Online World of Wrestling Radio

One piece of bad news and two of good folks - bad news obviously retroactively is we didn't get to ITVR our predictions for last night's PPV this weekend - man has the Holiday season gotten away from us, even more than life as usual! Two bits of good news though

#1 - Tuesday night, as in TOMORROW, we make our return to Online World of Wrestling radio - just go to the http://onlineworldofwrestling.com website (or click that URL) and follow the links to their radio show at 9pm where we will be recapping the PPV with Alan, Spug and others!

#2 - Some night this week - possibly Wednesday, possibly Thursday - we will do our Year in Review/awards show. If that ends up needing to be rescheduled we'll let you know, but that's the plan as of now. So be sure and keep your eyes peeled to this site. Meanwhile though to read our thoughts on tonight's Raw check back here later tonight/sometime tomorrow, and to hear our thoughts on last night's PPV, again - check out OWW radio at the link above.

Special holiday edition of ITVR

Hi guys,

So a busy holiday season happening around here but be sure and tune in tomorrow (or Sunday afternoon at the latest) as we talk about this week's Slammy Award episode of Raw and a preview of Sunday Night's Tables Ladders and Chairs PPV. As we've had 2-3 days of being out 12 hours at a stretch between work, Christmas shopping, both kids having (routine) doctor's checkups, we weren't able to catch TLC or Smackdown, but we'll at least be able to babble incoherently and make uninformed PPV predictions, and discuss both the melee that was the Hulk Hogan wedding earlier this week, as well as Shawn Michaels' renewed contract with the WWE he announced today.

Be sure and tune in, then, over the weekend! :) Cheers,

Sarah

Hulk Hogan Gets Married

Hulk Hogan this evening married his longtime girlfriend Jennifer McDaniel, in the presence of his children (taking a wild guess ex-wife Linda, mother of said children, and her 20-year-old boyfriend were not invited). In true wrestling wedding fashion, there was some drama as a member of the Hogan family staff got into a tussle with a photographer resulting in the police being called - but ultimately, no charges were laid and the Hogan "I dos" went out without any further hitches.

CLICK HERE for this week's ITVR podcast

Quick Thoughts on Raw

Hi all - know there was no ITVR as promised - would you believe how much work and sleep there is to catch up on after a weekend of travel with wee ones? - but we did catch Raw last week and tonight, and I wanted to give some thoughts on some highlights.

First - definitely some stupid stuff. Not impressed, for example, with the Hart Dynasty being broken up AND feuding on free TV when this could at least be a semi-decent undercard PPV match; no respect for the tag division, but no surprise here. And while I'm amused with Tamina and Santino's romance, and the conflict of interest this causes as Santino and partner Vladimir Kozlov feud with Tamina's proteges, the Usos, I'd still like to sort of see where this is going; this story doesn't deserve the kind of attention it's getting, while the Harts and other undercard storylines are being so underserved.

However, WWE is doing a lot of things right lately on Raw, and some major compliments I want to dole out include:

• I enjoyed Michael Cole's heel turn last week, Jerry Lawler's getting into his face, and the anonymous email GM intervening at just the right moment (AND CM Punk getting to have fun reading the email for a change). In fact, I'm very much enjoying Punk on the Raw announce team in general, he has a lot to add to it. Randy Orton's reapparance to RKO Michael Cole when Jerry Lawler couldn't lay his hands on him is also good, and transferred the feud and attention from the Miz and the announce team, to the Miz and really his most obvious #1 contender. I'm not a fan of this 'oooh what kind of match will they pick to fight in on the upcoming PPV?' on both Smackdown and Raw, when this is the frickin' TABLES LADDERS AND CHAIRS pay per view they're building up toward, but these two guys can at least go, both on mic and in-ring.
• I definitely have found John Cena's interference the last few weeks a bit annoying, especially after his heartfelt 'I want to go spend time with my family' speech - but somewhat acceptable given they at least provide the continuity of him buying his tickets and otherwise acting on subterfuge - but at least it came to an interesting head this week with the Nexus, after having all been attacked and the threat of those attacks continuing until John Cena was rehired, no longer wishing to be Wade Barrett's whipping boys and turning on him. An interesting way to end Raw and with Barrett, for the first time in a long while, actually being on the short end of any given scenario. It will be interesting to see how this plays out next week.
• Also want to give credit to John Morrison and Sheamus - excellent performers who are keeping up their feud (and doing a great job despite being very DIFFERENT performers), while obviously sowing some seeds that Sheamus is on to Triple H whenever the King of Kings makes his triumphant return (OK - so not terribly original, hello Booker T - but still funny and being pulled off by a decent entertainer).

So definitely some strong stuff, and the quibbles are just quibbles - as the Road to Wrestlemania season is starting to rev its engines (albeit not quite out of the starting gate), I recommend fans tune in, as obviously the powers that be are working hard at getting back on their game.

Wishing MVP the best in his future endeavours

Hi all - were away for this weekend but will be back tomorrow with ITVR to discuss Raw, the Smackdown we've recorded and want to catch up on, and more. However, meanwhile, we learned today that MVP has been released from his WWE contract and wished well in his future endeavours. MVP has stated through the day that this was his request, as he wishes to go work in Japan for awhile and, in his words, 'freshen it up a bit'. In This Very Ring extends our very best wishes to this very talented performer as he seeks a new home in which to ply his trade.

Howard Finkel Wedding Introductions

Easily the funniest video I've ever seen - with major regrets we didn't pull this off at our wedding. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE to listen to ITVR

(my apologies for mic quality, I'm thinking my computer's internal mic isn't so groovy. I'll try an external one next week. apologies also for the tardiness we actually had this done Thursday but I had upload problems and then forgot about it until tonight; that also might explain its out-of-date-ness.

CLICK HERE for the latest In This Very Ring

(Finally! :D)

Old School Raw!

So ... where have we been, promises promises and all that? All I can say is, anyone who tells you a child's birthday is an easy undertaking, is lying. I anticipated having everything set and ready to go Thursday night in order to put up our podcast before Little Tyke's family came to celebrate his second birthday. We got that much right. I didn't however anticipate the exhaustion of that night and the next. However, here's the good news ...

Last night was an Old School Raw put on by WWE that we've been dying to see - THAT is how tired we were folks we were asleep before it even really started lol. But I did record it, and have seen some highlights - welcome back, Slickster! And everyone dancing to 'Common Man', Dusty Rhodes' theme song, was pretty jacked too - we will watch it in its entirety tonight before coming at you with a review tomorrow (YES!!! 1-2 days earlier than usual, we feel it's the least we can do for perhaps our worst month in terms of reliability), as well as our Survivor Series predictions for Sunday night's big pay per view. Be sure and check us out!

And rest assured, if WWE can deliver the PPV it has the potential to deliver on Sunday, following up on a strong Raw, and then follow it up in the weeks ahead, we might be able to get more consistency going forward. No mistake that a big part of us being less than dilligent in our podcasting and blogging is about the product not being interesting enough to really take primacy of place in our priorities these days (put it like this: in the same time period, we have missed very few Daily Shows and Colbert Reports - and yes I know I know, there's Smackdown and TNA too which are better to my experience and/or other peoples' word - just not as good timing for us for various reasons).

But I am tired of the countless 'we'll be back next week/month' posts that have been going on since the summer (change in routine followed by new baby=decent excuses, but hey this qualifies as one of the things we enjoy doing that was way too easy to give up and we should find the time for), as I'm sure you are - and this time, even if I have to push myself, I am going to do it. To remind myself why I enjoy wrestling (which I have moreso in the last few weeks than in the past while), and for you, our fans. :) Thanks so much.

Update

Hi guys,

So the bad news is, this week, we had the werewithal to do In This Very ring, were all set up, I turn on my computer ... and the screen doesn't light up. Nor will it again from what we can tell. After a day and a half of trying to fix it, and another day and a half transferring over to a new laptop (my third computer in about 4 years, and second in the last 18 months), I think we're back up and running - but now, with much catchup on the part of someone whose main source of income is in online work, so I now have 3 days worth of email to reply to and stuff to mark.

On the other hand, this is my first BRAND NEW computer in 4 years and it's a beaut. Catching up and reorganizing myself should be a snap. Starting with - as next weekend is Little Tyke's second birthday party, which involves visits from our family, we're going to go to air Thursday instead of Friday - and with ideally no more blog entries like this one again, as we'd managed to find a nice little rhythm for ourselves before modern inconveniences and technology threw us back off. Thanks for bearing with us in the last several months as we've adjusted to new work schedules, a new baby, etc. - it is now absolutely time to make that up to you.

XO - Sarah

RAW this Week ... and a few other notes.

So this week's Raw was really kind of a mixed bag. The wrestling was actually better than usual - every match was either strong from an athletic point of view, or at least contributed to story-telling. There were some logic gaps in the story - why would Natalya get one more shot at the women's title if she'd squandered two chances? - but hey, this is WWE and there have been bigger logic gaps than that.

Meanwhile, there were a few skits that you will have either loved or hated; first, Pee Wee Herman as a guest host of Raw was either super-great if you enjoyed his schtick - with his secret word etc. - personally, not the biggest fan, so while it isn't the world's worst thing I've ever seen on Raw, it could definitely have been better. It also relied so strongly on the participation of a crowd that wasn't into it, that definitely weakened his appearance - though I appreciated his bringing Lita in for a cameo during the Diva's Twister contest.

I also enjoyed the McMahon skit - mainly because we hadn't seen them in awhile. Too much of that would be, well, too much, but as it was it was kind of funny. And the dynamic between John Cena, the Nexus and Randy Orton is intriguing; I'll be interested to see how this all blows up at the Survivor Series, which I was surprised to hear the Undertaker might end up missing due to injury (being as it would be his 20th anniversary in the WWE). Also out with injury as of this week - CM Punk, for 3-4 months.

