In This Very Ring

WWE Royal Rumble Promo Video

2012-01-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

WWE always does a good job with these - enjoy. :)

ITVR PODCAST

2012-01-21T22:20:00.001-08:00

A Few Major Announcements

2012-01-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

So ... lots to talk about this week - we'll cover most of these on the show tomorrow, but I didn't want to go too long without posting so I have a few quick hits for you - more detail, as well as discussion of Raw from Monday and Smackdown this evening, recorded either later tonight or tomorrow, and posted tomorrow.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTIONS: So WWE this week announced the first inductees into the class of 2012 for their Hall of Fame. First ballot HOFer Adam "Edge" Copeland is to be congratulated - although given his relative youth, having him go in ahead of the Rock or Randy Savage - both of whom, incidentally, are from Florida, where the event is being held - I wonder at the timing ... but I love me some Edge, so that's all good. Also to be inducted offiially - the Four Horsemen, particularly the combination of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Barry Windham. While some might discuss if this is a slight to Ole Anderson or Lex Luger - other prominent Horsemen (sorry ... I'll save the debating on whether this is a slight to Steve McMichael or Paul Roma for others lol) - it's a good combination to induct. Lex, anyway, has expressed his support, and that he will be in the crowd at Miami. Ric Flair has also confirmed off the record he'll be onstage accepting effectively his SECOND HOF induction (he is also inducted as an individual). Mexican legend Mil Mascaras has also been unofficially confirmed, with his induction announced in Mexico, albeit not the US/worldwide yet; and Yokuzuna, former WWE champion, is also a rumoured entry.
PEREZ HILTON IS SUCH A DIVA: WWE and Perez Hilton both have announced that Hilton will be the guest ring announcer for the WWE Diva's match on this upcoming week's Raw, after having gone through Diva Boot Camp with Eve, Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox. I'm a huge Hilton fan, believe it or not, although I get he might not 'gel' with your ... uh ... typical WWE audience, so we'll see how this goes. Should be fun.
MICK FOLEY SWAPS WIVES: January 24, 2012, Wife Swap (on ABC?) features Mick Foley's family. This show actually gets on my nerves 99.999% of the time, but I have to admit, it will be worth it just to see the celeb wife's reaction to the bundle of fur she's about to move in with for a week. :) Goofy stuff, but should be another fun trip.

Be sure and tune in within the next 24-36 hours or so for our thoughts on all of the above, and MORE. XO

ITVR Podcast

2012-01-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Hi guys - sorry the illness I mentioned at Christmas hung on and was a real bugger through the last two weeks. I'm still not entirely well - wait until you hear my voice! :) But Ari and I did manage to croak out some year end awards and some news to share for your listening pleasure, again, finally -

You can CLICK HERE to enjoy ...

And we promise, honest, swear to God, that now that ... birthdays, funerals, holidays, illness etc. have passed, we will be much, much much more reliable in the New Year; it is my resolution/goal to post every other day at least, and I have now made that intention public so I will probably come closer to it than I have in the past. And if you doubt you'll at least be hearing more from us in the coming months, well ... you just listen to this week's podcast; you'll know why we'll be around just a wee bit more. :)

Happy New Year all.

Seasons Beatings ...

2011-12-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

Amidst a busy month where I haven't posted as much as I'd have liked, I do hope everyone has still enjoyed their holiday season as much as we have here at In This Very Ring. We will be posting our Year In Review podcast very early in the New Year - call it Jan. 3 or 4 - and be back into a regular schedule after a very busy and unexpected couple of months. Be sure and stay tuned for one or two big announcements as well ... ITVR is in for quite the ride in 2012!!!

Merry Christmas from your friends at ITVR.

Programming Notes

2011-12-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

So it has been a busier Holiday Season than anticipated, but this week we will be back in full force. So is the WWE, for that matter! Be sure and tune in tonight for a special 3-hour WWE Raw, featuring this year's Slammy Awards. This airs at 8pm ET in the States on USA Network, and, according to their website, it airs on the Score in Canada at 9pm ET - although you might want to check in at 8pm just to make sure that listing isn't in error - especially as it lists Raw as a 2-hour program where tonight it's 3.

Tomorrow night is a special on the USA Network from 9-11pm ET featuring WWE's annual 'Tribute to the Troops' program; always special. I'm not seeing this listed on the Score's website, and can't find where it might air in Canada, so I'm not sure if we get it here in the Great White North, but it's worth poking around for - let me know if you find anything so I can check it out.

Wednesday or Thursday this week Ari and I will air with a special ITVR episode making TLC pay per view predictions, as well as talking about the WWE (and possibly TNA) news of the week (Amy "Lita" Dumas arrested? Hulk Hogan and Ed "Brutus Beefcake" Leslie suing Hogan's ex-wife Linda?).

Thursday and Friday, as always, are respectively home to Impact! Wrestling (Thursday, 8pm ET, Spike TV) and Smackdown (Friday, 8pm ET, Syfy in the States, the Score in Canada), and Sunday is the TLC pay per view starting at 8pm ET. Next week all is back on its regular schedule; we will air Thursday or Friday with our year-end show featuring awards, reviews, and our thoughts on the roller coaster 'year that was' in the wrestling industry. :) And of course, as news breaks, I will pop back in and out to comment on it.

Be sure to catch all the action!

Sarah (and Ari)

Raw (and other) Thoughts

2011-12-06T13:34:00.001-08:00

Hi guys,

Last week was busier than expected - in talking about how quiet the Holiday Season was looking I forgot the massive churchwide potluck I was organizing - but we will be up this week on ITVR either late Thursday or Friday evening, and of course I will post along the way. Meanwhile though last night's Raw was pretty good (minus some weak spots, such as the Diva's match as ever, and I could have done without the Kevin Nash-Santino Marella squash match) and I wanted to quickly share my thoughts on it.

First, I liked the thread through the show that the 4 potential #1 contenders to the WWE Title - Alberto del Rio, John Cena, the Miz and Dolph Ziggler, all had matches which, if they won, would guarantee their entry into the main event at TLC. Del Rio and the Miz did so; Ziggler lost his - I believe thanks to some awry interference by Jack Swagger if I sort of caught their post-match promo right but I was out of the room for those 5-10 minutes or so. But I always like having a consistent theme to tie the show together in that sense.

I also enjoy the dynamic between John Cena and Zack Ryder. I felt Ryder was a *bit* much this time - a bit of 'You wanted him so bad, we're rammin' him down your throats' - but still, it's an interesting dynamic set up with Cena as he gave up his own title shot to ensure Zack Ryder got his shot at Ziggler's US Title. Additionally, you know this is setting up a heal turn for one of them down the road - I'm guessing Cena - so it sets up some anticipation, on something they don't SEEM to be rushing through at this particular moment in time. I can appreciate that.

I also basically enjoyed the contract signing - a different flavour anyway as CM Punk acted as ultimate violence instigator as John Laurenaitis tried to keep the signing peaceful (yeah, right). His character as a useless tool continued to be developed nicely (Laurenaitis', not Punk's) as someone we can genuinely hate - always a good feature. :) Not a bad show all in all, with only a few aggravating moments, and some nice continuity. They still have two more Raws to set up for TLC, and I hope they make use of those - it could be a very good card if some of the players are angled right.

A FEW LAST ITEMS:

One - I recommend strongly you check out Randy Orton's "Evolution of a Predator" DVD. I belatedly got to catch it this week. VERY good stuff, more interesting than I expected; this man's growth story is absolutely incredible.

Two - to US fans, WWE's annual Tribute to the Troops show is on USA Network next Tuesday night, I believe at 8 or 9pm; I will see if there is Canadian info, if it airs here and when etc. to share next time.

Three - lastly, congratulations to Kharma, who is currently on maternity leave from the WWE, on her engagement, as her fiance (and I'm assuming the proud daddy-to-be) proposed to her with a DIAMOND WRESTLING RING ... well, ring. :) Very ... I don't know. Cute, sweet or tacky. I'm working on that one.

Until next time, be well.

ITVR Podcast

2011-11-27T19:48:00.001-08:00

Yes really! :)

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

Goodbye to a Late-in-Life Wrestling Fan

2011-11-24T17:33:00.001-08:00

My grandfather took to wrestling late in life. In fact, for the fifteen years or so that I enjoyed wrestling and he didn't, he used to make fun of me. Boxing was better, he said - it was real. THEY didn't stop their feet when they punched one another.

But somewhere in my early twenties he became a fan - and even more of one than I was at times! I was his 'go-to' girl if he had questions. We mourned Eddy Guerrero and the Benoit family together. One of my best memories with him was a weekend spent housesitting together while my grandmother attended a wedding; in a 48 hour period, we literally watched the entire 3-disc Undertaker's Deadliest Matches set. Hour upon hour of footage of his favourite wrestler. I tired of it before he did!

We never got to Wrestlemania together, as I promised him we would if it ever came back to Canada - in the time of his fandom, it never did, and he passed away last week after a long battle with a body long plagued by diabetes, heart problems, hip problems ... you name it. One of his last joys in life, as he lost mobility, vision and hearing, was wrestling. When I was no longer sure what to buy him for Christmases and birthdays - what he would enjoy - I bought him wrestling DVDs, which he watched by the hour, along with UFC (which I never got into myself).

Grampa's funeral was the reason for the lack of posting this week. Needless to say, he was more than worth it. And he will be missed very much by all who knew him. XOXO Grampa - go now in peace and may the love of God surround you everywhere you may go.

Survivor Series Predictions

2011-11-20T15:20:00.001-08:00

Due to some visitors, and a death in the family (RIP to my beloved Grampa Cal Wilson, a late-in-life wrestling fan but one of the biggest I've yet to meet) we were unable to get ITVR up this week - but with two hours to show time we did want to at least post our Survivor Series predictions before the show went on the air. We'll go match by match, with Ari's and my predictions beneath. And after this past week (with Little Tyke's birthday, my grampa's passing, and a heavy workload), things honestly SHOULD slow down now until the holidays at least, so we should be back to at least 2-3 postings a week if not more - and of course as we head into the Royal Rumble-Wrestlemania stretch, we always pick up our game (as does WWE, apparently lol).

So with no further ado ... Survivor Series Predix.

Divas Champion Beth Phoenix vs. Eve in a Lumberjill Match

SARAH:
Who cares? If this weren't about to become a cluster-mess, I'd be fine with this, but with EVERY diva involved ... OK I'll pick Beth Phoenix and leave it at that.
ARI:
I think Beth too, they're not particularly pumping Eve, so I don't see any reason other than that for a quick turnaround.

United States Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

SARAH:
I'm going with Ziggler here - they've only just started building JoMo up again after months of a losing streak; and while they're acknowledging said streak is a good sign, he's just not there yet, and I don't think they're ready to take the US title off Ziggler and push him up OR down the ladder either.
ARI:
I haven't followed what's been going on with Morrison as much, but I feel they like Ziggler and would want to roll with him a bit longer.

Team Orton vs. Team Barrett
(Randy Orton, Sin Cara, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus and Mason Ryan vs. Wade Barrett, Hunico, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler and Cody Rhodes)

SARAH:
I'm actually going with the heels here - I think Sheamus and Wade Barrett are going to end it and Wade Barrett (plus whoever else is left on his team) is going to win. It really is Barrett and Sheamus (possibly Mason Ryan and Cody Rhodes for an honourable mention) that they want to push here, so expect some good stuff highlighting those performers.
ARI:
I definitely have high hopes for this match, it could be disappointing, it could be really good. They've got some good people there. I'm going with the faces, but as with any traditional Survivor Series match that doesn't have a condition attached to it, there's no particular reason to think that so, just call it a feeling.

NOTE: Dolph Ziggler will be appearing this match in his second of two Survivor Series appearances replacing the injured Christian.

WWE Champion Alberto del Rio vs. CM Punk

SARAH:
This is a toughie and let me say right up neither would surprise me here. But I'm going to go with CM Punk. Alberto del Rio held the title through their Mexican tour and it's been at least a couple of pay-per-views; Why not have Punk go for it? Also - just as a note - how sad is it that, per the WWE website, the WWE Championship match is third down on the card?
ARI:
Well when you've got two championships, that only takes one bump. I'm going with Punk as much because I hope so as ... that's actually a good old 'I hate the heel and I want to see the face win'. And he's had it long enough that's not implausible.

World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry vs. Big Show

SARAH:
Go with Henry on this one - Show hasn't been back long enough, nor has he been hot enough, and Henry has been having the best year of his 15-year career by far, to me a shoo-in for 'Most Improved Wrestler' this year. I wouldn't take the belt off of him for Big Show, at least not right now, as much as I love Paul Wight.
ARI:
Yeah definitely. Mark Henry is having a very impressive run of just crushing people and okay, Big Show won't be crushed, but he's another great big boom for Henry to make.

