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WrassleGAF August Edition: Cult of Personality
- Thread starter Mr. Sam
- Start date
- Status
Professor Beef
Banned
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oEOysgO02EJdFoX187 said:
BillRiccio
Member
WRASSLEGAF CLASSICS ON DEMAND let me know when i made my first wrassleGAF post. I'm an OG from the first month. 10-07-2007, 08:16 PM. I think it would be fun to see how long some of you other dudes have been talking wrestling.
Net_Wrecker
Member
JdFoX187 said:
So you're just gonna run with this Lance Storm gimmick, huh? Mod intervention happened ONE time when Midnight Wrassle-Gaf got too extreme for Google. Lighten up, dawg. This thread is cyclical from srs business to goofy and everything in between.
sf2fanatic
Member
Lately what I do like is that the wrestlers are talking more smack to each other before or during a match. Instead of a staredown.
Dork Knight
Member
I like this thread just the way it is.
But my only complaint...
Where the hell is the official WRASSLEGAF SHIRT?
Seriously, guys!
But my only complaint...
Where the hell is the official WRASSLEGAF SHIRT?
Seriously, guys!
Shhhh. It's okay.JdFoX187 said:
spindashing
Banned
It wouldn't sell.Dork Knight said:
Professor Beef
Banned
Only if it had Cena on it.spindashing said:
Shadowlink
Member
Holy Shit! Never saw this before. What happened to Sid after?MetalFearSolid said:
dream
Member
TNA this past week fired Matt Hardy, and then a few days later, officially called Jeff Hardy, on an indefinite suspension, to return.
Matt Hardy, 36, was fired on 8/20 after he was arrested that afternoon after crashing his Corvette. He was already on thin ice, as he was on an indefinite suspension because they thought he had problems. While those close to him said he insisted neither he nor Jeff have ever been asked to go to rehab by TNA, those with direct information on that have claimed to us thats a boldface lie.
Jeff was called two days later and told to return for the 8/25 television tapings in Huntsville, AL. Matt was likely to be asked to return as well, since they wanted both back for the build to Bound for Glory on 10/16 in Philadelphia, the companys biggest show of the year.
The decision to bring back Jeff Hardy ranks probably above the decisions to bring in Adam Pacman Jones after he was suspended from the NFL, and the companys last attempt to do something with Scott Hall, that backfired at the end as well. Hardy was suspended after being in no condition to perform in the main event for the 3/13 Victory Road show in Orlando. He was sent to the ring and Sting pinned him in 1:28, with him seemingly oblivious to what was going on. Those who have been in contact with Jeff and Matt of late say Matt has his ups and downs and Jeff seems to be in far worse shape. The last few months in TNA, Jeff was the one who was always in trouble, including nearly being pulled from a PPV a few months earlier because he fell asleep and seemed out of it, but people managed to talk management out of stripping him of his title and taking him off the show. Matt was described as being fine much of the time, but seemingly embarrassing at other times, while Jeff was described as always being a potential problem.
Nevertheless, because they are doing television in a live setting and probably feel that its important to get ratings, that have been down of late, back up, since they live and die by ratings, being morally and creatively bankrupt, the easy decision is to try and bring someone in who was a WWE star. Jeff was the most over wrestler in the business at times in 2009. There had always been the plan to bring him back as a babyface.
But its one thing to give a guy a second chance. Its another for this situation. Jeff Hardy was first bounced from WWE for refusing to go to rehab. He was then bounced from TNA for repeatedly no-showing TV and PPV events. WWE actually hired him back. He was twice suspended for failing drug tests, and had a few embarrassing stories come out. But his popularity as a singles wrestler skyrocketed as few years ago, to the point that in 2009, he was the single most popular wrestler in the world.
When he left WWE after his contract expired, he was upset that WWE had C.M. Punk do promos making fun of him being arrested on drug charges. Even though WWE felt they couldnt use him because of the pending charges, they tried everything they could to keep him from going to TNA.
But Hardy went, with TNA pushing him, and even giving him the world title in a very controversial call while he had felony charges pending. His performance level dropped greatly last year, and a heel turn rendered his drawing power, and he actually had some in TNA, largely gone. It wasnt until he couldnt even perform on a PPV show that the company was forced into doing something, and they suspended him. Bringing him back only proves the axiom, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me 50 times, and Im so mind bogglingly stupid that its beyond having any pity when the inevitable takes place. The idea theyd call him two days after firing Matt, when Matt was the one considered the more dependable and stable of the two, and granted, thats a low standard, would be downright shocking if it wasnt TNA.
Matt was discovered at 12:46 p.m. by North Carolina highway patrol trooper B.J. Smith, on the side of the road near Raleigh after his 2009 Corvette crashed into a tree. He was near Vass, NC, about 15 miles from home. He was not injured past some cuts and scrapes when the side window smashed and pieces of the window sliced up his face, arms and neck. The trooper said he saw signs of impairment and arrested him. Matt Hardy passed the breathalyser test. Hardy then submitted to a blood test and was taken in on charges of Driving While Impaired and Exceeding Safe Speed while driving.
The officer estimated Hardy was driving at between 55 and 70 miles per hour when his car ran off the road, first hit a pipe, and then a tree. He was released from Moore County jail at 7 p.m. that night. He is scheduled for a hearing on 9/28.
