General round-up, 29th November

Rowdy Roddy Piper has been diagnosed with Lymphoma Cancer. The cancer was revealed in a biopsy conducted after the 52-year-old wrestler underwent disc surgery.

“It seems like I have been fighting someone, something, someplace, in some manner, my whole life. But this fight, is one I am gonna win!” Piper, who is upbeat about battling the cancer, said on his website.

I am sure you will join me in wishing 'The Rowdy One' all the very best.

Jim Ross has signed a new contract with WWE. With the amount of mistakes that he has been making lately though, I wonder how long the veteran can carry on. Hopefully it is just a phase...!

Although Amy “Lita” Duma ended her run as a World Wrestling Entertainment talent, she is not yet done with the wrestling business.

Maryland Championship Wrestling Bookings announced Monday that she will be available for independent dates after December 1.

Ther are reports that Ric Flair will be embarking on a hiatus from WWE television, which explains the events involving his character on Monday’s RAW.

Fueling the hiatus is the fact that Flair is set to be involved in a messy divorce battle with his ex-wife that could get mainstream coverage.

The degree to which Flair himself pushed for the hiatus, as opposed to it being a call strictly from WWE management, is unknown, but there is a general feeling that the time off is for the best.

As speculated, Candice Michelle does appear to have received a very bad injury to her nose as a result of the womens battle royale on Raw.

Finally, in results from Survivor Series:

'Team Legends' beat 'Team Spirit Squad' in an as-good-as-could-be-expected opener
Chris Benoit beat Chavo Guerrero in a decent, but surprisingly short, US Title defence
In her final WWE bout, Lita dropped the title to Mickie James in a good womens match
'Team DX' defeated 'Team Rated RKO' with a full strength team in a passable match. This was more funny than anything - HBK was quite a hoot! - but did not do a lot for the existing feuds
Mr Kennedy defeated Undertaker in a decent First Blood match
'Team Cena' beat 'Team Big Show' in an ok match
Finally, Batista defeated Booker T to reclaim the World Heavyweight Title in an average bout. On the bright side, it was better than their other recent efforts.

My All-Time Top Three...

WWE Wrestlers

1) Stone Cold Steve Austin
2) The Rock
3) Kurt Angle

Non-WWE Wrestlers

1) AJ Styles
2) Samoa Joe
3) Christopher Daniels

Pay-Per Views

1) Wrestlemania X-Seven (2001)
2) SummerSlam 2002
3) One Night Stand 2005

Matches

1) Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock (Wrestlemania 17 - 2001)
2) Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 21 - 2005)
3) Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (Royal Rumble 2003)

Wrestlers Who Have Passed On (That are not Eddie Guerrero, that is TOO obvious)

1) 'British Bulldog' Davey Boy Smith
2) 'Ravishing' Rick Rude
3) 'Mr Perfect' Curt Henning

Wrestling DVD's

1) The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior
2) 'Cause Stone Cold Said So
3) Wrestling With Shadows

WCW Matches I Haven't Seen, But Wish I Had

1) Goldberg vs Scott Steiner (Fall Brawl, 2000)
2) Goldberg vs Hulk Hogan (Nitro, 1998)
3) Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit (Nitro, 1999)

As Above, But Not WCW!

1) Shawn Michaels vs Davey Boy Smith (WWF One Night Only, 1997)
2) Samoa Joe vs CM Punk (ROH, Oct 2004)
3) Terry Funk vs Sabu vs Shane Douglas (ECW, Feb 1994)

Divas

1) Trish Stratus
2) Stacy Kiebler
3) Christy Hemme

Tag Teams

1) The Hart Foundation
2) The Legion of Doom
3) Edge and Christian

Commentators

1) Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan
2) Jesse 'The Body' Ventura
3) Jim Ross

Commentary Catchphrases

1) "Oh, my God!" (Joey Styles)
2) "The irresistible force meets the immovable object" (Gorilla Monsoon)
3) "You could cut the electricity with a knife!" (Gorilla Monsoon)

