Preliminary Wrestlemania 29 Buyrate good but not great:
WWE Wrestlemania 29 drew a preliminary Buyrate of 1,048,000 buys, which is obviously not a bad number, but is below expectations and below the previous two years. WWE see anything past a million as acceptable, but always tend to project higher.

Punk back for Payback?:
Although several dates have been thrown around and constant changes to event schedules have confused the matter, it’s believed the current plan is for CM Punk to return during June’s Payback PPV, though this may not be a full time deal.

In the latest WWE magazine they tease that he’ll be back for the PPV…

“No one else has made the most of a hometown crowd than CM Punk. WWE Payback hails from Chi-Town, and if the moments below are any indication, it’s going to be another big night for him.”

Impact audience jumps:
This week’s episode of TNA Impact Wrestling on Spike TV drew an average audience of 1,379,000 viewers, up considerably from the previous week’s 1,050,000 number. It seems the NBA has affected them in recent weeks.

Hitman appreciation night on WWE App:
Monday’s Bret Hart Appreciation night celebration will be streamed on the WWE App following the usual RAW broadcast. As previously noted Canadians will get to see the extra footage on theScore.

HBK appreciation night and hunting show news:
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be getting the “appreciation night” treatment at today’s Raw house show in Salt Lake City, Utah. The New Age Outlaws and Jim Ross are confirmed for the festivities.

Meanwhile HBK has been filming his hunting show and Tweeted behind the scenes pics with Criminal Minds actor Joe Mantegna at the NRA museum…

Shawn Michaels’ MRA Showstopper air rifle is now available for purchase at GamoUSA.com…

The exclusive MRA “Showstopper” from Shawn Michaels’ MRA Hunting TV Show, features 1,400 fps with PBA Platinum Ammo and a new stock designed for the real hunters of 2013. The air rifle includes an all-weather stock with rubberized grips, ergonomic design, the SAT (Smooth Action Trigger), and SWA (Shock Wave Absorber) – the new recoil pad from Gamo that absorbs up to 74% more recoil pressure. The MRA “Showstopper” is available in .177 and has a 33mm cylinder in order to give more power and velocity to the shooter!

Rock surprises “cousin” with new SUV:
The Rock recently gave WWE Diva Tamina a new Lexus SUV! He posted about it on Twitter…

“Just surprised my cousin @TaminaSnuka w/ an SUV. Amazing woman w/ a heart of gold.”

It should be noted that Tamina is not a literal cousin of The Rock, but her father Jimmy Snuka is a close friend of the family. The Rock is however directly related to The Usos and Roman Reigns.

Who is under the Suicide mask?:
The wrestler playing the return of Suicide in TNA is TJ Perkins, who has worked in the promotion as Puma in the past. Over the years Suicide has been played by Kaz, Daniels and Kiyoshi.

TNA launch new app:
TRAIN LIKE A TNA SUPERSTAR WITH THE ‘ALWAYS EVOLVE’ FITNESS APP
WORKOUT ALONGSIDE ‘THE CHARISMATIC ENIGMA’ JEFF HARDY AS TNA DEBUTS A REVOLUTIONARY TRAINING PROGRAM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 24, 2013) – Looking for a new way to boost your workout? Need new motivation to get up and get moving toward a healthier you? Then it’s time to check out the latest evolution in fitness with the “Always Evolve” fitness app, featuring your favorite TNA Superstars!
TNA Wrestling has teamed up with Always Evolve to create one of the most revolutionary fitness applications on the market. With Always Evolve CEO Larry Johnston’s “5-and-Hold Workout” at its core, the “Always Evolve” app combines the workout program with motion-capture and 3D modeling technology, allowing the user to exercise alongside their favorite TNA Superstars.

The app, launching today, will debut with “The Charismatic Enigma” JEFF HARDY as your workout partner. The Hardy avatar will lead you through the four-week “Always Evolve” workout regimen, which activates all types of muscle fibers — slow-, intermediate- and fast-twitch muscle groups. The “Always Evolve” program derives its benefits from a workout that consistently alters tempo and changes angles, thereby maximizing muscle recruitment.

The app also features different programs for beginner, intermediate and advanced users, along with goal-setting and nutritional guidance from a certified nutritionist.

Future modules of the “Always Evolve” app will feature additional TNA Superstars including CHAVO GUERRERO JR., ROB TERRY and MISS TESSMACHER, giving fans the chance to alternate workout partners as they see fit…and as they see gains in their own fitness.

The app, scaled for both smartphone and tablet use and available for iOS and Android devices, sells for $4.99 and is available at your respective device’s app store by searching TNA ALWAYS EVOLVE.

Bret remembers brother 13 years on:
Today marks 13 years since Owen Hart tragically fell to his death during the Over The Edge PPV. Bret Hart remembered his brother in a message on Twitter…

“My life has forever changed after losing you Owen, it’s been an incredibly sad and lonesome world without you and it surely can’t be fair that heaven is echoing in laughter at all the pranks being pulled on the rest of the Angels and all of us here on earth are left with just our memories.”

Owen was to be lowered from the Kemper Arena rafters for a match against The Godfather, but his harness failed and he plummeted to his death.

RAW to air on delay:
The July 29th episode of WWE RAW will be a pre-taped show filmed the previous Tuesday in Laredo, Texas. This is due to WWE’s tight overseas tour schedule.

TNA announce IMPACT Fan Battle:
IMPACT WRESTLING takes the social conversation and turns it into a battle Thursday nights with its new #IMPACTFanBattle.

Each week, two twitter challengers will “face-off” on twitter in a “battle” of the best online commentary – perhaps your stellar play-by-play skills…or your killer color commentary – about the night’s #IMPACTLive. During the #IMPACTFanBattle, @IMPACTWRESTLING will retweet the some of the best tweets from our two competitors while keeping an open eye for potential challengers for the next week’s competition!

The #IMPACTFanBattle wages on Thursdays during our IMPACT WRESTLING broadcast on Spike TV. Then, at the conclusion of each night, we leave it to your peers to vote on who had the best tweets – and ultimately decide who will face a new challenger next week the reigning champ of the #IMPACTFanBattle! Got mad twitter skills and earn the respect of your peers two weeks in a row? We’ll send you a prize pack from ShopTNA.com!

Want to be a part? We’re looking NOW! Tweet out this article with the hashtag #IMPACTFanBattle and we will set our eyes on you. Once IMPACT is on the air, we will pick one of you tweeting with #IMPACTLive and put you into battle with the reigning champion.

Bob Holly used to bar fight for money:
Hardcore Holly may have truly earned his wrestling name as he revealed that he used to bar fight for money, in a recent interview with Kayfabe Wrestling Radio. Holly is currently promoting his autobiography.

“You know, it’s funny because when I was writing that part, it was like it brought back; you’re not going to believe this, and you’re going to think I’m full of it, but it was fun to me,” says Holly about his fighting days.

“Those were exciting times to me because I’m the kind of guy that likes a challenge and I would go into bars and it’s like; ok, I find the toughest guy in there and I’d want to put up money to fight the guy. I just found it, the thrill of the fight, exciting to me and to this day I still do because I won’t turn down a challenge to anybody and I find myself. When the whole MMA/UFC thing came along and it’s like if that came around when I was a little bit younger, I think I would have ended up going that direction because I love the thrill of the fight; I love the challenge, no matter who it is I end up fighting with. So, when I look back on that, those were fun times for me; I had really enjoyed that and I made money doing that. It’s an odd way to make money, but it was what I had to do to survive. And that’s why I look at it like ‘Yeah, that was exciting to me’.”

On writing the book:
“It never occurred to me that it was a bad idea. The only thing that occurred to me, the whole 18 months it took to write this, is nobody’s gonna want to read my book; nobody’s gonna want it. I mean, I was just a midcard guy, you know, and it was like ‘Who is going to want to read my story? I mean, there’s nothing exciting about me.’ So, that’s what ran through my mind, and then after we edited it over and over because we’d send it back to ECW Press and then they’d send it back and we’d have to edit and do this and do that to it and after reading it many times over; every time we read it over, it was still interesting. So that’s when it occurred to me, ‘Hey, maybe people will find this interesting.’ Because, every time a read a chapter, it still captivated me and it still does; when I pick up my book and see what somebody had read and they talk about it and I go back and look at it, I end up reading the whole chapter again. And that’s what made me think that maybe people will want to buy this and read it. So, it was a lot of work too, but it was fun and it had its times where it reminded me of certain bad times and stuff like that. But, it was a good experience, it really was.”

The “Sparky” Plugg gimmick:
“I had graciously bowed out of Smokey Mountain and, like I said, I appreciate Cornette using me and giving me an opportunity to wrestle there. So, I went back to work, and I thought ‘You know what? I’m just going to focus on my job; I’ve got a great job, I make really good money, I’ve got insurance so I’m set.’ And I got my weekends off so I could go race wherever I want to because I had a race car at the time. So, I came home from work one day a couple months down the road and of course there was a message on the machine from J.J. Dillon wanting to talk to me. So, of course, I call him back and I was pretty damn excited, so they arraigned for me to fly up to Connecticut, to meet with him and Vince (McMahon).

“So, probably about six months down the road, I went to Vince and I’s like, ‘Vince, is there anything we can do to change my name?’ And I was scared to death to go in there and ask him; I thought, here I am six months in the company, I’m new, and this guy is asking Vince to change my name. I thought for sure, he’s going to let me go. But that was the chance I had to take, so when I went into the office and said ‘Hey Vince. I appreciate you’ve given me this opportunity here, and I’m really grateful to you for that, but can we change my name?’ and he’s like ‘Fine. What do you want to change it to?’ And now I’m like ‘Oh, wow. Ok, this is pretty easy.’ So, I said how about Bob Holly. He said ‘Ok, that’s fine. What we’ll do, to make the transition, we’ll call you Bob “Spark Plug’ Holly.’ And I said ‘Hey, that’s better than nothing. I’ll take it.’ So, we went from there and then, of course, eventually we got to drop the ‘Spark Plug’ and I was just Bob Holly after that. So, that’s how all that came about.”