Shortly after his release from jail, Dixie Carter made the call to let him go. Hardy wrote some things on twitter, noting he took a breathalyser and came up clean, but then hours later, took them all down. This is a bad one for him because I just dont see WWE taking him back unless he goes to rehab, and even then, at his age and with his track record, they would probably not rush to bring him back, and could very well pass on him completely, given the situation when he was released late last year.
Matt Hardy had complained at the end of his last run about not being given the ball when people who he didnt think were as good as him were. Even before he had the issues that led to his suspension in June. He was not getting over nearly as well in TNA as he should have, partially because he wanted to be a heel and the crowd didnt care about him in that role and also because he didnt wrestle at near the level he had been wrestling on for years in WWE.
Hardy then wrote, When the side windows glass smashed into my face, arms and neck, some of the blood that did felt almost angelic. I went from being afraid to die to feeling like I was almost being reborn with some sort of an absolute pure life force. It was the most amazing thing Ive ever experienced. I felt like Id just received the blood of an angel flowing inside me. I know this sounds crazy. Due to these, I only have urges to help people. And miraculously, all my vices are gone.
Its the latest in what has been a steady stream of problems, from being arrested for reckless driving earlier in the month (he has a court date of 10/11 for that charge), being kicked out of the hotel at WrestleMania this year in Atlanta after fighting at 3 a.m. with his girlfriend, Reby Sky, to shooting her with a taser gun on video, to being sent home and suspended by WWE, then claiming he wasnt, and negotiating his release.
Raw on 8/22 did a 2.97 rating and 4.64 million viewers, the second lowest non-holiday mark of the year.
The number was down because the New York Giants vs. Chicago Bears preseason game on ESPN did a 4.45 rating and 5.85 million viewers. That number doesnt include over-the-air viewership of the game in both the New York and Chicago markets, which would increase that number significantly. Raw was No. 4 for the night on cable. Another example of why it was down being football is that the female viewers were strong, but male viewers were the lowest of any Raw except the 7/4 show this year with a 64-36% skew, which doesnt bode well for male viewership when the regular season begins and football attracts double that audience.
In the segment-by-segment, the opening segment with Alberto Del Rio, John Cena, C.M. Punk and HHH did a 3.29 first quarter. A disaster is that Del Rio vs. John Morrison lost 777,000 viewers. Nikki Bella vs. Eve Torres stayed even. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley lost 105,000 viewers and did a 2.72 quarter, one of the lowest of the year not including the 7/4 show. The in-ring with HHH, Kevin Nash and C.M. Punk gained 597,000 viewers, which is slightly better than average for the slot. But the tag title win by Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne over David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty lost 494,000 viewers. The Miz & R-Truth promo gained 148,000 viewers. Cena vs. Punk was a big success, gaining 1,186,000 viewers to a 3.65 overrun. Essentially what has happened is theyve buried the mid-card, and the fans see Del Rio and Morrison as mid-card, so youve got Cena, Punk, HHH and Nash (and as far as Nash goes, given hes been in with the big guns in every segment, there is no evidence he is or isnt a big gun) are all the swing viewers care about right now.
Bellator on 8/20 did an 0.2 rating and 226,000 viewers for the live airing and an 0.1 and 114,000 viewers for the replay. It was the fifth highest rated of the 14 Bellator events that have aired on MTV 2.
Smackdown on 8/19 did a 1.86 rating and 2.92 million viewers, ranking it fourth for the night on cable. That didnt stop them on Did You Know for claiming they were No. 1 on cable for the second straight week.
MMA Live on 8/19 did an 0.18 rating on ESPN 2 at 11:45 p.m., coming right after live boxing that did a 0.31.
Impact on 8/18 did a 1.05 rating and 1.46 million viewers, placing 16th for the night. The show did a 0.60 in Males 18-34 and 1.04 in Males 35-49.
In the segment-by-segment, Devon vs. Scott Steiner and the X Division gauntlet intros gained 56,000 viewers. The X Division Gauntlet match itself lost 83,000 viewers. Traci Brooks cleavage in Eric Bischoffs office lost 195,000 viewers. ODBs cleavage vs. Mickie James gained 334,000 viewers, one of the biggest gains for TNA of the year, and a 1.18 quarter. Once again, that kills the Jersey Shore theory given that the most growth of any segment and highest rated segment of the show went against Jersey Shore. RVD vs. A.J. Styles lost 236,000 viewers. Crimson and Kurt Angle going nose-to-nose lost 42,000 viewers. And the Mexican America title win over Beer Money lost 14,000 viewers and did a 0.97 rating.
