SBNation.com User Blog: Keith Harris

WWE to go all the way with Triple H's concussion angle

Keith Harris — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:17:38 -0000

As any close follower of WWE history knows, Vince McMahon has a habit of taking real life worries and turning them into storyline fodder. The latest example of this trait is Triple H becoming woozy and almost passing out in the main event of the May 20th episode of Monday Night Raw against the newly repackaged Michael McGillicutty, Curtis Axel. Indeed, this was clearly an angle to kickstart a storyline where Hunter is out of action with post concussion syndrome due to Brock Lesnar's sledgehammer shot to the jaw at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on Sunday.

Head trauma has suddenly become a major concern to WWE management after Dolph Ziggler suffered the worst concussion of his career and retrograde amnesia from an errant kick by Jack Swagger at the Smackdown tapings on May 7th, 2013.

WWE has already responded by giving a $1.2 million donation over three years to Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute to help fund their research into Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative brain disease that both the late Chris Benoit and Andrew "Test" Martin were diagnosed with postmortem.

The performers at Extreme Rules were also told to keep the risks to a minimum and avoid blows to the head because they don't want a repeat of what happened to Ziggler.

Thus, this concussion angle could be an attempt to educate the WWE audience about the dangers of head trauma and prepare them for a toned down, safer, in ring style.

As Dave Meltzer revealed in this week's subscriber only Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it's also a way to reintroduce the McMahon family soap opera to our screens, a favourite old chestnut of the WWE creative team when they are running low on new, innovative ideas:

"Regarding the HHH angle, apparently the working idea is to lead to Stephanie, Vince (and perhaps even the kids) going on television and begging HHH to stop wrestling for fear of the damage it has already caused him. As of right now, one story we were told is that several family members will be on television when it comes time for his return. However, another source said there are several different ideas and nothing is certain on where the angle is going."

It's unsurprising that they haven't mapped out a finish to the angle that they've just shot. The obvious idea would be to build to yet another rematch with Brock Lesnar, but that feud has been done to death already by now. So who knows where this will go, other than this storyline will obviously lead to a much hyped in ring return and possibly his retirement match at WrestleMania 30.

I don't have high hopes for this serious concussion storyline, as whenever similar ideas have been done in the past, they've always fallen flat, partly because fans want feel good entertainment from invincible superheroes, not to be constantly reminded of the stark dangers that the performers face when they step into the squared circle.

We've been here with TNA before when their creative team had concussions on the brain after Mr. Anderson suffered a serious one from a reckless chair shot to the back of the head by Jeff Hardy. That genuine injury was sewn into the company's main plot, but babyfaces Matt Morgan and Mick Foley telling Ken about the Sports Legacy Institute's work and encouraging him to take time off whilst heel Eric Bischoff tried to force him back into the ring ASAP, only managed to bore and confuse their viewers. It was also hypocritical, as TNA mishandled Anderson's concussion leading to a longer layoff than he should have required and the promotion was simultaneously refusing to pay the medical bills of performers who had sustained serious concussion issues while working for them, like Shannon "Daffney" Spruill.

More recently, fans at Ring Of Honor's May 5th television tapings booed when Nigel McGuinness announced that Paul London wouldn't wrestle on the show due to suffering a genuine concussion the prior night from a misplaced top rope double foot stomp to the head by Davey Richards. If the smarter ROH fanbase haven't learnt that wrestling with a concussion is a complete no-no, then what hope does WWE have in their attempt to recondition their own viewership, Cagesiders?

Tammy Sytch freed from jail, claims she's had cervical cancer

Keith Harris — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:23:36 -0000

It's time once again to update you Cagesiders on the turbulent life of Tamara Sytch, best known for her WWF stint from 1995-1998 as arguably the company's first Diva Sunny.

She first hit the headlines last autumn after being arrested five times for domestic violence and repeated violations of a restraining order. Sytch initially managed to avoid jail by entering WWE sponsored rehab.

However, she wasn't so lucky when she violated her boyfriend's protective order again just a few weeks after she got out of rehabilitation and was given a short prison sentence.

In between all her legal troubles and rehabilitation stint, Sytch managed to upset WWE with a tall story on a new Kayfabe Commentaries shoot interview about how the promotion switched her from the best possible treatment facility to the cheapest joint that they could find as soon as Linda McMahon was defeated in her second U.S. Senate election on Nov. 6th, 2012. WWE disputed her claims that they had treated her unfairly and announced that they would no longer fund any of her further rehab needs.

Now, according to TMZ, Sytch is finally a free woman again after serving in full her 114 day jail sentence, but that's not all. Apparently, she had contracted the human papillomavirus (HPV) before entering prison, which she discovered whilst doing time that it had developed into cervical cancer. Just two weeks ago, Sytch is supposed to have had a hysterectomy and has already been declared cancer free.

If true, then it's a terrible situation for her to deal with on top of everything else and she truly deserves our sympathy. Unfortunately, Sytch has become the girl who cried wolf once too often and it's hard to believe anything that she says now.

Her latest plans are to publish an autobiography that she penned whilst locked up and to move to New Mexico where she can make a fresh start. At least there she will be far enough away from her ex-boyfriend Damien Darling that she shouldn't get arrested days after she was released from prison again.

WWE to donate $1.2 million to Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute

Keith Harris — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:01:50 -0000

In the latest sign that WWE are taking the concussion issue extremely seriously, just days after Dolph Ziggler suffered retrogade amnesia from an errant Jack Swagger kick, WWE have donated a whopping $1.2 million to Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute in order to help fund research into Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), according to a recent article in USA Today:

"World Wrestling Entertainment, known for past stars such as Hulk Hogan and current champ John Cena, says it is making a gift of $1.2 million over three years to further research aimed at developing a treatment for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. The brain disease, associated with repeated concussions, has come under scrutiny amid concussion-related lawsuits by more than 4,000 former NFL players against the league. CTE has been linked to depression and dementia."

Given that the story heavily quotes WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events Paul Levesque, it's likely that this was a decision made by Triple H, which bodes well for the future and suggests that the talent's health and wellbeing is much higher up on his agenda than it was Vince McMahon's in the past. Obviously this donation is also a great public relations move too, as concussions to soldiers from explosives during war is a big concern of the U.S. military.

The only possible criticism is that this move arguably came far too late. For years, Nowinski was looked at as a pussy who milked the symptoms of his concussion to get paid to stay at home, even though in reality gutting it up and working through such severe head trauma for five straight weeks cost him his wrestling career. Indeed, when he criticised Linda McMahon's aloof and distant reaction to the death of Lance Cade during her first election campaign, WWE attacked the messenger rather than address his very real concerns. As recently as December 2010, WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt was still disputing the conclusion of the Sports Legacy Institute that Chris Benoit had CTE at the time of his death.

Irv Muchnick also noted how WWE "was opposed to the public conversation of traumatic brain injury before it was in favor of it", just like the NFL. He also detailed other examples of WWE hypocrisy on the issue:

Stephanie McMahon committing perjury to the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on December 14th, 2007 that she was not aware of any incident where a wrestler in a match received a concussion. A ridiculous lie made worse by the fact that she had personally checked on Chavo Guerrero when he had suffered a scary concussion from Billy Kidman botching his shooting star press finisher on August 24th, 2004.
Vince McMahon telling CNN in late 2007 that he had banned chair shots to the head, only to script Lance Cade to take one at the hands of Shawn Michaels in a brutal burial angle a year later.
Triple H using a chair shot to the head against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 27 when said blows were banned by company policy. To quell the criticism after the fact, both men were apparently fined.

However, all such mistakes should thankfully be consigned to the dustbin of history, as WWE would be absolutely crazy to take similar risks ever again when the dangers of concussions have been so well documented.

WWE/TNA Week in Wrestling: May 12th to May 18th

Keith Harris — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:15:33 -0000

Hello, Cagesiders! Welcome to the Cageside Seats Week in Wrestling once again!

What happened last week? Find out below, Cagesiders.

WWE

Raw (May 13th)

Fandango and Chris Jericho started the show with a dance off. But disaster struck when Summer Rae twisted her ankle. However, she was feigning the injury and it was a set up so Fandango could attack Jericho from behind and lay him out.
Ryback squashed Zack Ryder with the Shell Shock.
The Prime Time Players defeated Tons of Funk when illegal man Darren Young hit Brodus Clay in the throat with his hair pick and Titus O'Neil rolled up Clay from behind for the pinfall victory.
Teddy Long announced that the injured Dolph Ziggler wouldn't be stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship. Instead, Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio would have an I Quit match for the number one contendership at Extreme Rules.
Kofi Kingston pinned Damien Sandow with the Trouble in Paradise.
Mark Henry demonstrated how he would win his strap match at Extreme Rules against Sheamus on interviewer Josh Matthews. This eventually led to the Irish fella coming out with his own strap and chasing Henry out of the ring with it.
Randy Orton pinned Antonio Cesaro with the RKO.
The Miz submitted Heath Slater with the figure four leglock.
In a Six Man Tag Elimination Match between The Shield and Team Hell No & John Cena, the babyfaces won when Cena was the sole survivor. Kane was the first man eliminated when he was disqualified for using the cover to the announcer's table as a weapon on Dean Ambrose. Ambrose then eventually pinned Daniel Bryan with the Headlock Driver. It was then time for Superman Cena to overcome the odds. First Roman Reigns was eliminated by disqualification when he speared Cena to save Ambrose from the Attitude Adjustment, then Seth Rollins was pinned with the AA and finally Ambrose was disqualified when his henchmen saved him from Cena's STFU. After the match, The Shield took Cena out with their triple power bomb finisher, which led to Ryback coming out to opportunistically nail his opponent at Extreme Rules with a chair shot to his injured ankle.
Jack Swagger defeated Big E Langston via count out when Langston was back dropped over the barricade when he went for a charge outside the ring. After the match, Alberto Del Rio did a run in, but Swagger beat him down and put him in the ankle lock. However, Ricardo Rodriguez made the save by hitting Swagger with a bucket, allowing Del Rio to recover and lock the arm bar on the Real American. Langston broke the hold up, but Alberto still cleaned house with an enzuigiri on Big E and a clothesline over the top on Swagger.
AJ Lee submitted Natalya with the Black Widow (an octopus-esque hold). During the match, Kaitlyn, who was doing colour commentary with the Bella Twins, received another gift from her secret admirer.
Chris Jericho cut a full on serious mode promo on Fandango saying that the dancing and jokes are over with.
Triple H called out Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman, of course) and eventually goaded him into a stare down and a brawl inside the steel cage surrounding the ring, which Hunter got the better of to close the show.

NXT (May 15th)

Summer Rae pinned Natalya when Paige accidentally cost Natalya the match. The finish saw the Anti-Diva come out and jump on the apron while Natalya attempted to apply the Sharpshooter on Rae, which led to Rae pushing Natalya into Paige and pinning her with a schoolgirl.
Newcomer Sami Zayn complimented interviewer Renee Young on her wardrobe in a promo to set up his debut next week against Curt Hawkins.
Bray Wyatt sporting a new look by wearing a white plastic face guard and a leather butcher's apron squashed Danny Burch.
During a segment where they teased tension between tag team partners Bo Dallas and Adrian Neville and possibly a heel turn by young Bo, it was announced that there would be a battle royal in two weeks that will determine the number one contender for the NXT title.
Conor O'Brian defeated Briley Pierce and Sakamoto in a handicap match when O'Brian pinned both men after a tandem Russian legsweep facebuster.
Corey Graves cut his usual promo about how his father motivated him by being kind of a dick, he's a tough loner and how his opponents will "stay down". Bray Wyatt interrupted Graves to tell him that the "greatest war in the archetype of mankind" is going on right outside Corey's door and he doesn't realise that NXT already belongs to the Wyatt family, which was the way to set up a match between the two for next week.
Big E Langston pinned Damien Sandow with the Big Ending to retain the NXT Championship.

Main Event (May 15th)

Kane defeated Seth Rollins via disqualification when Dean Ambrose attacked Kane immediately after he had hit the chokeslam on Rollins. After the match, The Shield went for the triple power bomb on Kane but The Usos surprisingly made the save.
In a non-title match, Sin Cara pinned WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett when he reversed a power bomb attempt into a successful roll up.
Cody Rhodes pinned Justin Gabriel with the Cross Rhodes.

Superstars (May 16th)

Sin Cara pinned Michael McGillicutty with a senton bomb.
Cody Rhodes pinned Alex Riley the Disaster Kick.

