From the Desk of Mr. V #121
May 26, 2011
By: Anthony J. Valvo of Wrestleview.com
Thought this week I will be writing about all the happenings that went on during the previous week of professional wrestling, I want to dedicate this column to one of my favorite wrestlers of all-time, “Macho Man” Randy Savage. I will write more about the passing of Savage during the lectures.
Introduction
Welcome to the latest edition of “From the Desk of Mr. V”. I am Anthony “Mr. V” Valvo, your WrestleView resident teacher with the same material as last time, but different names, matches, and articles.
So sit back and grab some coffee (or better yet your cup of coffee in the big time).
For the record, this may be over-saturated of Macho Man clips. But do you know what? I don’t really care! Savage was a legend.
Relax as you read the 121st Installment of “From the Desk of Mr. V”.
Quote of the Week
All quotes are by “Macho Man” Randy Savage. I think this YouTube clip takes care of everything.
May someday we all have our “Cup of Coffee in the Big Time”.
Teacher’s Lecture
Lecture #1: RIP Randy Poffo (1952-2011)
Everyone among us read the articles, heard the news, listened to audio about the passing of one of the legendary professional wrestlers of all-time. And while I don’t know nor remember the entire career of Randy Savage (I only know his time in the WWF and WCW), I will reflect on the impact Randy Savage had in the business.
He was innovative.
Savage made an immediate impact the moment he started with the World Wrestling Federation. However in 1985 he broke the male manager barrier in the WWF (or to my knowledge at least) when instead of having established managers like Bobby Heenan, Freddie Blassie, Jimmy Hart, and others to be escorted to the ring by Miss Elizabeth. When he was a heel early in his tenure with the WWE, he would act like one of the most hated men in the world. If he did not get his way, he would just put the blame on Elizabeth. Had the manager been one of the legends, it would never have helped Macho Man Randy Savage the way Elizabeth helped him.
He was the ladder of success for the WWE.
What makes his gimmick and story throughout his time was that he went up the ladder to stardom. Unlike some wrestlers today who get that push to the moon way too early in their careers, Savage climbed up to the top. He started off his climb by winning the Intercontinental Championship from Tito Santana and feuded with some of the biggest names while the Intercontinental Champion with names like George Steele, Bruno Sammartino, and WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. The loss to Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III (my favorite match in all the WrestleManias) was another rung climbed up by the Macho Man. A year later, Savage was trusted by the WWF brass to be “The Face of the Company” after winning the WWF World Championship in 1988. The rest really was history. Whether he be a heel or a face, Savage was able to capture the minds and attention of any wrestling fan watching the even live or on television.
The story from top prospect to a superstar lasted almost three years. He started off as the arrogant villain that found heelish way to victory, he brought in the female valet in an organization that was not used to it, he won the Intercontinental Championship and held onto it for an extended period of time beating Hall of Famers, lost it in one of the most memorable moments of our time, and then turned face, won the WWF Championship, and became a Mega Power. When developing a top notch superstar, this is the real way to do it.
He was charismatic.
True or False? At one point in the readers’ lives they did an impression of Macho Man in their lives. If the reader said “false”, then I will write out a detention because that is a lie!
While Hulk Hogan was the most popular in that time, he said the exact some things and cut the exact same promos. Randy Savage was very creative when cutting backstage promos (case in point the Quote of the Week) and always used the right mechanics to go over the top and yet keep it fresh. In his later life, he was pretty low-key but you could not tell if you watched the way he presented himself in the 1980s.
He had other memorable moments as well. Without Elizabeth, he became a “King” and had another legendary women’s manager in Queen Sherri. He retired at WrestleMania XII, but came back after planted fans wanted him to be “reinstated”. He had more feuds after his retirement angle with The Ultimate Warrior. Feuds that come to mind were with Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Ric Flair. He got married on WWF Television (yes, it was storyline but it worked so well). He was a commentator and still an important figure in the World Wrestling Federation until 1994 when he left to go to World Championship Wrestling.
When he went to WCW, he was successful there as well. I won’t want to wear down the attention of the reader, so I will just say that he was involved in key storylines and won multiple world championships. He was a member of the New World Order (both as a member of Hollywood and Wolfpac). He introduced us to “Team Madness”(which included Nora “Molly Holly” Greenwald), but quietly left WCW in 2000.
