Goldust looks to get his own memoir, Linda McMahon continues to run into problems in her Senate campaign and Candice Michelle did porn?
Opening Witty Banter
So far I’m having a pretty okay month of April. Here’s hoping my good times continue into this weekend. Today’s episode is brought to you by Fox’s Sunday night Animation Domination. The talking koala on American Dad finally makes the show watchable for me. News is fairly light for WWE this week but we’ll see what we can do.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
All the big news this week has centered around Linda McMahon’s Senate campaign. Friday’s Daily Caller had an article about WWE hiring Candice Michelle, who did 58 fetish movies, while Linda was with the company. The paper ripped into Linda for this, in light of her saying that wrestlers were good role models for children while Candice Michelle defended Linda. Her main opponent, Rob Simmons, has jumped on this story.
Wait…Candice Michelle did a bunch of fetish movies?
Meanwhile in other Linda news, a newspaper article in Connecticut alleges that Linda, while she was an executive with the WWF, issued a memo tipping off former WWF doctor George Zahorian about the government’s investigation of him. Zahorian was to be investigated for illegally distributing anabolic steroids to WWF wrestlers. The article states that Linda learned about the impending investigation from a source in the prosecutor’s office, and this lead to Pat Patterson later warning Zahorian. Comments from Linda, as well as WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, are included in the story.
James J. West, former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District in Pennsylvania in 1989 and the alleged source that tipped off Linda McMahon about the impending steroid investigation has denied the claim to TheDay.com, who ran the original story. The website says that a WWE spokesman said that the company would stand by their previous statement that West was the source of the tip.
The investigation led to a steroid trial in which Vince McMahon was implicated but acquitted of all charges. Dr. George Zahorian was sentenced to 36 months in jail in 1991 for illegally distributing steroids.
Good Lord, will the fun ever end with Linda’s campaign? The sad part is they haven’t unearthed even half the awful crap that Vince and company has put on television over the years. Seriously if someone ever tips off her opponents to Wrestlecrap.com they would have a field day. Still I want to see her win; how awesome would that be for Connecticut?
In more political news, The Stamford Advocate reports that over the last decade WWE has spent over $1 million to educate politicians on the company.
So that’s pretty much a million wasted right?
A previously talked about book about the Rhodes family has now transitioned into a biography on Dustin “Goldust†Rhodes, with a working title of “Cross Rhodes.†The book should be out by the end of the year.
I’ve read comments about how this book won’t be worth it because Rhodes isn’t a big star these days, but I think his book should be great fun. He’s got a break backstory and personal problems that would make for their own entertaining read, not counting all his time in WCW and the craziness of the initial Goldust character, when he was legitimately one of the hottest stars of the day. If he manages to stay employed with WWE by the time the book hits shelves he should at least see some increased TV time at the very least.
More three hour RAWs have been announced. The April 26 edition will be the now traditional three-hour Draft episode while the June 7 show will also be three hours.
It seems as if WrestleMania as the traditional year-ender has now been replaced by the Draft has the new year starter. As for the June 7 show perhaps we will see a return of the King of the Ring.
Ezekiel Jackson has had a run of bad luck since ECW folded. First his father passed away just days before WrestleMania XXVI and now he suffered an injury during the current European tour. He took a bad bump early on in a match against Kane and the match was ended quickly. He was helped in the back by trainers. It is being speculated it is an ACL tear, which would put big Zeke out for the foreseeable future.
An injury is never good in the wrestling business, but timing wise it isn’t so bad for Zeke. Since ECW folded he hasn’t gained any traction on SmackDown and his big scary black dude role looks like it is being filled by Shad Gaspard now so perhaps a few months away will allow Zeke to come back with more momentum than he had at this point.
With Goldberg re-signing with WWE for a legends/merchandising deal, talk has already about him returning to the ring one time for a farewell match at WrestleMania XXVII, which will be deep in WCW country in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. Early expectations already put him in line for next year’s Hall of Fame ceremony.
