WWE/TNA NEWS: RVD says why he re-signed with WWE, dogs TNA, what will be his WWE schedule?, more

Jun 20, 2013 - 2:59:22 PM
By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Returning WWE star Rob Van Dam made a few things clear in his first interview since signing with WWE: he will not be one-and-done at the Money in the Bank PPV, he will not be full-time, WWE's view on full-time schedules has changed, and he feels TNA did not prove a relevant platform for him.

"With one 48 second video, WWE made RVD more relevant than he had been in the past several years," Van Dam told the VOC Nation Radio show about WWE reintroducing him during the Payback PPV. "A lot of fans don’t watch (TNA). People were asking me if I retired, and I felt like a constant ambassador telling people to watch TNA to see me.”

After becoming a free agent earlier this year, Van Dam says what convinced him to return to WWE were changes to WWE's policy on full-time schedules.

"I’m definitely not interested in a full time schedule," Van Dam said. "Now things have changed; there’s different people in the office there that are more sympathetic and understanding to the road life combined with the wrestling career."

Van Dam said he's excited about returning under a new deal, which is similar to Brock Lesnar's infrequent schedule.

"It’s definitely not a couple of appearances and I’m gone," Van Dam said about his MITB PPV return in July.

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It would be wise for TNA to scoop up Striker. Seriously.

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I think they're giving up on the 3 man booth and both Tenay and Taz are contract guys.

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I wonder how his reputation as "no job bob" is gonna hold up with this part-time schedule? You know they're not bringing him back to book him as a champion, not to mention you know vince is gonna wanna make him eat some crow via clean jobs.... you're gonna tell me that vince will put aside the petty vindictiveness to help RVD "go out on top" or whatever? ha! Short of ROH or CZW what else was he gonna do post-TNA?

I figure he'll be upper echelon enhancement talent like Jericho is nowadays, no more no less.

also, any jeremy piven reference in WWE threads is a-ok by me!

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CM Punk ‏@CMPunk
So, @HEELZiggler, how's the head? @WWEAJLee

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Her name is Beans??? And with that nose, and you not telling me whose kid it was... I would have guessed Triple H.

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JR calls Cena's MITB win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... FKmKOUOH5M

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I don't think I knew any of this information. It sounds like Hayes is semi-retired. I thought Stephanie clears everything to take it to Cranky. I found all of this interesting.

WWE head writer David Kreizman was talked into staying until mid-August because his original direction of things were building to SummerSlam and they wanted him to stay until the completion of his direction. Plus, WWE wants him to help train whoever they hire as his replacement. There was a feeling that the new writer would have problems with the pressure building to SummerSlam, whereas now he can ease into the role, get comfortable from September through December before the WrestleMania season pressure starts.
Regarding the creative situation, Stephanie McMahon's role has been minimized as she's only involved when needed. Brian James has been put into creative because they want someone who has a pro wrestling perspective to be in with the soap opera and TV writers because Michael Hayes isn't in the office regularly anymore. Hayes is on conference via phone at major meetings but they want a wrestling person at the meetings as well.

When it comes to the re-writes on Mondays and Tuesdays, David Kapoor (Ranjin Singh) has been in charge of those but his position has changed. Kapoor delegates the workload to the writers after Vince McMahon makes all the changes. He also interacts with TV people, the App people and the WWE.com people to make sure they all know of the changes.

Ed Koskey is now the lead writer for RAW while Ryan Ward, who got rave reviews for his work as NXT's writer, has been promoted to the lead writer of SmackDown.

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Holy shit is Beans ugly.

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....interesting. NXT has been great. I like hearing he's a getting a shot. Steph doing less can only be good.

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Brandon Sylvestry (Low Ki/Senshi), 32, has been telling promoters that have contacted him that he’s retired. He’s moving on into voice over work. He had been in talks with All Japan, but had asked for a huge guarantee. At one point they had an agreement but All Japan backed off. He did say that with the right program with a major group, he is open to coming back, but not unless it’s something major.

An update on Jim Cornette. He has dropped from 248 pounds in November, when he left ROH, to 205 by eating fresh food diet and cutting way back on restaurant eating. He appears at comic conventions and horror and Sci-fi conventions in the Kentucky area. He also just finished a book on pro wrestling that will be available in August at Greg Price’s Charlotte wrestling convention, working with Memphis historian Mark James. He and James have several future book ideas in the planning stages.

Cody Hall, the son of Scott, who is about 6-foot-8 and somewhat facially resembles Randy Orton, worked for NWA Anarchy over the weekend in Cornelia, GA. His father was also at the show, and was lucid and alert the entire time. Scott Hall from all reports from those who have seen him has made a great turnaround in his life in the past few months. Reports on Jake Roberts are a lot more iffy. On the show, Cody Hall beat former TNA referee Mike Posey. It was Hall’s 8th match, but given his size and look, plus family background, I can see WWE offering him a shot in developmental. It looks like with Scott Hall in Atlanta at DDP’s place, that Cody is going to be based in Atlanta doing indies, with Scott attending shows with him. Scott has also put on Twitter looking for dual bookings, for Cody to wrestle and Scott, now 54, to make appearances.

David Kreizman was talked into staying as head writer until mid-August. They talked him into it both because his original direction of things were building to SummerSlam and they asked him to stay until the completion of his direction. Plus, they want him to help train whoever they hire as a replacement. There was a feeling that the new person starting now would have problems with the pressure building to SummerSlam, whereas now he can ease into the role, then be able to get comfortable from September through December before the January pressure starts.

Kreizman, the third head writer so far this year, after Erik Pankowski and Adam Rudman were both fired. Kreizman was described as an organizer who ran the division. He wasn’t working on the road. The lead writer role is about putting together a team and hiring writers, as well as presenting the finished product to Vince McMahon. Stephanie McMahon’s role has been minimized, as she’s only involved when she needs to be. Brian James has been put into creative because they want someone who has a pro wrestling side perspective to be in with the soap opera and TV writers, since Michael Hayes isn’t in the office regularly any longer. Hayes is on conference via phone at the major meetings, but they want a wrestling person at the meetings as well. When it comes to all the rewrites on Mondays and Tuesdays, the person in charge has been David Kapoor (Ranjin Singh), although his position has changed. That didn’t mean Kapoor had great influence. He’s just the guy who delegates the workload to the writers on the road team after Vince McMahon makes all the changes, and also interacts with the TV people, the apps people and the web site people to make sure they all know the new changed direction from the day before.

The 6/24 show for the first time in weeks had minimal changes from how the show was presented on 6/21. Cena and Punk had already gone through and approved their segments before the final script was presented.

There were more changes in the writing crew this week. Kapoor, is now a show runner.

Ed Koskey has become the lead writer for Raw. Ryan Ward, who got rave reviews for his work as the writer for NXT, has been given a promotion to lead writer of Smackdown.

Regarding the quality of TV in recent weeks and how it pertains to writers, from someone on the inside, it’s not the McMahons nor the writers, but a lot of luck. It was noted that the Mark Henry segment on the 6/17, as it was scripted, was good, described as a double, far from the home run segment it turned into. Henry took the segment in a direction that wasn’t planned and that nobody saw coming, and gave the performance of a lifetime that nobody could have predicted. In reality, if it was described ahead of time, it would have sounded like just another angle. The Daniel Bryan/Shield stuff was described as something that the company just lucked into, because nobody could script the kind of in-ring performance of Bryan that just blew people away and turned on the crowd so much that it made the product seem so hot. The only thing positive is that the booking hasn’t screwed it up.

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Jack Swagger (Donald Jacob Hager, 31), was found guilty of Driving Under the Influence and speeding, both misdemeanors, from his 2/19 arrest in Gulfport, MS, driving back to his hotel after a Smackdown taping in Biloxi. He was also arrested at the time for possession of 0.03 grams of marijuana, but that charge was dropped by the prosecution. After a several-hour trial, Judge Felicia Dunn-Burkes sentenced Hager to six months unsupervised probation, fined $1,000, ordered to pay all court costs ($300) for the DUI and fined $198 for the speeding conviction, for driving 45 in a 35 miles per hour zone. He ordered to participate in an alcohol and substance abuse education class for first-time offenders, and his drivers license was suspended for one year, although he can get it reinstated in 90 days upon completion of the program. He was also sentenced to two days in jail, but the judge suspended his sentence. Hager said nothing during the trial, but lawyer Vic Carmody Jr., said they were planning on appealing the case in county court. When Hager was pulled over at 11:29 p.m. after the tapings, a tape shown saw him tell Gulfport police officer Louis Garcia, that he had just showered, stopped at a fast food restaurant and was pretty banged up from his match, and was headed to New Orleans. The officer said that when he asked Hager for his drivers license, that Hager’s speech was slow, his eyes were bloodshot and watery, and he was described as cooperative, nervous and talkative. Hager instead, handed Garcia a credit card. Hager was asked to take a field sobriety test on he roadside, and stumbled a few times while waving his arms. “It was probably by far one of the worst I’ve ever seen as a DUI officer for under the influence of marijuana,” Garcia testified. Hager had no trouble walking around, but did have difficulty getting into the back of the patrol car, but that was described as due to his size. Garcia testified that he smelled marijuana in the car and Hager said he had smoked some marijuana before leaving the Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, and the officer said he was some marijuana on Hager’s lap. It should be noted that while WWE does not suspend talent for using marijuana, but every offense is a $2,500 fine, it has suspended talent for smoking marijuana at the arenas it does business in. Swagger remains out of action due to surgery on his hand, after severing a tendon in his thumb. He is booked to return soon and is scheduled on the Money in the Bank PPV in the world title MITB ladder match
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There are no plans for Del Rio to go back to the car entrances now that he’s back a heel. There were those who were negative about it because the feeling is every fan knew it was fake and forced. Whether that was a reason he never got over near the level of his push as a heel (some say it was the stop-and-start pushes and every time he was supposed to be put over big they postponed it, but to me, it’s overanalyzing–he’s just not at the level of a top face or a top heel; he’s a guy on the card pushed with a good look who can be a star but he’s not going to be a difference maker). Del Rio’s turn was almost a duplicate of the Johnny Gargano heel turn in Dragon Gate USA in April.