On some other quick notes before walking away - Vince McMahon's plan to give away WWE merchandise outside of polling stations has been nixed following a threat from the State of Connecticut involving both fines and jailtime; not that it would have helped his wife Linda much anyway as she lost her US Senate bid to Dick Blumenthal tonight (oh, or was that a spoiler to anyone? Sorry, forgot I'm not supposed to comment on bouts in progress lol). Also want to extend a Rest in Peace to Edouard Carpentier, French Canadian wrestler who died in his 80s this week. It has in fact been a big week for Quebec wrestling, as the legendary Jacques Rougeau has also announced his retirement this week following the upcoming 4-match 'farewell tour' he has scheduled.

Please tune in to In This Very Ring on Thursday (FOR REAL THIS TIME!) as we cover all this and anything else which might happen in the next 2-3 days. :) Until then - be well and God bless.

This n That

We'll be airing In This Very Ring tomorrow night to discuss this week in wrestling - the Bragging Rights PPV, Monday's Raw, tomorrow Smackdown, and perhaps a little TNA sprinkled in there for good measure. Meanwhile though a few stories to hit:

• Just as a followup to the other day's rant - Vince McMahon earlier this week proceeded to sue Connecticut's Secretary of State over the ban of WWE merchandise at polling stations ... and get this ... dude won! Not only that - but if there's any question of the purpose of this? There are now going to be giveaway WWE booths all over Hartford, as they are hosting the Smackdown tapings that night. Hooboy ... and does good ole Mr. McMahon accept victory graciously? No of course not, as he delivered a statement today patting himself on the back for making Madame Secretary 'back down'. Congratulations I guess, Vinnie. Now you go give away those free t-shirts. The least you can do for your fans after they pay $45 on a semi-monthly basis for your PPVs (how are those buy rates going, by the way?)
  
• A legit congratulations, however, head out to Jeff Hardy and his common law girlfriend Beth Britt, who have apparently had a baby girl! :) Jeff took to his Twitter this week to discuss what a difficult time he's been having leaving his girls behind. TNA take note: Jeff might be on his way to a few no shows, but I'd go easy on him for these ones. ;)
• Lastly a congratulations to 20-year-old Shaul Guerrero, oldest daughter of Eddy and Vickie Guerrero, who just signed a WWE developmental contract today and will be reporting to the 'farm team', Florida Championship Wrestling, shortly.
  

Stand Up for ... ???? Get the "F" Out!

Hi guys - First, my abundant apologies for the fact that cleaning up a house occupied by two young boys (and OK, their slovenly parents), and entertaining my in-laws this weekend definitely took more time and energy than I'd anticipated - ITVR as promised for this weekend, as you can see, didn't come about, despite our best intentions. Please know we're aware we're sleeping on the job, quite literally at times, and we are keeping up as best we can, while also trying to come up with some plans for going forward, since good intentions aren't doing it. We WILL be back on the air this week to discuss Bragging Rights (which we are apparently the only fans out there who enjoyed), and the rest of the week in wrestling - but meanwhile, I DID have to address the WWE's new campaign to "Stand up for WWE".

This campaign was launched last week in response to attacks (acknowledged by me to have occurred) during the Richard Blumenthal-Linda McMahon US Senate race in Connecticut, home of the WWE HQ. You can find the whole chronology at wwe.com but long story short - Vince McMahon launched a campaign for fans to send in testimonials, messages, videos, what have you, in to the WWE. Around the same time, the Democrats launched an investigation into Linda McMahon Campaign funding going towards WWE, and/or vice versa, as well as having a ban enacted on WWE merchandise (t-shirts and the like) at polling stations, given Linda McMahon as WWE's ex-CEO and wife of the current Chairman is so associated with the company it could be seen as campaign advertising, which isn't allowed in polling places. Needless to say, Vince took ridiculous exception to this, saying it was disenfranchising WWE Fans (nevermind that really it just involves covering up the t-shirts or changing them, turning them inside-out or such).

I do just want to say that standing up for the WWE, even as a fan, is as difficult a job as standing up for an 800-pound gorilla terrorizing New York City. It is a billion dollar company, run by a billionaire, who blatantly treats their employees as independent contractors with no health benefits, no union, and no freedom to book their own outside projects (movies, other wrestling gigs, book deals, have all caused friction and outright rifts between Vince McMahon and several of his employees).

I will stand up for WWE as entertainment - I enjoy it for the most part, and think most people would find something, in time, that they find entertaining too. The athleticism is incredible, and it is an incredibly well-run, smooth operation. I will even say Linda McMahon's campaign, if nothing else, has to this point been an excellent influence in terms of cleaning up the product and making it more palatable and family-friendly. I will even say that up until this point Vince McMahon has impressed me with his restraint in terms of involving himself with, capitalizing on, jeopardizing or otherwise riding on his wife's coattails. And I will compliment the steps the WWE has taken - in terms of drug testing, funding for rehab, an increased understanding of the need for time off, etc. But (a) that doesn't mean it's at all a perfect scenario, as wrestlers still do not enjoy employee status despite being at the WWE's beck and call, nor benefits, etc., and (b) it does not erase that this industry has a much longer history of unsavory practices, that a few years of recognizing and working on that are still fair game when it comes to questioning a potential future US Senator whose company seemingly cleaned up overnight upon her declaring for Senate.

Either way - Vince McMahon isn't losing eyeballs, nor advertising dollars, nor butts in seats due to attacks from his wife's political opponents. For that he can look at the ridiculous prices for pay-per-views; wrestlers themselves who find working for the WWE such a grind they quit just as fans warm to them (see Hardy, Jeff and Matt; Lesnar, Brock; etc.), and yes - to a certain extent a disgust with the culture, an awareness of which predates Linda's Senate run. And he doesn't need testimonials from his employees, contractors and fans to win those people back. I would say rather than seeking out fans to create free advertising for him, Vince would do well to start back at the basics; good story, lower PPV prices, excellent athleticism in matches that have time to build, and perhaps a trimming of a roster he only uses half of anyway. I am a fan of 20-years-standing of the WWE who won't stop watching - but in terms of political or moral complaints, I for one will NOT be standing up for the WWE.

CLICK HERE to listen to ITVR

Matt Hardy Speaks

I have mentioned several times Matt Hardy's recent youtube videos - some of which have been a bit nutso. But this one speaks out on and clears some air about his relationship with Amy Dumas, aka Lita, in light of some comments she made questioning his maturity and well-being. An interesting watch for anyone who was watching at that time and remembers the whole Amy and Matt break up saga.

Be sure and check in tomorrow, Friday @ the latest, for ITVR, speaking on Monday Night Raw this week, as well as TNA and the followup of Sunday's Bound for Glory, and Friday's Smackdown if it's Friday night. Thanks again for your patience as it's been Canadian Thanksgiving and we've been out of town for the long weekend etc. XO

CLICK HERE for ITVR

Best Wishes to Jim Ross and Scott Hall

Hi all - I apologize first and foremost for being derelict, I don't think I've posted here in almost a week and I meant to do an ITVR with predictions and all on Friday, and discuss Smackdown's move to SyFy, and so on. Unfortunately, due to circumstances sadly out of my control (and which are incredibly personal and private at this time), this weekend got away from us in the worst way - although we were able to catch the Hell in a Cell PPV and last night's Raw, and I want to say I'm super-impressed.

Meanwhile, though, Ari and I, as we won't be able to do a joint ITVR this week either (he is going to California and I to my mother's for Thanksgiving here in Canada), will sort of do a major ITVR event either tonight or tomorrow, discussing Smackdown, HIAC and Raw - all of which were top calibre shows, by the way - and I will do a solo ITVR on Sunday this weekend to discuss TNA Impact and Smackdown. We'd gotten into a pretty good groove for at least POSTING, even if the podcasting has been spotty, and I promise from here out this past week is highly atypical. As always when 'life happens', which seems to be once every month to 6 weeks, we appreciate your patience, and understanding that for a young family with two babies at home, our track record is actually not so bad. :)

However, I did want to take the time, lest we not post tonight, to wish Jim Ross, who is recovering from heart surgery this weekend, and Scott Hall, who was released yesterday from WWE-sponsored rehab under the Wellness Policy, as they both recover and heal. I wish them both smooth and clear roads to clearing up their respective health issues.

An Interview with Rick "The Model" Martel

A great interview from Vaughan, Ontario with Rick Martel by Arda Ocal. CLICK HERE to check it out (my apologies I tried to embed the actual video in this entry but it wouldn't let me).

30 Days of Blogging - Day 25 - My Day in Great Detail

So I'm writing this one day late, and today was infinitely more interesting than yesterday so I will write about today.

I slept as late as my boys and my job would let me - fed Little Tyke, cuddled Little J, and headed to church where I as youth pastor helped with a baptism and Sunday School. Grabbed lunch, headed home to chill out while my boys had a nap. Took the boys to a local indoor playground where Ari ran around with LT and I babysat Little J and did some 'homework' as he napped still more. Came home, finished up a movie (One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney) we started yesterday, put the boys to bed, and am now blogging and marking.

Paul Bearer's return

Video of Friday night's major return:

WWE TV - Week of Sept. 20 2010

Hi all - yes no ITVR this week, time just got away from us. We'll be back next week for sure - in the meantime though lots going on in the world of wrestling and I wanted to take a moment to recap this week.

After a decent pay-per-view which was actually somewhat unpredictable, with at least a few decent matches (and a few others that could have been better, or at least better promoted), we followed up with a Raw that jumped right into promoting WWE's next pay-per-view, Hell in a Cell. Which is a good thing - until you want to get into the rant that this particular PPV is FOURTEEN DAYS, two weeks, after the one just past, Night of Champions. A run of close PPVs used to mean 4 weeks apart; now of late it's been 3 with bigger gaps between No Way Out and Wrestlemania, and over the summer. Now we have two weeks between pay per views (and 'off brand' ones at that - not Rumble, Mania or Summerslam, which traditionally tend to be bigger - although Night of Champions, with every title defended, lends itself to a big show feel), at $45 a pop. And Vince McMahon wonders where on Earth his PPV buys have gone.