He was a great salesman.
Not only did he sell and, in a way promote The WWF and WCW he also told us to “Snap into a Slim Jim!”
Now I don’t know about the readers, but I never ate a Slim Jim until The Macho Man promoted it. The day after I found out about his passing last week at the age of 58, I cheated on my diet and got three Jumbo Slim Jims (one for me and the others for my friends).
After some infrequent appearances in wresting (he wrestled for TNA Wrestling in 2004), select movies (Spider-Man and Bolt), and cartoon shows (Family Guy, King of the Hill, and Dexter’s Laboratory), Savage lived pretty quietly with his second wife. From the pictures on the internet, they looked extravagantly happy together.
It also seemed that after years of tension between Savage and the WWE, the hatchet seemed to be buried when the WWE created a DVD highlighting Savage’s matches and promos. Savage also appeared with some ventures for the WWE. There was at least a couple times where Savage spoke about a WWE product. Once for his latest action figure and the other was for “WWE All-Stars”.
I really don’t want to mourn the loss of Randy Savage, but rather reflect on the positives in his life. Also, thank the good Lord that his wife (now sadly widow) only suffered minor injuries in the accident. From my standpoint no one in the “Rock and Roll Wrestling era” in the WWF was a more refreshing character than Randy Savage. I know many will miss him, and I am in that group as well.
I leave you with some Pomp and Circumstance. DIG IT! Seriously the two times they played this song during graduation I let out an OOOOO YEAH!
Quick Lectures
Ring of Honor announced last weekend that they sold the company to Sinclair Brodcasting Group (a company that trades on the NASDAQ stock market). The selfish side of me is so happy that this happened because now they will be in the Pittsburgh market (don’t know what day or time, but I will be DVRing it for sure). But as a risk, it may be a high one for Ring of Honor because of the history of negative press that SBG received the past decade. However, ROH probably wanted to expand to a bigger market and if it works well for both parties, that would be great for all. But also, I know that ROH has a strong following in the northeast United States as well as portions of the Midwest. If they can expand their product and be able to keep their style of wrestling, it will work well. It is a huge risk, but my opinion is that it was “now or never”. I don’t know about finances nor will I pretend that I know, but from what I read I am happy that ROH was able to sell the product and hope that they don’t sacrifice to keep it afloat.
Kharma is reportedly written off of WWE Programming for nine months, possibly more. My first instinct that is she may be pregnant. It takes nine months between conception and birth. If that is true that she is pregnant, I wish her many blessings and happiness during this time. I just hope that my readers will share their compliments to her. If it is anything else, then I think the WWE really dropped the ball. But my only two thoughts are either pregnancy or extreme makeover with the help of Kelly Kelly.
Impact Wrestling made its brand change last Thursday. Their tagline is “Wrestling Matters”. I really hope that it does matter for the TNA company because what I saw on May 19th was not a good show. However, I will give credit that the introduction to the show and the set-up is not too bad. Personally, I would just enjoy Mick Foley vs. Hulk Hogan on a television feud and not just this “they are talking to Network executives” bit. It does show to this writer that while Bischoff is going to do whatever it takes to build up TNA/Impact Wrestling, Hogan is just not 100% with the company. That is not good.
Michael Cole lost the “Kiss my Foot” match with Jerry Lawler at Over the Limit, and let me be the first to say that I enjoyed every second of that match. Honestly, it should have happened at WrestleMania.
Kevin Nash had a meltdown on Twitter after people criticized his son’s singing voice. Ever hear of the phrase “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? Well, it should have happened on both parties, while those that tweet insults at wrestlers are mainly too scared to tell that to a wrestler face-to-face, Nash should not have even responded to such stupidity.
Finally, if you have not checked out ESPN’s Bill Simmons reflection about Randy Savage I suggest you read it. Even though sports sites shy away from professional wrestling (and rightfully so), what made Randy Savage cool was that he was a international celebrity and sports entertainer, not just your average “pro wrestler”.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/110524
Any Questions?
