Random Thoughts, Opinions, Questions and Observations.

Two columns in two consecutive weeks? That has to be some kind of Guinness record or something no? Anyway, I am back for another fun filled, expletive full column for all of you to print out and read while sitting on the crapper. Enjoy.

WWE announced on RAW this week; that the King of the Ring tournament will take place on next weeks 3 hour Raw. Originally WWE.com had a graphic showing Shawn Michaels, HHH, Batista, Big Show, Umaga, Chris Jericho, MVP and CM Punk as participants. Then, for some reason, it magically disappeared and there was no announcement as to who was participating. The very next day…..

It was announced on ECW that Joey Styles would be stepping out of the broadcast booth to take over WWE.com. He is now in charge of the content (with Vince and Stephanie McMahon ultimately getting the final call on things). His replacement for ECW? Mike Adamle.

Mike Adamle as the new lead ECW announcer. Mike Adamle? Adamle then proceeded to call play by play on ECW with Tazz and by God he was f*cking awful. While I get that his screw ups on his debut were because he is not accustomed to the product (although he should be since he has been working for the company since January and had time to learn the names of the talents and the moves by now), I don’t blame him for being set up to fail. Who I do blame however is WWE. When are they going to realize that announcing isn’t about looks? Adamle was only hired because he looks the part. WWE wants their announcers to look good first, be able to do their jobs second. That is why they have been constantly trying to out Jim Ross from his position. That is why people like Coach continue getting second and third and fifteenth chances in the announcer’s booth. It is mind boggling. No one cares what announcers look like. They care whether or not they can announce.

Chris Jericho coming out to Flair’s music only to get super kicked by Shawn Michaels on RAW was awesome. But is Jericho a heel now? Not that I mind it at all since Jericho is light years better as a heel than as a face but still, wouldn’t an official heel turn be nice? He’s been hinting at turning since before Jeff Hardy was sent on 60 day vacation but he hasn’t done the official “turn”. Details people, we want details.

WWE, with their gamble earlier this year to have an Elimination Chamber match (2 actually) at No Way Out following the Royal Rumble to decide who would go onto face a title holder at Wrestlemania drew a buy rate of 380,000 buys this making it the second largest non A-show buy rate in 2 years. (Second only to the reuniting of DX which drew 429,000 buys at Vengeance in 2006.) This gain by No Way Out was an increase of 59% from the previous years No Way Out pay per view. It is expected that WWE will continue this tradition next year however only feature one Elimination Chamber bout instead of 2.

Marylin Monroe started it all. If she didn’t set the trail, there would be no Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian or Lindsey Lohan. 15-minutes of 16mm footage of Marilyn Monroe performing oral on an unidentified man sold for $1.5 million to an unnamed New York businessman. Keya Morgan, a famous memorabilia collector, discovered the film while doing research for a documentary about Monroe's life. Morgan brokered the deal with the son of the FBI informant who made a copy of the footage before it was confiscated by J. Edgar Hoover. New York Post says: The footage appears to have been shot in the 1950s. When it came to light in the mid-'60s, then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had his agents spend two weeks futilely trying to prove that Monroe's sex partner was either John F. Kennedy or Robert F. Kennedy, according to declassified agency documents and interviews, Morgan said. The silent black-and-white flick shows Monroe on her knees in front of a man whose face is just out of the shot. He never moves into the shot, indicating that he knew the camera was there, but Monroe never looks at the lens, said Morgan, who saw the footage."

So there you have it. Thanks Marylin. PS – I would love to see this footage.

Samoa Joe captured the TNA championship at Lockdown by defeating Kurt Angle with a Muscle Buster. I have yet to see the match but from what I understand, it was an acquired taste. I have seen nothing but mixed reactions from fans and the reactions aren’t even close to being similar. There are from both ends of the spectrum. On one hand, some fans are saying it was a match of the year candidate and was so different from anything we have seen on any United States Wrestling program all year. They spent the first half having an MMA style bout complete with trading submissions and trying to counter each other with a ground game to a traditional finish where the last 10 minutes they exchanged wrestling moves and near falls before Joe finished him off. I have not heard however a middle of the pack response from fans. No response I have seen said it was good but not great. I have only heard from people who either loved it or hated it. My assumption is that once I watch it, I will probably fall into the loved it category. I like MMA and always preferred ground based matches.

Why no one takes TNA seriously? Here is a sample. On commentary at Lockdown, Mike Tenay was selling the fact that Kip James attacked BG James after BG won their match and they shook hands. Here is how it went:

MIKE TENAY: WHAT A REACTION FROM KIP TOWARDS HIS DECADE LONG FRIEND! Now to the back with J.B.

Seriously, He was in the middle of selling a “major” angle that just took place and after a comment, instead of pausing for a second so it could sink in, instead of going to a shot of a fallen BG James or a gloating Kip James walking back to the locker room, he just tossed it to the back with Jeremy Borash. Horrible.