The target date for moving developmental to Orlando is 7/11, coinciding with the next television taping. There will be a press conference and press invitations for both the grand opening and the tapings later that night. One wrestler who has seen the new facility said it is really incredible and they are very excited about the move. With the new larger facility, with more rings and more space, the feeling is they can bring in more talent into the system. They’ve had about 75 there and that number is likely to increase slightly, to maybe as much as 100.

R-Truth is out of action temporarily for non-injury related reasons. The company just stated personal reasons, with no timetable of how long he’ll be out. His final show was 6/22 in Tallahassee.

Sandow ditching the singing and cartwheels was similar, in the sense it was felt the cartwheels made him Lanny Poffo, a prelim heel, although the way he was booked until the Sheamus program where he’d run away from a fight all the time was really as a prelim heel.

The contract of Striker (Matthew Kaye, 39), was not renewed after it expired on 6/20. Striker was a guy signed based on a miscalculation, who fell into a spot that he excelled at, and then blew it based on losing touch with his audience. Striker was an indie wrestler with a good physique, but considered too short and nothing that spectacular in the ring based on standards that WWE was judging guys on a decade ago. He was a name on the indie scene in the Northeast. He had a Master’s Degree (which made his stupidity as an announcer that much more baffling) who in 2004 was hired as a Social Studies teacher at Benjamin Cardozo High School in Queens, NY. He continued to wrestle on weekends. What was notable is, and this was telling about the popularity of wrestling with teenagers, is that he did the Kurt Angle challenge (when they would put local indie guys against Angle in a storyline concocted by Heyman, that never went anywhere because Heyman was replaced as Smackdown head writer while it was going on) on TV while teaching, taped on a Tuesday, February 24, 2005, using the name Matt Martel (with the idea he looked like Rick Martel), that he had called in sick, and very few in school were even aware he was a wrestler and nobody knew he was national TV. Kaye ended up taking sick days, and claiming a family illness that forced him out of the classroom, to go on some tours of Japan with Zero-One in 2004 and 2005. Eventually he was caught and it was not only recommended that he be fired, but that he never teach again. Really he was fired although technically he submitted his resignation after the recommendation came out. Where he lucked out is that the story garnered some national publicity and a lot of New York publicity. WWE officials thought it was a bigger story than it was to wrestling fans, and signed him immediately, and pushed him as this babyface who was so passionate about being a pro wrestler that it cost him his job, thinking fans would relate to him that way. Virtually nobody saw him as the babyface, not even wrestling fans. Very quickly, he was turned heel doing an interview segment called “Matt Striker’s Classroom,” on Raw, where he played a pompous teacher, in a role somewhat similar to the one Sandow now uses. He eventually moved to ECW. He was used as a lower card heel, considered a so-so worker, and small, but an excellent talker. A number of people suggested he be made a manager because he was never going to be a star as a wrestler. But there was a quality about him, a smugness and strong interview ability, that made him a natural as a manager. Eventually, in 2007, he was moved to a manager role with Big Daddy V. They were used mostly on ECW, a dying brand, so he never was put in a position to really see how effective a manager he could be. In August, 2008, he started as an announcer, working with Todd Grisham on ECW. He got rave reviews from the start, even winning the 2008 Announcer of the Year award over Jim Ross. But whether he had a natural con man liar streak in him, or he lost touch, the more popular he got as an announcer, the more he started being full of shit in so much of what he was saying. While the role of announcing on wrestling requires you at times to exaggerate, promote bullshit and make things up, he went way off the rails. He went from being a very good announcer, to just making things up to the point he killed all credibility, to being awful. In late 2009, when Striker became the Smackdown announcer, he got worse. Finally, he was replaced as a commentator in 2001 when Booker T was brought back. Since then, he’s worked as a backstage interviewer. He was fine in that position. His smugness worked in the sense it allowed faces who lost their cool, or rampaging monsters, either faces or heels, to beat him up, and as a trained wrestler, could take the bumps. But he’d become an insignificant character and the company was training a number of new announcers, so wasn’t renewed. There is believed to be more to the story that hasn’t come out, since Striker was working TV on 6/17 and 6/18, and was told that he was in line for a promotion and would be given a lot of Steve Lombardi’s duties at television. The next day, he was told he was done, and that he was going to be paid through August (largely to keep him from going directly to TNA until that time).