Well, again no questions and if I had them on Facebook I answered them all. So if you want to ask me a question, then please send it to me at mistervwv@hotmail.com.
Detentions
TNA Wrestling/Impact Wrestling – For saying that “Wrestling Matters”, yet all I saw was the same material. If wrestling mattered, we would have seen a better card than what we saw last week.
Brie Bella – She gets one for regressing a bit since she won the WWE Divas Championship. It seems like the other divas slow it down for her.
The Pittsburgh Pirates offense – Yeah, would love to see more runs from my hometown baseball team. Happy they are still just slightly below .500 though.
Michael Cole – Eh, felt like he should still be in detention.
Walking Trails around my area – Seriously, can’t they be under some shade. Last time I exercised it was unbearable.
CZW – For banning Botchamania 173. What a shame.
The Time Out Chair – No One. This week it wasn’t the best week when it came to wrestling, but also nothing absolutely bad happened either. So for the first time in weeks, I don’t have anyone sitting in the time out chair. For some reason, I think it will be filled next week.
Eh, let’s rundown the Eternal Detentions so next week all I have to do is copy and paste it.
Praxis and the ETS Series
Teachers that get arrested
Ryan Clark
2010 French Soccer Team
Jeff Hardy and “The Other” Hardy
“Undefined” Alicia Fox
Mike Tenay
Hulk Hogan
Activists
Toni Morrison
“The Brody”
As previously announced on Mr. V #120, this is a new feature to the column after given the blessing by Editor-In-Chief Adam Martin. This is not a direct insult to anyone, but more of a “warning” to those who post ridiculous, uneducated, and puzzling comments under articles, columns, or recaps on WrestleView.com. I have a team of scouts who will be looking around to see who truly earns a “Brody” as the dumbest comment poster of the week.
Why is it “The Brody” is dedicated to Brody McBryer who in May 2011 who posted a comment about the lack of excerpts of Brock Lesnar’s book. Check out Mr. V #120 for further explanation.
This week’s “Brody” had a few finalists. One for an outlandish comment on the latest Prediction column because he hated John Cena and his “fruity pebbleness”. Another was considered for ripping on Kharma in a press release a couple days ago. However, there was once comment that I found very repulsive from a person that it truly was “Brody worthy”.
The Brody this week goes to…Andrew Spence for his comment under “Kevin Nash has a mini-meltdown on Twitter”. Usually Mr. Spence writes some intelligent things with the comments, but this one was a bit absurd.
“couldnt agree more with kevin all assholes who make fun of people who cant sing or disabled should die of cancer period” = BRODY AWARD-winning comment. (learn to use apostrophes, capitalization, and proper punctuation).
Cue the “more YouTube clips
After that sound effect, I let out a “Paul Bearer” OHHHH YEEEEES
I asked you what you thought about the “Brody” and it was unanimous! It will be here to stay!
Mr. V’s Weekly Honor Roll For the Week of May 16 – May 22, 2011
5/16 – WWE Monday Night Raw
5/17 – WWE NXT
5/18 – OFF DAY.
5/19 – WWE Superstars and TNA Impact
5/20 – WWE Friday Night Smackdown
5/21 – This was the day you listened to the “The Teacher’s Lounge”
5/22 – OFF DAY.
Man, I really felt that all the shows missed something this past week. Sure, there was some pretty impressive action in the ring, but only one main event made the honor roll this week (and it was on the little-viewed WWE Superstars). There was at least one that was above average, but a ton that were very poor. While not as strong as last week’s, here is my honor roll for this past week.
Distinguished Honors –Christian vs. Sheamus, WWE Friday Night Smackdown, May 20.
How did it end? After a good match that featured solid chemistry, Christian escaped Sheamus’ High Cross with a roll up for the pinfall victory.
Grade: B (leaned toward B-).
High Honors – Drew McIntyre vs. Evan Bourne, WWE Superstars, May 19.
How did it end? In an impressive back and forth match that really showcased both McIntyre and Bourne, the match ended with McIntyre threw Bourne to the turnbuckle and then delivered the Future Shock DDT for the pinfall.
Grade: B-.
Honors –Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio, WWE Monday Night Raw, May 16.