ESPN.com interviewed him recently and here’s what he had to say…
“At this point, it’s not that I want to get back in the ring, but I have a 3½-year-old little boy, and what an experience for him to still buy an action figure with his daddy represented? The doors are kind of open to negotiation as far as a merchandising deal. If it leads to something else? It’s a wonderful day. It’s not something that I’m seeking out to do at 43 years old. But you know, WrestleMania is next year in Atlanta. Hulk Hogan and I put 43,000 people in the Georgia Dome with three days’ notice. I’ve got a fairly big following in Atlanta. Is it out of the realm of possibility? I’d say no. If not, I’m totally content with the way I went out. To be able to get merchandise out there not only satiates the fans but hopefully there have been a lot of people wondering where my merchandise is. The reason why I want to do this is my boy; just trying to be a good father.”
I’ve already got two friends lined up to head to WrestleMania next year with me so I wouldn’t mind seeing Golberg back one more time.
The Road to…Extreme Rules
Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship
John Cena (c) v. Batista
If Punk Loses, He Must Shave His Head
Rey Mysterio v. CM Punk
World Heavyweight Championship
Edge and/or Chris Jericho v. Jack Swagger (c)
rumored matches:
Triple H v. Sheamus
Wrestler of the Week
Week of April 5 – 11: Jack Swagger
Swagger continued his momentum this week after his unexpected World Title victory days after WrestleMania. On RAW he had the best match of the week on WWE TV in his loss to Randy Orton. Even though a loss so soon after his World Title win could curb his momentum in reality Orton is higher up the ladder than Swagger and will just build to a potential rivalry between the two. Then on SmackDown he beat John Morrison in another decent TV match and made his presence felt against his top two challengers in Edge and Chris Jericho.
RAW’s On Tonight!
International singing star and TV icon David Hasselhoff will guest host RAW on April 12 “live-ish†from London, England. If the guest host gimmick must continue at least the company found a fun host to continue it with in regards to “The Hoff.†Hasselhoff, who is known internationally for his awesome TV work in such fare as Knight Rider and Baywatch and more recently as a judge on America’s Got Talent is also an internationally renowned singer who has reached incredible fame for singing skills, especially in Europe. In fact he will actually be on a concert tour in Europe the same time as WWE’s tour, hence why the timing worked out so well. Hoff himself has never been a part of WWE before but his goofy charisma and natural stage presence should make him a hit as a RAW guest host. At the very least he has enough firepower in his previous portfolio of work that the WWE creative team should not be at a loss for material to work with. Plus Maryse will defend his Divas Championship against Eve in what won’t amount too much I’m sure. As for the rest of the show, I’m sure spoilers will be online by the time you read this so that should take care of any curiosity should you be so inclined.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Eison covered a fun SmackDown full of heels like Shad, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre getting a chance to shine. Plus a Dude Busters sighting!
Logan and Ivan have NXT taken care of, complete with awful keg contest and way-too-short matches crammed into the second half the show. Seriously Bryan busts out Cattle Mutilation and its pretty much no sold and then is pinned by Darren Young?
Marshall and Zack Danielson cover the flagship.
How They Rated
SmackDown! (3.26.10) – 1.9
Superstars (4.1.10) – .67
A.M. RAW (4.4.10) –
RAW (4.5.10) – 3.2
Impact (4.5.10) – .9
NXT (4.6.10) – .94
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
The Write Off covering WWF Superstars from 1995 has become one of my favorite columns of the week.
Zack Danielson is the new indy guy around these parts and has a fantastic preview of this past weekend’s Jack of all Trios tournament.
Ditch continues to bring the puro awesomeness.
O’Mahony brings out part one of his three part series detailing his live event experiences at three vastly different wrestling events.
Check out issue seven of The Wrestling Press, featuring yours truly, among many other talented scribes…
Follow me on Twitter here.
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