Smackdown (May 17th)

The show opened with MizTV featuring special guests The Big Show and Randy Orton. Show vowed to knock Orton out in front of his home town fans at Extreme Rules, which Orton said he'd never let happen. Cue Zeb Colter with Jack Swagger to get some promo time, declaring that this Sunday would represent the beginning of the uprising it would be the start of Jack Swagger's America and everyone would say "we the people" when he makes Alberto Del Rio quit. Of course, Del Rio then came out to tell Colter to shut up. Mark Henry then joined the fun to predict that people would remember the pay-per-view for him throwing, dragging and beating Sheamus like no one had ever beaten him before. This led to Sheamus coming out to say some words towards Henry before running in with his strap and clearing the ring of the heels with the help of Del Rio and Orton.
After the break, Teddy Long made the shocking announcement that tonight's main event would be Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio & Sheamus vs. Mark Henry, The Big Show & Jack Swagger.
Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns beat The Usos when Reigns pinned Jey Uso with a spear. After the match, The Shield beat down the Usos until Kofi Kingston made the save.
The Miz was welcomed back to Smackdown by Teddy Long, which led to Damien Sandow showing up, telling Miz that no-one would have missed him if he had stayed gone and proposing "The Damien Sandow Show" as the obvious replacement for MizTV. Long then booked the obvious match for later.
Tons of Funk defeated The Prime Time Players with the double splash when Brodus Clay pinned Darren Young.
Chris Jericho submitted Antonio Cesaro with the Walls of Jericho. After the match, Summer Rae came out and distracted Jericho, which allowed Fandango to attack him from behind, but Jericho made a comeback and Fandango ran off. Cesaro then tried to attack Jericho, but he got hit with the Codebreaker for his troubles.
In a typical pre-tape promo from Zeb Colter and Jack Swagger, Colter asked if Dolph Ziggler was really hurt or if he was just afraid, in between the usual xenophobic schtick.
The Miz submitted Damien Sandow with the figure four leglock after failed interference from Cody Rhodes who was out doing colour commentary for the match.
Kaitlyn pinned Aksana with a spear.
Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio & Sheamus defeated Mark Henry, The Big Show & Jack Swagger when Orton pinned Swagger with the RKO. The heels were then left retreating after each took kicks to the head.

TNA

TNA Impact Wrestling (May 16th)

Hulk Hogan started the show voicing his disappointment with AJ Styles walking away from Kurt Angle & Sting last week and figured that he must have joined Aces & 8s, before announcing Styles vs. Angle for Slammiversary. He then thanked Abyss for saving Team TNA's bacon last week and called him out to the ring, but we got Joseph Park instead who said he was shocked watching TV last week that his brother would finally return after months of looking for him. This led to an appearance by Devon and D'Lo Brown who demanded Abyss's presence. Park challenged Devon to a match, but D'Lo piped up wanting the fight instead, so Hogan booked Park vs. D'Lo for later. Devon still wanted Abyss somewhere down the line though.
James Storm was drinking backstage by himself and was asked about what was next for him after being attacked by some combination of Bad Influence, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries last week. Storm only said: "Watch. Just watch."
They announced a Bound for Glory Series Gut Check spot that would be decided by a four-man tournament with the finals at Slammiversary. The first semifinal would be Christian York vs. Jay Bradley later on. York did an interview saying he's not in TNA to be a wrestler, he's there to be a world champion. Good luck with that!
Bobby Roode defeated Chavo Guerrero by disqualification when James Storm spit beer in Roode's face. Surprisingly Storm didn't hit Roode over the head with his beer bottle after the match.
Kurt Angle challenged AJ Styles to an immediate fight, but Mr. Anderson showed up instead, said that next week Styles would be patched in as a member of Aces & 8s and dared Angle to show up during the ceremony. Angle pummelled Anderson until AJ showed up. They had a brief stare down before Styles hit Angle with an enzuigiri, while Anderson applauded.
Jay Bradley did a promo saying that since he got accepted to Gut Check, he no longer has to worry about a 9-to-5 job and gets to live and breathe wrestling 24/7. BWAHAHAHAHA!
Jay Bradley pinned Christian York with the Boom Stick.
James Storm left Hulk Hogan's office, where The Hulkster had supposedly informed him that his actions earlier had repercussions. That upset Storm, who was still pissed about being attacked last week. Storm was asked what's next, and he said "Just keep watching."
Meanwhile, Aces & Eights were looking forward to "patching in" AJ next week. Mr. Anderson told D-Lo that he had to kick Park's ass and Brown said he was set to do it.
Brooke Hogan complimented Mickie James on her new CD "Somebody's Gonna Pay". James was upset with Brooke about not getting a match at Slammiversary. Brooke informed her that Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim would fight instead at the pay-per-view, and instead gave James a TNA Knockouts title shot against Velvet Sky next week. Bully Ray then appeared and told Brooke to tell her father that when he calls Sting out to the ring tonight, it won't be as much a contract signing as it will be a contract negotiation. Brooke still wanted a divorce, but Ray shot back that he won't divorce her until death do us part. Brooke then stormed off.
An injured Velvet Sky pinned Gail Kim with a schoolgirl. After the match, Kim did another steel post assisted figure four leglock on Sky.
Kenny King pinned Petey Williams with the Royal Flush in a three-way that also included Chris Sabin to retain the X Division title.
Christopher Daniels was worried about facing Hernandez with the possibility of James Storm interfering and wanted Kazarian to have his back.
D-Brown thanked Mr. Anderson for stopping Bully Ray from hitting him over the head with a hammer last week, but Anderson proceeded to browbeat him for his selfishness and incompetence.
Hernandez pinned Christopher Daniels (with Kazarian) with the pounce period when Daniels was distracted by James Storm drinking beer. After the match, Storm announced that Hogan told him that at Slammiversary there would be a four-way tag team match. Guerrero and Hernandez would defend their belts against Bad Influence, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries, and Storm and a partner of his own choice.
Joseph Park pinned D-Lo Brown when Brown bloodied Park up with punches, Park briefly morphed into Abyss and hit the Black Hole Slam.
In the contract signing between Sting and Bully Ray, Sting vowed to make Ray bleed at Slammiversary and thus he wanted a No Holds Barred match on the show. Ray agreed on one condition that if Sting should lose, then he would never ever wrestle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship again. Hulk Hogan interrupted, asking Sting not to do this, but his mind was already made up and the two future opponents then started slugging away at each other.

TNA's Zema Ion suffers serious health scare, fundraiser started to pay for medical bills

Keith Harris — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:12:50 -0000

We at Cageside Seats would like to wish TNA wrestler Zema Ion, real name Michael Paris, a speedy recovery after he suffered a serious health scare on Wednesday night. He was rushed to the hospital with appendicitis and had to have an emergency appendectomy. More worryingly, a CAT scan also revealed that he had a 5cm tumour located in his colon. Hopefully the growth is found to be benign and not cancerous, but either way he will need another surgery to remove it.

The bad news doesn't stop there, as the poorly paid Ion doesn't have health insurance and can't afford to pay his emergency medical bills. Thus, a fundraising campaign has been started by Jessica Recco in an attempt to raise $30,000 in three months, so that he can afford his treatment. I hope he gets the money he requires in his time of need and support this charitable effort.

However, it's the latest in a series of black eyes for the second largest wrestling organisation in the United States. Their fans should not be expected to step in when one of their performers is struck down with a serious illness, even one that was not picked up in their line of work. Either TNA should pay their wrestlers enough so that they can afford medical coverage or they should be willing to pick up the tab when a personal health crisis happens.

Clearly, TNA President Dixie Carter is a leopard that has not changed her spots. Her company's treatment of talent is still appalling and their working conditions remain hypocritically shameful. Even after having to settle with Shannon "Daffney" Spruill over a workers' compensation lawsuit filed over TNA's failure to pay for her hospital trips from injuries suffered in their ring and the public embarrassment of TNA contracted wrestler Jesse Neal tweeting that he had qualified for food stamps, their constant cost cutting continues to hit their bread and butter acts in the pocketbook, leading to Ion's current predicament.

Hopefully Carter does the right thing and at the very least makes a large company donation to Ion's fundraising attempts. However, that we cannot be certain that she will do this, says it all, Cagesiders.

WWE 'Extreme Rules' Preview: John Cena vs. Ryback

Keith Harris — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:12:53 -0000

Last Man Standing Match

for the WWE Championship

John Cena vs. Ryback

Will Ryback be able to kick the ass of a one legged man in a contest where the whole aim is to be the last man standing and finally fulfill his several month long quest to procure the WWE title? Or will Superman Cena reign supreme once again?

The Road to Extreme Rules

Maybe John Cena is now regretting his benevolent decision to willingly back out of the running for a WWE title shot against CM Punk at Hell In A Cell on the Oct. 15th, 2012 episode of Raw and instead allow Ryback to take his place?

Despite tremendous momentum and a lengthy undefeated streak, Ryback's luck started turning sour in the cell when he had a certain victory over Punk snatched away from him by a low blow and fast count from paid off referee Brad Maddox.

With both John Cena and Ryback still chasing after CM Punk's WWE Championship, all three men locked horns in a Triple Threat match at Survivor Series on Nov. 18th, 2012. Ryback got screwed again, as after he had hit the Shell Shock on both men, NXT wrestlers Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns made their shocking debut as The Shield by triple powerbombing Big Hungry through the announcers table, allowing Punk to unfairly escape with his title once again.

The Shield would continue being a thorn in Ryback's foot. On the Nov. 19th, 2012 Raw, he was powerbombed through a table by them again when he tried to ruin Punk's celebration for passing the one year mark as WWE Champion.

Though Ryback got a little morsel of revenge at the WWE TLC pay-per-view (PPV) on Dec. 16th, 2012 in his Tables, Ladders and Chairs match with Team Hell No against The Shield by throwing Seth Rollins off the top of a large ladder through a table, this allowed Ambrose and Reigns to double team and pin Daniel Bryan in the ring, meaning that Ryback still lost for the third major show in a row.

Still not being able to catch a break, Ryback came unstuck by The Shield again when he faced CM Punk for the WWE Championship in a TLC match on the Jan. 7th, 2013. This time it was a triple powerbomb through a table on top of the ring steps that laid out Ryback and allowed Punk to climb the ladder and reclaim his gold strap.

John Cena and Ryback banged heads again as the final two competitors of the 2013 Royal Rumble match. It wasn't to be Ryback's night either as although he eliminated the most men, Cena tossed him out to win a WWE title shot at WrestleMania 29 in a predictable result to set up his rematch with The Rock.

Letting bygones be bygones, at least for now, Cena and Ryback, together with willing ally Sheamus, set their sights on their common enemy The Shield, instead of squabbling over what happened at the Rumble. However, when the two trios faced off at Elimination Chamber on Feb. 17th, it was Ryback that was staring at the lights again when illegal man Roman Reigns speared him allowing Seth Rollins to pick up the victory after being Shell Shocked. Teasing his growing frustration, Ryback walked out on his partners after he had shaken off the cobwebs.

That was put on the back burner the next night on Raw, as Chris Jericho managed to patch things up between Ryback and Sheamus, and shortly thereafter, the musclebound behemoth got distracted by the returning Mark Henry.

The contrasting fortunes of Ryback and John Cena continued at WrestleMania 29. Cena was on top of the world, having overcome his mental demons to finally avenge last year's loss to The Rock and hold the WWE Championship for the first time in almost 18 months. Meanwhile, it was another mixed bag for Ryback. Ryback lost by pinfall to "The World's Strongest Man" when Henry grabbed the ropes and collapsed on top of him as he went for his Shell Shock finisher. He did land that move to end a post match brawl between the two, but that brought little joy having now strung together a run of six pay-per-view defeats.

Ryback's latent rage finally erupted to the surface on the following night's Monday Night Raw. After John Cena had defeated Mark Henry via count out, Ryback came out to brawl with Henry and sent him packing with a spinebuster. With the crowd egging Ryback on to attack Cena, he initially disappointed them by shaking his hand, but finally turned on The Champ by nailing him with a clothesline and posing with his belt.

On the Apr. 15th Raw, Ryback revealed why he had double crossed The Cenanation Leader. He was fed up of John never having his back when The Shield ambushed him, whilst he had always done so. He realised now that being Cena's friend would mean forever living in his shadow.

In the main event segment of the show, Cena called Ryback out and trashed him to his face. Ryback didn't take his bait, instead taking it all in, backing off when Cena stared him down and just stood by and watched while The Shield beat down Cena to a pulp.

On the following week's Raw, it was time for WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley to try to talk some sense into him. However, Ryback was already beyond help, calling the hardcore legend "a fat, pathetic, lazy bastard" and looked set to attack him when John Cena and The Shield came out. The mercenary stable surprisingly chose to target Ryback, but Cena made the save for his nemesis with a chair before nailing him with the Attitude Adjustment.

Real life then caused the storyline to be tweaked, as John Cena suffered a bruised Achilles heel during a tables match with Ryback on WWE's April European tour. Thankfully the injury wasn't serious enough to scrap their Extreme Rules match, but it was acknowledged on television to make the WWE Champion seem more vulnerable to defeat at the hands of The Ryback.

This led to the scheduled match between John Cena & Ryback vs. The Shield on the Apr. 29th Raw being cancelled as Ryback got cold feet about teaming with a wounded partner. Instead Cena tagged with Team Hell No to face their mutual enemies, which didn't end well for the babyfaces as Cena's leg gave out and he was pinned after a spear by Roman Reigns. This was the perfect time for Ryback to make his return and cackle on the ramp way at his foe's demise.

On May 6th, Vickie Guerrero got the two to discuss the stipulation for their Extreme Rules bout. After some bad stand up by the always jocular John, Ryback asked for a last man standing match, which Cena inevitably agreed to. At the close of the show, Ryback teased helping John Cena, Daniel Bryan & Kane in another brawl with The Shield, but instead he laid out Cena with a series of chair shots.

