Random Notes......

Well a few things I wanted to cover and I don't have a lot of time so I just thought I'd throw them out here real quick...

First off I've decided that space at the top of the page would be used for quotes that amuse me and for some reason the one that is up there now just caught my attention the other day....

After reading all the accusations on the message board I decided to call up Neil and get the real story on him and Leslie being "kicked out of the UPN studio in Memphis", I won't even bother telling it since people are gonna say what they want since it's people who were there and know better that was spreading it in the first place but just to show you how 'factual' it is, Leslie Jones wasn't even there, he was in Tupelo. Also there were a number of 'workers' from Tupelo who actually did get kicked out of the building but that didn't seem to get mentioned by everybody. Don't believe everything you read folks........

The other day I checked out the new XOW website and was looking at the pictures and I saw the picture of J.D. McKay and it got me thinking, How come when someone gets something shaved off at a wrestling show, it hardly ever grows back?? Kurt Angle's hair, Big Show's Hair, Jimmy Valiant's beard, J.D.'s mustache?? It's bizarre, I think the next time I work a wrestling show I'll ask them to shave my face so I won't have to every morning........


Can you imagine being Shawn Michaels getting to the building last week after one of the biggest matches of his career, not to mention in wrestling period and being told he's going from that into an angle with........Chris Masters. WTF!?!? They should have left him heel and let him feud with Cena, Cena vs. Angle feels too much like Smackdown. Oh well, at least he didn't have to lay down for ROB FUCKING CONWAY!!! Poor Matt, last time I seen someone killed off this brutally they ended up chasing O.J. down the freeway in California.


Everyone needs to see the next TNA PPV. Order it, buy a bootleg copy from me, something. The three way X Title match with Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe is going to kick serious ass!! These are the top three guys in TNA in my opinion and it should be a classic. If you haven't seen Samoa Joe wrestle shame on you. The man is a helluva a worker, he held the Ring of Honor title for well over a year and helped put them on the map as a legitimate company and made the ROH title a highly respected title on the northern indy scene and if you don't know Daniels and Styles then pull your head outta your ass and quite watching so much WWE.

Later, thanks for reading.


GENE

SUMMERSLAM.......HBK proves his point....BROTHER

Well not often do I shell out $35 to watch a WWE PPV these days (or even bother to watch for free) but I just had to see the match with Hogan and HBK, and at one point I wanted to see the match with Edge and Matt Hardy, anyways I did order the PPV last night and I thought I'd do a quick run through of the matches and give you my 2 cents on them:

Orlando Jordan (C) vs. Chris Benoit for the WWE US TITLE

A two minute squash for the US belt, I don't know if this was done strictly because of time constraints(it was added at the last minute) or if this was the plan all along but in any event this is what Benoit needed after shockingly LOSING to OJ at Great American Bash. Maybe this means they are gonna pull Benoit off the backburner on Smackdown and do something with him.........not likely though. One day last week I finally got around to watching SummerSlam 2004, and it's hard to believe it's already been a year since Benoit dropped the World title and has been back to being lost in the shuffle ever since. We'll see where he goes from here.



Edge vs. Matt Hardy in a "You banged my girlfriend you son of a bitch" 'Streetfight'

Well as I've covered here recently this match had the potential to be a HUGE deal for WWE had it been handled properly but thanks to some VERY shitty writing this went from one of the biggest 'shoot' angles in years to the second match on the card......pretty damn sad. Anyway they did a pretty good job of making it look mostly like a fight and not using any wrestling holds. The spear through the ropes to the floor was an awesome spot as well as Edge dropping Hardy face first on the ringpost, but the refferee stoping the match because Hardy couldn't continue and Hardy having to be helped from the ring made him look like a complete ass! Let's see Edge steals his girlfriend, MATT gets fired for it, the fans demand he comes back and he gets his ass handed to him as Edge and his girlfriend leave hand in hand. Once again it's another example of WWE looking to teach someone a lesson instead of doing what's best for business. The finish should have been done in reverse with Matt winning after the match is stopped, Matt would be back strong, gain some revenge and Edge would keep his 'heel heat' and they could have had a series of rematches. But instead they wanted to teach Matt and the fans a lesson. They wanted to punish Matt Hardy for going public with this situation and making Edge, Lita, and the WWE look bad and they wanted to send a message to all those fans who chanted "You screwed Matt" and demanded his return. The message was simple, you want Matt, well there he is beaten to a bloody pulp. Well Matt hope you enjoyed the time in the spotlight cause you'll back to Sunday Night Heat or released again before you know it.



Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero- Ladder Match for the Custody of Rey's son Dominick

Ok first off lets read that again, A LADDER MATCH FOR THE CUSTODY OF REY'S SON DOMINICK!?!?! WTF?? Eddie and Rey have incredible matches and Eddie is a tremendous heel, so why do you need such a ridiculous premise behind this match? First off they want you to believe that Eddie REALLY IS Dominick's biological father when anyone who ever saw Rey in WCW without his mask can see the kid looks JUST LIKE HIM! Anyway storyline bullshit aside this was an incredible match with some ladder spots that made you cringe. Rey wins it after Eddie's shoot wife comes out and pushes him off the ladder. Also there was a great spot where Eddie was gonna smack the shit out of the kid but Rey cuts him off. All in all, a good match with a shitty finish and dumb premise.



Kurt Angle vs. Eugene- No Time Limit for Angle's Gold Medals

Angle comes right in and goes after Eugene with a smack to the head and it's on from there. Now bringing up last years SummerSlam in Toronto again, Eugene was going against mega heel Triple H and the crowd booed him out of the building which made the whole match seem awkward and once again this is what happened in Washington, the crowd completely shit on Eugene and sided with Angle which made for some awkward moments in the match and for the announcers. Angle wins with the ankle lock after taking the Rock Bottom and the Stunner. I think it's time to lay the Eugene charcter to rest and find Nick Dinsmore a new character on Smackdown.



The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton- Wrestlemania Rematch

Nothing really special here, a match very simular to there match at Wrestlemania at the end a "fan" jumps into the ring and Undertaker gets distracted as the refferee and security drag him out of the ring 'Taker turns around and gets the 'RKO' for the pin. Winner Randy Orton and as for the "fan" it is revealed to be none other than "Cowboy" Bob Orton. Big shock there.



John Cena (C) vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship

This was probably Cena's best match to date as Jericho was really working his ass off in this match and the crowd was WAY into it with dueling chants of "Let's go Jericho", and "Let's go Cena" going at one point. It looked as if Jericho was gonna win it with the 'Walls of Jericho' but Cena made it to the ropes. Smooth finish where Cena shoots him in for a 'tiltawhirl suplex' but swings him up into an 'F-U'. Suprisingly great match.



Batista (C) vs. JBL- No Holds Barred for the World Championship

Well with Mohammad Hassan being killed off by UPN, uh I mean the Undertaker. We are left with another Batista/JBL match. Decent match considering who it is, but having just watched the Cena/JBL I quit match from Judgement Day it made this one seem a bit uneventful. Anyway strong finish with Batista powerbombing JBL onto the ringsteps. Good match, nothing to write home about.


Main Event

Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan- ICON VS. LEGEND

Well I have to say I was initially shocked by the finish of this match, the standard "Hulkster" finish. But Michaels point was proven here, using his political stroke with McMahon and going over wouldn't have proved anything at this point, but going out there and making a 55 year old man with bad knees and a bad hip that moves like a cripple look like a million bucks proves that Shawn Michaels is everything he says he is. He bumped his ass off and flew all over that ring and made Hogan look like the 'Hulkster' of old and then put him over in the center of the ring.(with all the Bret Hart talk, I really thought we would see the Montreal screwjob revisted for the 18th time) Who else could that? His match with Angle on RAW wasn't horrible, but he looked his age and most everything he did looked weak. The only problem I have with the match is the fact he shook hands with Hogan and went back to being a babyface afterwards, the WWE really needs that HBK back that we've seen for the past 6 weeks, I know he's a christian and won't go back to his D-X ways but just that cocky character that owned those people in Montreal last week. Imagine how much John Cena could learn doing a program with Michaels. Oh well, it was a great match with an ending no one expected. The only problem is, will this make Hogan think he's back and ready for another main event run. There's already talk of a match with Triple H at the next ppv. If so we'll how great "the Game" really is if he can drag that kinda match out of Hogan.

See Matt, That's how it's done.

Folks, last week on RAW Matt Hardy was given the opportunity to take the ball and run with it in one of the biggest "shoot" angles ever.....BUT, he dropped the ball.......and then tripped over it and was left looking like an idiot(which I covered in a previous post) His big dramatic line about hoping Edge "dies in a car wreck" was awkward and did nothing for his charcter or the angle. HOWEVER....Monday night Adam Copeland showed why he's earned his spot with one of the best promos I've seen on Raw in years, HE delivered the promo MATT should have last week. He brought out the 'shoot' aspects of the angle without slapping people in the face with it or killing the Kane angle not to mention completely handing him his ass by making fun of his promo last week, "this is your big moment you've been whining for for monthes, and THAT's the best you could do?" or something to that effect. Then the kicker, this is where Edge hands him his ass in a paper sack with a fucking bow on top. "I earned my main event spot while you were defending the cruiserweight title with you 'MF'ers' I was wrestling Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, Michaels. The only reason your now in a main event spot is because your girlfriend fell in love with a main eventer." People, worked or not that one had to sting a little bit. I hope Matt studies that promo very carefully over the next week and maybe he can deliver something close to it, or Edge may come out of this deal looking BETTER than he would have if Matt would have stayed at home.

Learn the terms, Smarks.........

Well a big debate took place over the weekend on the HJB board about jobbing and such resulting in one fucking genius comparing Rocker jobbing on tv to Jerry Lawler losing twice to Danny B. on a local show........Jesus Christ people there is a HUGE difference between JOBBING and PUTTING SOMEONE OVER. Let's look at the differences. First off, "jobbing" doesn't just mean "losing", in some circles it does as you'll read the Dave Meltzer's and Wade Keller's on the internet saying that "Hunter did the 'job' for Batista", jobbing is what they refer to as a "squash". Jobs or Squashs are matches where one opponent gets NO HEAT whatsoever. They may throw a stray punch here or there but the sole purpose of the match is to put over the "Star", it might as well be a sack of patatos in the ring. 'Jobbers' are simply in there to let the star show off his moves and get some wins leading to whatever match or angle the star is building to. Now I'm not gonna knock Rocker(I haven't seen any of the matches to even know if they qualify as a "job") or anyone else for doing jobs on tv cause tv exposure is a big deal in the business and half the guys who are knocking him would give Corey Maclin head in the middle of the ring just to say they've been on Memphis tv........BUT, the one person does have a point. If your one of the local fans who generally watch every bit of wrestling they possibly can, how does it make the local guy look if someone who was a seventy year old midget's(Bill Dundee) bitch this morning on tv, comes to the local Armory and beats(or even nearly) beats the guy you've been building as one of your "top guys". It makes both guys look weak.

Now on the other hand, the guy who tried to say that Lawler losing to Danny B. was the same thing is obviously fucking retarded. How can you possibly say that?? If Lawler(a wrestling legend) comes to Selmer(or wherever) and beats Danny B., then people say, "well Danny B. is good against these local guys, but he can't hang with a big time star." Who wins there? It doesn't give Lawler bragging rights, it's not like he's gonna announce on Raw that he beat Danny B. Good. But if Danny B. wins, it is a HUGE moment for both him and the promoter, cause now they can use that from now on, anybody who goes over on Danny in the future is beating a guy who beat a legend, therefore that win isn't only putting over Danny but everyone he works with afterward. And how is Lawler effected? Again, it's not mentioned on Raw, it won't be on the cover of PWI, just a handful of fans in a certain area know. Everyone wins, that is what is called DOING THE RIGHT THING! I highly commend Lawler for doing that cause he certainly didn't have to, and doesn't have a track record of doing it very often so it says a lot to promoters about Danny, and the show itself that he's willing to come there and do that.

