Enigma

Dave Meltzer is reporting that Sabu officially signed his 3-year "ECW contract" after TNA Lockdown concluded last night.

I don't give a fuck what anyone says. Seeing Ric Flair win the WWE Title in Charlotte from John Cena would be unbelievably awesome.

ECW had been funded by Vince McMahon since 1997. No one seemed to care then, and it was known.

The following was posted by a friend of Bob Holly at the message board of Bob Holly's official website: Here's the latest on Bob's situation... --- The staph infection he got in the ring around August of last year turned into MSRA , they thought they had cured it, but when he had surgery on his right elbow in February it came back full force landing him back in the hospital in March. Everything seemed to be going ok until around the 7th or 8th of April when he came down with what we thought was a bad case of the flu (fever, chills, and then his arm began to swell). We went back to the doctor and he was admitted directly to the hospital that night and emergency surgery was scheduled the next morning. We stayed in the hospital until they put a PIC line in and got the results of the cultures back from surgery showing it was indeed still the MSRA which had gotten into his blood and also embedded his elbow joint. Unfortunately the only antibiotic that will probably get rid of it once and for all has to be administered by IV once every 12 hours for about the next 6 weeks. He has been on and off antibiotics since September of last year fighting this infection when he first got it, which really created a super strain infection resistant to everything they have given him. Now we are fighting along with that damage to other organs probably caused from such strong meds. They are monitoring him closely here at home, taking blood every other day now, delivering the medication to us daily, and at least trying to let him be here instead of at the hospital. The results on Friday were a little scary and they started him on an additional medication because his platelet level and potassium level were very high. Hopefully things will start to turn around and they will get this all out of his system without any long term damage to his kidneys. --- We encourage all Bob Holly fans to support Bob in this tough time! Any cards or anything from fans to cheer him up would be great! He is so ready to be back in the ring and all of this is very disheartening. He is a fighter and wants to be back to the ring and like I said we encourage you to drop Bob a note. The website (www.bobhollyacademy.com) has the address! Thanks everyone! ============= S_D Note: I think someone's timeline is off here. Hardcore Holly wrestled Ken Kennedy at the No Mercy PPV in October 2005, but maybe he was working with it then and didn't know it. Who knows.

What the Hell? The report is all over the place. They don't get their own show, the matches will be taped before Raw then shown later during the show? What's the point of that? Why is OVW being turned into ECW if they're not going to tape there? They're going to have guys like Sandman and Balls working at the training ground instead of working full time? RVD will be ECW champ, but won't be working WWE house shows? None of this makes sense yet. Dave Meltzer was just speculating when he made the guess about being taped before Raw and Smackdown. He didn't say at all that was going to happen or that it was even being considered. It was just Meltzer himself guessing. But of course, 411 twists this into "This is what's going to happen". Don't worry. Like I said earlier, I have a feeling that if this is the plan for the new ECW, Paul Heyman and Tommy Dreamer wouldn't have anything to do with it.

I have a feeling the Hammerstein Ballroom is about to become the new ECW Arena.

I think if they let it be in the same mold as last year's ECW PPV was (without all the WWE vs. ECW stuff), it'll be a moderate success and provide a nice alternative to the crap WWE and TNA (sans X-Division) shovels at us.

Yeah, well, Dave Meltzer absolutely confirmed this. Not even Dave Scherer got behind Bob Ryder's "Bret Hart to lead InVasion" story. And Scherer worked for Ryder at the time.

Meltzer is just speculating about that "tape before Raw and Smackdown" idea. I'm sure if that is the plan, Heyman and Dreamer wouldn't have agreed to do it.

From Dave Meltzer: In a story reported on earlier today by Pro Wrestling Insider, WWE is indeed bringing back the ECW brand name for merchandising purposes as well as some form of weekly television and house shows. The decision appears to have been finalized in the past week as several former stars were offered three-year contracts. Paul Heyman will be in charge of the brand. It is believed this will be a mix of both former ECW wrestlers and new WWE developmental wrestlers. It is expected this will lead to some significant changes in the WWE television product as well. The company is not looking to add a third day of television taping. It would likely be handled similar to the Superastros deal in the late 90s, with weekly matches taped before either the Raw or Smackdown tapings.

