T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs: Jericho's Masterpiece, Swanton Done, The Jarrett/Angle-Angle Angle, Total Nonstop From LAX To Samoa, Lebron Gets Dunked On, and More

T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs: Jericho's Masterpiece, Swanton Done, The Jarrett/Angle-Angle Angle, Total Nonstop From LAX To Samoa, Lebron Gets Dunked On, and More

Matt Dawgs Presents: Thank Goodness It’s Friday!!!!!

Hello all. Welcome back and Happy Friday. Took a much needed week off in order to get some personal stuff done but now I am back and believe me when I say, TONS of news going on out there. 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

•   The guest GM/Host angle is continuing on and on while I do not think it is really contributing anything to the product. ZZ Top was this week’s hosts and while RAW did have the oldest viewer ship numbers EVER (over 40 years old people watching), their final ratings number remained the same as normal which means that while they did gain new viewers, the lost young viewers.
•   This week’s host will be Shaquille O’Neal which will at least be entertaining since he is a wrestling fan and will probably have fun with it.
•   Next week will be Entourage Star Jeremy Piven. Piven probably isn’t a wrestling fan but is a good actor and funny as hell so he should be able to make something come out of it.
•   Besides the guest GM’s/Hosts, RAW has been basically a retread of the previous weeks show. Nothing new has happened. Everything has lost momentum and there has been lack of storyline advancement. That isn’t a good thing heading into a pay per view this Sunday.
•   I have no idea what the hell happened to Evan Bourne and why after three weeks of build did they scrap the entire Big Show vs. Kingston vs. Bourne angle. Instead, they dropped Bourne from the feud and are making it a 6 way at the PPV. Even weirder is that they also don’t have Primo in the six way but do have Carlito. Talk about last minute booking.
•   Being that both Dolph Ziggler and Miz are wrestling in matches at Night of Champions, I think (or at least hope) that WWE creative think outside of the box for Chris Jericho’s partner and give the title belt and the run to the returning Chris Masters. That would be a good move since Masters can be a “bully/bodyguard” type character for Jericho.
•   For all intents and purposes, Jeff Hardy is done with the company shortly. He has stated that he needs time off and doesn’t plan on signing with TNA, just wants a break from wrestling. He is more than likely going to work Summerslam without a contract if he is asked (although I doubt they will ask). He has been nothing but a model employee for the past few months in doing everything that has been asked of him and has been a huge part of getting CM Punk over as a credible main eventer.
•   Where’s Beth Phoenix?
•   Shawn Michaels is being advertised as returning for Summerslam so I expect a huge angle to take place over the next few weeks to build to his return.
•   JBL did an interview with Live Audio Wrestling where he said that when he decided to retire, he wasn’t offered anything by WWE. No announcer role, no GM role, nothing. So he left and probably isn’t coming back. TNA had offered him a position but he turned them down initially. Negotiations have recently opened up again with them so we will see. I am surprised that he wasn’t offered a role within WWE considering he retired at Mania and WWE needed a replacement for Tazz. Especially surprising since JBL has a very good relationship with Vince McMahon.

2) WWE Night of Champions Line-up

•   WWE Title: Randy Orton © vs. John Cena vs. HHH
•   World Title: CM Punk © vs. Jeff Hardy
•   ECW Title: Tommy Dreamer © vs. Christian
•   Woman’s Title: Mayrese © vs. Mickie James
•   Diva’s Title: Michelle McCool © vs. Melina
•   Unified Tag Team Titles: Chris Jericho and ??? © vs. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
•   IC Title: Rey Mysterio © vs. Dolph Ziggler
•   U.S. Title: Kofi Kingston © vs. Big Show vs. MVP vs. Jack Swagger vs. Carlito vs. Miz