Hart special only airing in Canada?:
According to former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas, who now works for The Score, Monday’s Bret Hart Appreciation Night will air exclusively on the network after RAW…

“BREAKING: Monday’s ‘Bret Hart Appreciation Night’ will air LIVE EXCLUSIVELY on TheScoreTV (@CheckTheTicker) right after RAW! Only in Canada! Scheduled to be a part of the festivities are Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels & I’m sure a Hart or 2 will be there as well!”

Despite the 3 hour slot it looks like US fans won’t get to see it.

Bret is getting the special treatment because RAW will be in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Brie wishes Bryan a happy birthday:
Daniel Bryan’s girlfriend Brie Bella posted the following Twitter photo of the couple celebrating Bryan’s 32nd birthday yesterday…

May 22, 2013, WWE Main Event results:
This week’s episode of WWE Main Event saw the following matches and segments…

- Alberto Del Rio def. Big E Langston, after slipping out of a Powerslam and connecting with a kick to the back of the head.

- The Usos def. 3MB… During the match Ryback drove down in the ambulance and distracted McIntyre & Mahal. After the match he rode off with Slater in the ambulance.

“Mick never recovered from the loss of his beloved wife Barbara and lost the will to live, despite the loving care of the nurses at the celebrity home for retired actors Brishing House where he lived out his final days. Even the arrival of his old friend Lord Richard Attenborough recently failed to lift his spirits, refusing all food and drink until he quietly slipped into a coma three days ago.

“Mick was without doubt, through his own efforts, the greatest wrestling name that the UK has ever seen or will see again, and even 25 years after his retirement, he retained his aura of stardom until the end. He was 93.”

McManus was a household name in the 60s and 70s when UK wrestling boomed on national television. One memorable moment was when he lost to the comedy wrestler Catweazle, who tickled him in to submission. In the angle McManus was so humiliated he refused to wrestle him even again, until they reignited the heat for McManus’ his final televised bout.

Here’s one from the feud…

McManus’ 1962 match with Jackie Pallo was watched by over 20 million viewers.

He is a former British and European Middleweight Champion, and British Welterweight Champion.

Punk happy with being away from WWE:
CM Punk made the following Tweet in response to constant questions about when he is returning to WWE…

“I am exactly where I belong. No desire to be anywhere else. #thankyouverymuch”

The former Champ is taking a much deserved break and there is currently no timeline for his return to the ring.

WWE to recruit cut NFL players:
Fox Sports is reporting that WWE are in talks with the NFL Players Association about sending cut Football players for wrestling tryouts. Jim Ross is currently the face of the concept…

“Everybody doesn’t make the 53-man roster. Some guys are going to be looking for work, and we’ve got some job openings. Maybe we can put the synergies of those two entities together and create something wonderful some day.”

WWE have had an on and off internal policy in recent years, focusing on athletes and sports stars ahead of Indy wrestlers. Several Olympic athletes have been on their radar since last Summer.

Roman Reigns injures ankle?:
Roman Reigns of The Shield reportedly had to be helped backstage following a match at last night’s SmackDown taping. Live fan reports suggest he hurt his knee during a 6 man tag match against Randy Orton, Sheamus and Kofi Kingston. The incident occurred during a spot with Orton on the ring apron.

The severity of the injury is not yet known.

Hardcore Holly interview highlights:
In a recent interview with the UK Sun Hardcore Holly said he tries to watch both WWE and TNA programming…

“I try to watch [WWE], but sometimes I can’t because it annoys me. There’s a lot of good stuff though. I’m a huge fan of Fandango and I think Dolph Ziggler is the best right now. I would love to see Ziggler and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania. I don’t usually buy PPV events, but I would buy that one for sure.”

“I enjoy watching TNA and they’ve got great talent across the board, especially Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, James Storm and AJ Styles. Although, I don’t know what the deal with AJ is — they seem to start and stop with him.

“I was really impressed when I met Magnus, he’s got a good mind for wrestling and I think he’s going to have a great future in the business.”

WWE release backstage staff:
WWE have released long time producer “Big” John Gaburick, and head writer Aaron Rudman who only joined the company about 6 weeks ago.

Gaburick has been with the company since the 90s and was the on-camera mentor for the first MTV Tough Enough seasons. Rudman was hired after the departure of Eric Pankowski, but couldn’t settle due to his lack of wrestling knowledge.

Carlito says Shield members lack muscle:
Former WWE star Carlito wrote the following on Twitter about Shield…

“Just watched RAW, two members of the group need to stop believing in THE SHIELD & start believing in THE GYM!”

Henry hurts shoulder:
It’s believed mark Henry hurt is shoulder to some degree during his Strap match with Sheamus at Extreme Rules. It’s not clear if he’ll need any time off.

RAW audience rebounds:
This Monday’s episode of WWE RAW drew an average audience of 4,227,000 viewers on the USA Network, up about 200,000 from the previous week. Once again the show also saw an increase in viewers from hour to hour, which usually doesn’t happen. Could this be down to John Cena’s absence?

Sunny out of jail:
Original WWE Diva Sunny was released from jail this week and is moving to Mexico for a fresh start. TMZ reports that she was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer while incarcerated, but had a successful hysterectomy.

The WWE Hall of Famer was jailed for four months following continual domestic incidents with her then Indy wrestler boyfriend Damien Darling and breaking subsequent restraining orders.

Sunny has also started work on an autobiography.

After the divisive nature of this year’s installment of WWE’s flagship event, Wrestlemania 29, Extreme Rules 2013 again takes over the slot that was in years past filled by the Backlash pay-per-view. It’s an interesting time for the promotion, and not all for the good. On the plus side, we have the pushing of new talent in a way that has not been seen for quite some time. On the not-so-plus side, we have some rather tired looking storylines that appear to have been cobbled together by some small children.

Wrestlemania, being the high point of the pro-wrestling calendar and by far WWE’s highest grossing show, should have been the end point for the big feuds that had been ongoing for some time. But at Extreme Rules, we saw these rivalries bleed over the ‘end of year’ line and into the stipulation heavy card that took place in St. Louis.

Chris Jericho and Fandango dived into round two of their hopelessly built-up battle, which seems based on little else than Fandango has a ballroom dancing gimmick and Jericho once appeared on ‘Dancing With The Stars’. Oh, and Jericho dared to pronounce his name wrong. Apparently ring announcer Justin Roberts gets away with little more than a withering look, whereas Y2J gets kicked in the face for doing this. Whether you love him (or his entrance theme) or hate him, Fandango has definitely struck a chord with many of the audiences WWE performs in front of, even if they copied his build-up in the early weeks straight from the Damien Sandow “I’m-not-wrestling-him-because-I’m-too-good” book. Saying that, Johnny Curtis (Fandango’s alter ego) was a solid developmental wrestler and you have to say the gimmick suits him to a tee. He gave a good fight here, with plenty of near falls for both him and “the ayatollah of rock and roll-aaaaa” (sorry, are we not allowed to call him that any more?), but ultimately the right man won in their singles confrontation. Giving Fandango the win in his debut at Wrestlemania was mega generous of the company, but to win two on the bounce against the former Undisputed WWE Champion would have been pushing his ability a little too far. There is an argument for and against newcomers dominating the field completely (more of this in a second) but for now, I don’t think Jericho or Fandango can have too many complaints over the outcome here.

Speaking of domination from new stars, we saw that in spades tonight. It boils down to a certain three black-clad gentlemen, one of which staked his claim as not only a great team player but a technically gifted singles competitor in his own right. Dean Ambrose, still in one of his very few singles appearances, took the United States title from Kofi Kingston (who has, combined, held it for so long the belt ought to be named after him, ideally). In a surprising turn where his stable-mates Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns left the ringside area (a first for The Shield), Ambrose showed the US Championship is surely – in Mick Foley’s words on Twitter – “the tip of the championship iceberg”. Sure, it’s too early to be placing the WWE Championship around his waist, but don’t be surprised if he takes the Intercontinental championship gold before too long.

Again, it was a good back and forth showing from both men, with Ambrose’s lack of singles pay-per-view experience hardly noticeable. After a punishing Headlock Driver, he took the title and celebrated in-ring with his fellow henchmen. A great night started with this great victory, and showed for once, you CAN believe the hype. I recall seeing Ambrose in a dark match at a Raw taping in April 2012 in London, when he faced Alex Riley. Despite not being known to the wider crowd, he still exuded a cool, sinister demeanour, denouncing the UK fans and telling us that “I’m Dean Ambrose…” like we ought to know who he was. Twelve months down the line, how right he was.

Sheamus and Mark Henry, as talented showmen as they are, were another pairing that were suffering from a rather pointless back-story. It consisted of little more than Henry trying to show us all how strong and mighty he is, while being derided and humiliated at any cost by the Irishman. A tug of war ended up with Henry on his arse, an arm-wrestling contest saw him eat Sheamus’ boot…the only thing missing from this was perhaps them hulking boulders up and down the entrance ramp, until Sheamus dropped one on Henry’s foot. Two big men does not necessarily make a great match, as seen by the rather lacklustre affair put on by Triple H and Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania (hey, blame Bret Hart – he didn’t like it…). With strength the main factor, things like technical ability go out the window in favour of beat downs, shoulder charges and lots of sweating. There was all this and more in a rather laborious strap match that finally lost all sense of direction (and adherence to the rulebook) as it went along. A dubious ending involved Sheamus needing to slap one final turnbuckle when he was blocked by Henry, only for the referee to not wave for all the lights to be turned off (as Sheamus had his momentum interrupted). Touching the final pad, Sheamus was awarded the victory, despite the fact he should have been made to touch them all again in succession. Perhaps the referee was as bored of the bout as I was. Hopefully on future editions of Raw we’ll have Sheamus facing Henry in a game of ‘Guess Who?’ or perhaps playing Jenga.