How did it end? These two always put on a good match together, and this one was no different. The match ended when Ricardo Rodrieguez interfered in the match and ate a 619 from Mysterio. The referee awarded the match to Mysterio via disqualification.
Grade: B-.
Mr. V’s Grade Book for the week of 5/16 – 5/22
A+, A, or A-: None to Report.
B+: None to Report.
B: Christian vs. Sheamus (Smackdown).
B-: Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio (RAW); John Cena vs. Jack Swagger (RAW); Drew McIntyre vs. Evan Bourne (Superstars).
C+: CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston (RAW); Yoshi Tatsu vs. Byron Saxton (NXT); Vladimir Kozlov vs. JTG (NXT); Yoshi Tatsu vs. Tyson Kidd (Superstars); Abyss vs. Kazarian (IMPACT); Ezekiel Jackson, The Big Show, and Kane vs. Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, and Heath Slater (Smackdown); Chavo Guerrero vs. Daniel Bryan (Smackdown); Randy Orton vs. Mark Henry (Smackdown).
C: David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty vs. The Big Show and Kane (RAW); Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins (Superstars); Velvet Sky vs. Winter and Angelina Love (IMPACT).
C-: Darren Young vs. Titus O’Neil (NXT); Matt Hardy and Eric Bischoff vs. Max Buck and Jeremy Buck (IMPACT); Brie Bella vs. Natalya (Smackdown).
D+, D, or D-: Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella (RAW); Mickie James, Miss Tessmacher, and Tara vs. Madison Rayne, Sarita, and Rosita (IMPACT); Samoa Joe vs. Amazing Red (IMPACT); Ted DiBiase, Jr. vs. Trent Barreta (Smackdown); The Great Khali vs. Jey Uso (Smackdown).
F or INC: None to Report.
Current WreslteView Prediction Standings (As of WWE’s Over the Limit)
The only WrestleView staff member that seems to be moving up in these standings right now is Jose Marrero, as he only predicted one match incorrect in the last sixteen matches. Still, it appears that no one can rest easy. The Velvet Room’s Nicholas “OneManX” Gray is still in the lead, but Marrero, Josh Boutwell, and Dave Stephens are really close to that top spot.
2011-2012 Predictions From the Faculty Roster (as WWE Over the Limit)
1) Nicholas Gray (The Velvet Room)……………………………………………………….39-19 (6-2)
2) Jose Marrero (Wrestling Rumblings/The Eye Gouge)………………………….38-19 (7-1)
3) Josh Boutwell (TNA Impact Recaps/Viva La Raza)……………………………37-21 (5-3)
4) Dave Stephens (Raw Recaps/That’s a Wrap/Teachers Lounge)……….37-21 (6-2)
5) Mike Tedesco (WWE Smackdown Recapper)…………………………………..36-22 (5-3)
6) Ryan Rivera (ROH on HDNet Recaps)…………………………………………………36-22 (6-2)
7) WrestleView Students (The Readers of the article)……………………………..36-22 (5-3)
8) Gregory “Grash” Walek (WWE NXT Recapper)…………………………………….35-23 (6-2)
9) Anthony Valvo (From the Desk of Mr. V/Teacher’s Lounge)……………….33-25 (4-4)
10) Greg McNeish (The Velvet Room)……………………………………………………..33-25 (6-2)
11) Darragh O’Connor (WV International Desk)……………………………………..32-21 (6-2)
12) Clinton Bowman (The Velvet Room/Tough Enough recapper)…………32-26 (6-2)
13) Evan O’Brien (WV International Desk)………………………………………………..31-27 (5-3)
14) Matt O’Brien (Notes from the Nosebleeds)…………………………………………31-27 (5-3)
Tie-Breaker Points – Which are based on Championship matches correct
17: Nicholas Gray; Josh Boutwell; Mike Tedesco; Ryan Rivera
16: Gregory Walek; CJ Bowman
15: Dave Stephens; Jose Marrero
14: Anthony Valvo; Evan O’Brien
13: Greg McNeish
12: Darragh O’Connor
10: Matt O’Brien
All the matches on the card counted. Though a DQ Finish, whoever picked Ezekiel Jackson to win earned a tiebreaker point.
Jose Marrero was once again the best among the staff with a 7-1 record. Congratulations, Jose!
