Hunter's Torn Quad

Kind of puts a dent in the comparison made between the NFL and WWE's testing procedure Kennedy made. When a 4:1 is an automatic failure in the NFL testing and in the WWE testing it's only a suspension if you can't provide a medical reason for it, then it's more than a little misleading to declare them "the same". And where Finlay looked bad on Nancy Grace is here, for those who missed it when previously posted: National Ledger So, either Finlay lied or his woefully misinformed about his own company's wellness policy. Neither of which makes him look good.

PWI

Apparently, she could also be Christie Ricci.

Links to pics? Roxy Leroux

Roxy Leroux, if this is her, is a former Penthouse model.

Let's not forget three consecutive PPV's where someone turned on DDP to cost him the match.

Have either of Team 3D cut a promo on TV talking about the possibility of winning the World title or X-Division title?

Which I believe is the old, "Well, if we see someone with a needle in their ass we'll test them" stance.

Great moment, sure. There are dozens of moments in there though that were completely unmemorable because they were hotshot gimmicks designed to fool and shock the audience rather than make any sense. I've gone on record saying Wrestlemania XV was the worst of the bunch. The '99 Royal Rumble was the worst rumble match in company history. At some point he went to WCW and booked Mayhem, featuring the worst good match I have ever seen between Chris Benoit and Bret Hart. And that was the highlight. Don't forget Starrcade in 1999, with a slew of screwjob finishes such as a color commentator getting the winning pinfall, Kevin Nash winning the Powerbomb match against Sid by telling the referee he'd hit the powerbomb while the referee had been knocked out, and the perennial favorite, a rehash of Montreal.

The next time anyone thinks to say something positive about Vince Russo, think about this: just before he came to WCW the first time, WCW commissioned a huge marketing survey to find out what it's fans wanted. They wanted more emphasis on wrestling and less emphasis on stupid skits. Russo came on board, looked at the survey, and binned it before going in completely the opposite direction that WCW's own fans wanted. It works both ways.

The Observer website has posted some letters sent in as a result of Meltzer's tirade yesterday and one of them is a real gem. Among many head shakers, it actually suggests blaming internet websites, because their reporting of Benoit's work ethic and match quality might have driven Benoit to take steroids so as to keep performing at that level.

Haha. Maybe not now, but he was pretty jacked when he came up to Smackdown. Didn't he have a couple typically-steroid-related injuries while on SD? Kennedy was considered one of the most jacked up guys back in his old indy fed. Kennedy was in the IWA MS Ted Petty Invitational in 2002, and if you see how he looks then as compared to now, he looks completely different. He's put on a good 30lbs of muscle.

Meltzer's latest update has a great commentary on the handling, and debate, of the issues raised in light of current events: It's strong stuff, and he makes a lot of great points, even if they'll be ignored by the usual suspects.

I'd like to see some example of Meltzer and company being 'stuck' on Vince walking in the 90s while reporting on this. If a lot of their coverage on this seems negative, it's because it's hard for it to not to be.

There's the Wellness Policy, and the TE ratio for a positive test result is in fact 10:1 not the 4:1 that some, including WWE performers, have claimed. A 4:1 ratio or above will get you looked at to see if can be called a positive test result, but if you provide an explanation that satisfies, such as prescription or other doctor's certificate, then a 4:1 ratio can still see you pass the test. The automatic suspension only kicks in with a 10:1, which isn't exactly what's been espoused by Kennedy and others. As for Finlay on Nancy Grace, his bombastic style might have convinced some that he came out on top against Alvarez, but let's take a look shall we: GRACE: ... if you have a prescription, that that will not save you. But according to Bryan Alvarez, it will save you. FINLAY: No, it won`t. And what does he know? He`s never been in the doors of WWE. I`m there every single day. I`m on the road four days a week. I know what the policy is. I went through it, and I have a lot of talent with me that have gone through it. It`s garbage. It`s just pure speculation. There`s a definite strong in-force testing going on. And just because you got the script doesn`t mean you`re going to get away with it. Dr. Black may just turn around and say, That is -- I don`t -- I don`t accept it... ALVAREZ: I have taken this specifically from the WWE policy, and I talked to Jerry McDivett (ph), who is the WWE attorney, who explained the testosterone replacement therapy part of this. Maybe Finlay should take a closer look at his own company's policy, or even talk to the company's attorney, because Alvarez did and he wound up being more knowledgeable about how the wellness policy works than Finlay.

