Random Thoughts, Opinions, Questions and Observations.

Greetings from under the New Blue Yankee cap.

Oh vey, just when I thought wrestling promoters would smarten up and try to clean up their acts, they do the COMPLETE opposite and dig themselves deeper in a hole. Let’s start with the genius known as Jeff Jarrett. My theory, Jeff was upset at the fact that WWE received all of the attention in the media due to the horrible tragedy that took place, decided that any publicity is good publicity. Rather than make a name for themselves on their merits, they decide to sign to a contract, the most notorious football player in the game today, Adam “Pacman” Jones. Mind you, casual fans may have heard the name but he is far less popular than most football players, definitely less marketable and to be perfectly honest, not the best player at his position. He is a damn good player, but not the best by far. His main claim to fame however is somehow managing to get himself arrested 5 times since he was drafted in 2005 and brought into policy custody for questioning 11 other times. Ironically, Jones has been arrested more total times than he has interceptions since joining the NFL. He is currently suspended for the entire 2007 NFL season due to being under suspicion in a shooting event in Las Vegas that left a former professional wrestler paralyzed for life.

Mind you, Jeff Jarrett is probably thinking that “Pacman” is going to be TNA’s version of Mike Tyson. Let’s compare the two.

Tyson was arguably the best boxer of his era and prior to being incarcerated for rape, was on his way to being compared to Muhammad Ali as the greatest boxer ever. (I don’t think he would have ever actually gotten that title, but it was debated). He missed several prime boxing years due to being in jail and lost his luster. Several conspiracy theorists think he was railroaded by the legal system and Don King and that he was never actually guilty.

Adam Jones is a decent NFL Cornerback who has been in the league for two years and has been questioned by police or arrested for a total of 16 times in his 2 years since joining the NFL. He has little name value to casual football fans other than for his arrests. More people know the name of Michael Vick than Adam Jones.

So basically, Adam Jones is going to have zero iMPACT! On TNA’s ratings and once he gets convicted, (which I think he will), is going to cause TNA more harm than good.

Over in that other place, WWE decided that TNA was making too many waves with their Pacman signing that Vince McMahon has tried to outdo him by publicly turning Congress investigation of the WWE into a television angle. On RAW Monday, Vince McMahon compared Congress to Barney Fife (played by Don’s Knotts on the Andy Griffith show). He then mocked the IRS pretending as if he was being audited. Basically he vented his frustrations on national television about this investigation when in fact, if he has nothing to hide; this investigation should help WWE in the long run if it keeps wrestlers from dying, especially under his watch.

Instead of embracing this investigation and welcoming the chance to clean up the industry, Vince decides to “shoot” on Congress and muck things up worse for him and his company. My feeling, I doubt Congress knows what Vince said because honestly, people in the committees in Congress don’t look like they watch Monday Night Raw but if they do get word about this, they aren’t going to be happy they were mocked and even if Vince comes out and tells them that it was all entertainment, they are going to take it personally. This is much different than the steroid trial. That was the federal courts, yes, but it was a witch hunt on Vince. This, well this is much bigger and much worse. Congress is looking to abolish steroids completely. Unfortunately for them, due to unions, they can’t really touch baseball without baseball’s cooperation. Unfortunately for Vince, he doesn’t have a union because he has been so adamant at making sure one was never formed. So basically, they can’t really prevent Congress from investigating them. Congress has the power to subpoena documents, call witnesses, etc. Right now, they just formally asked for the documents. Should Vince not send them or not turn over everything, believe me when I say, Congress will get the documents they want one way or another. If they want to call the IRS for real and audit him, they will. They can make this an easy process or make it as uncomfortable as possible for Vince McMahon. It is completely up to him but poking a lion in a cage with a stick isn’t a good idea. That’s just my opinion.

So Umaga is a face now. It is kind of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, it is a fresh change of pace. On the other hand though, who ever heard of a monster babyface? Goldberg is the only one that comes to mind. Even Undertaker sold a lot during his first face run. Especially against monsters. I can’t really picture Umaga selling much to anyone on the Raw roster.

I haven’t watched TNA from beginning to end for a while now; can anyone tell me if they explained why Tomko is walking around with a title belt? I know why he is, I am just wondering if they explained it to fans who might not know he is a tag champ in Japan.

AJ Styles new character as “freshman buddy” to Christian’s “senior superstar” is PURE GOLD. I love it.

Congratulations to Samoa Joe on his recent wedding.

Andrew “The Punisher” Martin? I guess that just means that TNA won’t be signing B-Boy anytime soon though which sucks. I never understood why B-Boy doesn’t get as much props as he should. He isn’t featured in ROH, hasn’t been looked at by TNA. He is a damn good worker to have on a roster.

Madison Square Garden Raw next week. I will keep you all posted if I am going to attend or not. I did last time and sent Mallory a “real time” report of what was going on during commercial breaks. If I do, expect more of the same including Saturday Night’s Main Event spoilers which I will send to James for posting.

