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T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs: No Stunner For You, Gorgeous George: The Movie, Hardy Huffs Paint, Say Hello To The Old Guy, Abyss Has a Driver's License, Ultimate Fighter Shakeup, The Body's Back, and More
Matt Dawgs Presents: Thank Goodness It's Friday!!!!! Hello all. Welcome back and Happy Friday. Let’s 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. RATINGS: WWE RAW = 3.7 TNA Impact: 0.8
Nothing more to be said.
1) WWE News and Notes - “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was back on RAW and……it was surprisingly not too exciting. RAW on Monday was a very paint by numbers episode and in a weird way, pretty lame too. Basically RAW was in a holding pattern with only minimal advancement of storylines. Then again, Mania has been set for 3 weeks now and with 2 weeks away; they can’t bring out the big guns until next week’s go home show. - I refuse to believe that Batista didn’t blade. (Watch it again in slow mo, he looks like he cut himself). - Bret Hart isn’t injured and that is AWESOME news considering that means they can attempt to go balls to the wall in action. Or at least try to. The closing angle with Austin/Vince/Bret saved this show from being a total dud. Everyone was “ON” during that segment and to me, it salvaged the angle from losing all steam. The only disappointment was that I thought Austin would announce himself as special referee. Oh well, I’m happy with Bret vs. Vince in a No Holds Barred brawl. - FYI, think how much more effective this angle would have been if Bret hitting Vince with the cast was the first time he hit Vince since he returned? Understand now what I mean on saving big moments like this instead of giving them away right away? - Bret is also involved in another biography about his career that is currently being filmed. It is titled, “Survival of the Hitman”. Here is the TRAILER . - For those complaining that no Stunners were given by Austin, they are two weeks away from Mania and had to build the show. No reason to sacrifice anyone (or any time/segment for that matter) in order to please the home audience with a stunner. Now if you wanted a little more ‘hands on” backstage interaction, then that I can understand. I would have thought they would have had a Santino/Austin skit but alas, they did not. The tease of Austin stunning Cena at the beginning was fantastic and had the crowd salivating for it. That is a good sign for the future. - By the way, since I just mentioned sacrificing people, why the hell did they use Evan Bourne to get killed by Sheamus? They could have used Primo, Santino, Yoshi Tatsu or any one else who ISN’T booked at Mania and gotten the same result. - I don’t remember the last time I have been this excited for a Mania. - Officially announced is Orton vs. Rhodes vs. DiBiase. No explanation as to why it is a three way considering Legacy has shown no signs of dissension. - I do like them in an alliance with Sheamus. Good rub for him to show him as a sort of “leader”. - Speaking of Sheamus, RAW was probably the best he has been used in WEEKS. He really seemed like a credible threat for the first time in a long time. - In what is fairly big news, wrestling pioneer Gorgeous George (not the WCW one what was a valet for Randy “Macho Man” Savage) is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Not only is he being inducted into the HOF, but WWE has acquired the rights to George’s life story and will be making a feature film about him. George is often credited with changing the landscape of professional wrestling by helping to turn it from a legit sport into what is now called “Sports Entertainment”. He was a pioneer as a character and Muhammad Ali has legit credited George for helping create “Muhammad Ali”. Ali said, “I made up my mind after meeting Gorgeous George to make people angry at me...I saw 15,000 people coming to see this man get beat. And his talking did it. I said this is a good idea.” - Awesome by the way in the induction package for Gorgeous George when they showed Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer who has to be 80-something years old and he was in his mask talking about George. Tremendous!!! - The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel announced that former MLB baseball player and broadcaster Bob Uecker will be inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Uecker was a backstage announcer/interviewer at both Wrestlemania III and IV. - Next week on RAW, Triple H & Randy Orton