T.G.I.F. with Matt Dawgs: #170

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: For all of you NBA fans, The Los Angeles Lakers have traded for Dwight Howard. That gives them a starting 5 of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest) and Dwight Howard. WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!

WWE NEWS AND NOTES:

- I give credit where credit is due. RAW has done a good job at being a billion times more entertaining then it has been over the past few months since they moved to three hours. Of course there is still some crap from time to time but for the most part, the show has flowed nicely and allowing more time for matches and segments has kept me into it without feeling bored or wanting to gouge my eyes out.

- CM Punk is heel. Not loving the turn (how it was done) but loving him being a heel again if that makes any sense. Heel Punk > Face Punk. He always has been. A.J. Lee also has been awesome in her role but I wish they would have let her keep her look, at least let her wear the converse with her suit. It is simple yet effective and WWE cannot seem to grasp small things like that.

- Daniel Bryan is AWESOME. That is a fact. Did you see how quickly he turned the crowd on him in the main event? The crowd broke out into “Let’s to Cena/Cena Sucks” chants and he simply turned the focus on him by yelling “No, No, No. It’s all about me at them.” Which ended up turning the Cena chant game into chants of “Yes, Yes, Yes.” Not many people in the business would have thought that fast on their feet and changed a crowd reaction that quickly. Bryan is getting a SUPERMEGASTAR reaction every time he comes out.

- WWE was sure to emphasize that John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan was happening for the first time ever….ON RAW. Did anyone else notice that? There was a reason for that folks. While it was the first time ever on RAW, it was not the first time ever. Nope. The first time was BACK IN 2003 .

- I dug the Alberto Del Rio/Ricardo/AJ angle with her letting him have the night off and then flipping out when she heard the word “crazy” and then booking him in an immediate match without his gear. Nice touch having Del Rio finishing getting dressed while walking to the ring and then a good match with Christian. What I did not dig though was Sheamus stealing the car and the lame skits that followed. Boooooo.

- Was that an Alex Riley sighting? And he picked up a win?

- No mic work for AW this week on the live show huh? I don’t think that is a coincidence. The AW situation is kind of falling under the radar because while his Kobe Bryant comment was not approved beforehand, apparently the story is that when he was in FCW, he made comments a thousand times worse than that one. Vince McMahon notoriously NEVER keeps up with FCW unless someone specifically shows him. So when he came up managing the Prime Time Players, he wasn’t saying much of importance on the mic. McMahon complained about it because he heard that AW had a good gimmick doing so in FCW. So one of the agents told him to “Be the AW of FCW.” Hence the Kobe Bryant joke which is tame to other stuff he has said.

- No Rosa Mendes with the Colons. Details on why can be found below.

- Rey Mysterio is fat. That is all.

- I may have missed it but when did Kane turn babyface? Was it the break up with A.J.? (even though she wasn’t a heel or was she?). Or was the official turn when Taker saved him? He was a heel right? Not exactly sure why Kane had to go over Miz since you know, Miz just returned recently and won the IC title and should be working on being rehabbed so that you have another main event heel meanwhile Kane doesn’t need to be protected in booking since he is bulletproof.

- For the record, WWE Creative was 100% positive that Kane was going to win the Twitter poll and face CM Punk and they were going to book Mysterio vs. Miz (which is the program they are heading to). But Mysterio won the poll and they went with him vs. Punk. That also shows how good Punk and Mysterio are since the entire match was called in the ring by them.

- Kelly Kelly is back full time with the company after her several month hiatus. The minute she comes back, a WWE Divas match airs on RAW. Please note that prior to this Monday, in the first two extended RAW episodes, no Divas matches aired.

- Wade Barrett is COMING BACK . He is already touring with WWE and worked in a dark match prior to Smackdown. He is likely not going to return to television until AFTER Summerslam.

- Chris Jericho is done either at Summerslam or the RAW the day after. He is going on tour with Fozzy and has no return date set other than it may not be until 2013. He has a ton of dates with Fozzy scheduled and also plans on beginning the writing process for his third autobiography which will cover his last return to WWE a few years ago up to this return including his AMAZING title run which solidified his main event status as prior to that he was always upper mid-card/lower main event. After that title run, he is now permanent main event.

- About 90% convinced that Brock Lesnar is going to do the honors for Triple H at Summerslam. The booking is pointing to that direction. With that being said, why the hell they even bothered to bring him back if they aren’t going to book him correctly and if they are going to waste appearances by him. He had no reason to be on RAW for a 5 minute segment that didn’t do anything for the match. It’s mind boggling. The original idea when “Shawn Michaels Appreciation Night” was conceived was to have Brock destroy Shawn in his hometown to get heat on Brock. Vince McMahon later nixed it because he wanted to do an after show ceremony (mentioned below) for Shawn.

- Legit Text from my friend Jose after Heyman cut his promo: “Paul Heyman is so good on the mic man. He needs to hold seminars.” I co-sign this statement.

- I did enjoy Brock’s “threat” to Shawn Michaels after HHH appeared. BROCK: (to HHH) I’ll see you at Summerslam. (looks to Michaels) and I’ll see you before then.” GOLD.