He returned on the Mexico tour, in part to see how his knees can hold up, so it could be him.

Where Lesnar had the advantage is that he was working with some great workers for so long that he couldn't help but improve. There aren't that many top flight workers still in the company for Lashley to learn from through wrestling them.

Same reason they say it about Michaels and Triple H et all, reputation? It could also be Hart going into business for himself on more than one occasion, and his trying to play off the reputation garnered from that to such an extent that people think, whether accurate or not, that he's off his head.

That's assuming they don't have Joe/Angle pick the other as their partner just to screw with their head; they have to get along with someone they hate to stay tag team champions.

Lashley isn't that bad, but he's simply not good enough, in any aspect, to be getting the kind of push he's received, and it's making people think he's worse than he really is. He's not that good, don't get me wrong, but I think people would have a more positive impression of the guy were he still in the lower half of the card. If Lashley does get a mouthpiece, and he absolutely needs one, I expect Vince to give him a white, female valet.

UFCJunkie. com says Liddell is headlining UFC 76 against Keith Jardine. F4W

What I've noticed is that most people talking about this, and it's usually been the heavier pro-WWE crowd though both sides have been guilty, have spent more time attacking those speaking out rather than talking about the issues raised about the problem at hand. Instead of talking about the points someone like Mark Mero raises, those who take a more defensive stance regarding WWE's position have ignored the points raised and taken to attacking Mero personally and criticizing his motives for speaking up. Conversely, when Kennedy and Helms speak out, the people taking more negative position against WWE have attacked them for being self-serving and sucking up and ignored the points they too have raised. Instead of attacking the messenger, which makes it easier to ignore the points they're raising, both the good ones and the bad, it would be a lot better if everyone involved focused on the underlying issue, that being that whether people like it or not there are serious problems in wrestling, not just WWE, and they're not going to go away simply by attacking the people speaking up, no matter what side in the debate they're on.

It is if you want to get over with the easily impressionable.

