Seasons Beatings ...

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

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

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

Yes really! :)

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

Goodbye to a Late-in-Life Wrestling Fan

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

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

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