Cageside Seats

WWE No Way Out 2012: Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio set for June 17 in New Jersey

2012-05-26T12:01:12Z

During last night's (Fri., May 25, 2012) episode of Smackdown, Alberto Del Rio won a triple threat match against Kane and Randy Orton to determine the number one contender to the world heavyweight championship.

Because of that, Del Rio vs. Sheamus has been booked for the WWE No Way Out pay-per-view (PPV) event scheduled for Sun., June 17, 2012, at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

This isn't the fist time these two have been booked for a singles match at a PPV show. In fact, they were originally set to do their thing at Over the Limit just this past Sunday night in North Carolina before the match was changed to a Fatal Four-Way involving Randy Orton and Chris Jericho.

It's entirely possible we could be headed for something similar here.

That's because the manner in which Del Rio earned his victory, by stealing it from Orton, left the door wide open to get "The Viper" in for a triple threat match. This would seem even more likely now that Jericho has been suspended for 30 days thanks to his denigrating a national flag in Brazil during a house show. Those two were headed for a feud and now Orton doesn't have anything to do.

Stay tuned.

After the jump, get a look at the updated No Way Out 2012 match card and line up.

WWE NO WAY OUT 2012 MATCH CARD

-- John Cena vs. Big Show
-- Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio

Chris Jericho suspension reduced to 30 days for Brazilian flag incident

2012-05-26T00:38:34Z

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has now amended its suspension of Chris Jericho from "indefinitely" to 30 days. This according to an update on WWE.com that was posted earlier today.

As you should know by now (what with all the coverage of it we've had), Jericho made the mistake of trying to get heat on himself at a house show in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by grabbing a Brazilian flag from CM Punk and crumpling it up before kicking it out of the ring.

This led to local law enforcement stopping the match and telling Jericho he needed to apologize or face incarceration. Denigrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil, a fact Jericho obviously did not know.

WWE was quick to distance itself from the situation, saying no one in the company knew Jericho would do such a thing nor would they ever approve of it. In response to outrage from those in Brazil, a market the company is hoping to break into starting with this, its first show there, WWE quickly apologized and suspended Jericho.

If the suspension sticks for all 30 days starting from May 24 when the incident took place, Jericho would miss the No Way Out pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for June 17 in New Jersey.

For more on the entire Jericho flag incident click here, here and here.

WWE names top 25 masters of the microphone

2012-05-25T23:00:32Z

Yes, we're going to beat these lists to death.

Really, we here at Cageside Seats are just marks for countdown style lists. I know we've said as much before but it's worth repeating again seeing as we run so many thanks to the fine folks at WWE.com coming up with something new and interesting seemingly every day.

The latest countdown is a top 25 list of the greatest masters of the microphone.

The art of an effective promo is something every great superstar must learn and master before they can ever truly transcend their spot within pro wrestling. Indeed, when you think of the all time greats, almost all of them were exceedingly good on the stick.

Men like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock could all captivate audiences with nothing but a live mic. But where do they rank on the list?

Let's find out:

25. Capt. Lou Albano
24. Rick Rude
23. Santino Marella
22. The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase
21. The Miz
20. Jesse Ventura
19. Triple H
18. Paul Heyman
17. Edge
16. Mr. McMahon
15. Superstar Billy Graham
14. Mick Foley
13. Hulk Hogan
12. CM Punk
11. Macho Man Randy Savage
10. JBL
9. Bobby The Brain Heenan
8. Dusty Rhodes
7. John Cena
6. Jake The Snake Roberts
5. Chris Jericho
4. Ric Flair
3. The Rock
2. Rowdy Roddy Piper
1. Stone Cold Steve Austin

There's the list, Cagesiders. Commence debating on its merits in the comments section below. Can't wait to see what you have to say about this one.

Cageside Seats' favorite Daniel Bryan picks Billy Robinson as his most underrated superstar of all...

2012-05-25T22:26:45Z

Cageside Seats' favorite Daniel Bryan picks Billy Robinson as his most underrated superstar of all time, over at WWE.com. See what other WWE Superstars and ... Howard Finkel, picked as their most underrated Superstar, and vote for yourself.

The fallacy of "ars gratia artis" in professional wrestling

2012-05-25T16:10:00Z

The WWE is a company. Its goal is to make money, preferably more money than what they spend. They make money by producing content. That content is sold to consumers, either via live audience, television, Internet, or pay-per-view (PPV). The WWE hopes this content is enjoyable to the widest possible audience, and that enjoyment turns into income. It uses said income to cover its expenses, and if it's successful it will have a profit.

