey and a pod and the huge spear that ended the night off. Like I said, the match was a shade better than the Smackdown match, but it felt a lot more predictable which made it a little less entertaining for me personally.

All in all, the show had its moments and there were some big changes made to what was thought to be the WrestleMania card even a week before, but this was a two-match show. Those two matches delivered though, so at least all was not lost. I would have to disagree with Larry's rating of the show as an 8 out of 10 was a little high for me. I thought it was more along the lines of a 6.5 or so as the three matches in the middle kind of dragged down the show. The two Chamber matches started and ended the show strong and delivered like they always do, but the rest of the show was adequate at best.


The Stories



-- With ROH coming to HDNet soon, it's normal to expect that some changes might be made to the product with HDNet taking a hand in the production aspects of the show. That being said, no one was expecting the shocking news on Sunday that play-by-play announcer Lenny Leonard is not going to be involved in the HDNet broadcasts. Dave Prazak is expected to be staying on as color commentator, but HDNet-contracted announcer Mike Hogewood will be taking over the PBP duties for the first batch of tapings on HDNet. Hogewood has worked as a college football and basketball announcer in the past, but this reeks of a bad idea. I would honestly be surprised if this lasts for more than the first set of tapings as I have a feeling that the ROH-bots will be very vocal in their dislike for a change like this to the product that they know and love. I don't know if it's something that they'll actually be able to change, but I damn sure bet they're going to try anything short of boycotting the show to get Leonard back. For his part, Leonard took the high road when addressing the situation on the ROH message board, saying that he's still under contract to ROH and that he'll continue to perform his duties to the best of his abilities while going under the assumption that he is still expected to be the PPV and DVD voice of ROH. I have to give major props to Leonard as I highly doubt that I would be able to handle something like that happening to me with such a positive attitude. We'll have to see how this plays out, but I would be surprised if Hogewood sticks around for six months. Hell, I'll be surprised if he makes it past three with the smark-heavy and wrestling-savvy Ring of Honor fans breathing down his neck. People ripped Mike Adamle apart and that was honestly with most of the IWC going somewhat easy on him. Hogewood could be driven to the loonie bin before too long if he messes up even a single move during the first taping. As for the picture, if you want to try to find a suitable sized picture of the real Lenny Leonard, have at it. I spent nearly twenty minutes trying and finally gave up before I missed my deadline. Besides, I find the ROH commentary that much funnier when I picture this guy as the one behind the mic.



Monday


The Show



Monday Night Raw Results:

Cryme Tyme and CM Punk vs. William Regal, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes - Winners: William Regal, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes (pinfall, DiBiase Dream Street on JTG)
Jamie Noble vs. Kane - Winner: Kane (pinfall, chokeslam)
Rey Mysterio vs. Mike Knox - Winner: Rey Mysterio (pinfall, roll-up)
WWE Women's Championship: Beth Phoenix vs. Melina (c) - Winner: Melina (pinfall, small package)
Unsanctioned Streetfight: Randy Orton vs. Shane McMahon - Winner: No Contest

The main events for WrestleMania XXV were seemingly set on Monday night on what could go down as one of the biggest episodes of Raw to happen in years in terms of storylines. The show opened with Edge, one of Smackdown's biggest stars, holding the World Heavyweight Championship after stealing the belt at the end of No Way Out by worming his way into Raw's Elimination Chamber match. Edge cut his usual promo with him talking about how much smarter he is than anyone else on the WWE's roster and that he is the rightful World Heavyweight Champion. John Cena came out to interrupt and these two seemingly picked up right where they had left off when Cena was the WWE Champion and Edge was the hungry challenger. Edge did a great job in referencing their past history including his beatdown on Cena's father before Cena challenged Edge to a bout which, while not referred to as such, is likely tabbed as half of the double main event that has become a WrestleMania staple. Both guys were on and for once Cena was actually believable with his promo work instead of just sounding like he was "SuperCena" and impervious to anything. That could have ended up being merely because Edge is such a strong promo he pulls everyone up to his level, but either way it was good stuff and a great way to open the show after the shockers at the pay-per-view the night before.