John Cena and The Rock vs. The Miz and R-Truth

SARAH:
They have to mess with this one bigtime. I'm predicting - one - the heels winning because the faces seem so invincible and the Miz and Truth have seemed so completely beatable and lost so much heat this is the only way to go. Cena and Rock's team won't be sustainable and if WWE is smart, I predict - two - a Cena heel turn right about here. Just because one of them has to, and the fans won't boo the Rock vs. John Boy. Don't be shocked at - 3- a run in by Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, John Laureneitis or one of the myriad other players who have so far been involved in this drama.
ARI:
Agreed the odds of some sort of outside interference seem to be at least 80-90%. That's the easy thing to predict. I was going to predict Rock and Cena before you filled me in on what's been going on ... hmmm ... I guess I'll still go with Rock and Cena just because that was my gut, however ill-informed. Sometimes you wind up being wrong overthinking so I'll just stick with my first instinct.

1 hr. 45 mins. to curtain up guys - enjoy the show from Madison Square Garden, as the Rock returns fifteen years after his debut at the same event, in the same city. Here's hoping this marks a great turning point for the WWE. These fans hope so!

3 Hour Raw Supershow Tonight

2011-11-14T05:17:00.001-08:00

Hi all,

Ari, nor I was feeling especially well over the weekend - thanks Little Tyke - so we didn't get a chance to do ITVR with all the evenings' interruptions etc. But I wanted to take a quick second to remind everyone that Raw Gets Rocked tonight an hour early, with the return of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson on a 3-hour Raw special. Be sure and tune in at 8pm in the US, although I believe here in Canuck-land it still starts at 9pm. Be sure and tune in as well over the next few days for our ITVR Survivor Series predictions show - it won't be Friday this week as it's LT's third birthday, but we will be sure and git 'er done before, so we can share our thoughts on this weekend's pay-per-view before life gets all busy on us again (because it ever stops ... lol).

Cheers, Sarah

Quick Hits

2011-11-10T09:42:00.001-08:00

Hi guys,

So, after 2-3 weeks of pretty steady posting, we were foiled by a busy weekend, three twelve-hour workdays in a row and a sick toddler, which all got in the way of blogging this week, but never fear - we will be back tomorrow with our next episode of In This Very Ring. Before that though I wanted to be sure and hit some of the big stories coming out of the world of wrestling this week.

Chyna has a ... well, adult video venture coming out (or just out ... I don't exactly follow these things closely), and went on Howard Stern this week to promote it and talk about some of her experiences in the wrestling world. She spoke of having written to Vince McMahon recently proposing they 'do business together' again, and while his response was that 'at this time they would take a pass', she was pleased at the acknowledgement and considered that the communication was at least a bit of a thaw in her relations with the WWE. Given her difficult history with Vince's son-in-law Triple H his daughter (Trips' wife) Stephanie, while it's good a detente could be reached, if I were Chyna I wouldn't be holding my breath at any kind of full-time work with the WWE anytime soon.
Former wrestling Henry Godwinn was in a very serious car wreck earlier this week landing him in the ICU. We of course wish him all the best in his recovery. The same wishes go out to Barry Windham, who seems to be recovering nicely from the double-blow of a heart attack and stroke ... a long road ahead, but with support from both his medical team and family, it sounds like optimism is the watchword in Windham's case.
And lastly, happy belated birthday to one of my personal favourites, Chris Jericho, who turned 41 years old yesterday. Many happy ... uh ... returns, Chris. Please???? :)

Tune in to hear much more about all the above, and our thoughts on the last week or two of wrestling, tomorrow night, In This Very Ring.

XO Sarah

ITVR - Happy Halloween Podcast

2011-10-31T09:33:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE! :)

Continued Health Barry Windham

2011-10-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We'll be posting ITVR tomorrow night - sorry, audio issues tonight - but I did want to take the time after hearing a couple of days ago that Barry Windham, legendary member of the Four Horseman, son of Blackjack Mulligan and brother-in-law of Mike "Irwin R. Schyster" Rotundo and uncle of Husky Harrison in FCW, was in intensive care, in critical condition following a heart attack. While it sounds like his health has made impressive strides in the last few days, that is never a good sign at the age of 52, and after losing an uncle to heart problems two weeks ago, it definitely gives one pause. My prayers continue for Barry's recuperation, and for his family at this time.

Be well all - XO Sarah

DVD Review - WWE's Greatest Rivalries: Shawn vs. Bret

2011-10-26T06:50:00.000-07:00

Aaah my most highly anticipated WWE DVD release since 'The History of Wrestlemania' was released yesterday and yup, of course I got it on its first day available! Well worth it too - these two men sit down for the first time in the same room with Jim Ross (the only guy really who should ever handle an interview of this magnitude) to discuss not just Montreal (if there's one thing these two men were ever in agreement about, it was that the Screw Job shouldn't be what defines either of their careers), but their nearly-parallel careers from tag team wrestling in the 1980s and very early 1990s, to their early singles successes and defining Intercontinental Champions in the early-to-mid 1990s, to their rise to the pinnacle of WWE success as world champions in the early-90s (Bret) and mid-90s (Shawn), redefining what it meant to succeed in what was traditionally a big man's world.

Both men are candid, albeit fair - you still get the sense this incident was more defining and painful for Bret, and perhaps that's only right, given he was the one ultimately who got hurt by the fallout of his and Shawn's feud. But both express regret, while at the same time maintaining the other made mistakes too - which is the God's honest truth. Both of these men have had a long journey with lots of demons along the road, and to see them at such peace, in such a place that they could, not just share a ring and hug for a few minutes, but sit down and speak in depth and at length, about some of the most torturous issues, shows just how far they've come.

And I want to give Shawn credit too - I always felt their rivalry came more from Bret's end. And while I sided with Bret in a lot of ways, I felt it was more personal for him - that while Shawn was a jerk at that time in his career, he was a jerk to everyone, and Bret took it as directed at himself. Even post-Montreal, I felt it was Bret's cross to bear, that Shawn had long since moved on and refused to be defined by it. But to hear Shawn talk about how he wanted nothing more than for Bret to like and respect him - to see that his petulance really came to the surface when he felt that wasn't happening - and that perhaps not so much from thinking he was wrong, but on his journey as a Christian to right past hurts - this had bothered him too, perhaps more than I had realized ... I gained a new respect for him. The contrast I always see between them is still there - Bret's a bit darker, more jaded, less happy and at peace, while Shawn, when uncomfortable is more likely to crack a joke and try to minimize a bit than really deal with the meat and potatoes of things - I still think this was the most peaceful, and honest, I've ever seen either of them.

This video is a must-have for any wrestling fan, dealing honestly with an era-defining feud. My only recommendation is, don't watch it expecting 2 hours of 'All Montreal, Nothin' but Montreal' ... that comes up, and features prominently to be sure, but it's about so much more than that, from two veterans with a very unique view of the business in their era ... and of each other. Again, a very recommended addition to your wrestling DVD library.

In This Very Ring

2011-10-22T19:17:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE for In This Very Ring's Podcast for this week.

Scott Hall: The Wrestler (ESPN E60)

2011-10-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

We will be online either later tonight or tomorrow at the latest with a new ITVR featuring our Vengeance predictions and all that jazz. However, I just watched the below video and it was too important not to share.

ESPN recently did a documentary on their E60 show about troubled (to understate matters) wrestler Scott Hall, perhaps better known as Razor Ramon. At 52, the man is a collection of health problems, all related to an addiction to alcohol, painkillers, cocaine and other narcotics. However, at one point, he was one of the most popular and recognizable figures in the world of professional wrestling.

Please feel free watch the documentary in its (~18 minute) entirety for yourself below - very sad and interesting stuff.

Raw

2011-10-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

NOTE: Last week's absence was not about busy-ness or getting sidetracked in some predictable way as we often do; there was a death in the family which occupied much of the second half of last week, unfortunately. I don't particularly feel like taking up another almost near-entire post of 'we'll straighten ourselves back out', it was an abberation and posting would have gone better under different circumstances. It's been a rough 6 weeks or so in general time-management, health, etc. wise but this was truly sudden and unexpected. Back now.

So this week for the first time Raw aired from Mexico City. And while it was better than last week, it still demonstrates WWE's tone deafness to the fans. Case in point; they did in fact oblige fans insofar as bringing Jim Ross back on air after a week of backlash to his firing; but they don't seem to realize, fans don't want to watch this man wrestle - that's not even remotely what he does best. We want to hear him call matches, which is his unique gift, and a highly important one right now partiularly with the state of the announce team in the WWE (I'm sorry - Michael Cole and Booker T in their spheres just do not work out, and while Jerry Lawler is incredibly well spoken and witty, smart and funny, he is a character who needs the steady hand of a pro like JR to counterbalance him). Although I do have to say Johnny 'Ace' Laurenaitis acting like he and JR were old BFFs upon his rehiring was kind of funny, disingenuous bearhugs and all.

Given the WWE was in Mexico anyway, honestly, should the focus have been THAT much on an English-language announcer's storyline? I understand Raw in the States/Canada/etc. is still going to get the English commentary - and thank you, as it should be - but to have them as a front-end storyline (honestly, in the main event spot) in a country where they aren't even the folks calling the action, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Similarly, again, being in Mexico - shouldn't Alberto del Rio have been featured more prominently? Not that I minded the stipulation attached to Cena/JR vs. del Rio/Michael Cole: winner chooses Vengeance match stipulation. And I didn't mind the stipulation Cena chose either, 'Last Man Standing'. While he's not exactly seen as the catch-as-catch-can type, Cena can go in the clinch, and so can del Rio so it should be a passable match.

In other news ... nice to see Miz and R Truth back, although they seem to have lost at least a bit of the bite they had prior to their firing, and while doing runins during their time 'away' from the WWE ... I'm also enjoying Vicki Guerrero's stable, particularly of Dolph Ziggler (excellent mic work this week) and Jack Swagger ... Vicki especially did well playing to the Mexican crowd as a heel, where she could easily still be seen as the widow of the beloved Eddie Guerrero ... I don't get what Eve did to deserve the #1 contendership to the women's title, seeing as she has lost the vast majority of her matches of late - but then again that would be trying to make sense of the Diva's division, so we will just leave it at that ... John Morrison continues his losing streak as his contract comes to an end next month (I believe) and there has been no real movement on either side to re-sign. Given WWE's heat with Morrison's still-girlfriend Melina, it might be just best to go their separate ways for now, anyway. Although Morrison's unquestionable talent will be missed.

We will be podcasting on Friday with Smackdown thoughts, and predictions for this Sunday's Vengeance PPV. I will do my absolute very best to post in between now and then as well (ie, tomorrow). But meanwhile I thank everyone again for their patience and understanding during a rough time of late, and assure everyone, 'We're back and better than ever!'

Wow ... Slow News Week.

2011-10-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

So ... I know. We screwed up last week. Part of that was illness - we have all had the worst cold this side of cold and flu season, as I explained in my last blog. Some changed-around plans for the long weekend (Thanksgiving here in Canada) were also responsible. But to a certain degree, the wrestling product has also been uninspired, and honestly somewhat awful the last few weeks.

First of all, hard to build up excitement about a pay-per-view with two weeks' opportunity to create interest. When, two weeks on the heels of the last PPV, the company needed to build up Hell in a Cell, it resulted in a lot of rush jobs. We actually didn't see the PPV - we chose to see Moneyball instead. And while it sounds like it had some cool moments - the Miz and R Truth's beatdown at the end of the show for example - I don't especially feel like it was a poor decision for our time and money. And again, with only three weeks separating HIAC from the next PPV - Vengeance - the risk of hotshotting storylines in order to prep them for PPV is very real. This is always a rough time of year for the WWE. With the return of Monday Night Football, as well as the MLB playoffs, the fall is always a loss-leader for them. Add that to the fact we're heading into a somewhat quiet time PPV-wise (there isn't usually a PPV over the Holidays, Royal Rumble is in late January and there's one one PPV between it and April's Wrestlemania), October/November are always kind of loaded with PPVs at 3 week intervals. It's a big risk ... and one that hasn't been paying off of late.

There was some promies to the walkout storyline that ended Raw last week - Triple H has let things get out of control, and WWE employees no longer feel safe in that environment. There are a few kinks, some minor (this is largely a heel-led issue - how would we redeem the faces who walked out also, from seeming cowardly in the rough and tumble world of pro wrestling?), some larger (WWE is inherently an 'unsafe work environment' ... do you REALLY want to highlight that? And isn't Triple H supposed to be an authority figure for the entirety of WWE? In which case ... why is the walkout Raw exclusive, instead of affecting both programs?). But it was interesting and I was willing to see where it went.

