The Shoot #19
June 23, 2009
By: Joshua Piedra of WrestleView.com
-The First Shot-
Hello everyone once again and welcome to your 19th edition of The Shoot. Thank you for the responses last week about my spotlight column on Mitsuharu Misawa. I got a lot of them and I will share them plus the previous week’s mail in the reader’s feedback section. I also have my PPV Pick results for TNA Slammivarsary VII and I think I?m turning the corner now on moving up the ranks of columnists here on WrestleView. Quick Shots return this week as well and I will also do my first DVD review as the meat and potatoes of this week’s column. With that being said, let’s get to the news headlines that caught my attention.
-Quick Shots-
Ken Anderson debuted his second video online since his release. The first was poking fun at the supposed wrist injury that he had sustained and the newest one poked fun at the fact that he got released from the WWE. Since it was titled ?Episode 1?, there are sure more of these to come. I think this is a great idea because it keeps him fresh in everyone’s mind and keeps him in the spotlight? even if he’s not getting paid!
Former CMLL World Champion Dos Caras Jr. signed a contract with the WWE and is expected to be shot straight to the main roster, bypassing all of the training and developmental territories and rightfully so. Caras Jr. has been a big player in Mexico for a quite some time and I strongly urge to check out some of his videos via youtube or other means because he can be pretty entertaining. It will be interesting to see how he is handled in the WWE, however.
Some bad news for fans in Detroit and Chicago as ?American Dragon? Bryan Danielson has suffered a staph infection and has been pulled from both events, however, Ring of Honor has decided to replace him with Roderick Strong. So now KENTA and Roderick Strong will challenge the American Wolves for the ROH World Tag Team Titles and Roderick Strong will now face D?Lo Brown on night two. I?m glad that Roderick Strong is being given the chance. He still needs to learn how to cut a promo, but his in-ring skills have been getting better. Strong and KENTA make an interesting combination as well.
Paul Heyman took an in-depth look at CM Punk in his latest column over at The Sun and I couldn?t agree more with him. This is Punk’s time to shine and it is nice to see that the WWE is finally putting some new faces into the driver’s seat. Guys like Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho have been deserving for quite some time. I know Jericho has danced the big dance before, but he always seems to get lost in the shuffle unless they give him something big. Hopefully, this storyline with Rey Misterio will do wonders for both and I could see either of them being top contenders to CM Punk’s title once the storyline with Jeff Hardy and Edge comes to a conclusion. Those are some dream match ups for me right there so Smackdown! is looking better and better.
Brian Blair, who gave a special Happy Father’s Day gift to his two children, was released from prison. He explained that it was a misunderstanding and how he mentors children and would never hurt one. He then adds ?The most important thing is that my wife is OK.? Seriously? The most important thing, right now, is that your wife is OK? Not the fact that you have two kids who probably feel strong remorse toward you and probably love you just a little bit less right now? That’s not more important? Someone needs to get their priorities straight and fast!
I know I usually do three shots, but since I skipped out last week, I tried to cover some extra headlines this week to make up for them. Now that the snacks have been finished, the main course shall now be served.
-The Big Shot: DVD REVIEW: YouShoot with Sabu-
He’s homicidal, he’s suicidal, he’s genocidal, and up until this Kayfabe Commentary release, he was silent. The man known the world over for barbed wire matches and using super glue to close his in-ring injures broke that silence and decided to sit down and conduct a shoot interview covering topics such as the WWE, ECW, Sex and Drugs, Wrestling in general, and many more topics. Let’s break it down.
Presentation
The DVD is simplistic and screams indy. In fact, the DVD case in and of itself is pretty much just a standard DVD case bought off of an office supply store shelf. There’s no booklet, inserts, or any extras in the packaging? just the case and the disc. The disc itself, just by looking at the bottom, you can tell was burned on a computer since it is a DVD-R with a label affixed to it. This is not a complaint by any means as it serves the purpose, plays fine in a DVD player, and it delivers, to you, the product, but this is just a warning in case you do purchase the DVD and expect fancy packaging like you would if you were purchasing a WWE Home Release.
