T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs: #164

Good day to you all and welcome to World Wrestling Insanity. I am your host for today, Matt Dawgs and this is my column. Today is the end of the work week and the time to look back at all the goings-on over the past seven days as I wrap it up with a bow and spout it out bit by bit. Buckle up. Let's go...

CLUB WWI NEWS: GO LISTEN. CLUB WWI !!! DO IT!!!! DO IT NOW!!!!!

MATT NOTE: Hard to believe that it has been 5 years since “He Who Shall Not Be Named” did the unimaginable. Such a crazy day/story for everyone who is involved or watches wrestling to be honest. Where we you when you heard? What were your thoughts at the time? What are your thoughts now? Does the fact that so much time has went by as well as the fact that he had brain damage make a difference in you watching his matches or appreciating his work regardless of what he did? Especially since ALL of his peers say that he wasn’t being him when he did it and that he would have been the LAST PERSON they thought would do that? Discuss.

WWE News and Notes

- I am slowly losing my patience with WWE. While not as horrible as last week, RAW was still an absolutely dreadful show. I am really having a tough time watching it from week to week. It is making me miserable sitting through two hours and we are just a few weeks away from having to sit through three hours. UGH.

- John Cena is in Money in the Bank. The WWE MITB match will be Cena, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Kane. This is a mixed bag for me as the match is obviously not going to be as exciting as past MITB matches since both Show and Kane are limited in the big bumps they take. We all know Cena isn’t taking anything crazy and due to the amount of ladder matches he has been in, Jericho is probably going to play it safe. The flip side of the coin is that for the first time in MITB history, you can believe that any of the 4 participants have a legit shot at winning the briefcase and it would be believable. Show could win because he has been pushed back as a monster. Kane won two years ago and ended up winning the World title. Jericho is always a threat to win and has NEVER won a MITB match despite being the person who created the match and Cena is Cena. My guess is that Cena wins the briefcase and announces that he is cashing it in at Summerslam vs. CM Punk.

- For the record, that John Cena/Star Wars promo was by far one of the worst promos I have EVER seen. Holy sh*t that was abysmal. It was compounded by the fact that Cena purposely said that the show is directed towards 9 year olds. Why in the world would you turn off your audience like that considering while WWE is PG now and tends to gear it’s programs towards a PG audience, you CAN NOT alienate those who actually spend the money to watch your product.

- WWE FUN FACT: This past Wednesday was the 10^th anniversary of John Cena’s WWE television debut vs. Kurt Angle on Smackdown.

- No matter what he does, the crowd really wants to support Chris Jericho. Interesting enough, I think they are building to his face turn since Big Show interfered in his match on Monday and that visibly upset Jericho. Add that to the fact that the current dynamic for MITB has 3 heels and 1 babyface. I am assuming Jericho will be working the match using a babyface style of wrestling.

- CM Punk/Daniel Bryan/Kane/AJ is still the best thing going on with RAW today. A.J. is AWESOME in her role as crazy girl and this angle is one of the few things that WWE does to keep me entertained.

- And down goes Clay. Brodus Clay’s undefeated streak is over with his lost to the Big Show on RAW. For the record, I am fine with the way Clay has been booked as of late and how he is being used to elevate Big Show as a monster. While Clay does have potential, he just wasn’t there yet and squashing opening card acts can only go so far for someone; especially when he isn’t improving in the ring.

- “SYCHO” SID VICIOUS .

- Sid’s appearance on RAW sparked a lively debate on Twitter between the girlfriend of Matt Hardy, Reby Sky, WWE Hall of Famer Sunny, Friend of Hardy Shannon Moore and Sid himself. It all stemmed from Reby making some negative remarks about Sid and his constant no-showing independent events. The comments likely stem from a PWS event where Sid was booked to face her boyfriend Matt Hardy and he no-showed the event. This happening AFTER he held up the promoter for more money by threatening not to come to the show and then after getting the money, no-showed anyway because he claimed he “lost his wallet” the night before. The actions by Sid caused the promoter to call Sid in the middle of the ring during the show so that the crowd can boo him over the phone. He then gave out Sid’s cell phone number to everyone. Anyway, she basically blasted Sid for being a liar. Sunny however jumped to the defense of her friend Sid and went in on Reby because she was out of place. Shannon Moore, a good friend of Hardy’s, went in on Reby as well which was surprising saying that she had no business talking about Sid or anyone since she hasn’t done anything in wrestling to earn that right. Sid finally chimed in directly at Sunny thanking her for coming to his defense but then noting that he didn’t need it. He said Reby could say what she wants because it doesn’t bother him and he isn’t going to stoop to her level. He also asked his fans to not comment negatively about her as he respects her opinion and she is entitled to it.