Either way though, we set up for next week's Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho match (which actually taped Monday night - so spoilers are out there if you want to find them), and began building towards Randy Orton vs. Sheamus in a Hell in a Cell. We also have John Cena facing Wade Barrett, with the stipulation that Nexus disbands if Cena wins, but Cena joins Nexus if Barrett wins. With one Nexus member kicked out and another out injured, the disbanding of the group is a distinct possibility; however, with more serious talk than ever behind the scenes of a Cena heel turn (now that the cat-calls for it have died down somewhat), that's an intriguing direction in which to go as well. Again, two unpredictable matches at card-top, announced fairly close to the top of the show. Add that to some quality wrestling from Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, the new tag champs Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes, and you had a fairly decent Raw.

On the other end of the spectrum you have Smackdown - which was a pretty lackadaisacle show with the final breakup of the Straight Edge Society as CM Punk and Luke Gallows parted ways (Gallows suggesting he'd celebrate a victory over punk with a beer), and a whole bunch of dejected EmoTaker (thanks Prowrestling.net) shots, thrown in with some further good matches (Dolph Ziggler rarely disappoints, the tag champs were in action again, MVP is always strong), but they weren't enough to make the show compelling or pull us through the last night of Smackdown on MyNetworkTV before jumping to SyFy in the US next week (expect a quality show, as John Cena and the Nexus are expected to make appearances, as well as follow up from Friday's show).

But all of that - both Smackdown and Raw - paled to the interruption of Kane's final promo of the night, as Undertaker's druids wheel out a casket - which we expect to be holding the Undertaker (at least that's how I read it - admittedly, I missed Friday's show in terms of its entirety, but was able to catch up on this and some of the above highlights after hearing about it). When Kane opens the casket, behold ... PAUL BEARER after a 6 year hiatus (a great guy by the way who's been through a lot in the last two years, having lost his wife of 3 decades to cancer - check out his blog by googling Percy Pringle blog). He distracts Kane with the urn while Undertaker sneaks up behind him and beats him ... the 'Father of Destruction', as he is referred to, has reunited with his charge, and all of a sudden this longstanding and not-terribly unique feud has gotten fascinating again. :D

So while really it's only been a one- or two-standout moment week ... they were absolutely standout and if the point was to sell us on next week's broadcasts generally, and next Sunday's PPV in particular (Hell in a Cell? Featuring UT and Kane, with Paul Bearer ringside? I'm there) - it did its job.

One last programming note for US fans - Smackdown has switched, starting next week to the SyFy network. I don't think this will affect us here in Canada as it remains on the Score, but you might want to double-check. Looking forward to seeing you all at the matches - and be sure to check back next Friday-ish as we run down next Sunday's (!) Hell in a Cell show, such as it is at this point.

RIP Jorge 'Giant' Gonzalez

In This Very ring extends its condolences to the family of Jorge Gonzalez, who wrestled as Giant Gonzalez in WWE, and El Gigante in WCW. The 7'8" wrestler died of health issues related to dialysis and diabetes after years of confinement to a wheelchair, reportedly on Wednesday. He is probably best known for his short feud with the Undertaker circa Wrestlemania IX.

Comings and Goings

Matt Hardy has posted a video (found at the bottom of this post) describing how he has enjoyed working with the WWE, gets along with 99% of the roster (including Edge), and is still under WWE contract; however, that he feels he's fallen into a tough position that he's too young, with too much ahead of him, to just 'collect a paycheck', but is no longer young enough to be swept up in the youth movement that WWE has begun of late (ie Sheamus, the Miz, etc. getting pushes). Between that and the difficulty to find time to find other projects on the WWE schedule, it is not unlikely that Matt Hardy might be on his way out of the company - time will tell, although he goes out of his way to comment he has not as of yet spoken with TNA or ROH.

JBL has expressed openness to returning to the WWE ring on temporary/part-time bases if they asked; on Right After Wrestling (on The Score) earlier this week, he spoke to not desiring to come back fulltime, but being on good terms with Vince McMahon etc., that some part-time involvement could work for all concerned.

Mickie James has reportedly signed on with TNA and is expected to make her debut on the October 7 episode of Impact!

MATT HARDY VIDEO:

Night of Champions

So I have to admit last night was at least not as predictable as I thought it would be - Dolph Ziggler opened the show by retaining his intercontinental title legitimately, which I didn't expect; and while CM Punk's victory over the Big Show was expected, Michelle McCool retaining the women's championship on her own behalf and Layla's (and that they'd stay together) was not. Miz's loss of the US title to Daniel Bryan wasn't shocking, but it wasn't my prediction (although I have to admit I started doubting myself as I read Jason Powell's speculation last night that perhaps the Miz would lose the US Title and pursue the World Title, especially in light of a major 6-pack challenge which would leave whoever came out as champ exhausted). Undertaker and Kane had an expected brawl that will probably lead to a Hell in a Cell in two weeks (two weeks? serious? 3 weeks is a stretch in terms of putting together, promoting, and asking big $$$ for a PPV ... WWE is really going out of their way to look for where that financial rubber band decides to bounce back at them aren't they? End rant).

Anyway ... I was right about that outcome. However, we couldn't have predicted the Tag Team gauntlet match between the Hart Dynasty, the Usos, Santino Marella and Vladmir Kozlov, Mark Henry and Evan Bourne, and Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes, as it wasn't even on the list of matches going into the PPV (which is somewhat inexcusable - I know it wouldn't have been a make or break match given the participants, and the treatment of the WWE tag division at the hands of Vince McMahon, but it's still a PPV match that deserved the hype the other matches got). However I'd have predicted an Uso win, so on that score I'd have been wrong upon McIntyre and Rhodes winning the belts. Which brings us to the 6-pack challenge, where Randy Orton (one of the people I suggested didn't have a chance, in the face of SuperCena, the novelty of Wade Barrett, and Sheamus continuing his reign) won his 7th world title. A surprising but not unhappy outcome, although a bit disappointed the Miz didn't cash in his MITB. And that the loose end of Jericho's 'If I lose, I quit' vow wasn't addressed at all last night, and only poorly so tonight on Raw.

Which we are watching now, and which I must admit thus far is doing a great job of following up on last night's show and preparing for the whirlwind turnover into the next one - Hell in a Cell. More on that in the coming days though - in terms of this pay per view, it was totally worth watching as Ziggler-Kingston and Bryan-Miz had fantastic matches, and none were real stinkers (although of course some better than others). I'm not sure, however, once you have results in hand, that it's worth the re-buy. See if you can borrow a DVD of it off a friend, or download it - it's worth the time. I'm not sure it would be worth the $45 rebuy without some of the surprise factor left in it. Your call though - I enjoyed the show.

ITVR - incomplete (CLICK HERE)

Hey all - our converting our podcast into MP3 format got cut off as my computer mystically shut itself down after something called 'updates'. lol We went on to speculate the likelihood of John Cena being Undertaker's opponent, and/or how much fun Edge and Christian for the World Title unification in a ladder match at Wrestlemania would be (a girl can dream can't she?), as well as completing our predictions -

Kane, we agreed, would defeat his brother, as crookedly as is possible in a No Hold Barred match.

And we believe Wade Barrett has a high likelihood of winning the Raw Six Pack Challenge (he is in fact Ari's prediction, while I have a few more reservations in terms of how new the Nexus concept is, and predicted John Cena). No one in this match would especially surprise or disappoint either of us, however.

You also missed our brilliant outro, of We Are the Champions. Ah well.

Enjoy the show, and the PPV tomorrow night. XO

Kudos to the WWE on Big Wellness Move

The WWE today announced a banning of the sedative Soma, even with a doctor's note, under the wellness policy. Soma has been right up there as a drug of choice in the wrestling world, along with steroids, pain killers and cocaine, for a number of years. While this move might not be popular among 'the boys', it is a great health move for the company and I for one applaud it.

Click HERE for this week's ITVR

ITVR

Is on its way - Box.net, my uploading program, is telling me my firewall (???) is blocking my upload and I should contact my IT department. Which, given this is my home site would be, y'know, me. :D I've inquired and hopefully they should answer me by tomorrow and we should be cookin' with oil by then.

Meanwhile though I did want to share that this is not just any day - it is the 9th anniversary of Sept. 11 2001, and I wanted to extend my thoughts and prayers on this day to the victims, families of victims, and the soldiers and their families who have since been called into harms way, both directly and indirectly due to this event. We refer to the WWE roster all the time as superstars and superheroes ... but truly, that pales in comparison to all of you. Much love. XO

Congrats Hulk!

Yes yes don't worry, we'll be all over this stuff tomorrow ... ITVR coming your way with coverage of Raw, Smackdown, the upcoming Night of Champions PPV and all the behind the scenes/off camera news of a very newsworthy week indeed in the world of professional wrestling.

But for right now I wanted to congratulate Hulk Hogan for his release from the hospital, and upping the date of his wedding to fiancee Jennifer; wishing them a happy future together. And to RVD for speaking truth-to-power re. TNA and some of its heavy guns. Hey, anyone who can get under Kevin Nash's skin and set him off on a Twitter rant deserves kudos. ;)

It's a good day in the wrestling-verse. Cheers all.

Bad News Bears

Hi guys - we'll have some good talk about Monday Night Raw and the upcoming Night of Champions PPV on Friday night In This Very Ring as we return from a spotty summer hiatus. However, I did want to address a few bad news items that have come to my attention this week ... starting with

• Hulk Hogan is in the hospital due to recurring back injuries. He's had several surgeries on his back and most recently he threw it out while collecting sea shells. The next morning, he was unable to get out of bed and his fiancee Jennifer called 911. He's been twittering up a storm at hulkhogan4life however, which is quite a fun read at times.
• Jim Neidhart was arrested this past weekend after breaking into a female friend's home and stealing drugs. The story is that upon his arrest he threw a scene at the gas station where he was apprehended, attempting to ingest the chemicals that were on him. He was arrested on 6 felony charges. Neidhart has been through WWE sponsored rehab under their Wellness Policy twice.
• In lighter but nonetheless unfortunate news, Deborah Simovitch has posted audio recordings and details of an affair she had with former TNA and WWE star Kip Sopp (Billy Gunn; Kip James). She apparently posted his Mel Gibson-like rant after having received death threats from his wife. All I can say to this one is ... what a lovely threesome. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch o' folks.

Stay classy all. Or at least classier than pro wrestling seems to be these days. Yeah ... amazing how reality writes better stuff than the WWE Creative Team sometimes. Peace!

All-Diva NXT Season?

Hey all,

So decided not to catch up on SD after reading some of the reviews - crap! But will be back on the horse tomorrow for the Labour Day edition of Raw, including feedback sometime Tuesday, and a podcast sometime Thursday or Friday (and of course posting as stuff comes up in between-times).

Meanwhile though one of the things we will be talking about over the coming weeks is that, in light of WWE Diva Tiffany's suspension due to domestic violence issues with her husband Drew McIntyre, and Serena's release, they're looking to beef up the women's division a bit, and have decided to make this NXT season all-women. Do you think this is a good idea from the point of view of it's original and WWE needs some ladies who can fight, or a bad idea in the whole 'women's wrestling doesn't sell' point of view? I think it could be intriguing if done well ... and by the way, keep your eyes on Aloisha, who was 'fired' by Vicki Guerrero but honestly is a 6'9" Amazon, yet absolutely stunningly gorgeous; a unique act WWE better work to keep on at all costs. It's at least worth keeping an eye to see if this turns out any good, in the 'at least they're doing something different' file.

And congratulations to Kaval for winning this past round of NXT - although his being attacked by all the 'losers' reeks of a bit of Nexus-redux. We'll see how that develops, and will definitely be keeping an eye on this last NXT season ... especially as it is likely the last. Best of luck to all the competitors.

Smackdown Tonight!

So we shameful, exhausted new parents did miss the 900th episode of Raw on Monday (although did catch the Did You Know fact that, if the Jersey Shore were to continue on its present rate, it would hit episode #900 in 2087 ... or some such); but I did manage to DVD the replay and we will be watching it and Smackdown tonight now that we've established a bit more of a routine around here. :) This means we're *angling* to do an ITVR episode over the weekend; but if that doesn't materialize we'll have one next week for sure as next week's really the start of our routine - I start work, Ari's on leave, and so forth. And if we don't have the time to do an out-and-out ITVR, I will at least be back online sometime tomorrow to give my thoughts on this week in the WWE, so be sure and check back in over the weekend, and throughout the weeks ahead. As I said with September rolling in; new month, new routine, same quality you'd expect here at ITVR, simply with more quantity. (Who would have thunk a teacher's summer would be busier than her school year? But it's true, it's ... yeah. Y'know).

RIP Luna Vachon

Hi guys, and apologies for the absence - as those of you in the know are already aware, we made an adopted addition to our wee family this week, which took us out of town for 4 days, and obviously has been a time-consumer while we've been back the last day or so. But I did catch over the weekend the news about the death of former women's wrestler Luna Vachon at 48 years old, and it's sounding likely that drugs were the cause, as various pill and paraphernalia were found in the room at the home at which she died (her mother's house).

I would like to extend my condolences to the Vachon family at such a difficult time, and my prayers that they find peace and strength to overcome. God bless.

Announcement, and a bit of this n that

So I can now speak a little bit to where our head's been at the last week or so - our son's birth mother has had another child, and we have been/are in the process of adopting him; we will be picking him up this weekend, which means heading out of town tomorrow night. Thus - no ITVR this week. However, when it rolls around again next Thursday/Friday we'll be sure to sit down and record a little something for y'all. :)

Meanwhile, if the scuttlebutt around the intraweb is true, we want to wish Serena Deeb of the Straight Edge Society all the best in her future not-so-straightedge endeavours. A talented wrestler with a unique look, it's unfortunate that, according to reports, she was unable to 'live her gimmick' to the WWE's liking.

On a similar note, Kevin Nash of TNA this week announced that his longtime buddy Scott Hall is currently in WWE-sponsored rehab (following the Benoit murder-suicide from 2007, the WWE offered to cover rehab for any of their talent, past or present, and has done what has to be acknowledged as a fabulous job of keeping that pledge). We wish the former Razor Ramon all the best in his recovery, and all the success in the world ... Chico.

Smackdown ...

Hi guys - yes I know - ITVR? It won't be airing this week, as it was actually a bit of a reverse of last week - while we caught Raw, which I shared my feelings about last-post, we missed everything else we usually try to watch. Those of you readers who know us personally, you know why that is, and that we do have a legitimate excuse - those who don't, I hope you understand as well that it isn't something I can share on a public blog at this time - soon enough though. :) And I know over this summer particularly the blogging and podcasting have been a bit spotty - so has our wrestling watching. Please rest assured in the near-future, however, that ITVR will either become much more regular in its airing, or go on a bit of a hiatus (as a podcast - I will always continue blogging) - although absolutely not permanent, we enjoy doing this far too much. We have some other exciting news to announce too in the coming days and months - but in the meantime there's still wrestling to talk about!

First of all I do want to express my sympathy to the family of Skandor Akbar who passed this week - a legend on the wrestling circuit, who will be missed.

I also want to recommend to anyone - as this is the main part of Smackdown I caught - to check out Kane's promo from last night, explaining his attack on his brother that left him in a 'vegetative state'. One of the man's greatest promos. For all the WWE has done some serious botching of the Kane character, it is at its most compelling and intriguing when working in tandem with the Undertaker character, and I for one am looking forward to this feud, as predictable as it might have been. I also suggest everyone catching Alberto del Rio's debut last night after months of Razor Ramon-esque promos. The man started big (well - in terms of star status lol) facing off with Rey Mysterio and making a blue-chip showing for himself. One to watch, as so often those stars do not live up to their hype. Between that and the chinks beginning to develop in the Straight Edge Society armour (as Punk seems to have more patience with Serena than Joey Mercury or certainly Luke Gallows) ... Smackdown is again destination programming, perhaps even moreso than TNA and Raw of late, both running invasion angles (albeit more interesting ones than we've seen in awhile).

It's a good time to be a wrestling fan again, despite an uncharacteristically poor Summerslam showing, and it's unfortunate that we've had a busy August (after a fairly consistent May, June and July) ... but we promise, despite the fact the next few weeks might remain spotty as we have a few routine-changing events going on here, by September we should be back into a rhythm. Thanks for staying tuned in along with us!

Summerslam and Raw

So a mixed bag from the WWE this week, as Summerslam was almost unanimously declared one of their worst PPV outings in a long time (although glad to see Daniel Bryan back on TV again). I'm not going to get into the whys and wherefores - save something for ITVR this week, and besides, check out any internet site, it's all already been said and I generally concur with the masses. But Raw on the other hand was somewhat intriguing. The night's unifying thread was Nexus rematches with team Raw, with any Nexus member who lost being banned from the group. Sure enough, the final member up, Darren Young, lost his match, and for the first time we saw Nexus' brutal attack turned on one of their own. It will be interesting to see how this play's out next. Miz's bitterness towards team WWE played out well also, and a lot of momentum Summerslam lost for the WWE was, I feel, regained last night (you know, in the show we didn't pay $45 for).

My only complaint is Michael Cole and his Miz cheerleading/Daniel Bryan hating thing. Michael Cole is not at all a competent announcer, much less a compelling character in this odd 'I'm the unbiased announce guy unless one of these two or three people are onscreen'. Either have him get over it and return to the 'straight man' persona, or go full on with the heel turn already so we can boo him without prejudice. That is all.

ITVR - click here to listen

Bret Hart Interview

Hey all! We'll definitely have our podcast up tomorrow featuring discussion of the fake Hulk Hogan Twitter, now allegedly from a disgruntled, anonymous TNA performer, along with our preview of the hottest event of the Summer, SUMMERSLAM! :) Meanwhile though be sure and check out the awesome new interview with Bret Hart over at Slam wrestling by CLICKING HERE. Have a great night and be sure to tune in tomorrow. We'll see you then, right here ... in this very ring. XO

Yes, we noticed ...

We didn't get to ITVR this week - unfortunately a son with an ear infection who didn't sleep more than 90 mins.-2 hrs. at a stretch can do that to you. :( But meanwhile, we do want to send out some congratulations to Jeff Hardy and his longtime significant other Beth Britt, who are expecting their first baby (announced yesterday).

Meanwhile - tonight is TNA'S Hardcore Justice PPV; hope y'all are catching it and enjoying it, unfortunately it's not in our PPV budget with Summerslam looking good and right around the corner; but we will discuss its results later this week, as well as previewing WWE's Hottest Event of the Summer. :)

Meanwhile be sure and tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on Raw -> Be well until then! :)

WWE Quarterly Conference Call

WWE held their quarterly shareholders conference call this afternoon including none other than the chairman, Vince McMahon himself, who owned "We had a lousy quarter", referring to a perfect storm of unprecedented wrestling injuries, the Icelandic volcano affecting airings of Raw and Smackdown, and the retirements of Shawn Michaels and Batista. Specifically referring to numbers, while the action figure industry is up 175% due to WWE's new partnership with Mattel, pay per view buys were down 19%, and WWE video games were down 20% from this time last year.

Nonetheless, McMahon pointed to bright spots, including the success of the Nexus storyline, and what that means for the success of the NXT brand; considering the speed of the turnaround, he feels that between the new talent they've pushed leading to higher ratings on Raw and Smackdown TV, and the immanent returns of top talent Triple H and the Undertaker, McMahon is looking to Summerslam as a turnaround point for the pay per view trend. He also referred to the WWE cable network plan, saying that the WWE is planning to pitch to providers sometime next year.

As seems to be the case for the last few years, very much a mixed bag for the WWE. They did hold up under some unprecedented turnover talent-wise, and I will grant I can't remember a time action figures were so popular; but the pay per view buyrate continues to be a killer. I hope Vince McMahon is right about Summerslam as a turning point, and I think we can look to that as a great opportunity of fusing the now somewhat-longstanding focus on new talent (the Nexus being in the main event, for example), along with at least one or two major returns from the DL. Here's to hoping the next quarter is better financially for the WWE than the one past, and that they meanwhile can keep up their creative momentum, which, having been challenged, actually seems to be better than it has been at past times.

