• Home

Subscribe

WWE News: JBL Frustrated With Wrestling Career, The Latest On Carlito, Hardys Kept In The Dark On The Draft

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

– There is talk going on regarding JBL’s in-ring future. His back is still in a lot of pain (the original reason for his hiatus) and he is frustrated that he can’t wrestle at the level he’d like. His back problems likely hinder his ability to train as effectively as he’d like, not to mention that he’s in his forties and presumably not on anything, which is why his physique sometimes doesn’t look up to par in comparison to the other wrestlers.

– At the moment, Carlito is talking like he’s staying put in WWE. He was said to be really unhappy with his push, particularly after Raw two weeks ago when he and Marella jobbed to Cryme Tyme. At one point it looked like Marella & Carlito were going to get the tag titles, but it never materialized. The company made the decision for them not to get the belts due to storyline plans involving Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes and Hardcore Holly, and he was said to be really upset. Carlito gave his notice at the end of last year but Vince McMahon talked him into staying, saying he would get a bigger push. The push never materialized and he got upset again. He got conflicting stories from the Raw creative team on his long-term future, and he got a sense that head writer Brian Gewirtz wasn’t really looking to pushing him. In light of declining ratings, Gewirtz has been pressured to devote more time on the show to the biggest stars on Raw. Some friends suggested he try getting moved to ECW, where he’d be a headliner, or Smackdown, which before the draft, had less depth, as well as a huge Hispanic television audience that WWE is paying great attention to now. The feeling on his move to SmackDown is that head writer Michael Hayes would at least start him out with a push and give him an opportunity to sink or swim. The knock on Carlito is that he usually works well enough to get by, but not well enough to headline and move past mid-card status.

– Both Matt and Jeff Hardy weren’t told about their respective brand moves beforehand. After their one match together on Raw, Matt was sent to ECW and the reaction you saw from them was their real reaction because both brothers had no idea it was going to happen. In Jeff’s case, he was told about the move to SmackDown a few moments before the announcement on television. On another note regarding the brand changes, pretty much all of the draftees with the probable exception of Triple H have no idea what the moves mean or what their new roles will be as creative hasn’t given them an explanation on anything.

WWE News: When You Can Catch The Supplemental Draft, Jim Ross Apologizes, Cole Comments

– The administrator of the WWE Fan Nation site announced that the WWE Supplemental Draft will be taking place tomorrow at noon on WWE.com. The WWE Fan Nation plans on holding a live blog with Howard Finkel and other WWE.com editors to give their expert analysis of the draft picks live as they happen. No other details have been revealed about the draft. They wrote: “The amount of picks and the format of the Supplemental Draft are still unknown, but we’ll be holding a Live Blog here on WWE Fan Nation tomorrow as all the action unfolds.” Last year’s Supplemental Draft featured 13 draft picks, so you can probably expect the roughly same amount tomorrow. And just a few moments ago, WWE put up an announcement on the front page of the site regarding the draft. For their preview, click here.

– Jim Ross has posted a follow-up blog on his website apologizing for his comments in his first blog earlier today. Ross wrote: “Changes in one’s life take some adjusting to especially at my stage of the game. This week I received an unexpected change in my professional address. Within hours of writing an emotional blog, I am positively moving on. I am going to do all I can to make Smackdown the best program the WWE produces.” He also added: “The abruptness of the “trade” shocked me. I most likely responded in a non professional way in the eyes of some fans. That’s their prerogative and each has the right to their opinion, As do I. Not to be cliche, but wrestling has been great to my family and me. I owe it to the business to “man up” and to kick ass on Smackdown. That’s my plan. My emotions are what they are and I will not apologize for my candor or honesty. My feathers were ruffled…poor me. I still bring bona fide passion to every broadcast and fully expect to deliver come show time.” Ross closes his post by saying: “For those of you that were offended by my earlier rant I apologize. For those that think “old J.R.” can’t get the job done, I suggest you sit back and watch. I wish my good pal The King and Michael Cole great success but my professional priority is to help Smackdown kick ass. In more ways than one, “the game is on.” You can read the blog in its entirety at this link.

