This Week in ‘E – Goodbye Test

Columns

R.I.P. Andrew “Test” Martin

Opening Witty Banter
While writing this I am watching the roast of Larry the Cable Guy and it is much, much funnier than I anticipated. Also I have gotten into Danny McBride’s “Eastbound and Down” on HBO and on the show Will Ferrell does a killer Ric Flair imitation as BMW car salesman Ashley Schaffer, right down to the blonde mullet and “Wooo!” See, everyone wants to be like Ric Flair.

Let’s take some ‘E…

The News of the Week
More sad news came out of the wrestling world this week as Andrew “Test” Martin, 33, was found dead in his apartment in Tampa, Florida on Friday evening. It was confirmed by Tampa, Florida, TV station WTSP that it was indeed Martin, and that he died on Friday. A neighbor who said that she could see into his apartment and that he appeared motionless for several hours called police. An autopsy will of course be conducted, but at this time police do not suspect foul play.

Despite announcing his retirement from pro wrestling in December 2007 he continued to work sparingly. He did some wrestling recently in Japan, and was scheduled to work in Europe, leaving this coming week, according to Mike Johnson at PWInsider.

Johnson also reported that Martin had been dating World Wrestling Entertainment’s Kelly Kelly, but broke up about 6-8 weeks ago.

Originally born in Whitby, Ontario Canada, Martin was discovered randomly by then-top WWF star Bret Hart in a restaurant. Hart offered to train Martin (who was a legit 6’6 and 300 lbs at the time) for the business and break him in. Martin trained for eight months under Hart and Leo Burke in Calgary.

At the time of his death Martin was only four days from his 34th birthday. Wrestling fans have already leaving numerous messages on Martin’s MySpace, as well as Kelly Kelly’s.

Martin worked for WWE from January 1999 until November 2004. He returned to WWE from March 2006 until February 2007. He made a few appearances in TNA Wrestling in August 2007 but disappeared shortly thereafter.

I would like personally express my condolences to the friends and family of Andrew Martin in this time of distress.

On March 9, wwe.com announced that Kizarny has been released. Kizarny was a journeyman who has been wrestling since 2000 and signed with WWE in 2007. He was called up from the developmental leagues in October 2008, but didn’t actually get into the ring until January 2009. Unfortunately management wasn’t impressed with him once he actually stepped in the ring and his initial momentum was stalled almost immediately.

Kizarny’s last blog on the WWE Universe (which has already been removed by WWE) was about his plan to get WWE boss Vince McMahon to dress as Doink the Clown so they could go after the Tag Team Championships.

Was he just acting for his release with a comment like that?

Shortly after RAW went off the air last week the cat came out of the bag in regards to the Triple H-Randy Orton house brawl. Turns out they weren’t actually in St. Louis, that house wasn’t actually Orton’s, the whole thing was taped the night before in Florida and that wasn’t Orton’s real wife. It was some Playboy Playmate named Lara Croft. The cops that arrested Triple H were a couple developmental guys named Mike Hutter and Matt Walsh.

I actually believed that everything was on the legit while watching it. I believed Orton would have a nice house like that and figured his wife really was that hot and vapid. And everyone already stole all the good “Tomb Raider” jokes days before I got a hold of it.

WWE has started work on a Jimmy Snuka DVD, which as of now will be titled “Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story.”

Well aside from the witty title for the DVD it could be a good pick-up.

In other DVD news this week, Jim Ross let the cat out of the bag in one of his blogs about how the company is working on a “Rise and Fall of WCW” DVD, complete with extensive biography portion.

Seriously to do that disc justice the biography portion itself needs to be at least three hours long like the ECW one was. Speaking of that, there’s a DVD I haven’t watched in a long time. Might to have pop that in sometime when I’m lying around recovering from a hangover.

The Road to…WrestleMania XXV
WWE Championship
Triple H (c) v. Randy Orton

World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena v. The Big Show v. Edge (c)

Undertaker v. Shawn Michaels

Jeff Hardy v. Matt Hardy

Money in the Bank V
CM Punk v. Kane v. Mark Henry v. MVP v. Shelton Benjamin v. Kofi Kingston v. Christian v. Finlay

25 Diva Battle Royal
Maryse, Melina, Michelle McCool, Nikki & Brie Bella, Maria, Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Rosa Mendes, Layla, Alicia Fox, Natalya Neidhart, Katie Lea Burchill
(rumored participants: Sunny, Jackie Gayda-Haas, Torrie Wilson, Wendi Richter, Mae Young, Trish Stratus)

rumored matches:
Tag Title Unification Match
Carlito & Primo Colon v. The Miz & John Morrison

ECW Championship
Evan Bourne v. Jack Swagger (c)

Intercontinental Championship
JBL v. Rey Mysterio or Vladimir Kozlov

Rey Mysterio or The Great Khali v. Vladimir Kozlov

Chris Jericho v. “a legend”

Class of 2009 Hall of Fame
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Terry Funk & Dory Funk, Jr. (inducted by Dusty Rhodes)
Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (inducted by Ric Flair)
“Cowboy” Bill Watts (inducted by Jim Ross)
”The Birdman” Koko B. Ware (inducted by Honky Tonk Man)

Wrestler of the Week
Week of March 9 – 15: JBL
JBL continued on his run as “The Wrestling God” this past week by winning the Intercontinental Championship, one of the few titles that has eluded him in his WWE career. With his Intercontinental Title win he joins the elite Grand Slam club populated by other top stars like Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho. He, like Van Dam and Jericho, also held the Hardcore Championship. Add in a US Title reign and Bradshaw has become one of the most decorated superstars in WWE history. Not bad for ol’ “Blackjack.” Now with the possibility of actually giving us an Intercontinental Title match at WrestleMania JBL continues to overshoot his coverage, by a long ways.

RAW’s On Tonight!
RAW will be main evented by Shawn Michaels and Undertaker taking on JBL and Vladimir Kozlov, because we can’t have a face versus face match at WrestleMania without the two guys having to team and then fall apart just weeks before the show. Hell, this is the third year in a row that is happened with Michaels alone. I’m more intrigued by their opponents. Is this going to be the catalyst to turn Bradshaw in a flag-waving babyface in his last months as an in-ring performer as he fights a dirty Commie on the grandest stage of them all? Plus Chris Jericho is challenging Ric Flair to come out of retirement to fight him. I think this is the definition of what the pro wrestling industry calls a “bait and switch.” Plus with Koko B. Ware being announced as a Hall of Fame inductee, fans wait with baited breathe on this week’s induction. My money is on Iron Mike Sharpe.

On Last Week’s Episode…
SmackDown results and 10 thoughts

ECW (battle royals rule!)

RAW results and 10 thoughts

How They Rated
SmackDown! (3.6.09) – 2.0

A.M. RAW (3.8.09) – .75

RAW (3.9.09) – 3.65

ECW (3.10.09) – 1.34

This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Wiswell gives a preview of the Ring of Honor shows that are already over, but it’s still a good read.

Marshall covers TNA’s recent fortunes, including striking a deal to make their content available on XBOX, PS3 and a whole assortment of other new fangled media devices.

For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner 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.