Shawn Michaels' Twitter

Hey all - back from our long weekend, thanks for bearing with us. Watching Raw and catching up but in the meantime I wanted to share with you that over the last week Shawn Michaels has set himself up a new Twitter account. His twitter knowledge and typing are pretty basic but it's fun communicating with HBK and he does respond to as many comments as he can manage. Check it out at --

http://twitter.com/ShawnMichaels_

Citizen Kane ... ;)

We'll have ITVR up in a few moments but before I post it y'all need to check this out:



I don't agree with 90% of what Glenn Jacobs has to say, but he is still a very well spoken and intelligent man, and I respect the heck out of him even while disagreeing with him.

ARGH

So we recorded ITVR as promised, but it didn't save properly. Normally, this is cool I can resave; but I thought it HAD and deleted the project. So ... the Gods conspire against me. Please rest assured however you will get to hear us Thursday night (yes Thursday night as we're heading off to our hometown for the long Civic Holiday weekend here in Ontario). Tune in then - and throughout the week as we discuss new happenings in the world of wrestling.

Ooooh yeah .... freak out, freak out!

Hey all - first of all, haven't forgotten we owe you an ITVR - it'll go up tomorrow shortly before Raw. Meanwhile though, had to share perhaps THE most exciting thing I've seen in awhile in terms of WWE merchandise (DVDs not included - those tend to interest me on a fairly regular basis)



Oooooh yeeeaaaaaah! DIG IT! :D

Appearance Notice!

Hi guys! Sorry we didn't get to pub this ahead of time - we only found out Monday and it's been a busy few days - but we were on Online World of Wrestling Radio (OWW Radio) last night, and it was fun. Be sure and check it out by going to http://onlineworldofwrestling.com and click the Radio link at the top of the page. We were only on the first half hour of the show, but it's worth staying tuned in as they put on 3 hours of quality programming, with both Tatanka coming on as a guest in the second hour, and the former Sally Boy of the Main Event Mafia security team on in the third. :)

We'll be back with our own wee podcast this week, but it will more than likely be over the weekend - my mom and my grandma will be in town the first part of the weekend ... although how much fun would it be getting them as guests on the podcast? Hmmm ... ;) Just think about that one. And meanwhile - in the words of the great Mick Foley - Have a nice day!

Drew McIntyre Interview

There's an interview at Slam! Sports (http://slam.canoe.ca) featuring Drew McIntyre. He confirms his marriage to WWE Diva Tiffany back in May in Las Vegas (no, Elvis wasn't in attendance!), and that he was kept off of TV for a couple of weeks due to legitimate work visa issues which have since been resolved. He also gives high praise to the card in place, telling fans he guarantees that "anybody that buys a ticket and comes to the show and is not 100% satisfied and don't think it's the greatest show they've ever seen in their life, ask security, ask for Drew McIntyre, and I will give them back their money myself, because that's how sure I am it'll be an amazing pay-per-view. The entire card is 'Oh my God.'"

You can check out the entire interview at the link above. Good stuff!

ITVR - click here!

And happy 2nd anniversary to us! July 16 2008 was our first podcast after 2 years off the air. We've had fun - we intend to keep having fun - hope y'all stick around and join us! :) XO Thanks for listening.

ITVR tomorrow night ...

But in the meantime ... I wanted to share one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time on WWE TV ... heehee ...



Meanwhile on a more serious note I want to wish Scott Hall, who remains in hospital with pneumonia, a continued recovery. Apparently his kidneys reacted poorly to a test run earlier this week, requiring further tests - although he is off IV and oxygen.

TNA Victory Road

Hey guys - first sorry that this weekend got away from us - I teach a set of online high school courses and as I've been working full time this summer, WHILE having a lot of students online in scramble mode as they need their marks for the fall, this week was an adjusting to a new time management situation ... beyond which, it wasn't a particularly newsy week on any front ...

Except for TNA's Victory Road PPV. With several strong matches, a few titles changing hands, a rare Ric Flair in-ring appearance, and the furthering of the 'They' storyline with Abyss (and Vince Russo actually putting on his 'I can be a good booker' hat for a change), I definitely regret not having bought it, and intend to see if we can catch a replay later this week (anyone know if they do replays like WWE does?). TNA continues to impress this viewer who'd been turned off by their pushing of Sting, Booker T, Team 3D etc. over some of their younger, hotter talent and took this long to get back into it. Who knew that a Hulk Hogan-led regime would recognize the need to mix talented and prime veterans like Kurt Angle, Team 3D and Ric Flair with hungry, skilled talents like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Matt Morgan (whose talented was totally wasted in the WWE with a stutter gimmick a few years back) and more. Kudos!

Well wishes

We'll have a lot more to say tomorrow night on "In This Very Ring"'s podcast, but I wanted to take some time this evening to send well-wishes to a few wrestlers undergoing medical supervision at the moment.

1. To Rick Steamboat who is out of intensive care following a brain aneurysm; he is expected out of the hospital within the week, and to be at 100% within the month.
2. To Triple H who underwent surgery today to rehab some pesky injuries.
3. To Scott Hall who, per his own Twitter and Myspace, is hospitalized with double pneumonia.

Wishing all of the above a speedy and swift road to recovery.

CLICK HERE for ITVR (better late than never edition) lol

Best wishes to Ricky Steamboat

Note: In This Very Ring was going to go up yesterday/this morning sometime but both Ari and LT have again been ill; it is just a summer cold and both are feeling better now, but Ari and I are both pretty drained. ITVR will go up sometime during the day tomorrow depending on the Little Tyke's naptime. It will be back to Thurs/Fri this week for sure, after playing catch up (and none too badly we think) post-Orlando. Thanks for your patience.

Meanwhile though we do want to wish a speedy continued recovery to Ricky The Dragon Steamboat who suffered a brain aneurysm following Monday Night's Raw. After some time in Intensive Care, his condition is improving, which is excellent to hear. Be sure meanwhile and pick up your Rick Steamboat tribute DVD WWE was releasing this week (thus his appearance on Raw). A very talented wrestlers, one of the best pure babyfaces in the business, and work a peek.

Also wishing a quick recovery to CM Punk due to his (legit) arm injury.

A few happy birthdays ...

Today, it is the birthday of Cody Rhodes, Terry Funk and Alicia Fox.

A more different group of wrestling personalities to share a date of birth there never has been, but wishing excellent birthday tidings to all of them.

And a happy Canada Day tomorrow to all the Canadian wrestlers and fans out there ... hosers! ;)

CLICK HERE for a short ITVR

((with mucho apologies for being tardy to the party - we're back on track after our vacation now and will be firing on all cylinders from here XO))

Mystery GM and other Newsworthiness

PLEASE NOTE: In This Very Ring will podcast tomorrow night after Smackdown sometime, so that we have had an opportunity to actually see a wrestling program this week before going on the air. Thanks for bearing with us as we went on vacation. :)

So ... we come back from Orlando to hear that WWE has had an eventful week! While Bret Hart has been kayfabe fired - taking the blame from Vince McMahon for firing the NXT guys who are a talented bunch of up and comers - there is a new, mystery GM issuing edicts by email, read out by Michael Cole as they come in. This is actually a potentially fascinating storyline that could breathe some new life into Raw. Is it Michael Cole himself? Jim Ross? Daniel Bryan? All sorts of possibilities abound ... someone I haven't mentioned here? This could easily be ruined by hotshotting the angle, or having it go too long, or having the punchline be the wrong guy ... but for now it's somewhat original and intriguing. I hope they can stay in tune, keeping this storyline pitch-perfect until the reveal we all know is coming. No awkward guest host sounds like it was refreshing too.

Meanwhile, this Raw came on the heals of the Fatal Four Way PPV - while it sounds like it had some glitches (ending 25 minutes before the top of the hour as opposed to the typical 10-15, despite people paying $45-55 dollars a pop for the show; several excellent, yet unadvertised matches such as the Harts vs. the Usos), but overall offered a strong and newsworthy wrestling program with two world title changes (Sheamus is Raw's new champion, while Rey Mysterio has stepped up over on Smackdown), a new Diva's champ, and lots of good, fun matches in between. Definitely hope to catch one of the replays this week. Impressed at the sounds of the program WWE has been putting forward, and a nice change from some of the missteps of the previous few weeks. It might have been an awkward build, but it sounds like WWE has finally gotten where they want to be in terms of pushing some new guys and filling some of the holes that have needed plugging due to releases and injuries of late. Here's hoping they can keep it up.

Comings and Goings

It has been announced in the last couple of days that Scott Hall has been released for drunken behaviour, and hot on his heels out the door was Sean "Syxx Pac" Waltman - no surprise, given their history together. Sounds like The Band has been disbanded. It's unfortunate, as I was pleasantly surprised with the promise both men were showing thus far in the (admittedly little) TNA I've caught since they began. Also out the door this week was ODB, who has been vocal about the decline of the Knockouts division of late, perhaps in search of other opportunities (acting?).

On the flipside, it was reported that, hot on the heels of Tommy Dreamer's debut at Slammiversary on Sunday, and reports that Dixie Carter has recently spoken to Paul Heyman, that Stevie Richards and Raven were backstage at last night's TV tapings. Rumours of an ECW 'invasion' to mirror previous invasions run rampant - will this be any more or less successful than previous attempts? Time will tell, but I will say I've never regretted taking time to catch TNA when we can - we've seen two weeks worth in the last month, which is more than before - and perhaps we need to step it up yet again, since it sounds like some interesting things, for better or worse, are afoot in the Impact Zone. Thank you both Shane, and Alan Wocjic and co. at OWW Radio (see previous post for the link to our guest spot with Alan last night) for having brought this to our attention at various times over the last few months, and last night on air, and we definitely think upon our return from Orlando next week it's time to act on it!