- Can anyone explain the point of the Del Rio/Ziggler match when the plan was for Sheamus to come out all along and announce that he was fine fighting both at once? Why would any champion want to fight two people at the same time when he runs the risk of losing his title without being pinned? I know Sheamus is trying to portray himself as a warrior but it is just a dumb decision. On top of that, Michael Cole buried the decision on the mic which only served to bury Sheamus in the process. Why bury your babyface World champion when you are in fact trying to groom him as a star? And finally, if you noticed lately, Cole only plays a heel role temporarily. When he does, it is because Vince McMahon is in his ear telling him to play one as he has been a babyface for the better part of a year now. So why would Vince have Cole bury Sheamus? It makes absolutely zero sense to me.

- Eve Torres was backstage at RAW on Monday but was not written into the script. With John Laurinaitis gone, WWE isn’t quite sure what role she can play considering she was working directly for him in the angle.

- Some people didn’t notice but it was actually my wife who pointed it out, Lillian Garcia announced RAW for the first time since 2010 as when she returned to WWE, she was placed on Smackdown with Justin Roberts handing RAW duties. I do not know the reason for the switch on Monday but it could be because Lillian represents RAW more than Roberts since she was the lead ring announcer for the program during the Attitude Era.

- Charlie Sheen is going to be the “Social Media Ambassador for the 1,000^th episode of RAW on July 23^rd. This is going to be interesting to say the least. Sheen will be live tweeting up to the minute commentary during RAW (Translation: one of his press people will be tweeting up to the minute commentary during RAW). It is not expected that he will be live at the show however. Only tweeting about it and possibly doing something pre-taped to air on the program. #Winning

- Also on the 1,000^th show, a new permanent RAW & Smackdown GM will be named as well as an in person appearance by BROCK LESNAR. WWE was hoping for Ric Flair to appear however he apparently has a no-compete agreement from his TNA firing and WWE isn’t sure of its end date. On top of that, they do not want to bring him in until the lawsuit is settled.

- Next week, the General Manager for both shows will be Teddy Long.

- I am not even going to spoil it but lets just say that the Smackdown Money in the Bank match, while obviously will be more exciting based on the participants announced tonight, has NO WHERE NEAR the star power that the RAW MITB has.

- I am going to spoil the Smackdown main event for tonight though. For the 5^th consecutive time, Sheamus will pin Dolph Ziggler in a match cleanly with the Brogue Kick. WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

- Vince McMahon told the announcers and the creative team that the new WWE edict is not to name the city that they are in unless it is a major city. This past Monday, RAW was from Fort Wayne Indiana and no one on the show mentioned it since it is a small town. He feels that WWE looks minor league when the don’t perform in major cities like Indianapolis Indiana.

- Randy Orton’s suspension isn’t up until July 30^th but WWE has updated their line-ups for their upcoming Japan Tour in early August and Orton has been added to the line-up so that clears up any uncertainty about him being used when he is ready. This likely means that he will be in fact added to the SummerSlam card in some fashion.

- Rey Mysterio’s suspension is over and he is medically cleared to wrestle. He is rumored to return to television this coming week however is not advertised for any upcoming shows. WWE is still not happy with him and he has some issues against WWE as well.

- Despite being advertised locally, Kelly Kelly was NOT backstage at RAW Monday. As noted in this column, she is taking personal time off from WWE.

- REMINDER: Smackdown is LIVE next week (July 3^rd); airing on Tuesday with a replay on Friday. Also remember to hit Best Buy or your favorite movie distributor because WWE’s first ever film, “No Holds Barred” comes out on DVD next Tuesday!!!

- WWE announced on Monday that starting October 3^rd, they are launching a new, one-hour program on the ION Network called ”The Main Event”. My assumption is that the show will be similar to Sunday Night Heat and WWE Superstars which will feature a few squash matches and then a main event match featuring two WWE superstars.

