Greetings conversationalists all across the fruited plain, it is I your personal Harvester of Sorrow the one and only Phantom Lord and this is the Rant of The Week. As always I am coming to you from the rotten apple that is Brooklyn, New York and summer is almost upon us. Well for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. To all my readers in all parts south, I hope you have an enjoyable winter. But yes it is approaching summer and things are heating up in the world of wrestling. For years the WWE has been phoning it in and finally out of the blue when no one is really paying attention they do something that still has people saying, “Damn did you see what happened on RAW” almost five days later.
Do you have any idea how long it’s been since they’ve done something like that? It’s been a REALLY long time. It’s been so long that I almost forgot what it was like for something this amazing to happen.
But alas things might be off the track all ready as we have some breaking news.
FIRE UP THE DRUDGE SIREN!!!
WWE has come to terms on the release of NXT first season rookie Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) as of today June 11, 2010. We wish Daniel Bryan the best in all future endeavors.
Credit to WWE.com
What? WHAT??? Oh it gets better folks because you know there’s something that will just make you want to punch a wall with this one.
Around the time that WWE announced it on their website last night, Danielson changed his Twitter username, dropped the WWE references on his page and wrote the following:
“Just changed my twitter name to Bryan Danielson. The winds of change are stirring.”
So there was some hope this was all part of the nXt angle. I mean it would make sense for the WWE to fire on of the upstart rookies as punishment for beating the piss out of their biggest cash cow. But oh no…it’s never that simple with the WWE. Everything is done for a reason and if you heard in the middle of the night that is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when the six-fingered man killed my father. The entire Internet wrestling fan base makes it now.
Okay I had to throw in some Princess Bride there for the overdramatic but the point remains. Even in the middle of the night there were plenty of people collectively saying WHAT THE FUCK. Then we find out the what part and well if you are eating or drinking then I suggest you finish up and take a deep breath.
As noted before, the reason being told for Daniel Bryan’s release is because of him choking Justin Roberts with his own tie during the NXT invasion angle on RAW.
Word is that someone very important complained to WWE officials about the angle with the idea that kids who were watching may think it’s fun to choke people with their ties. It’s unknown who actually complained but it had to be someone with a lot of power.
Bryan is being described as a scapegoat. WWE does want to bring him back to the roster once the whole thing blows over.
Credit to www.f4wonline.com
Excuse me for just a moment…
Okay who’s the narc? I mean seriously who ever complained about this should be smacked. There’s no easy way to put it here. Kids might think it’s fun to choke someone with a tie??? Are you fucking kidding me? Kids do a lot of stupid stuff on their own and find numerous ways to hurt themselves and others. I’m pretty sure there have been cases of kids choking other kids before this and it’s safe bet there will be after this and Danielson choking Justin Roberts will have no baring on that what so ever.
Where was the outrage when Batista tried to run over John Cena with a car on PPV a month or so ago? Where was the outrage when a couple minutes later Cena threw Batista off the car and through the stage? This is the same company that has no problem with Triple H bashing people in the head with a sledgehammer and yet a fucking tie is cause for concern? Sheamus goes around bashing people with a pipe for God’s sake. Maybe the WWE is screwing with the Internet here. I hope that’s the case but either way I can feel my blood pressure rising and it’s a been a really long time since anything the WWE has done has gotten me fired up. Nah they’re not screwing with us here. If they were screwing with us then axed the whole first season cast of nXt. What happened here is some corporate pussy just potentially ruined the greatest angle of the last decade.
Oh you might think I am jumping the gun here and pushing the panic button a little to early here? This is the WWE after all. Do we remember what happened with Muhammad Hassan because of the unfortunate timing of the attack on The Undertaker? UPN panicked and refused to air anything with him on Smackdown and because of that the WWE in turn panicked and they “killed” off Hassan a couple weeks later at The Great American Bash.
WWE’s creative team has been re-writing the RAW script this weekend. Not only have they been re-doing the NXT angle but other things are being changed as well for this week’s show.
