An exec gets his walking papers, Hacksaw Duggan gets rough with Doink the Clown and WWE has the gall to release a DVD set featuring TWO Viscera matches.
Opening Witty Banter
So I missed last week, huh? Did you miss me? I won’t bore you with details and then endure snarky comments from the peanut gallery. It was fun and refreshing to get away from wrestling and the computer box for a while. So how about that Bryan Danielson promo on NXT huh? Talk about help saving a dying show. Also I about fell out of my chair when Curt Hawkins and Vance Archer walked out as a tag team on Superstars? How come that wasn’t reported in any spoilers? I’m excited to see Hawkins back on TV and I’m all for another tag team on TV, no matter who useless and ineffectual they will end up being. Tonight’s column is brought to by the Survivor finale, where I’m afraid the winner has already been spoiled for me.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
According to author and wrestling pundit Irv Muchnick a high ranking executive of World Wrestling Entertainment was fired for sexual harassment.
Jared Bartie, an Executive Vice President and counsel for World Wrestling Entertainment, was originally reported to have been suspended after sexually harassing a female employee in the WWE sales department at a WrestleMania XXVI after party in late March 2010. Bartie had been apparently drinking at the time of the incident. The suspension was almost immediately changed to a dismissal after the news became more public. Bartie, who was hired in 2008, has been removed from the company’s corporate officers listing on the WWE corporate website.
As an odd little aside to the entire story, the woman that Bartie hit on was terminated herself in April. According to Muchnick’s source, she had been after being seen performing a sex act on a subordinate male employee, on the work premises, during business hours.
After it was reported that World Wrestling Entertainment released a top ranking vice president, the company has responded to the claim and reported the split was amicable.
In an e-mail to CorpCounsel.com, WWE stated that general counsel Jared Bartie “was not terminated by WWE. Jared Bartie and WWE have parted ways amicably. James Langham is acting general counsel for WWE.”
Eh…this what you get on a slow news week. Some dude hit on a broad while drinking after WrestleMania and it cost him his job regardless of the behind the scenes stuff.
Last week I missed out on reporting all the boring financial numbers, but the sexy PPV numbers came out this week to give the business smarks (barks) something to talk about. Royal Rumble was up to 462,000 buys from 450,000 last year. Elimination Chamber was at 285,000 buys, up from 272,000 for No Way Out last year. However WrestleMania did a hugely disappointing 885,000 buys, down from 960,000 the year before and 1,058,000 two years ago. This is of course being blamed on the UFC having a PPV the night before. Vince McMahon is also claiming that fans are more likely to get together in a group for a wrestling PPV, at a party, than boxing, while staunchly refusing to mention UFC.
I must say I am surprised about WrestleMania XXVI did so poorly but the price tag for that PPV has become a bit outrageous. Plus I can totally see the validity of the get-together theory, as that’s how I used to do it back in the glory days of the Attitude era.
In some absurd news, apparently last weekend Hacksaw Jim Duggan met Matt Bourne (in his Doink/Bourne Again get up) at an independent show. Apparently Duggan still has heat on Bourne from way back in the Mid-South days in the early ‘80s and proceeded to disrespect Bourne’s attempts to call the match and shoot on him. Bourne wisely left the ring before things got super serial.
See kids, this is why you should always support your local independent wrestling shows. You never know when your favorite from the 1980s ends up shooting on his twenty-year rival.
John Cena is now on Twitter officially. Apparently a lot of WWE’s big stars will be getting their own Twitter accounts to keep up with what the kids are doing.
I personally find the jobbers have more fun with their Twitter accounts but it’s not a bad idea to keep up with the times.
Oklahoman David Laird, 28, has been charged with felony child abuse for powerbombing the 4-year-old son of his girlfriend. According to a report on TulsaWorld.com, Laird “repeatedly slammed the child into a doorframe while baby-sitting him.” The child was taken to hospital with skull and chest fractures, a large bruise on the back of his head and bruising of the shoulders, back, legs and genitalia. Laird originally claimed that the child was injured when he fell off a clothes dryer, but later admitted that he had picked the child up and thrown him into the doorframe several times. He is being held on $100,000 bail. The child is out of the hospital but continues to have medical issues.