And so, to the match that kind of got forced upon us. With Dolph Ziggler suffering a concussion after Jack Swagger very kindly booted him in the chops in the fortnight leading up to this PPV, and subsequently being taken out of competition for his own sake, it was down to Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio to contest a rematch from Wrestlemania, only this time for the #1 contendership to Ziggler’s title – presuming he’s well enough to take part at Payback in June. This time, it was not the rivalry that was the problem (Swagger and his ‘founding father’ Zeb Colter’s gloriously xenophobic political stance on immigration and ‘America going down the pan’ has been extremely entertaining – if only for it’s PG-baiting potential), but the actual matches. Some may disgree, but I just don’t feel Swagger and Del Rio work well together in the ring. I’ve had my doubts about championship-level matches in the past (I was dreading seeing Randy Orton vs. Christian a couple of years ago, but they actually had a very good series of matches for the World Heavyweight title) but Swagger v Del Rio just doesn’t strike me as a crowd-pleaser. I feel Colter has been a kick up the arse for Swagger since he returned, but it feels like he’s still being punished for his out-of-ring naughtiness by coming close to taking the world title, or the #1 contendership to it, only to have it snatched away by Del Rio. Although, as much as his babyface turn disappointed me, it’s nice to see Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez’s legs are better.

It got me thinking, just to be deliberately offensive, WWE could have turned this into a mass deportation match, where, if Swagger became #1 contender, all the illegal immigrants in the USA that Colter and Swagger despise so much would have to leave the country. I guess that comes with it’s own logistical problems, but hey, it would have added a bit of spice.

With Ziggler out of the picture, this was really the only thing that could have been done with Del Rio and Swagger, save stripping Ziggler of the title (which seems a little harsh after so short a time with it). There were some great Oscar winning performances in terms of selling moves from both men in this bout, each with their own interesting style. Swagger went for drama, giving us plenty of the following:

REFEREE: Jack, do you wanna quit? DO YOU WANNA GIVE IT UP?
SWAGGER: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Honestly, it was like he’d just lost a loved one in a hideous multiple car road accident, such was his outpouring of emotion. Del Rio, meanwhile, got my vote, as he went for smouldering, unrestrained lust, like he was groaning to himself after a particularly passionate session of love-making:

REFEREE: How about it Del Rio? Whaddaya say?
DEL RIO: ….Uh……..uh…..no……no…….

Again, this I Quit match ended in highly contentious circumstances. As Lilian Garcia told us, the only way to win is “to make your opponent say the words ‘I quit’”. OK, fair enough. So why then, did the referee call for the bell when he noticed Del Rio’s towel thrown into the ring (by Zeb Colter)? That’s no ending from where I’m from! All it succeeded in doing was wasting a couple of minutes while the referee went off and watched A REPLAY (since when do WWE allow this?? Are we to back-date this to every single match where a heel’s manager has twatted someone with a title belt to pick up a dubious win and reverse those decisions as well? Seeing as, you know, most WWE pay per views are out on DVD now…) Honestly, I was as angry and confused as John Bradshaw Layfield, who at least spoke the truth and his mind when he asked what in the blue hell replays were being used for. Still, the end result was a predictable win for Del Rio, and more misery for Swagger, who couldn’t get a win even if his opponent was dead inside the ring.

Back to that domination angle I spoke of earlier, and Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns taking the tag title belts from the increasingly pointless team of Kane and Daniel Bryan (or Bryan Danielson or Nonreadably Sin – great anagram, that). Just for the record, Bryan is now 87% hair, and 13% skin/flesh. With 2/3 of The Shield being put in a Tornado tag rules match, it was a fairly blatant clue that they’d be adding to the team’s gold tally for the night. Especially now the animosity has diminished between Kane and Bryan, and hopefully after this event they’ll split so both men can get back in the hunt for a singles title. And what better opportunity to give Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns a further push and get brilliant photos with all three men holding a title? Judging from the support for the trio on social media, it seems WWE have created three characters who shouldn’t really be likeable, yet totally are. I tell you, comparisons with the Four Horsemen (forgive the extra man in that stable!) are really starting to look sensible. Time will only tell how long the novelty remains, or how their relationship with each other will develop (you can imagine Triple H lining them up for a triple threat match when the stable invariably implodes…but let’s not talk of such things now.)

As with Jericho and Fandango earlier, Big Show and Randy Orton are two more men suffering from a Wrestlemania hangover, after Show went postal and knocked out both Orton and Sheamus after they lost their six-man tag match against The Shield. Cue Big Show laughing at Randy a lot when he got beaten up, and you have the makings of a classic match. Except you don’t. This one couldn’t have been more stilted and obvious if it tried. Hmm, Orton in front of a home crowd? Check. Orton playing the face? Check. Orton gets the trademark ‘home town big pop’ when he enters the arena, although nothing will beat CM Punk’s ecstatic reception in Chicago the night he beat SuperCena for the WWE Championship last year. Orton has been in a bit of a rut for about two years now, and nothing he does seems to be alerting him to the powers that be’s attention. Perhaps he ought to jump ship and join TNA. Despite this being an Extreme Rules match (and worryingly, the first actual ‘extreme rules’ match of the night) it was more of a Kendo Stick Orgy, with shares in bamboo going up about 900% after the amount of sticks used in this event. Big Show, who looks rather tired at the moment (although he’s never really been much of a mover), and doesn’t even seem particularly concerned he can be seen mouthing instructions to Orton as he whips him into the corner of the ring. The match itself was a wash-out. I’m not saying I want to see people’s eyeballs dangling down their cheeks, or the ring canvas looking like an abbatoir, but come on – this was about as extreme as an ‘Antiques Roadshow’ double bill. There was only really one big set piece, when Show missed a splash onto Orton, who was lying on a ladder. That made me wince a bit.

The match ended – and this is becoming too prominent at this event – in circumstances that made me go ‘hang on a minute’. Despite Ziggler, the World Heavyweight Champion (and currently, one of the most important men in the business) being out with a concussion, Orton won the match after two RKO’s, and then a PUNT TO THE HEAD. I thought after the “Benoit Thing” as my friends refer to it, anything head-related was a strict no-no? Did Orton defy orders to give Show a battering in the old brainbox because it was an ‘extreme’ thing to do? Perhaps he just doesn’t give a shit any more and wants to get fired. Still, that had me thinking it wasn’t extreme, just really irresponsible.

Moving on…I have a quandary. I don’t like SuperCena. I like him even less as WWE Champion, with his kid-friendly “the champ is here” schtick and endless merchandising opportunities. But on the other hand, I don’t like Goldberg – I mean Skip Sheffield – DAMN – I mean Ryback. A guy who was in The Nexus for about three months before breaking his leg and coming back after physiotherapy and apparently a lobotomy that turned him into a grunting, gurning meat-head who somehow became #1 contender to the WWE Championship after beating a bunch of 100lb jobbers and losing to CM Punk in a Hell In A Cell match. It defies belief, it really does. Randy Savage would be turning in his grave, God bless him. My hopes that their Last Man Standing match, coming towards the end of the card, would be a saving grace were sadly misplaced. However ‘over’ Ryback is with the fans now, he’s still severely limited in terms of what he can do in the ring. Seriously, he can do about four moves – at least half of those badly or with a decent chance of injuring his opponent beyond all repair. Look at Lesnar in his prime – can you really see Ryback doing a fucking Moonsault? He probably can’t remember his own name half the time. His limitations are painfully obvious halfway through this contest with perhaps the shittiest Spear I’ve ever seen, before using his ‘meathook’ clothesline twice in a row. That’s not even an innovative move – it’s been around since about the 1700s.

The farce that is Extreme Rules is typified when referee Charles Robinson (nice hair, Charles) has to clear bits of broken wooden table out of the ring lest one of the competitors hurts themselves. Is it possible for Health and Safety to exist in the universe of ‘extreme’? Apparently so. And the referee’s have to wear rubber gloves now if (God forbid, cover the children’s eyes) someone gets bloodied by accident. I’m surprised the referee didn’t whip a hand-held vacuum cleaner out and spruce the ring up while both men were down for the count.

For God’s sake.

Things picked up a little when the action spilled to the outside, where Cena used a fire extinguisher, before yet ANOTHER mind-boggling ending (I believe it was a no-contest, or a draw…nobody bothered telling us) when both men crashed through the stage set at the top of the entrance ramp, through a wall of lights. Despite the referee not knowing where they’d gone (Narnia, probably) the medical staff managed to find them in about ten seconds flat, and were already attending to both men backstage. This was obviously done so as not to damage Ryback’s ‘monster’ image, and ensure he didn’t look all weedy by being pinned (i.e. the reason it was a Last Man Standing bout), but also to evoke some sort of emotional response from the fans when SuperCena was looking in bad trouble after being taken out. Even Jerry Lawler added to the corny atmosphere by speaking in hushed tones, just like everyone did when Owen Hart (RIP) fell to his death in the ring. I felt a bit sick at this.

So, it was down to good old Paul Levesque and Brock Lesnar to save the event and give us something to talk about on the way home. And my, did they deliver. I’m not sure if someone had a quiet word with them after Wrestlemania, but this cage match blew their Summerslam and Wrestlemania encounters out the water. Lesnar did some pretty over the top selling for his knee injury during the match, practically crying like a bitch at one point after he banged it up on the side of the cage wall. Despite his weirdly thin-looking legs, it’s plain to see that WWE don’t see Lesnar as a flash in the pan, and seeing as he’s signed a contract extension, it was possibly his reward that he got the deciding victory in the feud with Triple H, even if it was with Paul Heyman’s assistance. Perhaps we will see the rematch of Lesnar vs. The Rock sometime in the future (that’s if The Rock wasn’t conning us all with his ‘I may have wrestled my last match’ interview). Personally I’d love to see a Lesnar vs. Punk rivalry when he returns from his self-imposed recuperation period, perhaps a storyline involving Heyman’s loyalties and who he prefers better. Then again, we have the mouth-watering prospect of Lesnar vs. Undertaker again – surely a swansong match for the Deadman at next year’s Wrestlemania?

Overall then, it’s a shame to say that Extreme Rules was nowhere near extreme enough for most WWE fans’ tastes. I’ve said before it’s not all about the bloodshed, but there was a distinct lack of action or high spots in this event, save for the steel cage match, which appeared to give us Triple H being legitimately knocked out after Lesnar seemed to connect a little too directly with a sledgehammer shot. This wasn’t a patch on last year’s Extreme Rules event, and the incendiary Lesnar vs. Cena brawl, but I guess we have to take the rough with the smooth when it comes to WWE. Although the good times had better return in spades soon, or a lot of people might begin to lose interest.