Through Smackdown and the first 15-20 minutes of this week's Raw, there was some promise. They awkwardly tried to explain Triple H's presence on Raw being that SD had a General Manager, Raw didn't - and when ultimately he was relieved of his duties (onscreen), it was as showrunner for Raw, not as COO/overall authority figure.

Apologies to readers

2011-10-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

In recent weeks, even when things get busy, I try to keep the apologies for that to a minimum and just focus on the writing at hand; however, the last two weeks have been insane and it has been about that long since I've written. In that time, we've had two pay per views, Matt Hardy has been arrested and has hi'ed himself to WWE sponsored rehab, the Shawn Michaels-Bret Hart DVD is days away from being released, and very, very little has changed on the storytelling canvas in the WWE; apparently Hulk Hogan on TNA-side gave an amazing - though fake - retirement speech that I have yet to catch, though I will, even though he didn't end up, you know, retiring.

Bottom line - if we had to pick two weeks that were full of work (I had an entire class of students finishing up the online course I teach, a couple of job interviews, my in-laws visiting this weekend, AND a bad cold that left me in a position I'd be hacking into the mic more than speaking into it ... lots of fun) and that we were unable to blog, this wasn't a bad time to choose I guess; we're now up to some progress being made in the main event WWE storyline on Raw (Triple H getting fed up with Johnny Ace, a couple of good Hell in a Cell matches for both world titles last night etc.), and the march to Survivor Series, usually a pretty decent card as one of the traditional 'Big Four' PPVs (Wrestlemania, Summerslam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble), is on. And we're back, a bit more into routine and able to keep up with everything (we didn't even catch last night's PPV - going on word of mouth it was OK, though not stellar).

Please tune in through the week as news breaks - I will try to post tonight/tomorrow with thoughts on tonight's Raw, etc. - and we will be back Thursday or Friday evening as usual with a brandnew podcast of In This Very Ring. As always when times get busy, we appreciate your patience and support and hope you keep checking back in. Much love!

Sarah (and Ari)

In This Very Ring!

2011-09-17T05:18:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE for our thoughts on this week's Canadian editions of Raw and Smackdown, and our predictions for tomorrow night's Night of Champions pay-per-view and more!

We remember ...

2011-09-11T17:18:00.001-07:00

ITVR Podcast

2011-09-09T20:21:00.001-07:00

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

ITVR Podcast

2011-09-02T05:16:00.000-07:00

Please CLICK HERE for this week's In This Very Ring podcast. :) Thanks for listening!

The week (or two) in wrestling ...

2011-08-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

So - if you want to know where I've been the last two weeks, please check my other blog at http://shortysar.blogspot.com for the details ... although I'm sure we said we were going on vacation before we left! :)

As such, I have only been following wrestling around the edges the last week or so - whatever the dirtsheets turn up for me etc. So I will do my best to update myself before In This Very Ring goes to air Thursday/Friday night. But meanwhile I wanted to touch on a few tidbits that have come my way.

The RAW Main Event Scene: So this sounds semi-disappointing in some regards. I'm a huge Kevin Nash fan but they 'fake' a car accident for him to not be at the arena last week, only to have him show up; they involve not only a non-wrestler, in Johnny Laurinaitis, but a not-even-very-good on air authority figure, and the whole whodunnit in terms of siccing Nash on CM Punk at Summerslam ... I think Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are way too obvious and they're going to play at LEAST H as a straight shooter authority figure for awhile; Johnny Laurinaitis sounds likely, at least as a scapegoat - especially as behind H's back he went this week and signed Nash to a contract. But is he acting alone or at the behest of Vince McMahon? Or Stephanie McMahon? Or both? This is still interesting, although Nash, a longtime favourite of mine, seems to be the weak link. To their credit, WWE realizes this - especially from a wrestling standpoint - as they replaced him in the Night of Champions match with CM Punk this week, with Triple H. Not that that's so exciting either - Punk's on fire and I'd hate to see him sucked into whatever egos or games these vets might play - but H I think is a darn sight better, closer to the current product, and closer to his prime. We'll see where it goes, but I'd rather Punk-Cena continue, with Johnny Ace, Nash, H etc. as side characters in terms of 'who's zoomin' who' - but with the wrestlers themselves as the main players in this ... ahem ... game.
Brand Split?: Triple H announced this week that henceforth Raw shows would be 'supershows' featuring members of both rosters. This week's Smackdown, in response to a new UFC season debut, as well as the revving up of football season, is going to air live Tuesday, with a replay in their usual spot of Friday night. This also means a no-punches-pulled supershow featuring both rosters. This is fine for this week as a treat - but going forward, does this speak to the end of the brand split? I wouldn't mind that entirely, as I think having the entire roster working together across the two shows creates a lot more possibilities for feuds ... although seeing all the same names twice a week also leads to a lot of potential for hotshotting. Again as well, with two 'supershows' the same week, there's a lot of potential for pay-per-view-level stories being shared on free television, which while I appreciate it as a fan, is not necessarily wise business on the WWE's part. The trick to their business model is giving fans enough on free TV week to week that they keep tuning in and feel it's worthwhile, while keeping the REAL payoff for the $$$ shows. The odd big match or title change to remind people Raw and SD are worth their time is fine; but I feel there's been months' worth of story told weekly for awhile now; they could easily provide 1-2 reveals a week in the time they've been delivering 4-5, and still have it be worthwhile and exciting television.
Matt Hardy Woes: Matt Hardy is coming unravelled at the seams, it seems. After being found mildly injured after wrecking his car in his native NC, Matt was charged with driving while intoxicated; though it was not apparent he'd been drinking, he was clearly under the influence of a mind-altering substance. Not a week later, following a slew of strange posts on Twitter and Youtube (apparently his house is haunted, by the same ghost who caused him to crash his car?), he was hospitalized after falling in his home. Meanwhile, he has been released by TNA. While some have been making fun of this situation, and it is indeed strange, I do wish both Hardys the best, as it is sad to know what they were, and what they should be, and yet to see what they've become at the same time. I very sincerely hope they both get the help they deserve.
Ric Flair Article: Lastly, speaking of sad, this article (CLICK HERE to read), The Wrestler in Real Life by Shane Ryan has been making the rounds and gone viral this week. Ric Flair used to be one of the greatest of all time and there are many fans who will still remember him as such; however, it's sad to see, in his 60s, what this legend has become. Flair has threatened to sue the blogger, particularly in relation to his claims Flair suffers from alcoholic cardiomypoathy, but even Flair's representation acknowledges the legal documents used as source material here are legitimate. So unfortunate.

Summerslam! ... and some Wellness Policy-related suspensions

2011-08-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

So - it was the hottest night of the WWE's summer last night, as LA played host to their 24th annual Summerslam event. While the undercard was passable, there was little to really push it over the top into truly memorable territory until the last few matches - especially starting with their last minute decision, according to Jim Ross's Twitter, to substitute Booker T in for him. Sigh ... I hope the poor fans who paid $15 apiece for WWE's new promotion of commentary headsets, were able to get a refund with that fiasco. But I digress. Let's go with the rundown. And if I get some of the order incorrect, in terms of promos or what have you, my apologies.

Show opener was Alberto del Rio, R Truth and the Miz vs. Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio and John Morrison. I was surprised and disappointed they didn't hype this match beforehand as it had the potential to be great - it WAS good, and a nice way to open the show. Rey Mysterio getting the win was fair given he's in the WWE title picture, and I enjoyed this match, even if it wasn't given the hype it deserved - nor did it QUITE live up to the hype it should have had. Still, these guys are incapable of a bad match.

We then move right along to the Mark Henry-Sheamus match, which was also a Big Man-style clinic. The live crowd was pretty peeved at the countout win, but we predicted on this past week's ITVR that it wouldn't be a clear-cut win by any means and frankly I'm pleasantly surprised it wasn't an out and out double-disqualification/double-countout/no contest. Good showing from both men, who are making the big guy ground-and-pound style interesting again.

Here's where I'll deal with both sort of celebrity/cameo type parts of the show. Cee Lo Green is someone I enjoy very much, but I'm not necessarily sure, much like Kid Rock a couple Wrestlemanias ago, that he enhanced the show much. Still - kudos for a fairly big celebrity get in that sense to the WWE. I also very much enjoyed the Jimmy Hart cameo with R Truth - the Little Jimmy jokes wrote themselves. Ron Artest's cameo at the end was cool, although I didn't entirely get it ... not being a basketball fan?

I also want to comment on some of the other backstage interactions throughout the night here; Stephanie McMahon made a return appearance, interacting distrustfully (though well) with CM Punk, and being seen leaving John Cena's locker room later in the night. She was also seen giving her husband Triple H what appeared to be a good luck kiss just before the main event.

The Divas match between Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix was good, and I'll even give surprise at the ending - although I don't entirely mind. As Jason Powell over at http://www.prowrestling.net pointed out, since Beth Phoenix's eventual title win, and work with the likes of Natalya, and eventually Kharma, is all but given, stretching this out as far as they can until they can get a credible 'good girl' Diva or two in there (she's already beaten Kelly Kelly and Eve, the only two faces left in the division I believe) isn't a bad idea.

Wade Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan was good and my prediction was right - Barrett gets the win, because while neither guy really has a whole lot of room for error here, Daniel Bryan does still have the briefcase with the title shot contract, and so a bit more wiggle room. I suspect this might open up the potential for a feud over said Money in the Bank briefcase, which wouldn't be bad either as both guys could make a claim to being at that glass ceiling, and I think could run with the ball if given to them. And a feud between these two, I don't mind. two very technically savvy, hold-based wrestlers having a feud is very un-WWE - but a nice change that I don't mind now and then, favouring that style a little bit myself.

Christian vs. Randy Orton - Edge's cameo was beautiful (hee hee ...) I enjoyed seeing him, although I also respect the WWE handling him quickly, since his actually being in Christian's corner, or really supporting him in any way, would make him too 'face' too quickly. These two - Christian and Orton - can go, and they did. Orton's title win should be the blowoff to this feud, having won in an anything-goes scenario, although with most credible potential opponents still having some work to do before getting there, I anticipate a bit more mileage out of this bad boy.

So all of the above was good, with some memorable moments (especially Edge's return and a good match between Christian-Orton). But this brings us to the true "WTF?" match of the night. Well - more accurately, match ending. CM Punk and John Cena have an incredible rematch, the crowd electric right from the start, edge-of-their-seats with the duelling chants ("Let's go Cena!"/"Cena sucks!") and everything. CM Punk eventually pulls it out in the stretch, although, after basically playing it straight all night, Triple H didn't heed that John Cena's foot was on the rope during the final three-count (accident? open question ...)

CM Punk didn't have a whole lot of time to savour his victory, however, before being jacknife powerbombed by ... well, who the hell does a jacknife powerbomb, but Kevin Nash? Yes, the big man, Diesel himself! No sooner do the fans register that moment than he exits through the crowd, while Raw Money in the Bank-holder Alberto del Rio enters with a referee. One, two, three, on the weakened CM Punk, and we have our third WWE champion of the night, and some definite 'splainin' to do on Raw this evening! If ever the last 5 minutes saved a show ... and the show didn't even suck! Absolutely dumbstriking.

Also dumbstriking, before I go - two Wellness Policy violation-related suspensions (read: drugs) today from the WWE. First, referee Mike Chioda, I believe the first zebra to be suspended under the policy. Secondly, Tough Enough champ from this season, Andy Leavine, in an auspicious start to an already-rocky WWE career. Sigh ...

Either way, keep tuning in over the next few days as Raw plays out and whatnot. Business, as Jim Ross would say, is about to pick up! See you at the matches.

Click here for this week's ITVR ... and read on

2011-08-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

NOTE: This was record on Thurs. and I haven't had the time to upload it until now. So please note the following addenda:

Able to discuss Smackdown without spoiling anything now, congratulations to new Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes, who defeated Ezekiel Jackson for the belt on Friday. Also - allow the speculation to begin about Christian's comment, that, if this match is 'everything goes', he's got 'the best thing going'. What (or who?!) does he have up his sleeve. Not for nothing, it is a known fact that a very, very good friend of Christian's will be signing autographs and gladhanding at the Access event prior to Summerslam tomorrow night ... Ahem ... you think you know him?
Heath Slater, former Nexus and Core member, has been accused by a hotel security guard of assaulting her and trying to force her into his hotel room; not being one of those top guys WWE will protect at all costs, they are already distancing themeslves by commenting on this as a personal matter involving Slater that has nothing to do with the WWE. How long until he receives his walking papers.
One more match has been adde to Smackdown, with Wade Barrett facing Daniel Bryan - my prediction is a somewhat tricky Wade Barrett win, as there are no consequences to this match, but that might provide an opening for him to challenge for the Money in the Bank briefcase. I think ultimately this feud might end up being Bryan's - but Barrett needs a win as he's started working his way back out of the obscurity he'd so unfairly fallen into.