- BROCK LESNAR IS A LIAR !!!!

- Hey, can anyone explain what the hell Shawn Michaels was talking about at the start of his promo? He mentioned that he saw a lot of new faces in the back. How the f*ck is that possible as he was on RAW just two short weeks ago. Was there a rash of new hires in two weeks? And for arguments sake, let’s say he only hung with DX backstage at the 1,000^th episode. That’s fine if that is the case but if so, he was just back with WWE for Wrestlemania in April and several RAW’s leading up to Mania. The only new names since they are AW and Damien Sandow. So essentially it is the same exact roster since August. WTF?

- I am pretty positive that WWE Executives do not have to adhere to the WWE Wellness policy. HHH looked like a f*cking tank when he came out. Unless he just finished a workout backstage prior to coming to the ring, I would say he has been taking plenty of “vitamins” again.

- Poor Jack Swagger. Has he even been on RAW since they went to 3 hours? Wasn’t he World Champion? Has there EVER been a worse booked follow up to a former World Champion? Miz doesn’t count because even though he got jobbed out, he was still involved in angles and still held the title significantly longer than Swagger and same with Mysterio. I don’t think any former World Champion has been booked worse than Swagger. Anyone?

- The end of RAW on Monday was well done. Having it end with Big Show standing tall over a fallen John Cena and CM Punk was a great visual and I am assuming that next weeks show will have either Cena or Punk standing over the other two. Good booking going into Summerslam.

- Take this with a grain of salt because as you know, things change daily with long term WWE planning but there has been discussions amongst the booking committee as recently as this week to have John Cena win the WWE title at Summerslam and defend it vs. The Rock at the Royal Rumble and then have Rock defend it at Mania vs. CM Punk. It is definitely interesting and a fresh direction.

- Very interesting note. Randy Orton was asked by a fan why he hasn’t been featured in any of the promotion for Summerslam and Orton replied: “because unfortunately I’m not working.” So while WWE did in fact bring Orton back to television to boost star power for the 3 hour RAWs, WWE is in fact going to punish him by not giving him a Summerslam bonus pay day.

- Following RAW, WWE filmed a special ceremony for Shawn Michaels which included the entire roster standing on the ramp and Triple H, Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels in the ring. CM Punk (a heel) also came out and cut a promo on how Shawn Michaels inspired him as he was growing up and made him want to be a wrestler. He stated that he has an autograph from Shawn when he was just 15 years old and he still has it today. Shawn later tweeted the following: "And to @CMPunk ...thank you!! I never told anyone the story...it was yours to tell when you wanted. Thank you for sharing it w/San Antonio."

- Vince McMahon cut a great promo saying Shawn Michaels was like a son to him and then... in a special surprise...the gong hit. Undertaker came to the ring which also surprised Shawn since he wasn’t backstage. Taker cut a promo saying he respects Shawn and Shawn is his friend. He noted that Shawn has been involved in 3 of his top 5 matches in his whole career and that is saying something incredible. He also said that if there was a Mount Rushmore of Wrestling, Shawn would have the biggest head there. He then joked that Shawn can take that comment anyway he liked. He then ended it very sincerely by adding: "Shawn, it's been my honor to battle with you, live our lives on the road. I've enjoyed not only watching you perform better than anyone else, but I've also enjoyed watching you grow up. I'm proud to say you are my friend, thank you." The “grow up” line was basically because while Taker has always respected Shawn as a performer, it is well documented that Shawn was a complete and utter douche in the locker room before the Attitude Era and crapped all over everything (sometime literally) except Taker out of respect. But when he came back to WWE in 2002, Shawn has not only been very professional due to his life change in finding God/religion but he had become a locker room leader and a good all around person. Taker and Shawn forged a friendship over those years built on their mutual respect which is why Taker hand picked Shawn for their classic Wrestlemania match a few years ago and why the subsequent year Shawn asked for Taker to be his retirement match (instead of the obvious choice of HHH).

- Michaels noted on his twitter in response to a fan question about the possibility of returning full time to the WWE in an executive role behind the scenes if Vince McMahon offered. Michaels’ response surprised a lot of people as he said: “He has and for now, I’ve declined.”

- Is WWE really leaning towards a feud between Jinder Mahal and Ryback? Really?

- In a follow up to the WWE 1,000 show where I noted (amongst many others) that the WWF old Attitude Era scratch logo was not blurred out in video packages, WWE financials from the recent investor call showed that World Wrestling Entertainment and the World Wildlife Fund reached an undisclosed financial settlement last quarter meaning that WWE is now able to use the logo again. It is not clear the extent of the use but WWE obviously can use it in video packages and clips.

- There was an incident involving WWE Diva Rosa Mendes at San Antonio International Airport. Rosa was found by police in the airport bathroom in tears. She was escorted out of the airport by police. It was noted that she informed police that she was a victim of domestic violence incident with her fiancée (Former WWE talent Jackson Andrews). TMZ.com is reporting that Mendes told WWE officials that she was involved in an incident before her flight and reported it to police when she landed. She noted that this was not the first incident and that she now fears for her life as the abuse has been escalating.