From there, we ended up with what will likely be the winner of next year's "Promo of the Year" award as Chris Jericho continued his parade of disrespect to the legends of the sport of professional wrestling. This time, since we were in the Pacific Northwest, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper came out to address Jericho in the midst of his begging the Academy Award voters to vote for anyone other than Mickey Rourke. Jericho said that if Rourke wins, he'll give hope to every loser past his prime that he can have one more run. Piper took exception and cut Jericho off, claiming he was going to shoot with him on this one. Usually, when Piper says he's going to shoot, it comes off as horribly lame and seems like he's trying way too hard to be cool. Instead, Piper cut a heartfelt, meaningful, incredibly emotional promo, saying that his Royal Rumble appearance last year made him feel like he was back at WrestleMania I and that if the fans wanted him to, he'd crawl on his hands and knees to the ring to entertain them because of how much they mean to him. Jericho couldn't stand this in the same way he couldn't stand Flair's similar feelings last week, so instead of letting Piper get a shot in first, Jericho attacked and dropped Piper by kicking his good leg out from under him. He hammered a couple of shots into Piper's gut and left the ring to a chorus of boo's the likes of which I haven't seen in ages. I just watched the beginning of the Saturday Night's Main Event DVD set and it's funny that Jericho was getting that kind of heat as the last time I remember a heel getting that much heat in the WWE/F was Piper himself during that run in 1985-86 with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. The fans at some of those matches looked like they wanted to kill Piper and would jump the rail for the privelege and considering Jericho's recent history, I'd be inclined to say he's reached that level as well. Incredible work from both men and this was one of the most compelling segments of Raw that I can remember. I just hope that whatever they have in mind for the WrestleMania payoff lives up to this build.

JBL and Shawn Michaels continued their war of words as both men felt like they had the earned the right to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania. JBL made his case first before HBK came out and confronted him, celebrating his win at No Way Out, which rendered his personal services contract with JBL null and void. Michaels did a good job in portraying himself as someone who's had the weight of the world lifted off of his shoulders and just continues on what has been one of the best runs of his career in the past fourteen months. JBL and Michaels eventually decided that they will battle next week on Raw, with the winner earning the match at WrestleMania. I have problems with this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the match at No Way Out didn't exactly set the world on fire so I'm leery of having to sit through it again next week on Raw. Secondly, while Taker spoke briefly to HBK at the Rumble, there is no indication that either man will be taken up on their challenge should they be successful in next Monday's bout. I'm all for having guys fight for the right to a big match and a big payday, but the fact that they're doing so completely separate from the man they would actually be facing is a pretty big chasm of a plot hole. This is going to lead to HBK/Taker, which was rumored a few weeks back, so that's a good thing considering how hot the finish to the Royal Rumble two years ago was, but it sucks that we have to suffer through JBL/Michaels again to get there.

The night ended with an unsanctioned streetfight between Shane McMahon and Randy Orton after Orton's win at No Way Out the night before. The streetfight itself was pretty pointless and a little lame as Shane continued to throw his girly punches while the guy who won the Royal Rumble was made to look as if he was having trouble dealing with a front office guy and part-time wrestler. The big developments came after the match, when Orton's Legacy faction came down to ringside and saved Orton from the Shane Terminator. They beat down McMahon and left him laying for Orton to score with his punt, leaving Shane glassy-eyed and laid out on the mat. Earlier in the show, Stephanie McMahon made a phone call asking someone to hurry to the arena to try to protect Shane, but we didn't see anyone out to protect him until it was too late. Stephanie ran down to check on Shane and Orton went off into IED Land and hit her with a massive RKO. Triple H, (who presumably was the person on the other end of the call) charged down to the ring to check on his wife as Orton bailed. Again, one of the biggest things that helped to sell the drama of what happened was that Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler said nothing. They let the scene itself tell the story, which is one of the things that the WWE does best. The entire angle was done very well and if I had to find something to complain about, it would likely be the faces that Triple H was making at the end of the show. Call me nit-picky, but he looked a lot more like he was trying to force out a massive shit rather than someone who was out for blood. There are ways to show you're angry and then there's completely over-acting and Triple H went at this one REALLY ham-handed and looked like a bit of an amateur. As I said, the angle itself is strong, especially Orton's "Oh shit" look at the end of the show, but Trips puffing his cheeks in and out like Dizzy Gillespie was a little much and made me laugh a lot more than it made me feel like there was hatred going between them.

All in all, this was one of Raw's strongest shows in a long time and was a great way to officially kick off the drive to Houston and WrestleMania XXV. We've got two feuds based on good, old-fashioned hatred and there are still some twists and turns left to go on the undercard including Jericho's opponent for Raw, who will be involved in Money In The Bank, the JBL/HBK/Taker scenario and more. It should be an exciting six weeks before we hit the Big One. Just a shame that the WWE can't book TV like this all the time, isn't it?


