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_