vs. Sheamus & Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes. - In a cryptic comment on his webpage Q & A, when responding to a fan question about him and Lawler being placed back together as a team, Jim Ross said the following: “I don't think that WWE is interested in putting me back on weekly TV and all the travel that comes along with it at this time. Would I love to work with King again? Certainly. Is this my call? Nope. Do I think that I will ever be paired with Lawler again on a regular basis? Highly unlikely.” Not sure exactly what that is going to entail but since WWE and JR have started negotiations on a new contract, the likely-hood is that J.R. will not be returning full time to the company. Pure speculation on my part but it appears that Ross may only be calling Pay Per Views once he returns thus leaving the announce teams as is. - JR also stated that he has indeed signed ANOTHER short term contract extension while they hammer out the details of his longer term deal. The roster was informed before RAW that Wrestlemania will be called by Ross, Cole and Lawler with Striker, Matthews and Grisham handling backstage interview duties. - There is talk about WWE leaving Money in the Bank at 9 men instead of 10 like Michael Cole announced on Superstars last week. I still think they will make it an even number but then again, the only person who would go in is Kofi Kingston and by the booking of him as of late, I don’t think he is out of the doghouse. - Very interesting note is that prior to TV this week, WWE did random drug testing including some of the people working Wrestlemania. Believe me when I tell you that NO ONE is getting suspended before Mania. But if you see a major name (other than Shawn and Taker who are expected) DISAPPEAR after Mania for an “injury” you now know why. - Lots of internal debate as to what match goes on last. It is between Cena/Batista or Shawn/Taker. Ideally WWE wants the title match on last but they do realize that HHH/Orton was hurt by Shawn and Taker going on before them. No one is going to be able to follow it. - Former WWE Diva Maria debuted last week on the Celebrity Apprentice on NBC (along with former WCW/WWE star Bill Goldberg). First off, Maria is HOT . Secondly, she came off as a different person. It’s weird to see because while I know she was only playing a character on WWE TV, she is definitely not the “ditz” she played. Both she and Goldberg came off well and I think that they have a shot at going far on the show. And did I mention she was HOT ? - Mark Henry is scheduled to appear on the Celebrity Apprentice this week. - Former Midnight Express original, Dennis Condrey has been signed by WWE to be a trainer at the FCW Developmental School. Surprisingly, this is Dennis’ first contract with WWE after being in the wrestling business for so long. - WWE is getting on the Hollywood “remake” bandwagon as they have on tap a remake of Chuck Norris’ “Missing in Action” franchise for a 2012 release. No word on who is starring in this film. - WWE has been very vigilant in making sure that all of their talent is booked, busy or otherwise as they have told everyone that they, under no circumstances, to attend either the Ring of Honor or Dragon Gate USA shows taking place that weekend. RAW GUEST HOSTS :
WWE 2010 HALL OF FAME CLASS :
2) WRESTLEMANIA 26 LINE-UP (March 28, 2010)
3) TNA News and Notes - Ric Flair cut a bloody promo to open Impact. If he was a babyface and was involved in a red hot angle main eventing a promotion, then this was a good promo. If he was a heel manager, secondary to the World Champion cutting a promo on someone he isn’t going to fight against while bleeding, then this isn’t a good promo. Guess which one he was? - Flair also mentioned Jeff Hardy “getting high on paint fumes”. He seriously said this 2 DAYS BEFORE HE WAS SCHEDULED TO GO TO COURT FOR DRUG DISTRIBUTION!!!! I’ll never understand TNA; EVER. - Thankfully, the judge granted Jeff and his legal team a continuance until May 10, 2010. So Jeff won’t be going to jail until the summer at the earliest if at all. - Someone please explain to me why Kevin Nash offered $25,000 of his own money to Scott Hall to last 5 minutes in the ring with him when 7 days later he is scheduled to be in a match with him? And if you say that it is because Nash was desperate to get his hands on Hall then why not just jump him backstage while he was talking instead of calmly walking up to him and offering the money? - Holy Lord is Scott Hall old. He is moving poorly, doesn’t look like he can work