The overall presentation of the video is basically a fixed camera set up facing two chairs, one contains Sabu and the other contains the host, Sean Oliver. In front of them is a laptop with the YouShoot logo plastered on it and, well, that’s it for the entire 120 running minutes of this DVD.
Quality
The quality of the video was decent. It’s standard DVD quality and I?m not sure if it was just on my copy or if it was there during final production, but some scenes, the video would digitize and scramble, but it didn?t do it often. For the most part, the video was smooth, but definitely wasn?t true high definition as some parts just seemed a little grainy. Like I said, I could have gotten a bum disc, but I call it as I see it. If I had 5 copies of it, I?d watch all five to see if that was the problem, but I don?t so it goes into the review.
The sound quality was just fine. Everything was crisp and clear with no audio clipping or distortion of any sort. Sabu came off kind of quiet in the beginning, but there’s a little more to that which I?ll touch on in a moment.
Content
There is a lot of content on this DVD in terms of interview topics, but it lacked a lot of variety from the E-Mail and Video questions. At first, one might argue that this would be a waste of money after hearing Sabu’s one worded answers to any and all questions. In some situations, it prompted Sean Oliver to ask Sabu to elaborate on his answer, and he would with half of a sentence or he just didn?t have an answer. Normally, if I saw this, I would just shake my head and shut the DVD off, but I decided to watch on to see if it got any better.
And it did.
After about one and a half to two Coors Lights, Sabu started to open up and no, that’s not a witty quirk, he was drinking beer during the interview. He started to go in depth into topics such as Hardcore Wrestling and how he wasn?t always that way. He spoke highly of The Original Shiek and stated how he taught him how to mat wrestle and the basics and that’s what Sabu teaches to his students today. He explains that the Sabu character came about by accident and his triple jump moonsault and table usage were also accidents as well.
They moved on and talked about sex and drugs in wrestling and Sabu stated that there are a lot of drugs in wrestling, but it’s not crack, cocaine, or what you would expect it to be. He said those kinds of drugs are there as they would be in any athletic event, but the biggest drug and drug abuse in wrestling, in his mind, were pain killers, namely somas. It was an interesting perspective on the drug situation in professional wrestling. Sabu didn?t hide the fact that he uses pot. In fact, he blatantly stated the loves weed, wishes it were legal, and wished he had some right now.
To further this, they held the first ?Roll-A-Joint? Championship. They used tobacco instead of actual marijuana for legal purposes, but they stated on all future YouShoots, they will be asking more wrestlers or wrestling personalities to roll their own joint to try and beat Sabu’s record, which I won?t state here in case you end up purchasing this release.
As I stated before, a lot of the questions came from the same people in E-Mails and it seemed like the same two people in the video questions over and over again to the point where it just got stale, despite the fact that they were good questions. Sabu even made fun of it which made the repetitiveness seem tolerable. The people who sent in the videos acted like complete goofballs and just made you shake your head. These are the kind of wrestling nutballs I try to avoid. Rikishi, New Jack, and Missy Hyatt all chime in with video questions for Sabu as well to break up the monotony.
At the end of the interview, Sabu thanks them for making him feel at home as he was extremely nervous doing the interview because he’s not good at talking in public. That pretty much explained his short answers in the beginning and you can see him mellow out and get more into it as the DVD progresses.
With that being said, let’s do a quick ratings analysis. (scale is 1-10, 10 being highest, 1 being lowest)
Presentation – 5: Cheap packaging, some video issues, and a mediocre interview stage, kind of hinder this from being a high quality video, but the crisp sound comes across television speakers fine and you can hear everything clearly.
Content – 8: There was a lot of content, a lot of great answers, humor, and openness about talking about some black cloud topics in wrestling. There is enough here to satisfy you as well as open your eyes about some of the things happening in professional wrestling.
Re-Watchability – 8: If you can look past the low budget look and the asinine video questions, there is a lot of great information in this DVD if you are a wrestling fan and watching it again may have you pick on some things you missed the first time. It’s also a great DVD to sit down and watch with other die-hard wrestling fans as well.