- The latest on the WWE Network is that it is UNLIKELY to launch by the Fall of 2012. Most work on digitizing footage and planning programming has stopped as WWE is looking to reassess how they are going to launch and using what type of pay platform. An official date had not been given internally however they were originally looking at November 2012. Now, not so much. In a stunning blow to their bid to launch, Direct TV has said that they have no interest in carrying the network at all meaning that they have lost about 30% of all cable audiences. Add that to the fact that it appears that few cable providers want to pay WWE to carry the channel that would put them at having to charge subscribers to get the network similar to what the movies channels (HBO, Showtime, etc) do. If they do that and they get as few people paying for it like WWE 24/7, the losses they would get financially would be substantial. Between those loses and the losses in the movie division, WWE will absolutely be losing money annually which would be the first time for the company since BEFORE they went public in 1999.

- WWE Films acquired the rights to “The Hive” starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin. The movie begins production next month in Los Angeles and is about an emergency call center operator (Berry) who receives a phone call from an abducted teenage girl (Breslin) who is in the trunk of a moving car.

- The rumored main events being discussed for Wrestlemania 29 are leaning towards Rock vs. Cena 2 (so much for “Once in a Lifetime”) and Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker. Of course that can all change a million times between now and January but that is where creative is heading to. Is it just me or does it feel like the Brock Lesnar angle lost all his steam from his debut to now? These limited dates really hurt his momentum.

- In WWE’s latest update on financials, it appears that Wrestlemania 28 is going to fall short of the record buyrate they were expecting. Initial estimates placed the show at 1.3 million buys worldwide but after doing tallies around the world, the final number appears to be around 1,150,000 million. It is still ahead of last years show but won’t be the all time record which will remain Wrestlemania 23 from Ford Field in Detroit which featured Donald Trump.

- WWE is negotiating for Metallica to appear and perform at Summerslam.

- Congrats to CM Punk as he has passed 1,000,000 followers on Twitter.

- The Marine 3 wraps up this week in Vancouver so you can expect the Miz to be back on WWE television in the next few weeks and definitely before the 1,000^th RAW.

- Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson begins filming “Fast and Furious 6” in July so he is NOT going to be wrestling at SummerSlam. Last year when he signed to come back to the company, one of the ideas spoken about was having him wrestling at SS.

- John Bradshaw Leyfield updated the status of his mountain climb expedition with the following tweet: "Got hypoxia and was fighting frostbite, still made it to 1,000 feet of summit then huge storm pushed us off mountain. Lucky to be alive." This could possibly end up a sad story. Very dangerous what he is attempting. For those who do not know, hypoxia is a condition where the body is deprived of adequate oxygen and could lead to altitude sickness.

- VIDEO of JBL on the mountain. Sadly his first endeavor into mountain climbing has in face failed as he says in the video that he and his team are going to be unable to reach the top due to severe weather conditions.

- JBL did manage to plant a WWE FLAG 17,000 feet on the mountain. He noted that his lips were bleeding from exposure and the blisters on his feet are so bad he can't wear shoes. JBL's next scheduled climb will be Kilimanjaro in September. He is planning on training until then. JBL will then climb in South America and Antarctica before January. Mt. Everest, the final climb, is scheduled for spring 2014.

- WWE Diva Maxine (best known to those of you who watch NXT) quit the promotion on Monday following RAW and has been wished well on her future endeavors by the company who took her up on her offer. Maxine was in the Divas battle royal that took place on Monday (won by A.J.) but her appearances on both the RAW and Smackdown brand were few and far between. She apparently was frustrated with her lack of use on the main shows and not being given a chance.

- The WWE creative team has been told to come up with ideas for Dean Ambrose to make his television debut. HHH is high on him and wants him fast tracked to the main roster ASAP. The angle with Ambrose and Mick Foley has been scrapped as there were several people in creative who felt that Foley would not be the ideal opponent to bring out the best in the ring in Ambrose based on his ability. Promo wise it would have been golden which they all agree on but Foley, at his age and with his laundry list full of injuries wouldn’t have been able to get the solid match out of Ambrose needed. Even if he could, they didn’t want to risk trying and then he doesn’t deliver.

- Raquel Diaz (a.k.a. Shaul Guerrero) became the longest reigning Divas Champion in FCW history last weekend as she has held the title longer than the previous record of 189 days. Still cannot fathom for the life of me why in the world would they make up a name for the daughter of Eddie and Vickie Guerrero. Completely mind boggling. She is actually on the road with the main roster this week getting looked at.

- WWE has signed independent wrestling female Buggy Nova to a developmental deal. She is definitely DIFFERENT than other divas on the roster.