– WWE.com posted an after-Raw video interview of Michael Cole and Jim Ross talking about the announcer swap. Even WWE.com is acknowledging Ross’ unhappiness regarding the move. They wrote: “Michael Cole and J.R. talk about swapping announce teams with the Draft - a move that made Ross none too happy.” You can see what they have to say at this link.

WWE News: Why Triple H Was Moved To SmackDown, Top Raw Star Gets Stitches, Kozlov Hurts Wrestler During Match

– One reason Triple H was moved to SmackDown is due to a scheduling matter. The schedule on Smackdown is actually a lot more convenient for him, especially considering that wife Stephanie McMahon-Levesque is due to give birth in about a month and will be taking the babies on the road upon her return to work. The regular Raw show schedule runs from Friday to Monday, so he is always on his own on the road because Stephanie doesn’t attend house shows. However, Stephanie always attends the weekly Tuesday SmackDown tapings, whereas Triple H is at home or on a plane going home. When he was on Raw, they pretty much only saw each other on Monday, the latter part of Wednesday, entire Thursdays, and the early part of Friday. Now that he’s on SmackDown, he can see Stephanie and the kids Monday through at least Friday. The weekly SmackDown schedule doesn’t start until Saturday night, so that gives them part of another day to be together some weeks. Instead of seeing his family for parts of three or four days a week, he should usually be able to see them as many as six days a week.

The scheduling issue wasn’t the only reason for the move because the SmackDown brand was in dire need of a huge new star to say the least. Also, Triple H’s move to SmackDown should give the show a ratings boost when it moves to MyNetworkTV this fall.

– Both Batista and Edge are fine after the two accidentally butted heads on Raw last night. Although, Batista needed several stitches to close the wound on his head following the match.

– Jamie Noble had the wind knocked out of him following an errant headbutt from Vladimir Kozlov during their match on SmackDown last week. It wasn’t shown on television, but some medics helped him to the back following the match.

source: www.f4wonline.com

WWE Draft 2008 Follow Up: J.R. Issues Statement on Being Traded

 

Click here to go back to Shop WWE!

In my last column I ranted and raved about the Draft, and made it clear that the Jim Ross/Michael Cole switch was ratings suicide.I guess I am not the only one who thought this was a bad idea.

On J. R.’s official blog (http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/), he has issued this statement about being sent over to SmackDown:

As many of you know, I was “drafted” to Smackdown Monday night in the “random lottery”. Obviously that means I will be leaving Monday Night Raw and my long time partner Jerry Lawler.I am not happy about this surprise development.

I also contemplated calling it a career Monday night and not going to Houston to tape SD.

After speaking with my wife and thinking on this matter until 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, I have decided to do the right thing for the fans who care and the talent who care and begin my new assignment.

It has been explained to me that the WWE’s Smackdown tenure on My Network is a high priority within the corporation. Allegedly, my presence is needed in that effort.

Many are speculating about when I learned of this development…the same time those of you were watching at home. I should have detected something with the demeanor of certain individuals either thru their plastic, poker faces or the perceived smirk that I thought I might have seen on some of their faces during the day.

As far as going to Connecticut each week to do Smackdown post production, that’s not going to happen. Either Mick Foley can handle it or the WWE can install a DSL line in my home to facilitate the work.

I think this, by itself, shows how unexpected and unpopular this decision was.  If a man like “Good Ole” J. R. will open up about how upset he is, and “shoot” a blog like that, I would be trying my best to remedy the situation.

In my opinion, the backlash from this will, ultimately, either have this “trade” undone, or swap Ross and Foley to Raw, and King and Cole to SmackDown.

Nevertheless, this situation will continue to be monitored as it continues to play out.

 

Taken from:

http://bleacherreport.com

Pro Wrestling Top 25: Week Two

Anyone want seconds? Good! After last week’s groundbreaking submission, I return with the top performers of Week Two. And all I can is that the WWE Draft isn’t the only thing that’s getting shaken up this summer!

Here are the rankings and the top performers of Week Two.

 

1) The Dirt Sheet (ECW, LW: #2): 880 points

After a great performance last week on ECW and SmackDown!, the WWE Tag Team Champions suffered a major setback with two straight losses en route to Night of Champions.

