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Saturday, November 28, 2009

OMG! :P (and Smackdown ...)

OK first of all - I am incredibly ticked off at present that when I DID upload our show tonight? Complete silence. The mic was plugged in etc. ... not sure what was wrong ... and at this point it's 2-3 days later, past midnight ... we'll go next week. Ari I think concurred with much of what I said about SS and Raw ... as far as Smackdown ... let me cover it in a nutshell

  • Fascinated by straightedge CM Punk getting the former Festus (who was supposedly Autistic) off of whatever anti-depressants/painkillers/whatever to make him 'normal'; the match with Matt Hardy was very, very strong.
  • As was the match between Chris Jericho and Undertaker; can't wait for these two to face off on PPV for the title (which very well might happen should Jeri-Show lose the tag belts to DX at TLC pay per view).
  • So long Eric Escobar, as you lost your charisma ... I mean, IC title challenge AND Vicki Guerrero. :P
  • For the record, last but not least: as a woman with a weight problem, Mickie James is NOT overweight. Not at all, not by a long shot. That is all.
As I said, incredibly embarrassed and aggrieved both this week by our own level of distraction/laziness, and attendant technical difficulties; we appreciate your patience and we promise to be up and running properly again next week. Trust me; we are as annoyed as you after putting in an hour to recording (not to mention the half hour or whatever of prep), to get static. We will have this solved by next week - we promise. And thank you for your dedication. We promise to continue matching it in the future. :P

Friday, November 27, 2009

*embarrassing*

So we just finished ITVR ... and stupid box.net, my downloader, is down. We'll get it up tomorrow for sure - I will do my best for first thing in the morning. Just as I get my crap together ... boo! lol Oh well, hope you enjoyed SD and check back here tomorrow; I promise after the last couple weeks where we've been busy with family stuff (birthdays, visitors, etc.) and my getting used, again, to the work schedule for the first time in 12 mos. really, next week starting tomorrow should run more smoothly. Thanks for everyone's patience. :P

Programming Note

No no no we don't have any visitors this weekend nor did we forget ITVR last night, nor did we even just look at it and think 'meh forget it'. We actually made a conscious decision, since *I've* discussed Survivor Series and Raw already in previous blogs and it's been a quiet week in wrestling so far otherwise, to wait until after SD tonight, which promises to be a good one, so that we can get Ari's opinion in on those earlier shows, and discuss SD. We'll also discuss how the TLC pay per view is shaping up, and how the Hulkamania tour seems to be going, and what that tells us about Hulk Hogan's future impact on TNA. We'll also be discussing WWE's annual Tribute to the Troops show. So be sure and check in around midnight tonight, to join us In This Very Ring.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Monday Night Raw

OK so I didn't mean to go 3 days without posting, especially with a 3-hour Raw on Monday night, but it's been a slow newsweek other than that Raw, and while I would have posted about it yesterday, it was Ari's birthday and we ended up out most of the evening. But briefly, my thoughts on Raw, to be more fleshed out in tomorrow night's podcast of In This Very Ring.

I want to compliment WWE first of all, to say it was a great concept to give non-former-champions a chance at a #1 contendership on gust host Jesse Ventura's part. Leave it to him to be the face for something a bit daring and original. Jesse, to explain, opened the show by announcing a tournament for the #1 contendership in which only those who have never held a world title could compete. The winners of the matches over the course of the night would compete in a Battle Royal at the end of the show to determine the #1 contender. I was quite disappointed when Randy Orton, for his petitioning, received a berth in the tournament, and especially when he went on to the Battle Royal; I was at least hoping this might add to some tension with his other never-held-the-belt Legacy cohorts, although that didn't come to be, or at least not as the main focus of Raw.

