By: David Stephens of WrestleView.com
Ousta! Welcome back to the only WrestleView column covering topics both nowhere yet everywhere at once. If you are new to the column you are probably going to hate me for the first couple weeks, but then you are going to hit a point where you say ‘oh wait a minute, I think he gets it’. Don’t worry, that’s exactly how it is designed to be. This column is all about gut reactions and traveling thoughts. As the great Andy Kaufman once said: “I just want real reactions. I want people to laugh from the gut, be sad from the gut, or get angry from the gut”.
What’s in the News?
My opinions are in italics
All news is gathered from WrestleView.com unless otherwise noted
WWE has once again released former tag team champion Lance Cade. Cade was rehired by WWE in October 2009, but was never brought back to the main roster. He is seeking independent bookings at LanceCade@gmail.com.
In other news, Lance Cade was apparently rehired by WWE prior to this release. Just thought I’d clarify since those of us watching the product probably didn’t even realize he was back
During tonight’s WWE Friday Night Smackdown, Jack Swagger cashed in his “Money in the Bank” briefcase and pinned Chris Jericho to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion with an assist from Edge.
Sure, why not?
SyFy will be airing two hours of WWE NXT every Tuesday from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. ET. The first hour will be a replay of the previous week’s show.
yay?
According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the Bret Hart vs. Mr. McMahon match at Wrestlemania was slated to be the end of the Mr. Character character. Obviously, the Mr. McMahon character was spawn from the 1997 Montreal screw job of Bret Hart. In the end, the Wrestlemania match was designed to turn the Mr. McMahon character babyface.
I never looked at it that way. Makes sense I suppose
According to early estimates on the WWE corporate site, the Elimination Chamber PPV on 2/21 did close to 300,000 pay-per-views buys, slightly higher than last year’s number. Obviously, the number will be adjusted as more data becomes available.
And the trend of renaming PPVs to increase buys once again continues. How do you argue against something that is successful?
Jeremy Borash sent out on Twitter that Dog the Bounty Hunter attended tonight’s TNA Impact tapings in Orlando, FL. These tapings will air on Spike TV next Monday night.
They should have had him be the one to find Samoa Joe!
Jeff Jarrett and Karen Angle (the ex-wife of Kurt Angle) have announced their engagement. Karen recently posted the news on her Facebook page.
Only in wrestling would the affairs of a stripper be such news
The Vancouver Sun has a story regarding the city of Vancouver bidding to host WrestleMania in 2012 or the two years following that, entering a race with another dozen of cities who want the show to their area. WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman said that while city officials haven’t thrown in their bid yet, private interests have indeed approached WWE to host the show in Vancouver. “We haven’t received any official word from the City of Vancouver yet,” Zimmerman said. “They’d have to send correspondence that they’re interested in doing something with us, then the city would have to meet our criteria to even be allowed to submit a full bid.” A conference call between WWE, the Vancouver Athletic Commission and the Vancouver WrestleMania bid committee is scheduled for Friday. A final decision on the venues for the next three events is due in February 2011.
Rumor has it that the WWE is going to trick the Canadians into thinking that all the heels are faces and vice versa in an attempt to not have their cheering screw up the biggest show of the year
One of the creative ideas that has been discussed is to form a new heel faction on Raw consisting of Ted DiBiase Jr., his brother Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig, the son of the late WWE hall of famer “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, dubbed the Fortunate Sons, according to Dave Meltzer. Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig are currently training with Flordia Championship Wrestling in Tampa, FL.
So THAT’S why they said “fortunate sons” so much on RAW this week. I figured Michael Cole just needed his Creedance Clearwater Revival fix for the week
Jeff Hardy’s “dreamer” reference on Twitter was not a tease for Tommy Dreamer, but actually a reference to John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
I am the only one that got this initially and didn’t expect Tommy Dreamer?
TNA President Dixie Carter confirmed on her official Twitter that Brian Kendrick and Christy Hemme have signed new multi-year deals with TNA.
Man, she loves Twitter
TNA President Dixie Carter has confirmed on Twitter that Impact will be moving permanently to the 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET timeslot on Spike TV starting next Monday.
She REALLY loves Twitter
Tommy Dreamer’s non-compete with WWE expires next week reports PWInsider. There were reports among other wrestling media on Monday that Dreamer’s non-compete with WWE had already expired and there were rumors of an appearance by Dreamer at the live TNA taping on Monday.
Nah, just John Lennon
Prowrestling.net is reporting that according to a fan who attended the Impact tapings on Monday night in Orlando, fans were warned outside the Impact Zone before entering the show that it would not be family friendly.