CMT aired two pro wrestling related shows on 8/17. The movie To The Mat, about a small Southern wrestling troupe starring Ricky Schroder did a 0.29 rating and 327,000 viewers. It was followed by the TV show Made, featuring Matt Morgan teaching someone to be a pro wrestler, which did a 0.07 rating and 83,000 viewers.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
The IGF announced that Josh Barnett had pulled out of the 8/27 show at Sumo Hall where he was to face Jerome LeBanner in a match to create the groups first world heavyweight champion. Doing the show was going to be difficult because it would mean an arduous trip to and from Japan and a few days in Japan to promote the show during what should be the hardest part of his training camp for his 9/10 Strikeforce heavyweight tournament fight with Sergei Kharitonov. The company made it clear they are looking to sign Barnett to a new long-term contract and put the match with LeBanner together later. Zuffa doesnt want its fighters doing pro wrestling, although Barnetts Strikeforce contract allowed him the ability to do so. Barnett was expected to win the title. Since it was a tournament and Barnett forfeited the final, it was announced that LeBanner is the groups first world heavyweight champion and he will defend his title against Kazuyuki Fujita. . New matches announced are the Brazilian giant Montanha Silva vs. Ray Sefo, Harry Smith vs. Hideki Suzuki and Daijiro Matsui vs. Akira Joe. Not announced, but the angle has already been shot, would be Naoya Ogawa coming out of retirement against Atsushi Sawada. Among the other top matches are Peter Aerts vs. Shinichi Suzukawa (who they are grooming to be one of their big native stars), Masahiro Chono vs. Yuichiro Nagashima, Mil Mascaras vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and a kickboxing match with former K-1 star Musashi vs. Hidekazu Kimura. Bobby Lashley is also scheduled.
Hulk Hogan on Lindas insinuation in a radio interview that he and Ed Leslie has a homosexual relationship: Feel sorry for Linda Hogan. I cant believe how low a person will go, even to lie to hurt others just to stay in her perverted spotlight. She will have to answer to the power upstairs for her evil lifestyle. I can only pray for her. What a wasted life.
Apparently at the last PPV, when Hogan found out what the finish was for Sting vs. Angle, he blew his stack and cut a promo on Russo saying that he didnt know anything about wrestling because he was never a wrestler. As if you were a wrestler it makes you immune from not getting how to book wrestling . And if you werent, it immediately drains your IQ to where you think the only guy in wrestling who makes sense and knows what theyre talking about is Ultimate Warrior. Well, given that most who watched the show had the same reaction as Hogan, groaning over the finish, it has nothing to do with being a wrestler. But at TV, they were back to at least giving the idea whatever heat was gone.
Mysterio was telling people that he believed his ACL and MCL were both torn before SummerSlam and the Del Rio match last week, and was going to take it easy to get through both matches. Obviously in hindsight that wasnt the best of plans. We havent heard of the MRI results, but he is scheduled to undergo major reconstructive surgery on 8/26 and they are hoping he makes it back for WrestleMania, but the talk I heard was that would be touch-and-go and probably right after. Hes going to wind up with some major arthritis in his knee and probably need a knee replacement when he gets older.
There was a corporate restructuring of the web site. Brian Kalinowski, the Executive Vice President of Digital Media and Mark Keys, the Vice President of Digital and Interactive Content Production & Social Media were both let go this past week. They are bringing in someone new to oversee the web site. Kalinowski was the guy who was in charge of the major overhaul of the web site, with more video content, was in charge of licensing and consumer products and restructuring of the WWE shop web site. Many were critical of Kalinowski as a guy recruited from outside of wrestling who didnt understand the unique business, but he grew to learn the business and was considered a strong leader by many who were surprised he was let go. The feeling was his dismissal had nothing to do with his job performance and everything to do with Stephanie McMahon-Levesque taking over control of the web site. WWE.com is now part of a new division called WWE Creative. There will be other changes and restructuring as part of Stephanies vision and concept. There is a bigger power struggle going on, between Stephanie and production head Kevin Dunn. Stephanie is not the fan of Dunn that Vince is. Those close to the situation note a power struggle going on, that even Dunn is aware he will lose at the end, but Dunn is solid as long as Vince is around because Dunn is one of the few people Vince listens to and completely values the opinion of. When Vince is gone, that will be another story. The digital media department was unhappy finding out Kalinowski was leaving, but morale had been bad once they got the memo that Stephanie was now the head of the department and everything going forward would be coordinated through her office.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
The idea talked about this week is to constantly plug twitter during Raw every week and try and get things trending. Then, during the show, the web site crew that is at TV is to monitor twitter and feed Dunn when anything is trending on twitter, so he can pass it off to Michael Cole. I guess they dont realize how minor league and insecure they come off when they go how so and so is trending on twitter. If other sports did it, and the most popular reality shows did it, that would be one thing, but since they dont, and other sports and entertainment shows are far more popular, they come off as the insecure stepchild of sports and entertainment. Plus, because of Coles lack of credibility, when he says it, most people arent going to believe it anyway.
The live Smackdown on 8/30 in Wichita is going to combine both Raw and Smackdown talent. I would think WWE will push it hard, hoping to draw a big number for the live Tuesday show, which to convince Syfy to get it off Friday. Announced so far are Orton vs. Christian for the title in a cage match and Del Rio vs. Sin Cara.
Heavyweight boxer Monte Barrett, who is friends with Cena, has approached Cena about trying to get a match with David Tua, a fellow heavyweight boxer, at WrestleMania. He said it wouldnt be a boxing match, but a match under pro wrestling rules and that Tua has agreed. I dont know if that means they think theyd shoot with pro wrestling rules like the old RINGS/Pancrase stuff, or theyd be doing a worked match, but one would suspect the latter, and to me, it sounds like its something that makes no sense. Barrett and Tua arent even remotely big enough mainstream names to justify having a poorly worked match on the show. Barrett, according to Boxing Scene said hes been texting Cena but they havent directly talked about it, but expects to this week. (Cena) is in contact with the talent department and theyre looking at exactly how theyre going to approach this whole thing where it works out for everybody. Tua is the nephew of Afa Anoai of the Wild Samoans, and hed be cousins with the Usos.