I'm not a fan of Keller, but his response to Kennedy's post deserves posting in full here: Please GOD, I'm just BEGGING for someone who has actually wrestled in a WWE ring in the past decade besides Jericho, Bret Hart, John Cena, and Ted Dibiase to come forward on one of these shows and tell the world what's really going on. For these goofs, like Lanny Poffo? Ultimate Warrior? and Marc Mero???!! to repeatedly act as "experts" and "wrestler advocates" on the current situation is like having a frustrated ex-jock who rode the pine bench throughout his high school sports career give advice to Brett Favre on how to improve his game! It's ridiculous, insane, and it really makes me sick that these so called reporters like Bill O'Reilly, Nancy Grace, and Geraldo Rivera, call upon these silly bastards who are bitter and frustrated that their careers have ended to represent the WWE which of course makes all of us look like a bunch of babbling idiots who are all addicted to steroids, drugs, alcohol, etc. WK: There's an easy way for WWE to put somebody on TV who is on the current roster. Say yes to the requests from the TV producers when they ask for someone representing the company to be there. Calling Lanny and Warrior "goofs" may apply, because their appearances so far have been "goofy," but Mero has been anything but goofy. He had a goofy gimmick as Johnny B. Badd, but that's different than the real person. Kennedy, who has been on the main WWE roster just over two years, is complaining about wrestlers such as Poffo, Warrior, and Mero about "riding the bench"? Come on. Each has put in more national TV time than he has. His name-calling early in this, such as "silly bastards," undercuts his credibility early in this web post. THINGS ARE MUCH DIFFERENT THAN THEY WERE FIVE OR TEN OR TWENTY YEARS AGO! Most of the "expert", frustrated ex-wrestlers that they've had on the show came from an era where everyone wrestled every day and then went out and partied like rock stars until dawn, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, smoking cigarettes and marijuana, snorting cocaine, taking fistfuls of pills, and injecting massive amounts of steroids. They would take pills to go to sleep, snort coke or take speed to get up and do this day after day after day! This would not be even remotely tolerated in today's environment. WK: This is just incredulous in the face of what was found being prescribed to Chris Benoit and what happened not long ago to Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio being named in the indictment against Dr. Astin, Benoit's doctor. WWE is different today than five years ago. It was different five years ago compared to ten years ago. WWE should send wrestlers currently on the roster out there to speak on behalf of these massive changes that are going to prevent the next generation from having the same problems as the previous or current generation of aging wrestlers. But current wrestlers need to face up to a counter point of view and answer that counter perspective from people who have wrestled in his boots before. If things are so much better, why not come out and explain precisely how two weeks ago and debate those who say differently? We have a strict drug policy in place. The WWE's wellness program was designed and instituted by the same doctor who implemented the NFL and the NBA's substance abuse programs. Contrary to what somebody recently said on one of these "tabloid" shows the WWE's allowed levels are exactly the same as the NFL. (Someone, I can't recall exactly who said it, said that the WWE allowed a 10:1 Testosterone to Epitestosterone level, which is false. We have a 4:1 level exactly like the NFL and the NBA.) There are differences. A 4:1 is not considered a positive (failure) like it is in other sports. The policy explicitly states: "A Testosterone/Epitestosterone (T/E) ratio greater than four (4) but less than ten (10) shall require follow-up testing and/or medical evaluation to determine if the test shall be interpreted as positive for the active use of Testosterone or evidence of other steroids influencing the T/E ratio." The only ratio that "shall be conclusively regarded as a positive test result" is 10:1. There are other differences that are left up to interpretation based on a variety of non-transparent factors. Anyone who knows the basics of WWE's history with drug testing isn't going to blindly accept them taking "flexible" and "interpretive" aspects of their policy and applying them evenly. It's frankly naive and shows little knowledge of WWE's track record going back 15 years. In fact, I knew of someone who took an over the counter supplement from GNC which he didn't know was on the banned list, which caused him to have an elevated testosterone level. This individual was suspended and fined because of it. We can't even take Ephedrine which is another legal supplement that can be bought at any gas station in the country. Since I've been with the company, I've seen the few people that did have problems with drugs either sent to rehab to try and help them overcome their addictions, (sent to one of the top rehab facilities in the country and paid for in full by the WWE) or be fired for repeat offenses. WK: If anyone is saying WWE isn't suspending some or all offenders who don't have a prescription, they would also be naive to how the policy works. There are a lot of supplements that are banned, and I'm sure some have been suspended for testing positive with those in their systems. WWE has also sent wrestlers and paid for wrestlers to go to treatment. Nobody's denying there aren't aspects of WWE's conduct that are admirable. It's the totality of the policy and potential loopholes and the lack of any transparency for accountability that is a main issue. Lance Storm just talked about the "loopholes" on ESPN's "Outside the Lines." Look at the list of wrestlers who have prematurely passed away over the years, and most of them made the decision to live their lives this way. That's right, I said "made the decision" because we