The Botterm Dollar In News

Archive

THE BOTTERM DOLLAR IN NEWS 06.18.04

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Field Of Dreams, but I picked up the new Special Edition DVD, and boy is it great. I’m a mark for good baseball movies anyway, and watching this brings back all kinds of fond memories from my childhood. I think baseball fever is heating up for me for the first time in, oh, ten years or so. Ever since Nolan Ryan retired and the Astros stopped caring about winning, I sorta gave up on the sport. Nowadays, the Astros are one of the best teams in baseball, and I’m starting to rediscover my love for the sport. I think the Lakers losing in the Finals has put me in a good sports mood overall, really.

Hello again, and welcome to the Botterm Dollar. In case you missed the big announcement, we opened up what is, to my knowledge, the first wrestling-dedicated blog at TheWrestlingBlog.com. It’s even got a good domain name to boot. There’s a whole lot of 411 writers on board, as well as others from several of your favorite wrestling sites. The coolest thing about TWB (as we affectionately call it around here) is the sense of community that you get. Basically, it’s what you’d get if you combined a constantly-updated wrestling site with a good messageboard system. We post stuff throughout the day, from small random tidbits to longer thoughts, and you can respond immediately and get involved in discussing the topic. There’s a ton of activity already happening, so go get involved! Besides, it’s the only place on the web where you can find Matt Nute’s 60-Second Recaps, and they are a gem. There’s also Gagnon’s Smackdown Moment, which is also a gem.

Here’s a shoutout to my cousin Shad, who gets mentioned here solely because he’s been begging for it for six weeks or so.

On with the news…

—————————–
EUGENE: THE RIPOFF?
—————————–

The biggest news of the day has to be the accusations from a Philadelphia comic show that has made the claim that the WWE’s Eugene character was blatantly stolen from them. The gist of the story is that the guys had approached Spike about developing a sitcom, and sent them a tape of one of their better shows. In this show, they had a character named Eugene who supposedly had the same mannerisms as the WWE version. They were told that while Spike had no interest in the show, they had an open door to propose other products in the future.

No big deal, right? Not exactly.

The group claims that not only was the Eugene character stolen from them…but that the entire story arc that WWE is using for Eugene was stolen as well. In fact, they claim that they can tell you exactly where the WWE is going with the Eugene storyline, because the WWE is using the exact storyline is the same as the one featured on the tape that they sent to Spike!

The group says it’s exploring lawsuit options with a lawyer.

If what these guys are saying is the truth, then WWE could have a very large problem on it’s hands. Actually, SPIKE would have a problem on it’s hands, as WWE could say that the story was simply suggested to them, so they couldn’t be implicated in any sort of case. That probably wouldn’t stop the Philadelphia group from at least TRYING to scam some money off of WWE.

—————————–
MORE RING OF HONOR
—————————–

They’re still trying to negotiate the sale of Ring of Honor to minority owner Doug Gentry. The sale is apparently being held up over a no-compete clause that Doug Gentry wants placed in the sale contracts. Doug, you already HAVE a no-compete clause in the contracts…his name isx Rob Feinstein.

Feinstein’s been in the office the past week calling various promotions and ensuring that they’re not leaving RF in the dust in the wake of his pedophilia scandal.

—————————–
SMACKDOWN
—————————–

It was pretty awful. I’d tell you to go read a recap on 411, but none seem to be available as of this writing. Shame on you, Eric.

Chavo Classic bid goodbye to WWE with a loss to Rey Misterio, and new tag champions were crowned.

Go check out thewrestlingblog.com if you want a few different viewpoints on the show.

—————————–
TIDBITS
—————————–

<> 1wrestling.com has a recap of the JBL/Howard Stern segment. It’s available here.

<> Ric Flair will appear on Off The Record on July 21. Fans are encouraged to send in questions for The Nature Boy to answer. This will probably only work with Canadian fans, as they’re the only ones who can see the show anyway.

<> TNA Impact Spoilers are available here.

—————————–
CLOSURE
—————————–

There ain’t much going on today. I’m in the midst of a four-day weekend, but all four of those days are pretty much going to be occupied with the impending nuptials of my gilfriend’s sister. We’ve got dinners, rehearsals, errands, more dinners, and then finally a wedding to attend, so it’s going to be a busy one. Apologies for cutting it short this week, and I’ll hit you up next week with more content.