CLICK HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES »

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

It's Official!

This blog will be back in full force reporting on wrestling every other day at the least frequent as of this Saturday. After a month of being effectively homeless, and then moving (job in one town, home in the other, until about a week ago), we are now settled into our new city and home, however are without regular internet access. That should be remedied Saturday. So please check back here next week as we start a whole new year after a somewhat unexpected summer vacation - In This Very Ring as a podcast will return a week from Thursday, so September 3 (I think?). Be sure and tune in, and we'll see you right here ... in this very ring.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Kurt Angle Arrest and Summerslam

So the two big pieces of wrestling news this week are, that Kurt Angle was arrested over the weekend for allegedly stalking his (I assume now ex-)girlfriend Rhaka Khan, a TNA Knockout (soon to be ex-Knockout?). The details are that over the weekend they had a fight which resulted in him being kicked out of his house and a protection order being filed. When he and Khan (unbeknownst to Angle, according to him) ended up at the same venue a day or two later, police were called and, upon searching his car, found growth hormone which he may or may not have a prescription for.

Angle's claim is that this whole thing was concocted by Rhaka Khan; given he has a past of substance abuse, and a rocky relationship with his ex-wife, as well as a DUI on his record, this wouldn't necessarily be at all out of character; however innocent until proven guilty. Angle has gone on-record with his side of the events, that KHAN had been following HIM, while Khan's people claim he'd been stalking her, and had taken her cell phone in an attempt to delete incriminating text messages and photos.

It is a very sad case in all, but it should be interesting to see how all this plays out in court. I'm usually a bleeding-heart, soft-on-crime, pro-rehabilitation liberal, but as a woman, and as someone who witnessed the events leading up to and surrounding and following the Benoit murders from two years ago (albeit from afar), I do hope for Angle's own sake as well as that of his girlfriend, his ex-wife, and his children, that this case is taken very seriously. Without wanting to assume guilt, the Benoit case was a matter of strange behaviour going unreported because it was otherwise out of character for Benoit; as this becomes more and more in-character for Angle, I hope note is taken. And too bad too - even if he is not a stalker or abuser, given multiple brushes with the law and several ... interesting ... interviews and much backhanded political maneuvering in recent months and years, this is a man I had a great deal of respect for who is showing more and more aspects of his character I just have a hard time appreciating. Unfortunate.

In more fortunate news, it's Summerslam weekend! I haven't seen wrestling in a month with work and moving etc. (last I saw at all was the Raw Shaquille O'Neal hosted), and it will be nice to be able to relax in our new home on a Sunday evening with the WWE's usual summer send-off event. Hopefully our cable is installed by then, sometime Friday or Saturday. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile hope you guys all enjoyed Raw and ECW this week, enjoy Impact and Smackdown (and Superstars I guess) coming up, or whatever combination thereof you check out, and be sure and have fun w/Summerslam Sunday. I'll do my best to post my predictions for the show before the weekend, but if not I will be up and running regularly for next week for sure; hopefully we'll have our first broadcast of the new season up and running for In This Very Ring on Thursday, but the next week at the latest if that doesn't happen. Until then, stay tuned, be well!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Future Endeavoured

Smackdown superstar Ricky Ortiz as of today has been released by the WWE, of course with well-wishes for his future endeavours. Too bad but not surprising - talented kid given one of those non-gimmick babyface gimmicks that he might have been able to carry off in a year or two with a little less green around the gills, but that he had a hard time recovering from even after a brand change and quasi-successful heel turn. Here's hoping he finds some legs on the indy/TNA/ROH circuit and maybe returns to the bigs a couple of years down the road when he's prepared to make an impact and WWE is prepared to let him.

I plead ignorance

So having not had the chance to catch what sounds to have been Jeremy Piven's attrocious performance on Raw this week, nor last night's better-than-average Smackdown featuring Matt Hardy helping (?!) his brother retain the World Title vs. CM Punk and several better-than-average matches and a surprise ending or two (hello JTG pinning Chris Jericho clean?!), I'm not going to take liberties to really comment on the product this week, except to say it sounds like there are a few interesting interviews out there. Google Roddy Piper's interview on Monday Night Mayhem which sounds like a good one (read excerpts), and Superstar Billy Graham's on ... I believe it was on the In Your Head program?

And in the meantime if you can check out the new edition of the Pro Wrestling Illustrated; it's the PWI 500 edition, where they enumerate the top 500 stars (as they perceive them) in the wrestling world today. Always an entertaining and controversial read (I can actually see a case for Chris Jericho having won the top spot this year, as opposed to Triple H, who actually did, but that's always up for debate of course).

Meanwhile we will be moving into our house August 20 - that's a Thursday, so technically In This Very Ring night. As it's move in night, we probably won't have internet access or what have you, and the next week is my last night of summer school - the next day is the final exam day. The next week is Ari's first week at his new job; in short, lots of adjustments and new things coming our way. THE GOAL ideally would be to be back on the air Aug. 27, the first Thursday we'll be settled in with the internet ready to go, and we're shooting for that. The latest we'll start is the Thursday following Labour Day weekend; new school year, new season, new start to In This Very Ring. But we'll keep you posted as we get a better sense of how everything is falling into place. In the meantime as I've said before, no promises as to how regularly I'll be able to blog between now and shortly after the 20th (whenever we get the internet hooked up in the new house) but I will do my best. :) Meanwhile be in touch and keep smilin'! :)

Monday, August 3, 2009

Raw Tonight

Hi guys - so I'm in Ottawa househunting, starting a new job tomorrow, and busy for sure - didn't get a chance to catchRaw tonight obvs. But you can do like I did and catch the play-by-play over at Jason Powell's http://www.prowrestling.net, as well as checking out his Hitlist in the same location tomorrow. Otherwise, it seems to have been a reasonably quiet weekend in the world of pro wrestling - not a bad one to be busy with prep for my new life.

Some funniness over on Chris Jericho's twitter however - he's got a 'Chuck Norris' thing going on. Be sure and go over to http://www.twitter.com and look for @iamjericho. :) Enjoy your week wrestling fans.

blog analyzer
HammerMill Copy Paper