This Week in ‘E – A Million $ Movie Star

Archive, Columns

Edge and Cena win big at Survivor Series while Ted DiBiase is off on his way to become a movie star…you know a movie star like that other famous movie star Kane.

Opening Witty Banter
Survivor Series is in the books and saw some expected results (Undertaker wins…John Cena wins…) and some unexpected results (Edge returns and wins the World Title?!?). But in some sad news Entourage and True Blood are done for the season and I’m already going through withdrawals. Summer 2009 can’t come soon enough.

Let’s take some ‘E…

The News of the Week
The reason Ted DiBiase was written out of storylines courtesy of a Randy Orton punt kick was because he is off filming the WWE Films project “The Marine 2.” It will be a direct-to-DVD release, and John Cena will have no involvement in the movie, outside of a possible cameo.

I was wondering why they took DiBiase out when they did, especially when it seemed like he was on such a hot streak with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Hopefully when he comes back from filming he won’t lose any of his momentum.

The New York Daily News reported that Vince McMahon and John Cena were in the front row of the November 13th AC/DC concert at Madison Square Garden.

Hahaha…Cena hanging out with his sixty year old boss at an AC/DC concert just cracks me up for some reason.

WWE Films has acquired a script for “A Chance for Both Barrels”, which about a mercenary trying to bring a killer to justice. The script was written by John Heffernan from “Snakes on A Plane” fame. It is currently being re-written to fit a WWE talent, but no one has been cast yet.

Yes! Scotty Goldman’s big break!

In what is becoming a sad recurring theme, another on-air talent has been released, this time Armanda Estrada. He hasn’t been used regularly on ECW since he lost his ECW GM position.

Estrada should never have been removed from Umaga in the first place. He was great as a mouthpiece and figurehead, but didn’t really fit in as a wrestler.

In another effort to save costs, WWE is changing their referee policy as well. In the past referees have been assigned to one brand and would tour with that brand for house shows. From now on the company will have one group of referees on the road one week, then another group on the next loop. This policy will go by seniority, which means that referees who have a longer tenure will get more work while others may be sent back down to WWE developmental or released.

Eh…I doubt anyone will even notice the change.

Despite all these cost cuts, apparently Dustin Rhodes has re-signed with the company for the approximately the twelfth time to portray Goldust.

What is he going to bring to the table other being another Attitude guy who can job in two minute squashes on RAW? I thought that was D-Lo’s job.

Weekly Paul London Update
Apparently Paul isn’t going to Ring of Honor or Japan or Mexico anywhere else in a wrestling ring. Apparently Paul is going to LA to try his hand at some acting and stunt work. Good luck to you Mr. London and come back to wrestling any time you want. I know there are a lot of places that will welcome you with open arms.

Wrestler of the Week
Week of November 17 – 23: Edge
I had it all written with John Cena’s name in this spot (no I didn’t) but Edge’s surprising return and subsequent WWE Championship victory blew anything else out of the water that happened this week in the ‘E. Edge, with a beard that would make Mike Knox blush) instantly put himself back on top of the WWE Universe (wow…I can’t believe I just used that term) and continued to solidify his legacy as one of the company’s top stars.

RAW’s On Tonight!
Tonight’s RAW will see the fallout from Survivor Series. The RAW brand was quite successful last night on the pay per view, as Beth Phoenix led the RAW divas in an elimination victory over the SmackDown! divas. Plus Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes survived in their battle against Team Batista while Shawn Michaels led his team to victory over Team JBL. But one of the biggest shockers to come out of the show was John Cena’s triumphant return and victory over Chris Jericho en route to winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Will he turn this belt into a spinner too? God I hope not. Ric Flair would be turning over in his grave, and he ain’t even dead yet.

On Last Week’s Episode…
Norine and Brad provide the SmackDown!

Norine also stepped in and covered RAW

How They Rated
A.M. RAW (11.16.08) – .7

RAW (11.17.08) – 2.9

ECW (11.18.08) – 1.15

SmackDown! (11.21.08) –

This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Wiswell has a great piece up about what Ring of Honor is and has been doing wrong.

Ditch has a great interview up with Steve Corino.

Marshall looks at the T.

Glazer does a fantastic job of previewing the latest Ring of Honor show.