Superman Cena was back for awhile on the go home show main event of Raw this past Monday night, which was an elimination match between John Cena & Team Hell No and The Shield, as Cena overcame the odds to win after being left alone against all three heels, eliminating Seth Rollins by pinfall with the Attitude Adjustment, Roman Reigns by disqualification when he was hit with a spear by the illegal man when he went for the AA on Dean Ambrose and the Shield's leader by DQ too when Rollins & Reigns interfered whilst he had Ambrose locked in the STFU. After The Shield had triple power bombed Cena, Ryback opportunistically aggravated Cena's right ankle injury by hitting that body part with a steel chair.

What's at stake?

Thus, the odds seem to be against John Cena retaining his WWE title on Sunday night, but you can never count him out, can you Cagesiders?

Can Big Hungry take another PPV loss, even to the WWE champ? Can a character that we've been told is a machine but who we've only see lose on the big stage continue to be taken seriously?

How injured is Cena? If he can continue to go for 70-80% of his usual duties, would WWE dream of taking the belt off him after his latest coronation at WrestleMania 29?

Find out tomorrow night at CagesideSeats.com with our live Extreme Rules coverage.

Austin Aries "severely fined" by TNA and "privately apologised" to Christy Hemme for unscripted crotch thrust

Keith Harris — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:09:13 -0000

A couple of days ago, we pondered whether Austin Aries would be disciplined over the incident with Christy Hemme on last week's episode of TNA Impact where he forced her into a corner and posed on the turnbuckles with his crotch in her face after she had botched his ring announcement up.

At the time, it looked likely as David Schwarz, Spike TV's senior vice president of communications, indicated that he would be disciplined and that they have a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment. Shortly thereafter, Dixie Carter rather belatedly followed up with a similar statement on Twitter, indicating that they took the issue very seriously and handled it immediately.

Since then, TMZ.com has reported that the company hit Austin Aries with a "severe fine" for his unscripted outburst and that he had even reached out to Hemme himself and privately apologised to her, realising that he had crossed a line. Their sources also told them that Hemme had spoken with TNA management and informed them that she was "satisfied" with his apology.

However, it's hard to believe that Aries really was fined by TNA when the amount hasn't been publicly disclosed by the company. They may be saying the right things now, but their previous inaction on the matter raises suspicions about whether their word can be trusted.

Similarly, one has to question the sincerity of Aries's private apology when he hasn't done the same in a public forum. Instead, Aries made several self pitying tweets moaning about the online complaints his behaviour had caused.

Meanwhile, Christy Hemme had to accept the apology with good grace whether she was truly satisfied or not. Rocking the boat any further would be career suicide for her, as ring announcers are seen as easy to replace cogs in the wrestling wheel.

Perhaps the real feeling amongst most TNA wrestlers and officials about Aries's aggressive rib was voiced by Chavo Guerrero on Twitter a couple of days ago:

"Great Job @MarkMaddenX for watering down wrestling even more. God forbid that a wrestler breaks out of the typical mold of being so scared to show his personality on TV. U must've been going crazy during the "attitude era" with every cutting edge thing that Vince did! & for the record, I saw Hemme after that segment, & she didn't look bothered at all. Just saying...I was there"

Maybe it's not always a good thing, Cagesiders, to reveal that in real life he may very well be "a small-time punk with a bad attitude" and "an arrogant ass", even though he's playing a heel onscreen?

Certainly if Aries was doing his job better, then his response to Hemme's verbal slip up wouldn't have been so clumsy and caused so much offence. Getting people outraged to the point that they complain to Spike TV is the worst response possible that a TNA performer can evoke, as the company's future is wholly reliant on their television deal. Without it, TNA would have been out of business years ago, so it's imperative to keep them sweet, as they would be very hard pressed to find another station if Spike TV ever had enough of the headaches their performers bring to the table and decided to cancel Impact. Admittedly, that's an unlikely scenario, but one that can't be completely discounted when Impact's ratings are currently at their lowest levels in years.

Does Vince McMahon find Antonio Cesaro boring?

Keith Harris — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:45:18 -0000

Less than two weeks ago it looked like Antonio Cesaro would be rewarded with a renewed push after getting into WWE management's good books for carrying Kofi Kingston to an excellent match on the May 1st episode of WWE Main Event.

However, now it looks like we spoke too soon after Cesaro was seen cleanly jobbing to Randy Orton on last night's Raw in less than three minutes.

Dave Meltzer explained this sudden about face on his subscriber only radio show today:

"The reality is that the people who are in charge believe that Antonio Cesaro is boring. I mean the wrestlers don't, a lot of the other people in the company don't, there are people who think he should be a main eventer, we've talked about him, he's a great worker, but the people who count, you know, they don't see him any higher than they did two weeks ago. I think there was like some lip service and the lip service lasted all of one week and so now it's back to where it was."

Who else could that mean other than Vince McMahon? The problem with wrestling is that you can be a consummate professional, be supremely talented, work super hard, do the best with what you're given, but if your act doesn't get over with the boss, then you can forever languish in mid card purgatory waiting for a shot to breakout. That looks to be the predicament facing Antonio Cesaro at the moment unfortunately, Cagesiders.

WWE/TNA Week in Wrestling: May 5th to May 11th

Keith Harris — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:35:34 -0000

Hello, Cagesiders! Welcome to the Cageside Seats Week in Wrestling once again!

What happened last week? Find out below, Cagesiders.

WWE

Raw (May 6th)

The show started with a video revealing that Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman had invaded WWE headquarters earlier that day.
John Cena then cut a rambling promo about how nothing will stop him from facing Ryback until Vickie Guerrero interrupted him, wanting to know his and Ryback's thoughts on the stipulation for their match at Extreme Rules. Cena didn't care what the stipulation was, so Ryback chose a Last Man Standing Match.
Randy Orton pinned Damien Sandow with the RKO. After the match, Orton was knocked out by the Big Show as he was about to get backstage.
Chris Jericho and Tons Of Funk were out to judge Fandango's dancing and wrestling. Unsurprisingly, his dancing didn't go down too well. This led to R-Truth defeating Fandango by count out when Fandango decided to leave after R-Truth busted out some of his own dance moves during the match and the judges gave him much better scores.
Daniel Bryan challenged Ryback to a rematch in order to prove that The Shield's ambush on Smackdown wasn't effective, but Ryback turned him down. Kane then made the same challenge, which Ryback accepted, as Kane isn't the monster he used to be.
Alberto Del Rio defeated Dolph Ziggler by disqualification when Big E Langston broke up Del Rio's arm bar on Ziggler and threw him into Jack Swagger who was doing commentary. After the match, Swagger laid out both Del Rio and Ziggler with a ladder.
Kaitlyn's mystery admirer texted her while she was with The Funkadactyls, who warn her he is probably a stalker that wants to lock her up in a basement. Natalya said she would get The Great Khali to go undercover to find out who it is. After they all left, the Bella Twins came out from behind the curtain. Hmm...
The Shield defeated The Usos & Kofi Kingston when Dean Ambrose pinned Kingston with the headlock driver.
Antonio Cesaro pinned Zack Ryder with the Neutralizer. After the match, Cesaro asked for stiffer competition and called out the whole roster, including NXT.
Via satellite, Brock Lesnar with a cocky Paul Heyman destroyed Paul "Triple H" Levesque's office with a sledgehammer. Heyman said he is the voice of reason for Lesnar, but he isn't going to be there anymore after Hunter's Pedigree and is instead going to encourage his protégé to utterly destroy HHH at Extreme Rules. Triple H then came out to say he doesn't care about them destroying his business office, his other office is the ring and that in this office he fights back.
Kaitlyn & The Funkadactyls defeated The Bella Twins and AJ Lee when Kaitlyn pinned AJ with a spear.
Mark Henry talked trash about Sheamus, which led to the Irish fella coming out, the two bickering and almost coming to blows when they were disturbed by Sheamus' opponent for the night Wade Barrett.
Sheamus pinned Wade Barrett with the Brogue Kick. After the match, Mark Henry whipped Sheamus with a belt and hit the World's Strongest Slam on the outside.
Ryback pinned Kane with the Shellshock. After the match, The Shield surrounded the ring, Daniel Bryan came out to protect Kane, John Cena hit the ring too and Ryback looked like he would help the babyfaces against the mercenary heel trio, but instead he hit Cena with a chair.

NXT (May 8th)

Damien Sandow pinned Baron Corbin with the Silencer. After the match, Sandow challenged Big E Langston to a NXT Championship match.
Paige pinned Bayley with the Paige Turner. After the match, Summer Rae attacked Paige from behind.
Damien Sandow interrupted a promo by Big E Langston to issue his challenge face to face, which Langston accepted in a way that made fun of Sandow's intellect.
Sakamoto vs. Briley Pierce ended in a no contest when Conor O'Brian brutally laid out both men.
Summer Rae interrupted Natalya shilling the upcoming E! Divas show to complain about about how everyone is jealous of her appearing on Raw and that she doesn't understand why since she is just doing her thing and representing them as the first lady of NXT. This led to Natalya challenging her to a match next week.
It was announced that Sakamoto and Briley Pierce would face Conor O'Brian in a handicap match next week.
Kassius Ohno submitted Camacho with the Kassius Clutch (a double arm trap inverted cravate chinlock). After the match, Ohno apologised to William Regal for his actions over the past two months and stared down Bray Wyatt when the Wyatt Family came out for their main event match.
Luke Harper & Erick Rowan defeated Adrian Neville & Bo Dallas to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions when Harper pinned Dallas with a spinning lariat.

Main Event (May 8th)

Randy Orton pinned Antonio Cesaro with the RKO in a really good match.
Justin Gabriel & The Usos defeated 3MB when Gabriel pinned Drew McIntyre with the 450 splash.

Superstars (May 9th)

Ted DiBiase pinned Michael McGillicutty with the Dream Street.
Cody Rhodes pinned Justin Gabriel with the Cross Rhodes.

Smackdown (May 10th)

Chris Jericho got the ball rolling with his Highlight Reel interview segment where special guest Ryback discussed his change in attitude and how fans don't respect him anymore, whilst arguing with Y2J. Teddy Long then came out to announce that the main event of the show would be Ryback vs. Chris Jericho. Ryback then sucker punched Jericho.
Kofi Kingston pinned Cody Rhodes with the Trouble in Paradise.
It was announced that Triple H & Brock Lesnar would have a face-to-face confrontation on next week's Raw (May 13th).
Zeb Colter described the upcoming match between Jack Swagger and Big E Langston as "A Real American" battling against "Affirmative Action".
In a no disqualification match, Jack Swagger and Big E Langston went to a no contest when Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio, who was doing commentary, ended up getting involved and attacking each other with ladders. Del Rio managed to take out all his foes and then climbed on top of the ladder holding the World Heavyweight Title belt.
Dean Ambrose (with Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) defeated Daniel Bryan (with Kane) by disqualification when the referee missed Reigns' interference whilst he was distracted by Kane and Rollins brawling on the outside, but turned around to see Kofi Kingston hit the ring to even up the odds.
A taped segment aired in which Mark Henry showed off his strength by pulling two tractor trailers.
The Big Show pinned Tensai with the WMD. After the match, Clay tried to help Tensai, but Show speared him. Randy Orton then hit the ring and laid out Show with an RKO.
Kaitlyn and Natalya were backstage trying to figure out who Kaitlyn's secret admirer was. The Great Khali showed up wearing a Rey Mysterio mask. That was his attempt to go undercover and hide his identity.
Chris Jericho defeated Ryback by disqualification when Ryback crotched Jericho on the turnbuckle post. After the match, Ryback grabbed Jericho and clotheslined him onto and over the announcers table.

Saturday Morning Slam (May 11th)

Alicia Fox was this week's guest colour commentator.
Santino Marella pinned Jinder Mahal with the Cobra Strike.
Randy Orton & Sheamus defeated The Prime Time Players when Orton pinned Darren Young with the RKO.