Bret Hart will be doing three dates with the American Wrestling Rampage promotion in Ireland because his WWE contract has expired, although he works with WWE whenever he gets the phone call. He did an interview with Wrestling Voice, and said this regarding his relationship with Michaels: I suspected from the very beginning that me and Shawn, our handshake would be more BS than anything else and that we were still going to loath each other and hate each others guts for the rest of our lives. But the truth is that he was very humbled and grateful that I was willing to forgive everything and the reality is we were able to become good friends since then. Knowing that it really meant something to him, meant something to me and we actually have a really good friendship now. I think Shawn was always a bit of a prima donna and I didnt think hed be sincere when he shook my hand and the gratification I got over a few weeks and months after that, you could really see it was a weight lifted off his back and he seemed appreciative and grateful that we could be on good terms again.
Nash made it clear last week on Raw that he was not going to read from a script. He tried to do it the first time, got lost, and said hed only take bullet points from now on. HHH backed him up on it.
Nash also was joking to his friends about Punk, making fun of how small he was when he picked him up for the power bomb. The 90s term Vanilla Midgets is the 10s term 7th grader as in he was so small when I picked him up I thought I was picking up a 7th grader.
Nash was in Pittsburgh over the weekend getting all the required medical testing before he can sign his WWE performers contract so hell be used as an in-ring performer. He had to cancel a series of Canadian dates.
The backstage shot of Nash walking around and shaking hands was because of the twitter drama between Booker T and the Young Bucks.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
Ross wrote about working on the Austin DVD this past week in Stamford. It will be a four DVD set that will be released at the end of November, geared for the Christmas season. He noted that he and Austin together did a new commentary track for three of Austins Mania matches, the one with Bret Hart, Michaels and the WM 17 match with Rock. Ross also said about a music video on the DVD that it was as moving as any Ive ever experienced in the business. The DVD also includes a visit to his home, the Broken Skull Ranch and it has comments on the documentary from Austin, Ross, Vince McMahon, HHH, Michaels, Jericho, Christian, Punk, Rock, Paul Heyman and Dutch Mantel.
Brett DiBiase, the son of Ted, is being released by his own accord. Brett was at one point going to join Legacy, and at another point Ted DiBiase, Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig (McGillicutty) were going to be used as The Fortunate Sons in a trio, but Brett got hurt and they decided to put Hennig in NXT. He had the potential to be a good worker, but was on the small side for what WWE likes. He had neck problems and knee problems, and at 23 has already had neck fusion surgery and just had his fourth knee operation. He was cleared to wrestle after the neck fusion but he was in so much pain for days after taking bumps, he decided to try and stay in the business by being a referee, but found out that going down to the mat fast as a referee is hell on your knees so he asked out of his deal.
Todd Grisham gave his notice and is leaving the company for a job with ESPN. Grishams first love was always soccer, but WWE paid better than his soccer announcing on Fox Sports Net (he was doing both). His days have been numbered since he got taken off the Smackdown announcing crew and for a while the impression I was given is that he knew it would be good to be sending out his resume, really dating back to when Vince demoted him. He had been host of NXT, but that show of late seems like your weigh station before being released.
Funny story. Dean Malenko in San Diego came out and kind of loudly as a joke said, Well, Rey, were in San Diego, your home town, so you know what that means, youre doing the job. Malenko and Mysterio are actually friends since Malenko helped Mysterio adapt to U.S. style in WCW, and it was said almost making fun of the company unofficial teaching to writers that when youre in a guys home town, you beat him.
Dustin Runnels, now working as an agent backstage, also wrote something negative about Generation Me not shaking hands with people when they had their tryout last week. What we were told is this makes things interesting, because WWE did like them before, but having Booker and Goldust bury them on twitter has to hurt them. Im kind of surprised they even tried out after saying they didnt want the schedule.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
Matt Hardy, 36, was fired on 8/20 after he was arrested that afternoon after crashing his Corvette. He was already on thin ice, as he was on an indefinite suspension because they thought he had problems. While those close to him said he insisted neither he nor Jeff have ever been asked to go to rehab by TNA, those with direct information on that have claimed to us thats a boldface lie.
Jeff was called two days later and told to return for the 8/25 television tapings in Huntsville, AL. Matt was likely to be asked to return as well, since they wanted both back for the build to Bound for Glory on 10/16 in Philadelphia, the companys biggest show of the year.
The decision to bring back Jeff Hardy ranks probably above the decisions to bring in Adam Pacman Jones after he was suspended from the NFL, and the companys last attempt to do something with Scott Hall, that backfired at the end as well. Hardy was suspended after being in no condition to perform in the main event for the 3/13 Victory Road show in Orlando. He was sent to the ring and Sting pinned him in 1:28, with him seemingly oblivious to what was going on. Those who have been in contact with Jeff and Matt of late say Matt has his ups and downs and Jeff seems to be in far worse shape. The last few months in TNA, Jeff was the one who was always in trouble, including nearly being pulled from a PPV a few months earlier because he fell asleep and seemed out of it, but people managed to talk management out of stripping him of his title and taking him off the show. Matt was described as being fine much of the time, but seemingly embarrassing at other times, while Jeff was described as always being a potential problem.
