Cageside Seats

Pro Wrestling Respect results 3/14/10

2010-03-15T01:01:06Z

Pro Wrestling Respect wrestler and head trainer of the ROH Wrestling Academy Delirious.

Here are results from today's Pro Wrestling Respect show that took place at the Burlington National Guard Armory in Burlington, New Jersey. For those who are not familiar with the company, Pro Wrestling Respect is a promotion run by the ROH Wrestling Academy that runs shows as a way to get their trainees some regular work; in some ways, I guess you could say it is ROH's answer to Florida Championship Wrestling.

Grizzly Redwood defeated Mr. Ernesto Osiris
Marker Dillinger and Rob Wolf defeated two wrestlers whose names I did not catch. The two wrestlers whose names I did not catch teased a breakup after their match.
Bobby Dempsey and Harlem & Lance Bravado defeated Rhett Titus & The Ninjas after Dempsey pinned Titus after a big splash.
Shane Hagadorn and Orange Cassidy defeated Alex Payne and Mike Sydal.
Celso Rivera (with Sly Stetson) defeated Professor Milo Schizo.
Rayna Von Tosh and Jamila Craft defeated Daizee Haze and MsChif by disqualification after MsChif blew green mist at Von Tosh.
Ricky Reyes defeated Pelle Primeau.
Delirious defeated "Right Leg" Andy Ridge

All of the matches were at least decent. I wouldn't want to harshly judge a promotion that uses primarily wrestling school students anyway, but most of the wrestlers up and down the show were well-trained. Delirious did stand out above everybody else, mostly because his charisma blew away anybody else on the show, but the matches were all solid and fun. It helped that the crowd was very hot and into everybody on the show, with a lot of kids in attendance.

The only ROH-style match was the main event, and I felt this was a positive. Because there wasn't an abundance of matches with 2.9 counts up and down the show and crazy high spots, it made the main event seem more important when Delirious and Ridge were doing that style of match. It was better paced than many ROH shows I've been to as well. It was a 2 hour and 15 minute show and it didn't feel like there was any wasted time at all. If there was any negatives, it was that there seemed to be a lot of enzugiris on this show, but that is but a mere minor complaint. I would recommend checking out Pro Wrestling Respect if you are anywhere near the South Jersey area as they put on an entertaining, family-friendly show.

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Please note, I want to start a new feature for Cageside Seats, and we can call this the first in that series. Whenever I go to a live wrestling show, and I expect that to be semi-frequently, I will do similar show reports to the one I wrote above. But obviously, I don't go to every wrestling show out there. That's where you, dear reader, comes in.

I want to start compiling wrestling show results in a weekly feature that I would post here on Mondays on Cageside Seats. If you attend a wrestling show, please send me results at CagesideResults@gmail.com. Also, if you are an independent wrestling promoter and would like to plug your upcoming shows, I will post a weekly feature every Thursday night running down indy wrestling show cards for the coming week as well. You can send your show lineups and venue information to the E-Mail above. Thanks!

Linda McMahon gets bashed for her husband Vince's "Sexy Bitch"

2010-03-15T00:58:52Z

Vince & Linda McMahon

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No, the Connecticut media hasn't discovered that Vince is cheating on his wife with one of the WWE Divas. "The Sexy Bitch" in question is the name of Vince McMahon's ostentatious 47-foot long sports yacht docked in Boca Raton, Florida, which was revealed in an article by the Hearst newspapers after Linda McMahon refused to answer a questionnaire about how she spends her wealth.

Unsurprisingly, the Rob Simmons campaign was quick to bash her lack of transparency.

Dixie Carter resorts to pleading with fans to DVR Impact if they can't watch it live on Twitter

2010-03-14T14:26:10Z

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Perhaps the only good news TNA got this week was that the replay of Impact in their old Thursday night time slot drew an impressive 1.0 rating. Unfortunately this strong rating apparently didn't make Spike TV change their minds about the replay only being for one week only, as Dixie Carter wrote the following on Twitter 14 hours ago: "TNA iMPACT! will NOT re-air on Thursdays. If you can't watch LIVE Mondays 9-11pm ET on SPIKE, please DVR it. PLEASE RT".

