|
|---|
 |
|
|---|
T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs: The Unloved Khali, Eve Fails, EV2.0 Will Too, How WWE Should Seek Copyright Justice Before Hardcore Justice, Abdullah The Butcher Trivia Question, AAA: Heroes Del Ring, Titanic II, 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. WWE News and Notes - Amazing that WWE promotes Bret Hart as a member of John Cena’s team for Summerslam and then have back-to-back RAW tapings for the “go home” weeks before the PPV but none have Bret Hart on them since he is on his honeymoon, so we get no Bret for PPV hype. We did get a mention that Hart is “training” in Calgary for Summerslam. Funny because when he eventually does wrestle at the PPV, he isn’t going to do much so what is he training exactly? He isn’t going to do any moves since his insurance policy won’t let him. - Bret and his new WIFE . - Did I mention how much I HATE this emailing GM thing? HATE. - I am trying to figure this out; the entire RAW episode was about “Team Cena” not being able to get along. Cena is sad because they can’t defeat Nexus unless they are a united front. So during the show, Edge faces Summerslam teammate The Great Khali with the stipulation that if Khali loses, he is off the team. Before the match gets going, Nexus comes out. Edge bails and Khali stays. So who comes out to make the save? John Cena? Nope, no one. Thankfully for Khali, Nexus let him bail. But not for nothing, shouldn’t Cena at least tried to save his teammate? Wouldn’t that have been the smart thing to do? - Antonio Tarver’s “reverse powerslam” was pretty damn great looking. I think that may have saved him from being “Future Endeavored” as he is definitely the weakest of the Nexus. - Why does Evan Bourne continue to get buried? Why can’t WWE push him as an underdog with talent? Sean Waltman wasn’t all that much bigger than him as the 1-2-3 Kid and managed to become a star yet while good, wasn’t anywhere near as good as Bourne is. I don’t get it. - Goldust dislocated his knee during the 7-on-7 but it popped back into place. He was in a lot of pain but managed to work the RAW taping the following day and is fine. - Miz constantly trying to cash in the MITB briefcase is AWESOME. He should absolutely tease it every show until he does finally cash it in. - Also awesome? Sheamus. - Both next week’s RAW and Smackdown were taped this week as both crews are touring Australia and New Zealand respectively. No spoilers here but I am sure you can find them somewhere. - CM Punk is out of his sling and able to being physical contact again so he will be back in action sooner rather than later. - Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat was released from the hospital last weekend and is currently staying with his sister in Tampa until he can fly home to North Carolina. Once he is able to return, he is more than likely going to remain in Tampa as a trainer in FCW rather than be on the road as an agent. - Bret DiBiase returned to FCW this week as a guest GM. He is not on crutches (he had major knee surgery a few months back) but was walking with a noticeable limp. He is still a few months away from returning full time. He is however using a similar gimmick to his brother where he also received his trust fund money thus is super rich. - Per WWE’s official Twitter account, the Twitter page for Shawn Michaels and his wife Rebecca that I mentioned last week is NOT LEGIT. The “fake” HBK twitter page did promote an appearance on a national hunting show that they are legit appearing on which is what made the account seem accurate. Shawn Michaels cleared the air in a video found HERE on his official You Tube account. - Due to the imposters, Shawn did in fact launch an official TWITTER account and it is confirmed by WWE. His name is @ShawnMichaels_ - In a recent interview with the Miz who spoke out of character, he confirms that Bryan Danielson won him over towards the end but he was legit bitter at first because everyone said Danielson was the greatest wrestler around and Miz’s feelings were that sure he was probably good since he has been all around the world but he hasn’t wrestled in WWE so that doesn’t make him the best. He feels Danielson got shafted but is confident he will be back. He also says that he knows for a fact that he was on the verge of being “future endeavored” more than once during his WWE tenure and each time he stepped up his game and saved himself. Now he is on the cusp of being a full-fledged superstar. - In the same interview, Miz discusses his training at UPW in California and says that he used to frequently train with Samoa Joe and Kazarian. - WWE put out a Los Angeles casting call for…..WWE female