Nevertheless, because they are doing television in a live setting and probably feel that its important to get ratings, that have been down of late, back up, since they live and die by ratings, being morally and creatively bankrupt, the easy decision is to try and bring someone in who was a WWE star. Jeff was the most over wrestler in the business at times in 2009. There had always been the plan to bring him back as a babyface.
But its one thing to give a guy a second chance. Its another for this situation. Jeff Hardy was first bounced from WWE for refusing to go to rehab. He was then bounced from TNA for repeatedly no-showing TV and PPV events. WWE actually hired him back. He was twice suspended for failing drug tests, and had a few embarrassing stories come out. But his popularity as a singles wrestler skyrocketed as few years ago, to the point that in 2009, he was the single most popular wrestler in the world.
When he left WWE after his contract expired, he was upset that WWE had C.M. Punk do promos making fun of him being arrested on drug charges. Even though WWE felt they couldnt use him because of the pending charges, they tried everything they could to keep him from going to TNA.
But Hardy went, with TNA pushing him, and even giving him the world title in a very controversial call while he had felony charges pending. His performance level dropped greatly last year, and a heel turn rendered his drawing power, and he actually had some in TNA, largely gone. It wasnt until he couldnt even perform on a PPV show that the company was forced into doing something, and they suspended him. Bringing him back only proves the axiom, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me 50 times, and Im so mind bogglingly stupid that its beyond having any pity when the inevitable takes place. The idea theyd call him two days after firing Matt, when Matt was the one considered the more dependable and stable of the two, and granted, thats a low standard, would be downright shocking if it wasnt TNA.
Matt was discovered at 12:46 p.m. by North Carolina highway patrol trooper B.J. Smith, on the side of the road near Raleigh after his 2009 Corvette crashed into a tree. He was near Vass, NC, about 15 miles from home. He was not injured past some cuts and scrapes when the side window smashed and pieces of the window sliced up his face, arms and neck. The trooper said he saw signs of impairment and arrested him. Matt Hardy passed the breathalyser test. Hardy then submitted to a blood test and was taken in on charges of Driving While Impaired and Exceeding Safe Speed while driving.
The officer estimated Hardy was driving at between 55 and 70 miles per hour when his car ran off the road, first hit a pipe, and then a tree. He was released from Moore County jail at 7 p.m. that night. He is scheduled for a hearing on 9/28.
Shortly after his release from jail, Dixie Carter made the call to let him go. Hardy wrote some things on twitter, noting he took a breathalyser and came up clean, but then hours later, took them all down. This is a bad one for him because I just dont see WWE taking him back unless he goes to rehab, and even then, at his age and with his track record, they would probably not rush to bring him back, and could very well pass on him completely, given the situation when he was released late last year.
Matt Hardy had complained at the end of his last run about not being given the ball when people who he didnt think were as good as him were. Even before he had the issues that led to his suspension in June. He was not getting over nearly as well in TNA as he should have, partially because he wanted to be a heel and the crowd didnt care about him in that role and also because he didnt wrestle at near the level he had been wrestling on for years in WWE.
Hardy then wrote, When the side windows glass smashed into my face, arms and neck, some of the blood that did felt almost angelic. I went from being afraid to die to feeling like I was almost being reborn with some sort of an absolute pure life force. It was the most amazing thing Ive ever experienced. I felt like Id just received the blood of an angel flowing inside me. I know this sounds crazy. Due to these, I only have urges to help people. And miraculously, all my vices are gone.
Its the latest in what has been a steady stream of problems, from being arrested for reckless driving earlier in the month (he has a court date of 10/11 for that charge), being kicked out of the hotel at WrestleMania this year in Atlanta after fighting at 3 a.m. with his girlfriend, Reby Sky, to shooting her with a taser gun on video, to being sent home and suspended by WWE, then claiming he wasnt, and negotiating his release.
Raw on 8/22 did a 2.97 rating and 4.64 million viewers, the second lowest non-holiday mark of the year.
The number was down because the New York Giants vs. Chicago Bears preseason game on ESPN did a 4.45 rating and 5.85 million viewers. That number doesnt include over-the-air viewership of the game in both the New York and Chicago markets, which would increase that number significantly. Raw was No. 4 for the night on cable. Another example of why it was down being football is that the female viewers were strong, but male viewers were the lowest of any Raw except the 7/4 show this year with a 64-36% skew, which doesnt bode well for male viewership when the regular season begins and football attracts double that audience.
In the segment-by-segment, the opening segment with Alberto Del Rio, John Cena, C.M. Punk and HHH did a 3.29 first quarter. A disaster is that Del Rio vs. John Morrison lost 777,000 viewers. Nikki Bella vs. Eve Torres stayed even. Jack Swagger vs. Alex Riley lost 105,000 viewers and did a 2.72 quarter, one of the lowest of the year not including the 7/4 show. The in-ring with HHH, Kevin Nash and C.M. Punk gained 597,000 viewers, which is slightly better than average for the slot. But the tag title win by Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne over David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty lost 494,000 viewers. The Miz & R-Truth promo gained 148,000 viewers. Cena vs. Punk was a big success, gaining 1,186,000 viewers to a 3.65 overrun. Essentially what has happened is theyve buried the mid-card, and the fans see Del Rio and Morrison as mid-card, so youve got Cena, Punk, HHH and Nash (and as far as Nash goes, given hes been in with the big guns in every segment, there is no evidence he is or isnt a big gun) are all the swing viewers care about right now.
Bellator on 8/20 did an 0.2 rating and 226,000 viewers for the live airing and an 0.1 and 114,000 viewers for the replay. It was the fifth highest rated of the 14 Bellator events that have aired on MTV 2.
Smackdown on 8/19 did a 1.86 rating and 2.92 million viewers, ranking it fourth for the night on cable. That didnt stop them on Did You Know for claiming they were No. 1 on cable for the second straight week.
MMA Live on 8/19 did an 0.18 rating on ESPN 2 at 11:45 p.m., coming right after live boxing that did a 0.31.
Impact on 8/18 did a 1.05 rating and 1.46 million viewers, placing 16th for the night. The show did a 0.60 in Males 18-34 and 1.04 in Males 35-49.
In the segment-by-segment, Devon vs. Scott Steiner and the X Division gauntlet intros gained 56,000 viewers. The X Division Gauntlet match itself lost 83,000 viewers. Traci Brooks cleavage in Eric Bischoffs office lost 195,000 viewers. ODBs cleavage vs. Mickie James gained 334,000 viewers, one of the biggest gains for TNA of the year, and a 1.18 quarter. Once again, that kills the Jersey Shore theory given that the most growth of any segment and highest rated segment of the show went against Jersey Shore. RVD vs. A.J. Styles lost 236,000 viewers. Crimson and Kurt Angle going nose-to-nose lost 42,000 viewers. And the Mexican America title win over Beer Money lost 14,000 viewers and did a 0.97 rating.
CMT aired two pro wrestling related shows on 8/17. The movie To The Mat, about a small Southern wrestling troupe starring Ricky Schroder did a 0.29 rating and 327,000 viewers. It was followed by the TV show Made, featuring Matt Morgan teaching someone to be a pro wrestler, which did a 0.07 rating and 83,000 viewers.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
The IGF announced that Josh Barnett had pulled out of the 8/27 show at Sumo Hall where he was to face Jerome LeBanner in a match to create the groups first world heavyweight champion. Doing the show was going to be difficult because it would mean an arduous trip to and from Japan and a few days in Japan to promote the show during what should be the hardest part of his training camp for his 9/10 Strikeforce heavyweight tournament fight with Sergei Kharitonov. The company made it clear they are looking to sign Barnett to a new long-term contract and put the match with LeBanner together later. Zuffa doesnt want its fighters doing pro wrestling, although Barnetts Strikeforce contract allowed him the ability to do so. Barnett was expected to win the title. Since it was a tournament and Barnett forfeited the final, it was announced that LeBanner is the groups first world heavyweight champion and he will defend his title against Kazuyuki Fujita. . New matches announced are the Brazilian giant Montanha Silva vs. Ray Sefo, Harry Smith vs. Hideki Suzuki and Daijiro Matsui vs. Akira Joe. Not announced, but the angle has already been shot, would be Naoya Ogawa coming out of retirement against Atsushi Sawada. Among the other top matches are Peter Aerts vs. Shinichi Suzukawa (who they are grooming to be one of their big native stars), Masahiro Chono vs. Yuichiro Nagashima, Mil Mascaras vs. Tatsumi Fujinami and a kickboxing match with former K-1 star Musashi vs. Hidekazu Kimura. Bobby Lashley is also scheduled.
Hulk Hogan on Lindas insinuation in a radio interview that he and Ed Leslie has a homosexual relationship: Feel sorry for Linda Hogan. I cant believe how low a person will go, even to lie to hurt others just to stay in her perverted spotlight. She will have to answer to the power upstairs for her evil lifestyle. I can only pray for her. What a wasted life.
Apparently at the last PPV, when Hogan found out what the finish was for Sting vs. Angle, he blew his stack and cut a promo on Russo saying that he didnt know anything about wrestling because he was never a wrestler. As if you were a wrestler it makes you immune from not getting how to book wrestling . And if you werent, it immediately drains your IQ to where you think the only guy in wrestling who makes sense and knows what theyre talking about is Ultimate Warrior. Well, given that most who watched the show had the same reaction as Hogan, groaning over the finish, it has nothing to do with being a wrestler. But at TV, they were back to at least giving the idea whatever heat was gone.
Mysterio was telling people that he believed his ACL and MCL were both torn before SummerSlam and the Del Rio match last week, and was going to take it easy to get through both matches. Obviously in hindsight that wasnt the best of plans. We havent heard of the MRI results, but he is scheduled to undergo major reconstructive surgery on 8/26 and they are hoping he makes it back for WrestleMania, but the talk I heard was that would be touch-and-go and probably right after. Hes going to wind up with some major arthritis in his knee and probably need a knee replacement when he gets older.
There was a corporate restructuring of the web site. Brian Kalinowski, the Executive Vice President of Digital Media and Mark Keys, the Vice President of Digital and Interactive Content Production & Social Media were both let go this past week. They are bringing in someone new to oversee the web site. Kalinowski was the guy who was in charge of the major overhaul of the web site, with more video content, was in charge of licensing and consumer products and restructuring of the WWE shop web site. Many were critical of Kalinowski as a guy recruited from outside of wrestling who didnt understand the unique business, but he grew to learn the business and was considered a strong leader by many who were surprised he was let go. The feeling was his dismissal had nothing to do with his job performance and everything to do with Stephanie McMahon-Levesque taking over control of the web site. WWE.com is now part of a new division called WWE Creative. There will be other changes and restructuring as part of Stephanies vision and concept. There is a bigger power struggle going on, between Stephanie and production head Kevin Dunn. Stephanie is not the fan of Dunn that Vince is. Those close to the situation note a power struggle going on, that even Dunn is aware he will lose at the end, but Dunn is solid as long as Vince is around because Dunn is one of the few people Vince listens to and completely values the opinion of. When Vince is gone, that will be another story. The digital media department was unhappy finding out Kalinowski was leaving, but morale had been bad once they got the memo that Stephanie was now the head of the department and everything going forward would be coordinated through her office.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
The idea talked about this week is to constantly plug twitter during Raw every week and try and get things trending. Then, during the show, the web site crew that is at TV is to monitor twitter and feed Dunn when anything is trending on twitter, so he can pass it off to Michael Cole. I guess they dont realize how minor league and insecure they come off when they go how so and so is trending on twitter. If other sports did it, and the most popular reality shows did it, that would be one thing, but since they dont, and other sports and entertainment shows are far more popular, they come off as the insecure stepchild of sports and entertainment. Plus, because of Coles lack of credibility, when he says it, most people arent going to believe it anyway.
The live Smackdown on 8/30 in Wichita is going to combine both Raw and Smackdown talent. I would think WWE will push it hard, hoping to draw a big number for the live Tuesday show, which to convince Syfy to get it off Friday. Announced so far are Orton vs. Christian for the title in a cage match and Del Rio vs. Sin Cara.
Heavyweight boxer Monte Barrett, who is friends with Cena, has approached Cena about trying to get a match with David Tua, a fellow heavyweight boxer, at WrestleMania. He said it wouldnt be a boxing match, but a match under pro wrestling rules and that Tua has agreed. I dont know if that means they think theyd shoot with pro wrestling rules like the old RINGS/Pancrase stuff, or theyd be doing a worked match, but one would suspect the latter, and to me, it sounds like its something that makes no sense. Barrett and Tua arent even remotely big enough mainstream names to justify having a poorly worked match on the show. Barrett, according to Boxing Scene said hes been texting Cena but they havent directly talked about it, but expects to this week. (Cena) is in contact with the talent department and theyre looking at exactly how theyre going to approach this whole thing where it works out for everybody. Tua is the nephew of Afa Anoai of the Wild Samoans, and hed be cousins with the Usos.
Bret Hart will be doing three dates with the American Wrestling Rampage promotion in Ireland because his WWE contract has expired, although he works with WWE whenever he gets the phone call. He did an interview with Wrestling Voice, and said this regarding his relationship with Michaels: I suspected from the very beginning that me and Shawn, our handshake would be more BS than anything else and that we were still going to loath each other and hate each others guts for the rest of our lives. But the truth is that he was very humbled and grateful that I was willing to forgive everything and the reality is we were able to become good friends since then. Knowing that it really meant something to him, meant something to me and we actually have a really good friendship now. I think Shawn was always a bit of a prima donna and I didnt think hed be sincere when he shook my hand and the gratification I got over a few weeks and months after that, you could really see it was a weight lifted off his back and he seemed appreciative and grateful that we could be on good terms again.
Nash made it clear last week on Raw that he was not going to read from a script. He tried to do it the first time, got lost, and said hed only take bullet points from now on. HHH backed him up on it.
Nash also was joking to his friends about Punk, making fun of how small he was when he picked him up for the power bomb. The 90s term Vanilla Midgets is the 10s term 7th grader as in he was so small when I picked him up I thought I was picking up a 7th grader.
Nash was in Pittsburgh over the weekend getting all the required medical testing before he can sign his WWE performers contract so hell be used as an in-ring performer. He had to cancel a series of Canadian dates.
The backstage shot of Nash walking around and shaking hands was because of the twitter drama between Booker T and the Young Bucks.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
Ross wrote about working on the Austin DVD this past week in Stamford. It will be a four DVD set that will be released at the end of November, geared for the Christmas season. He noted that he and Austin together did a new commentary track for three of Austins Mania matches, the one with Bret Hart, Michaels and the WM 17 match with Rock. Ross also said about a music video on the DVD that it was as moving as any Ive ever experienced in the business. The DVD also includes a visit to his home, the Broken Skull Ranch and it has comments on the documentary from Austin, Ross, Vince McMahon, HHH, Michaels, Jericho, Christian, Punk, Rock, Paul Heyman and Dutch Mantel.
