The Gorilla Press w/ Special Guest Phil Strum
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Sunday, November 15, 2009
THE SHEET (News & Rumors)
Hulk Hogan’s TNA ‘Wish list’ includes RVD, Steve Austin [NY Daily News]
Alarming stats from RAW record less than half an hour of wrestling for entire show [Prowrestling.com]
Ricky Hatton Flops in ratings as Raw numbers continue nosedive [PWTorch]
Rey Mysterio battling another injury [Wrestling Globe Newsletter]
Shane McMahon meets with UFC officials [Bleacher Report]
Updated Survivor Series Card [WWE.com]
GORILLA CLIP OF THE WEEK
Each week in The Gorilla Press we will feature a video highlighting unforgettable moments from pro wrestling past, present, and even the future.
Here’s a video that seems to get funnier every time we watch it, especially if you know the story behind it. In 2005, Batista was slated to win The Royal Rumble by eliminating John Cena. The spot was supposed to be Cena, in an attempt to counter The Batista Bomb, goes over the top ropes leaving Batista as the last man standing.
Instead, Batista was inadvertently eliminated along with Cena as both men went over the top rope. This was obviously not how the finish to The 2005 Royal Rumble had been planned.
The great part about this video is neither man missed a beat. Although they had just botched the finish to the match, both men paraded around the ring acting as if they had won. The referees got in on the act too as one set of refs declared Cena the winner, while the other set of refs declared Batista the winner (all improved).
Furious with the situation, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon stormed down to the ring intending to restore order, however as he slid into the ring he blew out both quads and aggravated the injury after collapsing as he tried to walk it off.
With referees, John Cena, Batista, and McMahon all in the ring at the same time The 2005 Royal Rumble was on the brink of a comical disaster. However the match was restarted and only those close to the wrestling business (the internet community) really knew that the finish was botched. This one is a classic, put down the milk before viewing.
SHOWSTOPPER
(WRESTLING ON TV)
HIGH SPOTS
From RAW: Ricky Hatton. He may have not performed in the ratings but it was refreshing to see a wrestling ‘fan’ as a host of RAW. He didn’t botch any names (that I heard of) and his underdog pugnacious style fit right in with Jerishow’s arrogant superheel act.
From Smackdown!: Jericho vs. Undertaker. A good match as expected, but I was hoping that the WWE powers that be wouldn’t notice that these two haven’t been in the ring together ever. That way, they could have saved their first encounter for Wrestlemania instead of wasting it on free TV in true Vince McMahon A.D.D. fashion.
From Impact: Lashley/Steiner Feud. TNA’s attempt to shed Lashley’s paper babyface persona by bringing his family into the storylines, thus making him seem more human, is starting to work. This is due in large part to Scott Steiner. It’s been a while since I’ve truly appreciated anything Steiner put his musclebound fingers on, but he has really done a good job dusting off his Sexual Overtone Soliloquies almanac and busting off the ‘big bad booty daddies’ and ‘freaks and peaks’ that we’ve grown to know and tolerate. The match between these two bruisers might be a little hard to watch, but I have no complaints about the build towards it and that’s a rare comment about the TNA product.
LOW SPOTS
From RAW: Randy Orton’s ‘Thugs’ comment. I really don’t have a problem with the intent (trying to get over as a heel), but if WWE is trying to promote a more family friendly product, then what part about three white guys in a ring calling the three black guys thugs furthers that mission statement?
From Smackdown!: Chris Jericho vs. Undertaker. As much as I enjoyed this much anticipated match up, any novelty of these two getting in the ring at a Wrestlemania has been ruined as touched on in the High Spots section. To make matter worse, I have a feeling that we will now see these two in the ring together multiple times in the near future which would be a big mistake.
