AS I SEE IT 8/23

AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com

Well, Vince McMahon undid his biggest mistake of the last year as Bryan Danielson returned to WWE as the seventh member that we all thought (yup, me too) would be HHH; who would then turn on WWE and show himself as the head of The Nexus. I’m assuming Danielson getting jumped by The Nexus and smacked on the head and left laying is so that he can finish the independent dates he’s previously contracted for and is still doing; including shows with New York Wrestling Connection and EVOLVE on the east coast; plus Insanity Pro Wrestling and Dragon Gate USA in the Midwest.

Ring of Honor just has its TV tapings this past wekeend in Philadelphia with William “Delirious” Johnson as the new booker, taking over from Adam Pearce. Noticable immediately was the absent of the DQ parade that seemed to be a feature in so many Ring of Honor matches. The show saw clean finishes and no out of line screw finishes. Especially featured on this taping seem to be The House of Truth faction with Truth Martini fronting Josh Raymond, Roderick Strong, and Christin Able. For those who don’t know about Martini, he runs tht House of Truth Wrestling School in the Detroit area, which counts Zach Gowen, Alex Shelley, and Jimmy Jacobs among its alumni.

Some good to excellent matches to watch for (for those of you who CAN watch it, depsite promises Comcast still doesn’t have HDNet on in South Jersey) in upcoming weeks (no spoilers here) are Austin Aries- Delirious (cage match), Kenny King-Eddie Edwards (TV title match with a storyline twist), Davey Richards-El Generico, Kevin Steen/Steve Corino-El Generico/Colt Cabana (cage match), Christopher Daniels-Roderick Strong, Davey Richards-Tyler Black (in Black’s TV swan song), and Chris Hero/Claudio Castagnoli- Briscoe Brothers.

Then, there’s Linda McMahon almost unforgivable response to a question about Lance Cade just after his death from what has been referred to as “heart disease”: “I might have met him once”. Then, when Chris Nowinski was critical of the comment, WWE attempted to claim that Lance Cade was “a total stranger” to Nowinski. Note to WWE: you can pick your opinions, but you can’t pick your facts. Here are the facts regarding Nowinski and Lance Cade: Cade and Nowinski started together in WWE at around the same time and were also at one point were tag team partners in Ohio Valley Wrestling, with Cade eventually settling into his more well-known tag teams with Mark Jindrak and Trevor Murdoch.

At best, Linda McMahon’s comment was unfeeling as hell. At worst, it was an deliberate attempt to steer attention yet again from anything to do with her business experience at WWE…the very experience that she’s used as her qualifications to be the Republican noominee for US Senate in Connecticut. In other words, it’s OK when said experience is a positive..but when it’s being used for criticism, McMahon doesn’t want to discuss it.

This and sadly, other deaths of current or former WWE talent that will likely occur between now and November will keep coming back to haunt her, especially if these deaths are again from young men and women in their 20s and 30s.

As I indicated I’d mention, on Friday, September 10 (note the special date, no doubt done to allow fans to attend the September 11 EVOLVE Rahway, NJ afternoon show…Bryan Danielson’s last East Coast independent date…and the Ring of Honor Glory by Honor PPV TV taping thaty evening at the Manhattan Center), Combat Zone Wrestling will present its annual “Down With the Sickness” Chris Cash Memorial Show at the ECW Arena.

Announced thus far: