AwakenTheDemon

Since, Vince McMahon no longer considers the WWE a "wrestling company", he's apparently going to change the name of the company to just "WWE", not "World Wrestling Entertainment" to eliminate "wrestling" from the name. Sorry, Vince, but this is getting ridiculous.

Source

Bruno Sammartino's talking about actually accepting the WWE's invite to their Hall of Fame:

First of all, when they started all this garbage with the nudity and these girls always having accidents where a bra will fall off or whatever, then the vulgarity and the Kiss My Butt Club, and the profanity that they use and stuff like that, I find all that appalling and I was very, very outspoken. Then the drug use, of course, was the most appalling for me. So what kind of a person would I be to accept that ridiculous Hall of Fame after being as outspoken as I was? I think it would be very hypocritical on my part and I would never accept that because I don’t believe in it. I guess one should never say never, but I would have to see an awful lot of change before I would even think of it. A lot more than what I’m seeing now.

I'm sorry, Bruno, but what more do you want? The company has been firmly entrenched in TV-PG for years now, are we supposed to wait until it's TV-Y7 with next to no promos and just wrestling matches for two hours, like when you were still wrestling?

So I read Rob Van Dam's comments on SEScoops about TNA and the WWE, and I'm sorry, but it sounds more like a commercial for TNA than any part of an actual interview. Hell, I'd go as far as to say it sounds like Dixie Carter wrote half of his comments for him.

Check it out

Watching some of the clips from the press conference now, Cena looks visibly shaken by the reception he received, as he tried to remember his lines and couldn't even get a word in edgewise. Also sounds like some audio manipulation was done to drown out some of the vulgar chants.

Oh, the effects that The Rock's return has had. I love it.

I love how Cena said that he was "proud to hear your cheers... and other comments." What's wrong, John? Can't bring yourself to say aloud that people are booing you?

You know, I never realized that the WWE offered Lennox Lewis five million pounds to fight Brock Lesnar at No Mercy way back when. What's sad is... that I say that as a Lewis fan. =\

So I just watched Snooki's part of the press conference and... *yawn* Boring, I'm not sure she even knows John Morrison's first name, since she just called him "Morrison. Of course it only got better when she called her team "the brunette mafia" and said they'll win on sunday. This only makes her claims of being a full time diva (tongue in cheek or not) even more laughable.

Right now, who I have winning is:

Kane, Big Show, Santino And Vladimir Vs. The Corre: Corre

Sheamus Vs. Daniel Bryan: Sheamus

Trish Stratus, John Morrison And... Snooki Vs. Dolph Ziggler And Laycool: Stratus, Morrison And... Snooki

Cody Rhodes Vs. Rey Mysterio: Mysterio

Randy Orton Vs. CM Punk: Orton

Jerry Lawler Vs. Michael Cole: Lawler

Edge Vs. Alberto Del Rio: Del Rio

Triple H Vs. The Undertaker: Triple H

The Miz Vs. John Cena: The Miz

As much as I'd love for Cody to win, we've all seen how little it matter when it comes to Mysterio and Wrestlemania. Not to mention, if Cena is going to lose, they'll want Mysterio to win to make the li'l kids happy about something.

I think the RAW GM could be JBL. I don't think that 1 cameo he had 2 RAW's ago was not a 1 time thing. He'd be perfect as GM.

It won't be JBL. Barring his recent cameo, he's pretty happy with his life away from the WWE and his current business endeavors.

Ok let me ask you guys, what is your personal opinion about The Streak? I have seen other people say that it should never be broken and that Taker should reach 20-0, and that they would be mad if Taker ever loss. For me, I honestly don't think Mark Calloway cares about The Streak, and I think Shawn should have broke the streak last year(if he wasn't serious about retirement) and I wouldn't mind HHH breaking the Streak on Sunday.

So what you think, should it ever be broken, should it be broken by HHH on Sunday or should they have Taker reach 20-0 next year?

Personally, I really couldn't care less about the streak. I hate to fall back onto the "Wrestling is fake", but in a industry where a finish is predetermined, an undefeated streak isn't all that amazing... especially when the streak is in regards to a match held once a year. I know the WWE kind of stumbled upon the Streak and wasn't originally planning on it, but still. Like Franny said, Undertaker won one by DQ... against Giant Gonzalez... and took 7 minutes to do it.

