Linda McMahon looks to become a legit politician, Jeff Hardy gets buried by CM Punk on-air and Big Show looks to be the company’s next (ahem) movie star.
Opening Witty Banter
Yeah time got away from me today. We gotta do this thing quick tonight. Plus there was a lot of news that came out of Stamford this past week. And no you won’t find anything about Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan’s tour of Australia here. Perhaps a rant will come later when it’s officially announced that Flair will main event the shows against Hogan. But I will keep talking about Jeff Hardy…
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
The rumors became official on Wednesday as World Wrestling Entertainment announced that their CEO Linda McMahon would officially run for a U.S. Senate seat in the state of Connecticut. Effective immediately she has stepped down as WWEW CEO.
Here is the official press release:
WWE®’s Linda McMahon Resigns to Run for U.S. Senate
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Linda McMahon has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer after announcing her candidacy for the United States Senate, representing the state of Connecticut. Vince McMahon assumes the duties of Chief Executive Officer in addition to his current position as WWE® Chairman. McMahon will be supported by the seasoned executive management team already in place and led by Chief Operating Officer and board member, Donna Goldsmith.
McMahon also has opened her official campaign site at Linda 2010, which features all the information one would need to know about McMahon, as well as video from Linda herself explaining her candidacy.
After the announcement was made on Wednesday that McMahon was running for U.S. Senate, representing the state of Connecticut, more information has surfaced regarding her campaign.
McMahon has already said that she is not taking money from special interest groups to finance her campaign. She is also only allowing personal contributions that are $100. Rather she plans to spend the McMahon personal fortune to fund her bid.
The mainstream media has picked up on the story, as well. Everyone from AP to New York Times and CNN has offered their take on McMahon’s candidacy. Naturally McMahon’s previous and current association with World Wrestling Entertainment and the whole pro wrestling industry will provide plenty of cannon fodder for her during the upcoming Republican primaries. But then again how often are political debates and elections compared to a pro wrestling event anyways? I mean who can forget Howard Dean’s speech from 2004 Iowa Democratic Caucus?
At any rate McMahon looks to contend with Rep. Rob Simmons, former ambassador Tom Foley, state Senator Sam Caliguri and businessman Peter Schiff in the upcoming Republican primaries before she even gets on a ballot. The Atlantic.com breaks down the “upper echelon political talent†that McMahon has employed to help her run her campaign.
With McMahon stepping down as CEO, her husband and WWE Chairman of the Board Vince McMahon will take over the title of company CEO as well. COO Donna Goldsmith will also assist in many of Linda’s previous duties.
Goldsmith spoke about the situation on Wednesday at a ROTH Capital Partners conference that took place in New York.
“She has been prepping us for a while on this,†Goldsmith said. “We have a host of people that are going to take those responsibilities with Vince assuming the CEO.â€
Goldsmith also went to explain Vince’s role in this new situation.
‘Vince is definitely involved in the day-to-day, but he’s more involved in the creative. He has left a lot of detail to me and the rest of the team,” Goldsmith said. “At the back-end of the week, he will definitely be involved! And he will be even more with Linda’s departure.â€
In addition to her official campaign website McMahon and her team have also launched a full social media blitz and expanded her online profile to include an official blog, a Twitter page, a Facebook profile and a MySpace page.
There it’s official. WWE isn’t going from TV-PG anytime soon.
Jeff Hardy will be in court on Wednesday, September 30, to face numerous charges stemming from his September 11 arrest.
The charges facing Hardy include:
– Felony possession of cocaine
– Felony drug trafficking of opium
– Two Counts of Felony possession with intent to redistribute a Schedule III drug
– Maintaining a dwelling for drug use and/or distribution
– Misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia
The drug trafficking charge is based on the sheer weight of the pills that Hardy had in his home at the time of the arrest. If he can provide a legal prescription for at least some of the painkillers then the weight would be reduced, and the trafficking charge could be dropped.
I know I said this last week too, but can you imagine if Hardy was still with the company when this all fell out? Or if he was still World Heavyweight Champion?
Speaking of Hardy, it was Vince McMahon himself who made the call for CM Punk to cut a promo on Jeff Hardy at Breaking Point. Punk had already cut a promo, but Vince made the decision to add in the Hardy comments and re-shoot the promo.
If WWE does postpone the Jeff Hardy DVD planned for December, a likely replacement will be a Chris Jericho compilation DVD.
Fanboys have been clamoring for a Jericho DVD for years so either way they have a hit on their hands. By December Hardy’s current situation will be much clearer and the DVD may play better than it would if it say, came out tomorrow.
And speaking of Punk, the creative team has been pushing to give CM Punk a bodyguard. Naturally Ezekiel Jackson had been rumored for the role, but the feeling is that ECW is better for him right now. The other option being thrown around is Festus with the story that Punk either got him off of his medication to make him normal, or that he is feeding him pills to control him.
Okay I kind of like the Festus angle in a twisted way, but I don’t think that Punk needs to be mired down by having a flunky with him. Punk works so well because he stands alone in his quest to clean up WWE.
Carl De Marco, the former president of WWE Canada and the head of the company’s Canadian left WWE last week. The decision was De Marco’s, and surprised just about everyone in the company.
Eh…I always heard he was a big time player in WWE but I don’t think this will be noticed to the mainstream fan.
Triple H accompanied Floyd “Money†Mayweather to the ring on Saturday night against Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Mayweather said Triple H was “one of the greatest guys in the world” and that “it’d be an honor to have him by his side.”
Triple H responded via Mayweather’s publicist by saying, “It is an honor to walk the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world back into the ring. Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather has shown WWE tremendous support and it is my pleasure to return the favor this Saturday by standing at his side as he defeats Marquez in what I am sure will be boxing’s fight of the year.”