From Impact: ‘Impact Guest host?!’. As much we love Marty Funkhouser, AKA Super Dave Osborne, I am so burnt out on seeing guest hosts on television that when I went to the one place I thought I’d escape it, TNA Impact, the show opened with – you guessed it – a guest host spot! TNA competing with RAW’s guest host gimmick (which seems to be a contributing factor to an erosion in ratings as the show progresses) is like Burger King Trying to compete with The McArch.
THE SHOOT
(Opinion & Interviews)
This week in the shoot we got the opportunity to speak with Phil Strum of The Poughkeepsie Press Journal. Phil is also the editor of The Under The Ring blog and has interviewed a who’s who of professional wrestling superstars for The Journal as well as his blog. We spoke with Phil Strum about the latest happenings in pro wrestling including The latest Hogan-to-TNA news as well as Shane McMahon’s future beyond The WWE.
TGP: You recently interviewed Ken Andersen, AKA Ken Kennedy, who was one of the fastest rising stars in The WWE at one time. Who is the fastest rising star
in The WWE right now?
PS: There is a lot of really good fresh talent in WWE right now, but they
don’t seem to have any grand plan for what to do with it. Some of the guys
that I think have the most potential are John Morrison, The Miz, Kofi
Kingston, MVP, Mike Knox, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Jack Swagger, Dolph
Ziggler, the Hart Dynasty, Cryme Time, Zack Ryder and Paul Burchill are the
guys I think have the upward potential.
None of them, to this point, have gotten an extended period to carry the
ball, so to speak. WWE should use its non-big 4 pay-per-views to give some
of these guys a chance at the limelight, but they never do. They will learn
soon the consequences for not really creating enough good, fresh stars and
heated individual issues.
TGP: Hogan to TNA. What changes more, the landscape of TNA or the landscape of Pro Wrestling?
PS: TNA. I doubt highly, unless Hogan’s arrival creates tons of buzz-inducing angles, that the Hulkster’s TNA arrival will generate anything more than a blip to WWE. Hopefully, for the sake of the industry, Hogan’s arrival makes TNA a better company and WWE ups its game when it has competition.
I am skeptical of any of those things actually happening. I say: brief spike
(pun intended) in ratings, but then the power struggle that will ensue in
TNA, could be the worst thing that happens to the company. I hope that
doesn’t happen, but I am not confident.
TGP: TNA has used their recent publicity from the Hogan announcement to make another announcement that there will be an even BIGGER announcement made in the future. What are your thoughts on this upcoming announcement?
PS: You think I know? Haha, I’m just a guy from Long Island who works in the sports media and who has had a semi well-known blog since March 2007. The only thing that possibly COULD be construed as bigger than Hogan’s arrival is switching to Monday night to go opposite Raw, but they’d be nuts to try that.
TGP: The WWE seems committed to creating new stars, however they have not created any new main event stars as we continue to see the same main events. When do you think we will start seeing some new guys in the main event picture?
PS: It’s going to take their numbers completely tanking. You’ll see some guys elevated at times (Cena, Orton and Batista haven’t always been main
eventers). But if you’re asking for drastic change from WWE, I don’t think
you’re going to get it.
Talking to Dusty Rhodes on Saturday, it indicated to me that everyone in FCW is serious about contributing to the main roster. A lot of stars have to
align for guys to get to the next level (the right person believing in you,
a desire to improve your craft and an ability to sell tickets and make the
fans believe in you.
TGP: The Survivor Series Main event will feature HHH, Cena, and HBK. I am of the belief that we are long overdue for an HBK title run as we have not seen it in years and it would mean more if one of the younger talents (say, The Miz) went over on HBK in the future for The Heavyweight title (wishful thinking). For the sake of discussion, What are your thoughts on a possible HBK WWE title run?
PS: I talked about this with a friend of mine not too long ago. He felt that
Shawn’s final good years were wasting away in the comedy gimmick that is DX. I tend to agree. Shawn Michaels is one of the best performers I’ve ever
seen. I was at his comeback match at SummerSlam 2002 (one of the best
matches I’ve ever seen live) and his title win at Survivor Series 2002 (has
it really been SEVEN years since HBK won the belt?). I think Shawn could be
very valuable to the company if they find the right young talent for him to
have a top-notch program with. Maybe John Morrison?