Divas. Yes, rather than sign current independent female wrestlers, they put out a casting call for agents and managers to submit their female clients. WOW. - The Connecticut Post newspaper has an interview with former WWE Diva Dawn Marie in which she openly admits that she used steroids while under WWE contract (before the Wellness policy went into effect). She said that she was not told to do it by Vince McMahon or anyone else in management. She just states that she chose to take a shortcut because she wanted to succeed and there was no testing policy for it. - All signs point to Mikey Whipwreck turning down WWE’s offer to be a trainer in developmental. Becoming a trainer would mean relocating his family to Tampa and quitting his full time job in Long Island. That isn’t a safe decision since WWE staff is unstable. - Whipwreck was more than likely offered the position as a replacement for former WCW Star Billy Kidman who was working as a trainer in developmental for the past two years. Kidman was recently invited to tryout as an “agent/producer” on the main roster and was offered the role full time last week. - SPOILER ALERT: Melina returns to television next week on RAW. They have shelved the idea of reuniting her with Morrison and may even dump the Morrison/DiBiase & Mayrese feud as they might turn Morrison heel. Instead Melina is in the Divas Title hunt. - Eve Torres, WELCOME TO THE DOGHOUSE!!!! WWE is very down on her due to her completely bombing on commentary two weeks ago when she joined Lawler and Cole. Normally, WWE management isn’t that picky if someone were to flub a line or something. She didn’t however. She completely failed miserably. - Where’s Chris Masters? Anyone seen him? - Management is high on the Usos as they see that they are pretty polished for two guys who didn’t spend much time in developmental and are spring boarded into the spotlight on RAW soon after their debuts. - My pick for the season 2 winner of NXT is either Michael McGillicuty (Joe Henning) or Husky Harris (Windham Rotunda). Kaval is not winning although I would really love to see him win. - Mayrese without makeup = STILL HOT . - Congrats to Ron Simmons who was voted the 3rd best college football player EVER from the state of Florida. - Amazing, simply amazing. In the new WWE Elimination Chamber anthology, there is an Elimination Chamber match that features “He Who Shall Not Be Named”. It is the first complete match of his that WWE has released since the “incident” in 2007. It’s obvious that he cannot be completely edited out of the match since he is featured heavily in it. So rather than edit him out, they remove any mention of his name during commentary. So there are several moments of silence during commentary of him doing things. - Gerald Briscoe has been communicating with UFC’s Chael Sonnen about possibly coming into WWE. Chael is fighting Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight title on Saturday August 7th. - In addition to Smackdown vs. RAW and the new WWE All-Stars game, THQ is working on a game featuring WWE Wrestlers NOT in a wrestling environment. - WWE FUN FACT: The Randy Savage figure that is being released by Mattel (that I mentioned last week) is the first WWE item featuring Savage in 15 YEARS. (JG Note: An interview with Savage appeared in the debut edition of WWE's Smackdown Magazine in 2002, and a Randy Savage WWE DVD set was released in 2009.) - WWE added the VIDEO from the Comic Con to their website which is a shock considering Savage is in it. The logical assumption is that maybe the bad blood is cooling off between the two which will eventually lead to conversation about the below…… - WWE is once again going to make a major push to have Ultimate Warrior inducted into the Hall of Fame in Atlanta. While Atlanta is WCW country, they do not have a big enough name to headline the show. A lot of WCW talent will be going in this year including Arn Anderson, Ron Simmons and The Fabulous Freebirds. My bet is that if/when Warrior turns them down, they go with Goldberg who is a major enough name to most fans today and you could also get a match out of him for Mania. Problem is, he doesn’t have that much of a history to talk about and who inducts him? - Best of luck and prayers go out to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Bobby fell several weeks ago amd broke his hip. During rehab, he slipped and fell again breaking his shoulder. He is in immense pain and now in a wheelchair. WWE Summerslam PPV is on August 15, 2010 from Los Angeles CA and the line-up is as follows:
TNA News and Notes - Both Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were backstage at both sets of Impact tapings this week and rumor has it that Bischoff is the one who came up with the name for the former ECW names. - Bischoff is not liked….by anyone other than Hogan and Dixie Carter. Hogan however is well liked by most of the roster. - The latest on Heyman is….status quo. My take is that Dixie Carter is playing a game of chicken thinking Heyman will fold to her demands but he is standing pat and insisting on getting everything he requests. If he doesn’t, he isn’t going to come. - The former ECW talents are going by the name EV 2.0 (Extreme Version 2.0). I am definitely not fond of it. Especially the fact that they have been given a name leads me to believe that most of them are going to be around past the “one shot” that they are rumored to be around for. - I wholeheartedly disagree with this concept and feel that TNA should let sleeping dogs lie. The ECW concept is DEAD. Has been beaten to death, resurrected by WWE and then beaten to death again. Think about this, the WWE ECW One Night Stand PPV that Heyman and Rob Van Dam pitched to Vince McMahon was 5 YEARS AGO. ECW died 5 YEARS BEFORE THAT the first time. ECW has been DEAD for over 10 years now. Everyone from that roster is older and more broken down. Sabu is the guy most old school ECW fans want to see. Well guess what? I saw Sabu wrestle Homicide last month on an independent show in Queens NY. Sabu, in a 15 minute match against someone the caliber of Homicide, did not take one bump. NOT ONE. That says something to how limited the man physically is. Next subject, Team 3D. Team 3D is classified as being “ECW’. Guys who helped “build” ECW. Um, not for nothing, Team 3D have been wrestling in TNA MUCH LONGER than their ECW stint was. Shouldn’t they be TNA guys? Mick Foley wrestled in ECW for a year. That is it, A YEAR. Mick Foley is close to a household name. Not cause of ECW, because of WWE. He is a WWE guy. If anything, have a WWE “One Night Only” PPV then. Makes more sense considering they are more relevant than ECW. - Apparently (and more so surprisingly) Brother Ray and Brother Devon are not very supportive of the entire “ECW-Nostalgia show. The only reason they are even participating is because Tommy Dreamer is involved and both are very close to him. - Lance Storm announced via his website that he was indeed contacted about appearing at the “Hardcore Justice” PPV however he will NOT be participating. He said that it would be hypocritical to appear on the PPV considering he has done nothing but bash the company and the booking. He also wishes them the best but thinks kicking a dead horse is pointless. ECW is done and he is happy with the WWE One Night Stand PPV and how he went out. - Mikey Whipwreck also announced that he was not going to be participating in the TNA Hardcore Justice PPV. - Shane Douglas has confirmed that he has not come to an agreement to appear on the PPV as of yet (i.e. he is holding out for more money) and is bothered that the TNA Hardcore Justice promo features him in it because people may order it to see him and he may not be there. (what people?) - And while I am on the record, I will laugh uncontrollably and dedicate both a column and my first audio update in YEARS if WWE somehow managed to get a legal injunction preventing the Hardcore Justice PPV from taking place. I am talking about like the day before. That will be the most hilarious moment in wrestling history. Don’t get me wrong, I’d hate to see the former ECW guys who aren’t contracted to TNA get paydays and have “one last chance” or whatever they are calling it but the fact is, they are definitely skating on thin ice with all the ECW references on television. This isn’t going to be an easy fight for TNA to win if they indeed infringe on a copyright. - TNA will be taping what is apparently a “special” Impact the day after the Hardcore Justice PPV which will have EV2 stars & TNA stars in what is being called a free PPV. It will air in the usual Thursday timeslot but instead will not have any backstage segments or promos. Instead, it will be main event caliber matches. The reason for it is to basically have the TNA matches that were originally thought of for Hard Justice but got scrapped for the EV2 PPV. Between airing a “free PPV” and having a PPV the day after a UFC event, chances are that Hardcore Justice has a good shot at bombing. - I will go on record right now as saying that the Beautiful People should NOT have been broken up yet. - Homicide is out of action with both a groin injury that he plans on rehabbing as well as 2 cracked ribs that he has been wrestling with since June. He is moving back to New York from Florida where he relocated to about 2 years ago when he joined TNA. Not that it