Meanwhile on the WWE side - we spoke a bit last night on the radio about Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson's 'release' last week from the WWE - now it's your turn. Legit or not? Was his choking out of Josh Matthews 'too much', or is this simply a very elaborate cover, setting up to reveal 'Danny' as the limo driver who roughed up Bret Hart on Monday? 90 days from now, where do we tune in to see this talented young man wrestle? WWE? TNA? ROH? Somewhere else entirely? You heard Ari's and my votes last night - what's yours?

Online World of Wrestling Radio

Be sure and click the header above around 9pm tomorrow to check out Alan Wojcik's OWW Radio show, featuring - you guessed it - us! :) It should be a lot of fun provided no technical difficulties or whatnot, and provides a small dose of ITVR madness on a week we'll otherwise be off-air in sunny Florida (3 sleeps and counting!).

And while you're at it, check out the whole Online World of Wrestling site - again, webmaster Brad has been a great friend and supporter of the show since ... well since I was a chatter in the chatroom of another wrestling radio show just dreaming of roping Ari into doing one of our own. :) Huge site, lots of great stuff. Cheers and enjoy!

Peace!

CLICK HERE for this week's ITVR podcast

Bret Hart and Kyra Beans Hart

Since, if we do ITVR tonight, all we'll have to talk about is the dull-as-paint Raw from Monday, I think we'll put it up tomorrow night after Smackdown.

Meanwhile I wanted to share with you this lovely first photo of Bret "The HitGrandpa" Hart and his granddaughter Kyra. Congrats again to the happy family! (you'll need to click it to see the whole photo, my blog format cuts off poor Kyra!)

BOO! HISS! RAW!

So I'm not even bothering to do a play by play and blow by blow on Raw last night. I admittedly missed the last hour (where there might have been some minimal potential given the matches advertised) as I tuned it out in disgust in favour of getting some school work done and watching a West Wing rerun - but honestly!

Khali and Hornswoggle to challenge the Hart Dynasty over the Usos who'd been challenging them every week and which had actually been built up somewhat decently? A DANCE OFF between Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov? The A Team? Again - I don't know if any redeeming qualities possessed the final hour of the show ... bu the WWE is really hurting for the injury bug, and for trying to pass off such stupidity as anything resembling what fans would want. I mean, I can point to some semi-understandable stuff - they HAVE been building the Usos, and giving their first match with the Harts away for free in the first hour of Raw would be a betrayal of that build ... I give most eloquent promo of the night to Khali and Hornswoggle, and I'll grant they actually made me laugh ... but no. Just because one or two pieces of silliness were understandable, doesn't mean they weren't still silliness. WRESTLING FANS are going to vote for a dance off? Or for a Divas battle royal as opposed to a potentially semi-decent champion vs. champion match?

On the other hand - the one redemptive thing to come out of Raw last night was it definitely encouraged me to check out the Smackdown I recorded. It sounds and looks like they wrote the Undertaker offscreen in a somewhat creative, original and compelling way. Unfortunately, though, whereas Smackdown seems to be stepping up and coping with the injury bug WWE has been hit with, Raw seems to barely be trying. Step up your game guys - all the potential in the world lies at your finger tips, but you need to use it!

CLICK HERE for an audio blog

Click here for an incredibly interesting article from World Wrestling Insanity's Justin Henry.

Congrats to Wade Barrett, and the upcoming NXT Season

So we're going to leave Raw, which was fairly busy and newsworthy, to be discussed tomorrow on the air, but I wanted to take this quick moment to congratulate Wade Barrett for winning Season 1 of NXT last night. He, along with Daniel Bryan and David Otunga (I think? there's one more but I can't remember which), will be staying with the WWE while the rest of the NXT class, I believe, will be returning to FCW for the time being.

Next week begins a new grouping of rookies and pros which you can find on WWE.com, but the ones which stand out to me are ...

Husky Harris (ie, Windham Rotunda, Mike Rotunda/Irwin R. Schyster's son), as well as Joe Hennig (Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig's son) wrestling as Michael McGillicutty. I mean ... seriously? This is so ridonk-a-donkulous that I hope it's a setup to be 'revealed' onscreen that some silver-turnbuckle-born wrestling royalty has infiltrated a show designed to break the glass ceiling for 'rookies' (in other words, often longstanding members of the indy scene - such as Kaval, the former Low-Ki, who is also a rookie this season, to be 'trained' by LayCool ... sigh ...).

This is either going to be unexpectedly surprisingly brilliant, or ...

Yeah it's gonna be crap. Good concept which very quickly outlived its intrigue I think.

CLICK HERE for ITVR

Enjoy! :)

Hulk Hogan Goes Coocoo for Cocoa Puffs ...

EDITOR'S NOTE: We did a nice, solid (although scratchy-voiced) 30-40 mins. of ITVR tonight ... punchy and to the point, but still entertaining. We even picked good intro and outro music. And then we realized our mic wasn't plugged in. For serious. But it is now 11:15, and our household is still recovering from a long weekend of visiting followed by ear/nose/throat infections all around (seriously, this whole week ... boo). So we will redo tomorrow when our voices are in better form anyway. Promise.

Meanwhile though I meant to share this story with you guys yesterday, but figured I'd put it on air. But I can't sit on it anymore, it's so damn funny.

Did you know Hulk Hogan's latest legal drama is that he's suing a cereal company? Yes. Honestly. A cereal company. Cocoa Puffs, for the following commercial:



Hmm ... thoughts?

Raw So Far ...

So what do you think? This Raw is an incredible roller coaster ...

First, I don't mind that Bret Hart is the new General Manager; I enjoy him being kept around, and I hope this is something that at least somewhat resembles a longterm gig. I can even deal with his not being US champ in order for this to happen, as I feel it is a more longterm opportunity using Bret in a better way than he could be used in the ring at this point. And I've enjoyed a bunch of the matches thus far - particularly R Truth vs. the Miz for the vacated US title (won by R Truth). And Jon Lovitz is doing an incredibly entertaining job as guest host. However ...

Batista just delivered what I'm assuming to be his WWE swan song and it was almost comical as he came out in a wheelchair, quitting in angsty histrionics etc. After such a strong delivery in recent months, I'm disappointed WWE didn't allow him to keep it up through the finish line. I'm aware it is habitual to not necessarily get sent off in spectacular fashion in the biz - only your Trish Stratuses, Ric Flairs, Shawn Michaels' get to do that, even Lita left in humiliating fashion. But surely he could have not come back out, then, and have gone out on the heels of a brutal match after a tough showing. Just sayin' ...

John Cena goes and delivers a strong promo in some places, but it was weakened by some of the cheesiest Cena-isms (Cenation?) in a dog's age. Again, Jon Lovitz does a good job, but is surrounded by silliness (Glass-eye Joe? Seriously? And the Great Khali doing Puttin' on the Ritz?) ... yeah. I dunno. The consistency is just off tonight. I'm having trouble praising or panning this Raw on any serious level. What do you all think?

This n That

1. I will do my best to get predictions up for Sunday's PPV by Sunday ... or at least comments on the results if not possible. Heading to Montreal tomorrow, and have family visiting Sunday. But I will do my best.
2. Carlito Colon was released by the WWE today following a Wellness Policy violation (read: third drug test failure). This relationship has been strained for quite awhile and his release, for any reason, is not the surprise one might think, sadly. A talented wrestler with very little drive to use what the good Lord gave him.
3. Have you guys followed the online war of words between the Ultimate Warrior and Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase? It started with Ted Dibiase saying, upon hearing UW had been approached about joining the WWE's hall of fame, that he wouldn't have recommended him if Vince had asked, and elaborated on why - fairly enough. Ultimate Warrior responded at his website, http://www.ultimatewarrior.com on the Warrior's Machete section. Fairly in some respects (if 3 years at or near the top of a card and one world title win is somehow underachieving or a poor showing, then there are truly heinously few good sports entertainers out there). However, I believe he was at the top at a time where it wasn't so hard to be, if you had a marketable look and character. I tend to agree with Rev. Ted that he did not get there on talent, but based largely on a career of few-minute-long squash matches - Dibiase, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage being the exceptions, and to a lesser extend Rick Rude) and unintelligible promos. Dibiase responded today and you can read his thoughts by clicking HERE. Well spoken Ted, and spoken like a man who doesn't need to justify himself or his career, but simply live in the best light he can now.
4. Congratulations to Randy Savage on his remarriage earlier this week. All the best wishes for a happy life together.
   

Belated Thoughts on Raw

A bit belatedly admittedly, but I wanted to comment on Raw a bit tonight. So, with no further ado, in no particular order ... stream-of-consciousness style.

• OK so I'm a mark but not a bad deal seeing Bret Hart become US champion. I know he can't wrestle longterm nor would I want to see him do so - I respect him too much to see him 'Ric Flair' his legacy. But that one last moment with the belt, which I suspect we'll see him trade in next week for a General Manager spot on Raw (which Vicki Guerrero gave up on Monday), was cool, especially surrounded by his family.
• Speaking of the Vicki resignation thing and the announcing of a new GM on Monday coming - this was something left off of the not-so-commercial free Raw we Canadians got. Let me get this straight; Raw is FROM Toronto, as in Canada, airing on the Score, and it doesn't start at the same time as the US will get it (still the 15 minute delay) AND commercials? Boo dudes. Especially since it sounds like some funny commercial spoofs went on, and more importantly crucial information (the above) got left off of our programs.
• That said - we did get to see some awesome Canada-heavy action. Bret's US Title win (not so much in the US) was just the tip of the iceberg; Edge and Christian had a great match (although I go with Jason Powell over at prowrestling.net that they should have advertised the Pick Your Poison stipulation where Randy Orton and Edge each picked each other's opponents for the night), to the point it wasn't even terribly disappointing how Edge cheaped out on his 'second match' with the Undertaker. It was just cool seeing him, and Edge's reaction to him.
• I enjoyed Buzz Aldren too - such a cool old guy. :)
• I dig the Miz and Chris Jericho's quasi-alliance, and I enjoyed particularly Jericho coming out and working with Bret as Miz's front man, although I'll also go with Powell that this made a potential Bret-Jericho match more intriguing than the actual match with Miz.
• Ted Dibiase Jr., after weeks of looking for a 'new Virgil', decided to settle for the original. In a kind of cool time machine moment, Ted Dibiase Sr.'s former manservant/valet type dude, Virgil, came out with Junior. It'll be interesting to see if he sticks around to enhance storyline, or if it was a one-off event.
• Not much else is sticking out in my mind right now but I think those were the big moments - overall a strong Raw with some real shining moments, that was only cheapened in Canada due to the ads that weren't supposed to be there. Sigh.
  