Black Friday

2011-08-08T18:16:00.001-07:00

Hey guys - Monday Night Raw is underway and we'll be discussing this go-home edition of the show, as well as Smackdown from this past week and Summerslam this coming weekend (WOW!) later in the week. Meanwhile though I wanted to address in a busy weekend we missed Black Friday - aka, the annual housecleaning WWE often does, the day many mid- and lower-carders answer phonecalls from that Stamford area code at their own risk.

This past Friday saw the ouster of Vladimir Kozlov, David Hart Smith, and Chris Masters - but for once, it was actually the Divas who brought the most intrigue to this release day. Melina Perez was released after longstanding rumours of a lousy attitude, and being a quite-outspoken Tweeter. This is going to make for some awkwardness for her still-employed boyfriend of many years, John Morrison. Hmm ...

Also rumoured to be outgoing, is Gail Kim who has claimed since Friday on her Twitter that she quit the WWE, despite the fact WWE has said nothing about her release, or her having quit. Which speaks to her either being done with the WWE, or trying very hard to make sure that happens.

We of course, as always, join the WWE in wishing the former Superstars and Divas all the best in their future endeavours.

Maryse facing surgery

2011-08-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

WWE diva Maryse announced this week she will be needing hernia surgery and will be out of action for awhile, although specific dates or timelines were not provided.

After a rough month - seeking a restraining order against a stalker and now this - we wish Maryse all the best and can't wait to see her back in action. While she might LOOK like an untalented Barbie type, she is actually a fairly bright spot in the Diva's division.

CM Punk Entertains ...

2011-08-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Even when doing the weather!

In something I don't know anyone could have predicted, the super-talented but incredibly-normal looking CM Punk has become one of the best ambassadors for the pro wrestling industry since ... OK. since John Cena in terms of mainstream publicity. While he might not have the larger-than-life personality of a Rock or Hulk Hogan, through simply being talented, outspoken, and cool, he has definitely garnered some attention for himself and, by extension, the WWE.

Enjoy the video below featuring Punk doing an interview, and a weather report, with an Indianapolis, IN morning show.

Click here to listen to ITVR

2011-07-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

With apologies - we did this last night but didn't get a chance to upload until now. Also - please check out the video below as promised from Daniel Bryan. Cheers, and happy long weekend Canada!

Happy Birthday Triple H!

2011-07-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, WWE wrestl ... ooops ... sports entertainer and executive, son in law of chairman of the board Vince McMahon and husband of fellow wwe executive Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, turns 42 today. Happy returns.

CM Punk on Jimmy Kimmel Live

2011-07-26T11:04:00.001-07:00

Check out the below clips, parts 1 and 2 of CM Punk's epic battle of the titans with Jimmy Kimmel's 6 year old nephew Archie. By the way - I love how this awesomely precocious 6 year old predicted not only the outcome of the WWE Title tournament, but John Cena's reentry into the title scene as well. Awesome. Good kid. I totally want to see him as Cena's cornerman at Summerslam.

Last Night's Raw (and something of a recap of the last 10 days)

2011-07-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence guys -after joining in the fun over at OWW radio (click here and follow the radio links to last Tuesday's archive, where we discuss the Money in the Bank pay per view, the following night's Raw, including the title tournament and Vince McMahon's ouster as WWE head honcho, and more - get yourself up to date if you aren't already!), everyone in our family proceeded to get sick - SO much of fun! :) Trust me, we'd have rather been here with you.

That said, we have been following the events of the past few weeks with a keen eye. As always the CM Punk storyline has been fascinating; following his winning, and leaving with the WWE belt last Sunday night, he partied all around Chicago before the next night's festivities at Raw. Vince McMahon announced a title tournament to crown a new champion. Amid hints of the Miz going face (fighting through the ridiculous odds of a major 'injury' is not especially a heel thing to do - especially the kind of heel Miz plays). I didn't mind this as much as some, since it meant a night of wrestling; but I do get where it perhaps didn't catch the imagination as much as some due to the necessarily short match lengths etc.

By the end of the night Vince had prorogued the final between Miz and Mysterio to publicly fire John Cena. In one of Cena's best promos in a long while he reminded Vince he could certainly go ahead and fire him but John loved wrestling too much to just quit, so he'd just do what he did somewhere else - 'BROTHER!' It was around here that Triple H intervened, telling 'Pops' that the Board of Directors was concerned with some of the decisions he'd made in recent weeks and had relieved him of his duties. Triple H was now in charge - sorry. Vince, after some mockery, actually got a 'Thank You Vince' chant as his eyes welled up. While Vince has certainly not been 'fired' from the WWE by his board of directors, this does indicate something of a stepping back on his part, and a shift in both the front-of-curtain and backroom day-to-day operations of the WWE. Not a bad show, or way to ultimately move the company in honestly, a more creative direction. Triple H gets it, that the WWE can be a PG product without being a cartoon - and while there's room for the Rey Mysterio types for 'the kids', there has to be some elements for the 18-35 male demographic that at the end of the day is wrestling's bread and butter.

A week (and CM Punk-Triple H 'discussion' at Comic-Con - look it up - later), and the WWE title tournament resulted in a Rey Mysterio win and a heartfelt promo which only makes one feel bad for what comes later. I even enjoyed Alberto Del Rio's failed cashing in after such a rough match; this could become his schtick as he's now failed twice to cash in; thinking 'this is my spot', and then deciding iti sn't.

Some of the right guys - Dolph Ziggler, Evan Bourne - got some appropriate attention, and Triple H began flexing his new muscle, bringing back Jim Ross to the announce team (telling Michael Cole it was his choice whether to stay on or not, but he had the night off in a match with Zack Ryder - another fan-friendly move although I'm sure they'd like to see him either in a slightly higher profile, or working as a heel, which is HIS bread and butter); Cole's H imitation was the best thing I've seen him do in awhile. Triple H had a great confrontation with R Truth - I'll post video later, it was great work from both of them, and anything resulting in the return of John Morrison will elicit no complaints from me. And, in the most controversial decision of the night, announced John Cena, who had a rematch clause after MITB, wanted a shot at the belt later that night and Mysterio agreed he deserved the chance. Their match resulted in (le sigh) a John Cena win ... only to be interrupted by CM Punk's return (to Living Colour's Cult of Personality - GREAT pick!) to close the show.

Definitely a newsworthy and fast paced Raw which really didn't lag too badly at any point and kept fan interest up in a variety of new little Easter Eggs. My only quibble - and honestly, I haven't decided if it's a complaint yet, I've been going back and forth on it - was the sheer number of things going on. My initial reaction was, you are blowing months worth of storyline in one short night; Cena vs. Mysterio should have been announced for next week in order to promote it and get people to tune in, it's a big enough match; CM Punk should not have come back ... well maybe unannounced but with no hints and barely an absence, 'We can't miss you if you don't go away' as Ari put it last night. Etc. However, Jason Powell over at http://www.prowrestling.net gave me some pause in considering that this was a major 'power shift' at the WWE, on TV if not in fact, and so a week or two of MAJOR OVERHAUL would actually fit into the story onscreen; create some fast paced interest, with an excuse for the rapid pace. I'm wondering what you guys think out there?

Be sure and participate in the conversation, either by commenting here on in our Facebook Group (check it out on the taskbar to the right --->). Be well and keep checking back here guys - it's sure to be quite the ride heading into Summerslam ... which with an apparent rematch to determine the 'REAL WWE Champion', Cee Lo Green performing, and several other storylines being built up in a good, Wrestlemania-buildup style, is looking to be another very strong showing in this year's WWE PPVs.

Click here for ITVR

2011-07-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Randy 'Macho Man' Savage benefit called a 'blemish on the name of wrestling' - St. Petersburg Times

2011-07-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

Click the title above to read about this unfortunate travesty of a 'charity tribute show' to Randy "Macho Man" Savage who died last month of heart disease. I agree with his brother Lanny's take at the end, regretting the attachment of Randy's name to the event, but expressing faith it won't tarnish the legend's image.

A promoter saying 'ding' into a microphone to represent a ten-bell salute, because he couldn't rustle up a ring bell? Seriously? Not to mention selling this as a charity show, then being unable to 'afford' writing checks to the aforementioned charities ... 'tacky' doesn't even begin to cover this nonsense. 'Stench' is correct.

Another Fabulous CM Punk Segment

2011-07-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence - I started working full time last week! :) Awesome news but an adjustment all around as I am now working two jobs - one full and one part time, on top of my always #1 job of being a wife and mom. We'll be back with ITVR this week and some more frequent posting as well. However - I had to post the below segment from Raw last night, as an incredibly strong followup to the CM Punk storyline of the last few weeks. KUDOS to everyone involved - this is what WWE should be, with Vince McMahon (non kayfabe) going with whatever it is that sweeps the fans up - and Punker is that these days.

WWE News: John Cena rips The Rock - "I am not an actor, I am a professional wrestler"

2011-07-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

WWE News: John Cena rips The Rock - "I am not an actor, I am a professional wrestler"

Click the link above for some fun with John Cena in Australia - this also serves as a correction to last night's commentary that WWE pre-taped RAW in order to give their boys and girls the night off on Independence Day - the crew is indeed on an overseas tour. So add that to the hellishly busy three weeks the WWE has already had ... who says things slow down in the summer?

ITVR - click here

2011-07-03T21:51:00.001-07:00

All You Need to Know about Last Night's Raw

2011-06-28T15:09:00.001-07:00

(OK - not really - last night's Raw was actually surprisingly entertaining in some places - you know it's an alright show when Shawn Michaels is actually your weak link ... when Divas get submission matches and steel cage matches are made ... some being critical of this being a big match stip that should be used sparingly after much build, while I'm OK with the surprise factor on Raw now and then even if it's giving away 'Something Big' for free.)

But by far the most entertaining item on Raw this week was the following - and every young wrestler seeking to make a name for himself should study two promos. The one below, and Steve Austin's post-King of the Ring 'Austin 3:16' interview. NICE work Punk.

For the record on the followup - CM Punk was 'suspended' immediately after Raw last night. While the story is already followed up upon - next week's Raw is in the can after a double-header last night - I will leave the spoiling for other sites. Google almost any wrestling site to find them, or head over to my always-favourite http://www.prowrestling.net - always good coverage.

NOTE: I don't envy the WWE production team or performers this month. A three hour Raw, a two hour Smackdown, a PPV, followed by another three hour Raw, a Smackdown, and then a Raw double-header tonight, and two consecutive Smackdown tapings (this week's tonight, next week's tomorrow) in order to free the crew up for next week (overseas tour I believe?) - gruelling, gruelling schedule.

Awesome New DVD Concept

2011-06-27T15:09:00.001-07:00

So I will be back later tonight to discuss Raw, featuring Shawn Michaels as guest host and the Raw Roulette (spin the wheel, make the deal) concept - although honestly ... 'On a Pole?' 'Sing Along?' ... hmmmmm ... but first I had to share my excitement about a rumoured new WWE project in the works, as both Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels have been in Stamford CT the last couple of days, as has interviewer and broadcaster extraordinaire Jim Ross.

They're releasing a new DVD in regards to the Hart-Michaels feud. If successful, they're strongly considering giving the DVD treatment to some of the best feuds of (I'm guessing recent) WWE history ... for example, Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon. I like this concept, and would be interested to see just how they cover this. If they are willing to delve into some other companies and if some other personalities are willing to come aboard and discuss past feuds (wouldn't it be a coup to get, say, Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, or say even Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid to discuss the Hart Foundation vs. British Bulldogs from back in the day? Not saying that would ever happen, but ...).

What wrestling feuds would YOU like to see get the DVD treatment?

Raw - and Wrestlers Behaving Badly

2011-06-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Raw last night was better than expected -although still at least somewhat mediocre. The highlight for me was CM Punk - his snow angels at the top of the show, and his promo at the end when he'd won the right to challenge John Cena in Chicago at Money in the Bank July 17 ... which is also the last day of his contract, incidentally. Threatening to leave the WWE with the belt ... definite intrigue heading into the next PPV, and I'm already more interested in that one than Capitol Punishment - which admittedly left me cold in a lot of ways. Strong, strong matches; Punk-Mysterio, Ziggler-Kingston, Christian-Orton ... all good stuff. But the prerequisite Barack Obama impersonator, and a few other energy-killing aspects of the show sort of mitigated the otherwise strong showing.