So people if your gonna be critical and talk shit, at least have half a damn clue what your talking about.

GENE

(By the way, whoever BIB is, fuck you! you don't me and don't know shit about me. I'm not racist, I hate stupid assholes of all races and genders so eat shit and choke!)

A Tribute...........to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart

"And now here it is........your moment of zen."




Just kidding Leslie, I have to say I thought all those posts about you being an Elvis tribute artist were a work. But I checked out your clips and you sing it well. Best of luck with this I know it's long been a passion of yours and I'm sure you will be a success. Hope to see you at an XOW show one of these days, but I wonder which side of the XOW/IWF war I'll be on?? Hmm, something to think about. Take Care, Gene

That other crap is fake but THIS IS REAL and The Ultimate Shoot

THE BALL IS DROPPED ONCE AGAIN....

Look I know shoot angles are a part of the business and I think if done correctly they can be very beneficial but WWE has totally dropped the ball on this Matt Hardy angle. First off, the guy has pissed and moaned and trashed them on the internet for monthes after being "fired", yet now here he is stepping out of Vince's limo and shaking his hand on live t.v. after being re-signed for showing up and "crashing" there shows...... O.k. I'll deal with that, but here's where they lose me. Moments after Good Ole J.R. tells us that Edge and Lita aren't here due to a heinsous attack from Kane, Matt tells us that the Lita/Kane marriage is all a work and tells us the shoot details of his relationship with 'Amy Dumas' and the betrayal of 'Adam Copeland'. Now I know everyone knows it's a work nowadays and that shoot angles are hip, but you cannot just flat out acknowledge that something you've put over huge(the Kane/Edge/Lita angle) is all worked bullshit, but THIS is real. Your shitting on everything else that is happening on your show, because not only is he shitting on the Kane angle but it's also saying that everything else you've watched(and will watch) on the show that night is bullshit, it kills the suspension of disbelief that is required to enjoy a wrestling show. Russo used to do that shit in WCW, like the deal with Hogan, where he had Jarrett lay down for Hogan and then Russo cuts the 'shoot promo' on Hogan using his 'creative control' and not wanting to 'put over' the other guys. Then the announcers tell you that was a shoot and was real and wasn't on the 'format', then we cut from that to a Vampiro/Kiss Demon graveyard match or some stupid shit, and now we're supposed to take the announcer's emotion seriously when they just acknowledged it was all scipted. I know that want to cash in on the realism of there situation but there are far more subtle ways to do it. Like Shawn Michaels for instance, there were shoot aspects to his promo on last weeks RAW, but they were thrown in there in a way where they were easy to pick up by the smart people, but do not slap the marks in the face with terms they don't understand or by flat out saying "Terry, I'm not gonna do the job and let you go over at Summerslam." "What'cha gonna do when the Heartbreak Kid won't lay down for you" can be interpreted in a shoot sense and a work sense. I enjoyed last week's promo very much but I thought the Larry King skit was way too simular to the old Billionaire Ted stuff to be taken seriously. But where does this leave Kane? You have to just go on as if the Edge angle never happened now? Don't you? I dunno. Right now the only thing I find interesting on RAW is the Hogan/HBK angle. I've tried but I just really can't make myself give a shit about Cena/Jericho. The Olympian vs. Special Olympian angle with Angle and Eugene is mildly amusing. I mean anything that gets Tatanka back on tv has to be pretty good right!?!? I will ask you all this: 1) What the fuck is the point of the Kerwin White deal? How may weeks do you think the new Rob "Bad Ass" Buff BagGunn" Conway will last?