Santino Marella as a heel is GOLD. I see that there is a bandwagon to jump on. I may jump on just before it leaves. I dig his character however it is his work that needs….work. He is only average in the ring. Not stellar like MVP. I am one of those “work rate” guys so I need someone to be able to perform as well as be a decent character. But he is growing on me charisma wise.

Apparently Lindsey Lohan is in rehab in Utah. Some sources say she is in her mother’s house in Long Island. I doubt that. Paparazzi would have found her by now. It’s such a shame because she is one hot piece of ass with a ton of potential. I just saw the Parent Trap again the other day on cable and she was amazing for a 12 year old girl. Way above her age level as far as acting went.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 500^th career homerun. The man is only 32 years old. At the pace of 40 home runs a year for the next 10 years and he is on pace to hit 900+ home runs in his career. If he plays until he is 45 (Barry Bonds is 43 now), he can possibly break 1,000 career home runs. Amazing, simply amazing.

Speaking of the Yankees, as I write this, they are currently a half a game out of the wildcard lead and only 5 games behind Boston for the AL East lead. They are 20-7 since returning from the All Star Break. Go Yankees!!!!

And as I mentioned Barry "asterisk" Bonds earlier, he has surpassed Hank Aaron on the all time home run list. Say what you want about him and his “recreational hobbies” but you still have to give him credit where it is due. He has had longevity as he has been in the big leagues 20 years now and managed to play into his 40’s. Sucks that he gets this record the way he does while A-Rod is doing it naturally but it is what it is. Bonds started juicing when there was no watchdog looking over his shoulder and believe me when I say, I am sure he wasn’t/isn’t the only one juicing. Don’t blame him for it, blame baseball for not regulating things sooner. I am sure many in baseball’s upper echelon knew about steroids and other drugs in the game long before Barry Bonds name surfaced as a user.

William Regal is the new RAW General Manager and Jonathan Coachman is back to being a sidekick. I swore I mentioned this in my column two weeks ago that Coach was better in a secondary role. Does someone in WWE read this column? I think so.

Speaking of Regal, I was working while watching RAW so I missed some commentary but did anyone mention that Regal was Commissioner before which was the predecessor to being GM? If not, they should have.

I am a bit disappointed. I watched the two Corey’s on A&E which is the “reality show” featuring Corey Haim and Corey Feldman and it isn’t what I expected it to be. Turns out now that I hear that it isn’t exactly a reality show. It’s scripted by Haim and Feldman. It’s similar to Hogan Knows Best where they present these absurd situations and Haim and Feldman are just acting and ad-libbing things. I wanted REAL Haim and Feldman damnit!!!

Speaking of reality shows though, L.A. Ink debuts this week with the hot Kat Von D . She used to tattoo for Miami Ink but left after a dispute with owner Ami James. So now she has her own tattoo show in Los Angeles. Watch it. She is one of the best tattoo artists alive. Plus the more I see this show and her hot, tattooed friends, I become more and more attracted to girls with a lot of ink.

Suit guy Kurt Angle still isn’t working for me. I did enjoy the Karen Angle “angle” but “Ric Flair Kurt” doesn’t work. It isn’t his persona, it’s just the look. Comedy/Heel Angle is GOLD and I think if done correctly (not how WWE did it) can draw money at the top of the card. But Angle in a suit pretending to be rich isn’t. His promo in the tanning bed was amazing. Ric Flair/Ricky Steamboat angle revisited with the stripping of Angle by Joe?

Karen Angle is SMOKING HOT THOUGH. It’s just unfortunate that they are doing all this build up for fans to hate Angle and cheer Joe when at the end of the day; they are going to end up burying Joe by having him job again and lose all the belts to Kurt. Ridiculous.

Iron Sheik on Howard Stern. WATCH IT. Hilarity ensues.

Someone needs to buy Jeff Jarrett a mirror for his house and hotel rooms. Seriously Jeff, what the f*ck do you do when you go shopping? Do you just grab whatever you find in a store without looking at it?

Guillermo stars in The Bourne Ultimatum

Did anyone see this new iPhone commercial from Apple? This thing is amazing and this commercial makes me want to go buy one today!!!

Mitsuharu Misawa will be wrestling for Ring of Honor this year. I am sure some if not all of you have never seen him wrestle and possibly even never heard of him but let me tell you, at one time in the late 90’s, he was the best wrestler in the world. Watching him now isn’t going to convince you that but if you are ever able to get a tape compilation of All Japan’s “Big 4” (Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, & Akira Taue ) by all means do so and enjoy; especially if you are a fan of wrestling.

This just in, apparently WWE has signed YET ANOTHER 3^rd generation wrestler, the daughter of Kerry Von Erich, Lacey Von Erich. You can see some nice pictures of Lacey HERE , HERE  and HERE .  What is with wrestlers having hot daughters join the business? First Jim Neidhart and now Kerry Von Erich.