anymore. Doesn’t look like he is interested in working and this whole “he’s all about the money” angle is more than likely based on truth. Nash was trying to look like he was working but Hall was just so sloppy and out of it. - Logic is a poor word for the minds that run TNA. From the beginning, I assumed that Nash’s “feud” with Hall and Waltman was simply a ruse to get Hall and Waltman contracts in TNA. After watching Nash and Hall fight and Waltman clipping Nash’s injured knee, I can’t see them possibly going THAT far in order to work management. But then again, Russo is booking so I am calling it now, Nash turns on Eric Young and Waltman and Hall end up with contracts. - Again, why does TNA insist on trying to pop a rating with hot-shotting angles with zero build? Hearing all these TNA apologists say that it is all about the ratings is understandable. I get it. Ratings are what matters most to them. But if that is going to be the case, then at least BUILD to the angle for TV. Why have Eric Bischoff get his head shaved without an angle leading to it? You could have done an angle based around Foley or Bischoff getting their head shaved and then built it for next weeks live Impact. Instead, mention it in the beginning of the show and have it take place later on the show with no build = DUMB. - Abyss driving a Hummer was the LOL moment or the wrestling week for me. How funny did that look? You have 3 normal guys (well semi normal if you count Jeff Hardy) in a Hummer and then the 4th masked lunatic is driving them. HAHA. - TNA has managed to make me absolutely NOT care about Jeff Hardy. Amazing isn’t it? The hottest wrestler in all of 2009 is completely meaningless in 2010. The ratings from Monday prove this. - WHERE THE F*CK IS SAMOA JOE AND HOW COME NO ONE CARES THAT HE’S BEEN KIDNAPPED?!?!?!?!?! - The same can be said for Rob Van Dam. Have I not been saying for weeks that RVD was going to be completely misused by TNA? Did I not say that within weeks of his debut he would be a complete non factor and his appearance be meaningless? This is what happens when you go to a mismanaged group. No one knows how to book RVD and Hardy and in the end, they are going to mean as much to ratings and buy rates as all of their (according to Dixie Carter), “GAME CHANGING” big names like Angle, Foley, Booker T, Christian, Sting, Flair, Hogan, etc. WHAT A WASTE OF TOP NAME TALENT!!!!! - I was completely at a loss as to why the Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart were beating up Shannon Moore in catering. Then I realized that it wasn’t Shannon Moore. Two Mohawks on small guys in the same company? - Why bring back Brother Runt to even the odds and then have Team 3D lose only to get their heat back with a DDD through a table? - Mr. Anderson gets his heat back again. Time to blow off the feud at Destination X…..again. - The Beautiful People RULE. By the way, they were the highest rated quarter hour on TNA on Monday. 0.96. Higher than Hogan segments. Higher than RVD. Higher than Jeff Hardy. Higher than Flair and AJ. - In the DISNEY/PIXAR movie “The Incredibles”, Dash tells his parents that if everyone is special, then no one is. This rule applies here. If bleeding is done to be special on a show and EVERYONE is doing it, it becomes less special. Common sense folks. - Hopefully someone in TNA gets this because at one point on Tuesday, they had Tara vs. Daffney at Destination X scheduled to be a “First Blood Match”. UNBELIEVABLE. - Unless Russo wants to hit us with the RUSSO SWERVE and have Young turn on Nash and then Waltman and Hall get contracts!!!! Great, I just gave them an idea. - After cancelling the Thursday replay of Impact, TNA announced on Wednesday that the replay will air this week. It was originally cancelled because TNA management felt that last weeks abysmal rating was caused due to the replay. They have added it back because they feel like it will help get more viewers for Monday’s show. I know, I know. Not much logic in that statement. - Mick Foley on the DAILY SHOW . - Awesome Kong and Hamada were stripped of the tag team titles for not defending them within 30 days. The vacant titles were won by the Beautiful People. So why, on the Thursday after they were stripped them did a match air on Xplosion featuring Kong and Hamada successfully defending their titles against the Beautiful People? Anyone? - Latest on Kong is that she has been officially REMOVED from the TNA roster page. Not officially released yet but almost there. - Ric Flair is telling friends that he has not had this