Brock Lesnar Wants Back!

To say that former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar left the company that made him a household name on bad terms would be putting it mildly. After being given a push very few wrestlers receive in their careers and to leave to make a name for himself in another sport without helping to create a replacement star, Brock possibly made the biggest mistake in his life. In an article with the Bismarck Tribune, Brock Lesnar explains why he left — and shows a change of heart.

Brock explains to the paper that he just wasn't ready for the work despite his desire to succees: "I committed to myself," he continued. "I committed to Vince McMahon and I wanted to be a pro wrestler. From the day I signed on the dotted line, I turned that switch, and I just wanted to become an entertainer. I got the same feeling out of it as I did as an amateur wrestler."

When he was promoted to the main roster, Lesnar was given the moniker "Next Big Thing" and quickly was pushed to the top, winning the WWE championship within months. But even as Lesnar continued to evolve into a strong all-around performer for McMahon, he began to struggle with the demands of the business.

"I wasn't ready for what (McMahon) had put on my plate," Lesnar said. "I couldn't eat it all. I tried to, you know. That's just me being me. He asked me, 'Are you ready for this?' And I just said, 'Bring it on. Let's go.'

"I wasn't ready to be traveling 300 days a year," he said. "I wasn't ready for the money. I wasn't ready for the responsibilities. I wasn't ready to be a father. I wasn't ready to be a husband. I wasn't ready for a lot of things. I had a lot of growing up to do. I was forced to grow up."

After deciding to leave the company, Brock attempted to join the NFL. As we all know, this didn't exactly pan out. After the season ended Brock got an invitation to watch a New Japan Pro-Wrestling show. This proved to be a mistake on his behalf and ultimately resulted in the lawsuit he filed against the WWE. Because he was introduced to the fans in attendance, the WWE contends that he appeared for another wrestling promotion which is strictly forbidden by the no compete contract he signed.

Brock, an athlete, feels that this contract unfairly keeps him from earning a living wage given his lack of skills in other job markets. After repeated stalling by lawyers on both sides of the issue, Brock now realizes his error in judgment.

"I'm ready for it now," he said. "... With the lawsuit and everything going on, I just hope we can resolve this thing, and Vince can open his doors to me and just give me a second chance.

"I have no idea (where it stands)," he added. "I guess it stands on the end of your pencil, when it gets on the Internet. That's probably where he'll catch the news. It's either that or me calling him. But I don't know what else I'd be. What else is there for me?"

For wrestling fans, this is only part of what could be fantastic news. Brock was an immensely popular and gifted professional wrestler. With him as the WWE Champion of the SmackDown brand television ratings, merchandising sales and house show ticket sales all increased. The fan reaction to his final match at WrestleMania XX was loud, angry and full of hurt. They had taken to this man and he was leaving them for another sport. If fans didn't care then there would have been little reaction at all.

The next move, and the right move, for Vince McMahon to take would be to allow Brock Lesnar back into the fold — with provisions of course. Vince certainly needs to protect his own product and investment. First, they would need to have a clause that if Brock should attempt the company in the same manner he did the last time then the no-compete clause is back in effect.

Next, Brock needs to work his way back to his former spot. WWE can't attempt to bury him for his actions though. There is far too much money to be made by both parties to be playing that game.

Lastly, the company needs to be sure that the situation doesn't happen again. By this I mean that they need to keep an eye on him. Any signs of stress and they need to talk with him, give him counseling, time off, something. Life on the road is very stressful. But when you have a talent of Brock's caliber then you need to be sure that he can handle his workload. It might not seem fair to others but it is for the best for the health and wealth of all involved in the company.

I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say the fans will welcome Brock back to the squared circle. We're ready to forgive him if he's ready to accept his role in the company as well. Brock Lesnar is without a doubt one of the most talented rookies to step foot in the WWE ring since 2003. Here's hoping that the isues between the two parties can get resolved.

Wrestling News June 25, 2005

There’s an excellent interview with Kurt Angle in the Miami Herald today. Angle tells a story about what happened the day he got drafted to Raw:"Vince doesn't tell anyone until the day of or the day before. I flew from New York to Syracuse and took a limo from Syracuse to Rochester. Funny thing is I ended up going into a convenience store to get something to drink.