Credit to www.f4wonline.com
That right there is your reason for panic. Anytime the WWE re-writes anything on short notice it is never good. The fact they are changing the nXt angle is enough for me to be concerned. I am willing to see how this goes because Wade Barrett is so awesome so I think what ever change happens he can make it work (at least until SuperCena destroys them all). But I have no faith in the WWE when they are in panic mode. RAW tonight shall be interesting to see what happens. They all ready had the season 2 pro’s beat up all the rookies so they don’t get any ideas on nXt.
Well they had a big old brawl on RAW and Sheamus ended up getting involved with his little steel pipe. Later in the show the nXt rookies grabbed Bret Hart and roughed him up and threw him in the back of a limo and it pinballed around the parking lot crashing into cars.
Okay so we are clear here. Vehicular assault/hit and run’s are fine. Sheamus hitting people with a little pipe is fine. But Danielson making the mistake of choking someone with a tie isn’t.
My God you people have some messed up priorities at Titan Tower.
The angle continues on Sunday as Bret Hart fired Wade Barrett so all the nXt rookies want contracts and if they don’t get them then there will be more trouble.
I really hope they come up with something that doesn’t look like a joke this Sunday.
Moving on to season 2 of NXT, aside from Joe Henning having the worst name ever and Husky Harris (Windham Rotunda) being my new favorite drunken redneck after Trevor Murdoch, it’s going to be an interesting one. So far a personal favorite of mine is Percy Watson. You just can’t hate him no matter how hard you try. He is the ying to Black Cena’s yang as they are supposed to be a party boy tag team. Now Percy I can buy as a party boy (in the Steve Urkel sense). Darren Young not so much. But man if they play their cards right he is going to be the biggest star of the new decade. If you are going to cater to children then fine. Here you have a guy that kids would love to get behind. If you think the beating Cena got was bad with kids crying, it would be nothing compared to the reaction kids will have when Percy gets beat down.
Now maybe I am getting my hopes up, but I like Percy all ready. How can you hate a guy who wrestles with Urkel glasses? I know I can’t and I’m pretty sure there are many of you who can’t either.
After watching nXt last night it’s pretty clear the WWE still has no direction for the show. They want it to be “reality based” but Striker keeps everyone on a short leash when everyone is jawboning at each other. There is some hope with Kaval a.k.a. Low Ki on the roster for this season. The paring of him and Laycool is a very amusing one as Layla and Old Lady McCool treat Kaval as a lil puppy who is oh so cute. A lot of people were angry that the WWE would do such a thing, but you have to remember people with a juvenile sense of humor run the WWE. Personally I hope there is at least one video of Laycool shopping and Kaval having to carry all the bags. It’s all about paying your dues in the WWE…lol.
Speaking of Laycool, as much as I can’t stand The Undertaker’s Old Lady and how she runs the women’s division on Smackdown…even I can’t deny how great she and Layla are together. It was fairly obvious they paired them up to be the WWE’s version of The Beautiful People and it’s worked to perfection.
The Wrestling Observer is reporting that WWE creative is very happy with team “Lay-Cool” which consists of Layla El and Michelle McCool. It’s being said that a few people within WWE were upset at the fact that TNA was able to create The Beautiful People and make WWE’s women’s division look weak in comparison. However, that attitude has apparently changed as the feeling now is the creation of Lay-Cool is now better and more popular than The Beautiful People are in TNA.
Credit to www.f4wonline.com
Well the WWE must feel vindicated now considering how TNA treats the Knockouts absolutely horrible. The WWE has never been serious about pushing the women since they know at best the Diva’s are a piss break/beer run at most shows. But TNA knows damn well that the Knockouts are the only proven draws they have and they do everything to short change them and screw them over at every turn. Wrestling is a man’s sport and profession. So obviously if some women are on a show and they out work and out draw the men…well odds are you’ll have some people in power not to happy about that. It’s amazing to think how much money TNA has blown over the years on “big name” stars yet when it comes to the stars they all ready have they are as cheap as it gets.