I was also disappointed Seamus won as opposed to Kofi Kingston who they've been pushing to the moon, but it makes sense from the point of view that John Cena's a face, and Kofi Kingston is an even more popular face - WWE wouldn't want SUCH a disparity in fan cheers as would arise in that match. I can't help but feel Seamus sort of got to the main event out of nowhere, but at least a tournament is perhaps a more legitimate way of establishing oneself than 'Well I haven't won in months but I've *always* been in the main event' ... eh Shawn? (sorry ... pains me, but true). His monster heel rise out of nowhere, and beatdown on Cena leaving him in the ascendant, is very reminiscent of old school Hulk Hogan booking; let's see if that works in 2009.

Hornswoggle sued DX for their (awkward and less-than-amusing) beatdown last week; they will be facing off 'in court' next week, presumably moderated by "Justice" Verne Troyer, aka Mini-Me from Austin Powers, a little person who will be guest-hosting next week's Raw. This could be incredibly amusing, or incredibly ... no, it will be incredibly awful. And I'm a DX fan. :P

But the wrestling was incredibly strong this night, by definition as all those competing should be at least somewhat deserving of title shot consideration, and bringing their 'A' game in order to get that consideration, and even the 'entertainment' aspect was strong, as I enjoyed the return of the Gobbledygooker, and Vince McMahon's return to the announce position as quasi-face/neutral blow-by-blow guy. The food fight-threatening scenes backstage with everyone saying what they're thankful for, resulting in Vicki Guerrero taking a pie to the face, were also classic, although some were stronger than others. My only complaint about this actual week's show was the throw-away nature of the DX-Hart Legacy match. This was something that should have been built to as a PPV match, given the history here; and even if we want to give it away on free TV (assuming the obvious that Uncle Bret's dealings with the WWE have ultimately fallen through; if not, giving this away NOT on pay per view is unforgiveable), at least have some build and hype to it. There are many people, if properly informed ahead of time, who would have set time aside to see this match. As per usual, WWE, not on the promotional ball.

Nonetheless, the show presented was strong, and hopefully remains strong as they build to the TLC pay per view in ... sigh ... 2 1/2 weeks. :P We will talk about this show, and any other wrestling news from the rest of the week, tomorrow night in our podcast, which always goes up around 11pm/12am Eastern; so be sure and check back here then, as we look forward to seeing you In This Very Ring. :)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Survivor Series

Sorry first of all we never did get back with predictions; this weekend, already expected to be busy, became even moreso than expected as some of our guests stayed later into Sunday than expected, so ... yeah. But here now, and should be back on track for the rest of the week!

The show itself was absolutely fantastic match-wise, nothing less than which should have been expected given it looked like a GREAT PPV on paper; however very often the PPVs these days do the opposite of what you expect; those with low expectations perform reasonably well, while those with high often fail to meet them.

Team Morrison vs. Team Miz was the opening match (John Morrison, Finlay, Shelton Benjamin, Matt Hardy and Evan Bourne vs. The Miz, Seamus, Scott Macintyre, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger) and incredibly strong wrestling wise as it should have been. No one was damage by this showing as John Morrison was defeated only in a three-on-one situation, and it made the heels they wanted to push - Miz, Macintyre and Seamus - look incredibly strong and scary. Followed up by their promo a match later, they did an awesome job with this situation.

Batista vs. Rey Mysterio could have been much better as Rey has an innate ability to bring out the best in otherwise-somtimes-plodding big men, and Batista CAN perform when he wants to, and would want to for his real-life friend Rey; but we knew going into this PPV that little Rey was injured again and an injury angle would have to be followed in order for him to get offscreen and take care of his injuries. As such, while the great potential 'match' here didn't happen, a great monster heel beatdown establishing Batista as scary DID, which Rey sold beautifully, as he would. An all-around good performance by both me, again followed up by a strong, effectively-short promo a few matches later by Batista, serving the purpose of sending Rey off into the sunset for his much-required maintenance on his knee.