Programming Note: ITVR won't be going up this week, not because we're being inconsistent but because of Ari's parents visiting Friday. Tomorrow night we need to wrap up work-related stuff for the weekend, and we will be visiting his parents, and then mine, over the long (Victoria Day in Canada) weekend. But I will do my best over the next day or two to post predictions for Sunday's Over the Limit, and we'll maybe do a special ITVR say on Monday evening about the PPV if we get the chance to catch it (the in-laws aren't fans lol).

So I'll chat at you at least once more before/over the weekend - otherwise, have a great one! :D

ITVR PODCAST - listen by clicking here

Happy Friday!

Congrats Grandpa Bret

** note: In This Very Ring will be up tomorrow after Smackdown - we are currently watching TNA and will report on it as well as Raw, SD, and the NXT Eliminations (that admittedly by hearsay) after Smackdown tomorrow night).

Bret Hart became a grandfather Monday night when his oldest daughter Jade gave birth to a 7 lb. baby girl named Kyra Beans. Mother and baby, when last heard, are doing fine and the proud grandpa is of course, elated - and so understandably preoccupied he apparently only learned yesterday of his pending US Title shot against the Miz (on Monday night in Toronto) ... from his son Dallas!

Congrats again to Bret, his ex-wife Julie, and of course Jade.

Congratulations ...

Slow news weekend ... but still want to send a congrats out to Cowboy Bill Watts who's remarrying this week. :) And to direct everyone's attention to the Smackdown website at wwe.com where Drew McIntyre has been removed from the roster. This has been established as purely storyline, as he is currently working a WWE tour in Mexico. Thus the theory that it is just a cover for a suspension is untrue, and it is expected that in coming weeks Vince McMahon will overrule Teddy Long's suspension of McIntyre.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there - and to all the sons and daughters ... as Ari said, if you haven't already - call ya muddah. Have a great week all.

ITVR Podcast - click here

And enjoy. Happy weekend everyone.

Some Random News

Hi guys,

So a bit too tired tonight to get into an in-depth analysis of Raw - save that for ITVR Thursday, except to say it was a good and highly entertaining show - but a couple interesting news tidbits have come up today that I wanted to comment on before bed.

• First - a man was arrested yesterday for threatening to blow up WWE headquarters due to their releasing Mickie James. You can find his mugshot by clicking here. All I can say is ... dude, come on. I like Mickie James and all, I do. I wish WWE had done more with her during her time there. But ultimately, the relationship had gone sour and I think she will be much happier and much more appreciated somewhere else. And besides, while she's an awesome Diva, I think if we're going to make such threats on WWE headquarters, you could at least make yourself look less stupid-like by doing so over actual substantive, major issues, of which WWE has faced its fair share. And even then ... as always, as it should go without saying ... much better ways of handling such problems. Just sayin' ...
• In less ... extreme ... news, Spike TV has decided to pull the plug on its TNA Monday night experiment and has relegated the wrestling program back to Thursday nights, I believe as of next week (by month's end for sure - be sure and check listings on that before quoting me). I'm actually going to say, despite having been a skeptic at first, that this disappoints me; TNA had rebounded to a solid 1.0 with the 8pm start time on Monday nights, and only suffered this week due to the WWE draft, and Raw starting at 8. I'd have liked to have seen the 8pm Monday time slot given a real chance; not to mention it isn't good for a show to be bounced around too much either, and it is now going to be moved to its third time slot in 2 months. Nonetheless, we wish TNA the best as they find their footing and go forward, and I suppose could look at the bright side that we can now keep up with it with no conflicts with Raw.

That's it that's all folks - be sure and tune back in Thurs. night at the latest for ITVR. Until then, be good and be well.

ITVR - finally! - CLICK HERE!!!

As the heading says ... click it. :)

** NOTE: Unfortunately I couldn't find the Ted Dibiase Jr.-R Truth "New Virgil" video to post here, nor is it available on WWE.com unfortunately, but maybe they'll reshow it tomorrow night - try to check it out if so. Raw will be hosted by Whose Line is it Anyway? alumnus Wayne Brady. I'll be sure and post my thoughts either late tomorrow evening or sometime Tuesday. Until then, be well. XO

State of ITVR

So, it having been a slow week offscreen in wrestling (though admittedly a busy one onscreen what with WWE's PPV and draft lottery), we realized as we went to do ITVR last night, that most of what we'd have to talk about, we covered already on Tuesday - so figured we'd wait for tonight so we could include Smackdown as well. Just finished catching up on that, but it's late, and we silly parents are exhausted. Thinking, we've had a busy week, we'll do it tomorrow ...

But that got us to FURTHER thinking, hell! As you've seen from the infrequent posting and the tardiness and/or tired babbly-ness of the last podcast or two, we've just had a very tired and/or busy month since Wrestlemania generally, with sick babies and computers, busy work lives, parents visiting, etc. - we're usually better at keeping up with this stuff, but post-Mania led to a down-time in wrestling, and an upswing in our lives here - and to me, this is supposed to be fun, not stressful, it's not our job, or our housekeeping, or a 'responsibility', but something we enjoy doing and sharing with you guys).

On the other hand ... we DO have you guys and we don't want to let you down; but (and selfishly, more importantly), we DO enjoy doing the show, and it's important in the midst of all those things above to make sure we're still having fun and keeping up with the stuff we enjoy. So that being said, tomorrow will bring with it a new month, a new ITVR podcast (we promise!), and a new resolve to blog more frequently and post our shows more consistently going forward. TNA is providing a great product, and WWE has even kept their game at least semi-stepped up since 'Mania despite the sever loss of Shawn Michaels on their roster, the European travel kafuffle, etc. There have been lots of title changes and lots of neat story going forward in both national wrestling promotions, and we fully intend to keep up with it for our own sakes, and share our opinions of it for yours (because you wanted to know). :)

Meanwhile, thank you so much for your patience through the Month of Hell, and we hope you'll bear with us moving forward, bringing you the fun and informative blogs and podcasts we've strived for since getting ourselves set back up here almost two years ago.

Peace, love and headlocks -Sarah and Ari.

Extreme Rules and Raw last night

Quick note off the top: In This Very Ring would like to extend its condolences to the family and friends of 'Mr. Hito', best known as a wrestler in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling and as one of Bret Hart's trainers. Hito passed away today in his 80s.

Hi guys. So just some quick hits as I've got a lot of real-life stuff to take care of tonight. But we've had a couple major WWE happenings so I wanted to address them before movin' on (apologies to TNA - we were draft-hungry last night but we'll catch back up with you next week).

In no particular order then ...

EXTREME RULES

• A good pay per view with some definite bright spots. I'm a bit sorry they needed to make so many excuses for Triple H losing to Sheamus on the one hand, starting with the attack on him early in the show - but as Trips has some injuries for which the WWE is looking to write him out, and Sheamus was the best pick to go over anyway, etc. it all worked out for the best. Kudos to Trips for selling the arm injury and allowing himself to get beaten down so badly/look so vulnerable by evening's end.
• I wish they'd at least hinted at the WWE tag titles being defended, but it was a fun enough gauntlet match and I loved that Bret came out to support his niece/nephew/quasi-nephew (although Bret honey, with your daughter's due date imminent, are you sure you want to be on the road as consistently as you have been?).
• The matches were predictable in a sense (I don't think Ari and I got one prediction wrong this time around, except maybe Cryme Tyme), but well-done. Orton-Swagger, Edge-Jericho, Trips-Sheamus, Beth-Michelle McCool, heck even Cryme Tyme were all at least passable for what they were meant to do, and were all very different. A good PPV overall.
• Oh and I have to throw this out there - kudos to Pro Wrestling Torch's PPV predictor dude (name escapes me at the moment), who not only predicted John Cena's world title retention, but that he'd tie Batista up to do so. Wow man, that's like, spooky.
  

RAW

• Let's start with the draft: this draft left Raw incredibly powerful as Smackdown lost such players as Edge and Chris Jericho, John Morrison and R Truth; but Smackdown also gained Kofi Kingston, as well as MVP (through the supplemental draft), and let's not downplay the importance of their acquisition of Kelly Kelly and Hornswoggle and Chavo Guerrero ... (tumbleweed). And yes, the Hart Dynasty heading on over to Raw is a loss in a sense too, but remember as tag champs they'll be fighting on both brands, and the stronger women's division is on Raw, so this will give Natalya a chance to get back into wrestling as well if they so choose (not that she and Beth Phoenix, or she and Michelle McCool couldn't have danced well either ...). And let's look at the logic; Smackdown is switching networks to SyFy in October, so perhaps loading their brand would have been logical; the flipside of that is, that's still a long ways away. No saying they can't do some deck shuffling come the fall if need-be. Meanwhile, Smackdown runs unopposed while Raw faces competition from TNA (although admittedly not much, from a ratings standpoint). Keep the flagship strong for the time being, and bolster SD when it has its big SyFy rollout in the fall.
• Some fun matches, with the reappearance of CM Punk's mystery man (oh right ... didn't mention that a guy from under the ring helped CM Punk win his match against Rey Mysterio Jr.), the three-way for the #1 contendership (and yes John Cena was back in 'cute' mode arranging this, but it worked this time as he hasn't pulled that in awhile), and the tag title match delivering the belts to the Hart Dynasty was also good. Promos were entertaining as well, at least mildly so - particular shouts out to Ted Dibiase Jr. and R Truth on their 'looking for a new Virgil' skit. Check it out if you missed it. SO funny.