much fun in wrestling in YEARS and is glad he is back to being a heel. He also stated that he wants a match with Kurt Angle because he believes he and Angle can have a classic. - Lacey Von Erich is giving wrestling lessons another shot as she has begun training 3 times a week in order to improve her in ring skills. - Mr. Anderson had “WWLSD” written on his hand tape on Impact. This stands for “What Would Lance Storm Do” because Lance has been vocal of TNA’s sucktitude for some time. Mr. Anderson is an idiot. - Former TNA star Andy Douglas of The Naturals has announced his retirement from professional wrestling. He announced it in Nashville after losing a cage match to his former partner Chase Stevens. - “Mr. Monday Night” Rob Van Dam will be working his first TNA houseshows in April in Georgia. - Bobby Lashley stated in an interview that if he wrestles again, it won’t be for at least a year. He is too busy and too focused on MMA. 4) TNA DESTINATION X PPV LINE-UP (March 21, 2010):
5) ROH/DGUSA/EVOLVE/Independent News and Notes: - Congrats to Adam Pearce for recapturing the NWA World Title last weekend by defeating Blue Demon Jr. and Phil Shatter in a three-way. - EVOLVE had their second show this past weekend and unfortunately, Mother Nature pissed all over it. The show BOMBED due to attendance (not due to work rate as everyone as usual worked hard). The attendance was roughly a little more than 100 people due to the monsoon like rain that hit the NY/NJ area. - Teddy Hart will make his Dragon Gate USA debut on Friday, March 26th. JAPW presents “WILD CARD” TOMORROW NIGHT in Rahway NJ and the line-up is as follows:
DRAGON GATE USA returns on Friday, March 26, 2010 over Wrestlemania weekend in Phoenix AZ and the line-up is as follows:
RING OF HONOR returns on Friday, March 26, 2010 over Wrestlemania weekend in Phoenix AZ and the line-up is as follows:
RING OF HONOR returns on Saturday, March 27, 2010 over Wrestlemania weekend in Phoenix AZ and the line-up is as follows:
6) MMA News and Notes - Not sure yet what exactly is going on but apparently at some point, Tito Ortiz left his coaching position of The Ultimate Fighter 11 in mid season and has been replaced by Rich Franklin. Liddell vs. Ortiz is now most likely off and rumors are circulating that Liddell and Franklin are both verbally committed to a June bout at UFC 115 in Vancouver. No one knows for sure what exactly is going on other than the fact that Dana White is denying all rumors and saying everything is right with the world. Tito Ortiz on the other hand is leaving a ton of cryptic comments on his Twitter account; which are completely undermining Dana’s denials. - And when it rains it pours. Jenna Jameson posted on her Twitter that she miscarried a baby in her uterus last week while also finding out she had 2 ectopic pregnancies all at the same time. For those who do not know, an ectopic pregnancy is when the egg implants OUTSIDE the uterus. So basically, she had 3 babies in her at the same time. (the 2 ectopic were twins, no word on whether the other was a triplet or separate entity). So essentially, she and Tito lost 3 children last week. She said she is completely miserable but also thankful that she has twin boys who just turned 1 year old recently. - Frank Mir has actually changed his tune and is instead FINALLY focusing on the task at hand for his next fight against Shane Carwin. He has begun promotion for the March 27th fight and is claiming that Carwin is actually a more dangerous threat to him than Brock Lesnar is. He says that while both Carwin and Lesnar can easily outwrestle him, he feels that Carwin has knockout power while Lesnar doesn’t. He has also said that he is fine with Cain Velazquez getting the first crack at Brock. His reasoning is that should he get injured or be forced to take some time after the Carwin fight, he doesn’t want to hold the heavyweight division hostage by forcing Brock to have to wait to fight him. He completely understands if Brock needs to take a fight sooner rather than later. - Last week, James Toney said he could knock out Randy Couture and that if Randy tried to take him to the ground, it wouldn’t matter because he’d knock him out anyway. THIS WEEK, Toney’s stupidity continues as he claims that he could beat Brock Lesnar. YES, HE SAID THIS. - UFC has OFFICIALLY announced that on May 29, 2010 at UFC 114, Rashad Evans will fight Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in Las Vegas. - The Playstation 3 version of UFC Undisputed 2010 has the feature to unlock Royce Gracie, Dan Severn