A fairly slow week in the E brings news about Tribute to the Troops, William Regal and the wildly inappropriate Top 50 Superstars of All Time superstar listing…
Opening Witty Banter
I’m way behind schedule right now and “Ace†Cowboy Pulse Glazer, Jr. is breathing down my neck right now to finish this. So let’s cut the small talk and chit chat and read the fake news.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
The WWE European Distributor for DVD’s, Silvervision, has confirmed on their Facebook page that the following list represents the rankings for the upcoming release of “WWE’s Top 50 Superstars of All Time,†which comes out on December 14.
#50 – Killer Kowalski
#49 – Batista
#48 – “Ravishing” Rick Rude
#47 – Bob Backlund
#46 – Dory Funk Jr.
#45 – Jeff Hardy
#44 – Nick Bockwinkel
#43 – Kane
#42 – Sgt. Slaughter
#41 – Jack Brisco
#40 – Big Show
#39 – Jake “The Snake” Roberts
#38 – “Superstar” Billy Graham
#37 – Junkyard Dog
#36 – Gorilla Monsoon
#35 – “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers
#34 – Kurt Angle
#33 – Mick Foley
#32 – “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka
#31 – The Iron Sheik
#30 – Pat Patterson
#29 – Randy Orton
#28 – “Classie” Freddie Blassie
#27 – The Fabulous Moolah
#26 – “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase
#25 – Chris Jericho
#24 – Bruno Sammartino
#23 – Hulk Hogan
#22 – Terry Funk
#21 – Lou Thesz
#20 – Jerry “The King” Lawler
#19 – Edge
#18 – Dusty Rhodes
#17 – Ric Flair
#16 – John Cena
#15 – “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig
#14 – “Macho Man” Randy Savage
#13 – Gorgeous George
#12 – Triple H
#11 – Eddie Guerrero
#10 – “Rowdy” Roddy Piper
#9 – Rey Mysterio
#8 – Andre The Giant
#7 – Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
#6 – Harley Race
#5 – The Rock
#4 – Bret “The Hitman” Hart
#3 – Stone Cold Steve Austin
#2 – The Undertaker
#1 – Shawn Michaels
Okay everybody and their dog has already chimed in with their thoughts on the list and how flawed it is. And with most of the arguments I can’t disagree with. However none of us know now what the criteria was or if there was any other than Vince’s whim. It’s certainly suspect that some essentially non-WWE entities like Gorgeous George, Thesz, The Funks, Bockwinkel, Brisco, Rhodes and Race were even included while WWE mainstays like Santana, Nash, Hall, Morales and Valentine were completely omitted. Every wrestling fan, wrestler, analyst and know-it-all could be tasked to compile their own top 50 list and not one list would come back the same. But how in the blue hell are Hogan and Sammartino not in the top 10? That’s all I’m gonna say without trying to re-order the entire thing.
The WrestleMania XXVII seating chart has been posted online, and you can check that out here.
Meanwhile on Saturday tickets went on sale for WrestleMania and word is that the first 11 rows at are sold out. Several of those rows are priced at $850. Apparently ticket sales have been slower than they have been years.
Maybe I’ll make it this year yet…
William Regal announced his impending retirement from the ring as an active competitor during a WWE RAW brand house show on November 9 at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Regal had just lost a match to WWE United States Champion Daniel Bryan in a triple treat match that also included R-Truth and reportedly drew rave reviews. Post-match Regal took the microphone and announced his impending retirement, especially noting that this would be his last tour as an active in his native country of England.
However it was also reported that Regal recently that re-signed with the company for a 24 month contract that would put him on World Wrestling Entertainment’s payroll until 2014. With his over 27 years of in-ring experience, it is expected Regal will transition into a valuable role as a trainer, backstage agent, non-wrestling on-air character or any combination of the above.
However days later he clarified the talk regarding his impending retirement. On his Twitter account he said the record straight. He wrote, “I’m having a great tour and wrestling Daniel Bryan has made me realize that unless I can keep up to that standard it’s possibly time for me to start winding down. I said it might be my last tour the other day not that it was. I would like to continue with quality and not quantity. Take care.â€
Here’s hoping Regal gets one more good run within WWE before he hangs up his boots for good, maybe in an extended program against Daniel Bryan, one of his past students.
Jerry “The King†Lawler missed the trip to England last week for RAW because his left leg was swollen from the knee down to the foot, which is likely from a staph infection. Lawler was advised not to fly to the UK, due to the long flight, and the fact that the change in air pressure could have caused blood clots; which could be fatal. Throughout the week, various places and Jim Ross himself kept giving updates on Lawler’s status. According to a recent Good Ol’ JR tweet, he will be on hand tonight for RAW.