Team Orton vs. Team Kingston (Randy Orton, Ted Dibiase Jr., Cody Rhodes, William Regal and CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston, MVP, Mark Henry, R-Truth and Christian) was also decent, and was PRECEDED by a funny, comic relief promo focussing on all the ways Christian was different from his team (the obvious one need only be seen in the skin colour; but they used the fact he was the only ECW roster member ... the only Canadian ... etc.); I think there was more potential here than what they used, but it certainly didn't stink up the joint and seeing Kofi Kingston get two pins in a row over two former world champs in CM Punk and Randy Orton was incredibly strong; WWE is doing such a great job of pushing Kingston, it makes me wonder why they can be such failures with other pushes. I guess it's which ones their hearts are in at the end of the day ...

The Divas traditional Survivor Series match (Mickie James, Gail Kim, Melina, Kelly Kelly and Eve vs. Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall, Leyla El and Alicia Fox) was very good and focused on the strongest Divas wrestling wise, while making appropriately short work of those who aren't the strongest in the ring; I don't quite see where this belonged so high on the card, past the Batista and Orton-Kingston teams matches, but the girls went out and put on a good performance heading into the world championship matches.

Undertaker, Big Show and Chris Jericho was nothing unexpected - one of the prediction sets I included got this match right, right down to the win structure of Undertaker, on Big Show, with the Hell's Gate choke hold. But these three veterans acquitted themselves well and rose to the match, delivering a script everyone could see coming - the dissention between the tag champs, the World Champ retaining, etc. - very, very well. Similarly, the WWE Title match featuring the John Cena-Degeneration X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) Triple Threat wasn't delivered on quite as strongly (though it certainly didn't suck), but got off to an 'off-script', unpredictable early start with the heretofore-cohesive DX witnessing some fissures as Shawn Michaels' opening move was superkicking his longtime tag team partner out of the ring to focus on Champ Cena.

Again - strong match, strong PPV, about which my only complaint was a lack of progression in 'storyline' or any big surprises (title changes, returning fighters, guest appearances - say by Edge in the Smackdown Triple Threat for example), given Survivor Series is one of the traditional Big Four PPVs. But since often the formula is 'storyline on Raw, strong wrestling on PPV', this isn't entirely unexpected. WWE needs to step up their game in anticipation of raising their PPV rates (as has been much discussed here and elsewhere on the internets), and this wasn't an awful step in the wrong direction by any means (although a long way is to be gone before they convince me $45/mo. is worth plunking down on their product).

Programming note that tomorrow is a 3-hour Raw so be sure and check what time it starts and ends in your area; the guest host will be former WWE wrestler and commentator, and former Minnesota Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura - which should be interesting as he's been on the outs with Vince McMahon for some time now! Be sure and ch-ch-check it out. I know I will. And of course, always check on back here for my thoughts on tomorrow's Raw, sometime during the day Tuesday (if not sometime late tomorrow). :) I look forward to seeing you here then, and wish everyone a great start to their week! Peace.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Cancel ...

As (semi-)expected. The good news? We might be able to post either LATE tomorrow night, or else sometime midday Sunday before Survivor Series. So be sure and tune in over the weekend - don't expect much else though, as we are celebrating le bebe's first birthday and will have a housefull of guests. Thanks for the patience and we will see you on the flipside. Xs and Os.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Eventful News ... DAY!

So some interesting bits and bytes to hit on in the wrestling world today!

  • The Hulkamania Tour press conference turned into a bloody mess, literally, today as Ric Flair showed up and went nuts on his main event opponent, Hulk Hogan. In proof kayfabe (look it up) is alive and well in Australia, apparently the (worked) incident made mainstream press, as those present looked on dumbfoundedly.
  • In good news following up on my earlier report, Brock Lesnar has been released from the hospital today; while perhaps not soon, his prognosis is good and he is likely to fight again under UFC auspices sometime next year.
  • Former WWE luminary "Superstar" Billy Graham criticized Linda McMahon's running for the US Senate, stating that while she might look like a cuddly schoolma'arm, her hands are just as dirty with WWE smut as Vince McMahon's, and accusing them of being disengenuous in trying to clean their product up in anticipation of Linda's run for the Republican nomination in Connecticut's 2010 Senate race. Amazing, though, what prefacing such a statement with an acknowledgement of being disgruntled and bitter can do to undermine your basic point, Superstar!
  • Former Ring of Honor head and current head of Dragon's Gate USA Gabe Sapolsky criticized last night's Smackdown tapings, at which he was in attendance; in other news, Chris Jericho doesn't care (check out his Twitter at @iamjericho to see his response).
All this and more we will discuss in greater detail, of course, tomorrow night on our podcast right here In This Very Ring, provided everything goes as planned. Per usual, it will be uploaded in the late-ish evening. Be sure and check back then! Peace and headlocks! XO