There’s a special place in hell and prison for idiots like him. As if the idiot trying to blow up WWE HQ over Mickie James last week wasn’t enough. Pro wrestling fans have always been thought to be mouth breaking knuckle draggers anyways and this sure as well won’t help things.
In some boring legal stuff, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon-Levesque and World Wrestling Entertainment were recently named third party defendants in an ongoing lawsuit between two motor coach companies. The lawsuit centers around the coach bus that was to be custom designed for HHH and Stephanie to use on the road. Plaintiff Music City Coach alleges in the suit that they were hired by defendant, Star City Coach, LTD to create a bus for the family, but claim issues with payment from Star, and claim to be owed over $216,000. According to the suit, the complete cost of the bus was $325,000. HHH and Stephanie are named in the suit because Music City alleges that a Star City employee, Terry Sims, the man assigned to drive the bus, claimed to be working as the their “agent.” He then passed along orders for modifications to be made to the bus. According to the lawsuit, Sims “represented himself to Star City as an agent of the Levesques and the Levesques never indicated he was not acting on their authority despite numerous meetings between Star City representatives and the Levesques.” The suit then claims that Sims told Star City in January that the family would pay the balance of money owed for the specifications. The money being deducted from the family’s lease payments on the coach. The WWE is named in the suit because it is said that the Levesques were acting “as agents” for World Wrestling Entertainment. When payments were not made, US Marshals seized the bus back on February 4th. Star City claims that WWE and the Levesque family are liable for the $216,666.66 that is still owed on the bus. Star City has also requested a jury trial to settle things.
Eh…there you go…
Bret Hart seems to be working the smarks. He wrote this past week, “My son, Blade, just told me I’ve got a U.S. title shot next week in Toronto. News to me.”
I can hear the strains of ‘Final Countdown’ playing already…
In some DVD news, WWE will release “Satan’s Prison: The Elimination Chamber Anthology,†a 3-DVD set, on July 13.
Is that the most ludicrous sounding title for a DVD compilation WWE has ever put out? It’s not real PG-y either. Is the one from New Year’s Revolution ’04 gonna be in full or is Chris Benoit going to be magically erased from appearing?
In awful DVD news I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy (or Charlie Reneke), here is the mach listing for the upcoming “Undertaker’s Deadliest Matches†DVD set, due for release on June 8:
*Body Bag Match – Undertaker vs. Ultimate Warrior
Madison Square Garden – July 1, 1991
*Coffin Match – Undertaker vs. Kamala
Survivor Series – November 25, 1992
*Casket Match – Undertaker vs. Kama
SummerSlam – August 27, 1995
*Casket Match – Undertaker vs. King Mabel
In Your House – December 17, 1995
*Undertaker vs. Mankind (first-ever meeting)
King of the Ring – June 23, 1996
*Boiler Room Brawl: Undertaker vs. Mankind
SummerSlam – August 18, 1996
*Buried Alive Match – Undertaker vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Rock Bottom – December 13, 1998
*Inferno Match – Undertaker vs. Kane
Raw – February 22, 1999
*Undertaker vs. Big Show
Raw – May 3, 1999
*WWE Championship Match – Undertaker vs. Big Show
Raw – June 4, 1999
*Concrete Crypt Match – Undertaker vs. The Dudley Boys
The Great American Bash – June 27, 2004
*Casket Match – Undertaker vs. Heidenreich
Royal Rumble – January 30, 2005
*Casket Match – Undertaker vs. Randy Orton & Cowboy Bob Orton
No Mercy – October 9, 2005
*Hell in a Cell – Undertaker vs. Randy Orton
Armageddon – December 18, 2005
*Last Man Standing Match – Undertaker vs. Great Khali
SmackDown – August 18, 2006
*First Blood Match – Undertaker vs. Mr. Kennedy
Survivor Series – November 26, 2006
*Last Ride Match – Undertaker vs. Mr. Kennedy
Armageddon – December 17, 2006
*Last Man Standing: Undertaker vs. Batista
Backlash – April 29, 2007
*Undertaker vs. Big Daddy V
SmackDown – January 25, 2008
*Hell in a Cell – Undertaker vs. Edge
SummerSlam – August 17, 2008
*Steel Cage Match: Undertaker vs. Big Show
Smackdown – December 5, 2008
So we’ve got THREE Big Show matches, two matches against Mabel, an appearance from Heidenreich and a complete absence of BikerTaker. No thanks, I’ll pass.