3) TNA News and Notes

•   Turmoil and drama is what is on the agenda for TNA this week and for the very near future. Apparently TNA co-founder and shareholder Jeff Jarrett is currently living with the wife (and daughters) of Kurt Angle. Normally there is an unwritten code when it comes to wrestling that you can sleep with the same girl/rat/diva/valet etc as someone else but once marriage and especially kids become involved, it becomes a whole different story. Due to this development, the future of Jeff Jarrett and professional wrestling is very much in doubt. TNA owner Dixie Carter has sent Jarrett home on a “leave of absence” but sources say she is irate about this whole situation and is interested in buying Jarrett’s shares of the company. Basically that will effectively end Jarrett’s career in pro wrestling. It is a given that WWE would never take him back and I am pretty sure he isn’t going to try and start his own wrestling company. I highly doubt that the above-mentioned scenario would come true being that this is wrestling and in the end it is going to turn into an angle (no pun intended).
•   Kurt Angle has pretty much threatened to leave the company should Jeff Jarrett remain in power. He said he will go back to WWE when his contract is up (which is shortly) unless he himself gets booking power.
•   That being said, TNA presented Victory Road last weekend and it was BY FAR the worst PPV of the year and possibly of all time. There was nothing note worthy on this show and that says a lot considering both Sting and Mick Foley tapped out in their respective matches which is something that no one thought would ever happen.
•   The Sting tap out was very interesting because it wasn’t booked. Sting was supposed to lose via pinfall to Samoa Joe by the Muscle Buster. Joe tried to get it on with Sting on the top rope, which is what he does for heavier guys. Unfortunately it didn’t work and he dropped Sting. He then tried to lift Sting from the floor for the move but Sting wasn’t cooperating. So Joe instead locked on the choke and told Sting to TAP. Sting did. What was even more unfortunate was that this match took place right before the Foley/Angle match that had Foley tapping. So seeing Sting tap clean right before Foley tap clean kind of sucked all the heat away from Foley’s tapping.
•   Speaking of no heat, Taz debuted as Samoa Joe’s mentor and frankly, no one cared. I could not have come up with a more anti-dramatic debut if I could have tried. He wasn’t involved in the finish to the Joe/Sting match. He didn’t affect the outcome. Instead he just walked to ringside, Joe all of a sudden stopped selling Sting’s offense and beat him. Taz didn’t say a word nor did he touch Sting. Instead they saved his debut promo for iMPACT.
•   Which is a nice transition to mention Bobby Lashley’s debut. You see, Lashley was backstage at Victory Road yet he didn’t appear on camera. No promo, no showing him backstage. NOTHING. TNA management instead chose to show a sit down interview Lashley did for ESPN. In it, he mentioned signing with TNA and then talked about wanting to fight Brock Lesnar in MMA. How this manages to get TNA over is beyond me. Talking about a man who works for UFC (which UFC will NEVER plug TNA ever), how it is important for Lashley to fight him and how much Lashley loves Mixed Martial Arts. Baffling to me.
•   Even more baffling is how Kevin Nash continues to get away with burying anyone who wasn’t a star in the 1990’s. In his pre match promo before fighting AJ Styles, Nash managed to say that all of the younger guys on the roster are in the same spots they were 5 years ago. How does that benefit TNA or the roster? HOW? He then guaranteed he was winning the Legends Title or else he would retire. Even TNA isn’t stupid enough to add a retirement stipulation during a PPV with zero buildup.
•   The Homicide vs. Suicide X-Division title match was scrapped because TNA wanted the Main Event Mafia to win all the titles at the PPV but didn’t want Homicide to drop the title yet.
•   Hernandez is back and aligned with Homicide. The plan is to give him a serious main event level push which is evidenced by......… SPOILER ALERT…......The upcoming match he is going to have with Samoa Joe where he pins Joe CLEAN. How this helps Joe get over as a main event level heel with a new “mentor” is beyond me. TNA continues to cut off their nose to spite their face.
•   Jenna Morasca of TV Reality show Survivor fame pinned Sharmell in what is by far the worst woman’s match in wrestling history, definitely worse match of 2009 and possibly the worst match of the entire decade. For some reason, no one thought to make this a mixed tag team match or even a woman’s tag match where you could have teamed one of them with Awesome Kong to make it watch able.
•   It is expected that Taz will switch into an announcer role eventually. Not sure what that means for Don West or whether they will go to a three-man booth.