TNA

TNA Impact Wrestling (May 9th)

Kurt Angle started the show by asking AJ Styles if he's going to join TNA against Aces & 8s. When he got no response, Angle told Styles that he's not asking anymore, he's demanding an answer. Sting grabbed the mic off Angle and empathised with AJ, saying that he's also been in the same place, when he was hanging out in rafters and acting all mysterious but it's about doing the right thing and that's what Styles needs to do now. Sting extended his hand to AJ, but he ignored that gesture too, which led to Kurt getting into AJ's face and screaming at him "I'm tired of this crap! You're either with us or against us!" When Styles walked away, Kurt started brawling with him on the ramp way. This allowed Ken Anderson, Devon and Bully Ray to sneak attack Sting and lay him out with the 3D.
AJ Styles stormed out of the building after an interviewer asked him how he could leave the TNA guys out there high and dry like that.
Mickie James & Velvet Sky defeated Tara & Gail Kim when Sky pinned Tara with the In Yo Face. After the match, Kim laid out Tara in a fit of rage. Then, she locked in a Figure Four around the ringpost before ODB pulled her off.
Aces & 8s were gloating about their successful attack on Sting earlier when D-Lo Brown turned up late, having not been told that a group meeting was planned. Bully Ray, teased that Brown was about to get fired from the group after losing to Kurt Angle in an I Quit match last week, invited everyone else to the ring for a club meeting. Brown was left looking crestfallen.
Bad Influence gave their referee tonight James Storm a six-pack of beer backstage in his dressing room as a bribe, to remind him of what Bobby Roode did to him and to attempt to get him to join their gang, but Storm resisted the temptation.
Bully Ray told D-Lo Brown to: "Turn in your colors right now. Take off that cut off your back and put it in my hands right now." D-Lo refused twice, so the guys behind him rip his vest off anyway. D-Lo offered to take Magnus out to get his cut back, but Ray told him that he'd have to sit next to the timekeeper ringside while Magnus takes on Doc and he "better hope Doc wins if you want any chance of getting back in Aces and 8s."
Magnus pinned Doc with a rollup when D-Lo screwed up again and accidentally tripped up Doc. D-Lo was left looking all ashamed of himself again.
After the commercial break, Bully Ray told the rest of his gang members to hold D-Lo down while he threatened him with a hammer, but Mr. Anderson said they should just give him a job he can do, which would be washing the bikes of everyone in the group.
Hulk Hogan wanted to be Sting and Kurt Angle's partner, but they talked him out of it. Hulk said he's got a wildcard that could change the game completely but Sting and Angle weren't happy about the "if" part of the equation, so they recruited Magnus instead and sold Hogan on the idea.
Austin Aries and Bobby Roode also took a beer to James Storm with Roode apologising for beating him the way he did and always being jealous of Storm because he's the one who made the Beer Money tag team what it was. Storm took the beer, got in a dig at Roode's expense that his loss to Aries wasn't a fluke and walked off, leaving Roode livid.
Austin Aries & Bobby Roode vs. Bad Influence went to a no contest when special guest referee James Storm hit the Last Call on both Christopher Daniels and Aries, and walked out on the match.
Backstage, Aces & 8s took out Magnus.
Kenny King did a segment where he pretended to be nice to Chris Sabin, but eventually turned on him by calling him Frail Sabin and saying that he has a stupid haircut and that this is the closest he'll ever get to the X Division title as long as he is the champ, sucka!
We cut to the back and see Austin Aries & Bobby Roode fighting with Bad Influence and getting hustled out of the way by referees and security personnel. Then we see James Storm lying on the ground hurt.
Team TNA (Sting, Kurt Angle & ?) defeated Aces and 8s (Bully Ray, Devon & Mr. Anderson) when the third man turned out to be Abyss and he pinned Anderson with a chokeslam through a table.

Irv Muchnick publishes Justice Denied - The Untold Story of Nancy Argentino’s Death in Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka’s Motel Room

Keith Harris — Sat, 11 May 2013 20:36:50 -0000

It's not always wise for a wrestler to write a tell-all autobiography, as many have dark skeletons in their closet that are best left being untouched.

The perfect example of this lesson is Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story that was released last December. In the book, Snuka discusses both his January 1983 arrest for causing a scene in a Syracuse hotel room where it took eight or nine cops with police dogs to subdue him and the suspicious death of his on the road girlfriend Nancy Argentino that took place a few months later.

Snuka painted himself as an almost completely innocent victim in his arrest. He admitted to being "pretty drunk" and "maybe smoking some pot", but blamed the noise that had caused complaints to the hotel manager on the other wrestlers staying there and that the police picked on the wrong guy in an overly aggressive manner. However, this claim contradicts the news reporting of the time that Snuka had become abusive to Argentino and wouldn't allow her to leave his room when the cops arrived.

Regarding Argentino's death, Snuka stuck to the story he had told the police when he was questioned with Vincent Kennedy McMahon by his side, namely that Nancy had slipped and banged her head when she went to urinate on the side of the road whilst driving to the next show, and not realising how serious her injury was, he left her to sleep it off while he wrestled the next day, but upon his return he found that she could hardly breathe and she died a couple of hours later after calling an ambulance for her.

However, it's hard to believe this version of events given the nature of their abusive relationship, that the coroner immediately suspected foul play upon seeing the body and that Snuka himself gave other people at the time multiple differing accounts that contradicted what he had told the police.

You might be wondering why Snuka would be so willing to dredge up his murky past. Well, like most wrestlers of his era who squandered their small fortune on a sex, drugs and rock n roll lifestyle, he's left with no savings and with his body completely broken down he has limited opportunities to make money to pay for his healthcare bills. Indeed, Dawn Marie's controversial Wrestlers Rescue charity had to step in and raise funds on his behalf to help pay for his recent reconstructive ankle surgery.

One person who was disgusted by Jimmy Snuka retelling all these lies was freelance investigative reporter Irv Muchnick, as he knew the Nancy Argentino death case in great depth having wrote an excellent piece about it for New York's Village Voice in 1992, as part of a bigger cover story about the steroid and ring boy scandals that the WWF was embroiled with at the time.

Upon hearing that two other newspaper reporters were writing stories about Nancy Argentino for the 30th anniversary of her passing, Muchnick decided to work towards publishing an updated ebook on the incident with the help of her family. It came out earlier this week and is now available for $2.99 on Amazon Kindle or a pdf copy is obtainable via the PayPal address of nancyargentino@gmail.com for the same price, with all proceeds going to the My Sister’s Place battered women’s shelter in Westchester County, New York.

The ebook consists of the following six parts:

An introduction discussing why it was written and putting the incident into context.
The original article Muchnick wrote about the case in 1992.
"Jimmy Snuka's Pathetic Lies" - a section that breaks down piece by piece Snuka's account of his girlfriend's death in his autobiography and criticises Dave Meltzer for the poor judgement of providing Snuka's ghostwriter with a quote that downplayed the incident.
"The Short, Interrupted Life Of Nancy Argentino" - a section that gives a biography of Argentino's life, so that people know the real person behind the wrongly stereotyped "groupie" that ended up dying in such strange circumstances.
"Other Updated Information" - a section that provides lots of interesting tidbits, including the allegation that someone from the WWF once offered the Argentino family $25,000 to shut up about her death.
An appendix featuring primary document facsimiles.

I hope some Cagesiders will support this good cause and read the ebook for themselves to come up with their own conclusions about what happened. To get both sides of the story, you should check out Superfly: The Jimmy Snuka Story too.

Ring Of Honor does the right thing regarding Jay Briscoe's homophobic tweets

Keith Harris — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:30:16 -0000

There has been a lot of fallout in the past 24 hours since we reported on ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe's embarrassing tweets yesterday where he sarcastically congratulated people who were happy about the news that Delaware had passed gay marriage and declared that he would shoot anyone who told his kids that it was OK.

Eventually Jay came to his senses and issued a poorly worded apology on his Twitter account:

"I feel very strongly about how and who should teach kids about certain things but I showed poor judgment by using that analogy and I’m sorry."

Those feelings are clearly his right and he should be allowed to voice them in a respectful manner. However, when threats of violence are uttered, then it crosses into the line of hate speech, which shouldn't be used on a forum used to promote his wrestling career.

Soon thereafter he deleted his whole account, probably due to complaints directed towards him that his apology didn't go far enough.

Meanwhile, ROH were quick to make clear that Briscoe's views were not reflective of the company's opinions on such matters:

"Ring of Honor Wrestling respects and appreciates every fan regardless of age, gender, race, religion or sexual preference. The recent post by Jay Briscoe does not represent the views or opinions of Ring of Honor Wrestling, its owners, management or employees."

In the past hour, Ring Of Honor Wrestling have followed up by publishing the following statement about the incident on their Facebook page:

"Jay Briscoe would like to again express his sincerest apologies and regrets to all, especially his young fans, for his recent hateful twitter comment. Ring of Honor has insisted that Jay also make a public apology at the Ring of Honor event this Saturday night. Jay will address the public during the event.

In addition to this apology, Ring of Honor and Jay have agreed that he will donate his full pay from the next two Ring of Honor events to the Partners Against Hate charitable organization. Partners Against Hate was created to help prevent, deter, and reduce juvenile hate-related behavior.

For more information on PAH, visit http://www.partnersagainsthate.org/"

I think ROH deserves a lot of credit for realising the severity of Jay's comments and coming up with a punishment that will hopefully make him realise the ill effects that such hate language can have, whilst benefiting the victims of juvenile bullying that such words can encourage.

Thankfully, ROH learnt their lesson from failing to punish Briscoe for using a gay slur on his Twitter account two years ago. Arguably their prior inaction is as much to blame for the current controversy as Briscoe's outspoken nature.

Really, given the number of performers that have made homophobic remarks on social media and in public in recent years, every major wrestling company should come up with guidelines for appropriate use of language by their talent whilst working and how infringements will be punished. That would be an improvement on the ad hoc manner that such incidents are currently dealt with.

I know that runs contrary to the politically incorrect nature of pro wrestling in the past, but making sure that certain lines are never crossed would, in the long run, help the overall respectability of the business.

ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe's blatant homophobia should embarrass the wrestling industry

Keith Harris — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:57:07 -0000

Being the world champion of a wrestling organization comes with certain responsibilities. They are held to a higher standard in and out of the ring, as their behavior reflects back on the company. Which is fair enough, as those that are given the opportunity to hold the promotion's most prestigious title should return the favor by ensuring that they don't shame the people in charge who made that decision with their actions.

However, even if he wasn't the Ring of Honor World Champion, Jay Briscoe's latest homophobic outburst on Twitter should not only embarrass ROH management, but also the whole wrestling industry. It's one thing to politely disagree with gay marriage, quite another to say that you would commit acts of violence on anyone who teaches your children that it's OK:

"The Delaware Senate passed a bill yesterday that allows same sex couples to get married. If that makes you happy, then congratulations!!!!!!

... try and teach my kids that there's nothing wrong with that and I'll fucking shoot you"

This is much worse than TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray recently using gay slurs to trash talk a ringside fan. Ray was a heel who went too far in his attempts to generate heat whilst in the zone performing. It was a dumb move, but at least he and Dixie Carter quickly apologized for his indiscretion.

Even though he plays a redneck character, Jay Briscoe is supposed to be a babyface and here he is spewing hateful anti-gay rhetoric in a public forum. There are certainly many young, impressionable gay wrestling fans out there that are struggling to come to terms with their sexuality and such statements from someone they may look up to would undoubtedly cause them psychological harm. That's why such overt homophobia needs to be completely eliminated from the wrestling business.

Moreover, this is not the first time that Briscoe has made such a mistake, tweeting two years ago that "Damn there's a lot of fags out in New York today #WhatTheFuck". Clearly, some people never learn and that infraction must have went unpunished from Sinclair Broadcasting and ROH's higher ups at the time for him to make a similar error in judgement again. Hopefully that doesn't happen again.

WWE/TNA Week in Wrestling: Apr. 28th to May 4th

Keith Harris — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:05:49 -0000

Hello, Cagesiders! Welcome to the Cageside Seats Week in Wrestling once again!

What happened last week? Find out below, Cagesiders.

WWE

Raw (Apr. 29th)

The show started off with a triple threat match between the sidekicks of everyone involved in the World Heavyweight Championship bout at Extreme Rules with the winner getting to pick the stipulation. Ricardo Rodriguez defeated Big E Langston and Zeb Colter when Ricardo pinned Zeb with a roll up. The set up to this finish was AJ Lee stopping the referee from counting three when Zeb had tried to pin Ricardo after Langston had given Ricardo a belly to belly suplex.
In a touching segment John Cena made three Make a Wish kids honorary WWE Superstars.
Randy Orton pinned Cody Rhodes with the RKO.
Brie Bella "pinned" Naomi when The Bella Twins switched places and Nikki Bella was the one who rolled up Naomi. However, the referee reversed his decision and made Naomi the winner by disqualification after Cameron had complained about what happened.
The Shield cut a promo about how they destroyed The Undertaker on Smackdown last week. When they started to talk about their involvement in the issue between John Cena and Ryback they were interrupted by 3MB who started a brawl with them. The Shield quickly got the upper hand, who retreated when Team Hell No made their way to the ring, who inevitably finished off 3MB themselves.
John Cena and Ryback were backstage. Ryback was concerned about Cena's ankle injury. Cena tried to reassure Ryback that he'd still be effective, but Ryback said he couldn't take that chance.
Dolph Ziggler pinned Kofi Kingston with the Zig Zag. After the match, Big E Langston hit the Big Ending twice on Kingston.
Kaitlyn received a spiked baseball cap from a secret admirer.
Ryback met with Team Brickie to tell them that he didn't want to face The Shield alone with an injured John Cena. Vickie Guerrero decided that Team Hell No would take Cena's place instead, but Ryback turned that offer down flat.
Jack Swagger submitted Zack Ryder with the Patriot Lock.
During the commercial break Ryback left the arena.
Mark Henry defeated Sweet T and then Brodus Clay in two consecutive tug of war contests. Sheamus then came out for a go, but just as Henry was about to defeat him too, he let go of the rope and hit Henry with a Brogue Kick.
Team Hell No told Team Brickie that they'd take The Shield on in a handicap match if they have to. Vickie Guerrero granted them their wish.
John Cena demanded that he be put into the tag match as Team Hell No's partner to Brad Maddox.
Alberto Del Rio submitted Antonio Cesaro with an arm bar. After the match, Del Rio announced that the stipulation for the World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat match at Extreme Rules would be a ladder match.
The Great Khali (with Natalya) defeated Fandango (with Summer Rae) in a Dance Off when Jerry "The King" Lawler announced Khali as the winner. Fandango then attacked Khali and finished him off with his top rope leg drop.
The Shield defeated Team Hell No & John Cena when Roman Reigns pinned Cena with a spear after Cena's ankle gave out when he attempted to give Seth Rollins the AA. After the match, Ryback came out and stared at the stage.

