Matt Dawgs
T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs: Street Fights In Small Trunks, Michelle McTaker, Hulk Hogan's Achey Breaky Back, Bryan Danielson's Return, Proof Fedor Is Human, Chris Brown Cries Like a Pretend Baby, and More
By Matt Dawgs
Jul 2, 2010 - 1:00 PM

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.

1) WWE News and Notes

- I really didn’t dig the whole “If Nexus touched a WWE star then they are fired and if a WWE star touches Nexus then they get suspended.” That is LAME. Then again, I also hated the fact that the Nexus guys have been jumping people week in and week out…..in wrestling gear. WTF? If this were real gang warfare, the Nexus guys wouldn’t be sneaking into arenas in wrestling gear. Give them street clothes. I hate that everyone is all ready to “wrestle” especially when they are supposed to be FIGHTING!!!

- I did dig the beat down angle of the WWE Legends. Good stuff.

- BTW, Ricky Steamboat was really hospitalized this week with a brain aneurysm. According to sources, he is EXTREMELY lucky he went to the hospital and while he is currently in stable condition, he is no where near out of the woods. Please keep him in your prayers.

- The 8 man tag featuring the RAW MITB participants was AWESOME stuff.

- Does anyone else feel bad for Justin Gabriel? He always looks too frightened when he is going for the 450 splash on someone who isn’t a wrestler like Vince McMahon or Ricky Steamboat.

- My assumption is that someone in the WWE Office is going to be getting into a lot of trouble for this oversight but both Wade Barrett and Drew McIntyre have left the United States due to their work Visas expiring. They are currently in their respective home countries of England and Scotland awaiting new Visas. Someone should be on the ball since they do have a significant amount of foreign talent in the company. That being said, Barrett did in fact inform WWE about his situation two weeks ago and they did get the ball rolling on renewing. Once they began Barrett’s process, they noticed Drew’s which is why they “wrote” him out using the deportation storyline last week. The reason they did that with Drew is that his situation may take longer to clear since he recently married an American citizen (WWE Diva Tiffany) and more research is required and different paperwork.

- Barrett’s situation is already resolved and he is expected to attend RAW Monday.

- The worse news for the company is that if this problem wasn’t resolved ASAP like expected, WWE has 2 major angles that would be DEAD in the water since the Nexus angle would die without Barrett and the Smackdown MITB match was originally penciled to be won by McIntyre and also have him cash it in successfully (hence why he has been losing so much lately, to set up challengers for the title).

- This was confirmed via Twitter when Tiffany stated: “Missing someone like crazy right now.”

- The injury bug strikes YET AGAIN as CM Punk underwent surgery on his arm last week and will be out of action for 4-8 weeks. If you watch Smackdown tonight (MINOR SPOILER) he comes out with his arm in a sling. That is not an angle to further his feud with Kane. He has been given a lot of time off from houseshows over the pass few weeks due to lingering issues in his arm and he was eventually forced to get surgery with Dr. James Andrews to repair the problem.

- “Stone Cold” Steve Austin via Twitter on Husky Harris: “my favorite new WWE talent is Husky Harris..needs a little more ring cardio..comes from great wrestling background. needs a mean streak.”

- Titus O’Neal was eliminated from NXT this week. Thankfully they also gave Kaval a win in a six man pinning Alex Riley with the “Warriors Way”. Kaval was ranked number 1 in the rankings.

- Undertaker and Michelle McCool were married this past weekend in a small, private ceremony in Houston Texas last weekend with only a handful of family and close friends attending. Here is a PIC from the wedding.

- WWE Divas in Muscle and Fitness MAGAZINE .

- Alberto Del Rio (formerly Dos Caras Jr.) is wrestling without his mask because he has it written into his contract that the reserves the right to lose his mask in Mexico. By wrestling in the United States without it, his legacy is protected in Mexico because they will not be negative backlash against him from fans as it is seen as him doing what it takes to make a living in the US as opposed to wrestling with it, losing it and then going to Mexico and wrestling with it again which is seen as a negative by fans.