The Stories



-- WWE announced that the Survivor Series is next up to get the full-on WWE Anthology treatment in a story that is great news for a completist like myself. Following the success of the WrestleMania, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam sets, the Thanksgiving tradition will get their own full set featuring the classic moments from the first Survivor Series on. I have loved having the other three sets as it not only gives me a chance to watch some of the WWF/E's most famous matches, it also gives me hours of mindless entertainment to throw into a DVD player when I have a spare afternoon and a couple of hours to kill. I usually pick these up when they release them in the four volume sets as opposed to the one huge box set so I might not see them right away, but I will be hitting up Netflix for some of my favorite shows out of the set as soon as it's released to tide me over. Viva Los Conquistadors!!

-- Ring of Honor made some big news of the good variety on Monday after their somewhat shaky Sunday as they announced that they have signed a multi-event agreement with Ric Flair that will have Flair make meet and greet autograph session appearances as well as live appearances during select ROH events. The first such event is scheduled for March 13th in St. Louis, which was home to some of Flair's greatest matches when St. Louis was still a hotspot stop for the old NWA. There are more events on the horizon, with ROH announcing that they would release a list of events on their website at a later date. This is a great deal for both parties as ROH gets a rub from a sure-fire wrestling Hall of Famer and gets to sell some extra tickets based on an appearance of a legend, while Flair gets to take a victory lap of sorts to visit with fans in cities around the US. That's not even counting the fact that ROH fans are some of the smartest in wrestling so you know that they'll be giving Flair the utmost respect. I do have to say that it's kind of funny that the news of this deal comes out after Chris Jericho called Flair out for essentially the same thing not two weeks ago on Raw. I guess it turns out that Jericho was speaking the truth after all, no matter how misguided he seems.



Tuesday


The Show



ECW on Sci-Fi Results:

The Boogeyman vs. Paul Birchill - Winner: Paul Birchill (pinfall, schoolboy roll-up)
John Morrison vs. Tommy Dreamer - Winner: John Morrison (pinfall, Morrison's Moonlight Drive)
Tyson Kidd vs. Caden Matthews - Winner: Tyson Kidd (pinfall, top rope elbowdrop)
Finlay and Christian vs. Mark Henry and Jack Swagger - Winners: Finlay and Christian (pinfall, Christian Unprettier on Swagger)

Four matches usually makes an ECW show a fairly bad one and this week there wasn't much debating on that fact. The opening bout between The Boogeyman and Paul Birchill was pretty pointless as it did little to help Birchill get over and featured The Boogeyman wrestling, which is NEVER a good thing. I don't know why they even bother with The Boogeyman anymore, other than to have him put in his bi-weekly two minute appearances on Sci-Fi. As for Birchill, he's deader than dead in the water and I'd expect his name to make the hit list if the WWE does their usual post-WM housecleaning.

Dreamer and Morrison were up next and this one seemed to do little more than push Tommy's retirement angle forward as Morrison won yet again. This one got next to no time to tell a story, which is never a good thing when you're using a match to push an angle, and while Dreamer was actually able to put on a better showing this week, he still lost. This whole thing started off strong with Dreamer cutting his incredibly emotional promo before the announcement that if he wasn't champion by June, he'd retire. Since then, the wheels have pretty much fallen off completely to where Tommy looks like little more than a broken-down old jobber. I don't know how they're going to get this to what the logical finish to the angle would be with Dreamer losing a title shot in his last match, but so far I'm not filled with much hope when it comes to the way things are going now. Dreamer's credibility has been damaged even worse in the past few weeks with his poor performances and if it's not turned around after WrestleMania, the angle will be meaningless when they finally pay it off.

Tyson Kidd made his second appearance in ECW and it was a case of "second verse, same as the first" as he finished up a strong squash over a local jobber with his top rope elbowdrop. I like the way they're doing this and giving him impressive wins, but I'm hoping that it's going to be something that leads somewhere as there have been too many ECW guys that have been either forgotten about or buried before they can even gain any momentum. If ECW is supposed to be where some of the future stars of the WWE learn their craft, they have to be given the ability to learn that craft and to be able to have the time to grow as performers and wrestlers. Kidd has looked strong so far and in another few weeks he might have people actually caring about him a little bit and he could be ready for his first feud. Who they choose to put him in with in that feud is going to say a lot about what kind of chance they're going to give him because as most people say, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. I hope that they put him in with someone who can work well with him and help him make the feud believable, while still letting him take enough of a lead to get over. I still think that he would have been perfect to get involved in a nice little mid-card feud with someone like Jamie Noble and that it could have elevated both guys in the process with some great in-ring work, but since Noble appears to be Raw property now, I have no idea who they're going to stick Kidd with. You can only care about someone in a feud as much as you care about their opponent and a feud between Kidd and guys like Ricky Ortiz or DJ Gabriel would be death for both guys. I'm on the fence as to how this will all play out, but for now I'm a fan of Kidd and hope that he gets a shot to shine.