NXT (May 1st)

In a three-way dance tag team match, The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Erick Rowan) defeated Adrian Neville & Bo Dallas and Epico & Primo. The Colons were first eliminated when Neville pinned Primo with a corkscrew shooting star press. Immediately thereafter The Wyatt Family won the match when Harper pinned Neville with a lariat from hell.
Paige pinned Summer Rae with the Paige Turner.
NXT Commissioner Dusty Rhodes announced that he had allowed Adrian Neville to pick a new official partner, that Bo Dallas is now one half of the NXT tag team champions, and, that by virtue of their win in tonight's triple threat match, The Wyatt Family are the new number one contenders and will face Neville & Dallas next week for the belts.
Bray Wyatt declared that tonight he would "break the wall down" against Chris Jericho.
Chris Jericho submitted Bray Wyatt with the Walls of Jericho.

Main Event (May 1st)

WWE United States Champion Kofi Kingston pinned Antonio Cesaro with the Trouble in Paradise in an excellent match.
After the match, Kofi Kingston had a message for his family: "Daddy is coming home a CHAMPIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!"
In the next segment, Antonio Cesaro laid Kofi Kingston out and ripped out a piece of Kingston's hair.
Justin Gabriel pinned Heath Slater with a 450 splash.

Superstars (May 2nd)

R-Truth pinned Damien Sandow with the Lie Detector.
Kaitlyn pinned Tamina Snuka with a sunset flip.

Smackdown (May 3rd)

Ryback started the show with a promo about how it's the law of the jungle around here and the bigger, stronger, and faster (i.e. Ryback) always eat the weak (i.e. John Cena).
Ryback pinned Daniel Bryan with the Shell Shock.
Ricardo Rodriguez was super nervous about his match later with Zeb Colter, but Alberto Del Rio managed to calm him down.
Fandango pinned Zack Ryder with a top rope leg drop.
Kaitlyn was happy as she had received roses and a poem from her secret admirer.
Zeb Colter cut a promo on that "illegal immigrant" Ricardo Rodriguez.
Ricardo Rodriguez defeated Zeb Colter by disqualification when Jack Swagger interfered and clotheslined Ricardo.
Teddy Long then booked Ricardo Rodriguez & Alberto Del Rio vs. Zeb Colter & Jack Swagger, which quickly ended in a no contest when Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston interfered.
Teddy Long then came out to make a triple threat match between the three teams. Ricardo Rodriguez & Alberto Del Rio won when Del Rio submitted Dolph Ziggler with a cross armbreaker.
After a tussle is heard in the background, The Shield was revealed and said that by the end of the night that Kane would "believe in The Shield". Then the cameras panned back to reveal that Daniel Bryan had been beaten up and was on the floor coughing.
After the commercial break, paramedics attended to Daniel Bryan, who was selling being seriously injured.
Randy Orton pinned Damien Sandow with the RKO. After the match, the Big Show came out to complain about Orton's selfishness. Sandow crept in from behind and hit his finisher on Orton, which led to Show laughing hysterically before saying there won't be anything funny about what he does to Orton at Extreme Rules.
Kane told Matt Striker going to make The Shield pay for what they did to Daniel Bryan and The Undertaker.
Mark Henry beat Sheamus in an arm wrestling match. Sheamus goaded Henry into a left handed rematch, immediately sucker punched him with his right hand once the bout had started and then hit the Brogue Kick.
Dean Ambrose pinned Kane with a modified DDT after tons of interference from The Shield. After the match, Roman Reigns eventually hit Kane with a spear and then the trio planted him with the triple powerbomb.

Saturday Morning Slam (May 4th)

Brad Maddox was the guest announcer this week.
Jey Uso defeated Darren Young by disqualification when Titus O'Neill interfered as Jey was about to hit the Superfly Splash on Young.
Saturday Night Slam GM Mick Foley then came out to book an immediate match between The Prime Time Players and The Usos.
The Usos defeated The Prime Time Players when Jimmy Uso pinned Darren Young with the Superfly Splash.

TNA

TNA Impact Wrestling (May 2nd)

Hulk Hogan called out Sting to the ring and then apologised for pushing Sting away of late. The two shook hands. Hogan said they should have worked together to get rid of Aces and 8s. Sting replied that he completely forgives Hogan of everything he did and wanted to put together a team to square off against the heel gang in a six-man tag match next week. Matt Morgan complained that he was just going to give Sting the world title shot on a whim and that he hadn't learned anything from the Bully Ray situation. However, Hogan had learned his lesson, as he booked Morgan vs. Sting for the Impact main event with the winner earning a TNA World Heavyweight title shot at Slammiversary against Ray.
Chris Sabin did an interview talking about how he tore two ACLs and went through 24 months of rehab to return to action tonight.
In a Triple Threat match, Chris Sabin defeated Zema Ion and Sonjay Dutt when he pinned Ion.
Bully Ray gave the rest of Aces & 8s a pep talk before asking someone to step up and take out Kurt Angle for him. D-Lo Brown stepped up to the plate and had to swear on his colours that he'd get the job done.
Rob Terry defeated Robbie E, Joey Ryan & Jesse in a handicap match when he pinned Ryan.
Bobby Roode told Bad Influence that he was tempted very briefly by the idea of reforming Fortune but he knows that they were simply trying to screw up his tag team with Austin Aries. This led to Christopher Daniels & Kazarian to come out to squabble with Aries & Roode. Then the TNA World Tag Team Champions Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez interrupted to announce that Hulk Hogan had made James Storm the special guest referee for their number one contenders match next week.
Sting needed a minute of Kurt Angle's time and told the the cameraman to back off.
Kurt Angle defeated D-Lo Brown in an I Quit match with the ankle lock. Angle then called out AJ Styles and asked him to be his partner next week with Sting in a trios match against Aces & 8s.
Matt Morgan snapped at an interviewer for asking about how long he's been waiting for his shot at the title. Morgan is pissed off and frustrated about it.
Taryn Terrell & Mickie James defeated Tara & Gail Kim when Terrell pinned Tara. After the match, James and Tara brawled up the ramp while Kim went to work on Terrell in the ring. The segment ended with Kim doing the Figure Four through the ring post.
Backstage, Bully Ray is pissed off at D-Lo Brown for quitting against Kurt Angle. Ray then announced that he would tag up with Devon and Mr. Anderson against Sting's team next week.
Sting beat Matt Morgan when Morgan passed out from the pain of Sting's Scorpion Deathlock. The show ended with Aces and 8s surrounding the ring while Sting was still in it and Ray stared Sting down.

Antonio Cesaro in WWE management's good books after Main Event performance

Keith Harris — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:12:41 -0000

After Antonio Cesaro's excellent performance against WWE United States Champion Kofi Kingston on Main Event this week, carrying him to an outstanding match, my colleague Geno Mrosko proclaimed that "Cesaro is awesome and he deserves a bigger push than this."

Well, that might just be about to happen. According to Dave Meltzer on his subscriber only Wrestling Observer radio show yesterday, everyone within the company recognised how good the Cesaro vs. Kingston match was and realised that Cesaro deserved most of the credit for it.

However, the proof in the pudding as to whether it makes a blind jot of difference to Cesaro's career will be how he's treated on Monday Night Raw tomorrow. As Meltzer joked, they may decide to just keep beating him as he's talented enough to retain his heat or have him win a secondary championship which is often the kiss of death nowadays, rather than reward him with a program with a top babyface like Randy Orton or Sheamus.

Unfortunately the latter is unlikely to happen straight away, given it would mess with the creative team's plans for Extreme Rules, but it does bode well for Cesaro's future once all the current feuds run their course.

What do you think, Cagesiders? Will this week's Main Event match be a positive turning point for Cesaro's WWE run and if so, then is it something you're happy to see?

WWE profits way down in another mixed bag of a quarter

Keith Harris — Sat, 04 May 2013 10:23:18 -0000

WWE was once a company that was a machine whose financial results were always very healthy. But their ambitious nature has caused them to stray from that safe path, leading to business being a very mixed bag for over a year.

It all started in the final quarter of 2011, where they posted their first three month loss (a whopping $8.6 million) in quite some time due to an impairment charge of $12.2 million from their failing movie division.

At the 2012 annual stockholders meeting, Vince McMahon guaranteed that WWE would be in stronger shape in a years time, but that promise really hasn't come to fruition.

Though they got off to a strong start with profits being up $6.7 million in the first quarter of 2012, things fizzled from there. Even though WrestleMania 28 with the first match between John Cena and The Rock was the biggest grossing event in wrestling history, profits for the second quarter were still down $2.4 million. Worse news came in the third quarter with profits down $13.9 million, but much of that was due to returning to a more normalised level of management incentive compensation. In the final quarter of 2012 they made a measly $600,000 profit, which only looked acceptable in comparison to the huge loss made in the same quarter the prior year.

WWE's financial state of affairs weren't much better during the first quarter of 2013 either. Although revenue was slightly up compared with the same quarter last year from $123.1 million to $124.0 million, their profits were way down falling from $15.3 million to just $3.0 million.

There were several reasons for such a steep decline in profits:

Increased spending on their developmental territory NXT, which included the construction of a new 26,000 square foot training facility in Orlando, FL.
The high cost of "celebrity guest appearances", i.e., by The Rock and to a lesser extent Brock Lesnar too. Though their presence didn't pay off in this quarter, as WrestleMania 29 was a big success, they were worth it in the long run.
A significant decline in domestic home entertainment profits, due to overestimating the demand for their DVDs during the Christmas season.
Lower revenue from video game, toys and other licensed products, due to a 23% decline in their sale in international markets.
A decline in international touring profits, due to the weak performance of house shows in the emerging markets of Turkey and Qatar.
A $4.7 million impairment charge for the WWE movie Dead Man Down after it generated lower domestic box office receipts than anticipated.
A $500,000 increase in spending on preparations for the WWE Network.

However, it wasn't all bad news. As Geno Mrosko reported earlier this week, pay-per-view buys were up 17% overall from last year for the combination of the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber. Average domestic attendance of house shows was up 3%, despite average ticket prices increasing by 2%. Digital media related business revenue were up 27% ($1.9 million), mainly thanks to WWE's recent deal to license content to Hulu Plus.

These positive signs allowed Vince McMahon to remain bullish about the company's future in the company's official press release reporting these results:

"In the first quarter, our performance reflected investments to enhance our brand strength, which we view as a critical determinant of our long-term growth. Operating metrics such as pay-per-view buys and live event attendance, which are key leading indicators, continued to show improvement. Demonstrating the ongoing demand for WWE content, we successfully staged WrestleMania in April, which attracted more than 80,000 fans and is expected to deliver more than one million pay-per-view buys globally, ranking the event as the highest grossing and most profitable pay-per-view event in our history. Looking ahead, we are confident that we can leverage this demand to transform our business."

If Vince's dream of the WWE Network ever gets off the ground, then these quarterly reports might fast become a nightmare. Hopefully he isn't setting up his company for a mighty fall.

Dave Meltzer on recent bullying in WWE developmental

Keith Harris — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:27:45 -0000

"I know that some of the developmental people went, at least one person from developmental went to human resources about one of their superiors not all that long ago."

The superior in question is likely head NXT trainer Bill DeMott, who has faced complaints about being a bully before and apparently hasn't changed his ways. See our article from five months ago: Head WWE trainer Bill DeMott attacked on Twitter by former trainee Kevin Matthews.

The free Apr 30th Wrestling Observer Radio show.

WWE signs online content deal with Yahoo after their YouTube agreement expires

Keith Harris — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:00:27 -0000

Yesterday, Variety.com reported that Yahoo had entered into a partnership with WWE for exclusive online content:

"Yahoo, which last week announced exclusive online deal with "Saturday Night Live" producer Broadway Video, will be the "premiere global video distribution partner" for WWE. Internet company will set up dedicated hub on Yahoo for all WWE content, beginning summer 2013....

Under WWE pact, Yahoo will exclusively offer 30-minute preshow for "Monday Night Raw," for every new seg on TV and two weekly series of 50 episodes per year to be produced exclusively for distribution on Yahoo.

In addition, Yahoo will have exclusive access to WWE's archives of historical full matches, shows, highlights and other events, and Internet portal will air a live preshow content for every pay-per-view event. Finally, short-form clips from all WWE television programs will now be available on Yahoo."

According to PWInsider.com, this replaces their current agreement with YouTube which is the home for such footage currently, as that deal was only for a year, is about to expire and wasn't renewed, presumably because Yahoo offered WWE more money. Thus, the two weekly series for the new WWE hub on Yahoo.com will likely be chosen from the shows that were previously produced for their YouTube channel.

What are your thoughts on this move, Cagesiders?

WWE looking for a television outlet for NXT in the fall

Keith Harris — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:58:50 -0000

Dave Meltzer reported on his subscriber only Wrestling Observer Radio show yesterday that WWE wants to put their developmental show NXT on television this fall. It currently airs on Hulu Plus with new episodes posted every Thursday.

