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Archive for February, 2009

I nearly knocked my TV set off its TV stand when I saw it after RAW on Monday; when Duane Johnson appeared for the first time without the nickname of “The Rock,” granted to him by the WWE where he got his start, and introduced himself as Duane “Uncle Handsome” Johnson, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or REALLY laugh.

Uncle Handsome? Really, Rock?

If Duane Johnson wants to put his pro wrestling career in his taillights, that’s fine and I wish him well; I’ll even continue to patronize most of his movies – on Netflix if not in the theater. But really, Uncle Handsome? That’s creepier than a creeping creep-steak-eating creep from Creep City. Especially considering how many child-stars Duane’s been in movies with of late.

If you want to be taken seriously now as an actor, Duane, perhaps you’d be better off without a nickname at all. But if you feel compelled to use one, try choosing one that doesn’t bring parish priests to mind, will ya? What you need is a nickname that says, “Funny, but harmless.”

How about this: Duane “Uncle Buck” Johnson.

And that’s the bottom line, because I said so.

The WWE Raw broadcast on USA drew one of the strongest ratings in years for the WWE and USA Network; the second hour of the show following the No Way Out PPV event posted a whopping 6.4 Nielsen rating, or nearly three times Raw’s average viewership only a few months ago.

Vince McMahon should be handing out Fossil watches to everyone involved for such stellar performances as has been building in recent weeks. After a couple years of laying the groundwork, it appears the new talent in WWE is coming into its own and reinvigorating interest in the brand.

Raw’s first hour did well enough to place fourth place in all of cable, behind The Closer and Monk, as well as Raw’s second hour.

An altercation between two patients at a nursing home, both suffering from dementia, with one of them dying as a result, wouldn’t normally spark headlines across the nation. But then, normally one of the patients isn’t a pro wrestling legend.

Sadly, this time, one was.

Verne Gagne, 82, was implicated in the death of Helmut R. Gutmann, 97, when Gagne allegedly pushed Gutmann, injuring the man’s hip and banging his head in the resulting fall. Gutmann was initially treated, then released, then readmitted; he passed away on Saturday.

Gutmann was a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany and, in his time in America, became an accomplished cancer researcher and violinist.

Gagne built his American Wrestling Association (AWA) into a Midwest legend with footholds on the West Coast as well. Gagne helped launch the careers of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Shawn Michaels and Curt Hennig, just to name a few. He was an old-school territory promoter, however, and when Vince McMahon launched the WWWF into a nationwide promotion rebranded WWF, and eventually WWE, Gagne was out-promoted, out-spent and out-matched. Gagne kept the AWA clear of some of the weight loss pill-hawking commercialism that worked well for McMahon and WWE.

Gagne retired from the ring in 1981 and by 1991, the AWA was in a shambles and filing for bankruptcy. Son Greg Gagne recently accepted a Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame honor on behalf of Verne prior to a WrestleMania.

Though Verne was staying at Friendship Village at the time of the incident, he has been moved since. Bloomington Police are investigating the death, recently ruled a homicide, but given the medical state of Gagne, it appears unlikely charges will be filed.

Here it is! Enjoy!

WWE Wrestlers make good money, but risk their health and well-being every day; by comparison, a project management professional can make a highly respectable income without ever taking the risks taken by those in sports entertainment.

St. Joseph’s University offers an online management certificate in several areas, including the lucrative field of project management. In addition to a degree or certificate from a respected A-10 university, entry level positions in this field range from $71,000 to $111,000 annually, and only go up from there.

Wondering what a project manager is? Just watch any season of The Apprentice on NBC to get a bit of an idea. Yet reality is always better than reality TV, so be sure to check out all St. Joe’s has to offer, from their many degree and certificate programs to PMP exam preparation. It’s all there, it’s all good, and it’s all a whole lot safer than a 720 swanton off the top rope!

It was a swerve that worked.

After months of knowing that TNA’s Christian Cage would be returning to WWE, the wide-spread speculation was that he’s come back on Smackdown to be reunited with Edge, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy. The internet burned up bandwidth speculating about Christian’s possible role in Matt’s betrayal of Jeff.

Fooled ya.

In a swerve that worked, Christian made his first appearance in a WWE-owned ring earlier this week, but not on Smackdown and not even on RAW; he debuted on ECW, inserting himself into the Jack Swagger-Finlay feud. It was the first time in a while I can remember being genuinely and pleasantly surprised by a move in the WWE, storyline-wise.

While the appearance was not necessarily electrifying – after all, they are taking a TNA champion and placing him on the lowest broadcast on the WWE totem pole – but it was genuinely surprising and that counts for a lot, no matter how much safety equipment they keep handy to make sure nothing goes wrong in the matches themselves.

I have to admit that last week’s Raw did a good job of promoting the best aspects of both the upcoming No Way Out PPV and this coming week’s Raw broadcast.

While such promotion ought to be second-nature to WWE after all these years, sadly the writers and promoters don’t always put in the effort necessary to do the job well and come off like a bunch of industrial knobs, rather than working professionals.

Yet last Monday, they did their job well; the Jericho-Roarke angle was moved forward, the JBL-Michael angle pushed No Way Out rather than giving something away for free, and a skit angle promoted a rare crossover appearance by the Undertaker on Raw.

That’s hitting on all cylinders.

WWE superstar Chris Jericho was unharmed after an incident last week in which his car was surrounded by fans as he was attempting to drive away from an arena. Jericho exited his vehicle to ask fans to clear a safe path for him to exit, all without employing the use of discount Danze faucets or any other foreign object.

Unfortunately, the situation escalated to the point where Jericho was verbally and physically assaulted before WWE Security arrived to restore order; Jericho did shove WWE Security around a bit – allegedly – demanding that they “do their job” during the incident.

No charges have been filed, but there is a video over on the TMZ Web site.