From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs...WWE's Revolving Door, Ric's Off HDNet, Hogan's Producer Doesn't Know Much, C.M. Turn Heel, Missing TNA, and More
By Matt Dawgs
Jun 12, 2009 - 11:50 AM
Matt Dawgs Presents: Thank Goodness It’s Friday!!!!!
Hello all. Welcome back and Happy Friday. I am back from my Florida vacation, which was well needed and deserved. Apparently a lot has happened in the past three weeks within the world of professional wrestling. Releases, signings, title changes, etc. So lets just get right to it. In my previous column on this site titled
“Matt Dawgs’ Random Thoughts, Opinions, Questions and Observations”, I wrote exactly what the title says I wrote. While this column will definitely hit you with that from time to time, I am also going just basically switch up the formula a bit with my random thoughts from each wrestling PROMOTION this week. Of course I will also throw in some thoughts on real world news, sports, entertainment and gossip. Please feel free to provide any thoughts or feedback on the new format. Enjoy.
1) WWE News and Notes
• Kennedy, Kennedy is Future Endeavored, Endeavored. I’m torn on this. While I was one of the few who saw the potential in him, the guy was super injury prone. As injury prone as no one else before him in the history of wrestling. Now from my understanding, the last straw was almost injuring Randy Orton. Not for nothing, but in his defense, it was an accident. I don’t think it was carelessness or whatever. Simple mistake. So if that was the ONLY reason he was let go then it is stupid. But if it was a combination of things, then I understand it. He can always come back to WWE in the future as long as he doesn’t go to TNA.
• Speaking of injury prone, guess who is hurt….AGAIN. Dave Batista. Unf*ckingbelieveable. He is expected to be out for up to 4 months, which means he will miss Summerslam. You know, the company’s second biggest pay per view of the year. He already missed Mania. My guess, he comes back early again and it out a few more months or…..he comes back on time, works like 6 months injury free before he hurts himself yet again.
• The Samoan Bulldozer Umaga has also been released. That is a shocker and a weird one because he has always had main event potential, a killer gimmick and can work. He was injured earlier this year and came back and was just placed in limbo. According to WWE, he failed his 2nd Wellness test and then subsequently refused to go to rehab so he was fired. Sources close to Umaga say that he quit. Either way, I think it is a potentially bigger loss than Kennedy Kennedy.
• Vickie Guerrero has also give the company notice. Not a huge loss from a main event caliber standpoint but sad nonetheless. I thought she was great in her role and was one of the best heels the company has had in a long time. Her reasoning for leaving was because she wanted to spend more time with her daughters, which makes sense to me. It is completely understandable. She has made a good amount of money and has been consistently on the show for almost 2 years if not more. Remember, she isn’t a wrestler so it isn’t something she had a passion for nor is it something she NEEDED to do. She did it, made her money and can come back in the future. Good for her.
• Chris Masters is returning. I like it. Always liked Masters, always thought he had potential and the “Masterlock” gimmick was fantastic. Never really “got” his release since it came after his 2nd wellness policy strike. Pretty random. Besides, Vince McMahon has always had a thing for big guys (that didn’t sound right but I am leaving it) and Masters fit the bill for the prototype of McMahon men. According to Dave Meltzer, the new Golden Boy, Randy Orton, recommended Masters.
• The CM Punk Heel turn may come to fruition. Jeff Hardy defeated Edge at Extreme Rules in a ladder match for the World title. Punk then cashed in the Money in the Bank and became World Champ. Future house show line-ups have Cena/ Mysterio teaming to face Big Show/Punk in tag matches. WHHHOOOOOOOO~!~!~!
HEEL PUNK!!!!!
• HHH is back. I am ok with him being back cause love him or hate him, he is by far one of the biggest stars in the company. That being said, I am completely lost as to why they wasted their hottest angle in a 10 minutes segment with Orton. In no way, shape or form should HHH have destroyed Orton like he did. After all the crap Orton put Hunter and his family through, beating Vince and Shane, laying out Stephanie and kissing her and finally injuring HHH and taking his title, you build to Hunter getting the revenge. You don’t BLOW IT OFF in a RAW segment. People would have paid money to see this on Pay Per View. Why not have HHH destroy Rhodes or DiBiase or BOTH?
• 3 Hour RAW this Monday. The main event is expected to be a 4-way for the vacant WWE title between HHH/Randy Orton/Big Show/John Cena
• Smackdown title will be Punk vs. Edge vs. Jeff Hardy
• ECW will be new ECW champion Tommy Dreamer defending against Christian.
• Chris Jericho continues to be awesome as proven by his record 9th IC Title win against Rey Mysterio. He is just all around fantastic with both his gimmick and his work. Once again Jericho, who had creative control over that angle, proves that he is the man when it comes to his own story lines.