Wrestler Catchphrases

1) "If you smell what The Rock is cooking" (The Rock)
2) "And that's the bottom line, 'cause Stone Cold so" (Steve Austin)
3) "What'cha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you?" (Hulk Hogan)

Wrestlers On The Mic

1) The Rock
2) Stone Cold Steve Austin
3) Mick Foley

Non-Wrestlers On The Mic

1) Paul Heyman
2) Vince McMahon
3) Eric Bischoff

Most Memorable Moments

1) Stone Cold and The Rock singing
2) Hulk Hogan and The Rock in the ring for the first time
3) The 'censored' footage of Jake 'The Snake' Roberts digging Damiens teeth into 'The Macho Man' Randy Savage - thanks for the nightmares!

10 Matches I Wish Could/Would Happen

1) Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Hulk Hogan

2) Kurt Angle vs Bret Hart

3) Sabu/RVD vs AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels

4) Ric Flair (at peak) vs Kurt Angle

5) Undertaker vs Goldberg (ya know, WCW's version of Goldberg!)

6) Big Show vs Andre The Giant (probably with the Great Khali as special ref, ha ha)

7) Eddie Guerrero vs AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle

8) TLC Match - Edge/Christian vs The Hardy Boyz vs The Dudley Boys vs RVD/Sabu vs AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels

9) Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Goldberg (see match 5!)

10) Ric Flair (at peak) vs Chris Benoit

Man I could go on for ages!

Survivor Series - A Quick Rant

At the Series this year, we have three traditional matches and four singles bouts.

Why?

Ok, Lita vs Mickie James, fair enough. Plus one other - say, Mr Kennedy vs Undertaker.

But are are you telling me that there is no-one else on the roster (London & Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin, William Regal, for instance) that could have been any use?

Silly booking, in my opinion.

I am really not looking forward to Batista v Booker T, and Benoit v Chavo could be a good match, but will have the same 'Guerrero' thread that ruined Rey Mysterio.

Very. Big. Sigh.

The Future of Rey Mysterio - A View From The Sheriff

Rey is believed to be out for four to six months. During this time, his contract is up for renewal. It is strongly believed that Kurt Angle will try to persuade Mysterio to join him at TNA.

So, my question is - why SHOULD he stay with WWE? After all...

1) What can he do on Smackdown that he has not already done?

He has feuded with most the top guys. The Cruiserweight division will not be pushed, and WWE views Rey as too big a star for that. I think that is the wrong way to go, personally, and we all know that Rey feuding with the bigger men is not a great option. After all...

2) His reign as World Champion sucked

A big disappointment. Although he is a big star, he is not 'World Champion' material. I have always been a fan of Rey, but even I was fuming when he won the World Championship.

Not only did his title reign suck, but he also was very annoying in the programme that followed. After all...

3) The Eddie Guerrero factor

Seriously, this was a major problem. Not only that they kept pushing it, but that in his feud with Chavo, I personally felt that the minute Chavo cut that promo about Rey 'leaching' from the Guerrero name, I was on his side!

Rey should have said no. Which makes me wonder, what are his best options? After all...

4) Raw already has DX and John Cena

So is Rey going to do any better over there? Especially with the likes of Carlito and Jeff Hardy already in the upper mid-card?

Personally I think Rey would get lost in the shuffle. The only plus side would be some potential fresh fueds... or would there? Randy Orton and Johnny Nitro, for example, have been done. If he was to feud with say, Chris Masters, there is a huge size difference. Edge is a main-eventer now. So really, who is there?

I reckon he could have a great feud with the horribly under-utilised Shelton Benjamin, but then after that, I am stumped.

So, ECW is probably his best option. After all...