is a sign of anything; he is just tired of living in Florida. - TNA has finally smartened up. The Global title which AJ Styles recently won is now going to be known as the TNA Television Title going forward. - The Main Event Mafia Wolfpac? WTF? Looks like it is coming. LAME. - Per Kevin Nash, Scott Hall was released from the hospital and is doing better. He is also 20 days sober now. Hopefully that remains to be the case but with his track record, I highly doubt it. - Former ROH World Champion and independent wrestler Xavier had a try-out with TNA this week. He was defeated by Doug Williams in a dark match that people are reporting went well. - EVOLVE star Bobby Fish also received a tryout. - TNA has also reached out to ROH star Delirious but he is not interested in joining TNA at this time. - According to Radar Online , Hulk Hogan’s goal is to become the next Billy Mays aka a big time infomercial pitchman. - Hogan on a job INTERVIEW . - Hulk Hogan’s ex-wife Linda is now engaged to her 21 year old boyfriend (and friend of Brooke and Nick Hogan) Charlie Hill. FYI…Charlie will now be Brooke Hogan’s step-father even though she is ONE YEAR OLDER THAN HE IS!!!!! TNA Hardcore Justice PPV is on August 8, 2010 from Orlando FL and the line-up is as follows:
Independent / International News and Notes: - Rumor has it that ROH is in talks for the September 11th show to feature an ROH Tag Team title match between the current champions, The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero) vs. The World’s Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin). - Matt Sydal aka brother to WWE’s Evan Bourne was injured last weekend during an ROH show and was taken to a local hospital. He was legit knocked unconscious during the match with Jay Bradley after what looked like his head was taken off from a lariat. The match was immediately stopped and it took 10 minutes for Sydal to be treated and removed from the ring. He went to the hospital but was diagnosed with a concussion and released. He is going to miss sometime while he recovers. - Almost 20 years into their existence and the former ECW Arena STILL DOES NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONING! WTF?! - Necro Butcher SHAVED HIS HEAD!!!!!! - Manami Toyota is working for CHIKARA in September. Not a lot of you are going to know who she is but she is BY FAR the best woman’s wrestler EVER from an in ring standpoint. For those of you who think Trish Stratus or Gail Kim or Awesome Kong or someone else is, they aren’t. It is MANAMI TOYOTA . - The Dragon Gate USA PPV taping last weekend sadly has a match on it that was a Match of the Year candidate and won’t air since it involved Bryan Danielson. Bryan’s no-compete clause with WWE prevents him from being on television and/or PPV until it ends. Danielson defeated Shingo in the main event in what is being called a 4 ¾ star match. - More names have surfaced for the new upstart Florida. Booker T, Konnan, Paul London, Rocky Romero, Sonjay Dutt, Super Crazy & 2 Cold Scorpio are all signed. The contracts that they all signed to join does not take affect until October meaning that they are free to work wherever they feel until then. 2011 is when the promotion is set to kick off. The plan as of now is to become a national competitor to TNA and WWE but the main reason it hasn’t been officially announced is because they do not want to cause hype without getting their ducks in a row with television, syndication, etc. Several ROH non-contract guys have signed meaning that A LOT of talent from ROH is going to disappear come the fall and those who are still under ROH contract are going to jump once available since this promotion is offering substantially more than ROH does. On top of the bigger financial gains, the promotion is also offering medical benefits and a 401K plan which neither WWE or TNA offer. It’s a pretty good deal. Hopefully it will last and survive. Without national television, this is all a pipe dream. - INDEPENDENT FUN FACT: Abdullah the Butcher has NEVER WRESTLED inside Madison Square Garden. Imagine that? WOW. - Rob Feinstein almost legit breaks Charlie Hass’ neck. WOW . - A little shout-out to my cousins Derek and Charlie who used to LOVE Missy Hyatt. Here is Missy at an INDEPENDENT SHOW . - To follow up on my cryptic Dawn Marie comment from last week, the story circulating is that apparently Dawn has been allegedly siphoning funds from the Wrestlers Rescue Charity that she founded. The charity has not been legally registered as a charity and no wrestlers from the past have come forward to state that they have benefitted from the group. The allegations also state that she uses the funds she raises to fly herself