Yeah, but none of the credible sources came out with detailed info like this. It was all just conceptual last year. But when you've got people giving out contract specifics and who's been contacted, you have to look at it a little more than that.

How will this air? Internet only? Or will USA Network give them a new timeslot? And how will Joey Styles do Raw and this? He's struggling enough to convert to Vince's "sports entertainment" commentary style. Doing a weekly ECW show in the style he knows and had done for 8 years won't help him convert any faster. I'm curious. But hey, I'll take a new ECW over current WWE or TNA anyday.

AMIDST RUMORS, WWE STAR LEAVES EUROPEAN TOUR AND FLIES HIMSELF HOME by Mike Johnson @ 4:10:00 PM on 4/20/2006 PWInsider.com has confirmed that Palmer Cannon has left the WWE tour of Europe and flown himself home. Word is spreading among several of the wrestlers on the tour that Cannon has given notice with the company, although PWInsider.com has yet to independently confirm that. We have confirmed Cannon is en route back to Georgia, where he resides and that he left the tour on his own, not by company edict. Cannon, originally trained in New England by Killer Kowalksi, was signed by WWE to a developmental deal in March 2005. Last August, he debuted on Smackdown as a representative of "The Network" as heel fodder for Smackdown General Manager Teddy Long, although the trigger there has never truly been pulled. Cannon still regularly trains and wrestles in WWE territory Deep South Wrestling.

I'll never forget back in 1999 when the Flying Scotsman started his campaign to see what websites and newsboardz would post ridiculously fake wrestling news as actual truth or credible rumor. Well, someone sent in an obituary of an indy wrestler who supposedly died during a match along with a picture of said wrestler. The website being oblivious to it, the picture that was sent in was of Dave Scherer. Scherer was PISSED because he was getting all sorts of calls from people he knew looking for him. I thought it was unbelievably hilarious. That whole campaign was gold. I wish I had everything archived.

TNA cares exactly nothing about the history of the NWA title. How many times have former NWA world champs Dan Severn, Gary Steel, Shinya Hashimoto (rip), or Mike Rapada been booked at TNA? Steve Corino was on one of the first TNA shows in June 2002 in a battle royal, and I don't believe they mentioned him as a former NWA champ. They did mention he was a former ECW champ though. But yeah, you're right and they didn't make a big deal about him then either.

Steve Corino sure has a funny way of using expletives. "What the piss?" "Who the shit?"

Hopefully they won't remember how much of a bitch Eddie was reportedly being backstage about jobbing to Benoit and doing the show itself overall. Not to mention how Eddie decided to sandbag the match when Benoit accidentally broke his nose. Or else the chants could be a lot more ugly.

Anything would be better than that Benoit/Guerrero crapfest from last year's One Night Stand.

Did you fail geography? St. Louis, is the south? Doing a quick google search, I guess they were on the side of the Union; but Missouri sounds like a southern state name and I'm from NY, so it's technically south of me at least. And being on the same level as Kentucky it definitly seems southern to me. Comparing Missouri and Kentucky is like apples and oranges. You're insane.

It'll be a great visual for us, but unfortunately for WWE, it's too late for it to mean anything, financially speaking.

Yeah, that's why they randomly started a "FUCK JOHN CENA" chant during Lance Storm vs. Chris Jericho at last year's One Night Stand. ECW fans figured out how lame Cena was before the casual WWE crowd did.

It sounded like a personal insult to me, but alright.

No Way Out 2001 was never produced on DVD by WWE. It was the last VHS-only PPV release WWE ever did. WWE started doing DVDs of the non-Big 5 PPVs at Backlash 2001. While we're on the subject, WrestleMania 21 was the last PPV VHS release. Starting with Backlash 2005, WWE went DVD only. Holy acronyms, Batman!

I would buy the WCW sets if they had voiceover commentary by Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff, with McMahon calling everything stupid and illogical and forcing Bischoff to agree with him.