- Joe Anoa’i from the famous Samoan wrestling family has been signed to a WWE developmental deal. Joe is the brother of Matt Anoa’i a.k.a. Rosey the Super Hero in Training of WWE fame. He is also a cousin of Rikishi and the late Umaga.

- Bryan Danielson has commented on his WWE release according to his blog found at THIS LINK. The general gist of it is that he was released for not only the tie choking but for spitting on John Cena as well. He states that he was told that he went to far and due to the WWE PG rating, they had no choice. He says while he doesn’t agree with the decision, he completely understands it. He also stated that he was happy he did what he did because when he performs, he’d rather go to far giving it his all than come up too short and make it look weak. He is unsure of what the future holds but is happy he can go back to the Indies now because he worked so hard to gain an independent following and now that he has millions of fans from the WWE, he hopes that they go and sample independent wrestling.

- Satan’s Prison: The Elimination Chamber Anthology TRAILER .

- The Nexus guys have been told to not sign autographs or pose for pictures when in public. They must wear their armbands at all times in public. For the most part, fans have said that while it sucks that they can’t get photos or autographs from them, they have in fact been nice about it by simply saying they aren’t allowed to right now.

- Why hasn’t Nexus jumped anyone on Smackdown?

- No update on Bret Hart and his WWE status. In a recent Facebook comment, he said he has no idea where he stands with the company right now. He did post a blog about his feelings on Martha Hart and her lawsuit. Suffice to say, he absolutely DOES NOT agree with her in any way, shape or form and thinks she needs to let go because Owen’s memory needs to live on rather than pretend he was never a wrestler.

- Teddy Hart was released from his contract by AAA in Mexico last week. He was already under suspension for being a douche. His father has been telling people that he asked to be released because he has a new WWE deal however Ted nor his father have ever been a beacon of honesty so take that with a grain of salt.

- Former WCW and Japan star Scott Norton was hired as a body guard for Playboy model and reality TV show star Kendra Wilkinson.

- The former Katie Lea Burchill is will now be wrestling under the name Kat La Noir.

RAW GUEST HOSTS :

· July 12 – Florence Henderson

2) WWE Money In the Bank PPV: is on July 18^th from Kansas City Missouri and the line-up is as follows:

• WWE TITLE: Sheamus © vs. John Cena (in a steel cage)
• WORLD TITLE: Rey Mysterio © vs. Jack Swagger
• MITB WWE TITLE: John Morrison vs. Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. R-Truth vs. Evan Bourne vs. Chris Jericho vs. Ted DiBiase vs. United States champion The Miz
• MITB WORLD TITLE: Kane, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Big Show, Matt Hardy and Cody Rhodes. (Originally 8 spots were announced but with CM Punk injured and Drew McIntyre’s status up in the air, they are working on how to fill the final 2 spots)
• UNDISPUTED TAG TITLES: Hart Dynasty © vs. The Usos

3) TNA News and Notes

- In a move that had a lot of people talking backstage, neither Hulk Hogan nor Eric Bischoff were backstage at the TNA tapings this week. It is possible that backstage vignettes are going to be filmed and added in later but it doesn’t seem likely. Many were wondering what exactly their absence meant. It could be because Bischoff may have had other outside business as Jason Hervey was not there either but Hervey isn’t there each taping so it wasn’t unusual. With Hogan, it could be more personal than anything because he has been in a lot of pain lately and may need yet ANOTHER back surgery soon. That is bad for TNA since they are apparently building to him vs. Abyss and the match may not happen.

- The changes do not stop there however. Ed Ferrera was let go last week by Dixie Carter. No reason was made public but many seem to think it has to do with the push that TNA management has been given to Paul Heyman. He has absolutely been offered the head of creative role however rumors state that he is interested in a similar deal to that of Dana White in UFC which he would be running everything, the hiring’s, firings, etc while the Carter Family continues to own the company (like the Ferrera’s, no relation to Ed, do in UFC)

- Kevin Sullivan (Yes, THAT Kevin Sullivan) reached out to TNA about taking over creative for them. Apparently he presented them with plans for the entire year of booking.

