The wrestling world loses another, Tiffany shows The Chosen One who is boss and Daniel “friggin†Bryan is back! All this and much, much more inside.
Opening Witty Banter
This has been the biggest news in pro wrestling all summer and maybe all year. Between another on-screen NXT elimination, Linda McMahon winning the Connecticut primary, a fun TNA show, Lance Cade’s death, Tiffany’s suspension, The Expendables coming out this weekend and now a crazy fun SummerSlam that saw the return of every fanboy’s golden God Daniel Bryan, it’s been wild.
Also I want to give love to TNA Wrestling for their past month of programming. While the ECW revival angle definitely split the audience it definitely got everyone talking. In addition they strung together an amazing best of five series between The Machineguns and Beer Money that is a new standard for a match series. I hadn’t watched TNA all month due to travel and other things, but I made sure to catch them online this past week in order to watch the ECW angle unfold and see some solid in ring action. Props to TNA, something I haven’t given them since Hogan and Bischoff came aboard.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
Lance Cade passed away this past Friday, August 13. He was only 29. It is being reported that he died due to heart failure.
Cade (born Lance McNaught) was one of Shawn Michaels’ first wrestling students at Michaels’ Wrestling Academy in Texas and trained alongside Brian Kendrick and Bryan Danielson.
He was signed to a WWE contract in 2000 and worked in the developmental territories like Ohio Valley Wrestling and Heartland Wrestling Association before being called up to the main WWE roster in late 2003. He originally worked in a tag team with Mark Jindrak under the name Garrison Cade. The duo even made an appearance at WrestleMania XX before being sent back to developmental.
He returned in the fall of 2005 as the tag team partner of Trevor Murdoch. Now again using the name Lance Cade, he and Murdoch were much more successful and were three time World Tag Team Champions. In the summer of 2008, Cade turned on Murdoch and become Chris Jericho’s apprentice during his fued against Shawn Michaels.
However in October 2008 Cade suffered a seizure on an airplane after taking too many pain pills. He needed emergency care to save his life. The incident caused him to be released by World Wrestling Entertainment. WWE did send him to rehab for his addictions at the time.
Cade continued to work in the independent groups and in Japan and a year later, WWE rehired Cade. Unfortunately the company did not use him at all and released him again just months later.
Lance leaves behind two young daughters.
WWE issued their statement:
“World Wrestling Entertainment was informed Friday morning by Lance McNaught’s father that he has passed away of apparent heart failure.
WWE extends its deepest condolences to the McNaught family.
Mr. McNaught was under contract from March 2003 to October 2008 and performed under the name ‘Lance Cade.’ He returned to FCW, WWE’s developmental territory, in September 2009, and was released in April 2010.â€
Amongst many of the wrestlers who Tweeted about Cade’s death, it was his trainer Shawn Michaels who got the most attention.
He tweeted:
“5min aft my morning tweet I got the call about Lance. No words will b good enuff. 1 of my boys is gone.â€
“My prayers&thoughts have already been given2 his family & will continue. Goodbye Lance I Love You.â€
“I ask that all of u wud lift his family up in prayer.â€
You know, I’m just pretty much numb to all these early pro wrestling deaths. While I am sad to see such a young guy go, it has just become a running gag in the wrestling community. I had no idea he was only 29; I figured he was in his mid 30s. In the past year between Test, Umaga, Kanyon and so many others it has just become a sad part of being a pro wrestling fan. It’s also kind of freaky that both he and Test died on a Friday the 13th. Anyways I am sad for his family and friends as it’s never a good feeling to see someone die.
According to PWInsider, World Wrestling Entertainment “Diva†Tiffany was arrested last weekend and charged with a misdemeanor against her husband, WWE superstar Drew McIntyre.
Tiffany (born Taryn Terrell) was arrested last Saturday in West Los Angeles last Saturday. There was a domestic disturbance call to the motel Terrell and McIntyre (born Drew Galloway) were staying. She was taken into custody and booked in the Van Nuys Valley jail last Saturday morning. She was released that afternoon and her bail was set at $20,000. Galloway was not charged with anything or taken into custody.