have this cool thing in the United States of America called "freedom of choice". I have the choice to quit my job if I don't like it, or if I feel that I'm on the road too much. I have the right to choose whether or not I want to break the law and use drugs. I have the right to choose between eating healthy food and exercising regularly and eating fast-food three times a day, not going to the gym, and becoming obese like a good majority of the citizens in this country. When will individuals be held accountable for their own actions? Will it ever happen, or will we always try and point the finger at someone else? Unfortunately as much as I respect the man, Superstar Billy Graham is ultimately responsible for the health problems he suffers from right now because of the choices he made in his career. I find it both sad and humorous that the man who many say is largely responsible for starting the whole "steroid craze" in pro-wrestling is now pointing the finger at the industry rather than blaming himself. WK: There is too much reliance placed "individual choice" and "personal responsibility" argument by some people. People who are paid higher salaries to work in an unsafe nuclear powerplant or the coal mines than they could elsewhere have historically been protected by the government, especially when the bossman running the operation was making exponentially more money without taking the same risks as his workers. There is a level of an "acceptable ratio" among wrestlers, especially the ones who feel they are the least likely to become victims of the system, to say the system is great for them, so it must be beyond reproach. I, like everyone else in the company, have the luxury of being able to go home almost every week, play with my dog, hang out with my girlfriend, sleep in my own bed, and eat good home cooked food. This wasn't the case with these frustrated ex-wrestlers who are trying to grasp on to FIVE more minutes of fame and recognition. WK: The schedule is absolutely better. Today I've spoken at length to two non-frustrated ex-WWE full time wrestlers who have several million dollars in the bank and no axe to grind and no desire to get back into wrestling. Each of them agreed with Kennedy that things are better than they used to be. Neither thought it was nearly good enough. Instead of three or four days a week on the road and three or four at home, it used to be 14-17 days on the road with three or four off, with that cycle repeating itself. There were even loops of three weeks or more without time off. Today is absolutely better. But Kennedy is not the best person, from an experience standpoint, to be speaking. He has worked many years on the indy scene before getting his first break, but he's also only a little over two years into his full-time run on WWE's schedule. He's had extended time off for injury recovery. Kennedy fits the category of WWE wrestler least likely to see anything wrong with the schedule. He's the guy at the beginning of the triathalon who doesn't get why everyone who is on the end-run of the triathalon looks so tired and beat down and needs all this water just to keep going. Not only is he feeling fresh mentally and physically, but he's on the verge of his best earning years. The catch, and so many people who have been in his shoes before years ago can speak to this, is that he's going to reach a point of mental fatigue, even with the current WWE schedule, and he's going to have nagging injuries, perhaps even surgery he needs that he puts off because he's in the midst of a big run with a PPV match coming up. He has experienced that twice already. When it's the third, or fourth or fifth time, it's different. Ask Amy Dumas about getting injured in your first match back after a long injury layoff. Or Robert Smith of the Minnesota Vikings, who retired early and turned down a huge contract, because he had been through too many knee surgeries and rehabs and just had enough. The wrestlers early in the cycle, who are staring at a five year run of seven figures average salary, are the least likely to see the problems that might result and that history shows will strike at least some of the people in his position. Unlike other sports stars or TV/movie stars, he is going to have look good in tights with no shirt year-round for the next 10-15 years, with his only breaks coming when he dares ask for one (as others who don't take breaks because they're younger or more durable or more willing to sacrifice begin to lap him) or when he's rehabbing an injury (hardly a stress-free, relaxing, planned vacation) and perform virtually every weekend year round. That adds up. He's at the starting point, when things look great. He's about to get independently wealthy. He's not being realistic about what it's like to walk in the shoes of some of the other wrestlers such as Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero who didn't get into this with a desire to party and do drugs and have sad premature ends to their lives. If WWE had said anything other than things are great and individuals keep making bad individual choices to individually kill themselves, maybe there'd be a sense they're interested in more than damage control for their stockholders. I hear some of these guys talking about how the WWE doesn't have any type of benefits. I heard Johnny Grunge's widow on Nancy Grace saying that wrestling leaves you with nothing, and that two weeks after her husband was released from WCW that they lost their cars and their home. It apparently wasn't obvious to Nancy Grace, who is reportedly an extremely intelligent person, that they were obviously living outside of their means, and they weren't doing something that my parents taught me to do when I was a little kid……SAVE MONEY. This job pays well, but I know that it won't last forever. It's the same problem with pro athletes and actors in Hollywood who spend, spend, spend, like the money grows on trees and like it's always going to be there, and then falls flat on their faces when their careers are suddenly cut