Building a company around former WWE and WCW names isn’t the way to pass WWE on the totem pole. It worked for Eric Bischoff because he caught lighting in a bottle and started off by signing the biggest name in the business at the time, Hulk Hogan, to raise awareness of his company and get WCW on the radar. He still floundered in the ratings for a few years before signing two WWE main eventers still in their prime in Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. TNA signing former WWE midcarders like “Test” Andrew “The Punisher” Martin, Dustin “Golddust” Rhodes, “A-Train” Giant Bernard Matt Bloom, Matt Morgan and negotiating with Rikishi Fatu and Brian Christopher is not going to put the WWE out of business nor will it garner a bigger rating boost. Look at TNA’s roster and look at all of the talent that is wasting away in the mid card like Senshi, Homicide, Jay Lethal, Rhino, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelly, AJ Styles, and Christopher Daniels. Compare the TV time they get to the likes of guys like Team 3D, Kurt Angle, The Voodoo Kin Mafia, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, and Sting.

Smackdown is going to be getting a big boost over the next few weeks/months as both Rey Mysterio and the Undertaker are returning from injury. Rey will be back at Summerslam (my guess is he will be on TV before then) while Taker will be back at Unforgiven. Good stuff for WWE with all the recent injuries to their main guys. Taker will probably feud with Mark Henry upon his return while Mysterio is going to feud with Chavo for a quick minute (I fully expect it to be one match) before moving on to someone else.

MINOR SMACKDOWN SPOILER AHEAD:

I heard that they are pairing Kenny Dykstra with Victoria on television as a “couple” (Kenny is engaged to RAW Diva Mickie James in real life). This can only be good news for Kenny as Victoria is well respected by both her peers and by management. Even though she is regulated to Smackdown with no women’s title around, aligning Kenny with her can only boost his career. He has tons of potential.

THANKS XOFDRE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CM Punk vs. John Morrison at Summerslam. Anyone else think Punk is doing the job? Well I do and that is because he probably is. Sucks for him as well as for Punk fans but let’s face facts, he isn’t getting a serious push anytime soon. My bet is that Elijah Burke wins the title before Punk does.

Speaking of getting pushes and ECW, where in the blue hell is Marcus Cor Von? This family emergency must really be serious. I hope everything is ok.

Big Daddy V is growing on me. More so than Santino Marella. V is getting good but he is still no MVP.

So Vince McMahon has an illegitimate child huh? Early guesses are that it is Mr. Kennedy but……knowing WWE, since everyone is expecting it to be Kennedy, they will probably swerve us and make it someone else. Either way, I don’t really care much. I am a Kennedy fan so his being Vince’s “son” doesn’t affect me either way. He is still going to get a solid push, he can still work and he still has charisma. I guess it helps him in the end because he is guaranteed a main event push. I am holding out hope that it will be Colt Cabana though. That would rule.

Bobby Lashley is undergoing shoulder surgery. Best case scenario, he will be back in 2 months thus bringing him back in time for Survivor Series along with Edge (who may be able to make it back by then). However if the damage is worse than expected, he won’t be back until 2008, possibly after Royal Rumble. We will see.

According to Dave Meltzer , William “Steven” Regal was NOT, I REPEAT, NOT one of the people who received text messages from Chris Benoit. He stated that both men were very close at one time in their careers but they haven’t been close in the past 10 years because Regal’s wife was close with Benoit’s FIRST wife and was unhappy with Chris when they divorced. Regal’s wife was not close and didn’t like Nancy Benoit so they kind of stopped being friends outside of work. When at WWE shows, Regal and Chris were close however they did not talk about family stuff. They only spoke about wrestling and were looked at as locker room leaders. Regal used to travel with Chris and Eddie Guerrero however gave it up because Chris and Eddie were too disciplined in their routines and Regal couldn’t handle waking up at 7:00 am daily to eat 20 egg whites and go to the gym. The reason for his strange sounding tribute on RAW was not because he had prior information nor did he receive a text message from Benoit but because he and JBL were talking prior to it being filmed and JBL knew Regal was close to Benoit had asked him straight up “You don’t think Chris had anything to do with killing Daniel, do you?” Regal was so shocked at the thought that he didn’t want to say anything until more information came out.  

It’s a shame that Scott Steiner got over years after his prime. Scott is real good at promos, has a fantastic look and knows how to work a crowd. Problem is, he can barely move in a ring anymore. If he had the wrestling ability of his prime years yet the look, charisma and mic work of today, he’s have the potential to be the biggest draw of all time. He is exactly what Vince McMahon was looking for when he tried to push Lex Luger and the Lex Express. Steiner would have been the next Hogan back in the early 90’s. Such a shame.

Ok kiddies, classes are over for now. See you all next week.

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 also moonlights 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 Dawgs@worldwrestlinginsanity.com . If the feedback is negative, you can e-mail Matt at insanity @ worldwrestlinginsanity .com .

P.S. – In case you didn’t know, there is a WRESTLING BOOK that is out titled “World Wrestling Insanity”. 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.

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