There were not too many moves in the standings, as Nicholas Gray is the current leader of the staff, but it is very close at this moment.
36 WrestleView Students sent in their predictions and averaged out 5.13 picks correctly, so the group as a whole went 5-3.
The New Students of the Week for TNA Slammiversary IX will be Ken Konarzewski and Paul Meade. Both went 7-1 and I think their only defeat was Bella vs. Kelly.
The Students of the Week from Over the Limit were defeated. Goose Oberstar and Michael Fox went 6-2.
Who’s in line for the Predictions Prize?
First Place will win a wrestling DVD.
Second Place will win a T-Shirt.
Third Place will win a Coffee Mug.
Last Place will win TNA’s Victory Road 2009 (or now even 2011 whichever costs less), as it was as bad a PPV as what potentially someone’s picks will be.
I will just type out the Top Five readers at this time. The first set of parentheses is the W/L record for WWE’s Over the Limit. The second parentheses are the Tie-Breaker points.
1) Michael Fox……………………………………………………42-16 (6-2) (18) – #1
2) Jason Namako…………………………………………………42-16 (6-2) (17) – #2
3) Paul Meade……………………………………………………..41-17 (7-1) (16) – #3
4) Goose Oberstar………………………………………………40-18 (6-2) (18)
5) Brandon Ewing………………………………………………40-18 (5-3) (16)
The Next Pay-Per-View predictions will be for the TNA Slammiversary IX PPV.
Mr. V’s Gold Star Segment
Gold Stars brought to you by: ColtMerch.com! Take a look at Colt Cabana’s merchandise and you won’t be disappointed.
Also, while you are at it check out www.jrsbarbq.com. Jim Ross has some specials on all the Beef Jerky you can consume. Look at his blog and maybe buy a product or two.
Finally, some Gold Stars!
Jose Marrero – He was once again the Head of the WrestleView Staff class with a 7-1 record for WWE’s Over the Limit. This latest hot streak has him in 2nd place in the standings among his peers.
Nicholas Gray – He is currently the overall leader in the WrestleView Staff Standings for the second straight PPV.
Paul Meade and Ken Konarzewski – They will be the next pair of Students of the Week thanks to going 7-1 among the “WrestleView Students”. You will see their predictions for TNA’s Slammiversary in the coming weeks.
Michael Fox – He is the leader among the “WrestleView Students”, and therefore in line right now for the top prize (but the contest goes until the WWE Royal Rumble).
Rey Mysterio – If anyone ever gives Mysterio a bad match, they should not be employed by the WWE.
CM Punk – For this Macho Man-inspired ring attire on Monday Night Raw.
Zack Ryder – The man tweeted a shoutout to my daughter, who is the biggest Zack Ryder fan in the family. One moment she will watch Raw with me and ask if he is on. When I say “no”, she walks away.
Jim Ross – The best ketchup in the world. Seriously, if you ever have extra money, go buy a bottle.
Colt Cabana – I finally got to see Wrestling Road Dairies and I must say it was very enjoyable.
Ring of Honor – Congratulations on the sale. I just hope that it is a victory for all parties.
Hernandez – GO BIG RED!
R-Truth – What a great gimmick he has at this moment. I guess we can thank Little Jimmy for making him go crazy.
L. Anne Carrington – She is doing a very good job with her latest writings. You can also follow her works on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_106648073882
David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty – They are the NEW WWE Tag Team Champions.
Abyss – He is the NEW TNA X Division Champion. I heard that with this win he joined AJ Styles as the only Grand Slam champions in the history of the company. Say what you will, but this is a big accomplishment.
WWE Superstars commentary – I really enjoy the teams as of late. Matt Striker and Jack Korpela have great chemistry together and have cheesy jokes that even make me laugh. Scott Stanford and Josh Mathews, what can I say. I like how Stanford promotes Zack Ryder and Mathews just takes jabs at Stanford throughout.
Layla – I just read about her possible injury. Here is hoping for a speedy recovery. She was easily the most improved diva on the WWE roster.
Claudio Castagnoli – He always gets one for staying “Very European”.
Michael “P.S.” Hayes – Great to see you on television, even if it was for a couple weeks.