Punk, 34, got TMZ publicity in his attempt to get a long-term restraining order against his mother. Punk had gotten a temporary restraining order against her having any contact with him on 6/10, citing a pattern of asking for money and year of abusive, harassing and threatening behavior. Punk claimed in his request for the order that his mother is bipolar and he has tried to help. He said that over the years he has given her more than $100,000, but she became abusive and threatening when he told her he was done giving her money. Punk claimed his mother sent a series of nasty e-mails, where she told him how he didn’t care about his family, and only cares about his money and his money hungry and fame hungry friends, and how he’d sell his family out for a nickel. Punk said his mother has also threatened to go public and release potentially embarrassing information about his past. In other words, his mom is either June White or a reasonable clone of such. Punk said that he believes this information would be regarding arrests when he was still in high school. Punk also said that his mother threatened to commit suicide at least four times in 2012.

On Superstars this past week, Striker’s role on commentary was taken by Riley, getting his first shot at talking in recent memory.

While he did not release the name, Jim Ross noted in a blog that he and Gerald Brisco, who scouted the World Team Trials over the weekend in Stillwater, OK, that there was a wrestler they already had at a camp who “did well” and they were looking at signing.

“Fast and Furious 6" is now the 8th best grossing movie of the last 365 days and No. 65 in history having topped $646 million. It was No. 6 this past weekend at $4,930,685, and at $228,618,155 after five weeks out.

RVD on signing with WWE on Voice of Wrestling radio, said that he was definitely not interested in a full-time schedule. He said at first WWE wanted him full-time and he wanted part-time. “Now things have changed; there’s different people in the office there that are more sympathetic and understanding to the road life combined with the wrestling career. They came around. This is going to be awesome. There is a lot of excitement.” He said, “With one 48 second video, WWE made RVD more relevant than he had been in the past several years. A lot of fans don’t watch (TNA). People were asking me if I retired, and I felt like a constant ambassador telling people to watch TNA to see me.”

Dwayne Johnson is being reported as in talks to star in “Terminator 5" with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Johnson would play a villain who rivals Schwarzenegger in a movie set in the 50s.

It looks like the WWE is going to have a Hall of Fame location at TNA’s old home, the Universal theme park in Orlando. Word from the park is that the NBA City table-service location is shutting down. There is talk it would be remodeled as the WWE Hall of Fame. Those in WWE say they are not aware of any plans.

On the Colt Cabana tryout, it was something that came about that didn’t have to do with Punk. WWE contacted him for the tryouts a few months ago, and he did one, and then a few months later, did a second one.

Mysterio had another surgery under Dr. James Andrews this past week in Birmingham. His original doctor in San Diego, Dr. David Chao, is now banned from doing surgery at both hospitals he was previously allowed. He had just resigned as the team doctor of the San Diego Chargers, citing wanting to spend more time with his children, and back problems. However, a story in USA Today showed that two different hospitals im the city would no longer allow him to perform surgery. Scripps Memorial and Scripps Mercy Hospitals conducted reviews of his work, his quality of care and noted his alcohol consumption. Several former patients of Chao’s had accused him of maiming then during surgeries, and of negligence, including one that led to Scripps Memorial having to pay out a seven figure settlement. WWE had been upset at Mysterio for using Chao instead of Andrews as his doctor the past few years.

An interesting sidebar to the Cena vs. Bryan match, which is now planned to co-headline SummerSlam with Lesnar vs. Punk, is that the Divas reality show on E! will be airing at that point so it will be acknowledged that Nikki is Cena’s girlfriend and Brie is Bryan’s girlfriend. Given they want to promote the show, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the twins are involved, or even put in the opposite corners so they are featured as two of the major focus points of the PPV while their show is going on.