The Road to…Over The Limit
I Quit Match for the WWE Championship
John Cena (c) v. Batista
World Heavyweight Championship
The Big Show v. Jack Swagger (c)
Randy Orton v. Edge
If Mysterio Loses, He Joins The Straight Edge Society. If Punk Loses, He Gets His Head Shaved
Rey Mysterio v. CM Punk
Unified WWE World Tag Team Championships
The Hart Dynasty (c) v. The Miz & Chris Jericho
Intercontinental Championship
Kofi Kingston v. Drew McIntyre (c)
rumored matches:
Eve Torres v. Maryse for the WWE Divas Championship
Wrestler of the Week
Week of May 10 – 16: Daniel Bryan
The actual wrestling on WWE TV was pretty light this week as it was a lot of angle advancement and storyline. RAW had some good stuff between Randy Orton and Edge and more of a push for R-Truth of all people. SmackDown saw a fun main event main event between CM Punk and Rey Mysterio, a great opening Intercontinental Title match between Kofi Kingston and Christian that all turned moot and Layla El winning the Women’s Championship. But in reality Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson easily has become the most talked about WWE wrestler of the week. On RAW he got his first televised victory when he caught Santino Marella with a small package. Then on NXT he was eliminated for admitting that he should be sent packing. However it was his post-elimination interview where he talked down “Daniel Bryan†and uttered the name Bryan Danielson on WWE TV that made my boy Pulse Glazer and the most of the IWC collectively mess themselves. Regardless of what actually happens with “The Best in the World†from this point on, this week he will be remembered for not how he wrestled but what he said.
RAW’s On Tonight!
Buzz Aldrin will guest host RAW tonight from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This week’s two-hour episode will be a special commercial free episode, an experiment originally done early last summer. The famous astronaut will be on hand to promote his memoir In Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home From the Moon, which will be available on paperback starting June 1. Aldrin also has an iPhone application recently released entitled Buzz Aldrin Portal to Science and Space Expoloration that should also get a mention or two as well. Aldrin will be billed under his WWE approved nickname “The Rocket Hero.†In addition John Cena will battle Sheamus. Plus The Miz has challenged Bret “Hit Man†Hart for the United States Championship. Will Hart be there to accept or will a certain Dragon of the American persuasion happen to show up and take the challenge himself? Also Virgil himself is putting out the rumor that he will be no RAW to continue Ted DiBiase, Jr.’s new storyline. That should spike the ratings if nothing else.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Chantel brings her own unique thoughts on SmackDown.
Ivan and Logan combine their powers to cover NXT.
Marshall, Wheeler and Will bring the analysis for RAW.
How They Rated
SmackDown! (4.30.10) – 1.7
Superstars (5.6.10) – .28
A.M. RAW (5.9.10) – .46
RAW (5.10.10) – 3.05
NXT (5.11.10) – .84
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
After unfortunately missing last week this is a little old, but please, please read Pulse Glazer’s new column, explain his evolution as a writer of his time at Pulse Wrestling and why he has slid into the news role. He knows what he’s talking about in regards to what “draws†with wrestling readers. I also appreciate the props he afforded as they don’t come real lightly from Glazer. He’s a good man to chat with in regards to wrestling and in life. It’s true that This Week in ‘E sprang from ROH Weekly and other organization and genre-specific columns Pulse employed at the time. Now check out his new column, tentatively titled Tuesday Morning Quarterback. What do you think for a better name, Tuesday Morning Backlash or Tuesday Morning Booker? Leave your thoughts below.
Logan continues his awesome run of covering WWF 1995 goodness. I can honestly say I remember this episode after reading it.
David B. continues his tour of rural Tennessee in 1992.
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.