The main event featured Finlay and Christian teaming together to take on the two biggest heels in ECW, Mark Henry and the ECW Champion Jack Swagger. They got a decent amount of time and with three solid pros like Henry, Finlay and Christian in there, as well as the natural athletic ability of Swagger, the match was a very solid main event. Christian picked up the win again, making it two straight weeks that he's pinned Swagger and three straight weeks that Swagger's been pinned. I have to say that I don't agree with that kind of booking because if you've already seen Christian beat Swagger twice in a row, it makes it a little less intriguing when they face off for the ECW Championship in next week's main event. What does Christian have to be hungry about in terms of beating Swagger if he's already done it twice. Yeah, he wants the belt, but it makes it a little bit of an anti-climax when Christian finally wins because he's beaten Swagger so much beforehand. The better thing to do, especially leading into next week's match, would have been to have Christian get a visual pin on Swagger before Henry came in and broke it up. One World's Strongest Slam later, Christian would take the loss, but still look strong because A.) He's already beaten Swagger clean in a singles match, and B.) He would have had another win heading into the bout with Swagger with the belt on the line if it weren't for the heelish cheating. It may sound cliched, but there's a reason why those kind of cliches continue to work. The money is in the chase and if Christian is continuing to beat the champion, there's certainly not much of a chase.



The Stories



-- Tuesday sees us revisiting a story we touched on in last week's Bell to Bell as there are more details emerging in the situation involving Smackdown's future on MyNetwork TV. Last week, it was reported that the network was moving towards syndicated and repeat programming, leaving the WWE's Friday Night Smackdown show as the only first-run show on the station. That led to them losing their "network" designation and is thought to be the first step in the slow demise of the channel, which cobbled itself together out of affiliates left behind in the WB/UPN merger into the network now known as the CW, Smackdown's former home. On Tuesday, word came that if the MyNetwork channel ceases operations, the WWE could look to move Smackdown to WGN America and that that very option is one of the reasons why the WWE signed the deal with WGN to produce an updated version of WWE Superstars. WGN may not be featured prominently in certain markets and on certain cable systems, but it is featured heavily on both Dish Network and DirecTV and has great clearance all throughout the United States, which could prove to be even better for the WWE than the deal with the CW or MyNetwork TV was. This is incredible foresight from someone in the WWE to think about covering their bases if things went south with MyNetwork. I'm sure by this point that they're probably even hoping that MyNetwork fails so that they can solidify some of their programming and begin cross-promoting the two shows on the same network.



-- Tuesday also saw some news from TNA as they announced the signing of "Dark Angel" Sarah Stock to a deal that will likely see her become a featured player in the TNA Knockouts division upon her arrival. Stock has put together an impressive resume with her work in Mexico with CMLL as well as her few apperances in the SHIMMER promotion. I don't know if they're still planning on going forward with the Knockouts getting their own show on Spike, but even if they aren't this is a great signing for TNA and could give them someone who could rival what Gail Kim was to the division as their top babyface. Since then, no one has really stepped up as a top babyface for the women and if she's given the time and opportunity to get over, Stock could be that woman.



Wednesday


The Stories



-- Honestly, there's not a thing to report from Wednesday as everything was either small potatoes or interviews that all touched on things that have already been reported on either in this week's column or in previous columns. This is a rarity, especially in the days heading to WrestleMania, but it was a news-free day on Wednesday.