"When I walked in, there was a fan saying, `Hey Angle, what are you doing? You're getting traded.' I said, 'No. I have an appearance up here. Then we're going up to Hershey. We have a show in Hershey tomorrow.' He's like, 'Yeah, right.' I said, `No. I'm serious.'

"Here is this guy two hours away from the city where we're in. He was going to the show that night, and I finally talked him into believing me. I thought, `Jeez. I better not get out of the limo again."

SD: This is major problem with how the draft is being conducted this year. There’s too many problems by trying to make it a surprise per show. This is one of them. Another is missing the excitement and reaction of the crowd and the wrestlers themselves as their names got read off on tv.

Angle on the difference between Raw and Smackdown: "On SmackDown! the guys were a little more like a family," said Angle, who did it all on Thursday nights including a stint as General Manager. "They helped each other out and wanted each other to excel. Everybody wanted everyone to make it to the main event level.

"On Raw there seems to be more of a competitive edge where guys are scraping, fighting and clawing there way to the top while they're trying to keep everyone else down. I think that has a lot to do with the individuals on Raw. I think it's more old school.”

From there he discusses the roles the brands played and how SmackDown stars were angry at being considered the B-show despite drawing better ratings and making more money. On his character, Angle is all for a tweaking: "I believe I have the ability to have a character that is as intriguing as Stone Cold Steve Austin," said Angle. "When I was the top good guy in the company, Vince McMahon wasn't sure what to do with me because I was kind of goofy as a bad guy.

"Therefore, when I was the top good guy he wouldn't let me cut any promos because he didn't know what to do with me. He didn't want me to be funny. He didn't want me to be goofy, but he didn't want me to be like Stone Cold…. I think now is the time to tweak my character and not push me to decide but let the fans decide. Instead of forcing me one way or another but just going with the flow and let the fans decide where they want me to be. I strongly believe I will end up being a good guy eventually.''

SD: Given that Kurt’s past interviews have tended to include some spoilers on the direction of the company, I think we can look for him to become a face in the near future. The other day I stated that Angle and Triple H could share the burdon as top heels of the Raw brand while Christian and Jericho could potentially be moving just under them. It looks like I could be wrong about Kurt’s role. This can mean good news for both Christian and/or Jericho fans but it’s still wait and see.

Depending on how the triple threat match for the WWE Championship goes and the end result of the draft lottery and trades just after it are handled we could be seeing a very different Raw main event scene. As Kurt said in the article, the SmackDown brand is about the changes and upward mobility of its stars, so the how main event looks over there is usually always changing like it would in a real sport which is a definite positive. As usual, wait and see how both brands develop. I am remaining cautiously optimistic.

One of the fastest rising stars in wrestling today, Christian, doesn’t like to say a whole lot about the company he works for. Of the infamous glass ceiling on Raw he says: “You can't worry about things you can't control. It's all hearsay anyway."

And his thoughts about Chris Jericho being added to his WWE Championship match against John Cena?

“I've always had great matches with Chris," he said. "I think this match has a good dynamic, but at some point, I would definitely like to have a singles match with John Cena."

SD: I would love to see it as well — but only if done right. Far too many of Cena’s matches lately have been nothing more than glorified squash matches. Christian deserves far better. A clean win for Christian against Cena would do wonders for both men’s careers and the company itself.

He then says about his character of recent months: "I've just tried to make the character grow up a little bit," he said. "I got an opportunity to step up and I jumped on that wave and tried to ride it. I feel like I've been in the zone, and I'm not thinking too much about what I'm doing. I'm just going out and doing it and the fans have been responsive to me."

SD: Yes, we most certainly have. There was only so much that could be done with the former overgrown child gimmick he used for so long. The new self-absorbed nerd meets Eddie Haskel routine fits him well and is a natural progression. The confidence he is exhibiting out there suggests to me that this is probably his own personality amped up for an audience. The WWE has the golden ticket in their hands. Will they use it to get back into the Chocolate Factory?