I also am not going to be as hard on this Power to the People concept as in other times, as for once I legitimately believe they let the fans have some say. Giving Ziggler-Kingston a best-of-3-falls match on Raw was obviously the work of the fans, and much appreciated. There were a couple of voting glitches - reporting on these over at prowrestling.net is excellent - but for the most part the show, while a bit of overkill after another long Raw and PPV, and certainly not necessarily worthy of 3 hours of broadcast, was better than my ranting anticipated last week.

Perhaps more exciting though is the anticipation this Raw built - first, for the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV as discussed due to CM Punk's pronouncement, but also for next week's Raw, for which Shawn Michaels will be a special guest. My only complaint? It's another gimmick Raw, as Raw Roulette (formerly Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal) is brought back. I don't necessarily have a problem with this in itself, except for the sheer number of Raw gimmicks of late - and it also of course being better in a PPV context where the types of matches the wheel determines are actually interesting, and given the time to be excellent. "Wheel" just need to see how it plays out, I guess.

Meanwhile - in 'not-news', a couple of reports today of wrestlers behaving badly, as Matt Hardy was sent home from tonight's TNA tapings due to several house shows at which he turned up late recently - as well as some disapproval of a Youtube video Hardy posted of his brother Jeff tasering his (Matt's) girlfriend Reby (although this - while I get is in bad taste in so many ways - I don't get why it's in more bad taste than anything else in the wrestling world ... fair enough to be offended by this, but then we should be offended by all wrestler-on-Diva violence, which is a fair position to take, but many fans don't. Inside the ring vs. outside the ring, and/or severity of the stunt I guess?).

And lastly - Scott Hall was sentenced today to 18 days in prison due to a 2010 DUI arrest. He will report to jail on July 5 and, due to ongoing health issues, be kept in the medical unit. Best of luck to Mr. Hall who has a long road toward getting his life together after a very rough few years in particular.

ONE LAST NOTE: Ryan Dunn of Jackass fame - who has done some work with the WWE in the past - along with his passenger died in an apparently-alcohol and speed-related car accident Sunday night. I will thus far stay out of the controversy apparently created by anyone insensitive enough to point out the awful choices which led to these two unnecessary deaths; but I will express my most sincere condolences to the friends and family of the deceased, who are no doubt struggling right now with both their loss, and the circumstances surrounding it. God bless and be well.

Click to listen to ITVR. :) Enjoy!

2011-06-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

And Happy Father's Day to all those to whom this may apply! :)

Another 3-Hour Raw Next Week?

2011-06-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

So last night was a 3-hour All Star Raw - Ari and I will talk about it in detail later this week but it was quiet entertaining on some respects - the Miz and Roddy Piper in the same ring was definitely promising, I enjoyed Steve Austin as guest General Manager (and as always, his heavy-vehicle ridin' ... in this case, right over the obnoxious anonymous GM's computer). Of course some weaker stuff - the Diva's Can Can? R Truth's beatdown on Hornswoggle? (OK - I guess this enhanced the R Truth character, but not even by much, as I don't know what it would prove for any wrestler on the roster to manhandle the leprechaun). And a decent job, both on Friday and today, of getting Christian some heat off the fans - recognizing the risk that his heel turn could have taken fans with him who sympathized with the quick turnover in his title reign. I've even warmed up to some of the Barack Obama press conference promos since they've started using wrest ... excuse me, Superstars ... in them - R Truth last week, Christian, Sheamus, etc. this week. And at LEAST they started actually putting some attention and thought on matchmaking and promoting Capitol Punishment for real (6 days out). Again - a more detailed discussion on Thursday/Friday, but those being my initial thoughts.

What kind of annoyed me at the end of yesterday's Raw though was the announcement of another 3-hour Raw next week. They have, I believe it's 4 of these a year, and when spaced out to one every 3 months or so, that's great. It makes a nice treat that WWE (usually) tries a bit harder for. But having two 3-hour Raws back to back (with a PPV in between!), I find myself wondering if WWE is asking a bit much of some peoples' time; especially 'wasting' for lack of a better term, a 3-hour special in the summer months when people's TV watching is winding down for the season. I mean, there's already a LOT of WWE on my TV - Monday Night Raw, Smackdown, and - including webcasts, NXT and Superstars, as well as a monthly pay per view. As a big fan, i don't mind. But I can see some who are busier or poorer starting to have issues.

When something is done all the time, it isn't special anymore. Rariry lends value. These are marketing principles that really, a promotional genius like Vince McMahon MUST be aware of. He'd be wise to perhaps employ these concepts a bit - probably the biggest mistake he makes on a consistent basis being to ride any horse that seems to have the slightest bit of momentum, into the ground (see Cena, John; H, Triple; his own character at times). I can tell you from my own reaction, I was excited about a 3-hour All Star Raw last night; folks from both brands in the same place, a few faces from the past, a good healthy dose of wrestling after a few busy off-and-on weeks ... I'm nowhere near as psyched about next week's (although that might also have to do with the theme; other than the first Taboo Tuesday or two ,the 'Power to the People' concept has really failed, despite its promising premise, largely due to the WWE's lack of willingness to REALLY cede control in any significant or meaningful way).

Another 3 hours of wrestling after a big 3 hour show and PPV this week, where we get to pretend the fans are calling the shots while being asked to put together stupid matches guided by leading questions and set ups (which, if I were more of a conspiracy theorist, by the way, I would suspect they offer such lousy options and have us vote on such stupid matches JUST to tweek the nose of the armchair bookers to say 'See you don't know what you're doing any more than you accuse us of!') ... yeah. I'll watch - and might even be pleasantly surprised (heck; that happens often when I go into a wrestilng event with low expectations) ... but I can tell you right now, my skeptical people's eyebrow is already way up. Just sayin' ...

CLICK HERE for ITVR Podcast (Yes, we're serious! Miss us?)

2011-06-08T20:04:00.001-07:00

Congrats Kharma

2011-05-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

PRE-BLOG NOTE: Not apologizing this time for being away the last 10 days/ish; I ended up working a fair bit last week and then was away for the weekend at a church conference. We'd gotten a little regular blogging going the week before, and I should be back to that now - but just as an FYI.

I'm going to save getting into the meat of RAW for ITVR Thursday, but I did want to give a congratulations to Kharma on her (non-kayfabe) pregnancy. We couldn't figure out the ridiculous storyline last week, after she's been coming out decimating the women's division, where she comes otu seemingly on the warpath, only to collapse and cry. Matt Dawgs over at World Wrestling Insanity (worldwrestlinginsanity.com - cut and paste, too lazy to create a link lol) mentioned on Friday the heretofore missed, but obvious, link of a woman going out of action unexpectedly for a bit over 9 months ... thus her announcement yesterday was not entirely unexpected.

While she claims she will be out of action due to her high risk pregnancy, I think any pregnancy should involve not, you know, doing the pro wrestling thing. And while this obviously puts a damper on her monster persona, and takes her character in a different and unexpected direction I was concerned about (particularly giving her promo time, which I don't recall she's had before), didn't turn out as badly as I feared. Very interesting, and perhaps the highlight of Raw last night (and how often can we say that about the women's action?)

Not a bad show, all in all, for a holiday Monday on which they had a LOT of technical difficulties (and extremely out of character, as the WWE is usually one of the more smoothly-run and technically proficient spo ... entertainment, excuse me, companies out there. But again - we'll discuss all that and more In This Very Ring, later this week.

Thanks for bearing with me - as I said, it's annoying to get on a roll and then have it interrupted so hopefully all those glitches are gone now and it's smooth sailing at least through the summer.

12 Years Later ...

2011-05-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

You are still missed.
OWEN HART, May 7 1965-May 23 1999

CLICK HERE for this week's ITVR Macho Man Randy Savage Tribute

2011-05-20T22:17:00.001-07:00

And have your hankies prepared. RIP Macho Man - you will be missed.

A major Apology

2011-05-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

So -

One week we have readjusting to our 'real lives' ...

The next we had weekend company, which means prepping for said company beforehand. Sorry - this has meant spotty wrestling watching, and in terms of stuff one can follow on the dirtsheets, not a whole lot going on, other than TNA's name change (although want to make more of a point of watching them in the coming weeks, with the return of Mick Foley last week, as well as the return of Joanie Laurer, aka Chyna, after a 10-year absence from the ring). There was Christian's (suckitudinous) loss of the world title after 5 days in a (not so suckitudinous) match with Randy Orton, which bugs me on so many levels - poor Christian. Even last night's Raw, which we'd cleared the decks for, resulted in a 10pm doze for both of us.

However rest assured we'll get back in the saddle, review some recaps, and make our bold predictions for Sunday's Extreme Rules PPV - you will hear from us Friday if not sooner and I will try to blog between now and then - perhaps my thoughts on Impact Wrestling Thursday night as we tune in to check out Chyna!

Meanwhile - pardon the general ups and downs of 2011 so far (if I had to assess, we're broadcasting less frequently but putting together better shows when we do, which can't be a bad thing), and I think we're into enough of a routine now we can pull it together henceforth. If not, we know we can count on you guys to be there when you can, and cut us some slack when we can't, and thanks as always for your support, which we don't so much take for granted, as just know you're cool peeps like that!

XO - Sar

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-09T04:19:00.000-07:00

OK so I know it's not wrestling related, but I did want to share that sentiment. Unfortunately we missed a whole lot of wrestling last week, and only caught up on some this weekend. I will blog my thoughts about Raw tonight and get back on the proverbial horse now that we have something resembling a routine going forward - meanwhile though, to all the Mom's, special aunts, step-moms, grandmas, and single Dads doing the work of moms ... happy mother's day!

Thoughts for Shane Helms and his Girlfriend Karen

2011-05-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

As this was the first week for Ari being off parental leave and back at work it's been a busy one for all of us and quite the changeup in routine. We didn't have the opportunity to catch much wrestling, between that and the boys having slowly moved towards a 9pm bedtime (sigh ...) - however, we have now recorded (or will have after tonight) Raw, Sunday's PPV, and tonight's Smackdown, and will come atcha with an ITVR podcast tomorrow.

Meanwhile however I want to report on a very serious situation in which former WWE wrestler Shane Helms was injured, along with his girlfriend Karen, in a very serious motorcycle accident today. While it seems both are out of the woods, it was at first a very critical situation and both have suffered broken bones. Helms is expected to require surgery. My thoughts and prayers are with both of them and their family and friends at this time, for a speedy and healthful recovery. Best of wishes from In This Very Ring.

Much love and respect,

Sarah and Ari

Does Barack Obama train, say his prayers, and take his vitamins, brother?

2011-05-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

Missed last night's PPV due to some babies staying up late, and then being the boring old folks we are, not having the energy to stay up for the replay; but I do know Christian and John Cena respectively won their two brands' world titles, and wanted to congratulate them; I will comment more on what sounded like an interesting evening once I've watched it. And we will be tuning in tonight (in between Canadian election coverage) to see the Rock's birthday celebration on Raw. So should be interesting all around. Meanwhile though, just saw the funniest thing I have seen all week (and it's only Monday, lol) and had to share. Enjoy the video below.

CLICK HERE for this week's ITVR

2011-04-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

2011 Supplemental Draft Results

2011-04-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, WWE held its supplemental draft lottery through the afternoon. Here are the results, and my thoughts on each. Thanks muchly to Jason Powell, http://www.prowrestling.net, which was my source for the draft results, and who sat through the draft yesterday when I didn't have the chance to.

Daniel Bryan to Smackdown:
I think this is probably a good move for Bryan longterm; generally a better crowd against whom to showcase his wrestling ability. Now mind you, some of the guys I'd be most interested in seeing him mix it up with - John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler, Rey Mysterio, etc. - are on Raw. But Smackdown is known for being more wrestling-heavy, for giving matches more time and giving the guys in them more freedom to showcase what they got without the risk of overshadowing the 'Main Event Style'-types like Cena, Triple H etc. As such, I think Bryan can do well on the blue brand.

10. Jack Swagger to Raw:
This makes sense given his involvement with the Michael Cole-Jerry Lawler storyline, although it takes away one of the potential SD dream matches in him vs. Daniel Bryan. Hopefully WWE gives Swagger a good Raw run this time around instead of the lousy one he had last time.

11. The Great Khali and Ranjin Singh to Smackdown:
Not terribly newsworthy, and it will be interesting to just see what kind of role these two play on the blue brand. I own being 'enh' on Khali, so I'm 'enh' on this move.