And over on Smackdown: Eddie Guerrero reveals he is really Dominic Mysterios father(argh!) They debut a character who is a knockoff of the Austin Powers' Mole Character except instead of a mole it looks like a freakin' tumor hanging off the side of her face(yeah that joke won't get old), JBL is still poluting the main event spot, Orlando Jordan beat Chris Benoit......let me say that again ORLANDO JORDAN BEAT CHRIS BENOIT(cherish that copy of Wrestlemania 20 Chris cause it's all downhill from here)

And so ends my recap of WWE, now onto ......




THE ULTIMATE SHOOT!! (NOT EXACTLY)

Well I just got in a highly anticipated shoot interview with the "legendary" Ultimate Warrior. Folks, alot of people in the wrestling business unjustly get a bad reputation as either an asshole, or a flake, or a lunatic and the Warrior is certainly one of the people who has been called all those things at one time or another and after watching this interview I can only draw one conclusion......THEY'RE RIGHT! This guy is a fucking nutcase. For one thing, he is constantly refferring throughout about the "Ultimate Warrior Character" as if it is some deep complex character who was some sort of enigma or something.

Let's take a look at what embodied the 'Ultimate Warrior Character'. Well let's see: A big roided up guy with a painted face, shoestrings around his arms, who babbled LONG INCOHERRENT promos who threw clotheslines.....lots.....and lots......of clotheslines...........OK there you go there is the great 'Ultimate Warrior Character', didn't need a two hour interview to sum up Ultimate Warrior the wrestler, but Warrior the person..........is a whole other story. First off the man formally known as Jim Hellwig had his names legally changed several years ago to WARRIOR, his driver's license reads: WARRIOR. He says that his wife and children go by the surname: WARRIOR. How would you like to be his kids on graduation day ? Or his wife calling in a reservation for Mrs. Warrior. "Warrior, party of five." Anyways, he talks about his early days getting trained in California and how he and Sting bullshitted there way into the Jarrett territory with only 10 hours of training under there belt.(and GOD did it show, if you've ever seen the tapes)

He's got VERY defensive when the interviewer asked him about a "urban legend" about him being 'blown up' from his running, rope shaking ring entrances before the match even started. He yelled, "I never claimed not to be." and said he felt if you weren't 'blown up' in the ring you weren't giving the people their money's worth. He acknowledged that the 'urban legend' is true that New Japan originally came up with the Big Van Vader gimmick with him in mind rather than Leon White but White got the gig when opted to work for Vince instead. Something I found funny was when the interviewer asked him about people criticizing him for his limited moveset. He then proceded to name off every move he's ever done, "I've axehandles, wristlocks, armbars, atomic drops......" FUNNY SHIT!

He said he would get himself ready to go the ring by going off alone and screaming "fuck it, fuck it, fuck it" to 'get his head in the right place'. He would then visualize how he needed to run to the ring to avoid fans grabbing his strings. Much like Rob Feinstein(RF Video) the interviewer kept asking him, "What are you memories of (insert PPV here)" Warrior finally got pissed and bitched him out over his "obsession with memories" and started singing the song, 'Memories'. Funny, yet weird. What did he think was gonna go on during a shoot interview?

Says Jake Roberts is a liar and a loser. (no argument there)

Warrior isn't fond of Ric Flair, says he's two faced and thinks it's pathetic that he's still trying to wrestle at his age. (or there)

Says he didn't play 'political games' even though he walked out numerous before big events to try to hold them up for more money or to go over. Brutus Beefcake claims that Warrior threatened to quit the company if they didn't put the IC belt on him at SummerSlam '88

Says he believes there are no limits to the potential of the Warrior character outside of wrestling as an action hero, a video game based on completing challeges, comic books, he made fitness video, etc.

Fought a five year court battle that he eventually won to own the rights to the Ultimate Warrior name and character.


He are some things he said I agree with:

He feels the Montreal Screwjob was a work based on the fact they just happened to be doing a documentary that captured the whole thing.

