Chris Jericho Suspended for 30 Days

Hi all - sorry for the absence, it's been a crazy week as we went camping last weekend, and I've been preparing for a 100+ person barbecue at church, my father-in-law is visiting, etc. But we haven't forgotten about our ITVR folks, and will be podcasting either tonight or tomorrow night for sure.

But in the meantime wanted to address WWE's sort of snakebit first trip down to Brazil. After a cancelled flight delayed their show by one night, Chris Jericho, in his heelish antics, managed to disrespect the Brazilian flag - actually a crime in Brazil, for which he was almost arrested. He has issued a public apology and been suspended for 30 days. It should be noted none of the fans at the arena were offended, understanding he was just trying to be a 'bad guy' - however, rules are rules I guess.

Raw Goes to 3 Hours Starting in July

So we didn't watch all of Raw again this week - while some aspects were quasi-entertaining (the CM Punk/Daniel Bryan et all tag team match, the HHH-Heyman promo, the Big Show/John Laurenaitis interaction, Sheamus' performance in the announce booth), it's just not sustaining interest these days. I don't know ... I know WWE can do better, they just haven't been.

And in that kind of environment, the announcement comes yesterday that as of July 22 (I believe - or 29), Raw is going to 3 hours every Monday. When they barely have enough programming to sustain the 2 hour show they have now. This can't go wrong ... ahem. This was a contributing factor to the death of WCW/Nitro, at a time when they couldn't sustain the programming they already had, so why does WWE think this will be any different?

So without having seen much of the product this week, we're going to ATTEMPT to catch Smackdown and podcast tonight with predictions for this Sunday's PPV (which we will be missing due to camping this weekend) - but if we end up not having time (preparing for said camping trip etc.) we will catch Raw on Monday and either blog or podcast about it same-night, or the following.

Hope all is well out there and you're enjoying the lovely weather!

John Cena Files for Divorce

The news broke yesterday that John Cena filed for divorce from his longtime girlfriend, and wife of three years, Liz Huberdeau Cena, prompting her to hire Linda Hogan's barracuda attorney, Raymond Rafool. Per Rafool - "Although it is indeed unfortunate that John Cena decided to divorce his high school sweetheart Liz Cena; particularly, after they have come so far in their lives and in his career together, Liz will and really has no choice but to pursue all of her rights and entitlements."

Sounds like this could get ugly. Despite having been approached weeks ago by her husband with a pre-divorce settlement offer, Mrs. Cena refused to sign it, ostensibly thinking their marriage could still be salvaged ... and is now claiming to have been blindsided by the divorce filing. A prenuptial agreement is in place, and after three years of marriage and no kids, my guess is it should be fairly iron clad ... but it doesn't sound like that's going to stop Liz Cena from giving it the good old college try.

While obviously I'm dubious about the angle Cena's wife is approaching this from - blindsided despite being presented with a settlement? Refusing to sign said settlement? Hiring a vicious attorney despite a prenup being in place? - bottom line is divorce is no fun on anyone's part and I wish the Cenas the best as they go through this difficult time. May they be able to treat themselves, and each other, with the dignity and respect that everyone deserves when facing hard decisions.

ITVR Podcast

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And apologies for the gain - it's not as bad as it's been in the past, still annoying I know but we put the mic in the wrong socket tonight ... seriously, tired. lol But didn't feel like re-recording, especially given it's not GOD awful (just 'bad').

Thanks for the patience and have a nice week!

Processing Some Thoughts

So it's been awhile as I've been trying to assimilate what I think of this week's "Extreme Rules" PPV, and last night's Raw ... there were some things that were really, really strong (I can't speak to how excited I am about CM Punk and Daniel Bryan squaring off at the next "Over the Limit" PPV, and there were a few good matches at ER, including Cena-Lesnar, and Cena's promo afterwards was intriguing). There was also a lot that didn't work - while I'm no Cena hater, I think beating Brock his first match back was unnecessary, especially when a loss here could have easily fit into the John Cena losing his mojo storyline - which was working, and I'm not a fan of his being back after said intriguing promo the very next night raring to fight ... John Laurenaitis.

WWE has a lot going for it right now - and a lot that is really a big fail (see Tensai, Lord; and Clay, Brodus, as well as the depushing of the Miz and Dolph Ziggler etc.). I will be interested to see how they fit some of the messy pieces together in the coming weeks ... hopefully as well as the Triple H-Johnny Ace-Brock Lesnar interaction, for example.