- The ”THEY” that Abyss keeps talking about is the ECW contingent. TNA is hoping that Heyman accepts their offer so that he can lead the group.

- TNA debuts in Brooklyn NY tonight. They have already pre-sold 4,000 tickets to the event already making it the biggest gate in TNA history. That is pretty sad considering they have been in business for over 8 years now. Thankfully I did confirm that Brooklyn’s own Homicide is booked for the show. The show is expected to draw more than 5,000 people.

- “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero has been cleared to return to action and will be facing off with Kurt Angle at the next PPV as angle continues to climb the rankings for his eventual title shot.

- Generation Me’s contract have expired. They are still going to be working for TNA on a pay per appearance basis but that now means that they are free to work for anyone full time including Ring of Honor.

- Velvet Sky has signed a long term contract with TNA.

- Where is Lacey Von Erich? Did I miss something?

- Rumor is they are going to break Velvet away from Madison Rayne.

- Tommy Dreamer debuted at the last PPV by walking through the crowd. Last week on TNA, Tommy returned with Stevie Richards and Raven. This week, Tommy returned with Stevie Richards, Raven and Rhino. See a pattern here? ECW v 9.3 returns.

- Doug Williams is planning on relocating from England to the US full time.

- Those close to Carlito Colon state that he has absolutely NO interest in joining TNA.

- Mickie James “no-compete” clause expires August 1^st. *hint, hint.*

4) TNA Victory Road PPV is on Sunday, July 11, 2010 from Orlando Florida and the line-up is as follows:

• TNA TITLE: Rob Van Dam © vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss.
• Ric Flair vs. Jay Lethal.
• Kurt Angle vs. D'Angelo Dinero.
• STEEL CAGE: Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez
• TAG TEAM TITLE FINALS: The Motor City Machineguns vs. Beer Money
• TNA X- TITLE: Doug Williams © vs. Brian Kendrick in an Ultimate X Submission match.
• TNA KNCOKOUTS TITLE: Madison Rayne © vs. Angelina Love

5) ROH/DGUSA/EVOLVE/Independent News and Notes:

- Bryan Danielson made his independent wrestling return last weekend at Chikara. As you may or may not know, Chikara is “different” when it comes to fans and rather than throw streamers like they do in Japan or toilet paper like the do in Ring of Honor upon Danielson’s entrance, they instead threw….NECK TIES!!!! AWESOME.

- Danielson came out to the NXT theme. LOL.

- His first promo since being released can be found HERE .

- ROH “Death Before Dishonor” PPV HIGHLIGHTS .

- Mike Mondo formerly of the Spirit Squad has a tryout at the 7/22 show in Louisville. The show is actually being promoted by Jim Cornette and features the Briscoes vs. the American Wolves and Tyler Black defending the ROH title against Claudio Castagnoli.

- Trent Acid Memorial Show is on July 10^th at the ECW Arena and the line-up is as follows:

• Devon Moore vs. Johnny Kashmere
• The Strong Style Thugs (“Da Notorious 187” Homicide & B-Boy) vs. Ruckus & Sonjay Dutt
• The HIT SQUAD (Dan Maff and Steve “Monsta Mack” reuniting for one day only) vs. The H8 Club (Nick Gage and Nate Hatred)
• The “Trent Acid” Battle Royal
• Tod Gordon making his ECW arena return.
• Also appearing: Billy Reil, Aramis, Donnie B., Nick Berk, Big Mac Smack, Roxie Cotton, John Dahmer, Stephen DeAngelis, Detox, Joe Ettell, Teddy Fine, Adam Flash, John House, DJ Hyde, Corey Kastle, Mike Kehner, Ian Knoxx, Kwame, Amy Lee, Brian Logan, The Messiah, Don Montoya, Rockin' Rebel, "Doomsday" Danny Rose, Axl Rotten, Ruckus, Missy Sampson, The SAT, Annie Social, Ron Starr, Nate Stein, Ty Street, Eddie Valentine, Matt Walsh, Flash Wheeler, Z-Barr, and many more to be announced.