Overall – 7.5: Above Average. Simply put, if you are a wrestling fan, this isn?t a ?must have?, but it’s also not a ?must pass? DVD. It’s a nice addition to anyone’s wrestling collection and for the simple fact that it is a rare interview by an otherwise silent man, you should do yourself the favor of picking this one up. Once I heard about this DVD, I knew I had to see it and Sabu, himself, didn?t disappoint. I?m sure you?ll be entertained and educated at the same time. Great watch!
-One Extra Round: PPV Picks-
Alrighty. TNA Slammiversary came and went and I vowed to do better with my picks and I did!
Eric Young and Rhino vs. British Invasion
WINNER: British Invasion
Pick: British Invasion
1-0
Thoughts: I know it says Eric Young and Rhino and Young ditched the match, but I listed it as the advertised match. I felt that the British Invasion would win due to Young’s heel turn and I was right along with the bulk of the WrestleView columnist staff. Easy pick, easy win for me.
Monster’s Ball Intergender Tag Match
Raven and Daffney vs. Abyss and Taylor Wilde
WINNER: Abyss and Taylor Wilde
Pick: Abyss and Taylor Wilde
2-0
Thoughts: Abyss doesn?t have a huge history of winning hardcore matches on PPV, but with Raven coming back as simply enhancement talent, I felt that it was time for Abyss to get a mark in the win column and he did just that. On a side note, Daffney is one of the hottest Goths in the world. Amen to the Lord for making things like that.
Match for Daniels’ TNA Roster Spot
Daniels vs. Shane Douglas
WINNER: Daniels
Pick: Daniels
3-0
Thoughts: This one was kind of obvious, too with Shane Douglas being brought in as enhancement talent. The Fallen Angel picked up the win and got to keep his job in TNA, avoiding horrid gimmicks like Curry Man. I know he’s hot, he’s spicy, and he tastes great, but I could do without.
Match for a spot in the Main Event Mafia
Sting vs. Matt Morgan
WINNER: Sting
Pick: Matt Morgan
3-1
Thoughts: Here I thought TNA would take a bold step in a new direction and add a young blood to the Main Event Mafia. I could have foreseen some great chemistry between the MEM guys and Matt Morgan, but this didn?t come to pass as the veteran Sting picked up the victory. Little did I know that my idea of adding new blood to the MEM would come true and that it was Matt Morgan that got the shot.
TNA Knockout’s Division Championship
Angelina Love (Champ) vs. Tara
WINNER: Angelina Love
Pick: Angelina Love
4-1
Thoughts: I was kind of afraid to pick Angelina Love because of TNA’s history of putting titles on former WWE Wrestlers (see Gail Kim, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, Rhino, etc), but I had a gut feeling that Love would end up retaining this time around and TAFKA Victoria would have to do a little more proving before she got her hands on the title.
TNA World Tag Team Championship
Team 3D (Champs) vs. Beer Money Inc.
WINNER: Beer Money Inc.
Pick: Beer Money Inc
5-1
Thoughts: There is no question that Beer Money Inc is the new America’s Most Wanted. I mean that as they are the hottest tag team commodity in TNA right now. Nothing against the seasoned veterans in the former Dudley Boyz, but Robert Roode has taken Chris Harris? spot along side James Storm nicely and the chemistry between them is absolutely fantastic. It always makes me wonder how a team as good as they are would fare in the WWE.
TNA X Division Championship
**King of the Mountain Rules**
Suicide (Champ) vs. Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed
WINNER: Suicide
Pick: Suicide
6-1
Thoughts: From a storyline standpoint, Suicide made the most sense here to retain the championship. Sabin and Shelley are focused on the TNA Tag Division, Jay Lethal already had a nice run with the title and Consequences Creed just doesn?t strike me as championship material so by process of elimination, Suicide was the obvious choice in this one.
