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Archive for July, 2010

It’s a song-and-dance as old as log beds, but a new interview with Vince McMahon in the Connecticut Post this week has the WWE’s owner claiming that he wants to fade his Mr. McMahon character out over time. Apparently now that he’s retirement age, Vinnie Mac is not as interested as being in the spotlight or even in the ring, as he once was.

Sure, he’ll probably never withdraw completely as long as he draws breath, and that’s fine. But it’s nice to hear McMahon talking about “developing new, young faces” who can become the future of the company.

Of course, behind the scenes we all know that Stephanie McMahon Levesque is the future of the company, a point made ever more clear at the start of 2010 when her brother Shane left his duties in WWE to go off and do his own thing. That has turned out, so far, to be an investment in International Sports Management (ISM), a small sports agency that manages some cricket and golf stars in Europe.

The ratings are in for this week’s Raw and it appears the show is rallying somewhat. Raw on USA registered a relatively solid 3.5 rating for both hours of the show; and for the past month, Raw has found at least 5 million viewers, on average, each week. That’s better than an iPad warranty!

For some perspective, the last time Raw’s ratings were this high for both hours were last spring, just following WrestleMania, when Shawn Michaels had his farewell episode. Sure, we all know the Heartbreak Kid will return at some point… but what’s notable about this week’s show and the last month of ratings is that this is happening with no big debuts or departures; it’s just generally strong ratings leading into the last big WWE PPV of the summer, SummerSlam.

Could business be picking up? Let’s hope!

UFC Heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar was less obnoxious and quite a bit more humble in victory following his win over previously undefeated Shane Carwin. After surviving a brutal first round that saw Carwin completely dominate Lesnar, Brock was able to post a second-round comeback and choke out Carwin for the victory, retaining his title.

So what’s next for the guy who needs no Lipozene? It appears Lesnar’s next title defense is now set for UFC 121 in October; his opponent? Cain Velasquez.

Should be intriguing.

Rob Van Dam overcame strong challenges from Abyss, Jeff Hardy (wearing his rainbow hair and Rocawear jeans) and Mr. Anderson to retain his TNA Heavyweight Title at the Road To Victory PPV Sunday night. The finish to the main event, which only lasted thirteen minutes, was nevertheless dramatic with all four men having a shot at securing the title. Abyss and Hardy were covering Mr. Anderson when RVD connected on a Five-Star Frog Splash, causing the others to roll off Anderson.

RVD made the cover then for the win.

It was classic booking designed to keep up the four-way feud, although it’s sad that in TNA, their main event consists of three WWE castoffs and only one home-grown star in the person of Abyss.

People critique WWE all the time for over-relying on establishes stars, but TNA is worse, if you ask me. Or at least just as bad.

Could Paul Heyman, no weight loss success stories he, end up going to TNA? Only under the rarest of circumstances.

Following UFC 116, Heyman announced that while he’s considered going to TNA, he has strict conditions on such a move; otherwise, he has no interest at all.

The upshot is this: if he could come in and have Vince McMahon-like control over the roster, the TV product, and everything else, then he’d consider it… so long as the deal included stock options and an IPO within five years.

Heyman, who at this point in his life seems to genuinely value being a father to his children, said the only thing that would make a return to the wrestling business attractive to him is the chance to set his children up for life.

Heyman had little respect for TNA’s current product and seemed confident in his ability to turn it around, if a bit disinterested in doing so.