WWE begin concussion storyline:
In what appears to be inspired by the recent real-life concussion of Dolph Ziggler, WWE have began a similar storyline with Triple H. On last night’s RAW he was unable to complete his match with Curtis Axel, and WWE.com are now reporting that the Game has no memory of coming out to the ring or wrestling. Ziggler himself suffered memory loss.

This was a way to sell Brock Lesnar’s victory over Triple H at Extreme Rules and put over Axel without Hunter doing it clean.

Stars put over revamped McGillicutty:
Various stars took to Twitter last night to praise Curtis Axel, the revamped Michael McGillicutty…

Chris Jericho: “Proud & excited for the debut of #CurtisAxel! He’s been waitin for this his whole life. Somewhere Mr Perfect is smiling his mischievous grin”

Curt Hawkins: “Couldn’t be happier for the former @WWEMcGillicutty …& don’t worry about me guys. Nobody has ever refered to me as “Curtis”. I’m ok. #RAW”

Howard Finkel: “Curtis Axel has become a WWE household name over the last 15 min.. Opportunity knocks, and I think that he’ll open the door and embrace it”

Ezekiel Jackson: “Curtis axel… Kid deserves it… Congrats bud”

Tyson Kidd: “Curt Axel has some amazing music. Natural from day 1, he doesn’t know his own potential. He can go in the ring #Raw”

Dolph Ziggler: “genuinely proud of @WWEMcGillicutty go get em, kid! (curt axel)”

Mick Foley: “I think @RealCurtisAxel has a real shot at getting over. Otherwise, the master (@HeymanHustle) wouldn’t be guiding him”

The Bella Twins: “Everything Paul touches turns to gold…. We see money in Curt Axel ???? #RAW”

Lance Storm: “Anyone who thinks Curt Axel as new @HeymanHustle guy is a miss, doesn’t understand building to the future. #RAW”

Paul Heyman: “I always wanted to manage @RealCurtisAxel’s father. A better-than-Perfect debut tonight! @WWE #RAW”

Titus drops F-Bomb live on RAW:
Titus O’Neil could be heard dropping the “F-Bomb” on last night’s RAW, during his match with Sheamus, although the slight tape delay allowed it to be censored. Mick Foley joked about it on Twitter…

“I’m guessing that @VinceMcMahon’s post-match chat with @TitusONeilWWE will be a memorable one.”

The Cowboy out for 6-8 weeks:
TNA’s “Cowboy” James Storm will be out of action for 6 to 8 weeks following his recent abdominal injury. He noted on Twitter…

“Just so everyone knows. Doc said I have a slight tear in my right abdominal & a adductor strain “groin pull” 6-8 weeks. Busting ass 2 b back”

Storm suffered the injury when he refereed Bad Influence vs Aries & Roode a couple of weeks ago.

Ryback wants Ambulance match at WWE Payback:
Although there’s a solid argument from fans who felt cheated out of a proper finish to Extreme Rules, WWE are continuing the storyline in to June’s Payback PPV. Ryback obviously feeling cheated himself – since he made it to his feet and Cena had to be carted off in an Ambulance – challenged Cena to an Ambulance match at the event.

Ryback couldn’t win the “Last Man Standing” match clean because Cena is the overbearing corporate brand; thus Ryback can only win the ego battle. However because of this Cena actually looks weak and protected, and Ryback still sounds like a whiner. Nobody at this point is particularly likable.

Later on RAW Ryback took his frustrations out on a prone Zack Ryder, who had already lost to Cody Rhodes. Sending a message to Cena, Ryback picked up his prey and placed him in the ambulance he rode out in at the start of the show.

A new Paul Heyman guy:
In the run up to last night’s show Paul Heyman was teasing the debut of a new “Paul Heyman Guy” and he didn’t fail to deliver. The newest member of “Heyman Associates” is none other than Michael McGillicutty, though he is now going by the name Curtis Axel. To flog a dead horse, while it’s understandable why WWE might have changed his name – a fresh start for a stale character – why can’t he just be Joe Hennig? It just seems like an incredible waste of creative juice and branding when he has more depth to his character by just being himself. Heyman even played off his legendary wrestling family to get him over in the promo and his entrance music was a remix of his father’s, Mr Perfect. Why muddy the waters?

However it looks like WWE have big plans for the third generation star because Triple H crashed the unveiling and then challenged Axel for the main event. During the match Triple H – still selling his injuries from the big cage match on Sunday – had to bow out because he was too hurt to continue, leaving Curtis Axel standing dominant in the ring.

The Shield def. Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston:
Fresh off their US title and Tag title wins at Extreme Rules, The Shield restated their position by defeating their opponents – Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston – in a six man tag match. Isolating Bryan & Kingston, Roman Reigns was able to get the spear on Kane for the win.

May 20, 2013, WWE Raw Results:

- The Miz & Chris Jericho def. Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett & Fandango.
- Sheamus def. Titus O’Neil.
- Big E Langston def. Alberto Del Rio after AJ caused a distraction.
- AJ Lee def. Layla with the Black Widow.
- Cody Rhodes def. Zack Ryder.
- U.S. Champion & WWE Tag Team Champions The Shield def. Team Hell No & Kofi Kingston.
- Randy Orton def. Jack Swagger after being voted by WWE App users.
- Curtis Axel def. Triple H

Another surgery for veteran Mysterio:
WWE doctors have determined that Rey Mysterio will need yet another surgery on his knee before being fit to get back in the ring. Dr. James Andrews described the work as “minor” and the goal is for Mysterio to return for August.

The former World Champ hasn’t wrestled a full schedule since December 2012. One of WWE’s primary concerns in recent years has been justifying Rey’s pay demands with his injury proneness. Sin Cara and Alberto Del Rio were both supposed to help pick up the Hispanic market as Rey winds down his career, but so far neither have really lived up to expectations.

What ya gonna do when the Flu runs wild on you?:
TNA’s Hulk Hogan noted on Twitter that he’s recovering from a bout of the flu…

“Send me pictures of Hogan’s Beach yesterday please, I couldn’t make it yesterday had the flu, heard it was packed and crazy, about 4000 people…Gonna be a crazy week, IMPACT WRESTLING THIS THURSDAY at the Sundome in Tampa, then Memorail weekend at Hogans Beach, watcha gonna do brotherHH?”

WWE star not running for Senate:
Kane has brushed aside rumors from the Libertarian blogging community that he plans to run for Senate in Texas. He told the Tennessean that he has “no plans on running for political office at this time,” and that this was a case of “things get a little carried away on the Internet.”

Kane is a blogger and political commentator in his own right and has recently spoke out against the Internet Sales Tax. However being a full time touring WWE Superstar he won’t be entering politics any time soon.

Rock’s favorite younger wrestlers:
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vilet, The Rock put over his cousin Roman Reigns as a future top star…

“Let’s see, I would say probably, let me speak on the WWE. I would say Roman Reigns, who’s a cousin of mine, I think he looks great, very talented in the ring. The Shield, all those three guys by the way, are doing a great job. I’ll say this, and he knows this, but Fandango is one of my favorites. Now what makes him such an interesting character and wrestling fans understand this when I tell them this, to play a character like that you’ve got to embrace it and that’s not an easy character to embrace. He embraces it, which tells me that he’s got a lot going on, I think, in terms of his depth and how far he can go in terms of character. So, I would say those guys. The four month run that I had in WWE was really eye opening and I was able to see a lot of young talent who are very very hungry, very humble, and what’s interesting is there was some talent there who, you know, just the nature of the business, have become soured grapes and miserable. But the younger guys, good to see, were very excited and there was that hunger there. It reminds me of myself about 10, 15 years ago when I first started.”

Rock also reiterated the possibility that Wrestlemania 29 was his last match…

“That’s a great question. I grew up in wrestling, as you know. So for me, that was a dream scenario, going into the biggest Wrestlemania of all time, at MetLife Stadium, breaking records and going in as WWE Champion. Losing the belt to John Cena and in the world of wrestling, you’re probably familiar with this, there is the passing of the torch so to speak and doing the right thing for business. So, it was a dream scenario and if in fact that was my last match, man, I’m happy with it because I wound up not only having three hernial tears, but I also tore my adductor tendon as well as rectus tendon clean off my pelvis. So to be able to finish the match and not let anybody know, kind of walk out on my own, And I loved it.”

On the cards for tonight’s RAW:
WWE.com is hyping the following preview points for tonight’s RAW from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri…

- Will Dolph Ziggler return to face Alberto Del Rio?

- How will The Shield begin their three-pronged reign of terror?

- Will Ryback make another play for the WWE Title before Payback?

- What does the future hold for Brock Lesnar?

- Does Fandango have another twist in mind for Chris Jericho?

Locally neither Dolph Ziggler, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar or Triple H are advertised, but that doesn’t rule them out completely.

WWE have also announced that Jonas Brother – Kevin Jonas will be the Social Media Ambassador…

“The WWE Universe can get their Jonas fix by following Kevin on Twitter throughout tonight’s show at @KevinJonas. It’s sure to be burnin’ up with unique insight from the WWE Universe’s newest member.”

Extreme Rules saw debut of new cage design:
Last night’s WWE Extreme Rules PPV saw the debut of a brand new cage design. The new structure has three panels on each side and standing platforms at the top, on each corner. It also appears to be slightly higher.

No official reason has been given for the change but we can assume the standing platforms have made it a bit safer.

Miguel channels Mysterio:
Rey Mysterio was trending last during the Billboard Awards event after singer Miguel attempted to leap from one stage to another, and leg-dropped a female fan in the process!

On this week’s The Suplah: Liam and Carmine discuss the Christy Hemme and Austin Aries incident, the booking of Antonio Cesaro and the rest of the week’s wrestling news.