- In an interview conducted last week, former WWE Star Ken Doane (Kenny Dykstra) talked about John Cena and his relationship with Mickie James who Doane was engaged to at the time and how it ended up costing him his career. Doane makes mention of another former Diva who was married and who dated Cena right before Cena started seeing Mickie James. He noted that he wasn’t going to mention the Diva's name because it wasn’t important to the point of the story he was trying to make but did say that when the Diva and Cena ended their fling, she was moved to Smackdown (this was in 2006 – 2007). The only divas moved from RAW to Smackdown that year were Torrie Wilson (who was married to Billy Kidman at the time) and Victoria (Tara in TNA) who was and currently is still married to someone not in wrestling. Well Tara has since spoken and admitted to fooling around with Cena but claimed it was in 2002 when she was in OVW and separated from her husband (she has been married for 20 years). The problem with this is that she essentially could have OUTED herself for no reason at all because Doane did not mention her by name in his interview and Wilson could have been the diva in question as she and Billy Kidman were divorced in the beginning of 2008 however separated in 2006 (around the same time Doane claims Cena was sleeping with another diva and Kidman was no longer with the WWE to know about it). Regardless of who it is, the point of all this is that Cena is in for a world of gossip because as noted in this column a few weeks ago, Cena is a known womanizer and it is obvious that a hell of a lot of stories about his personal life are going to come out in his divorce that aren’t good for him or WWE in regards to his public image.

- The Insane Clown Posse is releasing a new album and the first single off the album is titled “Chris Benoit”. Violent J of ICP stated in an interview that the song is about the loss of sanity and the snapping during that moment of panic.

- Former WWE Superstar Dave Batista announced this week that he will be heavily featured in the new Quinton Tarantino produced film, “ THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS ”. The film stars Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and MMA Star Cung Le. It was written by actor Eli Roth and rap artist The Rza.

- Episode 72 of " Z! True Long Island Story "

- WWE FAN NATION .

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK PPV is on Sunday, July 15^th from Phoenix Arizona and the line-up is as follows:

• WWE TITLE: CM Punk © vs. Daniel Bryan with special referee A.J.
• WORLD TITLE: Sheamus vs. TBD (likely Alberto Del Rio)
• WWE TITLE MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: John Cena vs. Big Show vs. Chris Jericho vs. Kane
• WORLD TITLE MONEY IN THE BANK: Tensai vs. Christian vs. Santino Marella vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Damien Sandow vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD

IMPACT WRESTLING News and Notes

- It appears that the Dixie Carter/A.J. Styles angle is going to be phased down for now. The idea from the conception of the angle was to be this drug addicted woman all along however TNA was disappointed in the actress who played the role as well as the reception the angle got when revealed so they are going to slow her role down to a minimum. The original plan was to keep her as an on-air character for the duration. They are going to continue down the road with Styles/Carter although without the girl. In continuation of storyline though, they at least followed up on Kazarian siding with Daniels on the big secret when he thought it was A.J. nailing Dixie Carter. Last night he was visibly upset that he had been blindly following Daniels around and turned on his best friend A.J. 

- Another very good tag team match between Styles/Angle vs. Daniels/Kazarian which saw the latter win back their tag team titles. I absolutely did not like the swerve turn back and forth by Kazarian though. Completely pointless. Why have Kazarian tease distention only to prevent Daniels form cheating by using the chair allowing A.J. to hit the Pele kick then tells A.J. to pin Daniels while he slides out the ring only to have him slide back in the ring and hit A.J. with a chair to allow Daniels to win the match and the titles. Just felt like swerves for the sake of swerves. The additional drama to the angle came to close the show though when Daniels announced that the married Styles is the father of the junkies unborn baby.

- The COMPLETE CALL between Dixie Carter & A.J. Styles.

- Last night Taeler Hendrix became the next winner of the Gutcheck Challenge. Taeler was the first female competitor in the challenge. She is an independent women’s wrestler who trains at Ohio Valley Wrestling. There is some backstage heat on Al Snow who recommended she be used for the gimmick when in fact her look wasn’t great and she was disappointing in the ring. That didn't stop her from winning the competition though. Amazing that Alex Silva sucked yet won and now hasn't been on TV since due to VISA issues and Taeler Hendix is worse in the ring than Velvet Sky yet she gets chosen but Joey Ryan is the best of the three and got voted off. WTF?

- JOEY RYAN THOUGHTS.

- The new X-Division wrestlers were Rubix, Mason Andrews & Rashad Cameron who were Jigsaw, Scorpio Sky and Jeez on the independent wrestling circut.

- Too Cold Scorpio was backstage at Impact last night.

