Apparently WWE doesn’t wrestle anymore, but yet Vince McMahon thought Michaels and Jericho was the best ladder wrestling match he’s ever seen. Yeah I can’t figure it out either.
Opening Witty Banter
Well my day got away from me and so let’s just cut to the chase and get on with the news.
The News of the Week
The big news of the week is the latest edict that came down from Titan Towers. The word from down on high is that announcers are now to call the company’s wrestlers “entertainers,†as opposed to wrestlers or even superstars. Apparently WWE wants to try and become classified as an entertainment touring company and not a legitimate sporting event. This way they can avoid falling under the jurisdiction of many state Athletic Commissions and thus the taxes that come with being a touring sporting event. They have also dropped he use of the term “sports-entertainment†and are now just going to call the product simply “entertainment.â€
At point are they just going to take out the ring completely and just do the whole thing backstage? I’m waiting for them to take the word “wrestling†out of their company moniker as well. We all know that Vince McMahon has always been a showman first, but this is just getting ridiculous.
Vince McMahon has said that he found the Michaels-Jericho ladder match from No Mercy, the best ladder match he had ever seen.
That’s some pretty high praise from the man who has seen and promoted most of the good ones. I guess it’s good to know that at least Vince still watches the show.
Despite the fact that another thee-hour RAW is coming up in a couple weeks, Vince is against going to three hour RAWs full-time, like the company wants.
I think Vince is right to hold is ground here. Three hours every week is a lot of RAW and dilutes the long nature of pay per view broadcasts. Running them on just special occasions is a nice treat for fans as usually someone special shows up or something special happens. Besides the RAW roster just isn’t big enough to support a three-hour show every week. I mean it’s not like they can run Mortis versus Brad Armstrong and then six lucha libre matches to fill time.
Leah Maivia, the widow of “The High Chief” Peter Maivia and grandmother of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson passed away on Sunday at the age of 81.
Pulse Wrestling offers our condolences to Maivia’s family and friends.
Speaking of the Maivias, Afa “Manu†Anoi’a, Jr. has been told by WWE management to keep his weight down, in that 260 pound range.
That Samoan family raises ‘em big, and the last thing we need is another guy ballooning up the way uncle Rikishi did.
WWE has re-signed Chris Cage and “Silverback†Ryan Reeves to developmental deals.
I’ve never really seen Cage in action, but I remember him being fired the first time for what I thought was behavioral issues. Reeves was released after a Wellness violation, but I’m guessing Reeves got himself off the juice and still maintained the naturally large physique that is all the rave in WWE these days.
Weekly Paul London Update
Paul London is my favorite “entertainer†on the WWE roster and I find utterly appalling that somehow he hasn’t been on television since July. So in an effort to keep vigil for the “Intergalactic Karate Kid,†I am going to do a weekly update on Paul’s whereabouts.
It was reported that Paul London was actually backstage at RAW this past week. He was backstage, where he was safely monitored, you know as opposed to actually being on screen. On screen, where he could be tearing it up with CM Punk and Kofi Kingston or working as Chris Jericho’s new lackey or Shawn Michaels’ new on-screen student or hell, even jobbing to JBL or Kane would be better than this.
Wrestler of the Week
Week of October 20 – 26: Batista
This one is a pretty obvious vote for me this week. He looked dominant in that utterly abysmal double gauntlet thing from RAW on Monday and then came out victorious as the new World Heavyweight Champion following last night’s Cyber Sunday. He got rub shoulders with Steve Austin at the end of the night, which is another company endorsement for Batista to be The Man. I thought there was a lot more left in the Chris Jericho Title reign, but perhaps plants the seeds for a Batista-Cena rematch for WresrleMania.
RAW’s On Tonight!
With Batista the new flagship on RAW, all eyes are now pointing to Survivor Series and the return of John Cena. I’m anxious to see what directions the company takes going into one of the company’s “big four.†All I know is that I am just begging for some classic elimination matches for this year’s Series.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Norine and Curran double team SmackDown!
Marshall and Norine provide double the RAW coverage.
How They Rated
A.M. RAW (10.19.08) – .4
RAW (10.20.08) – 2.9
ECW (10.21.08) – 1.3
SmackDown! (10.24.08) –
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Wiswell makes his case for Austin Aries for Ring of Honor MVP for 2008.
Glazer previews this past weekend’s Ring of Honor shows, apparently Gabe Sapolsky’s last shows for the company.
In Case You Didn’t Spend the $40
PK got the honors of doing live coverage for Cyber Sunday. Here’s how it all fell out.
Shelton Benjamin retained the United States Championship over R-Truth (5:11).
Rey Mysterio pinned Kane in a No Holds Barred match (10:00).
Matt Hardy pinned Evan Bourne to retain the ECW Championship (11:00).
John Morrison & The Miz beat Cryme Tyme when Morrison pinned Shad (10:00).
The Honky Tonk Man beat Santino Marella by DQ in an Intercontinental Chamiponship match (1:00).
The Undertaker beat The Big Show in a Last Man Standing match (20:00).
Triple H pinned Jeff Hardy to retain the WWE Championship (16:00).
Batista pinned Chris Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship (17:00). Stone Cold Steve Austin was the guest referee.
IP Staff Roundtable Results for WWE Cyber Sunday
The staff got together again to wax poetic about the comings and goings of Cyber Sunday. Here’s how we fared. Frankly we did poorly.
Roundtable Champion: TIE! Brad Curran: 5-4 (42-25) and Andrew Wheeler: 5-4 (110-60)
Mark Allen: 3-6 (111-48)
Danny Cox: 3-6 (171-148)
Paul Marshall: 3-6 (95-61)
Raffi Shamir: 3-6 (57-48)