Subscribe: iTunes, RSS

Yet another week and with Extreme Rules and Slammiversary coming up both cards are pretty much confirmed, although I have to say that for a company that is only having 4 PPVs a year now, TNA isn’t exactly pulling out ‘must-see’ cards for their big shows, I wonder if it will reflect in the buyrates? Anyway those in the WWE got a little more intense leading up to Extreme Rules and continuing with the policy of ‘everyman/woman earns his/her own points’, competition for space on the chart was pretty stiff. So without further ado, let’s get on with it…

Weekly Top Ten:

1st Place: Fandango (10/10)

After the severe attack committed on Jericho this week by Fandango I am surprised that there isn’t some kind of stipulation set for their match. However Jericho actually getting serious about things is good enough for me. Fandango got first place this week not only for hitting Jericho with part of a dancefloor, yes that’s right, and you said this gimmick wouldn’t have any life in it, but he also pulled off a fantastic ruse with his dance partner Summer Rae. The whole thing went down pretty much to the optimum a dance contest could in professional wrestling, without that annoying ‘the heel always loses’ audience reaction voting. Honestly when you see that Fandango didn’t have to go through that you have to wonder if when it happens it is just McMahon taking the piss, hell maybe most shit things in the WWE are the result of this, I wouldn’t be surprised.

2nd Place: Seth Rollins (9/10)

He might have been pinned by John Cena in their elimination tag team match but of all the members of the Shield Rollins got the most exposure this week in his long match with Kane on Main Event. The Shield continue to generally be successful and protected in their matches and if things continue this way by the time you are reading this Rollins will be one half of the new tag team champions. Like all mysterious forces in narrative the Shield are now going through the test of gaining more exposure and in this their characters might falter depending on how the WWE handle things, especially once they become champions. They are going to need to not only beat their challengers, but also have challengers who actually have beef enough with them to have a proper rivalry, otherwise Shield matches are going to lose their meaning pretty fast, let’s just hope the WWE actually care enough to do this.

3rd Place: Mark Henry (8/10)

Henry made a point this week of how easy it would be for him to drag a normal man around the ring in a strap match and touch all four corners. While Sheamus is no normal man, it was a great heel demonstration of strength, and something that Josh Matthews will most likely never forget. I hope he gives a whoopin’ to Sheamus in their strap match as the Celtic Warrior has almost reached Orton status, as in he has nothing to gain by winning, whereas Henry might actually be able to challenge for the WWE title this time on the back of a win here.

4th Place: Roman Reigns (7/10)

The second member of the Shield on the chart and the man who scored the win over the Usos on Smackdown leading into their title match this Sunday. I think everyone is surprised that it is Rollins and Reigns who are being paired together for the titles but just writing it now the two sound good together as champions, also if Ambrose gets the US title it brings him a step closer to being the first breakout star of the group, meaning that the WWE are actually rewarding personality over size, which is nice. Having said that I grow to like Reigns more and more as his spear really is being sold as devastating and with the cheeky Shield camera angles making sure it looks like it comes out of nowhere, it really is becoming the move that can turn around the momentum in a match, and it will no doubt serve the team well as champions.

5th Place: Dean Ambrose (6/10)

Ambrose was saved from tapping to Cena this week and was the last man left in the Elimination tag, however as he was not involved all that much in the other matches the group had this week he ends up being the last of the three in the rankings, even though arguably he is the most stand-out member at the moment. Going back to the issue of the Shield needing real rivalries once they become champions the WWE is in a good position to fulfil this as there are multiple members of the roster who have felt the sword of justice and could come back for some revenge, I just hope they don’t make it so convoluted and chaotic as TNA have done with the Aces & 8s, where people come back from out of nowhere and then disappear again without warning.

6th Place: Bully Ray (5/10)

Speaking of TNA, the world heavyweight champion Bully Ray was up to his usual tricks this week, although he did make an interesting stipulation for his match with Sting at Slammiversary, which if TNA actually stick to it, could mean that there is no danger of Sting ever being given the world title again. Then again TNA never, ever stick to their sensationalised stipulations, ground-breaking announcements or decrees. When was the last time the TV title was defended on Impact? How long do you really think this X-Division three-way thing will last? Do you really think that Sting will actually never be given another title shot if he loses to Bully? But a man can dream can’t he.

7th Place: Summer Rae (4/10)

Fandango’s partner in crime did a great job this week of faking an ankle injury, and solidifying herself as being the female of choice to back up Johnny Curtis on a regular basis. Not only that but she also bested Natalya this week on NXT, which is no small task for a relatively new talent in the WWE.

8th Place: The Ryback (3/10)

The Ryback’s heel turn continues to be lacklustre, even though he did end Raw by delivering a chair shot to Cena’s injured ankle. I still can’t see him walking out with the title on Sunday, although if he does it will be interesting to see where the WWE go from there. More likely though the question should be where will they go with him if he loses, then they will have taken this potential star who was getting the crowd solidly behind him, and made him into just another mid-card heel monster, and not a very good one at that.

9th Place: Damien Sandow (2/10)

The Intellectual Savour of the Unwashed Masses has been getting a lot more match time as of late, sure he has been losing in most of these cases but at least he has not become an afterthought, although he did fail to win the NXT championship from Big E. Langston so I’m not sure whether to count his title shot as a good thing or bad since a title shot is a title shot, but a main roster guy losing to the NXT champion still looks like Sandow was fed to the guy like so much fodder.

10th Place: Cody Rhodes (1/10)

While his sometimes partner is being used to make others look good, Rhodes was being built up this week to face the Miz at the Extreme Rules pre-show, as such he managed to beat Justin Gabriel and Alex Riley, albeit on Main Event and Superstars. Ah Alex Riley, I remember when A-Rye was another potential face star in the making, and then John Cena blotted him out like so much garbage. Honestly I do believe that while Cena has helped get over his share of heels, he seems to never allow anyone on the face side of things to step out from underneath his shadow, and we all suffer for it.

2013-2014 Season Top Ten:

1st Place: Johnny Curtis (36)

2nd Place: Mark Henry (34)

3rd Place: Bully Ray (31)

4th Place: Seth Rollins (26)

5th Place: Dean Ambrose (25)

6th Place: Roman Reigns (24)

7th Place: Dolph Ziggler (23)

8th Place: The Ryback (21)

9th Place: Wade Barrett (13)

10th Place: Big E. Langston (12)

(Heel Hall of Fame)

**Heel Report 2010-2011 Winner: The Miz**

**Heel Report 2011-2012 Winner: Cody Rhodes**

**Heel Report 2012-2013 Winner: C.M. Punk**

Weekly Filler

The Face-Off: NXT Releases

I know it is just par for the course but it sucks that guys like Derrick Bateman and Percy Watson were let go when they have already so much development in NXT, still not everyone can be saved and coming along after the whole Nexus angle didn’t help. Then there is Riley Pierce, Dolph Ziggler’s brother, now if being related to the world champion doesn’t keep you from getting fired then it just tells you exactly how much that belt is actually worth to the people backstage. Personally I can’t figure out why guys like JTG and Curt Hawkins are still around, but ah well.

Face the Facts: Diva Match Banter

Now usually I have beef with WWE announcers as they talk about bollocks and don’t comment on the story and action in the ring. However due to the general shoddy nature of divas matches, at least those featuring the ‘talents’ of Kaitlyn and Aksana, it is actually a welcome distraction to hear them prattle on about stuff and try to put themselves over. Plus they seem to be getting ruder and ruder when it comes to the divas and while it doesn’t exactly help the perception of sexism in professional wrestling it is at least more amusing than the WWE hiring models as wrestlers and then insisting that they are ‘smart, sexy and powerful’ but doing nothing else to put them over.

On the Rise: Bo Dallas

Bo Dallas appears to be hinting at a heel turn and I for one think it is a good idea, if for nothing else than his connection to the Wyatt Family. The group is slowly taking over NXT and if there could be a scenario where Bo reveals that he had been indoctrinated by Wyatt after their recent rivalry and lost the tag titles on purpose to give them to the family then that could start a really interesting feud between him and Neville that could tide the former PAC over for a good few months before the WWE are actually ready to call him up to the main roster.

Flat-Footed: WWE App Plugs

Yo dawg, we heard you liked Monday Night Raw, so we put Monday Night Raw in your Monday Night Raw. Fuck off!

That’s all for this week, Ziggler’s recent concussion may not have lost him his newly won title, but it has kind of screwed him over in the early standings on the report. Honestly I missed Ziggler on WWE programming this week, it just didn’t feel the same and that in itself is saying something. Ziggler is one of the few guys who managed to carve out a personality for himself in an era where most guys came up from developmental as cookie-cutter guys, honestly we should probably be thankful that Ziggler was given his breaks as a Caddy, a male Cheerleader, and a guy who supposedly had a massive dong, as I have been led to believe his gimmick was originally intended to be before someone realised that the ‘porn star’ gimmick wouldn’t really fly in the PG era. Anyway Ziggler will be off Extreme Rules but the show itself should still be somewhat entertaining, come back next week to see how the PPV has impacted the chart, for now this is James Wright signing off.

- The Miz def. Cody Rhodes with the Figure Four (Pre-Show Match).

- Chris Jericho def. Fandango by catching him mid-flight in the Code-Breaker.

- Dean Ambrose def. Kofi Kingston to become new U.S. Champion.

- Sheamus def. Mark Henry (Strap Match).

- Alberto Del Rio def. Jack Swagger to become World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender (“I Quit” Match). During the bout Colter threw in Ricardo’s white flag causing the bell to be rung, but the match was restarted and Del Rio got the victory with a Cross-Armbreaker.

- The Shield‘s Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns def. Team Hell No to become new WWE Tag Team Champions (Tornado Tag Match).

- Randy Orton def. Big Show with a Boot to the head. (Extreme Rules Match).

- WWE Champion John Cena and Ryback wrestled to a No Contest in a Last Man Standing Match, after neither man could get to their feet.

Bischoff backs Red Machine’s possible political run:
TNA honcho Eric Bischoff responded with praise on Twitter after reading that WWE’s Kane may be perusing a run for senate on the Libertarian platform…

“Glenn Jacobs (WWE KANE) is one of the most intelligent, well read, and politically aware people I’ve had the pleasure to work with.”

Wrestling has quite a notable Libertarian community, including Kane, Stevie Richards, Val Venis, Joey Styles, Xpac and others.