ACE Pro Wrestling returns on July 10, 2010 from Union City NJ and the line-up is as follows:

• WORLD TITLE: Dan Maff vs. “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson
• Azrieal & Mike Donovan vs. Crowbar & Bandido Jr.
• Bruno Marciano vs. Bobby Fish
• Mo Sexton vs. “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels
• TAG TEAM TITLES: R8D-X vs. BS Express

ICW returns on August 7, 2010 to Queens NY with "FULL SPEED AHEAD" and the line-up is as follows:

• Dan Maff vs. Christopher Daniels with Prince Nana
• WSU TITLE: Mercedes Martinez © vs. Mickie James
• Homicide vs. Jerry Lynn
• Danny Demanto vs. The Amazing Red
• Heaven & Hell (Grim Reefer & Azrieal) vs. The Weapons of Mass Destruction (Sonjay Dutt & Daivari)
• Balls Mahoney vs. The Candy Man
• Also appearing The SAT, Xavier, Bandido Jr., Devon Moore, Pinkie Sanchez, Justin Toxic, VSK, EJ Risk, 3rd State Saints (Damian Dragon & Mike Quest), The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and more....

6) MMA News and Notes

- The MMA world was shaken upside down last weekend when arguably the pound for pound best heavyweight fighter in the world, Fedor Emelianenko was defeated by Fabricio Werdum 69 seconds into the first round by SUBMISSION. Fedor, who only lost one fight in his career back in December of 2000 (and it was a doctor stoppage due to a cut caused by an inadvertent elbow) was considered the best heavyweight in all of MMA. That theory has now been debunked after he submitted to a triangle choke with an armbar which Werdum has locked in tight. The only options were to tap or get his arm broken. This definitely opens up the floodgates when it comes to laying claim for pound for pound best heavyweight around discussions as Alistair Overeem, the Heavyweight Champion in Strikeforce along with Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin are now going to make that claim.

- Fedor didn’t lose as easily as his detractors would have hoped though. The reality is, Fedor made a mistake and paid for it, plain and simple. In fact, Fedor was dominating the opening seconds, knocked Werdum down with a right that after the fight, Werdum said he didn’t remember the punch nor much of the round. That shows you that he was ROCKED. Fedor just went in on a jiu-jitsu guy and got locked in a place where he didn’t want to be.

- Werdum now has his eyes set on Overeem as Werdum holds a win over him in Pride in 2006. Overeem was prepared to fight Emelianenko but is actually glad that Werdum won because he is set on avenging his loss. Although there is MONEY to be made in a Emelianenko vs. Werdum rematch. Possibly on PPV even.

- Dana White via Twitter after Emelianenko’s loss, HERE .

- Dana also did an interview with ESPN radio basically saying that he no longer has interest in signing Fedor now. Fedor blew his chance as he was offered an unprecedented amount of money for ANYONE in MMA to come to UFC and it was turned down by his management company M-1 Global. Now that he lost to someone who was cut from UFC no less, Dana feels that his point was proven and that Fedor is not the top guy in MMA anymore.

- Brock on Fedor: "It was disappointing. I hate to see a guy like that. Whether his legacy was more of a mystique than it was, he stood up and he was respectful and it was tough to see. It reminded me of my first fight against Frank [Mir] when I got really anxious and fell right into the trap. That’s a tough pill to swallow. That’s a big pill to swallow and I definitely do not want to try to swallow that pill again. I feel bad for him. I don’t think any less of him. We’re human beings and we all make mistakes and it’s whether or not we can get up and better ourselves. That’s what true champions are made of, I believe."

- Frank Shamrock officially announced his retirement from MMA during the Strikeforce show last weekend. Shamrock realized that it was time as he didn’t have that many money making fights left to him and the fact that he is up there in age, plagued by injuries and if he were to continue fighting, would probably have quality of life issues decided that his knowledge would be better qualified for commentating that fighting still. I think it is a personally good decision and look forward to hearing his insight in the future.