- For the few of you wondering where Eric Young has been, he is missing in action due to filming his new fishing program on the Animal Planet Network that I mentioned a few months ago in this column. When he signed on to appear on the show, TNA was still taping Impact on Monday and Tuesday. He signed on for this show and Impact moved to filming live on Thursdays. The problem is that Thursday is when his show currently films hence why he hasn’t been around.

- No more FREE HERNANDEZ campaign for me. Apparently he has signed a new contract with TNA Wrestling.

- TNA has added “The Icon” Sting to their July 21^st outdoor event in Brooklyn New York at MCI Park. This will be Sting’s first appearance at a wrestling event in NY since BEFORE WCW went out of business in 2001. The angle with Sting being attacked a few weeks ago was done to write him off television for a while. They do not have any idea who the three masked men were yet and will write it in when it is time to bring him back, likely at “Bound for Glory”.

- The news on Chris Sabin is as bad as expected. Originally thought to just be a torn ACL in his “healthy knee”, it is in fact a torn ACL & MCL in his knee which is the exact same injury he just finished recovering from in his other knee. His FIRST knee injury kept him out of action for over a year and it is expected that this knee injury will keep him out the same amount of time. That absolutely sucks for him.

- Former WWE Star Chris Masters said earlier this week that even though he had a successful tryout with TNA earlier this month, he was not offered a contract. He is optimistic that he will sign with TNA sometime down the road but not in the immediate future.

- Hulk Hogan is making a rare independent wrestling show appearance on September 22^nd in Fishkill New York for Northeast Wrestling. The show will also feature Matt Hardy, Big Van Vader, Amy “Lita” Dumas, Jerry “the King” Lawler, “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart, Romeo Roselli, Luke Robinson (of WWE Tough Enough), Mickie James, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and MORE.. Originally the show was scheduled for August 4^th however had to be postponed due to Hogan. In bad news for the promotion though, the new date coincides with a WWE Houseshow taking place not too far away in White Plains New York.

- Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal responded to a fan on Twitter stating that he is about two months away from beginning wrestling training in Ohio Valley Wrestling. That makes an August target date for OVW with him likely making his TNA debut in September or October. He also noted that he would like UFC Star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson to join professional wrestling and team with him which is interesting to say the least because Lawal had been very vocal about Rampage over the past few years and both men have made their lack of respect for one another public.

- Due to the TNA lawsuit against him, Scott Steiner has remained radio silent in regards to TNA via his Twitter. That means that his attorneys likely feel this is serious business.

- DÉJÀ VU ?

- TNA Knockout Madison Rayne took first place in a FITNESS COMPETITION last weekend.

TNA Destination X PPV is on Sunday, July 7, 2012 from Orlando Florida and the line-up is as follows:

• TNA IMPACT TITLE: Bobby Roode © vs. Austin Aries
• TNA KNOCKOUTS TITLE: Miss Tessmacher © vs. Gail Kim
• ONE NIGHT X-DIVISION TITLE TOURNAMENT: Sonjay Dutt, Rashad Cameron, TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD to crown a new X-Division champion.
• A.J. Styles vs. Christopher Daniels in a LAST MAN STANDING
• Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle

Independent / International News and Notes:

- Ring of Honor ended their streak of iPPV disasters last weekend with “Best in the World”. Their next PPV will be on September 15^th from Chicago Ridge with the 10^th annual “Death Before Dishonor” show. Following that will be “Final Battle” on December 16^th from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

- If you didn’t hear, Adam Cole put on the performance of a lifetime vs. former partner Kyle O’Reilly. He got BUSTED open pretty badly too. It was thought that he lost some teeth but as it turns out, he just split his lip real badly. He had it stitched up although he is going to have a permanent scar. The crowd originally crapped all over the match stipulations being that it was “hybrid rules” meaning that there were no pinfalls and it was essentially an MMA match with the match only ending by tap out or knock out. That all changed with the exchanged that busted Cole open including NYSAC doctors legitimately coming to check on Cole (not an angle) to see if he could continue. Cole shouted that he did not want the fight stopped and after inspecting him, allowed him to continue. The crowd was rabid after that and went batsh*t insane when Cole won via figure four leglock.

- Congratulations to Rhett Titus & Kenny King a.k.a. The All Night Express who captured the ROH Tag Team titles from Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin) at “Best in the World” on Sunday.

