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).