short. Who's fault? The team? The studio in Hollywood? I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for people who don't save money and spend everything that they earn so they can impress everyone around them with all the NEAT THINGS that they own. As far as the having no health insurance thing goes, I've been seriously injured twice since I've been in the WWE. Every red cent has been paid for in full by the company, which is the case for any employee who is injured during a work or work-related event. Yes, I have my own supplemental insurance which is a bit expensive, but if WWE paid for it, I'm sure that, just like every other company in the country that offers health insurance to their employees, I would just be paid less, so it's a wash! WK: He has no sympathy for people who get wrapped up in the wrestling grind and don't know any better? No sympathy? If I worked for a company that demands the type of physical sacrifice that WWE does, and I saw performers not saving money or buying health insurance with their ample pay, I'd get more involved. WWE wrestlers and management talk about how they're all a big family. Well, Ken, family members look out for one another. Some are better with money than others. Some are better listeners when there's a problem at home. Some are great at telling stories. Some are experts at nutrition. Others are great at charity events working with kids (as was the "goof" Marc Mero you insulted earlier). Everyone has strengths. But if some aren't good at saving their money or buying health insurance, is WWE doing enough as a responsible corporate citizen to help them in areas where they're weak, such as investing and planning for the future? I'm not saying WWE has to. I am saying it'd be great if they did more than they do. Many corporations do because they can and because it's the right thing to do. Johnny Grunge was bad with his money. He should have been more responsible. I'm not sure lecturing a grieving widow a day after her five year old says he thinks daddy is lonely and has no one to eat Cocoa Puffs with in heaven is the time to lecture her on her late husband's irresponsibility. He was allowed/encourage/required, in exchange for pay, to take tremendous physical abuse during the hardcore era in ECW, WCW, and the WWF. Maybe he wouldn't have accepted help if offered. Maybe he would have been a druggie if he hadn't been abusing his body in the ring so badly. There is no doubt he made bad choices. But this approach of blaming him is no different than those blaming Vince. This shouldn't be a game of two opposing sides digging their heels into the dirt. This should be about people coming together and trying to figure out what they can reasonably do to prevent the system from producing sad endings to the lives of way too many wrestlers. They each have their own story and a unique set of circumstances, but there is no other industry producing this type of tragic outcome. I find it crass and selfish and self-centered to be one of the fortunate ones who has worked hard and plans to be responsible, but who is also early in the grind about to enter peak earning years, pushing for the status quo. If changes can be made that don't threaten the big money years of the Kennedy-types, but can make lives better for everybody and puts the wrestlers' welfare ahead of the opinion of Wallstreet analysts who look down at wrestlers as circus freaks, that would be a nice improvement. Why can't we have that discussion? The argument cannot begin with "things are different than before and just fine" until we get a few years without someone dying on WWE's watch, or someone who was recently spit out of the coal mine and dies a few years later and is just written off as having made bad choices after leaving the company. In the end, we are all responsible for our own actions. Saying that Vince McMahon is responsible for the deaths of the Benoit's is like saying that you and I are responsible for the deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and her son. The millions of people who tuned in every week to be entertained by "how funny" she was when she was all PILLED up and DRUNK, suddenly became the same people who acted SHOCKED and APALLED when she died of a drug overdose. Somebody, PLEASE, stop the insanity!!!! KK " This is another example of the pro wrestling industry just discarding its lost souls. Here's my opinion: If WWE had a sincere, comprehensive, transparent drug testing policy for the last eight years (not just after someone died and they felt pressure for whatever reason to finally reinstitute a long forgotten attention to drug testing) and gave Chris Benoit six weeks off twice a year to go on a cruise with his wife and be a father for his kids for more than a 48-72 hour stretch when he's recovering from a road trip and preparing for the next one, then Chris, Nancy, and Daniel would still be alive. I might be wrong, but that's my opinion, and it's based on more than a hunch and not some ulterior motive. Well, I guess my motive is this: I want to write about wrestling matches, angles, and promos. I don't want to write about wrestlers dying anymore. I'm sick of it. And I honestly don't see enough changes being made. I see denial and I see self-serving justification for a broken system because the people defending it naively think they're not going to be "one of them" because they're early in the marathon and about to enter their prime earning years whose attitude is: "Screw everyone else and their bad decisions. It's working for me, dammit." Maybe, maybe not. But this is about more than the 80-90 percent who make all the right decisions. It's about not tempting and rewarding bad decisions for the 10-20 percent who aren't as equipped to deal with the system and the culture. The current system temps and rewards with fame and money people who aren't as equipped as Kennedy believes he is (and very well may be - but nobody who isn't thinks they aren't at the point in his career he's currently at).

Don't try to confuse the issue with facts.