- Big props to Jan Finney as she showed a tremendous amount of heart in her BEATING at the hands of Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos last weekend. Cyborg literally beat on her for the entire first round including scoring 4 knockdowns. Amazingly, Finney made it out of round one only to suffer more of the same in round two. The referee finally stopped it once Cyborg landed a stinging knee to the stomach that dropped her and followed it with unanswered punches.

- Scott Coker is now singing a different tune as apparently he is indeed interested in signing Dave Batista for a potential fight with Bobby Lashley. While many hardcore MMA fans will crap all over it since it would be “wrestler vs. wrestler”, the fact is that is has potential to draw HUGE money because like it or not, Batista is far more popular than Lashley or Lesnar due to wrestling. Amazing considering he is the least athletic and as solid in the ring as the other two. Either way, add Batista vs. Lashley to a card featuring Gina Carano or Herschel Walker and that leaves a ton of $$$ to be made.

- Weigh-ins for Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin will air LIVE tonight on Spike TV at 7:00 pm ET.

- There is a heavy wrestling contingent that will be in Las Vegas to see the Lesnar/Carwin fight including Jim Ross, Steve Austin, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Bill Goldberg and the Undertaker.

- Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields was released from his Strikeforce contract freeing him to sign with UFC and allowing Strikeforce to hold a tournament for his newly vacated title.

UFC 116 is TOMORROW NIGHT from Las Vegas, Nevada and the line-up is as follows:

• UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Brock Lesnar © vs. Shane Carwin ©
• Chris Leben vs. Yoshiro Akiyama
• Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
• Kurt Pellegrino vs. George Sotiropoulos

UFC 117 is on August 7, 2010 from Oakland California and the line-up is as follows:

• MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE: Anderson Silva © vs. Chael Sonnen
• Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
• Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson
• Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida
• Thiago Silva vs. Tim Boetsch
• Clay Guida vs. Rafael dos Anjos

UFC 118 is on August 28, 2010 from Boston Massachusetts and the line-up is as follows:

• UFC LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE: Frankie Edgar © vs. B.J. Penn
• Randy Couture vs. James Toney
• Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard
• Nick Osipczak vs. Greg Soto
• Phil Baroni vs. John Salter

7) Random Thoughts, Links, Pics, ETC.

- Random VIDEO of the week: This is what you soccer fans cream over? Here is the German head coach!!! This does not happen in baseball. Disgusting!!!

- Random PIC of the week: Good advice.

- Fun on FACEBOOK : Ummmm……..ok.

- Ice-T’s Wife COCO is vacationing in MIAMI . WOW .

- Mel Gibson…..um….dude.

- LITTLE FOCKERS !!!

- Chris “Smack that b*tch up” Brown gave the performance of a lifetime at the BET awards last weekend. I had linked a video of it due to him breaking down into tears during his Michael Jackson tribute. The video was removed. Either way, I am glad it was removed because I have since learned that Brown WAS FAKING!!! HE USED FAKE TEARS!!!!

- THIS is Wonder Woman as we know her. THIS is Wonder Woman as she is now going to look going forward. SHAME.

- My Future Wife, Kim Kardashian-Aponte has been immortalized in WAX for Madame Tussad’s museum.

- James Guttman. Paul Roma. NUFF SAID. Check it out at CLUBWWI.COM . If you’re not a member then please do yourself a favor and JOIN CLUB WWI right NOW!!!! You’ll thank me for it. 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 crown jewel of World Wrestling Insanity and if he decided to leave the site, it would crumble due to the lack of awesomeness. Matt used to moonlight as a professional wrestler/manager in the NY/NJ Indy scene. The New York Yankees are the premiere sports franchise IN ANY SPORT, LeBron James will NOT be a New York Knick and MMA will be more popular and lucrative than Boxing in less than 5 years. Also, if you have any questions, corrections, feedback, comments and ideas, email me at Matt@worldwrestlinginsanity.com . If the feedback is negative, you can e-mail Matt at insanity@worldwrestlinginsanity.com .

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.