Knowing TNA, I'm sure they forgot to tell the one million or so people watching their replay this salient fact and Dixie Carter had to make a desperation tweet to get the news out to her 34,000 followers on Twitter. Well, that's sure to make a huge difference to their Monday night rating! Forward planning is obviously not TNA's strong point.

Bret Hart's big Mania payday leads to interview amnesia and shameless hypocrisy

2010-03-13T14:55:18Z

Bret Hart

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Over the last few days Bret Hart has been touring the Canadian media to promote his upcoming WrestleMania match with Vince McMahon and unfortunately his interviews have been filled with some jawdropping amnesia and hypocrisy.

Firstly, he had this to say about his brother Owen's tragic death while working for the WWF to CTV: "Clearly, my brother Owen's death was just a bad accident. You can't hold Vince McMahon directly accountable for that. It was someone underneath who didn't know what they were doing."

Wow, I can't believe that Bret has forgotten the part of the story where Vince hired incompetent stunt coordinators because the professionals were too expensive and refused to do the stunt exactly as he wanted due to its inherent danger. So sorry Bret, but yes you can hold Vince McMahon directly accountable for that. Maybe Martha Hart was right after all when she called Owen "a white sheep in a black family".

Secondly, Bret was on Off The Record and had the gall to bash Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair for their recent returns to the ring: "Ric Flair, I feel sorry for him. You were talking about wrestlers saying, 'When is enough, enough? When do they ever give up and go home to their families and their real lives?' Ric is one of those guys who's a little ahead of me, but I remember a time knowing that I had to get out of wrestling and go home to my kids before they were grown up and gone or that I had no family life. I think wrestlers make this decision - and I'm sure Hogan is the same and different guys - where they decide they have to go home to their families or stay in the wrestling business and that becomes their family. Flair stayed in the wrestling business, forgot about his family, his family moved on and left him; the only thing Ric Flair knows is the dressing room, the airports, the bar after and drinking."

As much as I've taken shots at Ric Flair for his drunken carousing, even I can see that Bret Hart is the last person to be lecturing Flair about family and prioritising the wrestling business above all else. You just have to read Bret's autobiography to know that he's just as guilty as Flair of failing to put his family, particularly his wife, first, during his wrestling career. Bret may think he's the better man, but his decision to "go home" was made for him when he suffered a career ending injury. It probably also should be noted that there's a good chance that Bret hasn't seen much more of his children over the last decade than Flair has, given the amount of time he's spent living in Italy and Hawaii. It doesn't say much good about Bret's ability to adapt to real life that he got so bored with it he had to return to the ring. Simply put, Bret's a lot more like Flair than he'll ever realise or admit to.

Is UFC finally feeling the effects of overexposure through running too many major shows?

2010-03-11T23:54:44Z

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That's the obvious question to ponder, after Dave Meltzer reported in the March 15, 2010 Wrestling Observer Newsletter that early trending data for UFC 110 suggests that only 215,000-240,000 homes bought the show. This isn't a particularly low number for an overseas show, but the show wasn't tape-delayed and on paper had a stronger line up than most previous overseas PPV shows. Overexposure may be the answer, as UFC 110 came just two weeks after their last PPV event. It doesn't help that UFC may have conditioned their more casual PPV buying audience to believe that all overseas PPV events are skippable after a series of lackluster line-ups. Ironically, UFC 100 might not have helped either, raising the expectations of casual fans for PPV line-ups after seeing Brock Lesnar and George St Pierre defend their titles on the same show as the blow off to a big Ultimate Fighter captains grudge match.

Zach Arnold of www.fightopinion.com ponders the related question: "Why did UFC 110 reportedly not draw big on PPV?" with similar answers. In particular, he wonders whether this is a sign that UFC's core PPV buying audience has shrunk significantly.

Dana White in the past has always scoffed about the potential perils of overexposure, thinking MMA, unlike other combat sports, would be immune to its effects, citing the unrelated examples of team based sports like football and basketball, which maintain their popularity despite so many matches being televised for free. He may learn to regret the day that he didn't learn the lessons of boxing's and WWE's pasts, and conned himself into believing that MMA could be the biggest sport in the whole wide world.