TNA World Championship
**King of the Mountain Rules**
Mick Foley (Champ) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
WINNER: Kurt Angle
Pick: Jeff Jarrett
6-2
Thoughts: Many of us thought Jarrett. We all thought he would get the title and shift balance of power over to him. Other unique picks ranged from Angle to Styles. Sadly, I don?t think anyone picked Foley and we were right in the fact that he wouldn?t be walking out of the PPV with the title. He did his duty as champion and it was time to pass the ball to someone else. Kurt Angle makes things very interesting, especially since Samoa Joe turned heel and joined the Main Event Mafia, the role I thought Matt Morgan would take. For the first time in a while, I can?t wait to watch iMPACT! This Thursday to see how they move on from this event.
So 6-2 this show puts my overall standing at 31-24. WWE’s The Bash is up next. Let’s see if I can pull out another nice score and catapult myself up the ladder even further.
-Return Fire: Question of the Week-
Since I did a DVD review, this week’s question is: Did you enjoy the review and would you like me to review others in the future?
-Friendly Fire: Reader E-Mail-
Suzanne Abshire sent in her usual thoughts two weeks ago on my ?Labeling Moves as Indy Moves? column. Here’s what she had to say:
Joshua,
-The First Shot-
This PPV was predictable to you? I thought it was one of the more unpredictable PPV’s from WWE in awhile.
-Quick Shots-
Do we really know for sure at this point that Mr. Kennedy was released by the WWE because of backstage politics?
Yeah I really don’t understand putting the WWE Championship on Batista if he is going be out for four months! I had thought that maybe on RAW they were going to strip Batista of the WWE Championship and then do a tournament to put the belt on MVP now that he is no longer US Champion and with a 3 hour RAW next week they could have done 8 match in the first round of a 16 man tournament to crown a new WWE Champion but with the announcement of 3 Championship matches on RAW next week instead and with HHH returning I don’t see MVP winning the WWE Championship.
I agree CM for CM Punk is like PS for Micheal Hayes only they know what it means.
-One Extra Round: PPV Picks-
John Cena vs. Big Show
WINNER: John Cena
PICK: John Cena
1-0
I thought for sure Big Show was going to win this match because I was under the impression that John Cena was leaving soon to film an new movie.
SAMOAN STRAP MATCH
CM Punk vs. Umaga
WINNER: CM Punk
PICK: Umaga
1-1
Thoughts: I thought that CM Punk would win this match but only because I didn’t think he would cash in his Money in the Bank breifcase. If he was going to do that and win then Umaga should have won the match.
ADDITION: I don’t have any idea why they released him but they made a mistake by having him loose and by releasing him. He and Punk could have been the SmackDown! Championship match at the next PPV. I thought this was a interesting fued and I liked the charecter developement of Umaga.
MISS WRESTLEMANIA (HOGPEN MATCH)
Vickie Guerrero (c?) vs. Santina Marella
WINNER: Santina Marella
PICK: Santina Marella
2-1
Thoughts: I got this one wrong as well I thought for sure Vickie was going to win. I thought Chavo would get involved and cause Santina to lose and I thought she would be “unmasked” as Santino. A Santino vs Chavo Guerrero fued I think could be interesting.
UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP (FATAL 4-WAY)
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. MVP vs. William Regal vs. Matt Hardy
WINNER: Kofi Kingston
PICK: Kofi Kingston
3-1
Thoughts: I really liked this match and I thought it reminded me of a TNA X-Division PPV opener that could have gone longer. I don’t know what made this match “extreme” though.
INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP (NO HOLDS BARRED)
Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Chris Jericho
WINNER: Chris Jericho
PICK: Chris Jericho
4-1
Thoughts: They had to make the Championship change here if they are going to set up a Mask vs Championship match at the next PPV which is what I think they are going to have.
ECW CHAMPIONSHIP (HARDCORE AND THREE WAY DANCE)
Christian (c) vs. Jack Swagger vs. Tommy Dreamer
WINNER: Tommy Dreamer
PICK: Tommy Dreamer
5-1
Thoughts: I picked this and I am glad that I got this one right. I am just hoping that he doesn’t drop the ECW Championship next Monday night on RAW.
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (LADDER MATCH)
Edge (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
WINNER: Jeff Hardy then CM Punk
PICK: Edge
5-2
I thought for sure that Jeff was going to win the World Heavyweight Championship because to much has been talked about on the net about Jeff leaving so I thought he signed a new contract like his brother hinted now with the Punk switch and Jeff’s injury I am not sure any more.