and Jens Pulver. - Tryouts for The Ultimate Fighter 12 take place on April 1st in Charlotte NC. The season will be based on lightweights and light heavyweights. - For those of you who have Direct TV, they have come to an agreement with Versus network so both WEC and UFC will be back on Direct TV starting this weekend. - Former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis is joining HD Net as a backstage correspondent starting on March 26th with the “King of the Cage: Legacy” event. The main event of that show is Mike Kyle vs. Jon Murphy. - EA Sports MMA game TRAILER . - Bobby Lashley has been told by Strikeforce officials to be prepared to fight on the April 17th CBS card. No opponent was given but they definitely want his “name value” on that show. - Another one of the infamous Gracie clan is joining the US MMA scene. Roger Gracie will make his Strikeforce debut in May against former UFC star Kevin Randleman. According to DAVE MELTZER , Roger Gracie is probably the best submission heavyweight he has ever seen. - Current Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields has stated that if he defeats Dan Henderson on the April 17th CBS Strikeforce show, he is more than likely going to leave Strikeforce and go to UFC. Shields has not lost since 2004 and has stated that in order to prove you are the best, you have to fight the best. He then said he wants to test his skills against George St. Pierre and Anderson Silva. - Cung Le has requested a rematch from Strikeforce officials to avenge his loss to Scott Smith while Frank Shamrock has gone on record to say he wants to be Le’s next opponent. - Manny Pacquiao continued his boxing dominance tour by completely embarrassing Joshua Clottey last Saturday in front of 50,000+ fans in Dallas Texas on PPV. You can catch the replay this weekend on HBO if you’d like but I can basically give you the highlight right now. Basically Pacquiao beat the crap out of Clottey for 12 straight rounds while Clottey just absorbed punishment and refused to throw punches. UFC 111 is on March 27, 2010 from Newark NJ and the line-up is as follows:
UFC FIGHT NIGHT is on March 31, 2010 from Charlotte North Carolina and the line-up is as follows:
UFC 112 is on April 10, 2010 from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and the line-up is as follows
UFC 113 is on May 8, 2010 from Montreal Quebec Canada and the line-up is as follows:
7) Random Thoughts, Links, Pics, ETC. - Random VIDEO of the week: Perhaps Disney should reevaluate their toy making? - Fun on FACEBOOK : Clarify the term “relationship” next time no? - I went to see Alicia Keys in concert at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday and IT WAS AWESOME. I also got to see special guest appearances by both Beyonce and Jay-Z (who sang their respective songs with Alicia). Alicia is such an amazing performer. - Hope you had a HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY . - Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock is a good looking woman. Not the hottest woman in Hollywood but definitely attractive. So her husband, motorcycle repairman Jesse James of West Coast Choppers cheated on her with THIS . - Team Conan O’Brien FOR THE WIN on Leno. - My future wife, KIM KARDASHIAN . - Nicole “COCO” Austin turned 31 on Wednesday. So Happy Birthday to Ice-T’s wife COCO . - James Guttman’s LEGENDS MANIA RECAP . - Also this week, James Guttman comes HARD with the interviews. He has, after a 2 year break in between Club WWI visits, none other than JESSE “The GOVERNOR” VENTURA!!! Jesse is back to discuss his new book “American Conspiracies”, his hit TRU TV show Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura and clarifies the reasoning behind the end of his WCW career. Join CLUBWWI.COM right NOW!!!! It’s about the price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks or a McDonald’s Cheese Burger extra value meal (unless you live in NYC). DO IT. DO IT NOW. 8) PLUGS - NY Diaper Cakes (Best possible baby shower gift…EVER.) - DJUCH.com (Best Dance Music DJ… EVER.) - Geek Week (RD Lee rocks!!) - ACE Pro Wrestling (The future of independent wrestling. A Virtual “Who’s Who” of East Coast talent has wrestled here at one point in time or another) - Jersey All Pro Wrestling (home of the best independent wrestling not named ROH or DGUSA) - EVOLVE (the Evolution of Wrestling) - Woman’s Superstars Unleashed (WSU Wrestling) 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. blog comments powered by Disqus
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