- For those who saw the iPPV and were wondering, Kevin Steen is the ROH Champion and is a HEEL. Contrary to the loud cheers as Steen got the biggest pop of the night, he is not a babyface. He even cut a vicious heel promo after defeating Davey Richards where he lambasted the crowd for being hypocrites for cheering him, they STILL cheered him. Regardless of what he said, the fans did not turn on him.

- The Guardians of Truth who lost to the Briscoes at “Best in the World” were former WWE stars The Headbangers under masks.

- In what was a surprise result, Homicide defeated Eddie Edwards with the “cop killa”. This was done to set up Homicide for a program with Kevin Steen going forward as Homicide is now back as a regular with Ring of Honor.

- Former WWE Diva and the First Lady of ROH, Maria Kanellis was groped by a fan at Best in the World when making her entrance with Mike Bennett. Maria stated via her Twitter that a fan grabbed her ass as she was at ringside. She then noted that next time if someone was going to attempt that, it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience for them.

- Congrats to Jackie Gayda-Hass who is expecting her 4^TH CHILD with husband, ROH Superstar Charlie Haas.

- Best of luck goes out to Tommy Dreamer as on October 16^th, he makes his attempt to foray into independent wrestling with his launch of his own promotion dubbed “The HOUSE OF HARDCORE ”. Dreamer will be running the show out of Poughkeepsie New York at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center where ECW used to run.

PRO WRESTLING SYNDICATE

RING OF HONOR WRESTLING returns TONIGHT with a television taping in Baltimore Maryland and the line-up is as follows:

• ROH WORLD CHAMP: Kevin Steen © will defend the title
• Lance Storm vs. "The Prodigy" Mike Bennett w/Maria Kanellis & Brutal Bob
• ROH TV CHAMP: Roderick Strong © w/Truth Martini vs. Adam Cole
• ROH CHAMP: Kevin Steen © & Jimmy Jacobs & Steve Corino vs. ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPS: The All Night Express (Kenny King & Rhett Titus) & Jay Lethal.
• Tommaso Ciampa vs. Mike Sydal
• Kyle O'Reilly vs. Matt Taven

MMA News and Notes

- UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “Spider” Silva © vs. Chael Sonnen is NEXT SATURDAY NIGHT on PPV. If you aren’t ordering this fight or going somewhere to see it, you absolutely should. Make plans as Silva is on a warpath and Chael Sonnen is far and away the best at building a fight in MMA history. Both men are warriors and I am saying that this fight is going to get over 1,000,000 PPV buys. The show will also feature the last fight of UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin. Ortiz claims that he is going to have to die in the Octagon in order for him to lose because he is leaving it all out there.

- COMPLETE SILVA VS. SONNEN 1 .

- Rich Franklin defeated Wanderlei Silva in a WAR in Brazil last Saturday night. Franklin won a 5 round decision but was dangerously close to losing via TKO in round two. Franklin was overwhelmed and rocked by Silva to the point that the fight was almost stopped but he was saved by the bell. Following the fight, Franklin noted that he does not have any recollection of anything that happened in the fight past the 2^nd round. He was fighting on instincts and managed to squeak out a close decision.

- Dana White announced during a big UFC weekend last week that the expected Junior Dos Santos © vs. Cain Velasquez UFC Heavyweight title fight scheduled for September 22^nd is no longer likely taking place at that show. It is still going to take place, just no idea when or where but the idea being discussed is in either November in Macau or October in Rio De Janeiro which would co-main event with a Jose Aldo title defense this making this a fairly big show.

- White was LIVID to say the least at the UFC on FX 4 main event between Clay Guida and Gray Maynard last Friday which saw Guida, a man who normally stands for WAR vs. his opponents, run for approximately 25 minutes while doing a little hop step in the ring. Maynard won in what was one of the most boring fights of the last decade.

- UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre has begun full blown, full contact training. He is doing kicks and running at his full capacity on his surgically repaired knee.

- Vitor Belfort is making waves as he is talking of moving up in weight to Light Heavyweight. He said that his body is giving him a hard time cutting weight so fighting at 205 would be more natural at his age. He also noted that he will have no problem being pitted against reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones.

- B.J. Penn and Rory MacDonald are likely going to cause a lot of headaches for UFC head honcho Dana White. The men who are set to fight at UFC 152 in what is Penn’s return to MMA after taking over a year off in a self imposed retirement both agreed to take independent VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association) drug testing ahead of their fight. Since it is independent though, the results won’t be announced until AFTER the fight as to not ruin the PPV line-up. VADA testing relies on several different methods than the usual athletic commission drug testing does prior to fights thus it tests for other things than the usual buffet of cocktails that are looked for. It also requires that you be tested at any time before the fight randomly and it has to be done then and there. No “within 48 hour” requirement.