to autograph signings in exchange for flying herself out, she is allowed a gimmick table for FREE (most promoters make money by selling tables at conventions) to take photos and sell merchandise. To clarify however, I am not accusing Dawn of anything. I have met Dawn on several independent shows in NY several years ago when she was still seeing Pat “Simon Diamond” Kenney and she was nothing but a total delight. All of these allegations could just be a witch hunt from someone holding a grudge. You just have to let it play out and see what the results are before coming to a conclusion. Dawn did release a statement to rebut these claims on HER WEBSITE . - Roster for the AAA: Heroes del Ring video game:
ICW returns on August 7, 2010 to Queens NY with "FULL SPEED AHEAD" and the line-up is as follows:
MMA News and Notes - UFC legendary referee “Big” John McCarthy is back in the UFC. He will be refereeing the UFC on VS show in San Diego on Sunday. For those of you that do not know, UFC does not choose their refs. The athletic commission in the jurisdiction that they are working in does. So this is not a Dana White move but….Dana has not filed a motion/petition to stop it. The main reason he has not been chose earlier is that most UFC events take place in Las Vegas and when McCarthy left his referee position to try his hand at commentating, his Nevada license lapsed and he was not granted a new one last year when he reapplied. He is still not licensed in Nevada. While no proof says so, I do not think that it is a coincidence that he was denied a new license there. - Congrats to Brock and Rena Lesnar on the birth of their second child together last week. They had a 9 pound boy. - UFC is bringing it with UFC 21 in October. So far confirmed are Brock Lesnar © vs. Cain Velasquez, Tito Ortiz vs. Matt Hamill, Jake Shields debut vs. Martin Kampmann, Diego Sanchez against Paulo Thiago and Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Brendan Schaub. WOW. - Many fans were wondering why Pat Barry didn’t take the fight to Mirko Cro Cop on the ground after he floored Cro Cop with a right hand. Well for those wondering, HERE is why. He broke both his right hand and right foot in the fight. - 27-year-old Ryan Couture, son of UFC living legend Randy Couture has signed to make his MMA debut with Strikeforce. His debut will be on August 13th at the Strikeforce Challengers event. - Josh Barnett has also signed with Strikeforce. - OUCH !!!!! - For every single boxing fanatic out there who claims that boxing is superior to MMA, please watch THIS . Now defend boxing to me. UFC 117 is on August 7, 2010 from Oakland California and the line-up is as follows:
UFC 118 is on August 28, 2010 from Boston Massachusetts and the line-up is as follows:
UFC 119 is on September 25, 2010 from Indianapolis Indiana and the line-up is as follows:
Random Thoughts, Links, Pics, ETC. - Random VIDEO of the week: The greatest video game trailer in the history of video games. BY FAR. - Random GIF of the week: In Honor of Jersey Shore 2. - Fun on FACEBOOK : That’s what friends are for. - THE AVENGERS Assembled at the Comic Con. - Chances are that at some point soon, the attached trailer that I am posted will be gone. But regardless, it is my duty to post it anyway; here is the OFFICIAL THOR TRAILER . - Jersey Shore 2 started last night. WHHHOOOOOOOO~!~! *fist pump* Here is a 60 second RECAP of season 1. - SUCKER-PUNCH . - I think I am going to move to Los Angeles and go on a crime spree. Lindsey Lohan was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Due to over crowding, she was really going to end up doing 24 days in jail. But since the legal system in LA is crap and due to “over crowding”, she is scheduled to be released any day now thus will only be serving about 9 days. 9 DAYS!!!!! - Ice-T’s wife COCO doing….well I don’t really know what she is doing but it is NICE . - In a very early column of mine, I posted THIS . It was a spoof on a Titanic sequel where archeologists find a frozen Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) in the ocean and he was basically in suspended animation and looking for a long dead Rose (Kate Winslett). It was a joke but some people bought it as legit. Anyway, now there is THIS and it is REAL. Titanic II. I am shocked, appalled and offended that this was made. - My Future Wife, Kim Kardashian-Aponte leaving the GYM after a WORKOUT . - Check it out at CLUBWWI.COM . 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!!!! You’ll thank me for it. DO IT. DO IT NOW. 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. blog comments powered by Disqus
|
|
|---|
| All content contained here Copyright 2012 by James Guttman |