Monday, November 16, 2009

Brock Lesnar

It has been confirmed recently by Paul Heyman and others close to UFC Heavyweight Champion and former WWE Champ Brock Lesnar that he has been suffering from mononucleosis. UFC head Dana White confirmed at a UFC press conference this weekend that Lesnar collapsed in Canada, and upon his arrival at hospital, doctors found that there were more complicating factors than simply the mono he'd been diagnosed with previously.

"He is not good," White confirms. "He is very, very sick, and he's going to be out for a while...He doesn't want to talk about it publicly, but he's in bad shape. He's not well. He's not going to be getting well anytime soon."

Lesnar is currently at the Mayo clinic undergoing further testing and treatment. White addressed the possibility of appointing an interim champion, saying it was not something he wanted to do but might need to for the fans and for the industry. First and foremost at this time, however, of course our thoughts are with Brock Lesnar, his wife Rena (the forner Sable in the WWE), and their 5-month old son Turk, born in June of this year. While not his biggest fan by any stretch, to hear of a young and healthy athlete with a young family taken so ill is always unfortunate.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

World Wrestling ... INSANITY?

You've heard Ari and I mention James Guttman and his site, World Wrestling Insanity before. I enjoy James himself, and many of his other writers/podcasters there but one I've really been enjoying of late is Jamie Kennedy who calls his column there the Jamie Kennedy Experiment. Be sure and head on over there (click here) and check out some of the Jamie Kennedy Experiment columns. Others too - as they're all quite entertaining. :) Peace.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

ITVR - SURPRISE! :D

Yup, and up on a Thurs. at that as we aim for! Click the heading title and enjoy - goodnight all!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Raw and MORE

  • Raw last night from England was entertaining; Hitman Randy Hatton (did I get the name right?) is a British boxer and former World Welterweight champion who did a surprisingly good job hosting; the entertainment bits WERE entertaining and the show went off smoothly. They worked in some more selling for the Survivor Series although I have to admit I found myself wondering "where the hell did that match come from?" a few times, which is not good ... these things need to be built to. And granted some of the feuds have been; but not the matches themselves, and who's teaming with whom. But the VIP lounge, DX and John Cena again, Evan Bourne's surprising victory, and more was all a lot of fun.
  • Happy birthday to Chris Jericho and Ted Dibiase Jr. today! :)
  • In a surprise bit of news, apparently the Ultimate Warrior, the former Jim Hellwig, who has famously been on the outs with Vince McMahon and the WWE for some time - particularly since the release of the "Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" DVD which was a predictable hatchet job due to Warrior's lack of cooperation, has been in some talks with Vince McMahon to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at next year's ceremony in Phoenix, which incidentally is Warrior's hometown (as opposed to Parts Unknown). I suppose, if true, this eliminates one name from the list of obvious, but egregiously left out, potential Hall of Famers, such as Bruno Sammartino and Randy Savage.
More on all of this on Thursday night's podcast of In This Very Ring. Hope you'll all be listening in. Peace!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Slow weekend, interesting article to share.

Click the entry heading to check out an interesting article over at Pro Wrestling Torch in regards to the time honoured tradition of 'putting young guys over' and 'doing the job' in pro wrestling, and Triple H's view on the above. Other than that, it HAS been a quiet weekend but hey! Tomorrow's Monday night, time for Raw. :) Check in here after the show. XO.