- MENDES WITH ANDREWS .

- And yet the above Rosa Mendes/Jackson Andrews story JUST GOT WEIRDER .

- Prior to RAW, JTG made the following comments via Twitter: "Make decisions based on your worth, not your circumstance. The camels back just BROKE ! I had enough of this. As a pro athlete, Im tired of me and my lockerroom brothers being taken advantage of. Fans have no idea what we go through. #itsanillusion. Yeah I said it. Nobody wants to speak up, everybodys afraid of losing their job or getting taken off TV." According to DAVE MELTZER , the WWE crew received their Wrestlemania payoff checks on Monday. The above rant was in reference to that paycheck as apparently all of the undercard guys received significantly less than they expected considering this was the highest grossing, most financially successful Wrestlemania EVER. The bigger problem lies in the fact that since it is the company’s biggest weekend, they ALWAYS encourage talents to bring their families to the event although the talent has to pay for it out of their pocket. The undercard/opening card talents got paid in the $2,000 range. WWE however has been bragging to whomever is in ear shot in the media that this was the most successful Mania ever so it is a slap in the face. A week in Miami with your families financially comes out to more than $2,000. Not a good deal. Add that to the fact that plenty of mid-card and under card talents aren’t being used on television often when WWE added an extra hour of programming; it is frustrating to say the least. JTG is just the only person to speak up about it. It is noted that during RAW, several “higher ups” went to speak to JTG and smooth things over with him when prior to RAW (before the rant), no one gave him the time of day. So it is likely that his comments may have reached the proper ears or WWE management wanted to end a possibly mutiny by the lower guys.

- TICK TOCK JTG !!!

- Kharma explained her WWE release to TMZ last week. In EXCLUSIVE COMMENTS she noted that she gained a ton of weight due to her pregnancy and then put on even more weight due to depression when she mis-carried her baby. She is now trying to lose the weight and get back into wrestling shape as she hopes for an opportunity to return to WWE.

- WWE Hall of Famer Edge is doing a lot of appearance work for Tommy Dreamer’s “House of Hardcore” promotion as well as autograph signings for RF Video. Reason for all of this is because Edge is officially not under WWE contract in any way, shape or form. No Legends Deal, no appearance contract. Nothing.

- Zack Ryder continues to push the envelope when it comes to his career. Zack tweeted: "I'm pretty sure I'm the 2nd most followed person on @Tout. In other news, I was in the 2nd match taped for @WWE Superstars this week. #huh?"

- After the Charlie Sheen twitter debacle, WWE has now named Jersey Shore Star Pauly D as their new Social Media Ambassador. Pauly follows in the footsteps of fellow Jersey Shore Alumni J-Wow, Snooki and Ronnie as going into the professional wrestling world. Pauly will NOT be wrestling. Just tweeting.

- Congratulations to WWE Diva Eve Torres who received her second stripe on her Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Blue belt this week. She still has a long way to go before Black or Red though.

- One of the greatest PICTURES you probably never saw. Look at the shape Big Show is in. WOW.

- Former WWE Star Kevin Nash made headlines this week with an interview on GRANTLAND.COM where he stated that wrestling died with Wrestlemania XX when Eddie Guerrero and “He Who Shall Not Be Named” hugged at the end of the show. Nash’s exact comments are: "When Benoit and Guerrero hugged [at the end of WrestleMania XX], that was the end of the business.Has business been the same since that WrestleMania? Has it come close to the Austin era? Has it come close to the nWo or the Hogan era? You put two fucking guys that were great workers that were the same height as the fucking referees, and I'm sorry, man. Are you going to watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick? Even if you're not gay, you will not watch a porno movie with a guy with a three-inch dick. That's not the standard in porno films. So you put a 5-foot-7 guy as your world champion."

- Former WWE Star MVP commented on the above via Twitter: "Kevin Nash is right. Smaller guys don't draw. I mean who would pay any money to watch itty bitty guys like Mayweather or Paquiao?"

- WWE is launching yet ANOTHER new television show aimed at children. The show will air Saturday mornings on the CW Network titled “Saturday Morning Slam” and will basically one original match per week (filmed in conjunction with RAW and/or Smackdown), personality profiles, backstage segments and interviews and will be PG targeted at older children.

- Former WWE Star Justin Credible tweeted yesterday that he has been contacted by WWE to work on a project for the WWE Network. Congrats.

- Former WWE Star “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn was in FCW this week assisting with training and evaluating talent. WWE absolutely should continue this practice as they have a ton of former stars on call that can teach younger wrestlers. While Gunn was never a star, he was a decent worker and has been in the business a long time.

- WWE has signed yet another one of Lance Storm’s students, Tom LaRuffa also known as “The French Stallion”. He is a solid wrestler in the ring but his “French Stallion” persona is HILARIOUS !!!!