In Case You Didn’t Spend the $40
Norine got the honors of doing live coverage for Survivor Series. Here’s how it all fell out:

Team HBK (Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, Cryme Tyme & The Great Khali) defeated Team JBL (JBL, Kane, The Miz, John Morrison & MVP) in an elimination match:
MVP pinned JTG
The Great Khali pinned MVP
Rey Mysterio pinned Kane
The Miz pinned Shad Gaspard
Mysterio pinned Miz
JBL gets counted out
Shawn Michaels pinned John Morrison

Team RAW (Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly, Mickie James, Candice Michelle & Jillian Hall) defeated Team SmackDown! (Michelle McCool, Maria, Maryse, Victoria & Natalya Neidhart) in an elimination match:
Kelly Kelly pinned Victoria
Maryse pinned Kelly
Mickie pinned Michelle McCool
Maryse pinned Mickie
Candice pinned Natalya
Maria pinned Jillian
Candice pinned Maria
Maryse made Candice tap out
Beth pinned Maryse

The Undertaker beat The Big Show in a casket match.

Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, William Regal, Shelton Benjamin & Mark Henry) defeated Team Batista (Batista, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth & Matt Hardy) in an elimination match:
Punk pinned Regal
Benjamin pinned R-Truth
Orton pinned Kofi
Rhodes pinned Punk
Henry pinned Hardy
Batista pinned Henry
Batista pinned Benjamin
Orton pinned Batista

Edge pinned Triple H to win the WWE Championship in a triple threat that also involved Vladimir Kozlov

John Cena pinned Chris Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Championship

IP Staff Roundtable Results for WWE Survivor Series
The staff got together again to wax poetic about the comings and goings of Survivor Series. Here’s how we fared:

Roundtable Champion: TIE! Mark Allen: 5-1 (121-52) and Raffi Shamir: 5-1 (62-49)

Andrew Wheeler: 4-2 (114-62)
Paul Beasley: 3-3 (47-27)
Iain Burnside: 2-4 (130-75)
Danny Cox: 2-4 (177-156)
Paul Marshall: 1-5 (101-69)

I Get Letters…
A couple weeks back I talked about the legal controversy regarding John Cena’s theme song. I got an e-mail from a gentleman by the name of Tone E Atlas who helped me out in regards to the situation.

“I just want to address this, especially since I’m probably one of 2 guys that exist in the only cross section of Smart Mark, MOP Fan and Lawyer. Plus I know the other MOP Fan Lawyer Smart Mark. Seriously though…

I don’t hold myself out to be an expert, but I will speak this peace and gladly welcome you to find someone to correct me.

Firstly, Mash Out Posse, the rap group, consists of two members.
Secondly, the song “Ante Up” was written by three people – the two group members (Lil Fame and Billy Danze) and the producer (D.R. Period).
The person (I presume) that granted clearance to the use the recording is DR Period. But there exists three copyrights in every recorded composition. There is the copyright for the recording itself. There is the copyright in the musical composition (written notes) and there is the copyright in the written lyrics. When it comes to the written lyrics, MOP as a collective owns the rights 100% (barring any other agreement or arrangement). Likewise for the musical composition. But when it comes to the copyright to the recording MOP does in fact own 2/3 of the rights to the recording and the right to grant a license cannot be unilaterally granted (once again barring any other agreement or arrangement). So while they may be trying to “line their pockets,” they do in fact have an interest worth protecting. It doesn’t matter how long it took them to bring suit (as long as it is within the statute of limitations). The law exists to protect their rights. Ultimately, this is a case of deep pocket versus deeper pocket. I root for the ruffians from Brownsville, but I don’t have a pony in this race. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses… especially to the lawyers (unless there’s a contingency on the line).

I don’t mind at all. I just want to point out that the analysis was done off of the top of my head without any research into the facts of the matter. Considering that it has been a while since I’ve done any pure copyright work, I may be wrong on the analysis even if I drew the correct conclusion. I do know that as a matter of common sense that someone cannot sell (give away, divest or otherwise just get rid of) more than they own. To do so is conversion (a legal formality) of someone else’s legal rights.”

For more relevant wrestling news from yours truly, check out my new gig over at Examiner.com.

Mark was a columnist for Pulse Wrestling for over four years, evolving from his original “Historically Speaking” commentary-style column into the Monday morning powerhouse known as “This Week in ‘E.” He also contributes to other ventures, outside of IP, most notably as the National Pro Wrestling Examiner for Examiner.com and a contributor for The Wrestling Press. Follow me on Twitter here.