I can’t say I missed him too much on last week’s RAW as the entire show was pretty abysmal and I always enjoy Josh Matthews’ commentary. But to have an old-school RAW, Lawler is about as old school as the company has right now and should be there should he be healthy. But who else is excited for The Fink to come back and announce? I just pray there’s a Title change just to hear The Fink say and “and the NEW!!!â€
WWE sent out the following this past week…
THE MOST PATRIOTIC SHOW OF THE YEAR, “WWE TRIBUTE TO THE TROOPS®,” COMES TO NBC SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18TH AT 9 PM ET
Starring WWE® Superstars and Divas, Miss USA®, Rima Fakih, and The View’s Sherri Shepherd
NEW YORK, NY – November 9, 2010– World Wrestling Entertainment®, in conjunction with NBC, will honor the United States Armed Forces with its third annual telecast of its holiday special, “WWE Tribute to the Troops.” This year, top WWE Superstars and Divas will travel to Fort Hood, Texas to entertain the nearly 350,000 military personnel, family members, and civilians that make up the largest active duty armored post in the United States Armed Services. Thousands of men and women from Fort Hood have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The hour-long special will air Saturday, December 18 (9-10 p.m. ET / 8-9 p.m. CT) on NBC.
“WWE Tribute to the Troops” will chronicle WWE Superstars and Divas visiting Fort Hood to meet with the troops and their families this holiday season, culminating with a special live in-ring performance in front of thousands of military personnel. In the grand tradition of Bob Hope, this year’s show will feature appearances by The View’s Sherri Shepherd and Miss USA, Rima Fakih, and performances by special musical
guests and a comedian to be announced in the upcoming weeks.
In keeping with the spirit of “Tribute to the Troops” of bringing a little piece of Americana to our men and women overseas, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon along with WWE Superstars Kelly Kelly®, Big Show®, and Eveâ„¢ will also head to Afghanistan on a goodwill tour in early December. This tour will be highlighted on the special.
This trip marks the eighth consecutive year that WWE will bring its one of a kind entertainment
to our service men and women to thank them for their commitment to the country and recognition of their sacrifices. “WWE Tribute to the Troops” has become a holiday tradition and is considered TV’s most patriotic and heartwarming show of the year.
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., a publicly traded company (NYSE: WWE), is an integrated media organization and recognized leader in global entertainment. The company consists of a portfolio of businesses that create and deliver original content 52 weeks a year to a global audience. WWE is committed to family-friendly, PG content across all of its platforms including television programming, pay-per-view, digital media and publishing. WWE programming is broadcast in more than 145 countries and 30 languages and reaches more than 500 million homes worldwide. The company is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Toronto and Mexico City. Additional information on World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to http://www.wwe.com/worldwide/.
No matter the reason they have to do this, I’m glad WWE still gives back to the troops each year.
The Road To…Survivor Series
WWE Championship Match w/ John Cena as special guest referee
Randy Orton (c) v. Wade Barrett
World Heavyweight Championship
Edge v. Kane (c)
WWE Unified Divas Championship Handicap Match
Natalya Neidhart v. LayCool (c)
Wrestler of the Week
Week of November 8 – 14: David Otunga
It kind of pains me to say this but Otunga really had a banner week for WWE. He was all over Monday Night RAW continuing in his role as the Starscream to Wade Barrett’s Megatron. His essentially dismissal/defection from The Nexus will be much more effective with all of the recent work put in. Plus he lost to main “frenemy†John Cena in a serviceable match on RAW and then was all over SmackDown for the second week in a row by beating another main event star in Edge to keep his spot within The Nexus. Otunga has a main event body and is far more serviceable on the mic than most of his Nexus co-horts but he needs far, far more seasoning inside the ring to truly be competent. Rather than working as a manager or being stuck in multi-man tag matches on house shows he should be working in one-on-one bouts with guys like Goldust or the returning Val Venis in order to truly grow as a performer. That being said, this was a huge week for the former reality star, Harvard grad and celebrity husband.
RAW’s On Tonight!
I am far too excited for tonight’s special three hour Monday Night RAW live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tonight’s show is a special “Old School†RAW apparently full of WWE Legends (read: most of the road agents and the usual suspects of others like Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Hacksaw Duggan and Mae Young). Nobody who does or doesn’t show for the Old School RAW is the draw of the show. The draw of the show is pure surprise, excitement and change in atmosphere of what the show will look, act and be like. It’s not going to be about any one individual performer considering Rock, Austin, Hogan, Warrior, Sammartino or dare I say Goldberg will be there. But I sincerely hope that this whole gimmick is just an excuse for Vince McMahon to return to the traditional Survivor Series style elimination matches of ’89 and ’90, complete with him screaming participants and team names. A guy can hope…
On Last Week’s Episode…
SmackDown results and 10 thoughts
Superstars results and 10 thoughts
How They Rated
Superstars (11.4.10) –
SmackDown! (11.5.10) – 1.82
A.M. RAW (11.7.10) – .52
RAW (11.8.10) – 3.1
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
K Sawyer Paul with his usual brand of greatness.
Logan covers a great Nitro, featuring the old school choose your own main event call-in thing, the burial of Cobra and The Renegade and some Benoit-Guerrero goodness.
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.