Terrell is scheduled for a hearing at the Los Angeles Municipal Court, Division 141 on September 2. Not surprisingly WWE sent her home immediately once they found out about the incident. She has not been released by the company but has been suspended indefinitely. The duo was in LA promoting this Sunday’s SummerSlam pay per view.
She’s so fired…
According to cnn.com, Linda McMahon has won the Connecticut GOP primary for the United States Senate.
The Associated Press projected McMahon as the winner over former U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons. With 58 percent of the vote counted, McMahon was showing a 19-point lead.
McMahon announced her on September 16 of last year and since then she has fended of criticism from opponents, critics and analysts for her unorthodox professional past in the professional wrestling industry. Namely she has been attacked for the steroid problem found in wrestling, the amount of premature deaths of pro wrestlers and the outlandish action that plays out in WWE rings.
For over 30 years McMahon worked alongside her husband Vince McMahon to build the World Wrestling Entertainment empire into what it is today. She served as the company’s CEO virtually that entire time until she resigned from that position on November 6, 2009 to further focus on her campaign.
She will now meet Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the expected Democratic nominee, in the general election this coming November. The winner will succeed longtime Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, who is retiring after this term rather than seek re-election.
This is going to be so surreal if she ends up a national Senator. But on the bright side I’ve seen that shot of her kicking JR in the nuts more times on the national news than I could have ever imagined.
This past week on NXT, Lucky Cannon was the third Rookie eliminated.
At the beginning of the episode, the six remaining Rookies all a Power of the Punch challenge game, which saw which Rookie punched the hardest. “The Varsity Villain†Alex Riley won the challenge and thus earned himself an appearance on Monday Night RAW next week. Then throughout the hour-long live show, the Pros evaluated the Rookies while fan voting had been open on wwe.com throughout the entire week.
In other action on the show, the team of Kaval, Lucky Cannon and “Showtime†Percy Watson beat Alex Riley, Husky Harris & Michael McGillicutty in all Rookies six-man tag match. Kaval pinned McGillicutty after hitting him with The Warrior’s Way. In the second match of the night, WWE United States Champion The Miz (and Pro to Alex Riley) beat his former Tag Team Championship partner John Morrison (and Pro to eliminated Rookie Eli Cottonwood) in a battle of former tag partners.
The final results of the third poll were as follows:
#1 – Kaval
#2 – Michael McGillicutty
#3 – Percy Watson
#4 – Husky Harris
#5 – Alex Riley
#6 – Lucky Cannon
After the results, NXT host Matt Striker with Lucky Cannon, who gave some generic parting words while mocking some of his fellow contestants. Striker then interviewed Alex Riley, who promised he would make an impact. Striker then announced that next there would be a double elimination, where two more men would be eliminated.
This season the polls have been a lot more entertaining do a constant change in the top positions. It was great to see Kaval back on top of the poll, but it was quite surprising to see Riley fall as far as he did. While I was sure Kaval, McGillicutty, Watson and Riley would be in the top four, Husky Harris has made amazing progress and now looks to be a legit threat to make the top three, alongside Kaval and McGillicutty.
In more steroid scandal news, a pharmacist by the name of J. Michael Bennett has been sentenced to four years in jail for illegally selling anabolic steroids. Many pro wrestlers among many other pro athletes were listed in the case as clients, though only by initials. You can read more about it here.
Just for fun here are the initials of the wrestlers listed and my best guess on who they are.
RO – Randy Orton
KA – Kurt Angle
MB – Matt Bloom???
JH – Jeff Hardy
JH – John Henigan (John Morrison)
OG – Oscar Gonzalez (Rey Mysterio)
BH – Bob Holly/Howard
EG – Eddie Guerrero
SH – Scott Hall
Yeah I don’t think this will be a big deal like the one was three years ago after Benoit’s death, but there you go.
The WWE WrestleMania special on NBC last weekend bombed, doing a 0.7 rating with 1,780,000 viewers in the 18-49 year old demographic.