Anyone who has taken an economics class understands this concept. But why do so many professional wrestling fans reject a basic capitalistic principal?

I hate the smarkiness and the cries of doom that follows a post about ratings and buyrates. I never want to get to the point in my fandom where I cry doom at the slightest decrease in numbers presented without any sort of context. Those who spend all their time analyzing the data will absolutely drive themselves crazy and lose sight of what professional wrestling should be all about.

That being said, it is impossible to ignore the business side of things. It's the law of cause and effect. You cannot analyze the story without fully understanding why it is occurring. Ratings and buyrates affect the product. To not understand that is to not understand pro wrestling.

The WWE needs high buyrates and higher ratings to keep surviving. This isn't a doomsday scenario. It is simple fact. The WWE got over 70% of their revenue from "Live and Televised Entertainment" in 2011. That is made up of three major parts: PPV buys (16.2%), Live Events (21.6%), and Television Rights Fees (27.2%), with most of the remaining money coming from venue merchandise.

If Raw ever drops significantly in the ratings, it could lose a fifth of its income. If PPV buys continue to slide downward, that's about a sixth of total cash flow that is at stake. Know what that means? The WWE will need to lean more heavily on live events that it already does. Ticket prices go up, the roster is forced to work more shows, and the product on the whole suffers because of it. There is no artistic value for the roster to be working 310-330 days a year. It hurts the show, and more importantly it hurts the wrestlers. If the ratings and buyrates ever drop significantly, the WWE will suffer for it.

You can sit there and say that PPV is dying, and that there are other streams of income.

You can say that, but you would be wrong.

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena should have been huge. It wasn't. In no way is that a good thing for the WWE. You can blame booking, either of Lesnar's entire return or how everyone knew that the same ol' Cena would show up. You can blame timing, how Extreme Rules was less than a month after WrestleMania 28 and there simply wasn't enough time to build it properly. Or you can say a B-Show is just doomed to do disappointing numbers, no matter the card.

The point is that match should have done much better than it did.

The idea that 2012's Extreme Rules gained 35K from the year prior is a great thing for business is insane. You cannot assume the WWE is taking all the money from that. Cable companies take over half of PPV sales. The gain is a drop in the bucket for the WWE, when it should have been cascade. And it is our right as fans of the product to wonder how this will affect the show down the road.

Did you enjoy the Avengers movie? Do you think that would have even been possible to make if Iron Man didn't make $585 million at the box office? Do you want to see an Avengers sequel? Well they are sure to make one, since it made a billion at the box office. And you know what? Marvel will continue to pump out movies way past the point of oversaturation. I can almost guarantee that Avengers 12 will suck, but by god they will keep making them as long as the put up those numbers.

If that doesn't convince you, how about another example. Does anyone think that a 3-hour Raw is a good idea? The closest thing I have heard is that it may be decent as long as it is not like every other 3-hour episode of Raw. So why is the WWE expanding its product? Do you think there is any artistic value in producing an extra hour of television?

Nope. We are getting an extra hour of Raw for one reason and one reason only. Because it is the highest rated show on cable television not named Monday Night Football, and because the USA Network is willing to shell out a lot of cash for that hour.

Think about this; you will be forced to consume an extra 52 hours of WWE a year (based on the assumption they don't bail on the format). That is 2+ days of your life you are willing to sacrifice. And that is on top of the 104+ hours of Raw (give or take a few hours due to overrun), 104 hours of SmackDown, and the 36 hours of PPV's. That is just shy of 300 hours of your life on the WWE alone, and that is not even counting NXT, Superstars, or the assorted YouTube series.

How much of that is actually good? 100 hours? 50? Don't tell me that we have 12 ½ days of content to consume because the WWE believes it needs that much time to tell a good story. There is no legitimate reason for that much product to exist

No legitimate reason, of course, except for the fact that they can make a boatload of cash via rights fees.

You know what WWE's biggest worry is right now? It is not how boring John Cena has become, or how to elevate the younger talent. It is how to get NXT and Superstars back on the air. Because that is where the money comes in to keep the lights on. That is how business works.