Thursday


The Show



TNA Impact Results:

No Holds Barred Streetfight: Lethal Consequences vs. Motor City Machine Guns - Winners: Motor City Machine Guns (pinfall, Sabin beltshot on Creed)
Brutus Magnus, Sheik Abdul Bashir and Matt Morgan vs. Shane Sewell and LAX - Winners: Shane Sewell and LAX (pinfall, Sewell top rope elbowdrop on Bashir)
Angelina Love vs. Taylor Wilde - Winner: Taylor Wilde (pinfal, roll-up)
TNA World Tag Team Championships: Eric Young and Petey Williams vs. Beer Money Inc. (c) - Winners: Beer Money Inc. (pinfall, Storm's Last Call on Williams)
Empty Arena Showdown: Kurt Angle vs. Sting - Winner: No Contest

The tension between Kurt Angle and Sting finally boiled over on Impact this week as they started and closed out the show again this week. The show began with Kurt Angle begging Jeff Jarrett for the empty arena fight with Sting while Jim Cornette voiced his concerns. Jarrett relented and the Impact Zone was cleared out for the end of the night as Angle and Sting fought it out with no one in the building except the camera crew and Tenay and West. The fight itself was exactly what you'd expect it would be as both guys beat the hell out of each other while laying on the shit talk with a thick brush. When it came to the end of the fight, the rest of the Main Event Mafia made their way into the empty arena, which led me to believe that it was possibly going to be a four-on-one beatdown. Instead, Nash tried to talk sense into both men and the night ended with Angle shaking Sting's hand and then spitting into his face. The post-fight promo with Sting was fantastic as he was super-intense without going overboard into Triple H territory. All signs seem to be pointing to Sting vs. Angle for the belt at Destination X, which could end up being a fairly decent match. My only hope is that if Angle wins, the Main Event Mafia stays strong because if the Mafia falls apart because of their in-fighting rather than someone from the Frontline or outside of the MEM taking them down, it will be a wasted opportunity.

Samoa Joe made the next step in his impending return, this time showing up in Scott Steiner's dressing room and nearly choking him out with a weight bar while Steiner worked out. It looks like Joe's going to take a route similar to the one the WWE tried to set up for Edge back in the day when he took on Evolution. Joe vs. Steiner will be the first step for Joe in his revenge tour as he'll likely take out Steiner at Destination X before moving on to his next victim. I spoke earlier about a wasted opportunity and if they're wanting to make Joe into the superstar that can carry TNA into the next decade, this is their chance. If he's given the opportunity to be the man that takes down the Main Event Mafia and he does it one man at a time, mano e mano, he will look like a million bucks and he'll cement his status as a true main event star. If they have Joe do anything less than destroying the Main Event Mafia, he'll end up looking weaker than he did when the angle began and there won't be any way to repair that damage. I'm really hoping that they let Joe take them all down, ending with his second title win over Angle, possibly all the way to Bound For Glory. If they don't let Joe be the man, it will be hard to take Joe or anyone else involved in the Frontline seriously as they'll end up being little more than bit players in the demise of the evil force that is trying to destroy TNA in the name of their own vanity.

The rest of Impact can be summed up in the two strong tag team matches, which were immensely entertaining, yet completely different in their own right. The first match of the night saw the Motor City Machine Guns taking on Lethal Consequences in a No Holds Barred Streetfight. The Guns heeled it up and snuck out a cheap win after Chris Sabin laid out Jay Lethal with Alex Shelley's X-Division Championship belt, but the action was fast and furious before that. I said in the Impact report that it was a great mix of high-flying action that is part and parcel of the X-Division, while they added in just enough of the elements of garbage wrestling to make the No Holds Barred element worthwhile. This just reinforces my opinion that the Guns should have been given at least a chance with the TNA Tag Team belts as they are one of the best teams going in wrestling today. My only concern is that with them entering into the tag team feud with Lethal Consequences, the X-Division title seems to be taking a back seat. Shelley deserved to get that title win as he's been one of the pillars of the X-Division since his debut, but he's barely had a chance to show what he can do with the belt outside of his bout with Eric Young at Against All Odds. I'm hoping that they'll give Shelley a chance to be a bit more of a stand-alone champion as he deserves to have his title reign be treated as such, rather than an afterthought.

The other tag match saw Beer Money Inc. introduce their "Off The Wagon" challenge. Essentially, anyone can challenge Beer Money for their belts, but if that team loses, the guy that takes the pinfall is fired from TNA and can never come back. This week there was a Team Canada reunion as Petey Williams and Eric Young teamed up to take on the best tag team in TNA today. It was actually a really exciting match and Young and Williams did well despite not teaming for quite a long time. Beer Money brought it like they always do and with some fun spots like the Tower of Doom and Petey's high-flying, this was easily the best match of the show. I really liked how Mike Tenay pointed out that these four were four of TNA's original stars and to me it was a great way for Petey Williams to go out after taking the pin. There's been some speculation that there might be some loophole to bring Petey back someday and while I think that that's a likely possibility, he's going to be gone for awhile, at least until things turn around for the economy and TNA can afford to have some extra guys on payroll again. Williams' emotional send-off from the TNA fans was a great moment and one that I really enjoyed, despite the fact that I know that I'm not going to get to see Williams again. A great final effort from one of TNA's best X-Division wrestlers and one of the better Impact matches I've seen in the past few weeks.

