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

Quick updates

Hi guys - so missed Raw tonight as The Score is showing the finals of March Madness (finally, all will be right with the world as of tomorrow night), and will be watching the TNA Impact episode soon (just got in from an Easter trip to Kitchener). But I wanted to quickly touch on the two bits of wrestling news that came to my attention over the weekend. We'll start with the more light-hearted stuff first.

1. Jack Swagger cashes in his MITB successfully, defeating Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title on Smackdown. OK - so after we talked about this, there were so many more interesting ways to go with this angle. He could have cashed in unsuccessfully, thinking he'd cockily timed his shot right. He could have cashed in successfully after many many false starts like Monday. Monday established a really interesting theme for Swagger, and WWE drops the ball. I'm glad to see someone new in the driver's seat, as I said at the time Sheamus won his world title - but surely it should be someone who's had something of a buildup, and hasn't been depushed and off a roll in recent months - Kofi Kingston or Drew McIntyre would have been excellent examples, or as we said, allow this MITB to build up Jack Swagger again after some months off the rails. We hadn't been given time to care after a long layoff luck-wise.

2. On a much more serious note, our condolences to the family of Chris Kanyon, who died, apparently by his own hand, this weekend. Kanyon was openly gay and often expressed the feeling that his sexual orientation had been a factor in his not being pushed, and ultimately let go by the WWE in 2004. Such a sad situation as yet another wrestler could not overcome both some of his own personal demons, and demons intrinsic, it seems, in the business.

More on both of these stories, of course, and a report on Raw, on ITVR later this week (and of course I will keep blogging as we go!) Hope everyone had a nice Easter.

Oh and look who's turning 30!

Happy Birthday Randy Orton! :)

Thank you Bret

You know, in the midst of Shawn Michaels' career ending, and in light of an admittedly mediocre return (technically speaking), it is easy to forget that Bret Hart likely just made his last appearance in a Wrestlemania ring, and that he, too, accomplished a lot to simply be able to do what he did. As Bret relates in his most recent Facebook blog:

"Although I know it was far from my greatest performance, I can proudly say it was one of my most glorious victories I've ever had. Once upon a time in my wheelchair after suffering my stroke in 2002, thinking how impossible it was to even conceive of such a moment makes me as proud as ever of anything I ever did in a ring. "

True enough Bret - and in all this feting of Shawn Michaels, we should remember to thank you for your incredible 20 years of contributions to this sport as well. He had a lot more to say as well:

On the McMahon family:
"It was sweet seeing the entire Hart Family play a part in giving Vince McMahon the beating of his lifetime. When I briefly saw Linda McMahon afterwards in the hallway, I confessed with a smile that I'd secretly given him a couple of choice chair shots just for her. This drew a burst of laughter and a smile. In truth, I'd like to thank all the McMahons (and that includes Triple H) for their kindness, hospitality, and for a fantastic three-month ride I'll never forget."

On Shawn Michaels:
"I want to take this opportunity to wish Shawn Michaels a great retirement; he certainly earned it. I know we've had our differences, but nobody can ever take away his greatness in the ring and, without him, it will truly never, ever be the same."

Keeping it classy as always Bret. Thank you! :)

And just a reminder to readers it's Easter weekend; I'll do my best to post over the weekend but it might be Monday night before I do. Peace and take care.