4) Ring of Honor News and Notes

•   Bret Hart makes his ROH debut this weekend. The general plan is for him to take the Ric Flair role and become a legend/spokesperson for the company and their pay per views.
•   This weekend also marks Ric Flair’s final appearance with the company. Suffice to say that no matter what happens with his WWE career, he is most likely not welcome back. Reid Flair probably isn’t either.
•   Lance Storm will be wrestling on this weekend’s double shot in Canada. I always thought he retired prematurely and still has something left in his tank. Hopefully he does a few shows per year for ROH.

5) MMA News and Notes

•   Not sure how many of you know the story of Josh Barnett. He defeated Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight title once only to have that title stripped of him after the show for failing a drug test and being found with Steroids in his system. He never fought for UFC again even though he was one of the best heavyweights in MMA. Well on August 1, 2009, he had an opportunity to redeem himself as he was scheduled to fight Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction Trilogy. Unfortunately for MMA fans, that is no longer happening. I will give you three guesses as to why. Ok, times up. Josh Barnett…drum roll please…. FAILED A DRUG TEST FOR STEROIDS!!!! So he will not be licensed to fight. Rather than try to sell a pay per view with a last minute replacement that was already going to struggle to get people to buy, Affliction canceled the entire show. Way to go Josh!!!
•   What makes it even worse is that Tom Atencio, owner of Affliction said last week in an interview (before all the Barnett drama went down) that the entire survival of the company depends on how the August 1, show goes.
•   UFC 100 officially became the highest grossing MMA event EVER. Congrats to UFC as they are by far becoming the number one pay per view broadcaster EVER.
•   Preliminary reports state that UFC 100 should become the 4th highest grossing pay per view IN HISTORY. Not just in MMA, HISTORY. It will trail only Oscar DeLa Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather, Oscar DeLa Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao and Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson.
•   In interesting news, Tito Ortiz is officially training for MMA again and in a recent interview he has stated that he was offered a contract over UFC 100 weekend from Dana White and Lorenzo Ferritta. He said he hadn’t signed but did speak a lot nicer about UFC then he has in the past.
•   Rememeber all that drama between UFC and Mirko Crop Cop a few weeks back when it was reported in Japan that Cro Cop signed a deal with Dream Entertainment after convincing Dana White to give him a one fight deal? Turns out Mirko wasn’t lying and all the hoopla was for naught because he didn’t sign with Dream, did finally sign a 3 fight deal with UFC and will be fighting in the main event of UFC 103.

•   UFC 101 on August 8 from Philadelphia PA is as follows:
•   Lightweight Championship bout: B.J. Penn © vs. Kenny Florian
•   Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin
•   Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks
•   Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida
•   Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino

•   UFC 102 is on August 29 and the line up is as follows:
•   Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
•   Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva
•   Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt
•   Demian Maia vs. Nate Marquardt
•   Matt Hamill vs. Brandon Vera.

6) Random Thoughts, Links, Pics, ETC.

•   Random PIC of the week
•   Lebron James getting DUNKED ON by a high school kid. WOW.
•   I have made the switch to Verizon FiOS. F*CK CABLEVISION!!!
•   James Guttman has one word for you…DAMN. That’s right folks, College Football Hall of Famer and the first ever African American World Champion Ron Simmons joins World Wrestling Insanity this week. Go to CLUBWWI.COM now to listen!!!
•   Nice PLAYSTATION.
•   I am saddened by the lack of One Tree Hill love. Not even Aaron Wood who watches every show on television has mentioned it. Where is the love? IT’S A GOOD SHOW!!!!
•   For all of you SHIMMER fans, here is a nice picture of Lacey and Rain. ENJOY.
•   I recently rented “Zack and Miri make a porno” by Kevin Smith and the movie PUSH. Anyone have any reviews before I watch them?
•   Sweep the leg!!!
•   Does anyone know if there is a website or something in order to raise funds for Christina Aguilera so she can buy some bras? She still hates bras.
•   Finally a big shout out to my friend and a very good DJ, DJ UCH. Check out his site and show some support by visiting him at DJUCH.com

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.