- Former WWE Tough Enough star Luke Robinson has been telling those close to him that he is moving on with the wrestling business. While he still takes bookings from his “home promotion”, he isn’t planning on pursuing wrestling further than that and basically is working towards his fitness career as a trainer.

- KIMBERLY PAGE still looking decent for a middle aged woman.

- WWE announced that they are set to begin filming “12 Rounds: Reloaded” which will be a direct to DVD sequel to the John Cena film “12 Rounds”. The movie will star WWE Superstar Randy Orton in the lead roll.

- CM Punk “ BEST IN THE WORLD ”.

- GREATEST. VIDEO . EVER.

- Episode 78 of " Z! True Long Island Story "

- WWE FAN NATION .

WWE SUMMERSLAM PPV is on Sunday, August 19, 2012 from Los Angeles California and the line-up is as follows:

• WWE TITLE: CM Punk © vs. John Cena vs. The Big Show
• WORLD TITLE: Sheamus © vs. Alberto Del Rio
• Triple H w/ Shawn Michaels vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman
• Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho
• Kane vs. Daniel Bryan

IMPACT WRESTLING News and Notes

- Dixie Carter announced on Monday that Spike TV has agreed to let Impact continue to air live “through September” meaning that they are liking what they see and will continue to test the show as it continues to air. While not setting the world on fire ratings wise, they have shown consistency rather than gains and losses as they previously did when the show was taped.

- Velvet Sky may not be done with TNA even though she is no longer with the promotion. Word is that TNA President Dixie Carter called Sky personally upon learning of her departure from the company and is negotiating with her in order to re-sign her to the company. She has signed on for several independent appearances over the next few months including one where she reunites with former Beautiful People teammate Angelina Love. No word exactly on how both would be able to use their TNA names on the independents.

- TNA Knockout Winter could be on the way out as well as she is currently advertised for an iPPV in September (which wouldn’t be allowed by TNA contracts) and she has not been used on Impact since April. Dixie Carter, who is a big proponent of the Knockouts, cannot be happy about all these women leaving.

- Things are also not looking good for the Bully Ray and Devon contract negotiations. It is said that Bully Ray is not pleased with how things are going and there is a good chance that both will be gone when their contracts expire over the next few weeks. This is going to be a major blow to TNA as Ray is said to be a huge backstage/locker room presence with the company. He assists in the booking of live events, he is always helping out the younger talents and has an unofficial backstage role as an agent/producer. I fully expect WWE to make a pitch for them as they both have rejuvenated their careers over the past 2 years in TNA and both are physically in the best shape of their lives.

- With that being said, I do question the validity of the above statement considering Bully Ray just defeated James Storm CLEANLY last night. TNA wouldn't have done that if Ray was leaving, would they? Swerve for the sake of swerve?

- A.J. Styles vs. Kurt Angle was PHENOMENAL last night. WOW. Great match from beginning to end.

- The plan right now involving Mohammed “King Mo” Lawal is for him to start training on September 1^st and then debut for TNA in October. That is not a long turnaround time for a guy with no professional experience. The problem is, TNA wants to capitalize on him as soon as possible with him set to debut for Bellator on Spike TV come January. So they need to get him face time.

- TNA is going to have to call an audible involving James Storm vs. Bobby Roode at Bound for Glory. The entire angle on whether or not Storm is behind the Aces and 8s group that has been attacking people was a play on the old WCW angle involving whether or not Sting was part of the nWo. Sadly it isn’t working as planned and the fans are now starting to boo Storm. So either TNA needs to drop it and have it revealed that Storm isn’t behind the group or go with my original idea and have Aries go into BFG as champion and scrap the Roode/Storm angle.

- Although I am not enamored with the angle involving Madison Raine being “in love” with Earl Hebner, I did get a hearty chuckle with her last week saying that even though Earl is in love with her, Earl would NEVER screw someone over in a match. LOL.

- In regards to the Claire Lynch stuff, the more I see it, the more I hate the actress with the fire of a thousand suns. With that being said, Christopher Daniels has been on another level when it comes to making this god awful storyline entertaining. The guy is just on another level when it comes to his performances. He is GOLD.

- Drew Hankinson (formerly Luke Gallows in WWE) has officially signed with TNA. He has been working without a contract as a masked member of Aces & 8s. This was announced by a minor league baseball team that was promoting the upcoming TNA event being held at their stadium. Since Hankinson has not been officially debuted on television yet, the stadium has since removed the announcement. The same press release states an appearance by “FORMER TNA CHAMPION” Austin Aries. Um…spoiler alert?

- Where is Sarita? She has not been on television since April.

- PWINSIDER.COM is reporting that negotiations to re-sign both Bully Ray and Devon are NOT going well and both men are unhappy with the way negotiations are going and that these contract talks began at the last minute. Not saying they are leaving but with their contracts set to expire in about 3 weeks, it is quite possible that they may leave.

- A reminder that Gail Kim’s wedding to celebrity chef Robert Irvine will air on the Food Network on August 18^th at 10:00 PM in a made for television special called “Wedding Impossible”.

- It’s MICKIE JAMES .