This marks a stark turnaround, as WWE management previously thought that their developmental talent should not be exposed to a national audience until they were ready to be brought up to the main roster, so fans didn't see them while they were still green and unpolished as acts.

However, NXT has become one of the best TV shows that WWE currently produces, thanks to the state of the art production facilities at Full Sail University, Triple H doing an excellent job of direction and the wrestlers running with the ball they were given.

There are rumors that a deal with a network is already in place, but even if one hasn't been signed yet, clearly WWE are working hard to find a suitable television outlet for the program.

With TV rights fees currently escalating for all sports, WWE are trying to position their programming as having the same benefits, a huge audience that tends to watch live and is thus more likely to view the ads that are aired during commercial breaks. In this environment, it makes sense to get as many shows on TV as possible and thus maximise their revenue from television production, even though it could lead to overexposure of the WWE product and fan burnout.

The fact that WWE are currently shopping around NXT to television stations suggests that the company's ambitious plans for the WWE Network may be on the back burner once again.

I expect quite a few Cagesiders will be very pleased with this news that NXT could soon be viewed on their television screens for free.

WWE/TNA Week in Wrestling: Apr. 21st to Apr. 27th

Keith Harris — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:31:31 -0000

Hello, Cagesiders! Welcome to the Cageside Seats Week in Wrestling once again!

What happened last week? Find out below, Cagesiders.

WWE

Raw (Apr. 22nd)

Paul Heyman revealed that Triple H wouldn't be answering Brock Lesnar's challenge until next week, after receiving a text message from the man himself telling him so. Of course, Hunter's music hit as soon as Heyman started to badmouth The Game. The Cerebral Assassin then accepted the rubber match and gave Heyman a Pedigree.
R-Truth pinned Antonio Cesaro with a Downward Spiral.
The Shield arrived to the arena in a helicopter.
Damien Sandow pinned Brodus Clay with a roll up after Cody Rhodes distracted Clay and Sandow snapped his neck on the top rope.
Dolph Ziggler was shown telling his World Heavyweight Championship belt that "You’re so beautiful." AJ Lee entered the scene, wanting some gold of her own and making fun of the WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn. They started to kiss when Ziggler saw that Big E Langston was there and he told him to "stop creeping". After Big E left, Team Brickie arrived to tell Ziggler that if he lost to Chris Jericho tonight, his Triple Threat title defense at Extreme Rules against Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger would become a Fatal Four Way with Jericho as the fourth participant.
The Shield cut a handheld promo telling The Undertaker that they were going to give him his first taste of justice.
Dolph Ziggler pinned Chris Jericho with the Zig Zag after Jericho was distracted by Fandango's music.
In an interview with Josh Matthews, Mick Foley plugged his new DVD and criticized Ryback for blaming too many of his problems on John Cena.
Tensai pinned Cody Rhodes with a senton splash.
Daniel Bryan spoofed Diamond Dallas Page, telling Kane he wanted to call The Undertaker to speak strategy before their match together and show him some diagrams he had written up. Kane warned him that his brother doesn't take instructions and that he had better not attempt to hug The Deadman. Team Hell No were then ambushed by The Shield.
Ryback told Josh Matthews that he decided to let John Cena know what it was like to be attacked by the Shield without help from your friends and called out Mick Foley for his earlier rebuke.
Big E Langston squashed Zack Ryder with the Big Ending.
The Shield defeated Team Hell No & The Undertaker when Daniel Bryan missed a top rope flying headbutt and Dean Ambrose pinned him in a great match.
John Cena didn't want Mick Foley to confront Ryback later and gave him a chair to protect himself if he decided to do so.
Fandango pinned William Regal with his version of the Downward Spiral. After the match, Chris Jericho attacked Fandango on the stage and danced with Fandango's new valet Danielle Moinet (NXT's Summer Rae).
AJ Lee won a Divas Battle Royal to become the new number one contender for the WWE Divas Championship when she last kicked Layla out of the ring in a match that also featured Naomi, Aksana and Tamina Snuka.
Mick Foley wanted to know what happened to the Ryback of old. Ryback said he was upset about how much he was left without help. Foley gave Ryback a pep talk before asking if he really wanted to be the champion who was the guy who walked out on Cena and let him get destroyed by The Shield and telling him he needed to wake up. That got Ryback pissed and he started insulting Foley, eventually calling him a "fat, pathetic, lazy bastard". Foley got ready to swing the chair at Ryback, but Ryback grabbed it off him and tossed it out of the ring. John Cena then hit the ring before they could start to fight. It was now time for The Shield to surround the ring, which led to Cena leaving the squared circle, allowing the mercenary trio to attack Ryback, but Cena found the chair and made the save for Ryback. The show closed with Cena dropping the chair after The Shield had been sent packing and laying out Ryback with the AA.

NXT (Apr. 24th)

This was a Clash of the Champions special episode of NXT.
WWE United States Champion (when it was taped) Antonio Cesaro pinned Adrian Neville with the Neutralizer.
WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn pinned AJ Lee with a spear.
Chris Jericho put over the NXT facilities and was still deciding upon who he would face next week. Bray Wyatt then interrupted Jericho's interview with Tony Dawson and told Jericho he could help him reclaim his former glory if he "carries the chains of the Wyatt Family". A confident Jericho then decided that his future NXT opponent would be Wyatt and said he would happily join the Wyatt Family if Bray could beat him.
NXT Champion Big E Langston squashed Brad Maddox with the Big Ending.
WWE Intercontinental Championship Wade Barrett pinned Bo Dallas with the Bull Hammer.

Main Event (Apr. 24th)

JBL egged on Mark Henry into doing a four man Gauntlet series of matches.
Mark Henry pinned Jimmy Uso with the World's Strongest Slam.
Mark Henry pinned Jey Uso with the World's Strongest Slam.
Mark Henry pinned Santino Marella with the World's Strongest Slam.
The Great Khali defeated Mark Henry by count-out when Henry walked out on the match after Khali hit him with a big chop to the head.
Zeb Colter was interviewed by Matt Striker and bashed Jack Swagger's opponents at Extreme Rules, Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler.

Superstars (Apr. 25th)

Jimmy Uso pinned Michael McGillicutty with the Superfly Splash.
Kaitlyn and Layla defeated Aksana & Tamina Snuka when Kaitlyn pinned Tamina with a spear.

Smackdown (Apr. 26th)

In a No Disqualification Match, Jack Swagger pinned Alberto Del Rio with a gut wrench power bomb.
Layla pinned Aksana with a fancy roll up.
The Shield did another shaky cam promo where they bragged about beating Team Hell No and The Phenom on Monday Night Raw. Dean Ambrose vowed that he would beat The Undertaker in the main event.
Fandango pinned Justin Gabriel with a top rope leg drop.
The Big Show pinned Sheamus with the WMD after Mark Henry distracted Sheamus.
Wade Barrett pinned William Regal with the Bull Hammer.
Mark Henry defeated Randy Orton by disqualification when Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick on Henry. Orton followed up with the RKO and the two babyfaces celebrated.
The Undertaker submitted Dean Ambrose with Hell's Gate. After the match, The Shield hit their triple team powerbomb on The Undertaker through the announce table.

Saturday Morning Slam (Apr. 27th)

Great Khali, Hornswoggle & Natalya defeated Primo, Epico & Rosa Mendes when Khali pinned Epico after hitting him with the Punjabi Plunge.
The Rhodes Scholars were shown attempting to get people to sign a petition for Mick Foley to be removed from the WWE Hall of Fame. The Usos got into an argument with them about it and then Foley showed up to book a match between the two teams.
The Usos defeated The Rhodes Scholars when Jimmy surprised Damien Sandow with a roll up.

TNA

TNA Impact Wrestling (Apr. 25th)

Security briefly attempted to stop Aces & 8s from entering the building.
James Storm cut a promo putting over AJ Styles' new submission hold and complaining about the Aces & Idiots. Bad Influence of Christopher Daniels & Kazarian came out and wanted to reform Fortune with Storm & Styles to combat Aces & 8s. However, Storm hated the idea and took a swing at Kaz only to get double teamed by the dynamic duo. Aces & 8s then came down to finish the job on Storm. Joseph Park attempted to make the save but got beaten down by the hoodlums. Team 3-D planted Park through a table using the 3D. Park went out on a stretcher. Bully Ray then called out Hulk Hogan, but The Hulkster left the building an hour before the show.
Hulk Hogan was found backstage with an interviewer badgering him about where he went, but no answer was given.
Taryn Terrell pinned Tara when Terrell surprised an overly confident Tara with a roll up.
Robbie E gave a pep talk to his bro Jessie to prepare him for his match with Rob Terry later.
Rob Terry squashed Jessie Godderz with the Freakbuster.
Bad Influence is with Bobby Roode wanting him on-board the attempted resurrection of the Fortune stable. Roode asked about whether his current tag partner Austin Aries would be included, but Daniels doesn't want to expand the group past four. Bad Influence left Roode to mull it over. Aries was shown hanging out around the corner, having eavesdropped on the whole conversation.
Mike Tenay informed us that Jeff Hardy may quit wrestling after the beating he suffered at the hands of Bully Ray in their Full Metal Mayhem match a couple of weeks ago.
A video package aired hyping the return of Chris Sabin.
Austin Aries and Bobby Roode bickered over the possibility of Fortune getting back together.
TNA Tag Team Champions Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez defeated The Dirty Heels of Austin Aries & Bobby Roode when Christopher Daniels accidentally hit Roode with a clothesline meant for Hernandez and Guerrero pinned Roode with a frog splash.
Backstage, Matt Morgan said that if Hulk Hogan goes out into the ring with Bully Ray later, it would be the biggest mistake Hulk has made yet, but luckily, he is a man with the solution.
Matt Morgan then called out Hulk Hogan. Hogan graced Morgan with his presence. Morgan told the Hulkster that no-one wants to kick the asses of Aces & 8s more than he does, for a price. He'd help Hulk out in his hour of need if The Hulkster named him the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. However, Hogan was disappointed that he wouldn't do it for free, so he decided to confront Aces & 8s by himself instead and insinuated that Morgan was a "little bitch".
Backstage with Aces & 8s, who are sharing a round of beers. Bully says that he's ready to take care of his father-in-law.
TNA Knockouts Champion Velvet Sky pinned Mickie James with an awkward roll up.
Bully Ray said that tonight he would put the final nail in Hulk Hogan's coffin.
Brooke Hogan tried to stop her father from confronting Aces & 8s, but The Hulkster wouldn't listen to her pleas, leaving his daughter in tears.
Bully Ray cut a lengthy promo where he told Hulk Hogan to his face that The Hulkster was scared of him. Hulk told Ray that he couldn't put an end to Hulkamania, because Hulkamania would never die, brother. Bully spat right in Hogan's face. Hogan ripped off his shirt. Hulk pointed at Bully. Bully pointed back at Hulk. Hulk landed a big right. Bully ran away. The rest of Aces & 8s came down for reinforcement. The lights went off and when they came back on, Sting was standing in the ring with a bat, pointing at a cowering Hulkster. Aces & 8s were celebrating that they have The Icon on their side, but Sting turned round and flipped Bully's hat off with his bat. A brawl broke out and Aces & 8s were sent packing. The show closed with Sting pointing his bat at Hogan before walking away.

WWE.com reports that John Cena was injured by Ryback during their European tour

Keith Harris — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:47:15 -0000

WWE.com is reporting that WWE Champion John Cena suffered an injury to his right Achilles tendon at the hands of Ryback during their tour of Europe that ended yesterday.

However, the manner in which the story is worded would leave one to believe that this was a work to make Cena the underdog in his match against Ryback at Extreme Rules in three weeks time:

"The injury raises questions about the scheduled match between Cena and Ryback at Extreme Rules on May 19. What lies ahead for the Cenation leader? Does this put Ryback one step closer to capturing the WWE Title?

There are no details yet about Cena's expected recovery time.

For more, stay with WWE.com and tune in to Monday’s Raw at 8/7 CT on USA Network."

If Cena is genuinely injured, then it must not be too serious for WWE to still be pushing the Cena vs. Ryback angle hard.

The main event of Monday Night Raw tomorrow was scheduled to be John Cena & Ryback vs. The Shield. Presumably that match is now off, but WWE hasn't confirmed that to be true.

According to f4wonline.com, Cena headlined the last Raw branded house show of the tour in Lodz, Poland, last night in a trios match with Kane and Daniel Bryan against Ryback, Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston. They received a brief report of the event, which suggested that nothing unusual happened in the match, which would be further evidence that the injury is likely a work or something Cena would not need much time to recover from.

However, Jason Powell of prowrestling.net suggested that towards the end of the tour Cena may have been booked in six man tag matches instead of tables matches with Ryback, so that his partners could carry the load and he could finish headlining the tour whilst being banged up:

"Cena and Ryback were working tables matches against one another throughout most of the tour. However, the final Euro tour main events were changed to six-man tag matches that Cena was able to work, though one of our correspondents noted that Cena did not get involved in the St. Petersburg, Russia six-man tag until the very end of the match."

So the injury may be more legitimate than I initially thought.