JR on WWE/TNA cross-promotion comments:
Jim Ross addressed TNA President Dixie Carter‘s recent comments – that she would be open to co-promoting an event with WWE – in his latest JRSBARBQ.com blog…

“WWE is about as likely to work w/ Impact Wrestling on an event as I am wearing burnt orange to the Oklahoma-Texass Red River Rivalry Game. Ain’t gonna happen. WWE has zero to gain by this and I’m surprised that some fans actually think that it “could” happen. TNA Owner Dixie Carter is a bright lady and made a timely sound byte that many fans, I’m sure, were excited to read but let’s be honest…it’s not going to happen.”

It should be noted that Carter never once suggested it could be a real possibility, she was simply responding to a interviewer’s question.

Naomi dating an Uso:
Funkadactyl standout Naomi is currently dating Jimmy Uso according to a recent Tweet by Natalya. The couple will be featured on upcoming WWE reality shoe Total Divas on E!

Goldberg disses WWE’s business practices:
Former wrestling star Goldberg said WWE don’t know how to properly do business when asked if he’d return to the promotion on Twitter. He said he’d be up for coming back…“When they learn how to run a business.”

Goldberg said he’d most like to Spear Triple H if he got the opportunity, and would consider a feud with Ryback…
“If they knew how to do business I’d consider it.”

Bob Costas talks interview meltdown with McMahon:
Sportscaster Bob Costas discussed his infamous interview with Vince McMahon on a recent Piers Morgan show. The interview in question occurred in 2001…

McMahon issued the following statement…

“I used to think Bob Costas was a pompous arrogant, self-absorbed, pseudo-intellectual little twerp. I used to think that. But now, 12 years later, I’ve come to realize he’s not really a twerp. LOL”

Morrison in new movie:
Former WWE star John Morrison is currently in Oakland filming for Get Justice, alongside former WWF/WCW alumni Tiny “Zeus” Lister…

WWE announces 30 minute Extreme Rules post-show:
As well as the pre-show WWE have announced their first 30 minute post-show for tonight’s Extreme Rules PPV…

This Sunday’s Extreme Rules event just got even bigger: In addition to the previously announced Pre-Show featuring The Miz vs. Cody Rhodes, the WWE Universe will also have the opportunity to watch a free, live-streamed 30-minute Post-Show immediately following the pay-per-view.

To catch all the action of WWE’s most out-of-control event of the year, tune in for the interactive Pre-Show starting at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. Both the Pre-Show and Post-Show will be available for viewing on WWE.com, the WWE App, YouTube, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Samsung SMART TVs and Xbox 360.

While The Miz and Cody Rhodes look to one-up each other in singles competition on the Pre-Show, the Post-Show will provide continued analysis of the night’s biggest matches, as well as exclusive interviews with top Superstars. You won’t want to miss the immediate reactions from that night’s winners and losers.

And don’t forget about all that’s slated to take place on the packed Extreme Rules card itself. Following their Last Man Standing Match, who will leave St. Louis with the WWE Championship, John Cena or Ryback? Will Triple H finally put an end to his war against Brock Lesnar when both gladiators step inside the steel cage? How will The Shield fare in championship competition?

Join the fun on WWE.com, the WWE App, YouTube, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, Samsung SMART TVs and Xbox 360 this Sunday, May 19, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.

Impact audience draws yearly low:
This week’s episode of TNA Impact Wrestling drew an average audience of 1,050,000 viewers on Spike TV. This is the lowest number of 2013.

Tumor found in Zema Ion’s colon:
TNA X-Division star Zema Ion had emergency appendicitis surgery on Wednesday and during the procedure doctors discovered a tumor in his colon. Here’s the message he left on Facebook…

TNA President would co-promote with WWE:
Thanks to Jordan for sending this along…
“TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter has told Digital Spy that she is open to the idea of a WWE/TNA crossover event, where the two rival organisations have their stars go head-to-head. Carter, who has visited the UK to promote TNA’s 2014 British tour, said that she enjoys the rivalry with WWE, arguing that it benefits both companies and – most importantly – the fans.”

Here is Carter’s quote from DigitalSpy.com…

“I don’t think [the WWE] shares my belief in this, but I believe that competition is 100% positively essential,I think it’s important for fans and for us. To have one company dominate, a) it’s boring, and you are not being challenged enough. It’s always better to have other options out there and I truly believe it makes both companies better. absolutely would do that. I’m not sure if they would do that (a crossover event), but I absolutely would.”

WWE cut developmental talent:
WWE have released a total of seven NXT developmental wrestlers today to make room for new signees for their performance center. Here’s who was cut…

- Derrick Bateman… “Welp see ya later @wwe @WWEUniverse #itsfine.”

- Briley Pierce, the younger brother of Dolph Ziggler… “I guarantee that was the funniest and most entertaining “You’re released” phone call in WWE history. Bye, everybody!”

- Sakamoto, Tensai’s former manager… “#WWE #NXT my friend thank you for everything SAYONARA.”

- Brandon Traven… “Staying positive on a bad day..not the end only the beginning…things in life happen for a reason..just had a good lunch with good people. Not the end of the book just the end of the chapter..my journey is far from over”

- Percy Watson.

- Audrey Marie, former NXT Divas Champion.

- Anya, a 6’1″ Russian kickboxer and martial artist who has been out with an arm injury.

WWE donate to Sports Legacy Institute:
WWE will be donating $1.2 million to Chris Nowinski’s Sports Legacy Institute to help fund further research in to the issue of concussions and brain injuries. USA Today report that the funding will be spread over a 3 year period…

“Obviously, I think it’s such a huge concern for everybody right now in sports and in the military. As we learn more and more about concussions and what can become of it, I think it’s a problem for everybody,” says Triple H. “We took out the things that … caused the most concussions and the most head impacts…We still hit people with metal chairs, just not in the head anymore.”

Following the Chris Benoit tragedy WWE downplayed the idea that Benoit’s in-ring concussions impaired his mental state and they further distanced themselves from the Sports Legacy Institute during Linda McMahon‘s political campaigning, as Chris Nowinski was particularly critical of her. It’s encouraging to see they’re now on the same page.

WWE star getting in to politics?:
According to the Libertarian blogging community WWE star Kane may be considering running for Lamar Alexander’s Tennessee Senate seat. Kane is an open Libertarian and recently spoke out against the Internet sales tax.

This may of course by hype, since Kane is a full time touring member of WWE’s roster.

Booker out having surgery:
SmackDown GM Booker T has been off television these past few weeks because he recently underwent elbow surgery. He wrote on Twitter at the end of last month…

“Going to get my elbow worked on from 20 years of Spinaroonies.”

Justin Credible clears up arrest report:
ECW original Justin Credible released the following statement about his recent arrest…

“This was something stemming from two years ago when my father was in Portugal on vacation and I cashed one of his checks that he told me I could cash. Then, went to check-cashing and he forgot he gave me the authority, then he cancelled it. So, it bounced on the check-cashing place. So, the warrant was out there. I had known about this for two years. I wanted to clear my name and I’m doing well and don’t want any legal s—, I turned myself into the police department on my own. No one was looking for me. Just to have my life straightened out, like I’m told to do in my AA program. So, I paid the cash-checking fee, which was a couple hundred dollars. I was in the police station for 20 minutes and all charges have been dropped.”

ECW original faces forgery charges:
On May 3rd, ECW Original Justin Credible was arrested on charges of third degree forgery and sixth degree larceny, in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was released on a $2,500 bond and has court scheduled for June 21st.

Credible has been living clean as of late and has been talking about getting back in to wrestling.

TNA President praises British star:
TNA President Dixie Carter put over Magnus in a recent UK Sun interview…

“He was only 21 when I signed him and I don’t think people realize that because he looked so much more mature than that… He’s really grown. He’s a fabulous talker and his in-ring work has come so far. He’s gorgeous and carries himself like a superstar…. Magnus is the real deal.”

WWE drops Gorgeous George project:
WWE have dropped their Gorgeous George project, which initially started as a WWE Studios feature film and morphed in to a Documentary DVD. It’s believed the promotion lost focus when Bruno Sammartino accepted the Hall of Fame offer and it looks like they’ll be doing his projects first.

Aries fined over Hemme incident:
TNA star Austin Aries has been fined for the incident where he forced his crotch in the face of Christy Hemme, after she botched his ring entrance last week.

TMZ reports that the fine was “severe” and that Hemme has told officials she was “satisfied” with Aries’ apology.

Storm undergoes MRI:
“The Cowboy” James Storm underwent an MRI scan in Vanderbilt, TN, yesterday to fully assess his recent groin injury. He wrote on Twitter…

“Dodge a bullet. No hernia. Partial torn ab and adductor strain (groin pull). Start rehab tomorrow. Thanks for the tweets, text & phone calls.”

Storm also posted up his X-Ray…

“You know you have a problem when you tell the doc, it looks like a bottle opener. Ha.”

Cody talks mustache and his future goals:
WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes was recently interviewed by ThePitch.com and discussed the idea behind his mustache…

“Well, my fiancée is sitting right next to me, and she hates the mustache. So I don’t know if it’s as fantastic as you say, but thank you very much. It was mine, but it wasn’t really this huge overreaching grand design. The only time that I’ve ever been injured in my career – I had x amount of days that I didn’t have to be on television, and in that time I grew, originally, a very poor mustache. It’s grown into being rather full-bodied now. It was something that when I came back, everyone appreciated the fact my partner at the time, Damien Sandow, had the massive 19th-century beard, and I had the mustache with the intent of taking it away from the modern hipster and putting a little civility back into it.”

Rhodes also discussed his gaol to move in to the main event…

“The WWE Universe, they’ve seen me grow up on their television. I didn’t show up a fully polished superstar. I showed up rather undersized and underwhelming and had to grow. People who thought that they might move ahead of me, I moved ahead of them. It’s been quite a ladder to climb already, but I think in their eyes that I’m ready, and that’s all that matters because they truly dictate what’s happening on television, and that’s a good thing.”

New WWE merch hits India:
WWE are expanding their operation in India with several new lines of merchandise, including a ‘Back to School’ franchise with bags, water bottles, stationery and lunch boxes; and DVD releases for The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin and John Cena.

India has always been a tough market to crack because of it’s high rate of counterfeit goods and fake celebrity endorsements on products.