TNA Impact spoilers - reeks of the same failed desperation hotshot booking seen in the dying days of WCW

2010-03-11T00:40:38Z

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The Observer website has already posted spoilers for Monday's taped TNA Impact show. Unsurprisingly the spoilers reek of the same overbooked nonsense that contributed to the demise of WCW. The angles that most exemplify this failed desperation hotshot booking:

- Eric Bischoff vows to shave Mick Foley's head and beard, but when he attempts to do so, Foley manages to turn the tables and shaves Bischoff's head instead.

- Scott Hall gets $25,000 of Kevin Nash's money after he survives a five minute challenge, thanks to Sean Waltman handcuffing Nash to the ring ropes.

- RVD gets revenge on Sting by sucker attacking him when Sting answers Hulk Hogan's challenge to come out and face him. This leads to Eric "Do as I say, not as I do" Bischoff (him again) coming out and yelling at Hogan for getting physically involved again when he's supposed to be leading the company behind the scenes.

- Finally, TNA gives away Jeff Hardy's debut match for free in the main event. Moreover, Hardy defeats TNA World champion AJ Styles with his Swanton after a ref bump and special enforcer Abyss counts the pinfall. But wait, don't turn the channel to Raw, there's more! Yes, to close the show Abyss choke slams Ric "Whose the glorified stuntman now" Flair through a gimmicked stage, before threatening Styles.

If you are wondering why TNA are already so desperate, Dave Meltzer, gave the following key quote on the Observer message boards in response to a thread entitled "Why is everyone here so anti TNA?":

I get no glee out of TNA failing. I have friends who work there and if you know about their financial situation now, this is not looking good at all. They spent millions expecting a whole lot more return than they got.

Simply put, TNA are now losing tons of money again, after they managed to stem the bleeding through keeping their costs under control, moving to monthly PPVs, landing the Spike TV deal and expanding to two hours in prime time on Thursdays. The stakes have been raised. Dixie Carter may live to rue the day when she decided to go all in on the Monday night gamble.

Lloyd's of London causes WWE headaches over Bret Hart coming out of retirement

2010-03-10T23:09:07Z

Bret Hart & Test in Europe in 2008

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In the latest edition of Figure Four Weekly, Bryan Alvarez confirms a story originally broken by Eric Bischoff that Lloyd's of London, a British insurance company, had caused WWE plenty of headaches over Bret Hart coming out of retirement for a one off match at WrestleMania.

The context to this story is that Bret Hart, like several other wrestlers in the late 1980s, took out an injury insurance policy with Lloyd's of London. Lloyd's probably naively assumed that the odds of a wrestler claiming a permanent disability benefit were quite small. After all, that wrestling is completely fake, isn't it? However, Lloyd's eventually smartened up after wrestlers like Road Warrior Animal and Curt Hennig played the system and milked their injuries for as long as possible before returning to the ring. So when Bret claimed permanent disability after his career ending concussion issues, naturally Lloyd's was sceptical, having been burnt before. They refused to pay up, so Bret was forced to sue them in March 2004 for unpaid benefits and breach of contract, a case he eventually won in November 2005 when he was awarded $800,000 in damages.

However, wrestling is a strange business where even a badly concussed, stroke sufferer who was screwed over by the biggest wrestling promoter in the world can't be guaranteed to stay retired. Unsurprisingly Lloyd's mustn't have taken the news of Bret's imminent wrestling return too well and got their lawyers on to WWE. According to Alvarez, the whole creative team were "really sweating" and that this may have been the reason why they teased a tag match between Bret Hart & John Cena vs. Vince McMahon & Batista for a couple of weeks, instead of the originally planned singles match between the two. Apparently this is no longer a problem, as Lloyd's and WWE have come to some sort of agreement, possibly involving WWE paying Lloyd's some sort of restitution or Lloyd's having the final say on the physical structure of their singles match together.

WWE NXT Results and Reactions, 3/9/10

2010-03-10T04:10:55Z

WWE NXT Rookie Daniel Bryan was in action this week on WWE NXT.

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Full results for WWE NXT and my thoughts after the jump:

WWE Pro R-Truth and WWE Rookie David Otunga defeated WWE Pro and WWE US and Unified Tag Team Champion The Miz and WWE Rookie Daniel Bryan when Otunga pinned Miz after a chokeslam/spinebuster combination.
WWE Rookie Heath Slater (with WWE Pro Christian) defeated WWE Pro Carlito (with WWE Rookie Michael Tarver) after a rolling reverse cradle.
WWE Rookie Justin Gabriel (with WWE Pro Matt Hardy) defeated WWE Rookie Wade Barrett (with WWE Pro and World Champion Chris Jericho) after hitting the 450 splash.

The opening match was good. It told a good story, with Miz and Bryan having problems getting along. The key spot was Miz tagging himself in when Bryan had his heel hook on Otunga, they had words, and R-Truth hit the ax kick on Miz, setting up the Otunga pin. This was somewhat significant as Miz is a pretty well regarded Pro, so they clearly continue to have plans for Otunga. Before the match, Miz promised if Bryan lost, he would be kicked off of NXT, so that seems to be the next part of the Miz/Bryan story. Truth and Otunga did not have problems getting along after what happened last week.
They did a nice job setting up the Slater/Carlito match with a video showing Carlito spitting the apple in Slater's face from last week. The match itself was decent and the announcers made a point to say that Slater has accomplished something pinning a WWE Pro in a singles match, even if it was an upset.
They continued the videos with Justin Gabriel and Darren Young. After the Darren Young video, they did a backstage segment with Young and Punk, where Punk mentioned that when he helped Young, he won, but when he didn't help Young, he lost, and Punk saying it was an example of how Young could benefit from the straight edge lifestyle, with Young pondering his choice. Nice way to promote Punk's gimmick and work it into his NXT rookie.
Justin Gabriel looked good and appears to be another guy who WWE has in their plans. Jericho attacked Gabriel post-match after he had scored a clean pin, which gives the kid a rub from the World champion. Also, I think Michael Cole created the term "second-generation entertainer" when referring to Gabriel's father wrestling in South Africa as the Pink Panther.
There continues to be the allusion to the Pros determining who wins, but they haven't said anything concrete as to when that might be or how that would be determined, which leaves me to think they haven't figured that out yet.

I'd call this week a decent effort, better than last week's show. The matches ranged from "good" to "not wasting your time" and they at least have some focus on storylines and wrestlers. Right now, it looks like Otunga, Bryan, Slater, and Gabriel are the guys they are behind. It should be interesting to see how the show progresses.

Detailed Monday Night Wars Vol. 2, Week 1 Ratings

2010-03-09T23:59:36Z

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Hulk Hogan

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First, the quick and dirty:

WWE Monday Night Raw did a 3.25 rating with a 5.45 share.
TNA Impact did a 0.9 rating with a 1.5 share.

F4WOnline is reporting that it was 3.4 for Raw and 1.0 for Impact. I don't know why there's a fluctuation from the numbers we got but it's not a big one (and if you round Raw up to the next tenth of point then both shows vary by the same amount) so it's nothing to worry about.

Now, the detailed parts (and beware that Nielsen Media Research's math can be strange and that's why they don't come out exactly the same as averages reported for the shows) from the networks' prime time half hour grids:

- WWE's long-standing tradition is to report each hour of Raw as a separate show ("WWE Entertainment") while TNA reports all of Impact (including the overrun) as one show, so Raw's number as to be averaged from the official information. Hour 1 did a 3.1 with a 4.6 share and hour 2 (including the overrun) did a 3.4 with a 6.0 share.

- Raw's half hours covering 9 PM to 11 PM EST (missing the overrun) were 3.0, 3.0, 3.2, and 3.2.

- Impacts half hours were 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, and 0.8. So they grew little by little and then dropped back to where they started. That's not a good sign.

WWE Raw Results and Thoughts, 3/8/10

2010-03-09T04:37:05Z

WWE Raw

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Full results from this week's episode of Monday Night Raw after the jump.

WWE Unified Tag Team Champions The Big Show and The Miz battled John Morrison and R-Truth to a no-contest after both teams were brawling all over the ringside area.
Legacy defeated Randy Orton in a handicap match when Ted DiBiase pinned Orton after Dream Street, set up by a distraction from Cody Rhodes.
Evan Bourne qualified for Money in the Bank by defeating William Regal with the Shooting Star Press.
Mr. McMahon won some cluster of a main event over John Cena in what was billed as a handicap gauntlet match after Cena had been pummeled by Vladimir Kozlov, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry (no turn, they pushed that Henry had been forced into this by Vince for some strange reason), and Batista.