Truth be told, the Streak is overrated and I cringe at the thought of the Undertaker one day (if the Streak stays intact) performing only once a year to uphold his Mania Streak. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't want to have to watch a fragile man in his late forties every year struggling through a match. If the Streak ends, it ends. No one's going to think less of the Undertaker, none of his previous accomplishments will hold any less weight, having an 18 match win streak at Wrestlemania will still be something no one else will touch... and snapping the Taker's streak will be something no one else will be able to touch. It's a win-win situation for both men, no matter what your opinion on Triple H is.

That's what I figured... just wanted confirmation. Speaking of the "anonymous RAW GM," who are people thinking that it is? Could it be Vince?

It's been rumored to be Vince before, but I'm really hoping it isn't going to turn out that way. Especially since I believe Vince wants to tone down the appearances. Apparently, Michael Cole has been "begging" to be GM since he was chosen to read the e-mails. I'm sure I'm not the only one who prays that doesn't come to fruition. After this whole Cole/Lawler debacle, the fans have to be sick and tired of Cole. And with Cole on both brands, it doesn't make much sense for him to turn out to be the GM. Stephanie would actually be a better choice for GM, as she's done it before and hasn't been on TV for quite a while (barring the McMahon's in a coma skit).

In the past the GM's e-mails have used catch phrases from Stone Cold, Shawn Michaels, and Roddy Piper. I can't remember if he ever used a Rock catch phrase, although I'm sure Franny would know. The big idea was that The Rock would turn out to be the GM, but with the Cena/Miz/Rock triangle, I do not see that happening. Stone Cold ended up on Tough Enough, and Shawn is enjoying his time behind the scenes, promoting and spending more time with his family. Shawn would have made sense though, he has been Raw's Commissioner before he returned to the ring, but I don't think he's ready to come back in an extended capacity. Now Piper could turn out to be a fine choice for GM, I've always loved the Hot Rod.

Truth be told, I don't think the WWE has any clue who they want to be the GM and who knows if they'll ever even reveal who it is. I mean, they've been dropping angles and gimmicks out of the blue on and off for years, perhaps the GM ends up being one of them.

Congratulations, Taker, you share your theme music with "The Deadliest Catch" on Discovery...

Why couldn't Pittsburgh have been the last Raw before WM? I seriously would have cried if I was in the crowd and Shawn Michaels' music hit, he's to me what the Rock is to Franchise. Oh well =\ Trips has to end the damn streak on sunday.

I was absolutely pissed to see Cena lay out the Rock last night. Actually, I hated his entire promo. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I was watching Raw, not an Anti-Bullying After School Public Service Announcement. It was ridiculous, cheesy, and made Cena look like a giant... uh, "wuss". So after running your mouth for weeks in your "raps, John, your last comment before Wrestlemania is you whining and crying about the Rock making fun of "who you are"? It was pathetic that the WWE let Cena have "the last laugh" (so to speak) last night. The only pro to it, is that it lays the seeds to The Miz retaining at Wrestlemania.

In unrelated news, Sin Cara is set to debut on Raw next week.

Allegedly, according to the dirt sheets, Michael Cole's ego is getting out of control. I don't buy it. Unless people backstage are reading his on-screen performance as being indicative of his true colors, I think this is an entirely fabricated story or people intentionally spreading misinformation. While I despise Cole on commentary, that doesn't mean that he's a jerk in real-life. In fact, for Cole to have taken all this verbal abuse from Vince on the headsets for so long, he's probably pretty timid and submissive in-person.

Also, there's a report that source code on WWE.com (now removed) reveals that it'll be The Corre vs. Big Show, Kane, Christian, and Kofi Kingston at WM. I also doubt the veracity of that, as the on-screen graphic just showed Christian in Edge's corner on Sunday against Del Rio with Brodus Clay in his corner.

Yeah, I saw that Cole news as well. I don't know, I could see him acting like that. I'm not saying I believe it, but it definitely would not surprise me in the least. After his match with Lawler, I really hope the WWE has him tone it down. His smack talk to absolutely terrible, apparently he's given one line to repeat over and over and over and over again (I'd imagine his improvising skills with those lines must be minimalistic). Cole's not so much a heel as he is a giant child throwing a temper tantrum. Even though I don't care about the Cole/Lawler match sunday, I really hope Jerry doesn't have to lose to this tool. After all, Jerry's been waiting for years to have his real Wrestlemania Moment, it would be a slap in his face to lose to an incredibly immature and annoying Michael Cole.

Not to mention, Michael is one of the least imposing people I have ever seen. Watching him "apply" the Ankle Lock is like watching a twig hug a branch, it's pathetic.

Well, with The Miz running away from Cena last week, it doesn't get my hopes up for The Miz retaining. Even more so after having Cena be dominated for weeks on end. I'll never understand the WWE, they finally built Miz up somewhat to look like a strong champion then have him running scared from Cena again. Quite frankly, if the WWE wants to start establishing future main event stars, starting with The Miz, they cannot afford to have Cena win at Mania. At some point, you have to not be concerned with sending li'l kids home happy and do what will better the progress and future of the product you're peddling.

I'd try to put it off until 28, also. It would be a huge benefit for the WWE to reap the rewards of a full year of the Rock. Plus, it really wouldn't "fit" into this year's Mania. His major feud is with Cena, who's already in a title match with The Miz. So unless The Rock is going to be thrown into a WWE Title match for his first match in seven years (and most likely end up losing. Not saying he'd be pinned), I couldn't see it happening.

I haven't been going to the Superstar section, really. Been working my way through Superstars, although it's reminded me of the biggest thing that the WWE does differently nowadays on it's TV Shows. Back then, you'd have one major name wrestle a no-name jobber in every match, so you always knew who'd end up winning. The big name vs. big name matches were always saved for PPVs (for the most part).

A little bit of trivia I either never knew or forgot, when The Undertaker first came out, he was called "Kane the Undertaker".

Also, for those of us who enjoy watching the older days of wrestling, WWE has WWEClassics.com. Similar to it's WWE Classics On Demand, their site allows you to watch whatever you want with similar "buckets" of special content for each month. This month is 1986 Month with Wrestlemania II in its entirety, an episode of NWA's World Championship wrestling, a full episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, The Big Event PPV and an episode of Tuesday Night Titans.

However, in addition to their monthly buckets, they have:

- Full episodes of WWF Superstars, the precursor to Raw (the month of December from '90 and every episode from '91)

- Full episodes of the entire '95 season of Raw

- Full episodes of the '86, '87, and '88 seasons of Wrestling Challenge

- Full episodes of the '95 season of WCW Saturday Night

- A ton of matches from past Wrestlemanias, Summerslams, Survivor Series, Royal Rumbles, King of the Rings, In Your Houses, Great American Bashes, WCW Starcades, Fall Brawl, Halloween Havoc, and Slamboree.

- Some old PPVs in their entirety.

They apparently add more videos every monday, so I'm hoping to see some Nitro, more old seasons of Raw and Superstars. It's $3.95 a month, or $39.95 for an entire year, but it's worth it to me. Sure, you have to put up with "WWF" being flooded out, but the amount of content is staggering and the selection is top-notch. With Vince and the WWE having the entire WCW library at their fingertips (I know they have ECW too, but I think that's an envelop Vince won't push anytime soon on their site. The TV-14 days of Raw will be enough for him), it can definitely only get better.

I guess the mexican wrestlers love arm bars, since apparently Sin Cara's finisher is a huracanrana into an arm bar.

So apparently Sin Cara made his debut at a Raw House Show the other day. People said his match against Primo was great, but that he "didn't know how to wrestle a WWE style match and performed eight variations of the head scissors".

It actually thrills me that he "doesn't know how to wrestle a WWE style match". I'm going to assume what they mean is he's more acrobatic and performs more high risk and "unique" (so to speak) maneuvers. These days all you need is one (two at the most) moves from the top rope to be considered a high risk, high flyer. Evan Bourne is a perfect example, his matches always consist of him kicking for the majority of his offense and using the only top rope move he knows. That's not a high risk offense. But chalk it up to Vince downplaying high risk moves. I'm just hoping the WWE doesn't force Cara to completely change and water down his natural move set. The WWE needs a breath of fresh air and Cara looks fantastic.

After watching Wrestlemania IV and Survivor Series '88, it's really made me realize how much better wrestling was back in the late 80's to early 90's. The move sets were much larger, the general wrestling ability was better, and matches didn't always end with one man hitting his finishing move to get the pin. Such as Randy Savage countering Greg Valentine's figure four by rolling him up in a small package for the win. You just don't see that anymore, it made for much more unexpected finishes. Then there is Vince's current stance on managers/valets. Back then, managers were almost as well known, loved/hated, and entertaining as the wrestlers themselves. Elizabeth, Mr. Fuji, The Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart, Paul Bearer Jim Cornette, and the greatest manager of all, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. There may never be managers of that quality available nowadays, but they could still help out with some of the guys on the roster who have less than stellar mic skills.

Not to mention, what the WWE is passing off as "commentary" nowadays doesn't hold a candle to the Monsoon/Ventura and Monsoon/Heenan days. Granted, I've never heard the word "kisser" as much as I have with Gorilla doing the play by play, but still.

With the WWE wanting it's commentators to "tell stories" and with the watering down of move sets and finishes (I know they did away with some moves for the sake of safety, but still), it's really had a huge negative effect on the overall quality.

Can't get emotionally invested? Pftttt. You see how passionate we are about the results of matches, especially when they don't go our way in terms of how we think the shows should be booked. Plus, if we're talking about pure, visceral emotion, look no further than how emotional I got when The Rock returned last month. Very few moments in pro wrestling have brought me to tears, and that moment was added to my short list.

Other moments have included:

- Chris Benoit's WrestleMania XX victory

- The preliminary announcement of Chris Benoit's death (before details were released)

- Eddie Guerrero's first WWE Title victory

- Eddie Guerrero's death

- Kurt Angle's return from his neck injury

- Triple H's 2002 return

- HBK's retirement speech

Shawn's farewell speech was probably the only moment to truly bring me to tears in professional wrestling. Probably due to the fact that he's always been my favorite wrestler, and I grew up watching him perform. Just seeing him get emotional and shed a tear or two, you knew it wasn't really just "Shawn Michaels" talking, but Michael Hickenbottom as well. Few moments in all of professional wrestling will match the moment when Trips came out from the back, hugged Shawn, and laid DX to rest.

In other news, Awesome Kong is supposed to finally debut next month, after Wrestlemania, and Tyler Black will apparently be on the next season of god awful NXT. Hearing that gives me a sinking feeling that Black is going to end up getting the shaft in WWE, with the track record of the majority of the former NXT stars (especially the winners).

So I'm watching Wrestlemania IV as I type this... and man, it makes me miss the old days of wrestling. There was so much more emphasis on actual wrestling, and the promos were in a different vein from today's promos.

According to a report, there was an angle filmed at a Jersey-area bar for Monday's RAW involving Snooki, LayCool, and Trish Stratus. The headline caught my eye because it said: "SPOILER: Angle Filmed With Snooki-Trish & LayCool," which made me think Kurt Angle was filmed with the Divas.

Anyway, the biggest (not-so-shocking) thing to come out of that was the news that Snooki was extremely late to the shoot, the session took much longer than it should have, and Snooki had been heavily drinking that day and was bragging to the bartender that she'll become a full-time WWE Diva after WrestleMania.

Wow.

Snooki must have been drinking heavily if she thinks she's going to be a full time Diva after Wrestlemania.

Yeah I have seen him on Jimmy Fallon before, and before Raw I listened to a segment where he was on one of Pittsburgh Radio Station promoting Raw. It's amazing how different people are from their WWE Characters.

Now I gotta find some extra couple bucks somewhere and be able to get Miz's shirt at Hot Topic. I'm so glad I saw WWE shirts at Hot Topic, saves me the hassle of going through WWE Shop.

I wanted his "Be Miz" shirt, but they only had the latest "I'm Awesome" shirt for sale =\ Oh well, I'm more than happy with Triple H's newest shirt.

Is Bart Scott still on TNA anyone? And if so, what channel is that on?

I have no clue if he's still on, I refuse to give TNA the time of day. But it's on Spike, thursdays at... 8 or 9. I cannot remember which.

Miz is probably one of the most personable wrestlers in the business today. He's been great on the talk show circuit since his days as U.S. Champion, and he knows how to charm an audience.

I loved The Miz's segments on the Top 50 DVD. He was goofy, but not over the top or ridiculous. I'd agree completely that he's most likely one of the most personable and approachable wrestlers today. Wish I could have had the chance to meet him on monday.

You know, since they hired an actress to play Randy Orton's wife... you'd think they would have hired someone who could have actually... I dunno... acted? "Somebody call help!" Priceless.

I watched Jericho's first dance from Dancing With The Stars on youtube, and I said that it better end with him putting her in The Walls of Jericho... sadly it didn't.