Some new women signings, from the camp Bill DeMott did in Los Angeles a few months back, who will be starting when they move to Orlando. Brittany Fetkin, 22, is a model from Temecula, CA. She was a former Miss Temecula and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a broadcasting background. She tried out for the reality show “Paradise Hunter,” and has done some local news reporting. C.J. Perry is a bikini model who has done some small acting parts on television including a small role in “Pitch Perfect.” Perry was one of the Florida State Cowgirls with Jenn Sterger (the best known person brought to the camp, the sportscaster in the Brett Favre scandal a couple of years back), who moved to Los Angeles to try to become an actress. She’s originally from Latvia but moved to the U.S. at 17. The third signee from the camp was Ericka Hammond, a 22-year-old bikini model, originally from Waco, TX. In 2009 and 2010, she was twice runner-up in the Miss Texas Teen pageant. All of these women wound up in Los Angeles trying to be actresses. That’s another argument on why they should have a camp in Los Angeles because so many of the type of people they want, both men and women, migrate to Los Angeles and having a local presence or a starter system would get some of those people if they have an interest in wrestling to come to them instead of just hitting up modeling agencies for bikini models who claim that they watched wrestling growing up.

One of the reasons WWE has brought in so many of the top indie guys is that Jamie Noble keeps up with that scene and he’s the one who recommends the guys. Most of the other people in the company in power would have no clue who the people on that scene are.

Van Dam, in an article in the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, said he’s against the WWE changes in toning back the style due to the dangers of concussions. “The only thing that makes me wish that it had been done earlier is just a sympathy for the victims and the families of the victims of concussion trauma. At the same time, I am one of the wrestlers who likes to take a chair shot straight, right to the head. I like to prove how tough I am. I like the fact that within an environment of entertainment, I still have had many if not most of my matches so physical that most fans and even many wrestlers know that they wouldn’t survive an RVD match. I take pride in that. That’s part of what I get out of being a professional wrestler. I’m a showoff, an exhibitionist, and this is my outlet, so there’s some compromising that goes along with that. It’s not ballet. I was taught, when I went to wrestling school, to protect the business first. I would rather see the wrestling remain physical and competitive as opposed to controlling it to the point of where it’s all entertainment.” I’m not sure how eliminating chair shots to the head in any way makes wrestling any less competitive or physical.

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Foley on the MLW Radio show, said that he has asked for something at the Hall of Fame, but was turned down. “I pointed out to Vince that I’d never had any pyrotechnics during the entirety of my career. I thought it might be special if at the end of my speech at the Hall of Fame I could somehow ascend into the rafters on a slay with Santa Claus. Vince looked at me like I was just out of my mind and let me know in no uncertain terms that was not going to happen.” On Wrestling Observer radio, Foley noted that he was originally booked to do something with Ambrose (they were doing stuff backstage to lead to an Internet reaction with the idea it would make it more real) after the 2012 Mania. It ended up being flagged because Foley failed his medicals, in particular doing poorly on Impact testing when it came to his short term memory as compared to even a few months before. That’s scary since he hadn’t even been wrestling. The funny thing is, you can have a completely not just normal but better than normal conversation with him and I promise you there are people who still compete in sports regularly that I can’t say that about. Foley has noted that it turned out to be the best thing, because even though Ambrose would have started up in a high profile feud, it’s really doubtful his introduction and his position would have wound up as good as starting months later with The Shield.

Derek Foore, a former NCAA Division II champion who was cut in developmental a few months back, was the latest to rib on trainer Bill DeMott, in a podcast interview on The Shoot Radio show. “If you messed up on a spot, he would break a yardstick over your back. He claimed that Rob MacIntyre, John Cena’s personal trainer who was very popular among the wrestlers in developmental who would go to Cena’s gym and have MacIntyre design their workout programs, was used a scapegoat during the period when so many guys were injured. Foore is hardly the first developmental wrestler to claim that much. He said all the injuries were the fault of DeMott, due to the nature of how he trained people. He said DeMott was always telling stories about all the drugs he did during his active career, and that he didn’t think DeMott belonged in that position. Foore also claimed he and Chase Donovan were constantly coming up with ideas that they wouldn’t let them use. He said that the ideas they came up with ended up being used on Raw for both the Prime Time Players (the whistle) and Team Hell No (Dr. Shelby, and the hugging it out).

The Daniel Bryan/Randy Orton match on 6/24, because of the ending being different from what was scripted, and even more, what happened after the match, has been the subject of a lot of talk and debate from people who weren’t there, over what was and wasn’t real.

The general conclusion from several different people who were there at the time is that everyone believed it was real. Some are 100 percent certain of it. Two different people we contacted conceded it’s certainly possible it was a worked shoot, but based on being there and the behavior of those involved, they don’t believe it was.

The general fan and reporter reaction, if there is anything that could be called consensus, is the belief Bryan was going to win, but the match was stopped due to fear he was seriously injured when his left side appeared to go numb from what turned out to be a stinger. But the belief was from many who weren’t there was the confrontation with Bryan Danielson and Paul Levesque (HHH) wasn’t real.