TNA President says Aries was dealt with:
TNA President Dixie Carter wrote on Twitter that the Austin Aries incident with Christy Hemme had been taken care of…

“TNA has ZERO tolerance for inappropriate behavior. The incident with Austin Aries was taken very seriously and handled immediately.”

Exactly how it was handled is not known.

WWE sign Sami Callihan?:
Sami Callihan has been pulled from Big Japan Pro-Wrestling’s May 24th RISING tournament because he’s signing a WWE contract, according to a statement on their website. Word doing the rounds the other week was that Callihan had been undergoing WWE’s various medical and wellness tests, that have to be passed before a contract can be offered.

RAW audience rises:
This week’s episode of WWE Monday Night RAW drew an average audience of 4.05 million viewers on the USA Network. This is up from the previous week’s 3.917 million number.

In a rare instance the audience continued to rise throughout the show, rather than switching off towards the 3rd hour.

WWE renews DVD distribution deal:
STAMFORD, Conn. and NEW YORK May 14, 2013 – WWE (NYSE:WWE) and Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment (GVE), a leading distributor of entertainment and lifestyle media, today announced a multi-year extension for home video distribution of WWE programming.

The new agreement will continue to give GVE distribution rights to release 12 WWE pay-per-view events each year, including WrestleMania® and SummerSlam®, as well as a robust catalog of collectible titles throughout the U.S. on physical and digital platforms.

“WWE has been a true partner for us in every sense of the word,” said Bill Sondheim, President of Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment. “Their dedicated fan base continues to power our promotions year after year, and this deal helps to energize our retail partners and further fuel our growth. We are excited to continue building exciting cross-promotional and merchandising opportunities with our physical and on-line retailers and key WWE partners.”

“GVE has helped us offer a vast array of programming to our passionate fan base across multiple formats,” said Casey Collins, Executive Vice President of Consumer Products, WWE. “We are pleased to extend the partnership and continue to offer WWE enthusiasts a wide array of home entertainment programming.”

Aries getting disciplined over Christy Hemme incident?:
WCW alumni and Pittsburgh radio host Mark Madden is claiming that Austin Aries is going to be disciplined in some way for forcing his crotch in the face of Christy Hemme on Impact. The incident occurred this past Thursday when Hemme botched Aries & Roode’s entrance introduction by calling them Bad Influence. It’s believed Austin Aries then cornered Hemme without her prior consent and climbed the turnbuckle with his crotch in her face.

Madden was particularly critical of Aries in a blog and has since contacted Spike TV for comment. He posted their response in a WrestleZone piece, suggesting Aries is set to be punished…

“We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment,” says Spike TV’s senior VP of communications David Schwarz. “We discussed [the incident] with our partner. [Aries is] being disciplined. I’m trying to get more information on what action is being taken. Dixie Carter took this very personally. He will be disciplined. Again, we have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment.

“I’m not sure specifically how [the discipline] will be handled. To what extent, I don’t know. This is certainly something we don’t condone and don’t tolerate. Such behavior is not welcome.”

Chavo Guerrero wrote a series of Tweets downplaying the whole affair…

“Great Job @MarkMaddenX for watering down wrestling even more. God forbid that a wrestler breaks out of the typical mold of being so scared to show his personality on TV. U must’ve been going crazy during the “attitude era” with every cutting edge thing that Vince did! & for the record, I saw Hemme after that segment, & she didn’t look bothered at all. Just saying…I was there.”

Hemme has not actually made much comment about the incident beyond to confirm that it happened and that it was “unacceptable”.

MVP changes his tune about TNA:
Former WWE star MVP who has previously brushed aside the idea of himself going to TNA appeared to change his tune in a recent Tweet…

“WWE, TNA, retirement? I’ve never worked with Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Mr. Anderson/Kennedy, Bobby Roode and so forth. I’ve often wondered what that would be like. The beautiful thing for me is that my future is wide open wherever I end up. Living life on my terms is an amazing feeling. Live for YOU!”

Joesph Park returns on Impact:
Joesph Park is teasing returning to Impact this week to welcome home his “brother” Abyss…

“I can’t wait to get to @IMPACTWRESTLING this Thursday and see my brother Abyss. It’s been awhile. Still can’t believe I missed him last week,” Park wrote.

“I miss one week due to @REALBully5150 and @TestifyDevon acts upon me and I miss my brother. I was shocked to see him. TNA has its monster back and just in time to defeat @TheAcesAnd8s. I knew he would come back. I feel better and healed up. I’ll be at @IMPACTWRESTLING Thurs.”

The Abyss character returned last week as a surprise partner for Team TNA against the Aces and Eights.

Austin Tweets after RAW:
WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin praised The Shield in a Tweet following last night’s WWE RAW…

“Nice work by The Shield. Young cats are doing pretty damn good. #WWE #raw”

The trio took on John Cena and Team Hell No on this week’s episode, but the match ended in a Disqualification.

Cole wouldn’t want Cena a bad guy:
In a recent interview on the Sam Roberts Show WWE announcer Michael Cole said he doesn’t think WWE Champion John Cena should turn his character bad, because he drives so much merchandise and is the face of the corporation, who are involved in all sorts of positive PR and charity. You can watch the full interview below…

JR and HBK hunt hog:
WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross Tweeted the following image of himself hunting hog with Shawn Michaels, which was presumably filmed for Shawn’s outdoor show…

Former WWE star releases new song:
Former WWE Superstar MVP has released another rap song. You can listen to “Time Of My Life” below…

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Fandango ambushes Chris Jericho, Ryback attacks Cena’s injured foot, and Triple H challenges Brock Lesnar early.

WWE RAW Review

Fandango ambushes Chris Jericho:
What was supposed to be a serious dance-off between Fandango and former Dancing With The Stars contestant Chris Jericho, soon turned in to another platform for Fandango to showcase his enormous ego and inability to take part in a fair contest. The obnoxious and flamboyant Superstar ambushed Jericho as he came to the aid of Summer Rae, who was feigning an ankle injury, vicously attacking him with a piece of wooden dance floor. Even veterans like Y2J still fall for the proverbial playing of the possum, but it will only turn up the heat for Extreme Rules.

Ryback increases his advantage:
Though the courageous John Cena would never admit it, with an injured achilles tendon he is certainly not 100% going in to his match with Ryback at Extreme Rules. After destroying Zack Ryder early in the night, the “Human Wrecking Machine” decided to increase this advantage by targeting the WWE Champion’s injured foot. Cena had been teaming with Team Hell No to take on The Shield in an elimination tag match, but the “Hounds of Justice” threw the bout in order to dish out some unsanctioned punishment. If the vicious Triple Powerbomb wasn’t enough, Ryback marched out like a shark smelling blood in water to further damage the Champ’s chances on PPV.

The Prime Time Players def. Tons of Funk:
Although it wasn’t clean, the Prime Time Players were back in the winner’s book this week by getting one over on Tons of Funk. Was the victory worth millions of dollars? Perhaps not, but Darren Young using the afro pick against Brodus Clay, so O’Neil could get the roll up, at least shows they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get noticed.

U.S. Champion Kofi Kingston def. Damien Sandow:
Kofi Kingston continued his momentum by powering through the Elbow of Disdain, to deliver Trouble In Paradise for the win.

Sheamus remains one step ahead of Mark Henry:
Mark Henry was out once again to demonstrate his strength and dominance, and tonight he would use Josh Mathews as an example of how his strap match with Sheamus will go down at Extreme Rules. Henry then called out Sheamus with the hope of “whipping him like he stole something”, but the Celtic Warrior had his own strap hidden under the ring, evening the odds and sending Henry in retreat.

Randy Orton def. Antonio Cesaro:
Antonio Cesaro boldly claimed last week that he puts the “W” in WWE, but for the second time in a week The Swiss Superman found himself coming up short against Randy Orton, who walked away with the win following the RKO.

The Miz returns and defeats Heath Slater:
Back from his Christmas Movie role, The Miz returned to defeat Heath Slater with the Figure-Four Leglock.

Jack Swagger def. Big E Langston via Count-Out:
Big E Langston’s opponent would be decided by the WWE Universe via the WWE App, and they chose the man Dolph Ziggler’s heavy was slated to face last Friday on SmackDown before things went south: Jack Swagger. And with his mentor laid up at home with a concussion, there was nobody to give him an advantage.

The brawling soon spilled out to the floor and Langston wound up in to the barrier, losing via count out. After the match Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez stormed down to the ring for an all out brawl.

AJ Lee def. Natalya:
In what will certainly make Hart Dungeon trained Natalya sit up and take notice, AJ Lee defeated her with the Octopus submission in the center of the ring.

Triple H sets the cage up early:
In the ultimate play of mind games Triple H had a cage set up early and called out his Extreme Rules opponent Brock Lesnar. The Game said that if he’s here, the fans are here and the steel is here, why not do it now?

Not one to back down from a fight Lesnar hit the ramp with his evil mouthpiece Paul Heyman, but Hunter wasn’t about to let him spew his rhetoric…”shut your pie hole!”

Heyman spoke anyway, proclaiming that Lesnar is a “cage fighting carnivore” and Triple H is “the biggest slab of meat in the WWE universe”.

After more trash-talking Lesnar entered the cage and the two bulls locked horns. The enemies brawled back and forth until Lesnar got the upper-hand with German Suplex. Out of nowhere Triple H fired back by sending Brock head first in to the cage, and then out of the door in to Heyman. Playing it smart, Lesnar backed down, leaving the war until Sunday.

World title match now a contenders match:
It was revealed on Monday’s WWE RAW that the World title match has been pulled from Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV due to Dolph Ziggler‘s concussion. Instead Alberto Del Rio will face Jack Swagger in an I Quit, number one contenders match. The winner will go on to face Ziggler at a later date when he’s cleared to wrestle.

When WWE’s new video game will be released:
WWE’s next video game and first under Take-Two’s 2K Sports brand, will be released on Tuesday, October 29, 2013. While WWE 2K14 has only been confirmed for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, an earnings release notes that it will be published “across all major platforms and distribution channels,” which suggests a Windows version may also be a possibility.

