That’s A Wrap! #20

That's a Wrap
Week of June 29th to July 5th 2009
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 us 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?.

Narration

I have put a lot of thought into this, and I’m pretty confident with my decision here. If my life were made into a movie, it would have to be narrated by Nicholas Cage. With a compendium of work including one of my favorite movies, Lord of War, I’d love the opportunity to work with him. Wait, what am I supposed to be talking about? Oh, wrestling! Right, let’s get onto it –

What’s in the News?
all news is gathered from WrestleView.com unless otherwise noted

Since ya’ll were treated to a special edition column last week due to my lack of computer, I’ve decided to go back two weeks with the news. I try to never have just the news section, but when I went to add in the feature I realized I was already approaching on 3,000 words, and who wants to read much more than that? So I’m holding off the piece until next week so that we can get caught up with the news together. Enjoy guys!

In the July issue of WWE Magazine, Randy Orton says that he read for the role in the The Marine sequel. He said he had the part but then broke his collarbone. He said the producers decided to go with someone else, Ted DiBiase.
-I really have to say that I just can’t imagine Orton playing the part. DiBiase definitely has a better look for the character. Yes, I know of Orton’s military service, I just don’t think he would have looked or acted the part as well as Ted. On the other hand I have yet to even see the first Marine, so who knows?

CM Punk did another interview recently and was asked what the CM in his name stands for. He replied, “”The most commonly given answer is ?Chick Magnet. It clearly stands for champion material.”
-In another recent interview Punk stated that CM stood for “Chicago Made”. For those who have been fans of Punk, or know of his history they may be happy as I am that he is continuing his tradition of keeping the meaning ambiguous

John Morrison and Michelle McCool will be filming new episodes of “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” in Los Angeles this week
-That’s pretty sweet. I have only seen the show once and that was two years ago when I tuned in to their celebrity week to watch Clay Aiken. Jeff Foxworthy is a pretty funny guy, so I look forward to catching their episode when it airs.

WWE has decided they will not be offering Ric Flair a new contract and the word making the rounds is that they have no plans to use Flair on television. This is largely being considered a business decision on the part of WWE as they don’t want to sign him as they don’t want anyone under contract whose bookings they don’t have full control over.
-So about Ring of Honor?

Yesterday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a plea by the family of Nancy Benoit to stop the Larry Flynt Publishing Group from publishing nude photos of her in Hustler magazine. The photos of her were taken about twenty years earlier. This is a follow-up to when a federal judge ruled in the magazines’ favor back in October 2008.
-This is a tough one as far as the legality goes, but personally it seems morally distasteful

According to Gregory “Hurricane” Helms over on his official Twitter page, WWE star Paul Burchill will be taking some time off due to the death of his brother. Helms added, “Keep Paul Burchill in your prayers. He just recently lost a brother in Afghanistan, I believe.”
-If Helms is correct then my sympathy goes out to the Burchill family, as well as my gratitude for the service of his brother

Former TNA wrestler/referee Shane Sewell may have joined World Wrestling Entertainment. He reffed a match between Alex Riley and Bo Rotundo at Thursday night’s Florida Championship Wrestling television taping in Tampa. FCW usually doesn’t use talent on their television shows unless they are under contract to WWE. Following his release from TNA last month, Sewell returned to the World Wrestling Council promotion in Puerto Rico.
-Well I’ll have to pay careful attention to see him because it is against WWE broadcasting policies as of now to call referees by name

WWE Diva Nikki Bella of The Bella Twins had a minor jaw injury following this past week’s WWE Monday Night Raw taping in Green Bay, WI
-Guess she should have stuck to talk shows, no way you can get a mouth injury on a talk – oh never mind

Cody Rhodes is currently working with a neck injury reports The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It should also be noted that WWE has decided to drop the “Priceless” name for Rhodes and Ted DiBiase and they will simply be referred to as Legacy. This was recently done by creative, but given that things always change this may not stay permanent.
-It works either way for me. I liked the Priceless tag, but now they can save it for Ted by himself

Lilian Garcia announced on her website this morning, www.LilianGarcia.com, that she recently handed in her notice to the company as she will be leaving WWE when her contract expires later this year, hence the search for a new ring announcer. Garcia said she is getting married later this year and is looking to the enter a new phase of her life.
-Well whoever they bring in is going to have a pretty hard time taking her place in a lot of wrestling fans’ hearts

Taz’s no-complete clause with WWE official expired July 1st
-TNA here we come!

To update on reports earlier today on WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper being arrested on DUI charges on Thursday morning in Hollywood, PWInsider is reporting that Piper was bailed out earlier today on a $5,000 bond and will have to appear before the court in Los Angeles on July 23.

Batista was reportedly telling those who asked him at this past week’s Monday Night Raw taping in San Jose that he was on schedule with his recovery from tendon tear surgery and was told he would be able to start working out in around four to six weeks. The tentative idea at this point is for Batista to make a return to the ring at Survivor Series in November (which takes place in his hometown of Washington, D.C.), although there was talk of keeping him out as late as January. Batista was said to be down about missing WWE’s upcoming tour of the Philippines next week since he is part Filipino.
-Anybody else get a kick out of the fact that someone from the Philippines is Filipino? Why not Philipino? Just wondering

Torrie wilson did an interview recently for the Baltimore Sun in which she commented on her appearance at the Wrestlemania 25 Divas Battle Royal
-“I?m very mad at myself and embarrassed that I agreed to be a part of something like that. A lot of people in the audience didn?t even know that I was in that match because they didn?t even announce it. For me, that whole experience at WrestleMania was kind of like closure. I feel like maybe I?m not appreciated like I would have hoped. They just wanted all these girls there. Now I can understand why Trish [Stratus] decided not to do it; she was smart. Going into it I trusted them that they would use me in the right way and I should have known better. All in all, I learned a valuable lesson.”