Levesque was running backstage. He, along with Dr. Michael Sampson, made the call to stop the match. Leaning in that direction would be that the WWE web site did a story on it, and Levesque, as HHH, even did a brief video interview saying it was two passionate guys, it got heated, but they’ve both apologized and it’s done with.

However, from those there, it was described across the board that the only way the confrontation couldn’t have been real would have been if the injury wasn’t. It happened in Gorilla (right outside the curtain), the second Bryan was out of sight of the fans. He got right in Levesque’s face and was swearing at a number of people, not just Levesque. There was no time to work it out. It wasn’t just Danielson and Levesque, but others who were right there. But those were the two who got heated enough that Orton and Brian James had to separate them for fear they were about to come to blows.

One person who was there said they were pretty sure everything was real. Another person described it as the most real thing of its kind there since the aftermath of the 1997 Survivor Series. Another who also brought up the 1997 Survivor Series, saying people who thought Levesque and Danielson worked it out ahead of time as being the same people who today still cling to the idea that Vince McMahon and Bret Hart worked out their issue ahead of time despite the mountains of evidence and logic to the contrary.

You can’t rule out anything, especially if you weren’t there, or you’d be naive, given it’s pro wrestling. Attempts at working the boys on angles haven’t been done in WWE in recent memory. WCW used to do them in the late 90s, largely stemming from Brian Pillman and Kevin Sullivan. Later management tried to work the boys on several other angles over the next few years. The most notable was the Hogan/Vince Russo/Eric Bischoff angle that ended up starting as a work on the boys, and ended up in a shoot and in a lawsuit when Russo double-crossed Hogan and Bischoff, who he put the worked aspect together with.

But the more you look at it, the stronger the evidence is that it is exactly what everyone is saying. If they were going to do an injury angle with Bryan like that, you would think they’d have kept him out of action longer than one day, and that Levesque’s decision to stop the match would have been justified to everyone as the “right” call.

Remember, if you’re working the talent, do you really want it to come across that Levesque, in his first call like that on the fly, did so for an injury that wasn’t even serious enough that the guy didn’t even missed a day of work nor even went to the hospital? You’re talking about a guy who is trying to earn respect as a leader, so if you’re working the boys (and to their credit, WWE does not have a history of doing this like WCW did, and that policy is so short-sighted), you’d at least work it to where he was justified and made the “smart” call.

If the injury was real, and most believe it was, then the confrontation after had to be. Given that the reactions on TV, the script, and the fact that I don’t know of one person who was there who believed it was a work, is enough to convince me that it was how it’s largely being presented. Will it turn into a work down the line? That’s entirely possible, although I don’t know what good it would be right now to do a HHH vs. Bryan angle when trying to get Bryan over as a top face. I know they did it with HHH vs. Punk a few years ago, but that was an entire different dynamic. That was a match that should have happened based on the story being told at the time.

It was also noted to me that the actual footage of what happened in Gorilla was taped because they happened to have a camera rolling and they didn’t make any clips of it public, which they would do if they were trying to push an angle. Now, after it was over, did they turn that aspect into an angle? Perhaps, since they did run a story on it and an interview with HHH on the web site after, and they knew he was okay and the finish played into the Smackdown and next Raw rematches. But they only gave sketchy information as to what happened and why it happened.

Also, as noted, virtually every writer and producer would have to have been worked since the script and the creative meeting before the show had the original finish with Bryan going over.

Also, Dr. Michael Sampson was not clued in. If it was a work, the whole concept would rest on the ability to work him, which, if he found out about it, would be very bad going forward.

The last thing you want is your head doctor on the road to have second thoughts that they may be trying to fool him. He’ s someone it would be incredibly short-sighted to mess with.

One person who called every worked shoot in WCW correct from being there, not missing on any, but who wasn’t there, said in simplest terms, Bryan wrestling the next night makes the work aspect unlikely, because if they were going to that length to fool people, no way he wrestles the next day. Even more, it was similar to what they did with HHH as a work several weeks earlier, and there’s no way HHH’s work puts him out for weeks while Daniel Bryan wrestles the next night.

Because it’s wrestling, people are naturally going to be skeptical and one person who told me he believes it was all real conceded it could have been a work, but they didn’t believe so.

This may be over thinking it, but if you were going to do an injury angle, it’s unlikely to do it on a successful missile dropkick. That move was considered so “weak” for the injury that they, in commentary, tried to push the missed tope spot minutes earlier as the injury spot, even though they went several minutes before the doctor was even sent out.

Sampson was sent out after Danielson couldn’t get up at first after the missile dropkick and the ref informed the back of it and they rushed Sampson out. Another person who, just based on who he is and where he’s been, who was right there, said it was impossible any of it was work.