 

2) CM Punk (ECW, LW: #1): 667 points

Mr. Money in the Bank drops mainly because of just one appearance this week. Other than that, he had a great performance against John Morrison on ECW, and he is eyeing the World Heavyweight Championship at Edge’s nuptials on July 11.

 

3) Motor City Machine Guns (TNA, LW: #13): 528 points

After two straight weeks of World X Cup action, the Guns are riding high with two straight victories, including one to give Team TNA an early advantage in the World X Cup.

 

4) Batista (SmackDown!, LW: #4): 528 points

The Animal has been unstoppable the last few weeks, but after an ambush from La Familia, Batista will have to watch his back a lot more with just a week until his match at Night of Champions against Edge.

 

5) Kane (ECW, LW: #9): 507 points

The ECW Champion made a huge impact during his confrontation with The Big Show on ECW, and kept bringing the noise against MVP on SmackDown! With the pay-per-view a week away, what’s next for the Big Red Monster?

 

6) Kaz (TNA, LW: Unranked): 498 points

The captain of Team TNA suffered two setbacks last week with losses to Petey Williams and Samoa Joe in championship matches. But he got back on track with a victory over Alex Koslov.

 

7) John Cena (RAW, LW: #21): 492 points

The Doctor of Thuganomics kept the Night of Champions momentum on his side by surviving the challenges of JBL last week and Umaga this past week on RAW. His night could have ended better if not for the sneak attack from Lance Cade.

 

LAX (TNA, LW: Unranked): 472 points

The TNA Tag Champs got monkey-whipped last week by Robert Roode and James Storm. Now they have a Fan’s Revenge Match against the Odd Couple at Victory Road. Revenge is sweet sometimes, ain’t it?

 

9) Mickie James (RAW, LW: 18): 468 points

The Women’s Champion survived Beth Phoenix last week, but thanks to an interference from Paul Burchill, she now has to go one-on-one against Katie Lea at Night of Champions for the gold.

 

10) Christian Cage (TNA, LW: 10): 468 points

The Instant Classic made up for the loss from last week with a huge win over Team 3D. Now he will be looking for payback for the attack on his partner last week on IMPACT!

 

The Rest of The Top 25

11) Team 3D (TNA, LW: 8): 468 points

12) AJ Styles (TNA, LW: 14): 463 points

13) The Great Khali (SmackDown!, LW: 5): 461 points

14) Umaga (RAW, LW: Unranked): 458 points

15) Matt Hardy (SmackDown!, LW: 16): 443 points

16) Paul Burchill (RAW, LW: Unranked): 441.5 points

17) Finlay (SmackDown!, LW: Unranked): 441 points

18) Triple H (RAW, LW: 23): 437 points

19) Sonjay Dutt (TNA, LW: Unranked): 432 points

20) Kennedy (RAW, LW: Unranked): 431.5 points

21) Hornswoggle (SmackDown!, LW: Unranked): 422 points

22) MVP (SmackDown!, LW: 19): 418 points

23) Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes (RAW, LW: Unranked): 416.5 points

24) Armando Estrada (ECW, LW: 22): 416 points

25) Cryme Tyme (RAW, LW: Unranked): 411 points

Honorary Entrants: “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, SmackDown! referee Charles Robinson, Future TNA Knockout Taylor

Close but no Cigar: Kofi Kingston (ECW, 390), Jesse & Festus (SmackDown!, 386.5), Deuce & Domino (SmackDown!, 386.5), Awesome Kong (TNA, 314)

Dropped Out: Kurt Angle (TNA), Tomko (TNA), Rhino (TNA), Matt Morgan (TNA), Samoa Joe (TNA), Mark Henry (SmackDown!), Chuck Palumbo (SmackDown!), Jeff Hardy (RAW), Beth Phoenix (RAW)

Winning Brand of the Week: RAW with eight entrants followed by TNA with seven, SmackDown! with six, and ECW with four.

That’s the rankings for the second week. Next week’s will be insanity thanks to the 2008 WWE Draft. Don’t forget that any superstar that gets drafted will receive an additional 90 points added to next week’s score. See ya Monday night.

 

Taken from:

http://bleacherreport.com/

Copyright © 2007 Shop WWE Blog · Shop WWE · Log in