Here's a story I missed yesterday: Former WWE announcer and Raw GM Mike Adamle was recently charged with a DUI. Drinking and driving is BAD.
On to today's stories. Whatever is preventing Desmond Wolfe from returning to wrestling hasn't been resolved yet. He's not scheduled to be on TNA's UK tour either. It is unknown why exactly he hasn't been featured lately.
Next up, PWInsider.com's questions, starting with one about Kaval.
The question specifically asks if whether WWE not having anything for him is the "real reason" he's not there anymore, given that there are other high fliers who put up great matches, and that Wade Barrett's getting a good push. They answer that it's because Kaval wrestles strong despite being a small wrestler, and that doesn't fit with WWE's style. I think some of it could have been attitude problems as well. Kaval's known to have an independent streak. Maybe WWE felt that he hadn't paid his dues enough to be upset with their plans for him? There's really no definitive answer here. Just that they weren't going to use him in the way that he wanted, so he left.
Someone wants to see Awesome Kong dominate all of WWE's female wrestlers except Beth Phoenix and have that be a big match at WrestleMania. I'm still torn on what to do with Kong. It doesn't seem fair for her to just steamroll over (or even dominate) all of the established Divas, because once that's been done, who is there left for her to face after Beth? I think that Divas like Melina, Natalya, Gail Kim, and maybe even Tamina and Kaitlyn should be at least able to stand a chance against her. Have her destroy independent talents ("jobbers") for a bit if you want her to get over big before her first major feud. I don't want to see the division turn into Kong vs. people who don't have a chance against Kong.
Someone asks about the Douglas Williams "afraid of heights" storyline that I had honestly forgotten about. If they had him being afraid of climbing the turnbuckles in the past, then the asker has a point here. All I remember is it applying to either ladders or Ultimate X. But he had already appeared in one of those types of matches showing no signs of being afraid of heights, so it was a logic hole.
The 4th questions is about Matt Hardy's constant rants. Let's just say that there are at least two sides to every story. Maybe Hardy has some points, and maybe he doesn't. I'm more interested in how his TNA run will work out than going over his rants. I will say that he has a knack for getting people's attention with those kinds of things. If this blog had existed when he was at his ranting heights, I imagine there'd be a lot of coverage on them.
Apparently there's a rap producer who calls himself Lex Luger. Someone asks why WWE doesn't sue him. I think Luger owns the copyright, seeing as how he was able to go by that name in a guest appearance for TNA. Either way, the case is like the case of Sting the musician and Sting the wrestler. As long as one doesn't cross over into the other business, it's ok as far as copyright goes I believe.
An ROH update: They're looking for a new TV outlet, and have had discussions with MavTV and Versus in the past. HDNet paid for the production of the show, and the salaries of commentator Mike Hogewood and director Dave Lagana. Hogewood could be gone as commentator once they're done with the HDNet deal, but Lagana has done internet PPVs for them, so he might stick around. The loss of TV tapings means that they'll be running less dates and the talents will be paid less as a result. Time will tell if any ROH talents leave. I don't usually cover ROH, but I consider anything to do with the possibility of them gaining a spot on national TV to be newsworthy.
Update: Lagana will continue to direct their internet PPVs.
Percy Watson once again worked a dark match for a Smackdown taping. No word on if or when he'll be called up to the main roster.
WWE Magazine's most recent edition has a pre-release interview with Kaval. He mentions how serious and passionate he is about wrestling, and that he can be misunderstood. WWE is fickle sometimes, so that might have helped lead to them splitting ways.
TNA has moved around two of their PPVs. Victory Road will now be in March, and Destination X will now be in July. I guess it makes more sense to have something about a road to victory a month before a big PPV instead of just kind of hanging there in July. Also, Destination X is one of the silliest PPV names I think I've ever heard. It's like a children's movie about pirates or a cheesy sci-fi movie.
TNA briefly had the new date of Destination X going up against WWE's Money In The Bank, but they moved it up a week. They'd have to be either incredibly daring or incredibly stupid to think that they'd get on PPV channels over a WWE PPV.
Triple H mentions in the latest WWE magazine that he doesn't want to come back solely as a nostalgia run. If he can't do it the way that he feels like he should be able to, he wants to be done. He doesn't want to be "just a guy in the ring". He says that he doesn't have to be in contention for either major title because he's moved beyond that, much like Michaels and Undertaker have before him.
He also says that when he broke into the business there were "20 veterans and 3 green guys" but now there are "30 green guys and 2 veterans", and that there are "young guys (who) really don't know where they're going or how they're going to get there yet".
I'm glad that Triple H wants to still be at the top of his game when he returns to the ring. I'm also glad that he realizes that he doesn't need to be in the title picture at this point. I'm more concerned with the fact that he sees the majority of the roster as "green". Sure, there aren't many people who have the experience level of Triple H or Undertaker, and a lot of them could still learn a good deal from the veterans, but I hope that wasn't meant as a shot at the rest of the locker room. It didn't read like that, but I can see it being misinterpreted. At least WWE's veterans are willing to work with the younger guys and help move their careers along instead of hogging the spotlight.
Finally, TNA Impact is going to hold at least one taping outside of Orlando in February to test how well the product gets over with a different crowd. It seems that it will be in Fayetteville, NC. I'm glad that they're branching out some, because the Orlando crowd is definitely different from your "mainstream" regular wrestling crowd. It's important to see what will get over for that kind of crowd if they hope to grow nationally.
That's it for today. More news tomorrow.
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