The confrontation was broken up by Brian James (Road Dogg, now a producer who is in all the creative meetings as the “wrestling guy” since Michael Hayes doesn’t attend all meetings) and Orton.

Another indication is that on TV on 6/24, nothing that happened was mentioned or even hinted about. They really didn’t talk about the nature of the finish of the first match, focusing more on the second match and Bryan winning via count out, making them even. Bryan got his scheduled planned tap out win he was supposed to get on 6/17 on that show. There was no mention of blaming or crediting HHH with stopping the match, no real talk about Bryan being injured since he ended up being okay, and no hint that anything happened backstage. Based on that, one would have to figure that it wasn’t an angle to attempt to fool people because they didn’t even acknowledge any of it on TV, nor, after the first day, even push it any longer on the web site.

Most likely, the only reason Bryan didn’t get fined heavily or fired is because Vince McMahon wasn’t there and because Levesque, who was in charge, had great sympathy for Danielson’s position, mentality and where he was coming from because of his own experience in being insistent on finishing what was planned when badly hurt (the famous HHH & Austin vs. Benoit & Jericho match from 2001 in San Jose on Raw where HHH tore his quad a few minutes before the planned finish of a match where the finish was of utmost importance given the direction). One person noted that Danielson completely freaked out and went way overboard, calling everyone motherf***ers, yelling not just at HHH but also at Sampson (who as noted was 100% not clued in to anything), John Laurinaitis and Hayes, who happened to be there. He also continued backstage, making the point that he should have been able to decide if he was hurt enough to continue, and that in 13 years of wrestling all over the world, he had never had a match stopped.
Eventually, he and HHH apologized to each other and HHH decided to let it go as opposed to taking action.

Raw on 6/24 did a 2.89 rating and 3.98 million viewers, making it the fourth lowest number of viewers for a Raw episode this season. Usually I’d say blaming the NHL for a wrestling number (or an MMA number) is a crutch, but no doubt the game hurt Raw.

The game where the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins to win the finals, a 3-2 game down to the wire, did a 4.66 rating and 8.16 million viewers. This final series was the highest rated overall dating back to at least 1995, and the third most watched individual game of the last decade. The game did a 33.0 rating in Boston and a 30.2 in Chicago.

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Glad to hear about Scott hall doing well. But have I missed reports that Jake is not doing good? If that is true, that is very sad, he seemed to be doing so well.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

This is the first wrestling thread I've ever clicked on, and it is just as awful as I'd imagined.

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I don't like you anymore.

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It aired yesterday so that isn't really a spoiler anymore.

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It's a very intriguing group. I just hope the purpose isn't to rebuild Swagger.

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They probably didn't notice.

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For those of us that don't bother to watch on Fridays can you fill us in?

I didn't really watch it either. Instead of Vince calling me like he usually does, I found a source on the Internet.

Teddy Long is on the phone about making a big announcement, then Vince McMahon walks in and says hello to him. Vince says RAW announced a Money In The Bank match already, so he wants to hear what Teddy has planned for the other one. Teddy says he could have acted like Vickie Guerrero and taken all of the top Superstars, but he’s going in a different direction and thinks Vince will agree. Teddy says his thinking of the future, and it’s something Booker T never did, but he wants to give a chance to the stars of the future. Teddy announces Wade Barrett, Antonio Cesaro, Jack Swagger, Fandango, Dean Ambrose, Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow will be in, and Vince says he likes it. Vince corrects him on the pronounciation of Fandango’s name, then they go back and forth with it a bit before Vince slaps his shoulder and leaves.

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I read that list and my thought is "God the roster blows right now"

Next week Teddy is gonna name their opponents in the first ever Fourteen Man Tag Team MITB Match.

Holla!

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Fandango Six months or so of dancing with the briefcase could be awesome.
Jack Swagger No.
Cody Rhodes No. They need to rebuild him first.
Dean Ambrose - United States Champion No. Too soon.
Damien Sandow Color me interested. Won't happen.
Antonio Cesaro Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Wade Barrett Could be your winner. Fair connection with the crowd.

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Hold on a minute playa. We're going to have, the first ever, entire roster in a tag team lumberjack match. I don't know how it's gonna happen, but we just gonna go with it. Booker T would never come up with something like that! Somebody call my Russo.....Somebody call my Russo.....Somebody call my Russo. Holla holla holla!

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Update: Following a recent alcohol relapse, Jake "the Snake" Roberts says his goal is still to make an appearance in WWE's Royal Rumble match.

The latest video update on Roberts's addiction recovery focuses on Roberts and Diamond Dallas Page hashing it out through a series of conversations. The end-result is Roberts signing up for a "90 meetings in 90 days" program that began on June 24 and runs through the end of September.