This was pretty much a two match show as the two tag matches delivered while the rest of the night was full of hit-and-miss action. Things are continuing to progress with the whole MEM angle, but as I said last week there's starting to be less and less attention paid to the undercard, which will bite TNA in the ass in the long run unless they make some changes. I'm not going to write the show off yet, but it feels a lot like they have all their eggs in the Main Event Mafia basket as things stand now. We all know how it turned out for WCW when they booked to placate the egos of their older stars and I'm hoping for TNA's sake they learn from that mistake because they have a ton of younger talent on their roster that could do big things for a national promotion.


The Stories



-- Thursday's biggest news was also the saddest of the week as a story came out of Minnesota with Verne Gagne suspected to be the culprit in the death of his roommate at an assisted living facility that helps with people who are suffering from the effects of Alzheimer's disease. Allegedly, Gagne and Helmut R. Gutman were involved in an altercation and during that altercation, Gutman suffered a broken leg and a head injury, dying four days later from those injuries. Apparently it wasn't the first incident between the two men as Gagne had been in several previous physical altercations while in the home, including an incident that saw Gagne choke Gutman. There is an investigation ongoing by the Bloomington, MN police department, though it is unknown at this time if any charges will be pursued against Gagne. My question to the people who run this facility is that if the two men had previously had a disagreement and came to blows, they should have been separated for their own good and the good of the rest of the home's residents, no matter who was at fault. How two men who are obviously not in their right minds can have a physical confrontation and then be allowed to continue living in the same area and possibly even the same room is mind-boggling. While I'm not going to excuse what Gagne may have done, there needs to be a long, hard look at the facility's operations as well as it appears that this whole tragedy could have been avoided with a few simple precautions.


-- The WWE took full advantage of their big rating from this past Monday's epsiode of Raw, issuing a press release to let everyone know that the company scored their most-watched episode since February of 2007, which was just before WrestleMania 23 featuring John Cena defending the WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels. The show drew a 4.1 rating and had a total viewership of over 5.9 million people. All of this can only mean one thing. This man....



..equals ratings. Yeah, I'm just as shocked as you are Adam. Honestly, I get that it's the road to WrestleMania and that more people tend to watch during this time of year, but how prophetic does this make Edge look when he's talked about how he brings the ratings when he's the champion. As much as you like to hate the man for the way he keeps worming into the title picture, you have to admit that he's a success when he finally gets the belt around his waist. As I said, there's likely more to it than just Edge, but he's got to be one of the reasons.



-- Finally on Thursday from the Gagging and Heaving Dept., Red Light District announced that they're back in the Chyna business with a second, hour-long, hardcore sex tape entitled "Another Night In Chyna". This was a horrible idea the first time, even before we knew about Chyna's rather um....large...love button, to put it nicely. Now that we know that she has nearly as big a cock as X-Pac did, it just seems like little more than something to laugh and point at, much like X-Pac's matches. The best part of all of this is that in the company's own press release, they refer to Chyna as a "handsome wrestling champ". That part made me laugh my nuts off. I'm sure there will be frightening pictures on the internet soon after this monstrosity is released, but until then there is nothing but your own horrifying visuals to fill your minds and haunt your dreams. How Hugh Hefner was able to airbrush out that she-wang twice, I'll never know.



Friday


The Show



Friday Night Smackdown Results:

Sigh. Yet again, my hook-up for Smackdown is not available, meaning that I'm flying blind. You know my policy about not wanting to talk about shows that I haven't seen, so I'm just going to touch quickly on the couple of bits of the show that I've actually been able to scrounge up on the internet. Damn living in an area that doesn't have a MyNetwork affiliate!! Damn it all to heck!!

Anyhow, the first thing I wanted to touch on was the Jeff Hardy/Matt Hardy/Edge angle, which continued again this week with a bit of a twist as they're now fighting over Raw's World Heavyweight Championship. I caught the match, but missed the promo so I didn't see how they got into the match itself, but I have to wonder how smart it was to give away Jeff Hardy vs. Edge on free TV, especially when it was little more than fodder for the continuing issue between Matt and Jeff. This could have been Jeff Hardy against anyone else and still been just as compelling when Matt made his attack at the end of the match. That's not even getting into the fact that they're going to do Matt and Jeff in a match next week, when the logical thing to do would be to keep the separated until WrestleMania to make that match mean a little more. If the Jeff vs. Matt match goes off next week, I'm going to be disappointed because it's going to be something that ends up taking away from their probable match at WM. The only way it won't damage that match is if it ends up being little more than a way for Matt to get in another attack on Jeff or if the match lasts two or three minutes and ends up being a double-DQ brawl. Anything more and they'll end up giving away something that could have probably drawn some money for them.

From what I hear, the Triple H sit-down interview with JR was good and I am excited to see it because I've always enjoyed Triple H when he was at his evil best rather than being the cool heel or the comedic babyface. If this is the Triple H that beat down Mick Foley and sent him into retirement or the Triple H that finished Austin in the Three Stages of Hell, this could be a tremendous build to the match with Orton at WrestleMania. For me, out of what I saw, the highlight of the night for the promos was this beauty of a segment featuring The Miz, John Morrison, The Bella Twins and The Colon Brothers. If you didn't see it check out JP's Smackdown Report to see it in all its glory. Miz and Morrison are rapidly becoming two of the most entertaining characters in the entire WWE and this just continued their massive roll. They're even doing the seemingly impossible and making the Colons entertaining, something I thought would never happen in a million years. Great segment and something that I'm very glad I was able to catch, despite not being able to see the full show. Them Bella bitches loves them some pie. I also like that Miz and Morrison are going to get a shot to become Undisputed Tag Team Champions. It'll probably never happen, but if any team was worthy of that honor in the WWE right now, they'd be the team.



The Stories

-- Lots and LOTS of news on a very busy Friday, so let's get right into it. First thing on the docket was the announcement that Ring Of Honor's upcoming show on HDNet has a debut date and it's set for March 21st. According to the HDNet website, the show will air at 8pm and 11pm EST on Saturday nights, beginning with that program on the 21st. ROH will be taping the matches that will air on the first six episodes of the HDNet show on February 28th and March 1st and it looks as if names like Nigel McGuiness, Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black, Jerry Lynn will be featured in the first set of tapings. Now that there's a set date for the show, I'm finding myself getting more and more excited and I can't wait to get to see the first show. It's been a long time coming for ROH and while I'm not a huge fan of promotion with a huge DVD library, I've always respected their product and enjoyed what I've seen of it on PPV and the internet so it should be a fun night when they get to make their national TV debut.


-- If it's February it means that as sure as that stupid hedgehog sees its shadow, Hulk Hogan will begin making his yearly promise/threat of a WrestleMania appearance. This time out, Hogan appeared on his friend Bubba The Love Sponge's radio show, saying that Hogan had spoken to Vince McMahon about making an appearance at the show, which correlates to rumors that the two had spoken which made their way around at the No Way Out show. I get that this is the 25th Anniversary (kinda) of the show and that Hogan was one of the pillars that built WrestleMania into what it is today, but I can safely say that I could NEVER see Hulk Hogan on my television again and it wouldn't affect me at all. In fact, the day that I knew that Hogan would never appear on a wrestling show again would probably be one of the best days of my life because for all he's done to build wrestling during his first WWF run, he's done just as much to destroy it in all the time afterwards. I'd rather focus on two great title matches, a match between two true legends in their home state and a brother vs. brother feud rather than seeing some dyed-orange goof with hair extensions trying to relive his glory days while burying someone who actually deserves to be there. If it ends up being Hogan/Jericho to end that whole angle, due to some sick twist of karmic fate, I'm pretty sure the internet will explode. Stick to what you know best Hulkster...



...seriously, for the good of the universe.


-- In a bit of good news from the TNA front, Robert Roode confirmed that he has signed a new deal with TNA in an interview he conducted with the Peterborough Examiner newspaper in Canada. Here's what Roode had to say on his extension, which runs for five years;

My contract is put away and I've re-signed for five years with TNA. I'm very happy about it. They wanted to sign me to a long-term deal. Most contracts are one to three years, but they wanted to keep me around for five. I'm quite pleased.