TNA HARDCORE JUSTICE PPV is THIS SUNDAY from Orlando Florida and the line-up is as follows:

• TNA TITLE: Austin Aries © vs. Bobby Roode
• Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe vs. A.J. Styles vs. Christopher Daniels in a Bound for Glory Series LADDER Match. Winner gets 20 points.
• Bully Ray vs. James Storm vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Robbie E in a Bound for Glory Series TABLES Match. Winner gets 20 points.
• Rob Van Dam vs. Magnus vs. Mr. Anderson vs. D’Angelo Dinero in a Bound for Glory Series FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE Match. Winner gets 20 points.
• KNOCKOUTS TITLE: Miss Tessmacher © vs. Madison Raine

Independent / International News and Notes:

- The big independent story of the week involves former WWE Star Kamala and former ECW/WWE Star Dawn Marie. I touched upon this last week and don’t plan on going into deep detail but the short story is that Dawn Marie’s “Wrestler Rescue” charity is a fraud. It is that simple. Little to no money has gone to helping wrestlers who need help and I stated this way back in 2008 and 2010 right here on this site. Kamala is claiming that Dawn Marie said she was raising money for him since he has had both his legs amputated due to complications from diabetes. Dawn then had her manager jump on Facebook and Twitter to claim otherwise including posting a picture of a returned check that they stated Kamala returned to them since it did not come fast enough (???). Brian Heffron a.k.a. The Blue Meanie then chimed in and completely ripped apart Dawn and her manager Michelle Mupo by using what I like to call “LOGIC” in refuting everything Wrestler’s Rescue was claiming. For example, Dawn claimed that a stop order was placed on the returned check. Meanie then pointed out that why in the world would you pay the $35 fee to stop a check from being cashed WHEN THE CHECK WAS RETURNED!!! He also noted that he spoke to Jerry Lynn about the time Dawn went to raise money for him while he underwent back surgery to which Lynn replied to him that he has never seen a dime of any money from Dawn. BTW, Lynn is NOT the first person to claim this. Anyway, RF Video made it simple for fans to help Kamala by providing his email address. It is jkimala@aol.com so you can now donate directly to him by cutting out the middle man.

- ROH WRESTLING returns to iPPV TOMORROW NIGHT and the line-up is as follows:

• ROH TITLE: Kevin Steen © vs. CHIKARA Grand Champion Eddie Kingston © only Steen's title on the line.
• The Briscoes vs. Jimmy Jacobs & Steve Corino
• Eddie Edwards & Sara Del Ray vs. Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis in a mixed tag
• Michael Elgin vs. Charlie Haas
• Best of Three Falls: Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa
• Roderick Strong vs. Mike Mondo

- Wrestling retail store Highspots.com along with WWNLive announced that they will be delivering “Wrestle Con” on Wrestlemania weekend beginning on Friday April 5^th and ending on Sunday April 7^th in Secaucus NJ. The convention will feature legends from wrestling, vendors and 5 different wrestling promotions running shows that weekend. The schedule is below:

Friday, April 5^th

• 4:00pm – EVOLVE
• 8:00pm - Combat Zone Wrestling

Saturday, April 6^th

• 9am-5pm – WrestlExpo
• 12:00pm – SHIMMER
• 4:00pm – CHIKARA
• 8:00pm - Dragon Gate USA

Sunday, April 7^th

• 9am-2pm – WrestlExpo
• 1pm - Dragon Gate USA

PRO WRESTLING SYNDICATE

MMA News and Notes

- UFC on Fox 4 did a 1.4 rating which is a piss poor number but it was expected due to the lack of build up by Fox and UFC as well as the Olympic London Games that are smashing EVERYTHING in the ratings. Overall however this was probably the best UFC on Fox show EVER featuring great fights, great finishes, great stories and a new Light Heavyweight number one contender.

- Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida became the new number one contender to the light heavyweight title by knocking out Ryan Bader early in the second round in spectacular fashion. Bader was running in (looked like he was bum rushing him) and ATE a right hand to the face knocking him completely unconscious before he even hit the floor. Machida followed up with a hard punch on the floor to the jaw and was unleashing a second one before pulling back and grazing him as he knew Bader was out. Prior to the show, Dana White noted that the person who finished their opponent in most spectacular fashion would get the winner of the September 1^st Jon Jones © vs. Dan Henderson Light Heavyweight Title fight. While Jones vs. Rua would draw a better number since he is a bigger name, Jones vs. Machida is the tougher fight as Machida is the only person to win a round vs. Jones and has the most awkward styles to defeat him.

- Mauricio “Shogun” Rua stopped Brandon Vera in the 4^th round of their 5 round fight. Even though he got the stop, the fight was a WAR and Vera came with the mindset of shocking the world and showing he belongs in UFC. For those who do not know the story, Vera was cut from UFC following a loss to Thiago Silva however was immediately rehired as it was revealed that Silva failed a drug test. The fight was ruled a no-contest and Dana White was apologetic as while Vera lost a few fights before that loss, White will NEVER side against a clean fighter vs. a dirty fighter. Even though he lost to Rua, it is unlikely he will get released because he absolutely came to fight. The war between the two was more notable because for the second consecutive fight, while showing a ton of heart and never stopping, Rua was absolutely gassed in the latter rounds. He does not have the stamina needed for these wars he keeps fighting in.

