Questions on frustration, WWE's direction, booking Miz and Del Rio, and referees counting, appearances by Sheamus, Santino and Kelly, TNA set collapse case dismissed, Morgan,/Hemme/So Cal Val at Johnny Damon charity event, Graham hospitalized, WWE Greatest Matches book, Rock part of Veterans Day event, new Taz shirt, Godwin in serious car accident, press release on Rock's Raw, Barrett interview, change to TTTT, Lawler interview, new WWE logo?, Sheamus and DiBiase in "football" stadium, Sheamus interview, and a possible injury

Wednesday's news started with PWInsider.com's questions. Here's my take on them:
1. That could apply to any wrestling promotion, but yes. I don't think you can really prove an argument "true" since it's an opinion but you can support it with good evidence. And hey, maybe they end up proving ME wrong, but until that time it's annoying to see things being so illogical (at least as I see them) in places. I play "Devil's advocate" a lot in these questions, but that doesn't mean I don't get frustrated at some things the company(ies) does (do).

2. The same reason anyone can look at anything and see what they want: spin! They see themselves as slowing the decline for PPV buys and stabilizing ratings while building new stars. Others see them as killing the business with the same data. I'm somewhere in the middle.

3. The Miz went from being a questionable midcarder to a semi-credible main eventer due to that title reign. He's more over than he was before cashing in MITB. I don't consider that a failure. Did he look particularly strong as champion? No. But after years in the midcard it wouldn't be believable for him to suddenly cleanly beat one of the most (if not the single most) pushed guys in the past decade. Bottom line, even with him looking like a chump lately he's still more believable than he was when he was tapping out to Daniel Bryan. Del Rio does have an impressive and credible finisher he's pulled out so he's not a weakling. Del Rio can't be Superman but he can be Lex Luthor: cunning, calculating, and avoiding getting defeated despite the odds against him. The catch is "Cena would have won if not for __________" so they have to have a rematch and so on. Classic hook.

After the break, I go into the rest of the day's questions and news. Next up, differences in the pace of a referee's counts.
4. Okay. Seriously, that wasn't even a question. I'm supposed to be the one rambling here!

5. The referees give them leeway because they don't want a match to end in a count out. The count's at their discretion, like DQs and who can be at ringside.

Sheamus was interviewed in the UK, and presented Justin Bieber with an MTV Europe VMA. Pretty good publicity for WWE.

Santino Marella and  Kelly Kelly were at an English toy shop.

A personal injury case against TNA regarding a set collapse has been dismissed with prejudice.

Matt Morgan, So Cal Val and Christy Hemme joined MLB player Johnny Damon to promote a charity event of his. Damon was actually once involved in a TNA PPV.

WWE Hall of Famer "Superstar" Billy Graham has been hospitalized with pneumonia. I wish him the best for a speedy recovery.

WWE is releasing a book on their greatest matches on 6/19/12. Cool, if people read it.

The Rock will be part of a big Veterans Day initiative. Good to hear.

TNA has released a new Taz shirt. Thankfully it doesn't reference pigeons.

Former WWE/WCW star Henry O. Godwin (Mark Canterbury) was involved in a car wreck and is in the ICU under critical condition.

Update: He's in extremely serious condition with two punctured lungs, a number of broken ribs, and a broken leg. That REALLY sucks and I hope he gets better ASAP.

Update: He was removed from his car via jaws of life after being trapped inside of over an hour. He's had his spleen and appendix removed, over a dozen of his ribs are broken, and one of his legs is broken in 3 places. More surgeries are incoming.

USA Network has issued a press release on the upcoming Raw featuring The Rock. I guess they dropped the Reunion idea.

Wade Barrett was interviewed on BBC's North West Tonight to promote the UK tour.


This year's Tribute to the Troops will only be open to military personnel as opposed to the general public. I was actually under the impression that this had been the case all along, but apparently at least last year was different.


Jerry Lawler discussed wrestling, commentating, and MMA recently. It doesn't surprise me in the least that he doesn't enjoy commentary given his recent performances. Maybe he should have time off from the role. Matt Striker or William Regal could do better in the role in my opinion. As for him wrestling, maybe on house shows to build interest in some of the developing heels (Ziggler, McIntyre, McGilicutty, Otunga, etc.)? I agree about the lack of personality in MMA performers. That's what gets me interested in a fight without a pre-determined story.


On the latest ad for the WWE Network, a new company logo was featured. Could WWE be using that regularly in the near future? Kind of cool looking in its own way. I think it will grow on me.


Sheamus and Ted DiBiase were given a tour of a soccer stadium, which for some reason is referred to as "football" in the piece. (This is a joke. I know it isn't "soccer" outside the U.S.).


Sheamus was interviewed by Fighting Spirit Magazine (recapped by The Sun). I had forgotten Taker's natural hair color. There's a reason he was called Booger Red.


Finally, it's believed that Christian might have suffered an injury at a Smackdown house show. Uh-oh. He's one of the best workers in the company right now, so that's a pretty bad break if he's going to be on the shelf for a while.


That's all for Wednesday's news. More to come hopefully later today. Thanks for reading!