TGP: What does the future hold for Shane McMahon?
PS: My guess is something in mixed martial arts. I just don’t know what.
Shane’s a smart guy. He’ll land on his feet.
TNA TURNING POINT PREVIEW
As we speak, TNA Turning Point is in progress. We have avoided any spoilers in order to provide a proper preview, and we will be viewing an encore immediately after this preview in order to provide our review of the show.
Six Man Tag Match: Team 3D w/Rhyno over Morgan, Hernandez, and D’Angelo Dinero.
Don’t quite know where this feud came from or is going, but I smell a double cross somewhere here.
TNA Knockouts Tag Match: The Beautiful People take all the titles.
This is another TNA match loaded with stipulations and gimmicks. The Beautiful People are the best thing going on TNA right now believe it or not, and I could see them winning at least one title if not all.
X Division Match: The Amazing Red Over Homocide.
Knockouts Singles Match: Awesome Kong over Tara.
Singles Match: Lashley over Scott Steiner.
…Unless Lashley’s woman turns on him. That’d be wild.
TNA World Tag Team Title Match: The British Invasion goes over.
Singles Match: Kurt Angle over Desmond Wolfe.
Desmond has been getting the better of Angle on TV, so you gotta believe he will get his comeuppins which, for the record, is an outdated form of booking I just don’t agree with anymore.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match: A.J. Styles over Samoa Joe and Daniels.
This one won’t live up to the classic these three had the first time, but it should still be pretty damn good.
FINISHERS
Each week we will try to leave you with a final thought, idea, opinion, and general bullshit that comes to mind.
This week, we leave you with an idea for a gimmick that I came up with.
Picture, if you will, a crime mob boss. [We're still workin' on the name] Big. Scary. Intimidating. The man is a certified worker but he wears a suit all the time and doesn’t get in the ring for about a month. Nobody touches him for at least a month. He goes everywhere with his stable: An equally dangerous tag team and a manager. When his music hits, the lights go out and red searchlights flash all over the arena. His entrance, like him, is undeniably cold and intimidating. Each week when his music (In Cold Blood by Rick Ross) hits he saunters out to the arena accompanied by his goons. His goons are usually carrying crowbars with them. He walks halfway down the ramp and then stops. The intimidating figure in question slowly raises his hand with his middle finger and his thumb together, snaps his fingers, and with that the tag team slides into the ring and the manager strolls up the steps and holds the ropes for him.
He walks out to the arena in the middle of matches, mid-card promos, and anything else The WWE feels like shitting on, in order to squash whoever is in the ring and address the displeased onlookers with heel sentiments and lectures. One of the key recurring themes of this gimmick is that whenever he snaps his fingers, his dangerous tag team cronies attack without warning like pitbulls.
Just when this heel gimmick is getting over so much that the fans begin to cheer the faction, the inevitable face turn would be easy.
The faction is ‘hired’ by a top heel, perhaps a Randy Orton figure, who was embarrassed by Hornswoggle the previous week. After the top heel calls out Hornswoggle to the ring, the faction’s music hits and poor Hornswoggle is trapped in the middle of the ring as the most dangerous faction in The WWE prepares for his demise.
However, The Mob Boss is having a moral dilemma. He goes to snap his fingers but can’t. As the tag team waits for the cue in heavy anticipation, the top heel begins getting in the guy’s face. As the heel becomes more obnoxious with the Mob Boss, it soon becomes evident what its going to happen. The Mob Boss turns to the top heel, snaps his fingers, and the tag team lets him have it. The Mob faction gets over, the heel gets what he deserves, and everybody goes home happy.
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[...] Gorilla clip was featured on the very first issue of The Gorilla Press and is one of our all time favorites. In the spirit of The Royal Rumble, we [...]