Dangerous A

From CNN.com ... SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- California's Supreme Court late Sunday rejected an emergency request to stay the execution of convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, who is scheduled to be put to death early Tuesday. Jonathan Harris, an attorney for Williams, confirmed the court's decision. Williams' team of attorneys had asked the state Supreme Court for a stay to allow for new arguments to be presented. Earlier Sunday, attorney Verna Wefald said the legal team was asking for a stay on the basis that Williams should have been allowed to argue that someone else killed one of the four people he was convicted of slaying. Williams also is awaiting California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision on clemency, which would commute his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Schwarzenegger's office said the decision would not come before Monday. On Friday, the governor described his looming decision as "a very heavy responsibility." Williams -- who would turn 52 on December 29 -- is to die by lethal injection. He co-founded the Crips street gang in Los Angeles and was convicted of killing four people in 1979, but has become an anti-gang crusader while on death row. He has denounced gang violence and written children's books with an anti-gang message, donating the proceeds to anti-gang community groups. He said he was trying to prevent young people from making the choices he did, which led to a life of crime and a sentence at San Quentin State Prison. Celebrities, teachers and anti-death-penalty advocates have spoken on his behalf. Prosecutors maintain Williams should die for what lead prosecutor John Monaghan called "extremely brutal crimes." Monaghan noted that despite his anti-gang activism, Williams has consistently refused to take part in a debriefing with authorities to provide them potentially valuable information about the Crips gangs. Williams was convicted of killing a 26-year-old Los Angeles convenience store clerk in February 1979, shooting him twice in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun while the victim was face down on the floor. Less than two weeks later, jurors concluded, he shot and killed an immigrant Chinese couple and their 41-year-old daughter while stealing less than $100 cash from their motel. Both cases were handled in a single trial, and Williams was sentenced to death in 1981. Thoughts? Comments? I live in the Bay Area and on a Sunday night talk radio show on the biggest hip hop station in the Bay Area (KMEL 106.1) there were threats of rioting and looting if California goes through with the execution. While I don't think that kind of threat holds water in the Bay Area, I wonder if it's a real possibility down in LA where rioting occurs about once every 10-15 years or so.

I think Artest just wants to be back home in NY than playing for LB. He says in the article on ESPN that he wants to go to a team that will let him shoot more. Has he watched any LB-Pistons coached games? LB has as much, if not more restrictive offense than Carlisle. I think Artest is trying to get what he wants by throwing out the threats to teams out West threatening to leave when his contract runs out and by basically saying he wants to go to NY. I think the Cavs thing was a smokescreen as well. Whatever is all I have to say. LeBron gives the Cavs 52 and they still lose. If that kind of shit keeps up, he'll be bolting in a year or two.

I read the first two books when I was in grade school. Didn't finish the series. Discovered TV and movies then. Saw this movie this afternoon and it was excellent. I found it funny that the climactic battle had no blood at all in it and it was still pretty ferocious. The four children were excellent in their performances. A thumbs up movie for sure.

I'm in agreement with you on both fronts. Wrestlers shouldn't be booking and Jeff Jarrett, while he is being somewhat selfish, isn't a dummy when it comes to wrestling. He's been around for awhile and has more of a clue than any of the creative geniuses over at Stamford sans a select few people. Jeff has been a part of this business pretty much since birth because he was raised around it and he does know wrestling. He also isn't a terrible worker, it's just he isn't right for the part of being the Champion. I'm not saying he should be demoted to midcard fodder, but he should be near the top, just not on top. Another thing that wouldn't kill him is to take 3-6 months off. His character is stale because he's been there since the beginning. He needs to take a break, get a vision of where TNA wants to go as far as the main event picture. Sort of getting out of the trees so you can see the forrest type deal. Then ease your way back in.

According to those newsletters and/or sites, Jarrett is in charge of the heavyweight angles. D'Amore has had his role scaled down a lot and is now into other ventures not involved in wrestling and D'Amore pretty much just deals with his own program as well as keeps Team Canada booked regularly on TV. Jeff pretty much writes the main event angles and the committee runs the rest. All of this has just come about the last several weeks.

No, it's 2005. Jeff Jarrett is writing the shows. He has more power than at any other time in regards to the creative end of the shows. This has been reported in the Observer. And The Torch. And PWInsider. And Figure Four Weekly. And WrestlingReality with Dr. Mike Lano.

No. The most obnoxious song of all time is "Laffy Taffy". That is all.

Another thing is since Hogan had been away for awhile, Vince knew there was still money in him. Nash was the puzzler because he had zero dollars in him and Hall was just a headache. Also Just John, ROH is based out of Pennsylvania. Not sure exactly where, but I do know their DVD's and other merchandise come from Bristol, PA.

My thing is, it helps no one if Sting only works with Jarrett, Jeff Hardy, Rhino, and other old guard types. With Sting being 46, I don't think he can hang with the X division guys and I know he isn't trying to wrestle Joe. I'm not sure if Dixie knows what wrestlers are good for the company versus who Jeff Jarrett tells her is good for the company either.

It's because Jarrett has no clue on how to book new talent or develop it to the point of making it a star. He only really knows the old guard i.e. people who have worked for WCW or WWE. He has no clue on what to do with new guys. He also has too much on his plate. Last Impact (not the thursday show, the saturday one) in his interview segment he had a million things going on at once. He was A) dealing with Christian B) running down Rhino C) dealing and addressing the Jackie Gayda/Gail Kim situation, which he is in the middle of and D) explaining to AMW, who he leads, what exactly everything that was going on because, AMW follow him and he is their leader. Why? Who knows. But that one segment told me everything I needed to know about Jeff Jarrett and that is this- Anything that has any kind of storyline deal or push behind it revolves around Jeff Jarrett because TNA is Jeff Jarrett and TNA is still a one man vanity promotion to get Jeff Jarrett over as the star that he is not.

TNA really has to work on their skits and segments so they don't look so staged. As much as I harp on WWE for their supreme lameness at overdoing the backstage or interview segments, at least they somewhat have a flow and setting to it sans the latest Taker/Orton stuff. (which no one can push to me that it is remotely entertaining because it's mind numbingly retarded) The baseball award stuff came off incredibly staged and had no feel of sponteniety to it. At all. And is it just me or is Raven dogging it even in the backstage stuff? As much as everyone hates Larry Zybysko, at least he looks like he's trying. Raven was giving zero effort in trying to fight off security to get at Larry and it looked very lame. He also had zero passion in his voice when explaining his motivations and such. He's dogging it and they need to cut him loose if he's going to keep giving horrible performances like that.

I think the Sting news is a bit of a letdown and I really don't see the benefit, unless they are aiming to draw the old WCW crowd that gave up on wrestling once WCW died. It's not like Sting brings in a bunch of star power either. He's kind of cold right now. If pro wrestling as a whole were a little hotter, I could see bringing him in because when wrestling is hot, you get better use of nostalgia acts. Right now, there is zero momentum for this. I just see another guy willing to play ball with whatever Jarrett books and is not really a threat to him. It's not like Sting is doing blowaway work or has developed a new arsenal of moves and what not. He's a holdover from another era and it doesn't fit IMO. He seems like a convenient signing.

Finally got around to watching the excellent Benoit/Regal match from the last SD and I gotta say... Booker T did a better job announcing during that one match more than anything Michael Cole has called during his entire tenure with the company.

He's a great writer. If you like cut and paste jobs of work he's done years ago that doesn't hold up today that is.

Well, it probrably won't be Brock after this from the Observer today... --WWE filed for a temporary restraining order on Tuesday attempting to block Brock Lesnar from wrestling this weekend in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and is attempting to keep him from wrestling anywhere in the world until the case is settled. WWE cites Lesnar wrestling at the last Tokyo Dome show before the case was officially settled. Also, Bret still wants to do a book with WWE, so until that gets hashed out or negotiated, I don't think he's going to burn that bridge just yet. I'm thinking it's a new timeslot or the New Year's Eve thing. If it's touring, this group will be dead before the end of the year unless Panda wants to lose money faster than they already are.

Now check out the story from the AP to compare and contrast... Medical examiner's report says wrestling star died natural death Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS - World Wrestling Entertainment star Eddie Guerrero died of natural causes related to heart disease, while past steroid use and the use of narcotic pain medication may have been contributing factors, officials said Thursday. Guerrero, 38, died from "natural causes related to arteriosclerotic heart disease," which is a hardening and narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with blood and oxygen, the medical examiner's report said. Guerrero also had an enlarged heart and other enlarged organs related to a history of anabolic steroid use, said Dr. Kathryn Berg, the assistant chief medical examiner in Hennepin County who conducted the autopsy. Guerrero also had recently used narcotic pain medication. "They were contributing conditions," Berg said. "When you have larger organs, et cetera, your body works a little bit harder to maintain your normal physiologic state." Guerrero, a star of "WWE Smackdown!" died Nov. 13 in Minneapolis, where he was supposed to film a show. His body was found on the floor of his hotel room after he failed to respond to a wakeup call. Guerrero's widow, Vickie Guerrero, said last month in report on the WWE's Web site that her husband died from heart failure, and that the heart disease was due to past drinking and drug abuse combined with an aggressive workout regimen. After Eddie Guerrero's death, WWE said it would start random drug testing to detect illicit drugs, steroids and prescription drug abuse among its performers. Interesting? (shout out to the Danger Zone)

Someone finally got the hint as the Viva la Savings banner is down now.

IF the announcement is for shows outside of Orlando and it's done in front of that crowd, they are going to shit on it because they are going to have their exclusivity taken from them.

Scherer is money.

I wonder if Sheldon's mom will be Vince's Nigga?

Q-Rich has not had a good year. Brother is killed plus he and Brandy split up earlier this year. Sucks to be him.

It's called protecting your finisher. Only son in laws get to do it though.

It's called protecting your finisher. Only son in laws get to do it though.

If I were you, I'd try the one month deal and see if you like it. I'll give you some positives and negatives. Positives - Best source for inside news and analysis of pro wrestling. Covers everything including, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, TNA, ROH, Indies. - End of the Year issue as well as his obituary/life of... are very good issues. Meltz eulogizes very well and while it sucks to be him, he does take on this morbid task very well. - Is a good source for analysis of the business side of pro wrestling and MMA. Negatives -Print is very small. I have good eyes, so this isn't too much of a problem, but I can see other people having issues with this. - He'll sometimes get a little MMA heavy if it's a slow news week. (if you don't like MMA, I do though) - His ratings for matches and opinions can get whacky. Not so much underrating matches as he does overrate quite a bit. As long as you don't take his opinions as scripture (I always encourage individual thought) and get it for the news and inside stuff and come to your own conclusions (Meltz's inside sources are usually spot on) than I think you'd enjoy it. My two cents.

Great idea in regards to the "strong-willed, sharply-dressed, intelligent, shrewd, successful Black businesswoman in the mold of Oprah Winfrey or a competent version of Condaleeza Rice" type character they should do. But this is WWE Creative. Gotta have Sheldon shucking and jiving, you know. God forbid they break a stereotype.