5) ECW needs star power

Bobbly Lashley moving there helps the brand, and may help Lashley himself. Still, I am not sure he is the man to carry ECW forward. RVD will almost certainly not get a championship run again any time soon, and Sabu is also a long shot to actually get the title. Test is okay, but definitely not world champion material. Thing is, somebody needs to take it, as Big Show has a variety of injury problems.

But we come back to the problem of Rey as a world champion. He would do nothing to help the brand stop looking inferior to Raw, and even Smackdown - which is poor - and his value has plummeted a bit anyway since he took the belt on the blue brand.

So maybe TNA is his best shot, after all.

Did you like the regular 'after all' leads then?! heh heh

Fantasy Survivor Series

For the first post from my 'Blog Challenge', I am going to do something relating to Survivior Series, as it is Survivor Series week.

Ok, these are the simple rules - six matches, five wrestlers per team, any era.

Match 1

Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Carlito

vs

Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Edge, Christian, Shane McMahon

Match 2

Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Batista, John Cena

vs

Bret 'The Hitman' Hart, Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall

Match 3

Ultimate Warrior, Hawk, Animal, The Hurricane, Jimmy Snuka

vs

Macho Man Randy Savage, Ax, Smash, Crash, Umaga

Match 4

Andre The Giant, Undertaker, Kane, Chris Benoit, Owen Hart

vs

Big Show, Brock Lesnar, JBL, Kurt Angle, Mr Perfect

Match 5

RVD, Rey Mysterio, Sabu, Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero

vs

Chris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Tajiri, Nunzio (that was for Our Kid!!)

Match 6

British Bulldog, Tito Santana, Bubbah Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Spike Dudley

v

Ted Dibiase, Jake The Snake Roberts, Booker T, Finlay, William Regal

General round-up, 18th November

The full line-up for Survivor Servies has now been revealed:

In addition to the two matches I have already announced, there will also be:

(World Champion) Booker T vs Batista

(US Champion) Chris Benoit vs Chavo Guerrero

(Womens Champion) Lita vs Mickie James

Mr Kennedy vs Undertaker

Legends Team: Ric Flair (Captain), Rowdy Roddy Piper, Sgt Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes (with Arn Anderson) vs Spirit Squad: Kenny (Captain), Mikey, Johnny, Nicky (With Mitch)

HOWEVER, WWE confirmed on Friday that Roddy Piper will miss the Survivor Series PPV . The wrestler, who was sent home from WWE’s tour of the United Kingdom, was hospitalized in Oregon to undergo surgery. His original diagnosis was kidney stones, but sources now believe his surgery is due to disc problems. Ric Flair will now be the lone captain of the Legends team; Kenny will captain The Spirit Squad.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan is likely to take the last spot, though nothing has been confirmed. Hey, maybe Vince will bring in the Ultimate Warrior...!

WWE.com announced that the company met with PRIDE FC Friday:

“Earlier today, WWE officials and members of the group PRIDE had a meeting at WWE global headquarters in Stamford, Conn. The meeting focused on the possibility of the two groups doing some form of business together in the future.

World Wrestling Entertainment is a multimedia conglomerate with a presence in films, music, and sports-entertainment around the world. Known for its unique brand of competition, PRIDE is a major championship mixed martial arts organization based in Japan.”

On the subject of MMA, in an interview with Bubba The Love Sponge, Kurt Angle responded to recent comments from Daniel Puder by saying he would fight Puder on Bubba’s show for free if permitted to do so by TNA’s Dixie Carter.

Angle said that after winning the fight he would pull down his shorts and rub his balls in Puder’s face. He followed the statement up by saying he’d also let his wife urinate and defecate on Puder’s face.

The Olympic Gold Medalist also shed light on his negotiations with UFC, saying that Dana White privately expressed confidence that Angle could knock the limited Puder out in the first round.

The interview, in which Angle plugged TNA’s primetime special, also featured the wrestler calling Puder a “moron” and “piece of shit.”

Finally, WWE have signed TNA Star Monty Brown. Brown was not long ago seen as potentially the man to carry TNA, so this could well be an excellent aquistion for Vince & co.

Suggestions From The Sheriff To Improve US Wrestling

Ok, let's get straight to the point here... Smackdown, in the main, sucks - despite an outstanding recent PPV - and so does ECW.

This is what I would do:

1) Consolidate the World titles, the Tag Team titles and the Intercontinental/US titles

For years, when a championship changed hands, it felt like it mean something. Not now, though. Too many championships - and silly booking - have reduced this.

Less championships mean more when they are won. So lets get the amount of them down.

In addition, the roster is nowhere near strong enough to justify so many champions.

2) Drop The Raw & Smackdown Brand Split

However, to give it a seperate feel, keep some of the divisions seperate still. Also, make sure some decent stars are going over to ECW. I will explain more...

3) ECW

As above. Build up the roster. Give it a two-hour show. Make all matches under 'Extreme Rules', but don't over-do it with the weapons. Try to keep the traditional big man that Vince likes, out of there (he says with Big Show & The Great Khali on there now... oh well...).

I have another idea, which you will see below.

4) The World Title

Don't let it be changed constantly, and don't let it be changed cheaply. Keep 'screwjobs' out of matches as much as possible.

5) The Intercontinental Title

First of all, yeah - leave this belt, not the US belt. Then, make a big thing out of it. Put it on a real star, and make sure they have really good storylines. When I was young, the Intercontinental Title -more often than not - meant something, and was not far off the World Title.

With some history education to the fans, decent writing and a bit of star power, the Intercontinental Title can mean something again.

6) The Womens Division

Leave it as it is. Keep it on Raw, and keep the Divas that aint so good at wreslting, out of the ring and on Smackdown.

7) The Cruiserweight Divison

Shift it to ECW!

This could be done quite easily, actually. Clearly the division gets barely any air-time, and most cruiserweights spend half their career jobbing to other stars.

Also, Paul Heyman was partly responsible for a lot of smaller wrestlers (and the cruiserweight style) being introuduced to the US.

So, write a storyline where the Cruiserweights walk out on Smackdown, and sign contracts with ECW. Then, get ECW making a big deal of the division. Get Rey Mysterio over there, for example. Then, book them freely. Don't worry that the quick action will overshadow the big guys or anything, cause there wont be many big guys wrestling on ECW.

8) The Tag Team Division

So, make THIS division the baby of Smackdown. Again, build it up. Educate the fans on the good teams, the history. Create new tandems with under-used people. Get MNM back together. Get the Hardy Boyz back together. Get Benjamin & Haas back together.

See this is the thing. I was watching 'TNA:Bound For Glory' and the second main event was AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels v LAX.

That's right - the second biggest match on the card was a tag team title match. The belt changed hands too, and it felt like something big had happened.

So it can be done. Again, they just need to make sure it is written propely, that the belts are treated with respect and make sure that there are characters in the division that the fans care about.

9) The Rest of the Roster

So, we have:
The Womens division on Raw
The Cruiserweights in ECW
The Tag Teams on Smackdown

In theory, that should leave the best of the rest and a few glorified jobbers. To me, that leaves plenty of people to be wrestling on Raw & Smackdown, competing for the World Title, the Intercontinental title and the rest having decent enough, slow-burning feuds.

You know, how it used to be?

10) TNA

Finally, 'the other lot'. To me, if WWE is going to get back to it's best, it needs TNA to be as successful as possible. Competition is good! Without WCW & ECW we would never have had Stone Cold, The Rock, etc. and Diesel would probably still be champion!

So, my suggestion to them is this - the in-ring action is sound, so keep it going. Protect Kurt Angle and use him wisely, because that way he can still be an astronomical asset. Finally - Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho etc - anyone that still has a future in the wrestling business that is not tied down, fight tooth & nail for when they become available.

So there. The US wrestling business sorted. Not that hard, was it?