I really love Alicia Keys. I do. She is one of my favorite artists ever and is a phenomenal talent. That being said, in a recent interview with Blender magazine, Keys said the following: "'Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other.’Gangsta rap' didn't exist." Keys, 27, said she's read several Black Panther autobiographies and wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck "to symbolize strength, power and killing 'em dead," according to an interview in the magazine's May issue, on newsstands Tuesday. Another of her theories: The bicoastal feud between slain rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. was fueled "by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing."

I mean come on now. I am hoping and praying that Blender prints a story next week that states the entire interview was a lie and she never said those things. I refuse to believe someone who I admire can be so stupid and make such a ridiculous comment like that. The government killed Biggie and Tupac? Really?

So Eric Young is Super Eric. He and Kaz (such a stupid name by the way) win the TNA Tag Team Titles from AJ Styles and Tomko (in a 3 way with LAX who are largely forgotten). AJ complains to Cornette that they were scheduled to face Eric Young and Kaz, not Super Eric and Kaz and tells Cornette that he believes that Super Eric and Eric Young are two different people. Cornette goes to the ring with everyone and asks Super Eric claims he has no idea who Eric Young is. So Cornette strips them of the tag team titles. If that makes any sense to you at all as to why this happened, you my friend are a better man than I.

Thoughts and prayers to NY Yankee phenom Joba Chamberlin. His dad Harlan is under going a very tough time right now and is in critical condition in a Nebraska hospital. For those who do not know the story of Joba and his dad, please click the link HERE . Just make sure you have an entire box of tissues handy because this one is a real tearjerker. Seriously.

Jim Ross said it best last week in his blog. The WWE was about to embark on their 12 day European show which was most likely going to become the highest grossing tour ever. Anyway, he was talking about John Cena and expected Cena to appear on RAW and then fly back to New Orleans. He made mention that even though this would be the highest grossing tour ever, and Cena was only going to the RAW London show, Cena would probably sell more merchandise than everyone else on the tour…..COMBINED. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny Cena’s drawing power. That is why he is the top guy in the company. Boos don’t matter to him nor do they matter to WWE creative. He makes the company money. If you don’t like John Cena, do yourself a favor and go and buy your favorite superstar’s merchandise. Once someone surpasses Cena as the top merchandise seller, he will probably get moved down a rung on the totem pole. Until then, deal with him being the man.

Sidebar: CM Punk is getting pushed because he also moves a lot of merchandise. Sources say a lot of people in high places don’t really like Punk but the fact is, his stuff sells. Proof of that is at RAW on Monday in London; CM Punk was the only non RAW guy who had merchandise selling in the arena. Not Batista, not the Undertaker, CM PUNK. Says a lot doesn’t it?

SKITTLES , Taste the Rainbow.

Why is it that I keep getting this eerie feeling in my stomach that Samoa Joe’s TNA title reign is going to be really short? I just have that feeling.

Jersey All Pro Wrestling has yet another awesome show this weekend. On April 19, 2008, JAPW returns to Rahway NJ with the following lineup:

• Kenny Omega (JAPW champion) vs. Frankie Kazarian (notice JAPW doesn’t call him the stupid ass name of Kaz).
• JAPW Tag Team Champions LAX (Homicide and Hernandez) defend against The Rock and Rave Infection of Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt.
• JAPW NJ State Champion Archadia vs. Eddie Kingston vs. Azreal.
• Teddy Hart vs. Danny Demanto.
• Devon “Crowbar” Storm vs. Bandido Jr.
• Nikki Roxx (aka Roxxi LaVough) vs. Alexa Thatcher and more……

So if you are in the New Jersey area and are in the mood for a damn good wrestling card, make sure you hit up JAPW as they always deliver on the action and always have a little something for everyone.

I love Ric Flair. I respect Ric Flair. Ric Flair will go down as one of the greatest wrestlers in history. But seriously, with that being said, The House of Representatives discussing Ric’s career recently? WTF? Doesn’t our government have better things to do than to discuss Ric Flair’s career? There is a war going on. There is a budget going on. Come on people, priorities.

Gratuitous Lindsey Lohan PICTURE of the Day.

And in HI RES. Enjoy .

Discussion for the message board; and yes, I stole this idea from Dusty Giebink who stole it from another board he visits. Thanks Dust.

If you could choose twenty five wrestlers to start a promotion, who would you pick? Here are the rules:

• Your roster will consist of 15 singles wrestlers, 5 tag teams, 1 authority figure, 1 manager or valet, 1 announcer and 2 "flex" positions. The flex positions can be used on any combination of managers, valets, announcers and authority figures that you so choose. I can't imagine a person wanting more than one authority figure, but that option is there, along with the option of owning 2 or 3 managers, and 2 or 3 announcers. For example, if you wanted 1 authority figure, 1 announcer, and 3 managers, that is perfectly fine. If you wanted 1 authority figure, 3 announcers (perhaps the old WCW Thunder booth?) and 1 manager that is fine. If you wanted 2 managers and 2 announcers, perfect. That choice is yours. You cannot use the 2 flex positions on wrestlers, though.
• Any wrestler from any era is eligible. If you want Ole Anderson, fine. If you want Triple H, fine. Rob Van Dam? Fine also.
• You get the wrestler in his prime. You can have Kurt Angle before he became a broken down, wife beating, trailer trash pill head. I would say that is a good thing.
• You cannot pick a tag team consisting of one or more persons you already have as a singles wrestler. For example, if you have Bret Hart, you cannot also have the Hart Foundation. That is just creepy, to have 2 Bret Harts on your roster. However, any other person other than the potential people who "own" Bret Hart as a singles wrestler, or god forbid Jim Neidhart as a singles wrestler, can have the Hart Foundation.
• If a person was involved in more than one tag team worth drafting, then all of those teams are eligible to be taken. For example, Scott Hall had a great team with Kevin Nash. He also had a great team with Curt Hennig. Both of those teams are eligible to be taken, as long as they are not both on the same roster, obviously.
• If a tag team had more than two members who were regularly a part of their tag team matches, then you get all of the members of that team. For example, the original Freebirds had three members (Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, and Terry Gordy) that would regularly interchange in tag team matches. If you pick that team, you can have all three members. The Russians (Ivan Koloff, Nikita Koloff, and Khrusher Khruschev) were another situation just like this. You would get all three Russians if that were a team you wanted. This is a cheap and easy little way of adding a few more pieces of talent to your roster, if you so choose.
• Guys who were mostly regular parts of a tag team are eligible as singles wrestlers, as well. Like, if you wanted to pick one of the Road Warriors as a singles wrestler that would be fine. Of course, you would have to sell us on why you think that person would be a good choice in a singles role, and you would not be eligible to take the Road Warriors as a team, either.
• Any of the 25 spots can be selected in any round, so long as you end the draft with the appropriate number of spots filled. You can take Ric Flair first, or Jim Ross, or Bobby Heenan, or whoever. It is totally up to you. Just like the NFL draft. Any position is eligible to be taken at any time. It's part of the intrigue.

Now originally this is supposed to be a draft but I am not big on drafts so I am skipping that portion. I just want everyone to pick 25 so we can have some discussion about them. So go ahead and feel free to discuss this on the message board. Let me know what your 25 man roster would be and feel free to explain why too. Just whomever starts the discussion, please copy and paste the rules and I will sticky it to the top to continue on. Have fun with it as well.

I just want to make a statement and I am sure Zah will vouch for me on this but having a kid is the most wonderful experience life has to offer you. JG will soon learn this as well. Not to toot my own horn or anything but my son is turning one on May 24^th (can you believe it has been a year already? Time flies.) And watching him learn and experiment and see how the world operates is amazing. He is such a curious kid and wants to walk already (he stands by himself but doesn’t walk yet). He is so much fun and such a joy. So congrats to JG who is expecting his first and to anyone else who is expecting. Kids are amazing.

Question, why does Lindsey Lohan, Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton (to an extent) all serve a few hours in jail (or a few days in Paris’ case) but Lil Kim and Foxy Brown all serve several months to a year. Do you see what Kim and Foxy have in common?...........................Yes, it is because they are rappers.

Vladimir Koslov on Smackdown. He NEEDS to cut a promo. His “I Love Double Double E” promos were GOLD. To bad his in ring work isn’t up to snuff. After watching him wrestle though, he would have main evented a Mania against Hogan back in the 80’s and would have been over HUGE as a heel.

Ok kiddies, classes are over for now. See you all next week in a month or so!!!!!!!!!!

MATT NOTE: I just wanted to let you all know that I will be doing a Question and Answer column in the near future. I am taking all reader questions in regards to any subject. Nothing is taboo. So feel free to e-mail your questions to my e-mail address and I will address it. Just include your name and state/city that you are e-mailing from and I will post your question along with my answer in a future column.

MATT NOTE ADDENDUM: NO ONE HAS E-MAILED ME ANY QUESTIONS. WTF?

Feel free to discuss whatever you’d like in the “ Anger Management” section of the message board or whichever section you see fit.

~Matt Dawgs  

World Wrestling Insanity writer Matt Dawgs is the bread and butter of the World Wrestling Insanity family. His future is bright and once James Guttman comes into a large sum of money, you can expect Matt will be getting tons of it thrown at him, at least half of it. Matt also moonlights as a professional wrestler/manager in the NY/NJ Indy scene. He is legit afraid of getting on Homicide’s bad side but thinks he is a cool dude in general. He also is a funny guy. If you have any questions, corrections, feedback, comments and ideas, he can be reached at Dawgs@worldwrestlinginsanity.com . If the feedback is negative, you can e-mail Matt at insanity @ worldwrestlinginsanity .com .

P.S. – In case you didn’t know, there is a WRESTLING BOOK that is out titled “World Wrestling Insanity”. It is a damn fun read so I suggest you run out and get it today. If you already have your copy, read it. If you already read your copy, read it again. It is funny; Like me.

Also, don’t forget to check out our new section, 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.