- “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko apparently retired last week following a win over former UFC star Pedro Rizzo in Russia last week. Emelianenko stopped Rizzo in a minute and a half then announced he was retiring in the post fight press conference. Emelianenko was thought at one time to be the most dominant heavyweight in MMA competition and went unbeaten for an entire decade before losing his first fight to Fabricio Werdum in a tournament that was essentially created by Strikeforce to make him a star.

- I know everyone goes on and on about Chuck Norris being bad ass and all (which he is) and breaks out the Chuck Norris facts about him doing super human things. What I bet you didn’t know is that Chuck Norris was in fact responsible for the entire Gracie family importing Gracie Jiu-Jitsu to the United States? This is indeed a TRUE FACT. Chuck and Bob Wall visited the Gracie family in Rio in the 80’s to train with them and he was so impressed that he wanted his Black Belts at the United Fighting Arts Federation to train under them and learn Jiu-Jitsu first h and so he flew up Helio, Rickson, Royce and Renzo to the United States in 1988 to Las Vegas FOR a training seminar.

- Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing for UFC but Dana White was instrumental in the FBI capturing a few members of the Hacker group “Anonymous” who hacked the UFC website last year. After being hacked, White worked with the FBI, Homeland Security and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to help track Mir Islam a.k.a. the hacker known as JoshTheGod. He was arrested earlier this week for credit card fraud.

- Strike force Commentor Frank Shamrock gave an interview this week on various subjects. He discussed the Dana White vendetta against him that is keeping him out of the UFC Hall of Fame. How Dana hates him. How he trained Dana in MMA. How he and Ken Shamrock haven't spoken in years. He respects Ken from a martial arts perspective but other than that, he hates him and more. Definitely a good listen.

- THIS is why UFC bans the soccer kick. Poor Roger Huerta. JUST BRUTAL.

- UFC Octagon Girl BRITTANY PALMER .

UFC 148 is on July 7th from Las Vegas Nevada and the line-up is as follows:

·          UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE: Anderson Silva © vs. Chael Sonnen

·          Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin

·          Cung Le vs. Patrick Cote

·          Demian Maia vs. Dong Hyun Kim

·          Chad Mendes vs. Cody McKenzie

·          Ivan Menjivar vs. Mike Easton

UFC ON FUEL 4 is on July 11^th from San Jose California and the line-up is as follows:

·          Mark Munoz vs. Chris Weidman

·          Brandon Vera vs. James Te Huna

STRIKEFORCE is on July 14^th from Portland Oregon and the line-up is as follows:

·          MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE: Luke Rockhold © vs. Tim Kennedy

·          Keith Jardine vs. Roger Gracie

·          VACANT WELTERWEIGHT TITLE: Tyron Woodley vs. Nate Marquardt

·          Robbie Lawler vs. Lorenz Larkin

·          Roger Gracie vs. Keith Jardine

UFC 149 is on July 21^st, from Calgary Alberta Canada and the line-up is as follows:

·          INTERIM BANTAMWEIGHT TITLE: Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao

·          Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boesch

·          Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Chris Clements

·          Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cheick Kongo

UFC ON FOX 4 is on August 4^th from Los Angeles California and the line-up is as follows:

·          Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Brandon Vera

·          Ryan Bader vs. Lyoto Machida

·          Travis Browne vs. Ben Rothwell

·          Terry Etim vs. Joe Lauzon

UFC 150 is on August 11^th from Denver Colorado and the line-up is as follows:

·          UFC LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE: Ben Henderson © vs. Frankie Edgar

·          Jake Shields vs. Ed Herman

·          Yushin Okami vs. Luiz Cane

·          Thiago Tavares vs. Dennis Hallman

STRIKEFORCE: “Rousey vs. Kaufman” is on Saturday, August 18^th from San Diego California and the line-up is as follows:

·          STRIKEFORCE WOMEN’S CHAMPION: Ronda Rousey © vs. Sarah Kaufman

·          Ronaldo Souza vs. Derek Brunson

·          Roger Bowling vs. Tarec Saffiedine

·          T.J. Cook vs. Ovince St. Preux

UFC 151 is on September 1^st from Las Vegas Nevada and the line-up is as follows:

·          UFC LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Jon “Bones” Jones © vs. Dan Henderson

·          Dennis Silver vs. Eddie Yagin

UFC 152 is on September 22^nd from Toronto Canada and the line-up is as follows:

·          B.J. Penn vs. Rory MacDonald

UFC ON FUEL 5 is on Saturday, September 29^th from Nottingham England and the line-up is as follows:

·          Stefan Struve vs. Stipe Miocic

·          Dan Hardy vs. TBA

·          Paul Sass vs. Matt Winman

·          Duane Ludwig vs. Che Mills

Random Thoughts, Links, Pics, ETC.