My thoughts:

The show opened with some mic work between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels that I thought was kind of boring. Some might call it simple, but they didn't really say anything that made me want to see this match any more or any less than I already did. They did somewhat anti-climatically make this a no-DQ, no countout match.
They did some backstage shenanigans with Criss Angel doing magic, such as making a piece of string go in his mouth through his eye (that was kind of gross), a number trick involving William Regal and Skip Sheffield, and finally some crazy "knife in a cup" gimmick where Santino hid a knife under a paper cup and Angel crushed the other cups, leaving the cup with a knife standing upright (without a knife piercing his hand). The problem is, even if the illusions (not tricks, as those are things a prostitute does for money, or candy) were on the up and up, they were clearly pre-taped and nobody would buy them on a wrestling show anyway, so they were pretty much a waste of time.
I liked the Show/Miz and Morrison/Truth match, even if it didn't have a finish, as it made the challengers look strong going into Wrestlemania, and considering they weren't even a team two weeks ago, they need all the help they can get. They did a nice job spotlighting Truth and Morrison working as a team together to prove "Hey, these guys are a legit team! We didn't just throw them together to make sure they get a Wrestlemania payoff, honest!"
The Orton/Legacy match was kind of boring, and if the goal was to get the audience excited about seeing that as a Wrestlemania match, it failed. They did try to push that both Rhodes and DiBiase together are too much for Orton, so he'd need to get a tag team partner, but I'm not sure whose left that needs a Wrestlemania match. Kofi seems to be the only star without a match on the show, but I don't know if anybody really wants to see Orton and Kofi team, and if they did team, everybody would be expecting Orton to turn on Sting, er Kofi, the entire match.
HHH and Sheamus had another boring in-ring confrontation to build their match. HHH did open with a nice point about how when he first came to WWE, he came in undefeated, as the new flavor of the month, and asked for the biggest dog he could find on the show (without saying the words "Ultimate Warrior) and was pinned in seconds. Then he stated that the guys who defeated him went on to become bigger stars (who, Undertaker? Benoit?) but the guys who he defeated saw their careers end (I guess Goldust's career went into a tailspin after Wrestlemania 13, but other than that, who?). Then they had a boring brawl where HHH came out on top. Overall, I remained amazingly ambivalent about this match.
Bourne and Regal had a nice 2 minute match. Would love to see this rematch on Superstars with some actual time.
They announced Steve Austin as the host for next week, as well as a Vince/Bret contract signing, where hopefully Bret will announce this whole cast thing was a ruse, because otherwise it's just been a giant waste of time.
The main event...wow. I like Cena, and I like Vince, but this was a mess. First, Vince changes it into a gauntlet match. But by "gauntlet," it meant "guy comes out, beats up Cena, tags in Vince, Cena kicks out, new guy comes out." I don't know why they couldn't have Cena beat, say, Kozlov here, or even McIntyre or Swagger. I guess I should applaud them for not burying the mid-card for once in this type of situation, but it made no sense for the guys to leave since they were not defeated, nor did they (or Vince) score a fall. After Vince failed to score pins on Cena after Kozlov, McIntyre, Swagger, and Henry all hit their finishes on Cena, he made the match no-DQ. Henry tried to stop Vince from using the ring bell, but Batista (who earlier had said he would not interfere in the main event) laid him out with the spinebuster. Kofi tried to make the save for Cena, but he too was laid out. Finally, Batista laid out Cena and Vince scored the pin to end this giant cluster-f.

Overall, it was quite the boring show. I guess they really aren't concerned with TNA as competition if tonight's show was any indication, because they really didn't do much of anything.

Open thread for WWE Raw and TNA Impact on March 8th

2010-03-08T23:52:45Z

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The key stuff from TNA's official online preview:

Hulk Hogan & Abyss vs. Ric Flair & AJ Styles;

Sting returns to TNA;

and that's all.

There's also supposed to be a major angle in the first five minutes of the show and "surprise" appearances by Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam. The only other match that has been teased online is Scott Hall & 6-Pac vs. Kevin Nash & Eric Young.

The key stuff from WWE's official online preview:

Raw opens up with The Undertaker (a clear counter programming move);

John Cena vs. Vince McMahon;

Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes & Ted Dibiase;

and illusionist Criss Angel hosts Raw.