• Kane is on a sabbatical. He had requested some time off to heal some nagging injuries that he had accumulated. They really didn’t have anything for him to do and he has been with the company long enough in order to get this request granted. He deserves the break. No matter your opinion of him, his gimmick or his work, he has done everything from the ridiculous to the awesome for the company since his debut and has definitely earned his keep.
• Kawal aka Low-Ki in FCW has an injured knee which is why he hasn’t been on FCW TV. He is still with the company.
2) TNA News and Notes
• I completely did not go to see any TNA events while in Orlando. I did have VIP tickets waiting for me from a friend of mine but just didn’t have the time to go. Would have been nice though.
• With that being said, I have not been following TNA so I have absolutely zero clue as to what is going on. I know that Sting is in charge of the Main Event Mafia and he has made some changes such as getting rid of the women and “Angle’s security” but that is pretty much the gist of it.
• I also know that the main event of Slammiversary will be a King of the Mountain match with Mick Foley putting the title on the line against Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and a TBA opponent.
• Shawn Hernandez has been cleared to wrestle a month earlier than originally planned so expect him and Homicide to be back in TNA shortly. They were written out after an attack by the British Invasion.
• The former Victoria has debuted in TNA. Good for her. She was misused for years by WWE. In TNA, if used correctly, she can have very good matches and help the TNA woman develop.
• Tazz is free to debut on July 1.
• Samoa Joe has an injured triceps that should effectively keep him out for up to 6 months. He is going to try and work through it and at least wrestle on the Slammiversary pay per view.
3) Ring of Honor News and Notes
• Ric Flair is done as an ON AIR character for Ring of Honor. He stated that he is going to re-sign with WWE and thus cannot be on HD-Net TV any longer.
• ROH will be ending their monthly pay per view airings with this weekend’s show that was taped Mania weekend. The contract with their distributor ended and they chose not to renew. They did state in their release that they plan on airing pay per views again in the future one day.
4) Random Thoughts, Links, Pics, ETC.
• Random PIC of the week.
• Big movie week ahead for me as I plan on catching up on some DVD’s that I have yet to see. Gran Turino, Twilight and more. Probably going to pay a visit to the theater to see Up as well as Star Trek and Hangover.
• Congrats or should I say Welcome Back to my friend Alicia who has come back to independent wrestling after a 2 year absence to go to college. She made her return at the Women’s Superstars Uncensored promotion in New Jersey where she will be exclusive as she finishes her last year of college before most likely going back to the Indies full time.
• Bret Michaels almost got BEHEADED.
• Finally watching One Tree Hill Season 6 a.k.a. the current season. HOLY SH*T IS IT GOOD.
• Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Ironman 2.
• Famous record producer Scott Storch
(seen in the episode of Hogan Know’s Best where Brooke signs her record contract and he produced her first single with Paul Wall) recently stated in an interview that he is broke and had drug problems. He literally blew through $30,000,000.00 in 6 months. 30 MILLION. WOW.
• Britney Spears TOPLESS. Also HERE and HERE.
• RIP David Carridine.
• Christina didn’t want to be left out. HERE.
• I'm on Twitter now.
@ MattDawgs
• GI JOE is going to SUCK.
• Zack Attack is BACK!!!!
Ok kiddies, classes are over for now. See you soon!!!!!!!!!
Feel free to discuss whatever you’d like in the “Anger Management” section of the message board or whichever section you see fit.
~Matt Dawgs
World Wrestling Insanity writer Matt Dawgs is the bread and butter of the World Wrestling Insanity family. His future is bright and once James Guttman comes into a large sum of money, you can expect Matt will be getting tons of it thrown at him, at least half of it. Matt used to moonlight as a professional wrestler/manager in the NY/NJ Indy scene. He is legit afraid of getting on Homicide’s bad side but thinks he is a cool dude in general. He also is a funny guy. If you have any questions, corrections, feedback, comments and ideas, he can be reached at Matt@worldwrestlinginsanity.com. If the feedback is negative, you can e-mail Matt at insanity@worldwrestlinginsanity.com.
P.S. – In case you didn’t know, James Guttman has a new WRESTLING BOOK out titled “Shoot First, Ask Questions Later”. It is a damn fun read so I suggest you run out and get it today. If you already have your copy, read it. If you already read your copy, read it again. It is funny; like me.
Also, don’t forget to check out CLUB WWI. It can be found by clicking the banner at the top of this page. Check out all the new audio updates and features found there. Some good stuff including all of James Guttman’s past Radio Free Insanity broadcasts as well as all new, uncut interviews with some of wrestling past and present names. Good stuff people.
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