My first guess (before cheating) was Paul Ellering, so count me wrong.

not sure how to cheat...but face looks like Oooooohhhh YEAH

Epic Beard Man?

Well if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin' ;)

OHHHH YEEEAAAAHHH! DIGIT!

He just got married again recently.

He had to move on from Miss Elizabeth.

The WWE finally cuts loose Carlito, after a wellness violation and his refusal to go to rehab.

And I just caught up with Tuesday's NXT. Bryan Danielson is definitely still around. He got to beat up Michael Cole. But I'm skeptical of the "I'm a big deal on the indys and the WWE sucks for not recognizing that" gimmick having any staying power.

I'm sure Primo will be next then. They have nothing for him if he isn't teaming/feuding with Carlito.

Jon is probably unable to report this due to shock but:

Also, in pretty cool news, Rampage Jackson along with Bradley Cooper and another guy from A-Team will be hosting the next 3 hour Raw in a couple of weeks. Interesting that one of the biggest names in UFC will be allowed to promote on WWE but should be awesome.

So I read where Wade Barrett wins NXT but more interesting to me is the list for season two of the show.

Among the contenders are "Michael McGillicuty", the son of Curt Henning, "Husky Harris" the son of Mike Rotundo/grandson of Blackjack Mulligan (paired with Cody Rhodes as his pro), and "Laval" better known to most of us as Low-Ki.

Of course in the infinite WWE wisdom, Laval will be coached by ... Layla & Michelle McCool (and no, I'm not making that up).

The strange thing is that the Rotundo/Hennig bloodlines were acknowledged on-air, but they still used the ridiculous FCW name-generator that gave us other gems like "Lucky Cannon"

LOL, great description.

I refuse to understand why he keeps getting a contract considering we all know the ending.

"Stroke" ain't just the name of a Jeff Jarrett move ;) If you've got the right friends, there's almost always work to be had.

God dammit Hall. Seriously...this guy never changes. I just don't get it.

Chris Jericho to host ABC game show Freefall starting June 22

Breaking News - CHRIS JERICHO NAMED HOST OF "DOWNFALL," THE HIGH STAKES AND HIGH DRAMA GAME SHOW PREMIERING JUNE 22 ON ABC | TheFutonCritic.com

Interesting, considering USA is part of NBC Universal. You would figure Jericho's contract (if he is still under WWE contract, I have no idea) would be a conflict of interest.

Holy Shit Fucking DAMN!

2 hours and 50 minutes of Raw was a steaming turd.. the last ten minutes was.. the best angle of the last decade. No shit.

Danielson spitting on Cena and repeatedly yelling "YOU'RE NOT BETTER THEN ME!" was surreal. Also, him killing Justin Roberts was great. I have no high hopes this continues but since Cole got away unscathed I think it'd be great if he aligned himself with the NXT guys.

That was well done. Had completely lost interest in the WWE and have been fast forwarding through most Raw episodes. That last 15 minutes was amazing.

My son watches everything WWE related so I caught a little bit of tonight's episode, but didn't see the end. I saw the dance off while I was making dinner and was amazed at how bad the show was getting. That combined with the MacGruber episode had me wondering how bad TNA was if it couldn't compete.

Since my son does watch religiously I have to maintain at least a passive interest in it and it's been getting incredibly hard to do. Hopefully this is a sign of things turning around. I'll have to watch his recording of the last 15 tonight.

I just watched the clip, been quite a while since I've heard a crowd that stunned into silence by an angle.

Justin Roberts getting choked out was pretty funny.

That was awesome.

I am very hopeful about this angle.

So. I had to contact the online support for Beachbody.com to try and cancel an order my wife made for some DVD's.

I go into the on-line chat and I get:


It amused me greatly.

I think that's a very valid point, and it's one of the reasons my respect for Cena has grown considerably in the past couple of years.

At the end of the day, his job is the same as most everybody else's: do the best you can with the talent you have & keep your employer happy. It'd be hard IMO to reasonably argue that Cena doesn't meet those specs.

I highly respect Cena the person for doing the shit he does day in and day out, and being a reliable company guy.

I, however, can't stand Cena the character. I feel that he's been forced down our throats as the plucky babyface for far too long, and is in need of a heel turn.

Thing is, at this point, I'm not sure that a heel turn for him would be the most productive way for the company to use him.

Walking around town I only see two kinds of wrestling merchandise on a regular basis: Cena shirts & Rey shirts. With the exception of my son's TNA shirts that don't get worn much any more, you simply don't see anything else.

That has more than a little value for Vince, in addition to there being some value in having a reliable face that you know you can plug into situations where you need one.

So PWI is reporting that Dixie Carters big surprise for Slamiversary is sounding like a new creative member. They have contacted Heyman and Kevin Sullivan. I can't see how Sullivan helps. He knows how to book heels but he also has the "gimmicks on top, workers on bottom" philosophy that is the antithesis to TNA. Should be interesting regardless, but if Heyman agreed to come in it'd mean he has total authority.

A heel turn would be really fun for the fans, but I think it's overall bad for the WWE. He's good for business and gives the company a face that is very family friendly. He's the guy they can use on talk shows and for charitable events. I can't blame them for living him as an uber-babyface.

The problem has been that they have avoided anti-heroes for some time. They are going in that direction with Orton but inevitably will turn him full baby out of stupidity. The guys that are most interesting are the ones you shouldn't be cheering for but can't help doing so.

So more from PWI on the TNA announcement. Apparently despite talking to Sullivan (which was confirmed) the announcement Dixie has has nothing to do with creative:

Also, I have no idea if this is an angle or what but WWE.com is reporting Daniel Bryan has been released. I assume it is angle related, but wow if not.

Dola, this is from the Observer:


Bryan Danielson, formerly Daniel Bryan and for about two minutes Bryan Danielson in WWE, appears to be Danielson again.
His WWE twitter name was just changed to Bryan Danielson and he mentioned it, saying "the winds of change are stirring."
WWE then announced Daniel Bryan had been future endeavored, which would be the first time they've used their web site to do a fake firing.

Looks like this may be legit. A follow up from Alvarez:

Only took 5 days to blow their best storyline in years. Top notch WWE.

And we have our reason why Danielson is gone:

Former WWE star Daniel Bryan was released today as punishment for going beyond the company's standards and practices during the NXT angle on Monday

Yeah, F4Wonline.com said it's for choking Justin Roberts with his tie. Wasn't this the company that recently had a storyline where Orton DDT'd HHH's wife and then kissed her unconcious body? Then had HHH break into Orton's home and attack him with a sledgehammer?

Then again, maybe this is just a big work and everyone will look like idiots when he comes out of the stands next Monday to attack someone.

seriously? he had the 2 best promos and was in the best angle wwe had in a long time, and now hes gone. Vince must be hell bent on being mediocre

And he's considered the best technical wrestler these days. TNA has to be drooling at getting him signed.

Well, if he legit choked a guy who wasn't expecting it then he should be fired. But it seems odd to send a bunch of rookies out and tell them to act like they're out of control, then fire a guy for doing just that.

Was he the guy yelling "you're not better than me" at Cena? Wonder if that was it instead.

I believe that would indeed be him.

He was, but that's an even lamer excuse to have him get fired versus the one they are using now.

PWI says it was for him choking Roberts which is a big no no after the Benoit thing. It's a PG company now sadly and he took it too far for their product. It sucks big time but I can see their point. I think he winds up back in WWE within the next few months before his no compete is up and TNA can sign him.

He is going to make huge money on the Indy's for a while until then, even if he can't do ROH shots. Some of those shows with just ex WWE guys draw like 3000 people.

While I believe the firing is just a work, it does lend itself to some speculation.
Imagine if you will
-- Heyman is given full creative control of TNA
-- Among the plans he's been asked to implement is some sort of ECW faction/reunion/angle
-- WWE just spent time putting over a guy who would have tremendous appeal to a big part of your long-term base, who have been steadily leaving in recent weeks
-- WWE fires a guy essentially for being "too extreme"

It'd be like Christmas in July.

Of course, if he really has been fired then the announcement of Kevin Sullivan being hired as head booker can't be far behind. Nothing good will come of that, which would be par for TNA's course.

I wonder what Dixie's "huge" announcement is? If it is how their business will change, I can see potentially along the lines of them changing the name and branding of TNA, moving out of the Impact Zone for TV taping's (not sure if that is even possible right now) or maybe going public (can't see how that is feasible?)

At this point I am clueless but I am intrigued. It'll probably be nothing though.

Does WWE actually believe Benoit went through anyone's mind* during that particular angle?

*(other than Phil Mushnick, who doesn't count since he's obsessed)

Just saw this elsewhere but it's Meltzer on the Danielson situation:

Latest reports I've seen indicated that it was not related to creative, so that would eliminate Heyman/Sullivan as the topic. Hell it's probably the reformation of Benjamin/Haas or the hiring of some reality show star.


Almost certainly this. The last time she used that sort of hype it was the hiring of Ken Anderson (nee Kennedy)

That said however ... I wonder what the timing sequence of Danielson's (allegedly) being told he was fired versus her Twitter was? And whether a non-compete applies if he was indeed future endeavored.