Bob Holly discusses Lesnar breaking his neck:
In an interview promoting his new book with Wrestling101.com former WWE Superstar Bob “Hardcore” Holly talked about when Brock Lesnar broke his neck…

“Let me clear something up, people write stupid s–t on the internet all the time saying me and Brock didn’t get along, me and him got along just fine and we worked well together. I did break my neck during a match with Brock but he called me all the time whilst I was in the hospital checking up on me. People say that he did it on purpose and I got what I deserved, let me tell you something no one deserves to get a broken neck number one, and he didn’t do it on purpose!”

The prevailing rumor is that Holly deliberately went dead-weight on Lesnar, so Lesnar slammed him down on his neck in retaliation.

Here are some other highlights from the interview…

The Sparky Plugg gimmick:
“Honestly it was a gimmick in wrestling but I really do race cars in real life. Back in the eighties and early nineties everything in wrestling had a cartoon character theme to it. When I had a meeting with Vince (McMahon) and JJ Dillon they hired me and said they would send my contract in the mail, when it arrived it had Thurman ‘Sparky’ Plug on it.

“I just kind of laughed and thought are you kidding me, yeah it was a corny gimmick because Vince and JJ liked the idea that I was a race car driver so they wanted to play off of that. The thing is what I tell everybody is that you can’t sit there and tell me if they gave you a goofy name like that you would turn them down and say no I’m not going to come to work for you because of that name. The WWE is where everybody wants to be and I just thought to myself, I’ll go with it and we’ll just take it from there and see what happens. I wasn’t too crazy about the gimmick because I had to be someone I really didn’t like portraying. In wrestling if you’re not comfortable portraying somebody you’re not going to put a hundred percent into it. I went to Vince about it and we discussed it, he was all for changing it.”

On Vince McMahon:
“He was a good boss, he knew what he wanted and you did what he asked of you but you had liberty to talk about it. He was very easy to talk to, a lot of people find it hard to talk to him but for me he was easy to talk to. He kept me around for 16 years and I thank Vince for giving me the opportunity to be there for so long because he could’ve easily got rid of me several times if he wanted to. He has always taken care of me when I was hurt and I never had to worry about anything, he’s always been good to me, he really has.

“A lot of people don’t like him but he’s a businessman, very smart. When it comes down to wrestling he knows what he’s doing, that’s why you don’t really question what he wants. If you have any ideas or anything like that you throw them at him but there’s really no reason to question him because look at the empire he has created.”

On TNA:
“I did some stuff for TNA recently; I did one of these One Night Only PPV’s for them, which I enjoyed immensely. Everybody over there was so nice to me and I teamed up with James Storm and Magnus. It was a completely different vibe there, nobody had any pressure on them, no stress, and everybody was enjoying their jobs. I might be doing some more stuff with them in the future so hopefully you can look out for me popping up in TNA.”

On the cards for tonight’s RAW:
WWE.com are hyping the following preview points for tonight’s RAW from the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma…

- Triple H and Brock Lesnar to meet face to face.

- Fandango and Chris Jericho dance-off.

- Who will Ryback target next?

- Will Kaitlyn’s secret admirer reveal himself?

- What is the status of injured World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler?

Chris Jericho revealed on Twitter that his dance partner for tonight will be professional dancer Edyta Sliwinska.

Fandango will likely be partnered with his old dancer rather than NXT’s Summer Rae as she is not actually a real dancer.

Fandango and Jericho have been hyping the dance-off on Twitter…

Fandango: “Having a dance off with Jericho is like putting Mike Tyson in the ring with Michael Cole… #JustDance.”

Jericho: “Having a Danceoff with Fandango on Raw is like having a game of musical chairs on Raw…oh yeah I won that, too.”

Santino Marella opening training school:
WWE’s Santino Marella noted on Twitter today that he is opening a wrestling and MMA training school called “Battle Arts Academy”, this July in Toronto.

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Another week gone by and we are getting close to Extreme Rules, Slammiversary is a little further away but already the main event is pretty set in stone. I’m really hoping that TNA aren’t going to do something crazy like let TNA win, much better to make it so that Sting can’t ever challenge for the title again, although adding a stipulation like that is pretty pointless in the end if he isn’t going to win as they will never stick to it, the only way it will work is if Sting retires first, although I suppose that is possible…maybe. Anyway enough of TNA’s crazy obsession with giving Sting title shots, let’s get on with the report.

Weekly Top Ten:

1st Place: Mark Henry (10/10)

The World’s Strongest Man went crazy this week after being cheap-shotted by Sheamus twice last week he belted the Celtic Warrior with a leather strap multiple times, and Sheamus is one of the best people to strap considering how well his skin shows the effects. Somehow despite this being a rehash of their rivalry a couple of years ago I find myself interested in seeing their match, so well done WWE. The highlight of this week had to be when Henry got the crowd to say ‘What’ several times and then called them all puppets, effective counter-move!

2nd Place: The Ryback (9/10)

It sure was nice to hear Ryback talk without so much weird breathing, although at the same time I am not one of those who thinks he should stop altogether as once he gets the balance right between distinctive and annoying, there is no reason why he can’t use his own promo style, even if it does make it sound like I am watching very strange gay porn to the casual observer (to be fair that is what everyone thinks when I watch wrestling anyway). Again I am pretty interested in seeing the Ryback-Cena Last Man Standing match, although I highly doubt that I will be pleased with the end result. I’m still not sure about this whole ‘Ryback Rules’ thing though, not sure if it will catch on.

3rd Place: Bully Ray (8/10)

A 3-D to Sting helps to confirm that TNA are playing up the Team 3D connection now, which I happen to love because it gives a much better pedigree to the group that adds a lot of weight to their credibility. The Bully might have lost the main event but he sure did represent his group well and dealt with D’Lo in a harsh manner which could lead to something down the line. I’m just hoping that TNA don’t decide to put the title on Sting at Slammiversary as that would pretty much kill the Aces & 8s angle before the group’s full potential had truly been reached.

4th Place: Austin Aries (7/10)

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived came pretty close to tea-bagging Christy Hemme this week after she miss-announced his and his partner Bobby Roode’s entrance. The match between Bad Influence and the Greatest IT Factors had no winners, in more ways than one; the problem with these great heel vs. heel matches where each guy tries the same move is that I have to deduct almost as many points as I give so no one really gets anywhere. But then Aries always seems to find a way to shine even in the darkest of situations, so of all the men in the match he was the most able to actually steal some points away from the situation. Had I been giving points to teams instead of individuals it is likely both would have made it onto the chart, but then Aries would have to share his points with Roode, so the situation only benefits him really.

5th Place: Damien Sandow (6/10)

A possible surprise on the chart but this week I was paying much more attention to heel entertainment rather than wins and losses and Sandow’s send-up of Randy Orton’s theme song, as well as his treatment of Baron Corbin on NXT, set him apart from a lot of others this week and showed just how much he deserves more recognition than he is getting at the moment on the main roster. I’m not completely sure how to feel about Sandow’s challenge to Big E. for the NXT title as while it is an interesting idea to have Sandow as champion, and while he does deserve some singles gold, and some gold period for that matter, it almost feels like it would be a step down if he wins the title, and if he loses to Big E. it will look even worse so I guess we’ll just have to wait for the outcome of that match to discern what this challenge really meant to his career.

6th Place: Antonio Cesaro (5/10)

Again another heel who might come as a surprise entry on the list but one who earned his points through forceful dominance in the ring. Cesaro might have lost to Orton on Main Event, but he did so in strong fashion, and he positively ruled over Ryder on Raw, could this be a sign that Cesaro isn’t on the way down after all? Or is this just a last grasp at a hand-hold before he plummets to his WWE demise?

7th Place: Mr Anderson (4/10)

Each week Ken Anderson becomes a more and more prominent member of the Aces & 8s, it is just a shame that the Pope couldn’t have gotten in on some of this action before he departed as the Aces & 8s really could be a great way for guys who seemingly have no direction in TNA to take centre, or at least near-centre, stage on Impact.

8th Place: Luke Gallows (3/10)

Gallows gets his place for his brutal attack on Magnus. TNA probably should be more careful with their Aces & 8s beatdowns as there is no consistency in it as some guys are out for a week after a severe beating, whereas others are out for months. I know it is all kayfabe but from a storytelling point of view it makes things pretty nonsensical.

9th Place: Brock Lesnar (2/10)

The beast was unleashed this week, and his target was HHH’s ‘office’. I have to admit there was something satisfying about seeing a keyboard and monitor destroyed by raw power; maybe it is just my recent workload. Again somehow despite a virtual absence of booking I am interested in Extreme Rules and their cage match, and if even half the stipulation matches are decent contests it will be a great PPV, just like last year, hmm is a trend immerging or is it just that easy to build a great PPV after the events of a Wrestlemania?

10th Place: Luke Harper (1/10)

For a second week in a row Luke Harper of the Wyatt Family manages to earn a spot on the chart, this time winning the NXT tag team titles, which I’m not too sure if it means all that much right now as the belts got off to a bad start, but at least they are no longer on a team where one of the members is out with a long term injury.

2013-2014 Season Top Ten:

1st Place: Mark Henry (26)

2nd Place: Bully Ray (26)

3rd Place: Johnny Curtis (26)

4th Place: Dolph Ziggler (23)

5th Place: Dean Ambrose (19)

6th Place: The Ryback (18)

7th Place: Seth Rollins (17)

8th Place: Roman Reigns (17)

9th Place: Wade Barrett (13)

10th Place: Big E. Langston (12)

(Heel Hall of Fame)

**Heel Report 2010-2011 Winner: The Miz**

**Heel Report 2011-2012 Winner: Cody Rhodes**

**Heel Report 2012-2013 Winner: C.M. Punk**

That’s all for this week and the experiment of only awarding points to each wrestler rather than as a collective for teams like Aces & 8s and the Shield is having an interesting effect on the chart. The Shield struggled without their collective might and yet the Aces & 8s did quite well as individuals stuck out from the crowd. No filler this week as I am tired of writing, but perhaps next time, for now though this is James Wright signing off.

“My mom is 92 and plays tennis twice a week. Happy Mother’s Day.”