RVD expressed his thoughts on ways to improve the state of wrestling today while on Off the Record. Taken from PWInsider: “He says that wrestling needs to go back to enhancement matches. He says they have gone away from them during the Monday night wars, where now, every match on the card is a main event. He states that the current matches hurt one main eventer as much as it helps another, plus it always become political & complicated in how the match ends. He said that with enhancement matches, even if fans know who is going to win, the superstar gets to put on an exhibition to the fans and show them everything they can do, against someone who doesn’t want to get themselves over. He says that if those matches are meant to feature RVD and all his ‘kick ass’ moves, then maybe you’ll want to buy a ticket to see RVD fight another established main eventer. He says that the business needs to go back and showcase the wrestlers as the big superstars they are.”

SD: All I can argue with is that “all the matches are now main events.” Some most definitely aren’t but I definitely agree with the sentiment. Witness Smackdown’s forays into enhancement talent recently: the Kurt Angle Invitational doe exactly as RVD says. Heidenreich and Matt Morgan facing enhancement talent put over their new characters in a huge way. They are now in major feuds. And Eddie Guererro’s DQ loss to ROH star Jimmy Jacobs recently really put his heel persona over big. It works and keeps WWE workers healthier.

It continues: “Micheal Landsberg asks that if RVD was to book a match for himself on Monday night, what he would do. He said that he would fight a television matches against a ‘Bill Jones’, a local enhancement talent and would come out ‘smokin’” & get to show off all of his moves. He then mentioned Paul London, who he called ‘really good’ and said that he would build to a match with Paul London because while Van Dam gets to show what he could do, he would also bring the best out of London, at the same time.”

SD: Who wouldn’t want to see that? It has potential to be the next RVD/Jerry Lynn series. One problem with the current direction is exactly what RVD is saying here. All the big matches are being given away for free when they don’t have to be. If they are given to the house shows and ppvs only suddenly revenue dramatically increases in both. Now, for television not every match has to be this way. The “bigger” matches can be scattershot throughout the show. Since nobody expects the enhancement matches to last as long as the superstar matches you suddenly have a little more time to advance angles for ppvs and to get talent over via promos, video packages, whatever. It’s win/win.

In TNA news, Bill Banks had some injuries to report in his column: There were several injuries at Tuesday’s TV tapings, including Michael Shane and James Storm (both hyper-extended knees suffered during their Impact match airing this week), Alex Shelley and Petey Williams (busted noses) and The Outlaw, who suffered a nasty cut on the top of his head. None of the above are expected to miss any ring time.

On a side note, the injuries to Shane and Shelley forced them out of a match later on that night against AJ Styles and Sean Waltman, with Canada’s A1 and Bobby Roode taking their place in the bout.

SD: Two injuries in the opening match of the taping? Then more after? I’m getting flashbacks to WWE New Year’s Revolution. Good to know that the injuries won’t miss ring time. Hopefully the changed match won’t be too damaging to the storylines.

Later on he hints: “On this week’s Impact, Championship Committee member Larry Zbyszko informed Jeff Jarrett that “new talent” were on their way to TNA Wrestling. I wonder who Larry Z was referring to? July should be an interesting month for sure, especially “No Surrender”…”

SD: Most likely it is Matt Hardy which wouldn’t be a shock to anybody. He also discusses returns to the company both in production and talent, clearances, merchandising and that they are finalizing a deal for Video On-Demand with Adelphia and Cox. Finally, he announces that the September 11 ppv will be called “Unbreakable”. I’m hoping that they use a green motif for the faces’ ramp and purple for the heels’.

Ed Ferrara comments on the pitfalls of being a WCW writer:“…we had a major angle planned for Sid that spanned the entire show. Sid flatly refused to do what we had planned (which I felt was odd, because I had never had any problems with Sid prior to that, and he was usually quite reasonable). Sid left in the late afternoon, and I was literally re-writing the ENTIRE show on the fly as it was progressing... when we went live at 8 p.m. EST. I only had the first three segments written and booked out. I was desperately trying to keep the show going, booking matches and writing segments for the boys that they were getting literally two or three segments before they had to go on.”