12. Jimmy Uso to Smackdown.
OK ...

13. Kelly Kelly to Raw:
OK ... I'm guessing, with the high likelihood Kharma's debut is going to be on Raw, that we have just established her first 'Barbie' victim. Not an original though, granted - Jason Powell made the same comment - but honestly, it's true. Raw right now actually has some strong wrestlers - Natalya Neidhart, Gail Kim - and only the heel Bellas as 'plastic' offerings. We needed a gorgeous babyface victim, and Kelly Kelly is it. Not to mention the opportunity to continue her SD feud with Vicki Guerrero if WWE so chooses.

14. JTG to Raw:
JTG is still under contract? Sorry ... I guess it was his partner who was let go ...

15. Alicia Fox to Smackdown:
Hmm ... will she and Michelle McCool form a new Mean Girls type group now that Layla El seems to be on the outs with her former tag team partner? Other than that this is another 'enh' for me. Alicia Fox has developed a vicious style of wrestling and has impressed me on a certain level - but she's hardly one of the standouts of the Divas division.

16. William Regal to Smackdown: I'm agreeing with Jason Powell here too that Regal is more talented than his position on WWE TV would suggest and it would be nice to see him get another Jerry Lawler-esque run in the spotlight, although I'm afraid he's seen more as a great mentor to work with the younger talent. I think his chance to work with Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, and others will be strong here on Smackdown and I look forward to seeing what role he'll end up playing on the blue brand. With no offense to Booker T, I wouldn't mind seeing him replace T on the commentating team, either ...

17. Yoshi Tatsu to Smackdown:
I think this guy has great potential; I don't think I can really say he's lived up to it. While it would be nice to think on the more wrestling heavy brand he might have more of a chance, I'm afraid he might have been cast too much as a bit of a joke character to be able to completely come back from that. Hope I'm wrong though.

18. Drew McIntyre to Raw:
Interesting pick ... here's a guy who was pushed to the moon, only to have been reined in a bit in recent months. Here's hoping this is a fresh start for someone I think is a pretty damn talented performer.

19. Natalya to Smackdown:
OK. Balancing the wrestling talent a little bit more in terms of the Divas division, I can dig it. While Smackdown really only had LayCool as legitimate wrestling talent up to now, they now have Natalya, and to a lesser extent, Alica Fox. I know they have/had Beth Phoenix as well, however I haven't seen her in ages (have I just been missing her?), so I don't count her as much as I otherwise might.

20. Curt Hawkins to Raw:
Yep - stop the presses on this one.

21. Chris Masters to Raw.
Some more visibility for the Masterpiece, who has actually grown on me and I think has learned a lot in his time in the biz. Let's see where he goes with this one. Or maybe he just remains on Superstars after all.

22. Jey Uso to Smackdown:
OK - makes sense with his tag team partner having moved over.

23. Kofi Kingston to Raw:
Another big name move - no wonder that, while I'm still using the term 'supplemental draft', WWE didn't. It usually implies switches from midcard or lower, and really they've had a few big-ish names switch over here. Kofi on Raw will have a chance to either excel under a brighter spotlight ... or languish as a small fish in a big pond. We'll have to see whether I like this one or not.

24. Ted DiBiase to Smackdown:
This can only be good, a fresh start for Ted, who's another would-be main eventer who's been languishing way more than he deserves of late. Who on earth would have predicted that of the former Legacy team, Cody Rhodes would have been the one with the intriguing character and storyline, while Ted Dibiase would be the midcarder with no storyline short of a semi-hot girlfriend?

25. Tyson Kidd to Smackdown:
I repeat, he's still under contract? I'm guessing someone might be hearing best wishes for his future endeavours in time ... and where's Harry Smith? Or sorry - David Hart Smith?

26. Tamina to Smackdown:
The Uso reunion is complete. Yay.

27. Tyler Reks to Raw:
Another one who started out with much promise - even made the Smackdown Bragging Rights team - to have disappeared into the Superstars ether. Wonder what this move will do for his career longterm.

28. Alex Riley to Smackdown:
A sudden bustup of Team Miz, which on the one hand disappoints me as I enjoy him as Miz's apprentice and mini-me, but on the other hand, I'm impressed they're giving him a chance to shine on his own. Let's see if he runs with the ball they just threw him. Aaah, who am I kidding, he'll run with it if they let him, he won't if they don't.

29. Beth Phoenix to Raw:
Or is this the feud they're setting up for Kharma? Kharma destroys Kelly Kelly and Phoenix makes the save as the 'real' competition? Interesting. I do have to echo Jason Powell's question though ... with Tamina jumping brands meaning Santino Marella has lost yet another girlfriend ... a Glamarella reunion anyone?

30. Sheamus to Smackdown:
He could dominate the brand, and that's the truth. it will be interesting to see who they put him with and how. If Undertaker comes back in any kind of OK shape, these two could have an intriguing and heavy-hitting, high-impact program. It would be brutal. If they weren't obviously building toward a HHH-Taker rematch at Wrestlemania, and if we weren't so clearly getting to the end of the line on Taker's streak and career, I'd suggest Sheamus, if built right, could be an intriguing 'challenger'/'victim' at the next Mania ... except for the likelihood at this point that it will be Taker's last. Either way ... there's room for a good feud there if possible - and other feuds if not. An interesting choice with which to end the 2011 WWE Draft.

Bloggin' the Draft

2011-04-25T18:31:00.001-07:00

So it's been awhile and I did explain we had both Passover and Easter plans over the last week ... and lost in the shuffle was me mentioning tonight is the brand extension draft, where WWE Raw and WWE Smackdown exchange performers based on the winners of matches throughout the show. So while we'll do an ITVR podcast Friday to talk about the draft and look ahead to Extreme Rules PPV, I'm going to sort of live blog the draft edition of Raw as we go.

BTW - those who expected the draft would occur in June - that was the plan. However, with Edge's sudden retirement, there is a dirth of main event 'good guy' talent on Smackdown, so the draft was moved up to address that disparity. While I'm a bit dubious of the draft being held so close to a PPV, making some of the matches on the card less relevant, it's still always an interesting show so let's get to it.

Raw opened with a battle Royal between the two brands, with the winner's brand getting a Draft pick. At the end of the day, Smackdown luminaries Big Show and Kofi Kingston were the last men standing, and won the first draft pick of the night for their brand. BOTTOM LINE: John Cena to Smackdown! As the locker room goes crazy. John Cena cuts an enthusiastic promo, and already the face of the WWE has shifted a bit. SD needed a main event 'babyface', and they got THE babyface. Not a bad move, if you want my opinion.

We go on to some promotion on Michael Cole's part for his match later this evening with Jim Ross, and R Truth cutting a not-atypical heel promo saying that doing things for the fans had gotten him nowhere, and he was now determined to look out for himself. Not a bad heel promo as far as that goes - it will be interesting to see if R Truth DOES indeed go further as a heel.

We then enjoy another vignette for Awesome Kong, who will now be known as Kharma going forward, beheading another Barbie Doll, before Eve Torres came out to fight Layla El. Cue the usual Michael Cole insulting the Divas interruption, before Eve's hand was raised in victory. After a fight was broken up between Layla and her tag team partner Michelle McCool, Rey Mysterio was announced as the latest draft pick over to Raw ... cut to Jim Ross warming up for his match, up next, with Cole ... cut to commercial.

Cut to a decent Cody Rhodes promo on the newly-drafted Rey Mysterio, before Sheamus (Raw) and Kofi Kingston (SD) fight for another draft pick. In perhaps a bit of an upset, Kofi Kingston wins, resulting in another big draft trade as Randy Orton is heading over to Smackdown.

Which brings us to the Michael Cole-Jim Ross match, which resulted in a decimated cowboy hat (also a recap of the disgusting Raw moment from last week where JR had to kiss Cole's athlete's foot-infested foot). Nonetheless, this was exactly what one would expect, a joke match, about which my only complaint, in that context, was much like Cole's match at Wrestlemania, went on a bit long. I had patience for him longer than some, but I think the Michael Cole character has jumped the shark for me the last week or two also. DQ finish with a win for Jim Ross ensues after Jack Swagger interferes and attacks JR. A post-match beatdown ensues, due to JR having bloodied Michael Cole's lip, where Swagger has JR in the ankle lock while Michael Cole whips him with a belt, until Jerry Lawler makes the save and delivers a few lashes of his own with said belt. Cue the Anonymous Raw GM beep ...

"This Sunday at Extreme Rules - Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole and Jack Swagger will now be a Country Whipping Match." Oh how fun ... lol.

We now have Randy Orton (Smackdown) vs. Dolph Ziggler - amazing how they were able to make a match ahead of time for two draft pics, projecting that Randy Orton would have been drafted beforehand ... lol. Jokes; but this was actually a pretty solid match with an Orton win on Smackdown's behalf. The draft pick in this match was interrupted by a CM Punk promo promising to, of course, cause mucho bodily harm to Randall Kenneth Orton at Extreme Rules in their Last Man Standing match. Randy threatened much the same in reverse before the draft continued ... after a commercial break, of course. This match enhanced the Smackdown roster by Mark Henry, and Sin Cara. For those keeping score, that has Raw at having gained one wrestler (Mysterio) and Smackdown having gained four (Orton and Cena, as well as Henry and Cara).

This disparity was evened out a bit however in the next match as Rey Mysterio defeated Wade Barrett (in Smackdown Blue, just as the Nexus was in Raw Red earlier - as Jason Powell pointed out over at http://www.prowrestling.net, how far we've come - or perhaps receded? - in a year. This also won Raw two draft picks; welcome Big Show and Alberto del Rio, who didn't seem happy about his trade.

The show wound down with an ad for the Rock's birthday party next week, as well as Michael Cole coming back out to join Booker T, Josh Matthews and Jerry Lawler (four announcers?! and these four?! really?!) to run down the Extreme Rules lineup before Teddy Long entered to announce the last match of the evening; The Miz, Alberto del Rio and CM Punk representing Raw, vs. John Cena, Christian and Mark Henry for the last draft pick of the night. This resulted in Raw winning, and welcoming back John Cena as their final draft pick. Not sure if I'm a fan of exactly how that played out - I was kind of surprised at TWO big drafts in Cena and Orton, and expected one of them would be undone in relatively short order - if pressed, I probably could have even predicted it being Cena - but maybe that could have been handled tomorrow (today now - 12pm as the 'supplemental' draft continues on WWE.com), or at/after the PPV, or even in conjunction with the Rock's birthday party next week.

Nonetheless though, a fun Raw overall to watch and enjoy - the Draft is usually at least somewhat newsworthy and this was no exception. It also ensures more wrestling action than usual given drafts occur by the winning and losing of matches ... albeit that means somewhat short matches to maximize the number of draftees. Even with the John Cena switcheroo, there were definitely some shakeups to the roster, and as I said, it will be interesting to see how they play out going forward.

Be sure and continue to join me as I blog through the week, and definitely tune in Friday night to catch up on your ITVR listening (as we catch up on our ITVR podcasting lol). Can't wait to see you then ... in this very ring.

Wrestlers Behaving Badly

2011-04-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

We'll be talking tomorrow or Friday at some point in regard to the happenings of (a fairly uneventful) Raw from the UK ... but I did want to quickly address what has quickly become one of the more controversial happenings on WWE TV in a little bit.

R Truth, Ron Killings, turned heel on John Morrison in Raw's opening segment - which was a bit strange but OK, and at least somewhat expected. However, one of the things he did in order to get some heat was admit to being a smoker, and lighting up in the midst of his beatdown on Morrison. Anti-smoking advocates have ... um ... lit into R Truth and the WWE since, demanding a public apology, not only for the poor example R Truth sets for WWE's PG audience, but for breaking smoking bylaws in London, UK where Raw was being recorded. It will be interesting to see how this controversy plays out, and we will certainly discuss this further on ITVR in the next day or two.

Perhaps in even bigger news, Jeff Hardy had a new court date today - and while another continuance was issued, at least some more detail was revealed in this situation; the continuance is allowing the court time to consider a 28-day inpatient rehab program, which Jeff has agreed to attend instead of jail time. If both sides can agree to this condition, it will be the first time that Hardy has even tacitly admitted having a drug problem, and might be best for all concerned. Court will reconvene in June, and we will see then what the result of this deal has turned out to be. I wish Jeff the best in dealing with his very obvious (to everyone but him) demons.

Farewell Edge

2011-04-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hi guys - we will try to get an ITVR up either later tonight, or more likely over the weekend - but we have in-laws visiting this weekend so we'll see what we can mustard. ;) In the meanwhile though something important I wanted to share.