- Random VIDEO of the week: Only people my age or older will likely remember but here is KC and JoJo formerly of the R&B group Jodeci performing last weekend. FYI…wait for it. Wait for it…….

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week: “Here Comes The Boom”

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 2: Robot that does not lose at Rock, Paper, Scissors. WTF?

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 3: In case you were wondering, Mexico has been like the Wild Wild West lately. Drug cartels got EVERYTHING on lock down. Killing cops and their families like it ain’t no thang. Handing dead bodies off of bridges and chopping heads off of snitches. So it’s no surprise when someone gets video footage of a f*ckign shootout on the middle of a highway as if it were a Michael Bay film.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 4: Sad thing is, I’ve been to this McDonalds.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 5: This is F’N HILARIOUS!!!

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 6: UGH!!! Somehow I don’t think you’re winning the gold in London bro.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 7: Really bro? Like for serious?

- BONUS Random VIDEO fo the week PART 8: Video to match up with Article 8 below. Straight BOSS MOVE.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week: Having a baby caused Jessica Simpson to go from Double D’s to Double G’s!!! Look at those things.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week PART 2: This is NOT a throwback pic or a vintage cover. PS – she just turned 40. That makes me feel OLD.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week PART 3: Lindsay doing what she does best.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week PART 4: Still don’t get why this chick is not more famous.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week PART 5: I still would. I don’t care what anyone says.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week PART 6: That’s a hell of a problem for firefighters to deal with in a crisis.

- BONUS FUN on FACEBOOK : Too bad life isn't really like this huh?

- BONUS FUN on FACEBOOK PART 2:Well played bro.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week: Take your lumps like a man, lady!!!

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 2: Reason # 9,428,013 why Dogs are better than Cats!!!

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 3: Worst TSA screener EVER?

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 4: Why am I not living in Europe yet?

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 5: Not for nothing but I agree with Tomlinson 100% here. He’s absolutely right. Why are people raking him over the coals over this statement?

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 6: Chinese woman going all in. WOW. That’s dedication on her part. Crazy/Insane but dedicated.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 7: I hate when people grandstand like this. UGH. As if that would ever happen. FOOL!!!

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 8: Balsy move here. Straight up movie villain stuff. Grade A+.

- Random LINK of the week: I am going to keep it here until EVERYONE looks at it and comments; simply heartwarming.

- Random GIF of the week: Hypnotizing.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 2: Hypnotizing Part 2.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 3: Hypnotizing Part 3.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 4: Hypnotizing Part 4.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 5: Hypnotizing Part 5.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 6: Hypnotizing Part 6.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 7: Hypnotizing Part 7.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 8: Hypnotizing Part 8.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 9: Hypnotizing Part 9.

- BONUS Random GIF of the week PART 10: Hypnotizing Part 10.

- The Avengers made history this week by becoming only the 3^rd film ever to reach $600,000,000 gross DOMESTICALLY. It is now officially in the number 3 spot of highest grossing films ever only trailing two James Cameron films (Titanic and Avatar).

- KATE MOTHERF*CKING UPTON !!!! Did I mention how much I envy TERRY RICHARDSON ?

- My Future Wife Kim Kardashian-Aponte wearing Kanye West’s custom made sneakers, the AIR YEAZY 2’S by NIKE . For the record, those cost approximately anywhere between $3,000 - $10,000. That’s not a typo. Also Kim in PARIS .

- Check it out at CLUBWWI.COM if you haven't had a chance yet. There are literally HUNDREDS of interviews with your favorite wrestling stars of yesteryear and today!!! If you're not a member then please do yourself a favor and JOIN CLUB WWI right NOW!!!! What are you waiting for? DO IT. DO IT NOW. Good stuff folks; don't miss out. You'll thank me for it.

Feel free to discuss whatever you'd like in the "Anger Management" section of the message board or whichever section you see fit. Also drop a comment in the comment box below as I try my best to answer in a timely fashion.