I actually applaud them for this one
To update on the total number of homes for networks that air pro wrestling, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has come across some new figures.
* MyNetworkTV (WWE Friday Night Smackdown): Estimated 109 million homes.
* USA Network (WWE Monday Night Raw): 99.44 million homes.
* Spike TV (TNA Impact): 99.1 million homes.
* SyFy (WWE NXT): 97.28 million homes.
* WGN America (WWE Superstars): 72.47 million homes.
Oh, I don’t have any clever comments, just thought I’d share
The final gate for Wrestlemania 26 last Sunday in Glendale, AZ was $5,800,000, putting it at #3 behind two prior Wrestlemania events in the last two years in regards to overall gate gross. Here is how the top three stack up.
1. $7,211,673: Wrestlemania 25 (April 5, 2009) in Houston, TX
2. $5,854,590: Wrestlemania 24 (April 30, 2008) in Orlando, FL
3. $5,800,000: Wrestlemania 26 (March 28, 2010) in Glendale, AZ
same as above
To follow up on earlier reports regarding The Nasty Boys being released by TNA, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is also reporting that the release also had to do with a disciplinary matter involving Brian Knobbs. Knobbs was said to be acting up at a TNA gathering and upset some people as a result where Spike TV representatives were present.
*sniff* I’m going to miss those guys. Seriously… no really
We’ve had many readers send us word that a few of our columnists stated that Big Show earned his first ever victory at Wrestlemania 26 last Sunday. This was not accurate as Big Show earned his first “official” Wrestlemania victory in 2006 at Wrestlemania 22 in Chicago, IL. Thanks to everyone who sent that in.
Yeah, I really screwed this one up. Apologies. I heard it from a colleague and should have varified it myself. Special thanks to reader – Sam Dorsey-Gordon for bringing this to my attention
Ratings
RAW 4/5: 3.2
iMpact 4/5: 0.9
NXT 3/27: 1.0
Superstars 3/22: 0.93
Quick Results
RAW April 5th
-Sheamus def. Kofi Kingston
-Eve def. Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, Gail Kim, Rosa Mendes, Jillian, Katie Lea and The Bella Twins in a Red Carpet “Dress to Impress” Battle Royal
-Unified Tag Team Champions Big Show & The Miz def. WWE Champion John Cena & Batista by Count-out
-Ted DiBiase def. Christian
-Randy Orton def. World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger in a Non-Title Match
-Unified Tag Team Champions Big Show & The Miz def. WWE Champion John Cena & David Otunga
TNA iMPACT April 5th
-“The Whole F’N Show” Rob Van Dam vs. “Cowboy” James Storm
-TNA Global Championship: “The Freak” Rob Terry (c) vs. “Notorious 1-8-7” Homicide
-Knockouts Lockbox Challenge 8-Knockout Elimination Tag Match: Tara, Angelina Love, ODB, & Hamada vs. The Beautiful People & Daffney – Winners of the keys: Angelina Love, Tara, Daffney, & Velvet Sky (2 heels, 2 babyfaces)
-Ladder Match: Mr. Anderson def. “Olympic Hero” Kurt Angle
-TNA Tag Team Titles #1 Contenders Match: Motor City Machine Guns vs. Team 3D ? NO CONTEST
-X-Division Gauntlet Match: Doug Williams def. Generation Me
-“The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero def. Desmond Wolfe w/ Chelsea
NXT April 6th
-Darren Young def. Daniel Bryan
-Justin Gabriel def. Michael Tarver
-Wade Barrett def. David “A-List” Otunga
-Kane def. Heath Slater
Superstars March 29th
-Kofi Kingston & MVP def. Carlito & Zack Ryder
-Yoshi Tatsu def. William Regal
-The Hart Dynasty def. Caylen Croft & Trent Barreta
Smackdown March 30th
-Jack Swagger def. Chris Jericho (New World Heavyweight Champion)
-John Morrison & R-Truth def. Cryme Tyme
-Intercontinental Drew McIntyre vs. Matt Hardy (No Contest)
-Dolph Ziggler def. The Great Khali
-Beth Phoenix & Tiffany def. Women’s Champion Michelle McCool & Layla
-Kane def. NXT Rookies (Disqualification)
So ‘that’s a wrap’…. Love it? Hate it? Disagree with everything I said? Just want to chat wrestling? I’m always up for reading your thoughts so send them ’em on over.
Look for the newest edition to the WrestleView Radio Network: “The Teacher’s Lounge” featuring Anthony Valvo (From the Desk of Mr. V) and myself this Saturday!
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