SD: Remember, WCW was the home of guaranteed contracts or as Aleister Crowley put it "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law". But if you think having to rewrite a television show almost as it is happening was bad enough, he continues:

“… halfway through the show, as I was desperately trying to figure out what should happen next, I look up from my seat at Gorilla position, and there I see Scotty and Page rolling around on the floor in the dark, looking like they were trying to kill each other. It was the perfect crescendo for one of the most f---ed-up days I ever spent in WCW... and that's saying a LOT.”

SD: Scotty and Page being, obviously, Scott Steiner and DDP who had been kept apart from each other for weeks. I really think the WCW situation needs to be given another look over. The Death of WCW book by Bryan Alvarez and R.D. Reynolds got into a lot of it but they also glossed over a hell of a lot more which was disappointing to me. I think a tabloid style book with similar stories as told by Ferrara here would be extremely enjoyable. Out of the two paragraphs Ferrara uses to discuss WCW I got a hell of a lot more sense of how horrible it really was than from Death of WCW.

Gabe Sapolsky (whose name I can never remember) of ROH said recently to the PWTorch Newsletter: "I thought that Samoa Joe's TNA debut was perfectly booked and then perfectly executed by Joe and Sonjay Dutt. It was the perfect introduction of Joe to a new product and I'm sure TNA will do some great business with him and they really have people hungry to see more of him. It was very nice of them to mention ROH and Joe's history in ROH and I'm glad they could use it to give Joe some accolades in his debut."

SD: It’s good to see the two feds on working terms again. That can only be good for the sake of the industry. I haven’t watched the Slammiversary yet so I can’t comment on the match and Samoa Joe’s debut but judging by how great Joe and Dutt are as performers I can’t see it being bad at all.

Rumor has it that Ted DiBiase’s sons, Ted Jr. and Michael, will be joining the WWE as a tag team sometime in 2006. The rumored tag team name will the “The Million Dollar Brothers”. Will they be they first third generation tag team in WWE history?

The Passion of the Wrestler

Last night I decided to pop in one of the discs in the RVD set released by WWE some months back, and my match of choice was RVD/Sabu from Hostile City Showdown 1996. As I was watching RVD and Sabu put on a hell of a non-stop show for nearly 20 minutes, it started to dawn on me what set ECW apart from other "independents" at the time, and it's something that partly explains why ECW was able to achieve the degree of success it had, and why I think there might be a dearth of (foreseeable) competition to WWE.

I had discussed the idea of this post with Krusty, and he was able to sum it up with one word: Passion.

Passion is what I was watching when I watched Sabu and RVD tear down the house. Whether you think ECW was a viable source of competition, or was even nothing more than glorified "garbage wrestling" is not the point. The point is that these two men WANTED to be out there doing what they were doing. It reminds me of a comment Joey Styles made during One Night Stand. He noted that Sandman, Dreamer, and the Dudley Boys were absolutely beating the bloody hell out of each other, and that they loved every minute of it.

Now, I realize that part of Heyman's success with ECW was that he was able to bring in established stars like Kevin Sullivan, Eddie Gilbert, Cactus Jack, and Terry Funk, but he also had guys who wanted to be professional wrestlers. These weren't guys who happened to wrestle. These were guys who wanted to do this for a living, and to devote their lives to it.

This "simple" distinction is what I think typifies the fact that right now we don't have widespread competition to WWE. In the indy scene, you have a bunch of guys who play the part of some character for one or two nights a few times a month. They might call themselves wrestlers, but they're not. They are guys who wrestle. This is a very important distinction.

RVD, Sabu, and the others were/are wrestlers. They believed wrestling to be a craft, to be perfected and molded. Personally, you know which guys on the indy scene draw my interest? I notice the guys who act like they care, like they have a vested interest in their own matches. They're not out there just to earn a quick $15 and impress some chick with their moves (well, maybe not completely). They're there because they want to learn. They're there because they want to grow. Even in my local fed, the guys who impressed me were the guys who had WWE aspirations, who worked dark matches and B-show matches when WWE was in town.

What does this all have to do with competition to WWE, and why watching some ECW match from nearly 10 years ago sparked a thought? I don't think there are enough people out there these days on the indy scene who want to be wrestlers. You have feds full of guys who wrestle, but not feds that are full of wrestlers. There is simply no "next generation of wrestlers." This is undoubtedly related to the lack of any kind of territory system (which is another discussion in and of itself), but I think no one out there wants to be a wrestler anymore. They want to play the part for a night, and then go back to their "regular" lives. They don't want to pay the dues, they don't want to travel to lots and lots of independents in order to make their name.

Ring of Honor and TNA can only offer so much competition because they don't have the exposure to "make it big" (let alone booking, commercial appeal, etc). And I think they run the risk of finding guys on the indy scene who although they have some love for being wrestlers, are picked up before they can develop well rounded skills, out of the simply need to have someone with some sense of professionalism. I think this is why TNA and RoH have the "spot fu" and/or "lots of pieces of wrestling with no real storyline in the movements" reputations they do. The newer wrestlers might love what they do, but we're seeing them as they start to learn, something that should be done before they hit "the big leagues," so to speak.

I am sure this has always been the case with the indepedents, but I think it's becoming more transparent now that the indies are the source of (future) competition for WWE. I look at the guys wreslting in my locale, and I don't see anyone who really could move on the national scene and do well there, and I bet a lot of other people have similar experiences. I don't think wrestling by any means is dead, but if anyone is to rise up and provide a viable, different, widely captivating product, he needs to make sure he wants to rise up all the way to the top, as opposed to going along for the ride and bowing out when the going gets tough.

Abu Dhabi 2005

Man, I'd love to get my hands on a copy of this year's Abu Dhabi in Long Beach, California. Every review I've read says it was one of the best ever. A friend of mine's boss is sponsoring Diego Sanchez, and from what I hear, he was really impressive there and surprised a lot of people. If anyone has seen a copy of this floating around, be sure to let me know!

SD: Say hi to Krusty, everybody. He wanted to publish this even before we were ready to launch LOL It's up now, guy. Now give us some substance!

Wrestling News June 24, 2005

There's an excellent, excellent interview with Kurt Angle up at IGN.
On his WM21 match with HBK:I'd have to say the Shawn Michaels match was the best, though, because I've had a lot of wrestlers come up to me, legends, former wrestlers like Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Paul Orndorff, Jesse Ventura call me personally and tell me that it was the best match they've ever seen in their life. There were also current wrestlers like Chris Benoit and JBL who came up to me and said "Kurt, I've never seen a match like that. That's the greatest match I've ever seen. That's what wrestling is all about." It surprised me, because when I was out there, I was feeling it, but I just did what I did then walked to the back like any other match. Before I knew it, everyone was on their feet clapping and I was like, "Wow, I didn't know it was that good." It made me very, very excited because at that point, it was something I needed. With all of the injuries I've had with my neck, what I needed was something to revive me, and that did. I think it showed Vince that I'm still at the top of my game and that my neck is no longer an issue. So he traded me to Raw and has given me a fresh beginning so now I can have an opportunity to make a run for the title. I think Vince was very concerned about my neck, and I think that's why you didn't see me in the title picture for a while, but now you're going to see me there.

SD: That was just an amazing match. But I do question the logic of him having to move to Raw to get back into the title scene. It does give the show another main event heel wrestler besides Triple H so hopefully they have some plans.


On amateur wrestling: And I think that finally, amateur wrestling as a community, they always felt like they took a backseat to pro wrestling and they felt that in people's minds, pro wrestling was just the next step of amateur wrestling. They were out there trying to say pro wrestling was fake and they were real. But pro wrestling is not fake, it's sports entertainment. We go out there and we perform, and a lot of what we do out there is real, but we're not going to insult anyone's intelligence, there is a predetermined winner. It's just the fans don't know who it is, and that's what makes it so intriguing. Amateur wrestling finally realized that by entering professional wrestling, I wasn't taking the next step, I was taking another career path and I opened it up for other wrestlers to follow.

SD: And we all owe Kurt a debt of gratitude for this. Shelton, Charlie and Brock are all amazingly talented in-ring performers. The era of crash tv is over so let's get back to the basics. In Terry Funk's autobiography he said that his father would train new wrestlers in amateur wrestling before they started doing pro-wrestling techniques. It gives them toughness, stamina and a solid chain wrestling background that the fans love if done right.

Check out the rest of the interview. It's well worth the time.

On SmackDown, Teddy Long announced a 6-man match for the new SmackDown Championship. Comic book author and screenwriter Steven Grant writes to the Observer and puts it all in perspective for all of us:
"So if they don't unify the World and WWE titles, do they really thinking having yet another title will make the titles seem more important? If they're not shifting one or the other to Smackdown, what's the point of
sticking yet another title on Raw when they don't do anything with the ones they've got?"

SD: If you'll recall, Grant is a long time wrestling fan and even wrote a few WWF comics for the now defunct Chaos! Comics; among them the Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mankind books. As to his entire letter, he's exactly right. Here we have wrestling fans who have been watching this sport for years and even we get confused as to who the champions are. Imagine what it must be like to the casual fan or even a first time viewer? I'm not suggesting they get rid of some titles. I just think they need to remember the sport in sports-entertainment. It's perectly acceptable to have storyline and personality conflicts. They are part of wrestling tradition as well. But the titles are just as important. Make people chasing the titles a primary goal again. This is the absolute easiest way to get over the wrestlers, the titles and the product itself.

After I wrote up that last tidbit, I found this article about former WWE Womens and Cruiserweight Champion Jacqueline. She agrees with me: "They tend to do more soap opera than wrestling," she said. "Have you noticed that? That's OK. We need that. But I think they need to focus more on wrestling. They need to bring it back.

"Right now, they are using a lot of Playboy models, a bunch of T & A. I have nothing against that. There is plenty of room for that, but there is room for both. People love to see pretty women, but you can see them anywhere. Get back to wrestling."

SD: The problems with WWE are so minute but everybody sees it. It just needs a little twist in the right direction and viewership will show upward mobility again.


The NWA World Championship stirs up strong feelings within TNA according to the PWTorch newsletter. Jarrett made the decision to bow out of the match voluntarily. Raven was instead added to the match during the pre-show. According to reports, Jarrett was upset that he wasn't being booked by the new writing committee in TNA to win back the NWA World Title on Sunday. Jarrett reportedly felt that it would have been damaging to his character to not win the match after putting himself over as the "King of the Mountain" all year in TNA. Dixie Carter was said to have stood her ground regarding the decision and would not allow a change in the match to take place to give Jarrett the win.

SD: If true, I have two opinions of Jarrett on this. First, I think it was really short-sighted of him to be doing the entire "King of the Mountain" as part of his gimmick. It was a gimmick match. He had to know there would be more. You don't see the Undertaker or Triple H calling themselves the Hellion of the Cell. Edge needs to be careful with this as well when referring to himself as "Mr. Money in the Bank". Second, I feel bad for him that the company he founded is moving ahead without his influence. From a company standpoint it is the right thing to do. But for him it has to be frustrating. Raven, who wasn't even supposed to be in the match until the situation developed had another reaction:

When Raven was informed hours before Slammiversary that he would be winning the NWA World Heavyweight Title, he reportedly broke down and cried. Being a long time fan and student of the wrestling business, Raven could recognize the history of the NWA Title and the significance of being put in the record books as a champion.

SD: Who says titles don't mean anything? The oldschool wrestlers (of which Raven is probably the last of) really understand the signifigance of being world champion. Unlike the mid-to-late '90s it seems the World titles are becoming important again in the industry. To be now listed in the record books as an NWA champion is an honor for Raven and makes his decision for a career path all that much sweeter for him. I'd like to publicly congratulate Raven for his accomplishment. You've earned it.

An interview with former New York Ranger, Chris McAllister had this little snippet:
Question: You're 6-foot-7. When was the last time you had a crush on a girl who was taller than you?

Answer: I wouldn't say I had a crush on her but I remember some girl who was 6-foot-8 coming up to me and saying, "You're cute." Scary. She was one of the girls from the WWE's Tough Enough TV series. She was a big girl.

SD: After a little research it turns out this girl was probably Paulina who is 6'3". Maybe she wore heels? If you recall Paulina later ended up making a couple appearances in TNA.