I'd shut my computer down for the night when perhaps the biggest news on Raw Monday occurred - Adam "Edge" Copeland announcing his retirement. I've been actually fairly emotional about this most of the week - not in the bursting out in tears like when I was a little girl mark, or even in the 'all bad emotions' sense. But Edge has been a favourite for a long time - a very 'game' workhorse who was good at what he did, and who I never quite felt got his due from management. Ultimately, years of abuse to his body trying to one-up himself has resulted in his unexpected, and without much pomp, retirement at the age of 37, only days after announcing his title defense against Alberto Del Rio. As we speak (or really, 5 days ago, but I'm not checking spoilers), he has vacated the title and there will now be a Battle Royal tonight on Smackdown for the opportunity to face Del Rio for the vacant title.

He came in on the midcard and retired as champ, one who has held the belt 9 times, albeit often in an abbreviated transitional capacity. He has participated in several show-stealing matches, and it's unfortunate they couldn't properly handle a retirement match/tour and sendoff, due to the severity of the nerve damage an MRI resulted in him being diagnosed with last week. I am disappointed that it's unlikely we'll ever see him wrestle again, and certainly not on a regular basis. On the other hand, after so many stories of people who stayed in too long, who ignored their pain and numbed themselves by popping even more chemicals into their bodies ... here's someone with his priorities in order. Realizing 37 is too young to risk permanent disability and/or death ... that perhaps his new home and girlfriend are worth more than a career he's already accomplished so much in ... I always say the boys (and girls) should know when to get out ... and here's someone who does. As disappointing as it is, I also applaud him.

Mick Foley today wrote a tremendous blog about Edge's career you can find HERE. Luminaries from Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Christian to Matt Hardy and the Fink have all had kind words to say looking back on this prematurely-ended career. Edge - hope you can stay involved in some safe, healthy capacity on some basis - I'd love to hear you on commentary. Meanwhile though, congratulations on making the smart decision, on having your priorities straight, and realizing you've already sacrificed too much of your health to this business. Thank you for the incredible memories and please rest comfortably knowing you already have had a hall of fame career. Looking forward to the induction. Now ... go enjoy that ice cream, can't wait to see you actually filling out that 'Fat Elvis' suit. :) Much love, and muchas gracias.

WWE Rebranding

2011-04-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week but I wanted to comment, before Raw comes on, on the biggest news coming out of WWE last week - perhaps, going forward, superceding even Wrestlemania itself. World Wrestilng Entertainment announced last week that, in a KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) type move, it will be rebranding itself as strictly WWE, and an edict has been issued that no one affiliated with the company, from the mailroom to the boardroom, talent, etc. is to refer to 'wrestling' in association with the WWE.

The company's statement laying out this shift in direction states that

Two key components to WWE’s brand expansion will be the active pursuit to acquire entertainment content companies and the outsourcing of WWE’s core competencies – television and film production, live event production and licensing. As part of the new business model, the company will also focus on the development of new television products including scripted, non-scripted and animated programs, as well as the launch of a new WWE network in the next 12-18 months. The first new program of the brand expansion is Tough Enough®, WWE’s non-scripted program that debuted on the USA Network on Monday.

Vince McMahon went on to add:

“The new business model of the company better reflects what WWE is all about, being a global entertainment company,” stated Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO, WWE. “We will always be loyal to our core business that made WWE a globally known entity, however, the future of WWE will be the addition of new entertainment content opportunities beyond the ring.”

Colour me dubious - it's no secret that Vince McMahon has wanted a level of legitimacy, for a long time, beyond 'pro rasslin'. And there's no question that WWE TV production, and the potential to employ their characters and other resources to other forms of media - cartoons, reality TV etc. - is strong. However, at the end of the day, their bread is buttered in the ring, and to ignore that reality - to take a 'no, but ...' instead of a 'yes, and ...' approach here, is foolhardy, and an insult, at the end of the day, to the folks who keep their company solvent. While WWE Films, for example, has been more successful than I anticipated, let's call a spade a spade here; that is NOT what made Vince a billionaire, nor is it what will keep him there.

Having said that - other than the entrenching and further obstinacy in denying WWE's wrestling core, I don't think this is a bad idea in terms of expanding Vince's purvue as a promoter extraordinaire, with an unbelievable production facility at his fingertips, etc. I also want to give kudos to their new 'Talent Development' department, headed by Paul Levesque (Triple H), who intends to expand the global scope of recruitment and liaise with organizations like Florida Championship Wrestling more effectively. Sin Cara, formerly Mistico, is the first new recruit under this department.

Definitely a time of development and change for the 'Bigger, Badder, Better' WWE. I guess my only question remains, if we are to no longer refer to 'Wrestling', what do we call the WWE's biggest show of the year going forward? ;)

CLICK HERE for the POST-WRESTLEMANIA edition of IN THIS VERY RING

2011-04-05T22:24:00.001-07:00

Official Programming Note

2011-04-04T19:49:00.001-07:00

In This Very Ring will do a very special podcast tomorrow evening, after the Hall of Fame has aired here in Canada, to discuss all of Wrestlemania weekend events, as well as last night's Raw. Be sure and join us then, with thanks for the understanding of delays etc. XO and be well until then.

Wrestlemania Time! :)

2011-04-03T10:02:00.001-07:00

First - an apology for not having posted or done the podcast this week of all weeks - of course work picks up the week leading into Wrestlemania! :) Which means I also didn't have enough time on my hands to send the DVD out to last week's contest winner Shane - it will be in the mail tomorrow/Tues. at the latest.

However, you can still hear our predictions by checking out http://onlineworldofwrestling.com and going to their radio section in this week's archive - an interview with Sid Vicious will be up there too, which is pretty good.

And I promised viewing information for last night's Hall of Fame, which apparently didn't air live either here in Canada OR in the US. you can watch it around 7pm Eastern before Raw on the USA network tomorrow night in the US, or on Tuesday at I beleive 5 or 6 pm (double check) on the Score here in Canada. :) Dontcha dare miss it, they will be featuring Shawn Michaels', Sunny's and the Road Warriors' inductions.

And be sure and remember the special start time of Wrestlemania tonight - 7pm! We will either podcast or blogpost tonight after the event with our feedback on the show, and on this week's buildup. Boys and girls ... it's time. Enjoy! :)

CLICK HERE for ITVR (now with better audio!)

2011-03-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

Enjoy all - and please forgive the poor sound quality of the intro - the rest of the show gets better I swear. :) Much love to y'all have a great weekend.

10 Years Ago Today ... Sensitivity Training Makes us GLAAD

2011-03-23T16:32:00.001-07:00

Lots to talk about in terms of Raw, and Chris Jericho's Dancing with the Stars debut this week and we're going to hold off on that until Friday so we can incorporate TNA's Impact and Smackdown as well, and so we have some fresh (depending how fresh you consider wrestling this days lol) stuff to talk about on the air. There were two things I wanted to address, though, that I think are more important than any on-air fun this week.

Is a contest we're holding. Ten years ago today was one of the most important days in wrestling history. The first reader who emails or posts (here or on our Facebook page) just what that was, will get a DVD from me of their choice (within reason - I only have a few options here which I will let the winner know what they are).
In more present-day, and thus more immediately important and encouraging news, some of John Cena's 'homophobic' language during his promos on the Rock have caught the attention of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Rather than taking the advocacy group's feedback with a grain of salt, or launching a defensive counter-assault, as Vince McMahon is often wont to do in the face of his critics, the WWE has not only apologized and promised to include no further such comments in future programming, they have also invited GLAAD to lead a sensitivity training workshop for its creative team. This is such a surprising, yet important and wonderful, step for a very testosterone-driven organization, and while it might just seem 'Welcome to the 21st century' to some, I do want to express that it's still a great step and congratulate Vince McMahon for handling a valid and pertinent criticism, for once, as ... well ... an adult. Kudos to the WWE on this one.

Be sure and respond as to what the answer to point #1 is, and don't forget to tune in to In This Very Ring late Friday night, after Smackdown! We'll be sure and see you then (if not sooner).

CLICK HERE to listen to ITVR

2011-03-17T22:23:00.001-07:00

Big Post-Raw ITVR Tomorrow

2011-03-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

And sorry about being out of touch - I DID warn about the in-law visit right? lol But have no fear - we will be back tomorrow after Raw with a podcast of In This Very Ring, covering the Rock's second live, in-the-arena Raw appearance. Will we see him and John Cena face-to-face in the same ring/backstage area tomorrow? Should they hold off until Wrestlemania on that gem? Be sure and register your thoughts here and tune in tomorrow to hear our thoughts about what should be a decent, road-to-Wrestlemania show.

Peace, love and headlocks,

Sarah

The Waltz of Jericho? :)

2011-03-09T18:26:00.001-08:00

Definitely looking forward to DWTS this year ... :) TEAM CHERICHO!

Last Night's Raw

2011-03-08T17:57:00.000-08:00

NOTE: I know we missed ITVR last week due to illness - let's just say it didn't stop with Ari. Please be sure we will post a podcast for sure over the coming week - either on Thursday (as my in-laws are coming Friday), or over the weekend - in other words, Friday itself is unlikely.

Meanwhile though, we haven't disappeared by any means, and in the spirit of the Wrestlemania season, here are my thoughts on last night's Raw (in no particular order, and my apologies if anything's left out - we will definitely cover any missing ground later in the week).

Great to see both JBL and Steve Austin back this week on Raw - Steve Austin immediately adds some colour to the Jerry Lawler-Michael Cole match (Lawler does so as well, but Austin is also a great get who adds even more), and the prospect of JBL seeking revenge after Austin stunned him twice and stole the referee's contract intended to be his will be interesting as well. Layfield looks awesome, by the way, compared to the tired and bloated - albeit still excellently hateable heel - performer who left the WWE about two years ago.
Last night was a night of naming elephants in the room, as Michael Cole spoke to everyone's disinterest in Eve and Brie Bella's women's title match, interrupting it and askign them to get it over with, and Sheamus addressing his losing streak of late (meaning that perhaps it was more work than shoot ... or at least that they're over it now, and ready to make some hay with him again). I think both of these worked in some ways, while doing damage in others ... we will discuss this in more detail on Thursday/Friday, but in the meantime, please leave me your opinion on the 'truth in advertising' approach WWE chose to take last night!
Another show not as heavy on the wrestling, though the promos were by and large incredibly well done - strong ones from both the Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels, as well as the two Texans mentioned earlier. Having said that, I also found the Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison match pretty exceptional as well.
John Cena's rap this week wasn't as good as last week, though I won't rip it apart as badly as some have - it just didn't look so strong going up against the Rock, or compared to last week's blistering promo. Having said that - I laughed out loud at the 'I bring it via satellite' T-shirt. lol I'd have bought that. Meanwhile on the same storyline, kudos to the Miz for reinserting himself with a vengeance into this storyline, having the last word on both Cena, and the Rock. An excellent, excellent entertainer.

Overall? A good show - Impressed. A bit wrestling light but they always are leading up to Mania so as to keep their performers safe. We will be discussing these developments, as well as Impact, and probably Smackdown, on ITVR later this week - and of course I will do my best to keep up with news and notes around the wrestling world between now and then. Be sure and check in often!

This n That

2011-03-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

Hi guys - we were looking forward to doing ITVR tonight after a busy week of buying a 2007 Chevy Cobalt (53,500km on it - best and newest car we've owned yet, despite the fact that just about everything but its transmission is manual, lol, windows, locks everything); however both Ari and Little Tyke have been bitten by a pretty oogly stomach bug; so we'll go to air tomorrow night. However, feeling bad about my absence (which I'd have actually had time to rectify the last two weeks if it weren't for the car thing - kids have been good and work sane, etc.), I wanted to hit on a few neat pieces of news this week. Be sure and tune in tomorrow evening, of course, for much more indepth coverage.