He says he felt Hogan brought in the Renegade to draw him out to get him to come in. He thought the whole thing was funny.


Anyway this is just a portion of the ridiculous shit that's said during this shoot. If you want to hear the rest it's available at ringside collectibles.com or any of the shoots or wrestling videos I talk about in the column(I have over 300 dvds, and God only knows how many VHS) you can email me at genejackson@charter.net to purchase them for a reasonable price.

Feedback from the "Good Wrestler" Column

Hey, I got some really great feedback on the "What makes a good wrestler" post from a few weeks ago but one of the more insightful responses I got was from Tim Long, here is what he sent me:

"How ya doin? I know you don't know me, but trust me, I been around a looooong time. I was intrigued by your question about workers and wrestlers. Great wrestlers (pistols) more often than not make good to great workers. They have the athletic ability and competitive instinct to feel the crowd. And believe it or not, it's the competition factor that most dictates the talent of the worker. Even though pro wrestling is a work - it IS a competiton. It's a game played out in an arena between the workers and the marks. The truley great workers are very simply the one's with a true love for the game. Lawler is a grade A, number 1, first class, asshole. But he is arguably the best WORKER of all time. Being an asshole and wanting to get one up on the fans gave him that drive to out wit the marks. The art of telling the story is lost today. What makes a great worker is not just being able to tell a story, but rather being able to take a story idea and improvise and impr! ove upon it in the ring in front of the crowd. It's all for the love of the game. The passion for the game is weak now because most of the folks entering the business today don't take the biz seriously. It really breaks my heart. Getting back on the subject, in the day, the workers protected the entertainers. You know, the sideshow freaks that sold tickets but didn't have a clue how to work a crowd - ie, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Lex Luger, Austin Idol, Abduhla th Butcher, etc. Not that some of these entertainers weren't good guys, but they were NOT good workers. To combat this, the promotions (before cable) would bill the entertainers in the main event but then run that match in the midde of the card on the night of the show. Because they knew that the match would have a better than average chance of completely blowing, it would run before the semi. Then the semi and main ,or what ever they called the final 2 matches, would match up the best WORKERS on the card. This ! insured that the crowd would leave satisfied and excited. No one used this technique more often than Vince's father in the WWWF. The announcers were paid to create the persona of the entertainer so that he could sell the tickets. Because more often than not, the muscle bound entertainer could not get himself over. If the promotion did not believe in down carding at showtime then they simply would not put 2 entertainers together. Entertainers would only work programs with good workers, and were instructed to let the workers call the spots. When myself and Kenny Shane Hart were the "Streetwalkers" in ICW during the early 80's, there were several times that we were listed as the third match on the card, but at the show Randy Savage moved us to last because in his own words - they couldn't get over us - and he wanted to leave the crowd excited and happy. Savage was one of the better workers in the business but at the time he was running programs with the likes of Crusher Broomfield (ak! a WWF's One Man Gang) and the Barbarian. They were hugh powerful men and really nice guys, but not good workers. Well anyway, I could go on all night, but you get the picture. Now days, the announcers job is to put every body over because nobody can tell there own stories anymore. And though I hate to agree with Kevin Nash (another f-ing entertainer) he hit a home run with the statement referring to the non-WORKING writers trying to dictate matches and stories. Again I could go on and on, but it's easier to talk than type. This message has taken me over an hour to type. LOL
Thanks for the soap box. LMAO."

Tim "Allnite" Long

The 1 Bull Ryder


Thanks, Tim for for the response it's good to hear from someone with a knowledge of the business beyond the usual bullshit I've become used to reading most places.

I will be posting again in a couple of days on recent happenings as well as my thoughts on the recent Ultimate Warrior shoot that I watched(unFUCKINGbelivable)

So be sure to check it out, if your looking for shark talk and comic book pussy shit then you'll have to go elsewhere but if your looking for wrestling talk(and God forbid you expect wrestling talk from someone who posts on a WRESTLING website) then be sure to check it out.

GENE