C.M. Punk was not at this past weekend's live events. Now is the time for WWE to panic. Of the 6 top acts at Mania, 4 are part-timers and 1 could be hurt. You don't need to be a Scott Steiner-level genius at math to know that that's a problem.
WWE's weekend live events sold out, which hasn't happened in years. That's something of a pleasant surprise. Hopefully those people were ok with no Brock, HHH, Taker, or Rock. For the record, I'm not bashing any of those guys for working part-time schedules. I'm sure more would take their schedule if they could get away with it. HHH has important off-screen duties. Taker's banged up. Rock does movies. Brock should probably be saved and used as a big deal sporadically at any rate.
Jerry Lynn discussed his upcoming retirement. He also talked alongside some opponents he had recently. He has wrestled for 24 years. A lot of current fans weren't even alive when he had his first match (myself included)! I hope some of today's stars have the kind of career he's had. I cracked up about the Ruby Tuesday rib.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
Diamond Dallas Page did a video following the successful completion of the campaign to raise $80,000 for Scott Hall's injuries. BANG!
The Rock wasn't at Raw because he continued his international promotional tour for G.I. Joe 2, which is obviously a pretty big deal. It is cool that the WWE Champion gets that kind of press. I hope some day the stars of today and tomorrow are at that level.
ECW's Francine does not have any social media accounts for the purpose of interacting with fans, so if you're a fan talking to someone claiming to be her, it's not her!
The 3/15 Smackdown was the lowest-rated edition since December, with only 2.4 million viewers. Not something the company wants to hear in Mania season.
Santino Marella has been cleared to return to the ring, so expect him appearing in unimportant roles in the near future (along with the rest of the undercard roster).
The Miz promoted Raw.
David Otunga promoted "The Call". I will say that this is all good press for WWE. I'm a little surprised that he wasn't a fan of the "A-List" character since he played it pretty well. It's only natural to play up his association with a celebrity, since it has to have helped his WWE career. The story about the stabbing is pretty crazy, if for no reason other than the guy thinks Otunga is on TV every Monday night. I kid. That's cool that he was recognized.
Bully Ray used a number of anti-homosexual slurs towards a fan after Impact Wrestling went off the air. Both Dixie Carter and Bully Ray are going to issue public apologies, and disciplinary action has been taken. Obviously there is some very real animosity towards the LGBT community in real life and people have been beaten up or worse for their sexual identities. That's deplorable and should be addressed. This, however, was a man playing a character on a show. A despicable, terrible, some would say evil character. I don't have an issue with him saying such things since his job is to be hated. If anything, TNA should turn this into a storyline and have a babyface go after Ray for what happened. Paint Ray's behavior as despicable and something which should be punished, sending the message to young, impressionable members of the audience to be tolerant.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I believe that he's broke as well. I don't think DDP would con us like that. I know, he's a wrestler and his job is to "work" the fans, but I don't think that's what's happening here. There's a big difference between giving a known addict $80,000 and giving it to someone who hopefully has his best interests at heart and looks to use that money to assist in his recovery.
2. I ain't even mad. Knowing how far they've come and how few wrestling promotions make it to their level, I'm proud of them. Yeah, it's not the elaborate show that Raw is, but it doesn't need to be.
3. Yeah, I see a lot of them on YouTube. OH. You meant do I see him going for the World Title in the future. Probably. WWE obviously likes him (with good reason). A lot of people had him pegged to challenge at WrestleMania.
4. I doubt it. The PPVs do well enough to keep them around.
5. Heels should be shooting for fans getting so upset that they throw stuff at them in the ring! It's certainly dangerous but to me it's like throwing flowers on-stage after a play or clothing on stage at a concert - a sign of approval.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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