Friday, November 6, 2009

ITVR

Better late than never - as per usual, click the entry heading to get to the podcast. Good weekend all!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Programming Note

ITVR will be on tomorrow night; this is not a lazy postponement or even a busy 'we just lost time' postponement like last week; tomorrow is an early morning as we need to line up for wristbands with Little Tyke at around 6:30am. Thusly, heading to bed around ... now. But we will definitely be up and running tomorrow. Some topics for discussion:

  • Hulk Hogan's starting in TNA
  • Jeff Hardy legal update
  • The Osbornes on Raw
  • Jim Ross health update
  • WWE 24/7 On Demand Service's 5th anniversary
  • And more.
Yes, a lot of those things were also stories last week, or at least days ago and have been addressed here already; since Hogan's TNA arrival last week, it's been a slow week in the world of wrestling so if we were going to have a week of slacking (not really slacking, I've been job hunting, and such like) this wasn't an awful one. October was a busy month after awhile of no travel and few visitors, each week has had SOMETHING going on! But things should have calmed down now (this month is LT's 1st birthday, but the worst that will interfere with is one ITVR, MAYBE, not an entire week of blogging). Anyway, thanks either way for your patience and be sure and join us tomorrow! :) Be well.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Last Night's RAW ...

was a decent show with some solid wrestling and some good entertainment. Ozzy and Sharon Osborne clearly aren't regular wrestling fans with a deep familiarity with the product, but obviously enjoyed themselves, and they worked in (a) Ozzy's lack of focus and (b) their lack of working knowledge of the product by having wrestlers suggest matchmaking to them by whispering (probably also a great way of reminding them of their lines, especially Ozzy, if need-be). I enjoyed the DX stuff (reference to run sheets and segments, and Shawn's (fictitious) multitudinous, apparently, degrees in various arcane subjects from obscure universities), although it was incredibly random in some places (Shawn Michaels as renaissance man, as mentioned above), and while John Cena did the usual juvenile cheesy stuff in response to them, it played nicely all together. I enjoy Hornswoggle trying to find a new gimmick (such as Jack Osborne) as he can't use the DX gimmick anymore, and I didn't even mind (terribly) the Raw's Got Talent segment. I think they could have done more to sell the Survivor Series, but it's still a couple of weeks away and they didn't *completely* ignore it - at least not the main event. Building up an undercard might be a good next step however. Not the most 'important' or memorable show therefore, but an enjoyable two hours featuring most of the Raw cast in good matches and/or entertainment segments.

We'll speak more of this onThursday night of course, on In This Very Ring's podcast; be sure and tune in then. Meanwhile be sure to head over to http://www.prowrestling.net to check out Jason Powell's report on Hulk Hogan, TNA's newest acquisition, at Mall of America today ... plenty of good (less-than-truthful, though) Hogan soundbites about TNA, Vince McMahon, and his role in the wrestling world. :) Good stuff, check it out. And see you right back here again in two nights (if not sooner) ... in this very ring! :)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Hulkamania Australia Youtube channel

The Australian Hulkamania tour, featuring Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair and including such wrestling names as the Nasty Boys, Umaga, Rikishi, Ken Anderson, Shannon Moore, etc. has a Youtube channel if you search for HulkamaniaAustralia at Youtube.com. It currently features a couple of promos for the tour itself (both by Hulk Hogan personally and in a video package), as well as wrestling-related promos by Hogan, Flair and the Nastys; more to be posted over time I assume. Mostly well done so be sure to check it out.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Congratulations to Candace Michelle

Sorry for the absence guys, with out of town visitors (my in laws) this weekend, and Little Tyke's first Halloween, I wanted to make sure y'all knew you weren't forgotten! It wasn't a bad weekend to have plans though as not a whole went down in wrestling - Hulk Hogan's shift to TNA is still The Big News, Ozzy Osborne is hosting Raw tomorrow night, the Survivor Series is a few weeks away, and we should be back on routine this week with ITVR on Thursday night. However - oh oh oh! except my subject line - former WWE Diva Candace Michelle is pregnant. Congrats! :D

Check in late tomorrow/sometime Tuesday for Raw thoughts, and as always, Thursday for ITVR, and anytime in between as news breaks. Happy November all!

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