"The thought behind that is getting around those people in those meetings every day, so you're never that far removed from it," Roberts said. "I want a future. Whether it be going in the Rumble next year or the year after; hell, maybe I'll be the first 100-year-old to ever hit a Rumble. Who knows. (tears up) By God, I am not giving up. I'm going to beat this."



Original Story June 27

Jake Roberts recently hit a low-point in his addiction recovery, according to new YouTube videos released on Diamond Dallas Page's YouTube page.

The videos document Roberts recently breaking from his alcohol sobriety when a friend came into town. This led to Roberts being confronted by other housemates, then Page.

"I f----- up Dallas, had two drinks," Roberts told Page. "I'm just worried, man, that my mind's not in sync with me completely ever quitting drinking. And that's what I'm starting to think."

Roberts noted to Page that what's complicating his recovery is negative talk that comes with stumbling in his sobriety.

"The way I feel about myself is killing me right now," Roberts said. "The self-hate s---. The shame s---. It's a circle of do something wrong, hate yourself for a week, get back on-board, take the pills, and then it goes back around again."

Page encouraged Roberts by noting that he's changing people's lives with his story, but it's "a constant battle for you to change your own."

Flashing back four months ago, Roberts exclusively told PWTorch in March how difficult it was for him to get to this point of addressing his alcohol addiction.

"The people said, 'Why did you do drugs and alcohol?' Well, I'll tell you. Because I liked that stuff for a long time," Roberts told PWTorch editor Wade Keller on the March 1 PWTorch Livecast radio show. "I liked it because I enjoyed it and had a great time doing it. But, then one day I woke up and it was no longer a choice to do that drug or to do that drink; it was now a necessity. And when you've got to have a drink or a drug just to get up and get moving, you don't have a life anymore; you're just an existence. I was ashamed that I got into that position."

[ DDP Video Part 1 URL: http://youtu.be/RVSZZE_GeY8
DDP Video Part 2 URL: http://youtu.be/kqRU0R9bxZw ]

[ LISTEN: Roberts's entire 60-minute interview from March 1 can be heard exclusively at PWTorchLivecast.com at this link - http://bit.ly/XkydKD ]

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Sandra Toffoloni, sister-in-law of former World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit, sat down with The2Count.com in a tell-all interview for the first time since the tragic double murder/suicide in 2007 that took the lives of Chris, his wife Nancy and their son Daniel.

While the general medical consensus is that Chris Benoit's breakdown was caused by Concussion Syndrome, Sandra isn't as convinced that brain damage was the only cause of her sister's death.

"You know, evidence showed that on the Sunday before he committed suicide, he was booking flights to get to the show he was scheduled to appear on in Beaumont, Texas. This shows that there was a moment, however brief, that he thought he could get away with it. I don’t believe in the brain damage theory. He killed 2 people and believed he could go wrestle. The concussion theory doesn’t really stick with me."

Sandra brought new, haunting information to light in this interview.

"Yes, my brother-in-law had concussions, he hit his head for a living and I understand that. But way beyond that, he had a very serious drug and steroid problem. Unfortunately, a lot of athletes still do to this day. It’s spiraling out of control. The medical examiner told us after the autopsy that Chris was on his way to death within 10 months. His heart was huge, about 3 times normal size, and it was ready to blow up at any moment."

She also spoke on the effects that Eddie Guerrero and other wrestler's deaths had on the Benoit family.

"...Chris had suffered multiple losses of friends. Eddie Guerrero’s death in 2005 shocked us all, no one was prepared for that. It was devastating for Nancy but it was devastating for Chris on a whole other level. Eddie’s passing came after a long line of huge losses and Chris was in a state of perpetual bereavement ... The final blow came in mid-June 2007, just a few days before everything happened, when Sherri Martel passed away. That devastated Nancy just as much as Eddie’s death had devastated Chris."

In an interesting note, it appears as though Chris Benoit may have actually been planning on stepping away from the WWE shortly before his death.

"After Eddie passed away, Chris and Nancy discussed the possibility of Chris leaving the WWE and starting his own wrestling school. As a matter of fact, it had become more than a possibility. A business plan had been developed and merchandise had been designed. However, the WWE was prepared to give Chris a big push and put him into another championship match so Chris began training harder and pushing his body further. Chris did a lot of self-medicating."

Please take some time and check out this lengthy, unique look into Chris Benoit's life, and the drama surrounding him and his family. The complete interview is available at The2Count.com, or by following the links provided at the top of this page. In it, Sandra talks about a range of topics including issues with Chris and Nancy's marriage, their relationship with Paul Heyman and a lot more.

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