We'll have more on this breaking news story as it comes in, Cagesiders.

WWE's annual shareholders meeting: a nightmare for shrewd investors

Keith Harris — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:30:22 -0000

WWE held their annual shareholders meeting yesterday morning and apparently it was a real nightmare for the shrewd company investors they have left.

Bryan Alvarez in his subscriber only Figure Four Daily ten minute news update on Friday gave a very damning report based on comments made to him from an angry stockholder after listening to company officials doing a poor job of discussing future aspirations and handling investor questions.

Here's an overview of the lowlights:

"There were no new revelations about anything including the [WWE] Network."
"Vince [McMahon] was very short with people asking questions, dismissive even. He continues to be delusional about the Network, as he feels its success is certain."
"[Chief Financial Officer] George Barrios claimed they were going to triple revenue through the Network and by monetizing their social media presence."
"Vince basically laughed off a question about The Rock not coming back, gave no indication at all that he would not be back." To be fair, we obviously haven't seen the last of Dwayne Johnson on WWE television even if he has wrestled his last match, so it depends on how the question was phrased whether the WWE Chairman was being deceptive or not.
"Vince said with a straight face that ratings had been up and that they were very happy with the third hour of Raw." Once again, Monday Night Raw's ratings have rebounded from their rock bottom levels last fall, which would, of course, be expected based on the seasonal WrestleMania boost, so this wasn't a dishonest answer, even though it was clearly spinning the numbers in the best possible way.
Vince also "no sold" a question about the WWE Network cannibalizing their pay-per-view business.
Conclusion: "Vince was unwilling to answer any difficult questions and lives in a land of delusion where business is great and will only get better. Also, they have no concrete plans for the Network, only speaking of it in generalities and too many marks own WWE stock and they ask stupid questions."

However, all this really means is that there has been no change since WWE's last conference call on Feb. 28th, 2013 to discuss their fourth quarter and year end earnings. It's good that the company isn't rushing their planned network before it's ready, but the lack of announced details does suggest that it will be a struggle to meet their lofty goals.

The Rock teases on Twitter that he might have had his last match at WrestleMania 29

Keith Harris — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 13:29:01 -0000

As you can see from this tweet, just a few days after his interview with Peter Rosenberg, The Rock has yet to have a change of heart and is still uncertain about whether he'll ever wrestle again. Personally, I think he will eventually decide to compete at WrestleMania 30 once he's fully healed up. A match with Brock Lesnar or The Undertaker would promise to be another special moment in The Rock's wrestling career. Moreover, due to the milestone anniversary nature of next year's event, once again the show is set to be bigger than ever.

Hulk Hogan wins legal battle against Gawker over sex tape publication but the war continues

Keith Harris — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:50:45 -0000

Ever since Gawker.com published clips of a lengthy sex tape featuring Hulk Hogan running wild with Heather Cole, the ex-wife of Bubba The Love Sponge, the two sides (Gawker and The Hulkster) have been embroiled in litigation over the legality of the original story's publication.

The initial hearings went against Hogan, as federal judge James D. Whittemore twice denied his motion for the immediate removal of the video from the site.

This led to Hogan dropping his federal case against Gawker and refiling the lawsuit in Florida state court, clearly hoping he would have better luck with a different judge.

Yesterday, Hogan's wishes finally came true, as the Hon. Pamela A.M. Campbell, a circuit court judge in Pinellas County, FL, ordered Gawker to not only remove the video footage of "Hulk Hogan fucking his friend's ex-wife" from their website, but also their 1,400 word long description of the steamy sex session too:

"I'm ordering that the Gawker.com remove the sex tape and all portions and content therein from their websites, including Gawker.com. Ordering to remove the written narrative describing the private sexual encounter, including the quotations from the private sexual encounter from websites and including Gawker.com."

However, so far Gawker haven't fully abided by the new judge's ruling. They've taken the naughty video down, but the original story still remains up with a short update explaining what's happened and also providing a link to a copy of the embarrassing footage that someone independently uploaded to DailyMotion.com.

Bizarrely, the judge made her ruling without even looking at the tape she ordered Gawker.com to remove. I would have thought that would have been necessary to make a well informed decision on the matter, but obviously she was convinced that Hogan's right to privacy was breached without needing to see the evidence.

In addition to the edits made to their initial Hulk Hogan sex tape exposé, Gawker have also posted a robust justification for their refusal to take down that story as demanded. Unsurprisingly, their defense relied heavily on the First Amendment right to freedom of speech:

"We publish all manner of stories here. Some are serious, some are frivolous, some are dumb. I am not going to make a case that the future of the Republic rises or falls on the ability of the general public to watch a video of Hulk Hogan fucking his friend's ex-wife. But the Constitution does unambiguously accord us the right to publish true things about public figures. And Campbell's order requiring us to take down not only a very brief, highly edited video excerpt from a 30-minute Hulk Hogan fucking session but also a lengthy written account from someone who had watched the entirety of that fucking session, is risible and contemptuous of centuries of First Amendment jurisprudence."

Gawker are already preparing to appeal this judgement, so although Hulk Hogan has finally won a legal battle against them, the war is set to continue. We'll let you know the final winner, Cagesiders, when that day eventually comes to pass.

Barbed Wire City DVD - Was another ECW documentary necessary?

Keith Harris — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:06:51 -0000

Earlier this week, Barbed Wire City: The Unauthorized Story Of Extreme Championship Wrestling, an independent ECW documentary by Kevin Kiernan and John Philapavage was finally released on DVD and made available to their Kickstarter funders that paid for a video download.

You may be wondering whether yet another ECW documentary was really necessary, given the superb The Rise and Fall of ECW DVD produced by WWE with Paul Heyman's help in 2004 and the alternative hotchpotch perspective given by the Forever Hardcore DVD the year after that was Jeremy Borash's brainchild.

After watching the film, my answer would be a resounding yes, as unlike previous attempts to cover the history of ECW, it doesn't fall into the trap of overly romanticizing the company, whilst never becoming a mean spirited burial. They cover most of the good, the bad and the ugly in the two hours at their disposal and the conclusions reached are left for the audience to decide.

By using a combination of RF Video footage of ECW house shows and conventions, interviews with ECW wrestlers that took place in the immediate aftermath of the promotion going out of business, and more recent conversations taken from behind the scenes of Shane Douglas's disastrous Extreme Reunion event a year ago, you see the complete evolution of performers like Axl Rotten (still wrestling despite having Bell's Palsy) and Balls Mahoney from two guys that were taking insane risks to live the dream of being a wrestling star into a pair of broken down, tortured old warriors.

Without the new material, it would have been far too easy for ECW fans to forget the human cost involved in producing their envelope pushing entertainment. Many still will, as they won't want to open their eyes and smell the coffee, instead allowing their take home message to be rose-tinted nostalgia.

Other thoughts on the movie:

By interviewing all the big wrestling news reporters of the time, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (Paul Heyman's levelheaded confidant), Wade Keller and Bruce Mitchell of the Pro Wrestling Torch (outspoken critics of ECW's excesses), Jason Powell of prowrestling.net (formerly of the Torch, not quite as hardline as his colleagues were), and Dave Scherer and Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com (bordering on fanboys for the product), the end result is a very balanced perspective of the business reasons for why ECW failed. Arguably these talking heads are used too much, but they add a lot of behind the scenes insight that the performers wouldn't fully be aware of.
A great job is done of explaining the humble beginnings of the promotion, how an ambitious Tod Gordon brought in veteran creative mind Eddie Gilbert to be his booker and how Hot Stuff's personal demons led to his protégé Paul Heyman quickly being given the position instead.
You also get a complete picture of Heyman as a person and a promoter. In the past, the obvious positives have been emphasized while the negatives often get excused or ignored. His charisma and power led to many of his wrestlers falling completely under his spell and getting trapped in an abusive relationship where they were encouraged to do dangerous stunts for pretty low pay and the intoxicating crowd pop. When he started running out of cash, he strung his talent along with a stream of misinformation whilst he gave them checks that would bounce more often than not. The performers were stuck in a catch-22 situation where they hated his guts, but had to suck up to him because they knew he was on the WWF's good side. Heyman knew the company was done for several months before he officially filed for bankruptcy, but he allowed his followers to believe that he could still pull out another rabbit out of his magic hat throughout this period and left them to find out the news on the web. The consequence of this cruel scam was a lot of wrecked lives with the worst affected being left suicidal.
The same goes with the treatment of ECW's rabid, passionate fan base. Their dark side, their uncaring, bloodthirsty nature and how some in the audience may not have been fully satisfied until they saw someone die in the ring isn't just laughed off as harmless fun. On the other hand, these toxic tendencies were exploited by The Dudleys, who pushed the fans' buttons in a bullying, crude manner to generate unsafe heat and cause near riots (well, most of the time, as sometimes crowd violence did happen due to the crazy environment that had been created), so both sides were to blame for going too far at times.
The Sandman sadly went on a dated rant (possibly because it was filmed in 2001) about what's so bad with hitting someone over the head with a chair, repeating similar sentiments to his ECW alumni Raven and Steve Corino in the recent past who also haven't wised up yet.
The horrific Mass Transit incident where New Jack took liberties with 17 year old last minute replacement Eric Kulas (who lied about his age to get booked) by blading him deeply almost from ear to ear, leaving him needing 50 stitches to close the cut, thankfully isn't avoided and it's fascinating to see the divergence in opinions from the wrestlers themselves and the reporters on the topic. The only drawback was that no still pictures of this disgusting scene were included in the background while this topic was being discussed, so viewers who weren't already fully aware of this story wouldn't truly grasp its severity.
The importance of the Internet, tape trading and fan conventions in cultivating ECW's grassroots popularity is given due credit. Moreover, hardcore ECW fan Tony Lewis is credited for saving their pay-per-view aspirations by organizing a letter writing campaign to Request TV and Viewer's Choice after those companies cancelled carrying ECW's first PPV when they heard about New Jack's bloodletting of a minor.
My only criticism of the documentary is that some subjects were glossed over and perhaps should have been explored in greater detail, such as the misogyny and violence against women that pervaded ECW storylines, ECW's double cross of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in 1994, the company's working agreements with both WCW and the WWF at various points in its history, Tod Gordon's strange falling out with Paul Heyman in 1997, etc.

WWE/TNA Week in Wrestling: Apr. 14th to Apr. 20th

Keith Harris — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:02:26 -0000

Hello, Cagesiders! Welcome to the Cageside Seats Week in Wrestling once again!

What happened last week? Find out below, Cagesiders.

WWE

Raw (Apr. 15th)

Randy Orton & Sheamus defeated The Big Show in a Handicap match when Orton pinned Show with the RKO.
3MB called out The Shield in an interview with Josh Matthews.
3MB continued their complaining about The Shield in the ring after a commercial break. Surprisingly, Brock Lesnar was the one to shut their mouths, destroying the trio with F-5s. Paul Heyman then announced that Lesnar wanted a rematch with Triple H at Extreme Rules in a steel cage.
In a WWE United States Championship match, Kofi Kingston pinned Antonio Cesaro with the Trouble in Paradise to become the new champion.
World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler gave an interview bragging about his recent accomplishments and proclaiming that no-one is good enough to take the title off him. Alberto Del Rio then came out to cash in his rematch clause, which was approved by Vickie Guerrero. But before the match could officially start, Jack Swagger ambushed Del Rio and took him out with the Patriot Lock.
Team Hell No defeated The Primetime Players when Daniel Bryan pinned Darren Young with a top rope flying headbutt.
Ryback cut a great promo where he complained that being John Cena's friend doomed him to always live in his shadow and called himself the Kryptonite to Cena's Superman. But now he's wised up that Cena was too busy designing his latest T-shirt to have his back against The Shield.
R-Truth pinned Wade Barrett with a DDT.
With Alberto Del Rio out of action, Team Brickie needed to find a replacement opponent for Dolph Ziggler. Teddy Long had the answer, what about Jack Swagger? Brad & Vickie approved this idea.
Team Rhodes Scholars defeated The Great Khali & Santino Marella when Damien Sandow rolled up Santino for the pinfall victory.
Then we had more Fandangoing craze shenanigans when he was interviewed by Jerry "The King" Lawler. Lawler soon hit the bricks when Fandango interrupted his questions and requested a dance with him. Fandango quickly followed suit when the crowd couldn't pronounce his name properly.
John Cena told Matt Striker that he would sort out his business with Ryback later.
In a non-title match, Jack Swagger pinned Dolph Ziggler with a hotshot and a roll up. After the match, Del Rio got his revenge on Swagger by locking an arm bar on him on the stage.
Mark Henry laid out Sheamus in the back.
CM Punk walked out on WWE, claiming that he had nothing left to do here after his long WWE title reign and WrestleMania 29 match with The Undertaker.
Teddy Long and Booker T were arguing backstage. Long thought Jack Swagger should be the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Title, but Booker made the obvious Triple Threat match (Swagger vs. Del Rio vs. Ziggler) for Extreme Rules.
Nikki Bella "defeated" Kaitlyn when the Bella Twins switched places and Brie Bella surprised Kaitlyn with a roll up.
John Cena had an in ring confrontation with Ryback. Cena told Ryback to his face that he wasn't scared of him and was upset that he had to attack him from behind. Cena stared Ryback down while he looked ready to start a brawl, but Ryback walked away before Cena could pull the trigger on it. The Shield then attacked Cena while Ryback just stood by and watched. They completed the destruction of Cena with a triple team powerbomb as Ryback walked up the ramp way.