I am a bad writer. Not because my prose is poor, or I tend to go off on tangents, or because I don't know how to create a deadline for myself. While all are partly true, the thing is that I am a bad writer because I give away my work for free. I am taking time out of my life that I could be spending with my family, my friends, my schoolwork or furthering my career. But I choose to waste my time writing things that I receive no compensation for. Yes, it makes me feel good and I enjoy the response I usually receive.

But it is completely irrational for me to do it.

Everyone loves to call Vince insane. I'm sure he is in some ways. But he is creating a product to make money, and he's had a very successful run doing so.

Perhaps he's the sanest one of us all?

Video: Raw footage of Chris Jericho Brazilian flag incident caught on camera

2012-05-25T14:57:23Z

Word broke early this morning Chris Jericho was suspended indefinitely by WWE for an incident at a house show in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

During a match with CM Punk, Jericho held up the Brazilian national flag before balling it up and tossing it to the mat. He then kicked the flagged which led to authorities threatening to arrest the WWE Superstar if he didn't apologize.

He did, both in person and in print, but was still reprimanded by WWE.

Thanks to iAmSammoMedia, footage of Jericho's actions towards the flag and his subsequent apology have now hit the monsterweb.

On this date in WCW history: Lex Luger joins the NWO Wolfpac on Nitro

2012-05-25T14:01:42Z

When Hollywood Hulk Hogan lost the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) heavyweight title to Sting at Starrcade 1997, it marked a turning point for the world's leading pro wrestling company (at that time, at least). The New World Order that had dominated the landscape of the promotion for more than a year and a half started seeing cracks in its armor.

Indeed, while Hogan was embroiled in an ongoing feud with Sting over the world title, he was also fending off Randy Savage, who ultimately decided he no longer needed the NWO and splintered off on his own. He was soon joined by Kevin Nash and the two formed a second faction of the supergroup that would wear red and black and was known as the NWO Wolfpac. Hogan would head up the rival black and white version of the group that came to be known as NWO Hollywood.

Because WCW didn't know how to get away from its cash cow, every major storyline was booked around the NWO. And because there were now two groups to service, that meant more and more WCW members who had feuded with the heel faction throughout its run would start joining up. After all, the choices boiled down to becoming a member of one or the other or get left behind in the main event scene.

The Wolfpac would become the babyface side and NWO Hollywood would become the heel side.

On the May 4 edition of Monday Nitro, the Wolfpac was officially born with new merchandise led by Nash, Savage and Konnan. Over the following weeks, new members would join up in the form of Curt Hennig, Miss Elizabeth and Rick Rude. And on this date in WCW history (May 25, 2012), the Wolfpac added one more member -- longtime WCW supporter Lex Luger.

The segment that led to this began with The Giant coming out with Vincent and Brian Adams. He called out Kevin Nash, who answered by walking out alone and getting into a scuffle with the three men in the ring. He was quickly overwhelmed, of course, but suddenly Luger hit the ring with a chair and cleaned house. Konnan, Hennig, and Savage all followed and after a brief period of anticipation, they tossed Luger a black and red NWO shirt. He put it on to a thundering ovation from fans at Robert Memorial Stadium in Evansville, Indiana, and officially joined the Wolfpac.

Watch video of this entire segment after the jump.

Chris Jericho comments on WWE suspension for Brazil flag incident

2012-05-25T12:01:33Z

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Chris Jericho was suspended indefinitely last night (Thurs., May 24, 2012) due to an incident involving a Brazilian flag during his match against CM Punk at a house show in Sao Paulo.

As the story goes, Punk was waving a flag around and in an effort to get some heat on himself (which worked wonders by all reports), Jericho took it from him, crumpled it up and kicked it out of the ring. Because denigrating the national flag is a crime in Brazil, officials reportedly stopped the match and gave Jericho an ultimatum -- either apologize to all the fans in attendance or spend the night in the clink.

He smartly chose the former.

But though he may have avoided punishment from local law enforcement in Brazil, he wasn't so lucky with his employers. In an update to its story on his suspension, Jericho gave the following comments:

"I made a bad judgment call in the course of entertaining [WWE] fans in Brazil. I apologized to the people in the crowd for showing disrespect. It was a bad move. I did it with [our] fans' entertainment in mind and I'll accept the consequences for that."

There's no telling how far exactly WWE will go with this punishment, considering Jericho is a top level star. As stated previously, however, he already had his exit strategy planned, the time frame for which is just a month or two away. Will this suspension speed up the process?

Stay tuned.