Feel free to leave your comments on the shows in this open thread.

It looks like UPS had trouble delivering Rob Simmons' letter to Linda McMahon's campaign...

2010-03-08T23:29:16Z

It looks like UPS had trouble delivering Rob Simmons' letter to Linda McMahon's campaign headquarters. The address on the UPS form matches the address on McMahon's website, So it was either a garden variety UPS screw up along the lines of "Hey why don't I throw the package in the back yard" or her campaign office is actually a glorified P.O. box, which I'm told is not uncommon. I would presume that the package hasn't been claimed because they already saw the contents on the internet.

The last time Hulk Hogan faced Ric Flair on a Monday night

2010-03-08T00:46:14Z

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Much has been made of Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo not learning from the mistakes they made during the death of WCW and being generally clueless to the WWE product. However, one thing that has been slept on is the lesson of the last time Hogan faced Flair on a Monday night and it's not a good omen for TNA.

The night was May 13th 2002. Hogan was in the midst of his last WWF title run, inspired by the big pops his nostalgic red and yellow Hulkamania schtick was getting. Flair, in the storylines, was a co-owner of WWE, controlled Raw and had just turned heel on Steve Austin. So the ultimate nostalgia match was booked with Hogan eventually Hulking Up and hitting the legdrop to vanquish once again the Dirtiest Player In The Game. However, for the time it was an umitigated ratings disaster, as the Raw rating fell by seven tenths of a whole ratings point and was the lowest rated non-holiday episode of Raw since November 5th 2001. Hogan doing his routine with the Rock was something special, going through the motions with Ric Flair again just reminded everyone how old and stale their acts were.

If it didn't work in 2002, how is it going to work almost eight years later with both men being much older and more broken down, a point Hogan has stupidly reinforced in viewers minds in the hype for tomorrow's Impact main event? That TNA are repeating the same mistake WWE made eight years ago seems to be borne out by Impact's rating on Thursday night, where the big closing angle where Hogan bloodied up Flair was the lowest rated quarter of the night by far, drawing a dismal 0.9 rating. And that was without Raw competition to take their viewers away. Wish TNA lots of luck, they're going to need it!

April 17th: UFC and Strike Force specials on the same night...and in the same city?

2010-03-06T01:52:25Z

If it wasn't obvious before, it is now: Dana White idolizes Vince McMahon and loves to borrow from his playbook. According to Sherdog, he's about to lift one of the classics, as the planned UFC Ultimate Fight Night card on Spike TV that will oppose Strike Force's CBS special from Nashville on April 17th may take place in...Nashville.

Back in the late '80s and early '80s, running against major shows from Jim Crockett Promotions and then (after JCP was bought by Turner Broadcasting) World Championship Wrestling was something that McMahon had down to a science. The WWF would get prime tenant status for wrestling in major arenas, forcing JCP/WCW to run in a smaller or less desirable building.

For example:

In the Chicago area, the WWF would get the Rosemont Horizon while JCP would get the UIC Pavillion.
In Philadelphia, the WWF would get the Spectrum (where they had been running for a long time) and JCP would get the Civic Center.
In the New York metro area, the WWF had an exclusive with Madison Square Garden, so JCP and WCW were stuck either going to the Meadowlands or Nassau Coliseum in the suburbs or getting creative and running the 5,000 seat theater in the MSG complex.

This would often lead to both promotions running the same city in the same day/night, though sometimes, especially in Philly, both would draw great crowds.

As PPV events became more important, McMahon got more creative. The night before a WCW PPV event, the WWF would run a house show in the same city. If it was possible, they'd use the same arena. These shows would run incredibly long so as to hurt the walk-up ticket sales and keep the fans from getting lively at the PPV event, giving the impression of a dead show. If the shows were in the same building, then the WCW crew would be delayed in setting up the building.

What're the odds that Dana's next big move is to demand a higher percentage of PPV revenue from In Demand, TVN, DirecTV, and Dish Network?

McMahon/WWE Accountability Clock

2010-03-06T00:18:00Z

McMahon/WWE Accountability Clock

Rob Simmons' campaign posted this today, counting how many days it's been since he sent a letter to her asking 10 questions about WWE's business practices and safety record.