Several of the TNA Knockouts are currently angry over the money they are being paid to work. Most of them earn indy level salaries and are working for a national promotion on TV. Some of them are having to hold down day jobs in order to make ends meat. A number of them spoke up at the last set of tapings about this but there is no word yet on how it all came out. Christy Hemme who no longer wrestles and only does backstages interviews recently re-signed for around $150 K for five years. No other female in the company is making anything close to this and they are working matches on TV and house shows. Gail Kim was given a very low offer to re-sign when her deal was up and she jumped to WWE. If TNA doesn’t start offering these women more money a number of them may jump ship.
Credit to Gerweck.net and I assume Wrestling Observer or PW Insider
TNA is very lucky they are nowhere near the company the WWE is. If they were they would be sued for gender discrimination. With travel expenses it is insane that TNA pays the Knockouts somewhere in the range of $250 a show. Scott Hall was allegedly getting $3,000 an appearance. I like Scott Hall and I hope he gets his shit together some day, but what does it say when basically he was getting paid what ten women in total would have in the same company.
This all goes back to Gail Kim and how TNA shortchanged her. She was by far one of the biggest draws they had and was putting on stellar matches with everyone. But when it came time for her contract to be renewed TNA played hardball and said it couldn’t match what the WWE offered. We know that’s bullshit plain and simple. I have no idea what Gail’s WWE salary is but if I had to guess it’s probably somewhere between $100-200K a year. Maybe more…maybe less but it has to be in that range. Gail was everything they look for in TNA (mainly she was in the WWE).
I’ve explained my theory on TNA’s inferiority complex. That’s why they try to get the WWE’s attention but the WWE ignores them at every turn. Gail Kim would still be the center of the Knockouts if they resigned her but now she’s playing second fiddle to Eve on RAW.
Tara was another high profile former WWE star that TNA signed for the Knockouts division and in my view she was a great wrestler to land as she had some of her best work in years in TNA. Sure they dicked her around with the title and other stupid stuff, but never the less she made it work and did a damn good job. But when it came time for her to resign TNA once again played the money card and said “we love your work but we just can’t afford you right now”.
Once again I say BULL SHIT. If they can afford to bring in big stars like RVD and Jeff Hardy then they can afford at the very least a minimal increase of money to the Knockouts.
Well with Tara gone (though she probably will be back soon since she’s too old for the WWE’s tastes) they had brought back Roxxi who was a proven fan favorite in TNA. People got behind her and she was one of the more popular Knockouts. After breaking her ankle on the decently rated New Years Knockout Eve show she recently came back and was feuding with Madison Rayne over the last couple of weeks. Then at the PPV last week they threw a curveball at her for no apparent reason.
I had heard earlier that there was a ton of backstage heat over a last minute angle change that involved Roxxi, so apparently she showed up and found out she was done with the company. Roxxi was in tears when it was over, but they cut away so fast to show a video for the next match that it didn’t really mean anything on the show.
Credit to Dave Meltzer and www.f4wonline.com
How fucked up is that. I mean that is some cold-hearted stuff right there what they did to her. And in typical TNA fashion they have someone forced to retire and they skip to the back for something else.
April Hunter was also on that special and TNA had been trying to sign her to some sort of deal as well. April put out a blog on her decision to turn down TNA’s offer.
I think TNA is missing the boat on women’s wrestling and cruiserweights. This is the niche that founded them…what WWE has consistently left out. This is where they could make themselves stand out. I also think they’re missing the boat on Roxxi. She’s got a unique look and persona – it’s what endears her to fans. She’s not cookie cutter. She’s also one of the best (and safest) females I’ve ever been in a ring with. But most of all, she’s got a stellar work ethic. In a business where so many are content to get by with doing as little as possible, she’ll always give ‘er. I can’t say this about many I’ve crossed paths with in my eleven years in wrestling. I’m coming from a heritage of hard working immigrants, where work ethic means something and entitlement simply doesn’t exist. You earn what you get, and she has.
I am continually disappointed in TNA. They have all the tools, yet can’t figure out how to use them. Dropping the ball is the only thing they excel with.
As a fan, it’s frustrating. As a worker, it’s heartbreaking.
I reckon if Dixie Carter spent half as much time promoting as she does twittering, they might actually have some ratings.