Hmmm…I forgot it was even on. I wasn’t real impressed with last year’s music special for WrestleMania XXV so I can’t imagine this one wasn’t much better.
WWE has signed 6′ 5″ 292 pound Andrew Leavine to a developmental contract. He will be going to Florida Championship Wrestling. You can check more about him here.
Hey, good for that guy.
Speaking of developmental stars, many new names where added to the FCW roster page. Some of the names are pretty awesome:
Bobby Dutch
Buck Dixon
Fahd Rakman
James Bronson
Ricki Vaughn
Roman Leakee
Is that Buck Dixon dude standing in the mirror doing his best Howard Finkel voice thinking that name will sound being announced as the new World Champion?
Wrestler of the Week
Week of August 9 – 15: Daniel Bryan
Yeah I went there. Bryan made his triumphant return to WWE last night at SummerSlam and helped Team WWE and John Cena defeat The Nexus. He looked like a world-beater by eliminating Darren Young and Heath Slater and was right there at the end with Cena until The Miz interfered and took him out. It seemed like just a fantasy pipe dream that Bryan would actually return in this match but it was a sweet sight, even if wwe.com did spoil it about fifteen minutes ahead of time. He will now walk onto RAW tonight with a lot of momentum and plenty of unfinished business with both The Nexus and The Miz.
RAW’s On Tonight!
Justin Long, Jason Sudelkis and Charlie Day will guest host WWE Monday Night RAW tonight live from Los Angeles, California. The three actors are the stars of the upcoming film Going the Distance, a romantic comedy where Long and Drew Barrymore try to make a long distance relationship work. Sudelkis and Day play Long’s wise cracking best friends. Going the Distance opens in theatres on August 27. Long is a long time fan of WWE and should be a decent ringleader of the usual guest host shenanigans. Neither Sudelkis or Day have been on WWE TV before but Day did campaign to bring the stars of his hugely popular It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in as guest hosts last winter. Plus the show will be chalk full of post-SummerSlam goodness. John Cena emerged victorious over The Nexus and brought Daniel frickin Bryan back to help him do it. Plus Melina is the new Divas Champion, Sheamus is still WWE Champion but Randy Orton is still on his tail thanks to his disqualification victory last night. In addition The Miz gave the promo of his life at SummerSlam and got involved in the main event. He is riding the roll of a lifetime and will have plenty to say I’m sure. All of this and more should make for a huge episode of RAW.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Chantal brings the love for SmackDown.
Evans and Kelly are Supastars.
Marshall, Pruett and Wheeler go RAW.
How They Rated
SmackDown! (7.30.10) – 1.6
Superstars (8.5.10) – .66
A.M. RAW (8.8.10) – .59
RAW (8.9.10) – 3.3
NXT (8.10.10) – .96
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
GLAZER~!
In Case You Didn’t Spend the $40
PK and Pruett brought the noise tonight with the SummerSlam coverage for the Pulse.
Here are the quick ‘n’ dirty results:
The opening Intercontinental Title match between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler was ruled a no contest when The Nexus interfered and attacked both men.
Melina pinned Alicia Fox to win the WWE Divas Championship.
The Big Show beat The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk, Joey Mercury & Luke Gallows) in a handicap match.
Randy Orton beat WWE Champion Sheamus by disqualification.
World Heavyweight Champion Kane pinned Rey Mysterio.
Team WWE beat The Nexus in the 7-on-7 elimination match.
Roundtable Results for SummerSlam
MM put together the roundtable for the “Biggest Party of the Summer.†The staff was all over the place and no one picked Nexus losing and no could have picked the no contest in the Intercontinental Title match.
Roundtable Champion: Kelly Floyd: 4-2 (11-2)
The rest:
Matthew Michaels: 3-3 (205-186)
Steven Gepp: 2-4 (48-68)
Widro: 2-4 (85-79)
Raffi Shamir: 1-5 (171-139)
Mark has been a columnist for Pulse Wrestling for over three years now, evolving from his original “Historically Speaking†commentary-style column into his current 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.