- Another great story out of UFC on FOX 4 was the return of Mike Swick. Swick had been out of action since February of 2010 with a physical ailment involving his esophagus that prevented him from keeping on weight and absorbing nutrients. After several doctor visits, hospital stays and surgeries, Swick returned and knocked out DaMarques Johnson to win “ KNOCKOUT OF THE NIGHT ”; a spectacular story.

- UFC also went 4 for 4 with their matches as the 4^th fight on the main card was Joe Lauzon defeating Jamie Varner. Lauzon won “Submission of the Night” with a fantastically executed triangle choke. And both men won “Fight of the Night” bonuses on top of that. The bonus give Lauzon 11 post-fight bonuses in his career in UFC in only 13 fights. That is IMPRESSIVE. Lauzon is definitely someone to watch when he is on a UFC card. All in all, a great show overall.

- An interesting story coming out of the show is the fact that Lyoto Machida came into the fight at 200 lbs. Machida DID NOT cut weight to make the fight. Apparently this is all a plan on behalf of Machida’s manager Ed Soares to test Machida fighting lighter than other Light Heavyweights (by comparison, his opponent Ryan Bader came into the octagon at around 220 lbs). Apparently Soares is working on talking UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva into forfeiting his MW Title and moving down from 185 to Welterweight of 170 for a Super Fight with George St. Pierre. Machida will then move down from 205 to 185 and fight for the Middleweight title either in a tournament or vs. a Top Contender. This is all dependent on Silva and if they can convince GSP to take the fight; which honestly, if you ask me would be ridiculously stupid for GSP not to take it if Silva is willing to come to him. All previous suggestions of this fight in the past had them meeting at a catch weight or had GSP moving up to Middleweight. You can note however that Machida will NEVER move down to Middleweight so long as Anderson Silva is fighting there so all of this is dependent on what Silva will do.

- Congrats go out to UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon “Bones” Jones who became the first US MMA athlete to sign an endorsement deal with Nike. Jones is set to wear Nike sponsored attire for his September 1^st fight with Dan Henderson as well as have a sneaker made out in his name. This is a HUGE deal for Jones.

- WWE Champion CM Punk however does not agree with Nike on this one sending out a tweet when this deal was announced saying: "Let's reward more drunk drivers with endorsement deals! #responsibility."

- To follow up on last weeks column where I mentioned that Cain Velasquez was getting antsy about getting his title shot vs. Junior Dos Santos since no date has been given yet and he felt like Dos Santos was jerking him around, well it turns out his suspicions were not baseless. Following the UFC on Fox post show press conference, Dana White let it out of the bag that Dos Santos’ team approached him and stated that Dos Santos wants to fight Alistar Overeem FIRST before he fights Velasquez. Dos Santos feels like Overeem deserves to be taught a lesson and has a smart mouth. Dana noted that he is considering making the change mainly because Dos Santos is one of those fighters (like Frankie Edgar) who always does what is asked of him by UFC. He takes fights on short notice, moves from PPV to Fox thus forgoing a bigger pay day, etc so when the UFC Heavyweight Champion makes a request like that, he is forced to take it into consideration. This is an interesting dilemma UFC is in because Overeem cannot go to his licensing hearing until December 27^th and the UFC in December show is on December 29^th. Lorenzo Fertitta noted earlier in the week of the Fox show that Dos Santos is likely defending his title on December 29^th. That means UFC would have to promote a fight involving Overeem WITHOUT Overeem being licensed. That can cause a million and one problems for UFC because

· The Nevada State Athletic Commission would be upset that they did this and thus UFC messes up that relationship.

· You run the risk of promoting it and then Overeem doesn’t get licensed for whatever reason.

A very tough call because in all honesty, a Dos Santos vs. Overeem title match is a bigger draw then a Dos Santos vs. Velasquez fight. Plus, Velasquez definitely EARNED his shot with the complete and utter destruction of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. DAVE MELTZER , while not officially told this, is speculating that the reason for the consideration is that Overeem is “talking his way” into the fight. While not politically correct from the outside looking in, UFC is HUGE on controversy in fights. They want the conflict. They want two men to dislike each other. Velasquez is not that type of guy so by sitting idly by while Overeem makes all these comments about Dos Santos in the press and Dos Santos firing back saying he wants Overeem, well now you have controversy. This isn’t unprecedented in UFC as it happened most recently to Anthony Pettis. Pettis earned a shot at Frankie Edgar for the UFC Lightweight title. However Gray Maynard talked his way into getting a rematch with Edgar and Pettis was pulled. He never ended up getting his title shot because of it. This will in fact cost Velasquez his title shot because in all honesty, if Dos Santos gets his way and gets Overeem, this fight ISN’T happening in December. That would push it to 2013 meaning Super Bowl weekend in February. If that is the case then Velasquez won’t get his shot until Memorial Day at the earliest and that is depending on whether or not either Dos Santos or Overeem come out unscathed. If one of them is hurt, then you push that fight until the July International Fight Week Show which would put Velasquez at 14 MONTHS in between fights. No way does he sit out that long to get his title shot so he fights before then. The problem is a loss before then would cost him his shot. Essentially UFC and Junior Dos Santos are really sticking it to him by jerking him around like this.