Brett DiBiase, the son of Ted, is being released by his own accord. Brett was at one point going to join Legacy, and at another point Ted DiBiase, Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig (McGillicutty) were going to be used as The Fortunate Sons in a trio, but Brett got hurt and they decided to put Hennig in NXT. He had the potential to be a good worker, but was on the small side for what WWE likes. He had neck problems and knee problems, and at 23 has already had neck fusion surgery and just had his fourth knee operation. He was cleared to wrestle after the neck fusion but he was in so much pain for days after taking bumps, he decided to try and stay in the business by being a referee, but found out that going down to the mat fast as a referee is hell on your knees so he asked out of his deal.
Todd Grisham gave his notice and is leaving the company for a job with ESPN. Grishams first love was always soccer, but WWE paid better than his soccer announcing on Fox Sports Net (he was doing both). His days have been numbered since he got taken off the Smackdown announcing crew and for a while the impression I was given is that he knew it would be good to be sending out his resume, really dating back to when Vince demoted him. He had been host of NXT, but that show of late seems like your weigh station before being released.
Funny story. Dean Malenko in San Diego came out and kind of loudly as a joke said, Well, Rey, were in San Diego, your home town, so you know what that means, youre doing the job. Malenko and Mysterio are actually friends since Malenko helped Mysterio adapt to U.S. style in WCW, and it was said almost making fun of the company unofficial teaching to writers that when youre in a guys home town, you beat him.
Dustin Runnels, now working as an agent backstage, also wrote something negative about Generation Me not shaking hands with people when they had their tryout last week. What we were told is this makes things interesting, because WWE did like them before, but having Booker and Goldust bury them on twitter has to hurt them. Im kind of surprised they even tried out after saying they didnt want the schedule.
A friend RVD made comment few week back..now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my hand no! Yes I said SMALL!!!
Net_Wrecker
Member
dream you dick :lolol I knew it
Alligatorjandro
Banned
Poor Matt
Dork Knight
Member
Curious: Do the Young Bucks have small hands? Can anyone confirm? Thanks!
Professor Beef
Banned
Booker and Goldust burying people?
MAKE THEM CHAMPS NOW
MAKE THEM CHAMPS NOW
MetalFearSolid
Banned
Shadowlink said:
Well last match for WCW, and tried to sue WCW because they put him up to do that or something..
I got to thinking, with Jeff Hardy returning to TNA in Huntsville, AL as a babyface, and heel Kurt Angle needing an opponent for No Surrender who isn't in the BFG series (thus eliminating Crimson) I think there are good chances we'll see Hardy vs Angle at No Surrender. Their last TNA matches were great and depending on Hardy's condition if anyone can get a good match out of him it would be Angle. I just hope it doesn't end up being a repeat of Victory Road.
MetalFearSolid
Banned
djsandman said:
Great Idea..
Uno Venova
Banned
I can't believe the action this thread gets compared to past Wrassle threads.
bean breath
Member
That "Fortunate Sons" stable sounds interesting. They should have McGillicutty dump Otunga, DiBiase wrap up his feud with Rhodes and put them together as a tag team with that name.
Liquidsnake
Banned
sf2fanatic said:
CM is a master at this, he looks into the camera and makes facial expressions, that make me want to watch him more. He does these little things that make him seem so real.
HarryDemeanor
Member
Change him back to Joe Hennig! McGillicutty is such a horrible name.
MetalFearSolid
Banned
HarryDemeanor said:
I heard Orton was pissed at WWE for not making Joe Hennig use real name as well..
Ninja_Hawk
Member
Aww, poor Johnbean breath said:
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Liquidsnake
Banned
DMczaf said:
My thoughts exactly. I was worried when I saw the initial rating.
TheNatural
My Member!
dream said:
Umm ... ok.
HarryDemeanor
Member
Yeah it was part of his rant during the WWE 12 roster reveal. I'm glad he feels the same.MetalFearSolid said:
Dork Knight
Member
It doesn't matter what you call Joe McGenesis -- the dude just doesn't have it. Just like David Flair didn't have it.
Nothing wrong with that either -- some have it, some don't. Just 'cause your dad was famous, doesn't mean you will be.
Nothing wrong with that either -- some have it, some don't. Just 'cause your dad was famous, doesn't mean you will be.
TOM f'N CRUISE
Member
Liquidsnake said:
lol i heard that cena is a nice guy in real life.... sucks that he sucks so muchbean breath said:
Dork Knight
Member
djsandman said:
Don't worry -- the FE Train is always ready to leave the station!
Net_Wrecker
Member
Dork Knight said:
How many times has he been on the mic, or in a real feud for anyone to say he doesn't have "it." I don't think that's fair. Alex Riley on the other hand has been given a better chance to blow than most midcard guys in the company, and is going nowhere.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
There was a shit load of brahs around here that were saying Otunga had the "it" factor. Same with Abraham Washington. I will find those brahs if they don't admit it in this thread, that includes Outcast and his alt account. Fuck David Otunga fucking piece of shit terrible and everything can't evven put a small guy in a small package. He's so fucking terrible that he practices wrestling with his son and didn't know it wasn't real and sent him to the hospital with muscular dystrikaphy. And if you don't believe look at that babies face. ya dig.djsandman said:
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