So this just strengthens the rumors that Money may head to WWE full-time in the near future. I think it’s safe to say the fight probably is going to lose pretty hard to the UFC in pay per view buys. But that’s not really here nor there.
Right now there is a lot of concerning Undertaker’s health. He specifically came back to work in Puerto Rico, as a warm up for his Breaking Point match. After WrestleMania Undertaker underwent hip surgery that was severely downplayed. But it was actually very serious surgery and is looking at a full hip replacement. He is constantly in a lot of pain and is noticeably slower, which explains why the Breaking Point match was booked to be so short.
So let the rumors start that Undertaker will retire at WrestleaMania XXVI.
The Rev. Al Sharpton will guest host RAW on September 28th. The View’s Sherri Shepard is expected to guest host in October.
Shepard makes perfect sense based on her relationship with MVP, but Sharpton seems to be the most odd of any of the celebrity choices so far. A Sharpton-hosted show has the potential to be a huge train wreck.
Former WWE performer Sylvan Grenier brought Tomassino, to the PPV and TV tapings last week. Sylvan was there looking for a job, but it ended up being Tomassino who got hired. He appeared as a member of Teddy Long’s security team on SmackDown this past week.
I dislike Sylvan as much as the next guy but that is kind of crummy that he brought his pal to the show, who ended getting a job out of the deal and he didn’t.
The Big Show will star in the next film for WWE Films. The movie will be a straight to DVD project called Suckerpunch, and is expected to begin filming next month in New Orleans, incidentally where 12 Rounds was filmed as well. The plot goes that Show will play a giant man named Walter Kronk, who has lived his entire life in an orphanage. In the film, fight promoter Memphis Earl is trying to find his way out of being in debt to crooked partner, and talks Kronk into wrestling. The film is expected to have a budget of between $5-$6 million.
Show has a natural charisma and is genuinely funny, so this could be decent, in a WWE straight-to-DVD type of way. At least they are going for a comedy this time instead of another “one man takes revenge on the entire world†plot like so many others have been.
According to PWInsider.com, the lawsuit that Warrior had filed against WWE back in January of 2006, in regards to the Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior DVD is over. Judge Douglas L. Rayes ruled that Warrior could not sue for damages over WWE’s comments about him on the DVD. Warrior claimed that the DVD violated a March 2000 Settlement Agreement between WWE and Ultimate Creations Inc, which is Warrior’s Arizona corporation. That agreement allowed WWE to use footage of Warrior, but that Warrior owned the rights and trademarks to the Ultimate Warrior character and could use them in any future venue as he decreed. It was also agreed that both parties would “not disparage each other”. WWE agreed to pay $890,000 to Warrior’s Ultimate Creations as part of the settlement agreement. It was ruled that Warrior himself breached the deal, and that he was not legally able to receive damages for the same thing he accused WWE of.
I wanted to include Warrior’s rant that responded to the case but I couldn’t understand a damn thing of what he said.
WWE has continued to cut through its developmental talent and released Espiral, who formerly wrestled as Sicodelico, Jr before coming to WWE. He joins Kris Logan, Aiden Frost, Troy Jackman and Fletcher Chase as recently released talent from the program.
The release of Espiral made me think of Dos Caras, Jr. Did that guy ever show up to WWE after like over of a year of “will he, won’t he?â€
Wrestler of the Week
Week of September 14 – 20: Zack Ryder
Woo woo woo! You know it! This past week on ECW Ryder took the biggest step of his young career when he won a ten-man battle royal to earn a future ECW Championship match against Christian. Everyone is complaining about his loss to Yoshi Tatsu earlier in the evening, but all that does is give credibility to Yoshi and plant the seeds for a run with Ryder once he’s done challenging for the Title. It has not been announced whether Ryder will receive his Title shot on an upcoming broadcast of ECW or whether it will be a pay per view bout. Regardless, Ryder is now riding some big momentum and is about to take part in the biggest match of a singles career that is just now starting. Whether Ryder will use this current momentum to become a big star in the industry or completely fizzle out and become a non-factor is still up in the air. But for right now the young wrestler from Long Island is on the roll of a lifetime.
RAW’s On Tonight!
The WWE’s guest host phenomenon for Monday Night RAW rolls on. After a hugely successful from Bob Barker on Labor Day, it was announced that Cedric the Entertainer will host tonight’s episode live from Little Rock, Arkansas. I’m not sure what Cedric’s motive for the RAW gig is, as he doesn’t look to have any projects coming up in the near horizon. But he is very adept at handling a live audience and has charisma and stage presence that should make him enjoyable to watch in the very least. Plus I’m sure there will be some matches as well, but that seems to take a backseat on RAW. At least we know the Hornswoggle-Chavo Guerrrero feud is over now.
On Last Week’s Episode…
SmackDown took a step back this week with the return of Batista to the show and the hokey antics of Undertaker and Teddy Long.
Superstars had a great little match between Christian and Paul Burchill and a pretty decent outing for Finlay and Dolph Ziggler.
Results and thoughts for Zack Ryder’s coming out party on ECW.
RAW featured the hottest guest host the show will ever have with Trish Stratus.
How They Rated
Superstars (9.10.09) – .8
SmackDown! (9.11.09) – 1.8
A.M. RAW (9.13.09) – .7
RAW (9.14.09) – 3.4
ECW (9.15.09) – 1.2
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
Hack pays attention to the indys so you don’t have to.
Glazer gets Stratus-fied…
Perillo continues to bring the awesome with his CHIKARA coverage.
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