Confirmed Matches For Survivor Series (and other news)

First things first - I did a general round-up on the 4th November, which appears to have gone missing. Well done Blogger. AGAIN.

Any more rubbish and I will be moving my 'Blogger' blogs to either Xanga, Wordpress or Blogrig.

Anyway - this can be viewed by clicking on this link, but it has mysteriously disappeared from the front page.

Right, on with this post...

Survivor Series

Confirmed matches so far:

Team DX vs Team Edge & Orton

Team DX: Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, CM Punk

Team Edge & Orton: Edge, Randy Orton, Johnny Nitro, Gregory Helms, Mike Knox

Team Cena vs Team Big Show

Team Cena: John Cena, Kane, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, Sabu

Team Big Show: Big Show, Test, MVP, Finlay, Umaga

Each afternoon this week, wwe.com will announce a new match, running all the way through till Monday.

In Other News...

Firstly, I am quite pleased that Survivor Series is going back to it's traditional format. In this day age of too many PPV's, 'the big 4' are in danger of getting lost in the shuffle. Now, that is certainly true of SummerSlam, but WrestleMania always has a 'big event' feel. The other two have a distinct advantage - Royal Rumble has the Rumble itself, and now Survivor Series going back to the traditional format means that once again it should have the feel of a big event.

Also, one of the attractions of the old-school Survivor Series matches was that we never used to see the big stars all team-up like that. With the teams coming across all three brands, it now means that once again we will see some matches that would not really just happen on any of the shows.

See, sometimes the writers do put in a bit of effort...

In a recent interview Kurt Angle stated that he could defeat UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell with only six months of MMA training. Angle also said that he could beat the current #1 contender for Liddell’s belt, Tito Ortiz.

I seriously wonder about Angle. I mean, it should be noted that this is the same Kurt Angle who was rocked and lost teeth from a worked - albeit wreckless - John Cena punch. At one time, there is no doubt that he would have been able to seriously compete - and quite possibly beat - Liddell, Ortiz and any other MMA competitor on the planet. But realistically, with his body the way it is, he should leave alone any thoughts of MMA competition. Just look at what happened with Daniel Puder.

Speaking of Puder, in an interview with Bubba The Love Sponge, he once again called out Kurt. Puder, currently a fighter for the Strikeforce promotion, reiterated the challenge that he would wager his entire purse that he could beat Kurt Angle in an MMA fight. He furthered his claim by saying if no deal could be worked out with an actual MMA promotion, he would fight Angle in his backyard and bow down to the gold medalist if he lost. Bubba, who is friends with Angle, got on the offensive against Puder, claiming the only offense he displayed in his match with Angle was an illegal armbar. He also criticized Puder, who he called a “chump” and a “poor man’s Tito Ortiz,” for using Angle’s name to get a rub. Bubba argued that Angle would knock Puder out in the first round if the two ever fought. Angle is scheduled to guest on the show later this week.

WWE have reportedly given explanations over two men who were recently released - Ted DiBiase and Tim Horner - from producer positions.

Horner was criticized for having a weak mind for match finishes - he also allegedly had trouble reacting to match variables on the fly.

DiBiase, who as part of the ECW brand was considered most honest in his show reports, was criticized for difficulty in communicating match finishes from the office to the wrestlers. He had been previously removed from the creative team for having “dated” views. Another issue that is believed to have hurt DiBiase’s status was his refusal to return to the ring on a limited basis, citing his various injuries.

Finally, in news from a MAJOR star in the wrestling world - K-Fed is no longer “Mr. Britney Spears”!

Citing “irreconcilable differences,” Britney Spears filed for divorce from husband Kevin Federline in Los Angeles court Tuesday.

The couple reportedly have an ironclad prenuptual agreement. So as you can imagine, Spears is expected to be getting the better of the deal by far!

Finally, it is believe that Britney has declared that part of the problem is she has developed huge feelings towards yours truly, Sheriff Kimbo.

Ok, I made that last bit up...