Hulk Hogan teases that the former Mr Monday Night Rob Van Dam has signed with TNA

2010-03-04T23:44:31Z

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The Wrestling Observer website is reporting that in an interview today Hulk Hogan said that TNA had made a major signing and then did Rob Van Dam's double thumbs gesture to the back. Obviously TNA are going all out to sign even more big name talent before Impact moves permanently to Monday nights, head to head with WWE's flagship show Raw. Rob Van Dam is one of the stars they've been most heavily recruiting that had yet to sign with the company. From RVD's perspective, if he is to return, working for TNA instead of WWE makes a lot more sense given TNA's lighter travel schedule and lack of pot testing. He has always been a strong advocate of the benefits of marijuana and has been very outspoken about how he hated being away from home so much and all the travel WWE's heavy house show schedule caused, especially towards the end of his WWE career.

Dana White signs his stalker James Toney to screw with Strikeforce

2010-03-04T23:06:25Z

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Yes, after giving the contract seeking, controversial, veteran boxer James Toney the cold shoulder at UFC 108, Dana White impulsively signed him yesterday. Zach Arnold has already covered this story in much better detail than I could, with a piece entitled Marks of Desperation: The marriage between UFC and James Toney. So what made Dana change his mind? Unsurprisingly the answer, courtesy of Dave Meltzer, turns out to be to screw over their opposition Strikeforce, who were apparently negotiating with Toney to face Herschel Walker in a freak show match designed to draw ratings for their next CBS show.

So what happens from here? Expect the promotional war to heat up between UFC and Strikeforce, as UFC is already making plans to run a live show on April 17th, the current date for Strikeforce's next CBS show. Expect James Toney to be pushed as a major outsider heel to the UFC fanbase, similar to how Brock Lesnar was pushed before his UFC debut. But will lightning strike twice and the same push work for an aging, washed up, boxer? We'll see.

More new details on the incident that led to the arrest of Ric Flair's wife Jackie Beems

2010-03-03T20:47:49Z

In the newest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported more details on what led to the arrest of Jackie Beems, Ric Flair's wife, for assaulting him last week. Of note:

Flair being offered a ride home by the staff of the sports bar that they were patronizing when he's too drunk to drive is a regular occurrence.
Allegedly, when they got home, Jackie brought up his behavior at the bar and slapped him. He ran into the house and started packing a suitcase. She followed, punching and kicking him. He tripped over the suitcase and hit his head on a dresser drawer, opening a gash where he had bladed at a the TNA Impact tapings four days earlier.

Here's the newest Linda McMahon campaign ad. Worth watching just for the family photos with...

2010-03-03T19:36:38Z

Here's the newest Linda McMahon campaign ad. Worth watching just for the family photos with Vince's amusing hair.

Also, I'm pretty sure this is the first campaign ad where she's been upfront about "her company" being WWE.

Cageside Seats

Pro Wrestling Respect results 3/14/10

Linda McMahon gets bashed for her husband Vince's "Sexy Bitch"

Dixie Carter resorts to pleading with fans to DVR Impact if they can't watch it live on Twitter

Bret Hart's big Mania payday leads to interview amnesia and shameless hypocrisy

Is UFC finally feeling the effects of overexposure through running too many major shows?

TNA Impact spoilers - reeks of the same failed desperation hotshot booking seen in the dying days of WCW

Lloyd's of London causes WWE headaches over Bret Hart coming out of retirement

WWE NXT Results and Reactions, 3/9/10

Detailed Monday Night Wars Vol. 2, Week 1 Ratings

WWE Raw Results and Thoughts, 3/8/10

Open thread for WWE Raw and TNA Impact on March 8th

It looks like UPS had trouble delivering Rob Simmons' letter to Linda McMahon's campaign...

The last time Hulk Hogan faced Ric Flair on a Monday night

April 17th: UFC and Strike Force specials on the same night...and in the same city?

McMahon/WWE Accountability Clock

McMahon/WWE Accountability Clock

Hulk Hogan teases that the former Mr Monday Night Rob Van Dam has signed with TNA

Dana White signs his stalker James Toney to screw with Strikeforce

More questions for Linda McMahon to dodge

More new details on the incident that led to the arrest of Ric Flair's wife Jackie Beems

Here's the newest Linda McMahon campaign ad. Worth watching just for the family photos with...