- In all honesty, Overeem knows how to play the game. Earlier this week on UFC Tonight after hearing that Dos Santos is calling him out, Overeem responded with the following: “I think he’s afraid of me. He was happy that the last fight on May 26 didn’t happen. I approached him at the UFC Fight Summit in Vegas and said, let’s do it. Let’s prove something to the world and lets’ fight. Then he suddenly acted like he didn’t understand English and how he wants to fight Cain first. The fact of the matter is, I’m the No. 1 heavyweight in the world and if he wants to be the No. 1 heavyweight, he has to come through me. You’ve already fought Cain. That would be just another win. But a win over me would give you the No. 1 spot. Without a win over me, they’ll always question your championship. So bring it to the table, my friend.”

- DOWN GOES MCDONALD!!! Rory McDonald was forced to withdraw from his upcoming fight vs. the returning (and future Hall of Famer) B.J. Penn on September 22^nd as he suffered a cut that required 32 stitches last weekend in training above his eye. Why McDonald was training without protective head gear is beyond me. The fight with Penn is off and there is no word on what will replace it if anything or if Penn will fight someone else on the show instead. The fight will likely be kept as it and moved to the UFC in Montreal show in November featuring George St. Pierre vs. Carlos Condit in the undisputed UFC Welterweight Title match. That would make that show a mega PPV draw. The flip side is without Penn on UFC 152 in Calgary now; you lose a significant amount of PPV buys. Penn is also looking to have it moved to the October Rio de Janeiro show instead as McDonald is a training partner of GSP and trains out of Montreal which would give him home field advantage.

- And another one bites the dust. Jake Ellenberger vs. Josh Koscheck is OFF as Koscheck has a bulging disc in his back suffered during training and is out of his September 1^st co-main event of the Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson show. Bulging discs in your back are NOT a good thing, especially for someone who’s primary weapon of choice is wrestling.

- St. Pierre participated in his first full contact sparring session since his knee surgery earlier this week. He was seen by a doctor following the session and all is ok. So he is set barring any injury for his return vs. Condit in November.

- Diego Sanchez has officially moved back to lightweight and is pushing to make his first fight there against Nate Diaz. That however is going to have to wait as Dana White announced this week that Nate Diaz will get the next title shot at the winner of this weekend’s Ben Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar Lightweight title match.

- Earlier this week, Lorenzo Fertitta closed all discussions of more UFC talents appearing on Strikeforce in the wake of Frank Mir moving over to fight Daniel Cormier. Fertitta said: “You’re NOT going to see more of it. It is a one-time special situation. Mir is a UFC fighter.” Fertitta clarified that the reason for it is because Cormier had to fight one more time for Strikeforce due to winning the Grand Prix and all of the Strikeforce Heavyweights are now in UFC except Cormier and Josh Barnett. Cormier just beat Barnett so there was no one for him to fight. They wanted to put Cormier in with someone relevant and Mir is relevant. A win by Cormier will absolutely put him in the mix for a UFC Heavyweight Title shot and a win by Mir will keep him up there in the mix even though he just lost. Fertitta also explained that he, his brother and Dana White had to get the green light from Fox before forging ahead with it due to their deal.

- Dana also changed his tune on women in MMA and said that he foresees the day when their will be enough women fighters in MMA to start a division in UFC. Sadly this can’t happen until Strikeforce is off of Showtime or folds altogether. No way does Dana start a UFC Women’s division without Ronda Rousey.

- UFC Hall of Famer and recently retired Tito Ortiz stated that he tore his ACL in the Forrest Griffin fight and will have to undergo surgery on it in a few weeks. He is also getting yet another neck surgery. He noted that he is done fighting ANYWHERE, not just UFC. He has been through way to many surgeries and had he not, he would have kept fighting but his body just physically can’t take it anymore. He is looking to get into broadcasting although I expect UFC to offer him some sort of executive role within the promotion or push to get him on Fox as an analyst.

UFC 150 is TOMORROW NIGHT 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. Rousimar Palhares
• 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
• Miesha Tate vs. Julie Kedzie
• 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:

• Brian Stann vs. Michael Bisping
• VACANT FLYWEIGHT TITLE: Joseph Benavidez vs. Demetrious Johnson
• Jimy Hettes vs. Marcus Brimage

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. Amir Sadollah
• Paul Sass vs. Matt Winman
• Duane Ludwig vs. Che Mills

STIKRFORCE: CORMIER VS. MIR is on Saturday, September 29^th from TBD and the line-up is as follows:

• Daniel Cormier vs. Frank Mir.