Raven was not used at the Impact TV tapings last week following TNA’s Slammiversary PPV and it doesn’t appear the company has any interest in using him from this point on. His name was pulled from the “TNA Roster” page over on TNAwrestling.com this week along with others such as Shane Douglas, No Limit and Jacqueline. As noted back in June, Raven and Douglas were only scheduled in the month leading into the Slammiversary PPV with the theme being stars of the past taking on stars of the present.
-One of the first times I ever saw a staple gun used in pro-wrestling was used by Raven and it haunted me for days

Variety has an article noting that Warner Bros. has officially purchased most of Midway Games’ assets for $33 million with no other bidders emerging. The purchase includes the “Mortal Kombat” franchise and legacy arcade games such as “Joust” and “Spy Hunter.” One license not picked up was the “TNA Impact” series which was in developmental for a sequel. So the future of “TNA Impact 2” appears to be very much in doubt.
-And by very much in doubt they mean pretty much not going to happen

The Bell Centre has posted the following statement on its website regarding the WWE Breaking Point PPV: **A night where every match is a submission match****WWE Superstars will push each other beyond every threshold of pain****Who has the power, the resiliency and the determination to survive WWE Breaking Point?**
-I think that submission matches should be used to build up feuds, not just for the sake of it. There needs to be a reason for this match to take place. I really despise this concept

WWC recently announced that WWE star MVP would not be wrestling at the promotions big anniversary show next Saturday with the reason being given that he was unable to come to Puerto Rico so quickly after WWE’s international tour reports PWInsider. Because of MVP having to pull out of the event, WWC has added Umaga vs. former WWE star Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy) to the show. WWE’s The Colons (Carlito and Primo) will also be wrestling at the event
-Speaking of Kennedy, I urge everyone to look his videos up on youtube. They are hilariously awesome. He has been putting one out every couple days recently

WWE is looking at new ways to reward fans who purchase consecutive monthly pay-per-view events. They?re doing a promotion where if you buy Night of Champions and SummerSlam, you get a WWE Championship belt wrist watch.
-oh goodie

During his recent tour of Japan, Triple H reportedly pushed the names of Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger as some of the company’s best new talent reports The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It comes as no surprise that only weeks later both were pushed from the ECW brand over to Raw.
-Joe Baiamonte commented: “Yeah… I hate the way this guy holds young talent down.”

WWE star Jeff Hardy was recently interviewed by Spain’s Four Network to promote upcoming WWE events this September and addressed his status with the company. Hardy stated that he has yet to sign a contract extension with WWE and when asked if he would he added, “I don’t know…I am 31-years-old now and I don’t like making plans for the future. I can wrestle until I am 40, but I don’t want to make plans, I don’t like thinking about what could happen between now and the next five years.”
-And people wonder why the WWE doesn’t have the faith to put the belt back on him right now

TNA’s The Motor City Machineguns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley) lost the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championships on Sunday at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall to Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt.
-I actually feel bad for Sabin in particular. Anthony Valvo (Mr. V) and I were having a conversation about him earlier, and we both aren’t too keen on his lack of use. I actually put up the picture I have with him as my Facebook profile picture in order to show my support for him. Being in the Motor City Machine Guns has, as far as TNA is concerned, given him the catch 22 of job security as a jobber. it’s a shame

According to a report by The Sun in the UK, WWE star Matt Hardy had surgery for an abdominal tear on July 2 and will be out of action for eight to 10 weeks as a result.

According to a report by Bill Behrens, long-time TNA referee Rudy Charles did not quit the company and was instead released despite previous reports claiming otherwise. Charles’ primary job with TNA as an administrative asstant to the creative team was terminated and company officials also decided to let him go as a referee. He had been with the company since it began in 2002 and was dubbed the “senior referee” of TNA.
-That’s a shame. I’m sure there were reasons, but he is someone who was with the company since the beginning

Jerry Lawler officially announced this morning on Memphis Fox News 13 and Kix 106 FM that if a Memphis mayoral election occurs, he will indeed run for mayor. The big word is IF because no one is absolutely sure whether or not the current mayor will withdraw his resignation.
-Seems to me like getting elected Mayor would be a demotion for a King

In regards to WWE going back to the “Cyber Sunday” PPV name for October, PWInsider is reporting that WWE made the decision to go back to the original name as there were some in management that didn’t like the name change to “Annihilation.” It is still possible that WWE will still go forward with another name as the belief is that they were dropping the Cyber Sunday concept completely this year.
-Yeah, cause Annihilation is simply a terrible name for a PPV

Ratings
WWE RAW ? 3.9
ECW on Sci-Fi ? 1.2
Superstars ? 0.9
TNA Impact ? 1.2
Smackdown ? 1.7

WWE Stock Update
Week ending July 2nd 2009
Open – 12.88
High – 13.00
Low – 12.11
Close – 12.11
Volume – 764,945

Must Read WrestleView Column of the Week
Baiamonte’s Casa #22
http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1246887713.php
This week Joe takes a look at the role of ‘fat men’ in wrestling. I know some of you complain I’m biased in my selections especially when I go with Anthony Valvo or Joe Baiamonte, but this is seriously a great read this week. Plus, he gets a lot of credit for putting the image of Mark Henry doing the “The World’s Strongest Corkscrew Plancha” in my mind. Check it out!

Loose Ends

– The WWE decided that despite the fact that I got my laptop back from the computer store that ECW would be on Thursday this week instead of the usual Tuesday. Sadly this is a conflict with my work schedule, but I’ll be back NEXT week, so look forward to it!


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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.

David Stephens

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