Sadly, I offer two “Bright Gold Stars” to the following who left us this week.
“Macho Man” Randy Savage – Thank you for everything.
John Cigna – A former radio host for KDKA for years, he was a guy that I would wake up extra early to listen to over the winters. Why? I listened to him because when he said school was cancelled it brought joy to my heart. He passed away this past week and he truly will be missed.
And that is all for now. If you want me to give out a Gold Star let me know at mistervwv@hotmail.com.
Homework Assignment (Will go over on Mr. V #122)
I originally planned it for this column, but since the passing of The Macho Man was just too big I decided it would be best to analyze this next week. So if you want to work on it, send me an e-mail to mistervwv@hotmail.com.
The WWE has changed things up. With 30 (make it 28 since Cena was drafted twice) WWE Superstars switching brands it make me think of a two-part question.
Say you are in control of the WWE Roster. If you can draft five to seven professional wrestlers outside of the WWE (TNA, ROH, Chikara, etc.), who would they be? Also, you do not want to overload your brand. Who would you release? I gave the WrestleView VIPs an example in the 5/7 edition of “The Teacher’s Lounge”.
When I get a few more unique replies, I will post them in a future column.
Dismissal
Well, that does it for me this week. I thank you all for reading this column and I hope you enjoyed this column as much as I typed it out. If you want to get a hold of me during the week, please e-mail me at mistervwv@hotmail.com or at lounge@wrestleview.com, or by leaving me a message on Facebook. I do get a lot of e-mails and may not reply in a timely fashion, but I will do my best to give you a quicker reply.
Now, students you are allowed to leave the classroom. Please push in your chairs, line up straight, and exit to the closest door around you. Until next week, you are all……DISMISSED!
Facebook: Add me if you want. I am Anthony J. Valvo in the Pittsburgh, PA network
Twitter: @MrVWrestleView
E-Mail: mistervwv@hotmail.com or lounge@wrestleview.com
THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE IS NOW AIRING ON SATURDAYS!
Along with WrestleView’s Raw Recapper and Columnist Dave Stephens, The Teacher’s Lounge gives the WrestleView Radio Network Audience a complete rundown of the past week’s events in professional wrestling all in a one to two-hour program. We even have a few games, a detention segment, as well as interviews.
Most Recent Guest (on the 4/23 edition of The Teacher’s Lounge)
WrestleView Smackdown Recapper Mike Tedesco
Mike Tedesco joined us to talk about the WWE Draft. Since Tedesco recaps Smackdown and Dave Stephens recaps Raw for WrestleView, we thought it was just right to have these guys plan what would be best for both Raw and Smackdown. Did the WWE agree with their picks? Check to see if the WWE are as smart as a couple of WrestleView’s brightest recappers.
Already on the archives we interviewed WrestleView.com staff members, including:
• Jose Marrero (Wrestling Rumblings and FYB Radio host)
• Matt O’Brien (Notes from the Nosebleeds)
• Josh Boutwell (TNA Recapper and Viva La Raza columnist)
• Mike Tedesco (WWE Smackdown and Superstars recapper)
• CJ Bowman (The Velvet Room and one-time guest host)
• Nicholas Gray (The Velvet Room)
• Adam Martin even guest hosted an episode (find out which one) (Editor-In-Chief)
• Paul Nemer (Site Owner)
But wait, here is plenty more!
The Teacher’s Lounge also interviewed professional wrestlers and amazing writers, including:
• Ring of Honor Wrestler and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Colt Cabana.
• TNA Superstar Hernandez
• Isis The Amazon (formerly Aloisia of WWE)
• Lori Carrington (Author of “The Cruiserweight
• Crystal Mai (from Diva-Dirt.com)
As always, Dave Stephens and I thank all our listeners as well as our readers. For $4.99 a month, you get all of this along with many other hours of content from the other shows on the WrestleView Radio Network. It does cost a bit of money, but we will do our best to make it worth it. If you want to be a part of the Lounge for our “E-mails” section, you may drop us a line at lounge@wrestleview.com. To sign up, click here.
One More Gold Star for the WWE. What a tribute for Randy Savage. Once again, RIP Macho Man.