Big D has been keeping you up to date on the latest WWE cuts. Rather than continuing to create new posts on the new releases, we’re just going to keep updating this post with the dates in which the news is released.
2/26/10
Paul Burchill
Shane Helms
Maria Kanellis
Scott Armstrong
2/28/10
Charlie Haas
I didn’t even hear about this one, but apparently from PWInsider, Charlie Haas has been let go (again) from WWE. I’m surprised it took them this long.
Other releases this weekend:
– Referee Scott Armstrong
– Maria
– Hurricane Helms
– Paul Burchill
More to come.
Wrestlemania was Vince McMahon’s baby. Technically Stephanie and Shane were his kids, but one could imagine that Vince took just as much care in his raising and handling of Wrestlemania as he did with his own children. And shame on those of you who just said that he might’ve shown more love and care for Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania was live in Madison Square Garden in 1985, and Wrestlemania 10 was also at the Garden in 1995. It didn’t take a genius to figure that Wrestlemania XX would call the Garden home. The line-up was stacked for Mania XX and Vince started promoting the event at Mania XIX. It had an entire year of promotion and it delivered.
There were a couple big ifs about this PPV. Or maybe a couple of big woulds. Would Vince McMahon give Chris Benoit the World Championship? Would Vince McMahon give Eddie Guerrero more than a one month reign as WWE Champion? Would Mick Foley be the Mick Foley of old? And would Hulk Hogan make a triumphant return at Wrestlemania XX?
Well, the answer to the first three questions was yes, but sadly, at least from this old Hulkamaniac’s point of view, the fourth was a big fat no. The PPV was set up with making Chris Benoit the superstar wrestling fans have always wanted him to be as well as establishing Eddy Guerrero as a fighting champion. And it did those things very well in my opinion.
The problem with having a PPV of this magnitude is that if it is a solid event, but doesn’t quite match the hype, it almost feels like a failure. And while that wasn’t the case here, if it wasn’t for the two championship bouts, it might’ve been looked at as a failure. The reason for that is because there were two huge matches that were advertised just as hard and maybe even harder than the two championship matches, and those failed miserably.
Continue reading
Let me start off this review with some amazing information. Two actual pieces of amazing information.
Amazing info piece number 1: Kurt Angle wrestled in the main event with a broken freaking neck.
Amazing info piece number 2: The night before the show, Stone Cold Steve Austin was in the hospital after feeling adverse affects from stress, working out, and drinking high energy ephedrine laced drinks. He thought he was having a heart attack.
Those two guys sucked it up, and for the sake of the show, for the sake of the WWE, and for the sake of their boss, Vince McMahon, they wrestled their matches. But, Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon was seen as the top match and all the advertising was based around this match which would be marketed as “20 Years In The Making”.
Most of the WWE created hype surrounded the match that wanted to be the answer to the question of who created Hulkamania. It turned out to be a good match, but wasn’t close to the efforts that some of the other wrestlers provided.
Kurt Angle found out about a month before this Wrestlemania that he had a broken neck and was probably not going to be able to wrestle at Mania. He was going to need neck surgery and would likely miss over a year of ring time. He decided to tough it out and wrestle Brock Lesnar at Mania and defend his WWE Title. There was a ton of worry that Kurt would hurt his neck and become paralyzed. However, Kurt took the advice of a doctor that said he couldn’t do much worse in hurting his neck in the match and decided to go on and compete, albeit with reservation. The reservation was because Brock Lesnar had become the most dominant big man in the game and he wasn’t in there throwing the soft stuff. The match turned out to be a true classic, and in the end it wasn’t Kurt that everyone was worried about.
Continue reading
(I’m on the west coast, so this play by play is a bit delayed)
Why, after all these years, are they bringing back the Slammy’s? Well, they need three hours of TV to fill tonight. Why after 5 years away am I blogging Raw again? Eh, I don’t know. I think I just have a heart for nostalgia and while this show won’t be as wacky as the old Slammy’s stuff, I think it will still be fun.
But probably not as fun as this.
For some reason, we have three huge matches that completely overshadow anything that WWE will try and make you pay for this weekend at Armageddon. It’s highly unlikely that we’ll get any clean finishes though.
Maria and Festus (with a tie over his overalls) present the tag team of the year award.
Nominees: Carlito & Primo, Team Priceless, Miz & Morrison, and Cryme Tyme
If Miz & Morrison don’t win, it’s a travesty. And thankfully, they win. Morrison thanks Chuck Norris while Miz thanks Baba Booey.
1. John Morrison vs. CM Punk
This match is one of the semi-finals of the Intercontinental contender tournament. Punk did a cross body to the floor, but Morrison didn’t catch him very well.