Check out THIS LINK for a truly must-read Honky Tonk Man promo on Hulk Hogan. Awesomesauce stuff.
In other news on this site, he hints at the actual news story of Jimmy Hart leaving TNA to head over WWE-side in time for Wrestlemania weekend; apparently, this sent HH into enough of a tizzy, according to Jason Powell's http://prowrestling.net, that Hogan on his Twitter (@hulkhogan4real) not only spoiled Jimmy's defection, but his role at 'Mania - Jerry Lawler's manager? Nice move Hulkster!
Speaking of Twitter - Bret Hart has logged on @HitmanBretSHart - did a really awesome, honest and interesting Q&A with fans a couple nights ago (in which he answered perhaps the lamest question in the history of Q&A from yours truly - I asked him 3 questions; 1 was whether or not he believed his brother Owen should be inducted into WWE's HOF; one was who he would like to wrestle amongst today's standouts - he did answer this one, albeit not directed specifically to me; I also asked him whether he'd consider doing a reality show like Dancing with the Stars or Celebrity Apprentice, to which I got an 'I don't think so', to send my fangirl heart all aflutter. Stupid question - stupid answer - but one of my heroes acknowledged me yay! Many other interesting answers to fans questions however and definitely worth heading over to his Twitter and checking out).
And lastly, speaking of Dancing with the Stars ... the Chris Jericho gravy train continues to roll on as he hits #9 on the New York Times bestseller list, cracking the top ten the same week his participation in hit reality competition Dancing With the Stars is announced, where he will be paired with 2-time DWTS champion Cheryl Burke. Cheering for Team Chericho has commenced, fans - ch-ch-check it out! :)

We will discuss all this and much more on tomorrow night's ITVR - be sure and check back then. With much love! XO

CLICK HERE for this week's ITVR.

2011-02-26T22:04:00.001-08:00

Book Review - "Undisputed: How to become World Champion in 1372 Easy Steps" by Chris Jericho

2011-02-24T16:33:00.001-08:00

Chris Jericho's second, and latest, contribution to the wrestling biography pantheon picks up exactly, and seamlessly, from where his last - A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex - left off, standing backstage, waiting for his Countdown clock to tick to zero on the Titantron, preparing to make his debut in the WWE.

I'm not going to spoil the minute details of this book along the way - lots of other reviewers include specifics, but I will simply say he describes everything from some very early missteps and the heat he managed to attract, to his work with his band Fozzy, his experience of close friend Chris Benoit's death (by his own hand after murdering his wife and son), and the birth of his twin daughters. He speaks of his mother's passing, a DUI arrest, his attempts to learn the craft of acting ... and most impressively, doesn't leave the warts out. He doesn't shy away from self-criticism, nor is he modest about patting himself on the back where deserved. He is refreshingly honest for a showbiz vet, and similarly, doesn't shy away from offering both darts and laurels to both friend and foe alike, yet being fair along the way - his opinions, while clearly representative of his own perspective, never feel completely unfair or gratuitous, and given that wrestlers are usually used to smokescreens and mirrors, there is a real feeling, much like you get from Mick Foley's first book or two and Bret Hart's book, as well as Jericho's first, of actually getting to know the real person behind the words.

Beyond which, the book is well-written! While Jericho, much like the first time around, has a ghostwriter for this tome also, the work is pure Jericho as the ghostwriter himself admits to mainly acting as an organizer and editor. He is appropriately serious where need-be, and bitingly funny most of the time. A well-spoken writer with a good sense for the appropriate emotion and a refreshingly honest point of view is always a welcomed read and I don't find the reviews speaking of this book as one of the best of all time, worthy of being compared to Mick Foley's "Have a Nice Day" as at all overblown. A must-read for all Jerichoholics and wrestling fans, and even an enoyable recommendation for those not so familiar with the business, I definitely give this book a thumbs up or two. :)

CLICK HERE for In This Very Ring

2011-02-15T23:45:00.001-08:00

10 Greatest Couples in WWE History

2011-02-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

Please CLICK HERE for Santino Marella's perspective, in honour of Valentine's Day, on the WWE's 10 greatest couples of all time.

And be sure to tune in tonight for our very own list of the same, in honour of Valentine's Day, as well as our predictions for this Sunday's Elimination Chamber PPV. We didn't do a second ITVR last week due to the fact of having covered almost everything in last Tuesday's 2 hour mega-show, and neither Impact nor Smackdown were particularly newsworthy; but as we had a TNA PPV last night, expect a newsworthy Raw tonight, with a PPV coming up, but will be out of town Friday night when we'd usually broadcast, we figured we'd go to air a bit early this week. Be sure and tune in - if we're not up by 1am Eastern Time we'll post mid-day sometime tomorrow at the latest. Until then - be well, enjoy Raw. See you at the matches.

CLICK HERE for a throwback to John Cena's Battle Rap days, from just this week

2011-02-11T18:45:00.000-08:00

After Raw went off the air Monday night, CM Punk challenged John Cena to a rap contest - click the heading of this entry to check out the pretty wicky-wicky-wicked results.

Click here for a Supersized 2-hour edition of ITVR

2011-02-09T07:00:00.001-08:00

Lots to talk about, so please click and listen when you have an hour ... OR TWO! ;)

Wrestlemania Host?

2011-02-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys - one more day in the delay of ITVR - you'll get a double dose this week though, tomorrow and Friday! We'll dissect everything from the Royal Rumble, to last week's Impact that was supposed to be huge and was ... well, less-so, to tonight's Raw. But meanwhile, let the speculation begin as Vince McMahon announced that Wrestlemania would feature a guest host, whose name will be announced next week. This, to me, is worth updating this site's poll at the bottom for the first time in a year or two to include some possibilities; be sure and vote, and/or comment/email your best guesses. Who is charismatic enough to host the Grand-daddy of them all?

2011-02-06T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hi guys - we'll be posting ITVR up a bit later tonight for your listening ... pleasure? But I wanted to share a fun read about something we'll be discussing on the show this evening. Chris Shore from http://prowrestling.net (Jason Powell's site) wrote a really interesting article yesterday in regards to the involvement of Kurt and Karen Angle's, and Jeff Jarrett's, kids in their somewhat-shoot love triangle storyline on TNA this week. Please CLICK HERE to read the article.

This expressed so well what I've been feeling about this angle that I felt the need to write to Chris: my response is below. What do you think? Are Shore and I giving kids too little credit to be able to absorb the 'worked-shoot' environment of wrestling? Or are our concerns well-founded?

Hi Chris,

I wanted to thank you for writing the article about the Angle-Jarrett kids; unfortunately wrestling is such a complex mix of work and shoot, that I tend to, as a general rule, believe kids who don't quite get that should be left out of it except in purely celebratory and clear moments (ie, I had no problem when He Who Shall Not Be Named won the world title and brought his son into the ring to celebrate at WM 20, but in fact found it sweet; all the more reason that video is so hard to watch so many years later). While I have no problem with this real-life love triangle playing out on TV - the parallel you made to the mostly entertaining Edge-Lita-Matt Hardy angle is an apt one - involving the children makes me wildly uncomfortable, especially when it involves all but having them take sides with one of their parents. Especially so young - as you mentioned Angle's 5 year old son, can he possibly understand why his mother and step-father are being so stern with him and his siblings/step-siblings? Or that it's 'pretend'? For what it's worth, I was equally uncomfortable with the Eddie Guerrero-Rey Mysterio storyline a few years back involving Rey's son Dominic, and the kayfabe 'reveal' that Dominic was Eddie's son and not Rey's. To this day I wonder if that young boy could really process and understand that that was completely 100% 'pretend'.

Speaking, not only like yourself, as the child of divorce and mother of adopted kids, thus sensitive to the concept of complex extended families of 'steps' and 'halves', but also as a child who was incredibly sensitive and not always the quickest to grasp the concept of 'make believe' (Diesel's initial heel turn against Bret Hart, Survivor Series 1995? Yeah - I cried ... I was 13), all I can hope is that these kids are truly comfortable with and trusting of the adults they're working with - and even then ... it still strikes me as causing unnecessary confusion for the sake of a quick, cheap pop that could be accomplished any other number of ways. Keep kids out of wrestling - all too often, it's going to become an all-too-real part of their life that catches up with them all-too-soon anyway.

Thanks again,

Sarah Daigen

Royal Rumble

2011-01-30T20:01:00.001-08:00

Short form thoughts, gut reaction -- an entertaining PPV. While it didn't have quite the 'pomp and prestige' feel previous Rumbles have had in terms of their association with Wrestlemania, the matches pre-Rumble were good, there were a couple of fun comebacks in terms of Booker T and "Diesel" Kevin Nash, and while I question a little bit the extent of the Alberto Del Rio push (I agree with pushing him to a world title shot, perhaps even to the title in the near-future ... but at 'Mania? already?), the Rumble match didn't disappoint. It was a story of long runs, as CM Punk's Nexus, and John Cena, had a nice long time dominating the match; it was a match of fun returns as I said, and of a spectacular Parkour show (look it up) by John Morrison. And it had a comedic ending as Santino Marella revealed he hadn't been eliminated after all and came amusingly close to winning the whole shabang. It was different, and I didn't mind 'different'. A lot awaits how it plays out this week, as always - these are just the first few steps down the Wrestlemania road that is known for taking curves and twists along the way. The ride has started - let's enjoy it together!

CLICK HERE for ITVR's Royal Rumble Predictions

2011-01-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

By the by - (warning - spoiler a click away) CLICK HERE if you want quick access not only to the names of the two surprise entrant spoilers mentioned in the podcast, but an excellent analysis by the Pro Wrestling Torch's editor, Wade Keller, of A. their potential roles and contributions and B. other possible entrants. CLICKING HERE will take you to another interesting analysis. Obviously, DO NOT CLICK if you aren't interested in spoilers.

Best wishes to Scott Hall

2011-01-28T20:48:00.000-08:00

NOTE: We will broadcast ITVR tomorrow evening for sure: we were just so pleased with out track record this week, having seen Raw and Impact! both, that we wanted to make sure we got Smackdown in too. But we will definitely hit the airwaves with our thoughts on the week that was in wrestling, and our predictions for Sunday night's Royal Rumble, so be sure to tune in! :)

Meanwhile, we want to wish our very best to Scott Hall, who is re-entering a rehab/mental health facility next week to continue treatment he recently left too early. Acknowledging the need for help, and his appreciation for the McMahon family supporting former WWE employees in seeking out treatment when necessary, here's hoping that this trip into treatment can be the last for Hall, whose longstanding problems have been well-documented. Best of luck - and hard work.

Click here for In This Very Ring

2011-01-22T21:39:00.001-08:00

Forty-Man Battle Royal?

2011-01-18T05:57:00.000-08:00

It was announced last night that this year's Royal Rumble would be a 40-man affair instead of the usual 30. Ari and I will be discussing this in more depth in a few nights on In This Very Ring, but I did want to put my initial thoughts out there first, because for once I'm not as inclined to take my 'wait and see how it turns out' approach. I mean - ultimately I am, it's all we fans can do; but I have a bad feeling about this. Bigger is not always better, and the 30-man version of the Royal Rumble has been highly successful; I think I'm subscribing to the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' school of thought, that it is already one of the best and most anticipated matchups of the year, full of surprise returns, interesting matchups, etc. If WWE wants to make it more interesting, they could reinstate the Wrestlemania title shot stipulation instead of holding off to the Elimination Chamber PPV. But I really think putting forty men in that ring will detract from, rather than enhance, the event. Your thoughts?

Click here everyone for a SUPER edition of ITVR

2011-01-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

CLICK HERE for In This Very Ring

2011-01-07T22:10:00.000-08:00

With much appreciation for your patience, but it was worth the wait - listen in above for our year-end awards, and our comments on the week-old year of 2011. :) Cheers and happy weekend.

NOT in the Hall of Fame

2011-01-02T15:11:00.001-08:00

A bit of a change of plans - we will be podcasting both our end-of-year awards and Raw thoughts tomorrow night. However meanwhile, I wanted to direct you to an awesome list I found courtesy of World Wrestling Insanity's Matt Dawgs, listing the top 100 wrestlers who deserve to be in the WWE Hall of Fame but aren't. This list is exhaustive and well-thought out by the panel; of course, it opens itself to some agreement, some disagreement. Please feel free to share your thoughts! :) CLICK HERE to check it out. Oh and while you're at it, be sure and click on the first link in this entry, to Matt's article - if you surf further around the World Wrestling Insanity site, they have some fun and interesting year-end awards that are worth checking out also.

Happy New Year from ITVR

2011-01-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

So - unfortunately I had nowhere near the time I planned to do a podcast or even blog over Christmas week. However, please stay tuned right here to ITVR over the next couple of days as we post a very special New Years podcast tomorrow night, and I offer my Raw commentary late on Monday evening after the show. Hope you all join us for a new and more active year ahead of blogging and podcasting. We'll see you all right here where the action is ... In This Very Ring.

Online World of Wrestling Radio

2010-12-20T19:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-17T23:24:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-14T20:14:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-10T20:19:00.001-08:00

Quick Thoughts on Raw

2010-12-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-04T22:25:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-29T06:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-27T19:33:00.000-08:00

(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

2010-11-18T19:39:00.001-08:00

(Finally! :D)

Old School Raw!

2010-11-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

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.

2010-11-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-28T19:47:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-10-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-17T22:30:00.001-07:00