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP (STEEL CAGE)
Randy Orton (c) vs. Batista
WINNER: Batista
PICK: Randy Orton
5-3
Thoughts: They should have kept the WWE Championship on Randy Orton and have him loose it either Monday Night or better yet at the next PPV to MVP. I am afraid that HHH will get the WWE Championship next.
-Return Fire: Question of the Week-
This week’s question is a two-parter.
#1: Do you think that wrestling moves should be split into categories such as main stream or indy?
no
#2: This one is stemmed from Wrestling News Live on Sunday Night. Who would win in a real life fight? CM Punk or The Undertaker?
Taker
Rocky Jr. Sent in feedback for both Shoot 17 and Shoot 18. Here’s what he had to say on both.
Shoot 17 Feedback:
#1: Do you think that wrestling moves should be split into categories such as main stream or indy?
Hell no, I even didn’t hear there is “indy moves”. That’s just the most ridiculous thing I never heard wrestlingwise.
#2: This one is stemmed from Wrestling News Live on Sunday Night. Who would win in a real life fight? CM Punk or The Undertaker?
Hard one. Punk is technical but Taker is strong and big. I would say Taker because he’s a big MMA fan.
Btw, good column, as always Josh.
Shoot 18 Feedback
I just read your tribute column for Misawa from last Tuesday. My god, is it great, like Joe’s one. You greatly put in perspective the best of Misawa’s career and I really liked it. Hope it can put more and more people into Puroresu. ^^
Thanks for this tribute to this true legend and wait on a third wrestler column, they’re great and interesting.
Jon Devout sent this in about Shoot 18
Hey Josh! Thanks for the insight on Mitsuharu Misawa. I never got a chance to watch a lot of his matches so I?m glad that you took the time to outline the biggest spots of his career! Great column! I?ll be sure to check out more of yours from now on!
WrestleView’s on Mr. V made a quick comment on Facebook about Shoot 18 as well!
great column, Josh. You should be proud of it.
Finally, Chris Madsen had this to say about Shoot 18
Misawa was a true legend. I had a great time reading your column and I had a question about what your favorite match was outside of the jumbo match. Mine would have to be any of the ones against kobashi!
My response to this is any of the six man tags. They were all fantastic matches that made you feel good about being a wrestling fan!
Lots of nice feedback this time around. It seems that I get the most feedback doing the wrestler spotlight columns. Because of this, it is my decision that I will have a new spotlight once every two months. I don?t want to do one every month as that would see overbearing, but I figure if I do one every eight columns, that will spread it out.
With that being said, feel free to send in suggestions as to who you would like to see spotlighted and I will take the most common answer or the most interesting.
-The Final Shot-
Before I get to the usual feedback links and whatnot, I want to take a moment to let all WrestleView VIP members know that if you listened to The Dawg House with Trey Dawg and JJ Sexay, or to Wrestling News Live after iMPACT! Last week, then you?d know that Wrestleview.com will be creating a Wrestling E-Fed. Basically the concept here is that we are taking WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 (Xbox 360 Version), and creating our own roster of Wrestleview staff members and VIP members. I?m mentioning this as I took up the position as Booker (Commissioner) for the E-Fed and will be creating the matches as well as having input on storylines and whatnot.
If you are interested, send JJ Sexay an email at jjsexay@wrestleview.com with your height, weight, a picture of yourself, and a brief description of your character. If we get enough interested in doing this, then we will launch this project in the future, but it all depends on interest.
Of course, this is open to VIP members only and at the risk of sounding like a plug machine, you can join the VIP experience by going to www.wrestleview.com/VIP.
That’s it for me this week. Don?t be afraid to talk to me? I don?t bite in the areas that hurt! If you would like to discuss the question of the week, wrestling in general, life in general, send all thoughts, good and bad, to syscrash2002@hotmail.com.
You can now follow me on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/itoshinojjp
Or you can follow me on Facebook if you want to know a little more about the man behind the column.
Have fun and I?ll see you next week.