So basically, good shows on both fronts - not necessarily ones I remember every last detail of every last promo and match from, but some, and they still left me entertained. They flowed well, and Raw definitely didn't hurt for taking a week off from the guest host concept. They will welcome Whose Line is it Anyway? alumnus Wayne Brady to host next week - this has potential. Be sure and check it out. And be sure and check out our podcast Thursday night. :) Have a good night and we'll see you again soon ... In This Very Ring.

ITVR - click here to listen!

As promised last night, and sorry again for the delay. Enjoy the show, and enjoy Extreme Rules tonight!

BOO!

Just got done awhile ago finishing our podcast, and our uploader is taking forever. Show WILL be up either early-ish tomorrow morning, or mid-afternoon (depending on if it's uploaded before church or not). Thanks for the patience all, it's annoying when you put a lot of work into something and can't see it through as quickly as you'd like. Tomorrow for sure though, I'd recommend checking it out shortly before Extreme Rules for thoughts and predictions. :) Meanwhile have a good night everyone. XO

This n That

Fret not dear readers and listeners - ITVR should be posted either quite late tonight or something late in the evening tomorrow; we have acquired just today the 'Hart and Soul' DVD regarding the Hart Family, and find ourselves mysteriously unable to resist watching it tonight (well OK ... *I* do ... Ari I think could wait lol). But I didn't want to go another day without blogging, as it's been awhile (quiet week in wrestling up until today, and a busy week in my life, means not a lot to say). But a few things to comment on today (and no RAW or Impact thoughts, as we're going to save those for tomorrow - besides, quite honestly, other than the Rob Van Dam TNA world title win, there hasn't been a lot of major onscreen movement since last week due to the Raw roster being stuck in Europe due to the volcano in Iceland).

• Said Raw roster returned today from the UK - Bret Hart also returned from Hanover today, incidentally. His most recent blog about being stuck in Europe can be found at http://www.brethart.com, and http://www.wwe.com plays host to some photos of the tired return of the Raw men and women.
• WWE did a bit of spring cleaning today, releasing Mickie James, Katie Lea Burchill, Shelton Benjamin, Kung Funaki and Jimmy Wang Yang. They were, of course, wished well in their future TN ... I mean, endeavours.

While that is an unfortunate piece of news, and I hope that the most talented of that lot are better appreciated elsewhere (James and Benjamin in particular), I am glad to see that the WWE is no longer filling up the roster with people they don't use properly, and that the guys and girls of Raw returned stateside safe and sound.

Be sure and tune in to ITVR tomorrow night (latest) to hear more on these stories, as well as thoughts on all televised wrestling this week (particularly Raw, TNA and Smackdown tomorrow night), and predictions for WWE's Extreme Rules PPV coming up Sunday. XO - peace out.

RAW update for tomorrow

Tomorrow's Raw in East Rutherford, NJ might be quite lowercard/Smackdown heavy, as the Raw roster was performing largely in the UK in this past week's European tour, whose airspace remains closed down due to ash and smoke from an erupting volcano in Iceland. Oddly enough, mainland Europe is having an easier time seeing flights in and out, and the Smackdown crew, who last performed in France etc., got back stateside this weekend. The Raw roster included on the tour remain grounded in the UK for the time being and will not, as of now, be back in the US in time for tomorrow's show.

PS Newsbytes

Last night's show got a bit long and there were a couple things I'd meant to discuss that we didn't get the chance to - as well as some news breaking over the last day or two I want to put out there as well, so consider this a PS to yesterday's show:

1. I meant to congratulate both Karen and Kurt Angle, who have bounced back and gotten engaged (not to one another lol) since their divorce last year. Kurt is set to marry a 24-year-old model and actress he's been seeing since the fall; this hot on the heels of Karen's announced engagement to TNA minority owner Jeff Jarrett.
2. On the flipside of the coin, Kristal Marshall, former WWE Diva and valet/wife of former wrestler/current Strikeforce MMA fighter Bobby Lashley, announced via her Twitter that she and Lashley have separated.
3. Meanwhile I mentioned some of the pros and cons of TNA's programming last night; the one thing I forgot to mention is that there is only one storyline that I actually out and out don't like (even the inconsistencies here and there, ie in the Knockouts division, while annoying, aren't make-or-break stuff when made up for with excellent wrestling). But the storyline with Orlando Jordan is WWE circa 2002 nonsense (think Katie Vick, Billy and Chuck, wrestlecrap stuff), and bordering on offensive, as some friends of the late Chris Kanyon who's passing we also discussed last night as well mentioned that as one of the last wrestling vignettes he watched before killing himself two weeks ago. TNA has a lot of creative minds and wrestling experience behind their ship and for the most part are doing well with it I must admit - but this angle needs to die a quicker than usual death.
4. And by the way - for anyone wondering why it took so long for us to warm up to TNA again after a 2-3 year hiatus ... it is because of comments like Eric Bischoff's on Facebook last night: Thanks for pointing out how minimal the [Internet Wrestling Community] really is...if it were up to them, every match would be vanilla midgets doing moonsaults and putting each other in submission holds for 45+ minutes, with zero characters or storylines. Don't ever let those morons get any influence over TNA or any other promotion. My concern lied in someone with that attitude - generalizing about the internet fanship and exaggerating what they would want to see - and someone who ran a successful wrestling company for years, who I respect and believe knows better - helping run the show. Now I was pleasantly surprised, and TNA is a strong product with something for everyone, as much as I'll offer criticisms of it too - but there is little incentive when these are the main comments giving insight into the minds running the show over there.
   

And that's it - that's your wrestling news for this week. I might be online over the weekend to post thoughts on tonight's Smackdown if we catch it, but otherwise see ya Monday! :D Take care all and stay classy.

New Trivia

Hey readers - an interesting statistic in this month's Pro Wrestling Illustrated is that last year, with his Intercontinental title win, Rey Mysterio became the WWE's 21st Triple Crown Champion (consisting of one of the world titles, the Intercontinental title specifically - other secondary titles such as the US or the defunct European or Hardcore titles don't count - and one of the tag team titles). Can you guys name the other 20? No prize this time, just for fun ... I got to 16 before having to consult Wikipedia. Answers a little ways down ...

***
















In no particular order:

1. Bret Hart
2. Shawn Michaels
3. Steve Austin
4. The Rock
5. Edge
6. Chris Jericho
7. Jeff Hardy
8. Rey Mysterio Jr.
9. CM Punk
10. Chris Benoit
11. Triple H
12. Pedro Morales
13. Kurt Angle
14. Kevin Nash
15. Randy Orton
16. Kane
17. Eddie Guerrero
18. Ric Flair
19. Rob Van Dam
20. Booker T
21. John Bradshaw Layfield

As an interesting bit of trivia, when CM Punk completed his triple crown accomplishment, he did so in 203 days, the shortest time of any of the above, beating Kevin Nash's previous record of 227 days.

ITVR podcast - click here

And here are the videos I promised you ...

1st ... Wrestlicious:



And then a couple Glow videos to compare:

Business Update

So we're going to save the Raw talk for tomorrow - I'm going to catch a recording of Monday's Impact tonight so we can discuss both - but I did want to bring up the story I mentioned Monday evening in regards to Smackdown leaving MyNetworkTV and heading for SyFy. Apparently NXT, it was revealed yesterday, will be leaving the network. Left vague, however, was whether or not NXT will simply be canceled, or moved to a different network. Currently it is being shopped around. We will keep you posted on this bit of business as we stay aprised of the situation.

Please be sure and tune in tomorrow for our podcast of In This Very Ring for all your WWE and TNA news - we look forward to seeing you then.

Smackdown to SyFy!

It has been announced today that Smackdown will be bailing from the sinking ship of MyNetworkTV in the United States come October, and shifting over to the cable provider of their NXT program, SyFy. With this, WWE again leaves network TV. No word on who wished whom well on their future endeavours in this move.

((thoughts on Raw from the UK, hosted by David Hasselhoff, up tomorrow - still in progress here in Canada. Have a good night all))

Apologies

Hi guys - sorry this week totally got away from us as I said the other day with viruses both of the human and computer kind, and I was then left with a major sleep deficit and a week's worth of marking and housekeeping to do. So while all is well now - my son's all fixed up and so is my computer - I have been and probably should be devoted to getting my other priorities back in order ... no fun for me this weekend. :( But I promise ITVR will be back this coming week and I will blog again Monday at the latest with RAW thoughts (and tomorrow if there's any newsworthiness). Thanks for bearing with me and I promise to be back to normal next week with everything - apologies for Easter, followed by the weeek from hell, being a throwoff. Hugs all!

ITVR tomorrow night

A couple quick notes - first we'll be putting ITVR up tomorrow night. It hasn't been an especially newsworthy week other than the death of Chris Kanyon, and having SD to talk about as well will be helpful; the break will also be nice after a 10 hour day out respectively at work (me) and at the Children's Hospital with a dehydrated little tyke (Ari). We'll both do better tomorrow than we would tonight at this point ... especially since I'm hoping my computer will be virus free by then as well.

*Quick note to contest-winner Shane by the way: your DVD will be on its way tomorrow or Monday at the latest depending on how LT is feeling and if I get out tomorrow to send it; I've had it ready as I said last week for awhile, but between Easter and then a sick baby, hitting the post office hasn't fit into the plans. But I will be express-posting it now so early next week should be a done deal. :) Take care.

Sick baby .. :(

If you're wondering where I've been this week, unfortunately Little Tyke has had a virus due to his teething (sores in his gums, etc.) which have led to him being difficult to get to drink and eat, leading of course to some mild dehydration (Pedialyte, water and lots of other fluids are Godsends). Between caring for him and the day or two of work I've gotten as well, unfortunately my hands have been quite full (not to mention my computer currently is also under the weather). This isn't going to be a long entry either -> I'm going to do some marking for my online course and head to bed, I think Ari and I will both have better tomorrows for some more sleep. But in the meantime I just wanted to let y'all know what was up here - LT is going to be doing better, but I sure miss Mr. All-Over Man this week (as much as he tires Momma out! lol). Add that to me getting over a mild tummy bug myself ... hope everyone else is keeping good health. XO