For now, I don't know what the future will hold for me, but signing the long-term deal is a good sign that in time they'll branch me off into a singles guy again. There are guys in our company right now -- like Kurt Angle, Booker T and Kevin Nash-- who are in their 40s and their careers are near the end. Mine is just peaking.

The company is looking toward their future and I think they'll mould me into one of their spots down the road. We'll have to see what happens, but I think that's what is going to be the case."

This is great news for TNA and for Roode as he's really come into his own in the past couple of years since shedding the Team Canada gimmick. Sure, Roode has had some stumbles and gone through some periods of time where he was a boring shell of what he is now, but he's been given the time to grow and now it's paying off in huge dividends for TNA. He and Storm are one of the best things going in TNA and it's nice to see TNA do the right thing for once and reward one of their homegrowns who has made good. I don't know if he'll ever be someone that hits the main event level, but he has found himself and a very entertaining character and Roode deserves every penny that TNA will be paying him over the next five years.

-- Also on Friday, the WWE announced via their website that they had future endeavored Scotty Goldman, the artist formerly known as Colt Cabana. While I think that it's a shame that Cabana was never given a true chance in the WWE, this release is likely the best thing for him as he'll be able to take some independent bookings and then come back strong to Ring Of Honor just in time for their second or third batch of TV shows on HDNet. Cabana is one of the more entertaining figures in ROH history and it will be fun to get to see him doing what he does best in his original home while still getting a national platform to do it on. The thing that I didn't understand is that while creative didn't have anything for him, some of them were down on his look and used that as an excuse. Now, I'm not a rocket scientist or anything, but wouldn't one assume that when he was hired on by the WWE that people would KNOW WHAT HIS FUCKING LOOK WAS. That seems to be a pretty critical part of being a talent scout. You know, having eyes. If they didn't like his look, why even bother hiring him in the first place. Cabana is gold on the mic and could have gotten over like a million bucks if he had been given even the slightest chance. Hell, stick him in ECW and put him behind the desk with Matt Striker. He couldn't have done any worse than that stick figure Todd Grisham does. Things like this really piss me off about the WWE because they take someone out of something successful and then kill off any momentum they have by doing nothing with them before cutting them. BAH!!



Saturday


The Stories



-- TNA saw another departure from their ranks on Saturday as Sonjay Dutt walked away from the promotion after contract negotiations with the company fell apart. Dutt has been a TNA mainstay for years and is thought of as the face of TNA in India, where the company does big business, so it will be interesting to see if this is a case of Dutt playing hardball to get a fair shake or if he's really done with the company. Apparently there were still plans for Dutt as of last week, so my guess is that TNA was expecting him to sign and this could be little more than a negotiating move from Dutt to try to get a little more money out of TNA. For now though, we're Sonjay-less as he's been removed from TNAWrestling.com, leaving his on-air valet and love interest So Cal Val up in the air, though to be fair she hasn't really been featured enough on TV to be missed if she doesn't end up coming back either. I wonder if he looked that angry on the way out the door in Orlando.



-- Also in the news on Saturday was Eric Bischoff's take on the sad incident involving Verne Gagne, who Bischoff worked for in the dying days of Gagne's AWA promotion. Bischoff spoke glowingly of Gagne, while trying to suggest that perhaps the situation could have been avoided if the Gagne family hadn't been driven into near-bankruptcy by the eminent domain claim that the state of Minnesota made against Verne's property in the early-90's. Bischoff is of the mind that if Gagne hadn't been forced into such a horrible deal, the family might have had enough money to provide better care for Verne than the assisted living facility he ended up in where the unfortunate incident with his roommate took place. I'm not going to jump onto that bandwagon as it seems like Bischoff is grasping at straws to try to find something to blame as he makes sense of the tragedy involving his former boss. I'll give him the fact that the claim may have affected the Gagne's fortune enough to keep Verne from receiving the absolute best medical care in his current state, but claims of that nature are made all the time and no one has ever managed to connect them to a death until now, no matter how flimsy the connection. I get that he's trying to stand up for Verne and trying to find a way to figure it all out, but there's better ways to do it than by lobbing up wild accusations based on speculation.


Well, that does it for me for another week. Be sure to check out Randle tomorrow and his top-notch Wrestling News Experience. I'll be back next week with my thoughts on the happenings in the world of pro wrestling, so come back and see me make it three in a row!! I'm an unstoppable force!! Until then, eat, drink and be merry.


If you're a fan of MMA, be sure to check out Nokaut.com for more of my work.