NXT (Apr. 17th)

Leo Kruger submitted Justin Gabriel with an inverted key lock submission.
A WrestleMania Axxess segment aired that focused on the activities of the stars of NXT, most notably The Shield and Big E Langston.
Paige threatened to break all the bones in Summer Rae's body during an interview with Renee Young, before Rae sneak attacked her from behind.
A Corey Graves vignette aired where he discussed how his father used to tell him that "everyone is destined to lose and born to fail."
Emma submitted Bayley with an Indian deathlock.
Bray Wyatt squashed Yoshi Tatsu with two swinging reverse STO finishers. Afterwards, Wyatt stroked Tatsu's hair, whilst sending a message to everyone in the back that he is the "eater of worlds" and that "no man on two feet is greater than" him.
Seth Rollins pinned Corey Graves in a Lumberjack match when Dean Ambrose clotheslined Graves on the apron while the referee was distracted by Roman Reigns taking on the lumberjacks by himself, which allowed Rollins to hit the match winning Skywalker (a standing shiranui).

Main Event (Apr. 17th)

Justin Gabriel won a Battle Royal to become the number one contender for the WWE Intercontinental Championship after he eliminated Primo. The match also featured The Great Khali, Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, Santino Marella, Epico, The Usos, Alex Riley and Yoshi Tatsu.
Michael Cole read a personal statement from Paul Heyman that proclaimed that the WWE Universe should not focus on CM Punk's actions, but on Triple H failing to accept Brock Lesnar's challenge.
Wade Barrett gave a snarky interview with Matt Striker saying that he'll take care of R-Truth soon enough, but first he'll take down Justin Gabriel.
In a WWE Intercontinental Championship match, Wade Barrett pinned Justin Gabriel with the Bull Hammer after a rake to the eyes.

Superstars (Apr. 18th)

Tons of Funk defeated Primo & Epico when Brodus Clay pinned Primo after the double team Call My Momma splash.
Natalya submitted Tamina Snuka with the Sharpshooter.

Smackdown (Apr. 19th)

Fandango started the show by attempting to seduce Lillian Garcia, but he soon soured on her when he tried to dance with her. Santino Marella then came out to defend Lillian's honour and show off his own dance moves, which led to...
Fandango pinning Santino Marella with his reverse STO finisher.
Booker T told off Teddy Long for coming up with ideas on his own and not passing them onto him for approval on Raw. Big Show then entered into the scene and thanked Long for giving him a tag team partner tonight, before giving Long a fist bump, upsetting Booker further.
In a non-title match, WWE United States Champion Kofi Kingston pinned WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett when Kofi surprised Barrett with a roll up.
Sheamus ambushed Mark Henry while he was being interviewed.
Alberto Del Rio pinned Jack Swagger with a small package.
The Shield cut a promo where they claimed Ryback didn't help John Cena on Raw due to a desire for self-preservation and that The Undertaker had the same look of fear and his time was up.
The Great Khali, Natalya & Hornswoggle defeated Primo, Rosa & Epico when Khali pinned Epico with the Punjabi Plunge (a tree slam).
The Big Show & Mark Henry defeated Randy Orton & Sheamus when Show pinned Orton with a chokeslam.

Saturday Morning Slam (Apr. 20th)

In a match booked by Saturday Morning Slam GM Mick Foley, Kofi Kingston pinned Justin Gabriel with the SOS. After the match, the two babyfaces shook hands.
Epico, Primo & Rosa Mendes were being interviewed by Natalya where they complained about being disrespected by Mick Foley who keeps putting them in with shoddy opponents like The Great Khali. Rosa then dressed down Natalya, which led to the Hart Diva to challenge them to another six person mixed tag match with her two boys Khali and Hornswoggle for next week's show.

TNA Impact Wrestling (Apr. 18th)

In a recap from last week, Jeff Hardy was shown being stretchered out following his Full Metal Mayhem match with Bully Ray, while Hulk Hogan looked on fighting back the tears.
Devon told Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco not to take their handicap match with Kurt Angle too lightly.
In a handicap match, Wes Brisco & Garrett Bischoff defeated Kurt Angle when D'Lo Brown tossed Bischoff a chain while Mr. Anderson distracted the referee, which allowed Bischoff to punch Angle with the chain for the pinfall victory. After the match, Brisco & Bischoff hit Angle with a double team powerbomb and Anderson laughed in Angle's face, gloated about Sting's disappearance and Jeff Hardy's destruction last week, and wished AJ Styles good luck in his match against James Storm later.
Kenny King retained the TNA X Division Championship by stealing a pinfall on Xema Ion in a three-way match that also included Petey Williams.
Brooke Hogan wished both Miss Tessmacher and Mickie James luck in their match later tonight to determine the new number one contender to the TNA Knockouts Championship. Tessmacher returned the favor by wishing her the best in getting over Bully Ray.
A match between Magnus and Devon never got started as Doc and Knox jumped Magnus during his ring entrance. Devon hit Magnus with a chain and his Aces & 8s henchmen then planted the babyface with a double team chokeslam. Samoa Joe then came out and made the save.
There was a video package of Velvet Sky that showed how she had injured her left knee when Gail Kim hit her with a gut buster two weeks ago.
In a number one contender match for the TNA Knockouts Championship, Mickie James pinned Miss Tesssmacher.
AJ Styles was brooding, while Christopher Daniels and Kazarian stalked him and were acting like he was about to join Bad Influence.
Joseph Park was talking to someone from the Park, Park & Park law firm when Devon stole his mobile phone. Bully Ray then attacked Park from behind, ordered him to stay out of their business and with Devon's help dragged him into the showers, rammed him into the wall and turned the water on.
Mickie James thought it's about time that she got some respect in this company for coming back from injury and working her ass off.
James Storm had tried talking to AJ Styles, but he won't respond, so it's time to kick some sense into him.
Bad Influence claimed that AJ Styles was very close to joining their group and wanted a tag title shot against new champions Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez. Former champions Austin Aries & Bobby Roode interrupted and squabbled with Daniels & Kazarian over who deserved the opportunity. The champions eventually turned up, which led to Bad Influence leaving the ring, while the Mexican Americans quickly took care of the Dirty Heels.
Matt Morgan recapped all of Hulk Hogan's recent mistakes.
In a TNA Television Title match, Devon pinned Samoa Joe when Mr. Anderson hit Joe with brass knuckles while Wes Brisco distracted the referee. After the match, Anderson got in another brass knux shot in on Joe.
AJ Styles submitted James Storm with a new finisher similar to a heel hook. After the match, Bad Influence raised Styles' hand in victory, but he attacked them and walked away from the ring. Aces & 8s then came down and assaulted Daniels, Kazarian and Storm. AJ clearly didn't care, as he kept on walking. Bully Ray then cut a promo placing the blame directly on Hulk Hogan's shoulders for all the fans' TNA heroes being turned into victims.

Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. - new NWA World Tag Team Champions

Keith Harris — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 22:48:36 -0000

Current IWGP Tag Team Champions, K.E.S. (Killer Elite Squad): Lance Archer (aka Lance Hoyt) & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (aka David Hart Smith) added the NWA World Tag Team titles to their collection of belts last night when they defeated Ryan Genesis & Scott Summers in Houston, TX. They are the biggest name tag team to hold the belts in the six years since TNA severed their business relationship with the NWA in May 2007. So the NWA vs. New Japan Pro Wrestling feud is certainly to the former organisation's benefit, even though the score is now 1-1.

Mark Coleman wanted to pick a fight with CM Punk at UFC's The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale

Keith Harris — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:18:08 -0000

Well, this is a bizarre story, which may be worth taking with a big pinch of salt.

What we know for sure is that CM Punk is currently suffering from mental burnout and is plagued with a really messed up right knee. He's believed to have several injuries in that limb including a strained ACL and another torn ligament. He won't be on WWE television for several weeks and his in ring return date is up in the air at the moment.

Punk has spent his time off traveling to several recent UFC events with his girlfriend Amy "Lita" Dumas starting with The Ultimate Fighter: Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen Finale on April 13th, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and last night's UFC on Fox 7 special at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA. He's also expected to be in attendance for next Saturday's UFC 159: Jones vs. Sonnen pay-per-view at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

I'm sure WWE higher ups are absolutely thrilled at seeing Punk attend three UFC shows on consecutive weekends at the exact same time he's phoned off sick from all WWE appearances. But he's a big enough star that he can get away with such temerity.

Apparently, not everyone was enamored by his celebrity presence, as he somehow managed to rub up UFC Hall Of Famer Mark Coleman the wrong way.

Coleman is an MMA legend, having won two UFC tournaments in 1996, defeated Dan "The Beast" Severn at UFC 12 on Feb. 7th, 1997 to become the first UFC Heavyweight Champion and beat Akira Shoji, Kazuyuki Fujita and Igor Vovchanchyn all on the same night to win the Pride Grand Prix 2000 Finals. In the last nine years of his career, he struggled as an aging underdog, losing six of his last ten fights, but all to big names like Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Filipovic, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mauricio Rua and Randy Couture.

It's worth noting that Coleman has also participated in several pro wrestling matches in Japan over the years for a number of promotions like Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Wrestle-1, Hustle and the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF).

As Dave Meltzer explained on his latest subscriber only Wrestling Observer Radio show this morning, it was UFC management's decision to treat Punk as a bigger star on their telecast than Coleman that ticked him off:

"By the way there was a story, not at this show, but last Saturday. I didn't know this story until tonight. But Mark Coleman was furious and actually almost started a fight with CM Punk.... They didn't have a fight, but he was definitely wanting to fight the guy, and it was the idea that Mark Coleman was furious that on last Saturday's show they showed CM Punk in the audience, but they did not show Mark Coleman.... Seriously, I know that's CM Punk's fault (*sarcasm*), but he wanted to go after him.... It was serious enough that several people were talking about it and they thought I knew about it which I didn't, but yeah he went after CM Punk.... [Coleman] wanted to show that [Punk] was a fake wrestler not a real guy, now that Mark's hip [is healed and] he's feeling good, he hasn't felt good in years, but I hope he doesn't fight again, I hope he isn't feeling that good."

I'm sure Coleman was genuinely upset at UFC's onscreen snub, but directing that anger at Punk doesn't seem like a legitimate reaction to me.

Coleman wouldn't be the first UFC star to eye Brock Lesnar's fat, limited dates, WWE contract and want a piece of that pie (see Roy Nelson, for example). With him feeling much healthier, Coleman could have exploited the real situation to go into business for himself and try to angle his way into a lucrative WWE program with CM Punk. Unlike Nelson, Coleman knows how to work and could easily be carried to a watchable match by someone as extremely gifted as Punk, who recently had the best match at WrestleMania 29 with The Undertaker, someone who is as old and broken down as Coleman is.

What do you think, Cagesiders? Do you agree with my analysis of the near scrap? Would you be interested in seeing CM Punk vs. Mark Coleman in a WWE ring, once Punk is back in action? It would certainly make for something different in a conservatively ran WWE.

WWE seizes company branded merchandise at WrestleCon

Keith Harris — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:44:19 -0000

WWE seizes company branded merchandise at WrestleCon

According to Dave Meltzer, WWE sent their legal representatives to Wrestlecon today to seize all company branded merchandise that was being sold at the show, after getting a court order that allowed them to do so. Apparently, WWE also doesn't want smaller independent promotions to piggyback off the success of WrestleMania 29, but no-one listens to that order because it works so well.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Invasion Attack iPPV results from Tokyo's Sumo Hall

Keith Harris — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 15:53:11 -0000

Results courtesy of f4wonline.com:

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA defeated Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi in 10:42 when KUSHIDA pinned Taguchi with a Japanese roll-up.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Akebono, Manabu Nakanishi & Super Strong Machine defeated Bob Sapp, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI in 10:00 when Nakanishi pinned YOSHI-HASHI with a diving chop off the ropes.
CMLL World Tag Team Champions El Terrible & Tama Tonga defeated La Mascara & Valiente in 8:57 when Terrible pinned Valiente with a powerbomb.
Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi beat Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma in 10:41 when Tanaka pinned Honma with the Sliding D.
Minoru Suzuki pinned Toru Yano in 10:09 with the Gotch piledriver.
Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto defeated Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata in 11:32 by referee stoppage when Sakuraba was injured from a suplex where he landed on the top of his head.
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Conway pinned Satoshi Kojima in 14:24 with a swinging neckbreaker off the ropes.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Davey Boy Smith Jr. in 18:04 after the Boma Ye (running knee strike).
Kazuchika Okada pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi in 31:41 to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship with the Rainmaker in what could be the best match of WrestleMania weekend.

Grizzly Redwood fired by ROH

Keith Harris — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 02:13:32 -0000

According to f4wonline.com, Grizzly Redwood has also been fired by Ring Of Honor for his part in a backstage fight with Charlie Haas at last weekend's event in Asheville, NC. Apparently Redwood knocked Haas's cap off his head, which led to an open hand slap in retaliation.