Here's a picture you've probably already seen of Mark Henry at the USA network's rebranding party:


Feel free to snark on it.

This item was also in a major American newspaper, the Oregonian, about a house show card at the Rose Garden Arena: "Batista better win it big time," she [Holli Dery] said before the big bout. And added her friend from Coos Bay, Victor Baldwin, 15: "Triple H is lame and his moves are getting old!"

SD: The move of Kurt Angle from SmackDown to Raw will help a lot with this image problem. Triple H is in the WWE for the long haul. Most likely that means he will remain at the top of the card. Now with Angle there and the potential upward mobility of Christian and Jericho (who both are among the top 6 Raw stars for the Raw-to-SmackDown draft graphic) Triple H can relax some and refocus on evolving his ring style and character some.

Wrestling News 6/23/2005

Booker T signs for another 2 years

"I recently renewed my contract," Booker told the popular show Wrestletalk Radio recently. "I tried to sign for just one more year but the company believed in me enough to ask me to sign for two, so I will definitely be on your TV for two more years."

SD: Good news for his fans.
Of the controversial storyline with Kurt Angle:"I am definitely comfortable with it. It's TV, no different then anything else you can watch. If you take it too seriously you would get caught up on. Everything we have done has been good quality and good taste and I wouldn't let it be any other way. I don't have any say in writing the storyline but I have a say in what my wife and I are willing to do. We are all human beings, we have to leave that arena and come home so there has to be a certain level of respect."

SD: There you have it: Booker says he and Sharmell were fine with it. I do question the phrase "good taste" but compared to many other programs on television I can't really argue.

On his a Stevie Ray's training school:"When I was a kid everyone had their own unique style and you knew why you liked them or hated them. The way people are trained today the kids don't get that. I feel like I have an obligation to give back in that aspect and train kids and get them on the right track. Hopefully a few of them can go around the world and do their thing."

SD: Sentiments I'm sure we can all agree with. I talked a little bit about this with James Ray yesterday and how the lack of regional territories is hurting business. OVW isn't enough for the WWE's future generations. They need to be working different regions to really learn their craft.

The rest of the article he discusses WrestleMania, WCW and his wedding to Sharmell. It's worth a read.

Kid Kash shoots from the hip

"I'd been there for three years and not one single iota of a pay raise or anything. I asked many times for one, but it never seemed to be in the budget. Every time I turned around, somebody else was being hired. You can almost figure that they were making more than what I was making," said Kash. "It's a little slap in the face. I wasn't asking for hardly anything, really. I guess they appreciated me going out, putting guys over and making them look good, but they didn't appreciate me enough to make my effort worthwhile."

His trainer, Ricky Morton, agrees with Kash's decision:"I think it was one of the best decisions he made. When you come from a situation [like that], you're fighting a losing cause," Morton said. "It was a great decision for him to leave there. You can get caught up in that rat race; it's like scrambled eggs, dude. It was the best decision that I thought he made, especially if he's going to advance himself maybe to WWE. He's got a lot of potential. He's one of the best."

SD: In the article you can see Kash's comments on his own career, ECW and a fairly well known tag team. I don't see any positive benefits to shooting on his former employer and their stars. Kash is in his mid-30s already. If he dreams of wrestling at WrestleMania he needs to get in the company now.


Japanese group forced from venue

Kokusai Puroresu Promotion was forced to abandon their venue at a fruit and vegetable market in Yokohama after their diesel truck failed to pass exhaust inspections for the metropolitan area. The venue, which had 50 seats set around ringside, offered shoppers a chance to see a profesional wrestling in an intimate venue. For the past year, this group has been forced to only perform in venues with a ring already set up.

SD: Sounds to me like a backyard fed that caught on. Who knows...

New Group claims PPV deal

Dave Nelson, new owner of NWA Ohio, announced the formation of new wrestling fed, World Wrestling Association, based out of Columbus, Ohio and Orlando, Florida. He and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan are working on this venture since they have pulled their offer to purchase controlling interest of NWA-TNA. According to the press release, their first ppv will be in October. They plan on staying with the NWA despite the name change.

SD: I should check out an NWA Ohio show one of these days. As for the news? We'll see...

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