Credit to AprilHunter.com & her newsletter
That last line there is what you call a BURN.
April is smarter then a lot of people will ever give her credit for. She saw the writing on the wall and said the hell with that. But she’s absolutely right in what she says. TNA is missing the boat on women’s wrestling and the X Division. The X Division is the reason why anyone gave this company a chance to begin with.
The X Division is the reason we sat through YEARS of bullshit with Jeff Jarrett where he booked himself over everyone. They are at least trying to build up a credible champion again in Douglas Williams (who’s heel act is great btw), but for the last couple of years the X Division has only been used for cannon fodder to pad the shows.
It’s funny how April called Dixie out on her tweeting since last week Dixie posted a bunch about a big surprise. Naturally people took this to mean that there would be another in a long line of surprises at Slammiversary. It turns out the only surprise of interest was Tommy Dreamer showing up during the Brother Ray/Jesse Neal match. He just appeared in the crowd and then made his way to the back and that distracted Ray long enough for Jesse to win.
I am a huge fan of Tommy Dreamer and I’m glad to see him in TNA. But all they are going to have him do is rehash ECW stuff. Honestly Tommy has a great mind for wrestling and a guy like him should be on the “creative” team. TNA needs a new point of view and Tommy would be a welcome change of pace from what they have now. I’m holding back my full opinions on Tommy since more happens with him and a couple of other former ECW guys on this and next week’s Impact. I’m trying to avoid spoilers for those of you who don’t read them. But lets just say I would take Tommy and this other guy in a position of power booking over the entire TNA creative team any day of the week.
Of course there are plenty of people who are not happy with this. I can see why they are. But you know what I’ll take this over the giant Emo semi-retarded Evad Abyss Sullivan. It could be worse though. Hulk Hogan could be TNA World Champion right now. If he wasn’t so crippled you know it would have happened by now. I’ll have more on Tommy Dreamer and him in TNA as it airs. You know TNA could avoid this problem if they ran live every Thursday night. Don’t have to be spoiled with spoilers and dare I say maybe people would tune in instead of just reading the spoilers and saying meh.
In other news, Scott Hall was let go from TNA so maybe now that they aren’t spending $3 grand on him maybe they can funnel some of that money to the Knockouts. I seriously hope that Scott Hall gets his life together. If he continues to be the legendary drunk that he is it’s only a matter of time before we see a headline like “Scott Hall in need of liver transplant” or “Scott Hall dead from liver failure”. That’s assuming he doesn’t end up like Bon Scott, John Bonham, Keith Moon and so many others who drank themselves to death. It really is sad to see Scott Hall because he should have been a World Champion especially during his run in WCW in the late 90’s. Hell he still has it in him to be a world champion and a top guy in a company. But I suspect this was his last chance in a major company.
On a final note there’s some sort of PPV this weekend from the WWE. They call it Fatal 4 Way where all the big championship matches are Fatal Four Way’s. Yeah that’s really worth the $44.95 right there. Just another PPV in a line of cookie cutter shows that they think branding with special gimmicks is what will draw. It’s here in New York at the Nassau Mausoleum. If the Barclay’s Center is ever built here in Brooklyn people will never have to trek out to Long Island and to that eyesore of an arena. Cena and Swagger will probably retain. Other then that I don’t know what’s on the card and I don’t really care and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
So on that note that is all for this week. As always take care and remember someone has to give you this information and it DAMN well has got to be me.
You can click here to send me any and all feedback at phantomlordnyc@yahoo.com or leave me some feedback on my Facebook page under my given name http://www.facebook.com/josephrd
And now the Plugs
Click here to visit the revamped HiFiHits.com…Home to my Hard Rock/Metal Show “A Late Night Cup Of Joe” and great classic rock in hi definition 24/7
Click here to visit LethalWrestling.com: Home of Lethal Radio, The Re-Vamped Lethal Entertainment, and much much more hilarity and offensiveness
If you are bored bug me on that Myspace thing at Myspace.com/phantomlordlop
If you are really bored, follow me on that Twitter thing that is sweeping the Interweb
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |