~~~~~THE TBL NEWSLETTER~~~~~
Volume 2, Issue #8
____________________
Brought to you by:
The Balrog’s Lair –
http://www.thebalrogslair.com/
____________________
Contents:
I. Note from the Editor
II. News & Rumors
III. Columns
IV. Advertisements
____________________
Note from the Editor:
Joe Balrog
joe@thebalrogslair.com
Note from the Editor:
With a new domain comes a new look. We have modernized the “steel” design that was at The Balrog’s Lair and took to a simpler, more discreet design. I think that you will all like it so head on over and check it out. I am in the midst of final exams and final projects right now for school so there aren’t as many updates to the other areas of the site other than the newsboard, which recently acquired some new talent. We are always looking for a good reporter so if you know any, let me know. Be sure to check back to our new domain everyday for the latest in wrestling news!
____________________
News & Rumors:
All news and rumors taken from The TBL Newswire
^^^WWE Cuts Excess, Attitude, Metal, and Jakked ^^^
The Superstars of WWE Raw®, which airs on TNN/Monday, 9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. ET, will be featured in two programs – WWE Sunday Night Heat® and WWE Bottom Line(TM), while the Superstars of WWE SmackDown!(TM), which airs on UPN/Thursday, 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET will be featured on two shows – WWE Velocity(TM) and WWE After Burn(TM). The company has also developed a new Saturday night program called WWE Confidential(TM) that will feature the overall World Wrestling Entertainment(TM) brand.
The new line-up should look something like this as far as the brands go:
RAW Brand:
WWE Monday Night RAW (Mondays, 9PM, TNN)
WWE Sunday Night Heat (Sundays, 7PM, MTV)
WWE Bottom Line (Fridays and Saturdays, Syndication)
Smackdown! Brand:
WWE Smackdown! (Thursdays, 8PM, UPN)
WWE Velocity (Saturdays, 10PM, TNN)
WWE Afterburn (Fridays and Saturdays, Syndication)
World Wrestling Entertainment Brand (Both brands):
WWE Confidential (Saturdays, 11PM, TNN) – Joe Balrog
^^^Mr. Perfect Released! ^^^
The WWE have released Mr. Perfect from his WWE contract due to his unruly behaviour on the recent WWE European tour. Goldust and Bradshaw are also in hot water with the office. The now infamous flight back from the UK on Saturday night is the most amazing story of the year. Micheal Hayes had his mullet cut off after having a run in with Bradshaw on the flight. Scott Hall was released yesterday for being drunk throughout the entire tour. – Kevin Malton
^^^Say Goodbye to the Bad Guy^^^
Scott Hall has been given his release by WWE. Hall was wasted during the recent European tour and showed up at the arena for Raw yesterday under the influence. Hall has had a history of alcohol problems, which were under control until recently. – Kevin Malton
^^^RIP Randy “PeeWee” Anderson ^^^
Former WCW referee, Randy “Pee Wee” Anderson passed on today. The general feeling is that he had some type of complications from his cancer from a few years ago. – Joe Balrog
^^^Youngest Developmental Talent Ever ^^^
WWE have signed their youngest ever talent to a developmental contract. Rene Dupre is only eighteen years old and hails from Canada. He will be working OVW for the forseeable future. – Kevin Malton
^^^The Rock Makes That Money!^^^
The Rock is set to pull in $20 million for the sequel to “The Scorpion King”. It must be a tough descision between wrestling on the road for 300 days a year and risking injury or working on a movie for a couple of months. – Kevin Malton
^^^The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Talks^^^
Paul Steele, Chief Operating Officer for WWF International said: “The fact that the Wrestlers have taken this action is an acknowledgement that the proposed appeal has little chance of success. However WWF was expecting that they would opt for a more distinct name change that would put ‘clear water’ between our two organizations, to quote one of the judges in the recent court action. We are still considering the implications of this move as the earth’s natural environment relies on the public’s recognition and trust of a respected, global conservation organization. – Joe Balrog
____________________
Columns:
Food For Thought
By: Wrestlebabe
wrestlebabe316@yahoo.com
Hello Everyone!
I know it’s been a long time, 8 months since I wrote a column, so I’d like to start out on a happy note. I looked over my last column, I picked Maven & Nidia to win Tough Enough and they did!! Taylor blew it during like last week when she started acting like a bimbo. I’m not as impressed with Tough Enough 2. It’s more a Soap Opera than a competition.
The best show on MTV is The Osbournes!! From the looks of things, it’s going to be a one season wonder, Ozzy doesn’t want to go another season. Can’t say I blame him. Sure they have potty mouths, but they communicate honestly with each other, they love each other and the animals are hilarious!! I love Sharon & Ozzy!! It’s too bad their 18 year old daughter Amy didn’t want to be a part of the show.
Now to a not so pleasant subject, the WWF undisputed Championship. My worst nightmare have become a reality!! Hulk Hogan!! This man’s only talent is his mouth!! He needs to leave the shirt on, he’s old and flabby and he NEVER could wrestle!! Well, it’s no longer wrestling, it’s Sports Entertainment. Please!!! I am so disgusted!! $35 for Backlash and it was THE WORST PPV I’ve ever seen!! WWF is going BACKWARD!! The brand separation is limiting the competition. It might be better if all the champions could be free to go to both shows.
I still can’t get over Triple H dropping the title to that old FART!! He beat the hell out of Mic Foley and retired him. Mic Foley has more talent in his pinky than Hogan has in his entire body!! Why? Hogan SUCKS!! Kurt Angle does not suck!! Looks like the fans as a whole are such Hogan marks that until they fans open their eyes and see what BS this is we will have to put up with half-@$$ed matches and @$$holemania until the hype is over. Hogan can’t wrestle, he’s not a good actor either!! Why did they bring him back in the first place? Guess times are so bad now that people want to live in the past for their entertainment. It’s sad, I won’t be buying anymore PPV’s until I know that Hogan is on the way out!!
There are a few good things going on, the Edge/Angle feud is very entertaining. Edge is adorable and still loaded with personality!!
I’m very glad to see Jerry Lawler back at the announce table. He’s a lot easier to listen to than that big mouth Paul Heyman!!
Triple H looks better than ever!! Getting rid of Stephanie has made him look a lot better!! His returning after such a serious injury shows just how GREAT he really is!! I have a lot of respect for him!
The biggest change in the last 8 months, UNDERTAKER!! Lord have mercy!! He’s become a vicious monster!! I LOVE IT!! He looks GREAT!! The short hair took some getting use to!! I hope he beats the hell out of Hogan, but I don’t think that will happen. He deserves another title reign before he retires, he has given us some of the best matches in history. I’m sorry, Hogan has done NOTHING to deserve even a title shot. Hogan is not entertaining, he’s obnoxious!! Taker is 10 times the performer of Hogan!! Hogan is a no talent big mouth poser, that’s all. He did NOT press Andre over his head, he barely lifted him 6 inches off the mat. I just hope everyone opens their eyes soon. If they actually put Hogan in an actual wrestling match, Maven would beat him!! I’d LOVE to see MIC come back and put Hogan out of our misery!! Posing and Yacking, that’s all Hogan does well.
Everything I talk about leads back to Hogan, he’s the centerpiece now! Well, The Rock has a hit movie, so he can write his own ticket to whatever he wants to do. SCSA, he can ACT!! He was great on Nash Bridges. They wanted to spin off Jake into his own series, so Stone Cold has options. What he did to Booker T and Scott Hall were classic moments up there with the Fibulator and bedpan moments with Vince. I know I’m sounding pessimistic when it comes to the WWF. Hogan is POISON!! He has succeeded in making me sick.
RVD!!! He_s off the chart!! Eddie Guerrero coming back and beating him so quickly wasn’t so hot, but it does have the makings of a great feud. RVD is Great in those 7 Eleven commercials. Kane STILL is the King of Commercials!!
Golddust and Booker T – Now is that a pair or what?
Jazz – Talent 10 – Personality 0. She came off as a total Bitch on Excess.
Trish Stratus – She’s a WINNER!! She has it all!! Big improvement from 8 months ago.
I miss rooting for Jericho!! I did cheer when he knocked Hogan on his @$$ during the attack on Edge. Jericho and Angle together, I haven’t formed an opinion yet. Either Angle or Jericho could beat Hogan in less than 5 minutes.
NWO – OK what happened to Kane was not good, but suspending Kevin Nash? When Kane comes back, so should Kevin Nash. Bring back Rey Mysterio Jr. with his mask and put him with Kane so he can keep XPAC in check. Bradshaw and Scott Hall has the makings of a great feud and does give Bradshaw a chance to prove his worth as a singles competitor.
I like Ric Flair – I’d like it even more if he were really part owner and REALLY put Hogan in his place!! He could do that easily! I was impressed with his match with The Undertaker, he’s still GREAT and put on a great show!!
SCSA – Would I love to see him do a number on Hogan!!! Who has the bigger ego? Who’s the bigger icon? I know SCSA is THE BEST entertainer, wrestler and incase the fans forgot, has sold more merchandise in his first year that Hogan sold in his whole career.
Paul Heyman found himself a meal ticket. Brock Lesnar reminds me of a shaved gorilla. Can this guy talk? Can he do anything on his own? Would Heyman have the nerve to let “The Next Big Thing” go after Hogan? (I can’t help it, Hogan has to go and I don’t care who does it) Would BL lose his contract if he put Hogan out? At this point, it would make him King of the Heels and I would be his #1 fan. Nope, won’t happen!!
Bubba Dudley – WOW – Did you see him and Kane on Weakest Link? These guys are SMART!! Second WWF group built up a lot more money than the first WWF group!! SCSA was hard of hearing that night and kind of stupid too!! Next 8 for the Weakest Link: Maven, Raven, The Rock, Tazz, Stacy Keibler, Christian, Nidia, & JR? What do YOU think? Spike? Torrie? Al Snow?
They RUINED WWF Excess!! The Coach and Trish or Terri was good!! Those other people on there SUCK!! Michael Cole STINKS, that other guy is a BORE!! No more matches from the vault? They threw a Monkey wrench into a working show!! Whoever changed the format should be demoted or fired!!!
I know, very negative sounding column, let’s hope things get better soon!! Someone has to come to their senses and get rid of HOGAN!!
Bye for now!!
Wrestlebabe
wrestlebabe316@yahoo.com
Linda’s Thoughts
By: Linda Robin
lvaccarp@hotmail.com
Get the F out. Oh I liked that I liked that a lot. I loved the ad with the sweet suburban getting that W just right. Truly a great ad campaign for a very stupid new name. I also got a kick out of JR and Lawler trying so hard to say WWE the all night but slipping every once in a while with WWF and Lawler saying “Get The F Out Of Here. Really kind of cute and funny last night.
Unfortunately Raw didn’t do it for me at all. The best match I thought was RVD/Jeff Hardy vs. Booker and Eddie Guerrero. Did you see Guerrero and RVD go at it? I thought they really did a hell of a job. The match that was my least favorite was Regal getting his European title back from Spike Dudley who came out with a sprained ankle and was basically tortured by Regal. However D’Lo coming to save Spike pleased me very much. It’s funny because when Regal started walking to the ring, I said to myself I would like to see D’Lo come out and go against Regal. And boy it looks like that’s the next feud. I think it could be good and for D’Lo I truly hope it is. The guy can wrestle and he’s got a lot of life in him maybe we will see Regal have some chemistry with this man.
The women’s match with Trish vs. Jazz again was a good one, but now with Richards with Jazz you know a loss for Jazz isn’t going to happen for awhile. I’ll tell you I did like the end of the match with Bubba Ray running in to regain his Hard-Core title from Richards, this mini title match brought out Raven, Justin Credible and Crash Holly each one winning for two seconds. I thought this was a lot of fun to watch. I was also a little puzzled that Bubba put Trish through a table and I might add she went down very hard. Yet he left Jazz alone. Then when everything was done and Richard’s left with the belt Bubba went to Trish and carefully carried her out of the ring. Go figure. I want to mention that as much as I am impressed with Brock Lesnar and love Heyman being his manager, WWF is ruining him. Instead of finding a top name to feud with Brock it’s now the same crap week after week two shows in a row with Stasiak getting squashed.
Even the fans aren’t reacting they way the did when Brock made his debut. No one wants to see Planet Stasiak continually take the beating. Maybe Austin should have a chance at putting this man down once and for all. I say that because I just got done listening to an Internet hot line report from one of the main sites and according to what I heard Austin is pissed again. And this time I’m with him. He’s not liking the whole nwo angle and Steve either am I. How anti climatic was it to see Ric Flair turn on Austin during the main event. Yeah I expected it but one, I thought since it was rumored so heavily they would hold off, and two, I figured those creative writers would have done a hell of a better job in making his turn a real shocker.
But after seeing Ric suspect Bradshaw of turning on Austin, without a doubt Flair made it so obvious that it was him. Even the 30 second shot of Kevin Nash showing up didn’t take away from the fact that Flair was turning. I’ll tell you it was badly done, and this match that was made for Judgment Day Austin vs. Flair and Big Show for a match for me is total crap. I laugh so hard when JR tries to make the nwo big, bad and evil. All is hype for them is nothing but a joke. It’s really sad because this little group is totally worthless watching. I’ll tell you I wish X-Pac would keep Kane’s mask on I think it really improves his character. Seriously even with Kevin Nash coming back the nwo is a big flop.
Another huge flop is this Undertaker/Hogan thing. So this will be the main event for Judgment Day? No four-way match? Between this match and Austin’s I might just pass on the pay per view. I’ve heard it’s HHH vs. Jericho and I can live without dishing money to see that. Yeah Hogan was over last night, but the whole motorcycle thing was hysterical. If you noticed the cameras were taken off Hogan who was trying to ride up to Taker. I read that Hogan almost fell off three times and they say he was banging the walls backstage. Not a pretty site. I thought Taker acting scared and waiting and waiting for Hogan to make it up the ramp made Taker look like a fool. Hogan should have left the bike and ran or should I say walk very fast to catch Taker. A very weak promo and no way do I care to see these two main event a pay per view. By the way JR over did it for me big last night, not only trying to convince how tough the now are, but that Hogan taking Taker’s bike was like starting World War 3. No one has EVER done that. Oh my God, JR just couldn’t stop saying this. Well I remember back in 2001 right before WM. Triple H took his sledgehammer and destroyed Taker’s bike and dropped it off the ramp. So JR’s memory seems to be going.
Since I’m not a WCW fan and would watch the shows but found them boring for the most part I’m starting to feel that way about Raw. The show started off OK, but it started to drag and really start to bore me. Again I’m sorry to complain, it’s not my intention but from what I’m seeing from other sites this show really is getting thumbs down. Hey end the split, release the extra baggage and get back to having your main guys on twice a week. I know many will tell me then the low-mid-carders get screwed again, but hey if the fans are turning away, does it really make any difference? So for me to say my favorite part was the add for Get The F Out, I guess says a lot. I sure hope I can be more upbeat for my Smackdown review. I’m not giving up, I don’t want to stop watching and I sincerely believe something has to be done and something will be done because this split is not working, just like the Invasion didn’t work either.
Linda Robin
lvaccarp@hotmail.com
____________________
Advertisements:
1WickedWorld.com – This is one of my personal favorites as far as wrestling sites go. Not just because it is a good site, but because there are so many other options there to explore besides the wrestling. Take a look!
____________________
Copyright © 1999 – 2002 Joe Vincent