UFC on FX 5 is on October 5^th from Minneapolis Minnesota and the line-up is as follows:

• Travis Brown vs. Antonio Silva
• John Dodson vs. Jussier Formiga
• Rob Broughton vs. Matt Mittrione
• John Neer vs. Justin Edwards

UFC 153 is on October 13, 2012 from Rio De Janeiro Brazil and the line-up is as follows:

• UFC FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE: Jose Aldo © vs. Erik Koch
• Alan Belcher vs. Vitor Belfort
• Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira (Rampage’s last UFC fight).
• Reza Madadi vs. Cristiano Marcello

UFC on FUEL 6 is on Saturday, November 10^th from Macau China and the line-up is as follows:

• Cung Le vs. Rich Franklin
• Dong Hyun Kim vs. Paulo Thiago

UFC 154 is on Saturday, November 17^th from Montreal Quebec Canada and the line-up is as follows:

• UNDISPUTED WELTERWEIGHT TITLE: George St. Pierre © vs. Carlos Condit ©
• NUMBER ONE CONTENDER TO WELTERWEIGHT TITLE: Johnny Hendricks vs. Martin Kampmann
• Mark Hominick vs. Pablo Garza

Random Thoughts, Links, Pics, ETC.

- Random VIDEO of the week: Nick Newell. The video says it all.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week: Michael Jordan claiming China is the future of Basketball.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 2: Zero Dark Thirty. If you do not believe I am seeing this in films, you are f*cking INSANE.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 3: Maybe next time you shouldn’t run over a police officer’s foot.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 4: Call of Duty: BLACK OPS 2 MULTIPLAYER!!!!!!

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 5: How to grab 300 asses in a day.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 6: It’s all fun and game until you get gored by a bull in the vajayjay.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 7: Dogs > Cats, I am getting tired of explaining it.

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 8:

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 9:

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 10:

- BONUS Random VIDEO of the week PART 11:

- Random PIC of the week: I should definitely pay more attention to the Olympics because this is Spanish Women’s Beach Volleyball player Liliana Fernandez on the left. WOWSERS.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week: Courtney Stodden. Yes, I would.

- BONUS Random PIC of the week PART 2:Hey Lindsey, how you doing?

- BONUS FUN on FACEBOOK : For the millionth time, Facebook ISN’T Google!!!

- BONUS FUN on FACEBOOK PART 2: Olympic Spoilers!!!

- BONUS FUN on FACEBOOK PART 3: Funny. I also made a similar FB status to this earlier this week.

- Random ARTICLE of the week: I would never understand how this man can claim to be a “father”. Honestly, wouldn’t be thrilled if my son came to me and told me but by no means would I degrade him, turn him away or disown him. That is sickening. I would never NOT LOVE my son. WTF?

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week: I think it should be legal and all countries should allow it.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 2: This. Is. Genius.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 3: Michael Martinez severely underestimated Tiffany Sherry. He lost.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 4: Well sh*t, this is both a huge step in ending terrorism in New York anyway AND….a huge step into a complete “big brother” police state where everyone knows what we are doing ALL THE TIME. You can’t have it both ways people. Either you are terrorism free and watched like communist countries or you have no security and Akmed Mjamamranatri is trying to blow up a Costco in the name of Allah. Take your pick.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 5: Whoops!!! I never get why people DM people on Twitter instead of straight texting them. If you know someone well enough to DM them, then just text and mistakes like these wouldn’t happen.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 6: Yeah, this is definitely NOT a good look. OUCH.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 7: Absolutely do not want to add a new television show to my line up but I am SOOOOOOO CURIOUS about this. It’s like a train wreck. How do they eat? How do they have sex? Have they had sex? It is amazing.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 8: UNREAL. I wish I could become the Punisher and just go around murdering fucktards like this and go unpunished.

- BONUS Random ARTICLE of the week PART 9: LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

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

- BONUS Random LINK of the week: NSFW but either funny and/or creepy all at the same time.

- 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.

- Go ahead Serena Williams, get that GOLD !!!

- Olympic Women’s Soccer SHINING WIZARD !!! OUCH!!!

- Congrats to Usain Bolt for becoming the first Olympic athlete to win the 100 meters and 200 meters in consecutive Olympics. Truly the fastest man in the world.

- I don't think this is a gold medal DIVE.

- ABC Disney confirmed in a conference all earlier this week that Director/Writer Joss Whedon has been officially signed to return as writer/director for the Avengers sequel. Whedon is best known for the Buffy/Angel franchise and wrote and directed this summer’s Avengers movie which was a major success for Marvel and Disney. They also stated that Whedon is also going to helm a LIVE ACTION television show for ABC featuring the Marvel Universe. No word on when the Avengers sequel is scheduled for release (rumored 2015) or which Marvel superheroes the television show will feature.

- KATE MOTHERF*CKING UPTON .

- My Future Wife Kim Kardashian-Aponte in going for a SWIM , chilling at the BEACH and a THROWBACK of her. And here's a SHOT of my future mother in law Kris Jenner. She can get it too.

- 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.