WON News + Notes, January 8th Issue

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

Didn't Trump and Carolyn Keptcher get caught busting on Federline when they were off camera but still mic'd and Brittney and Federline were being interviewed or something??

[Mecca 0]

The story behind HBK's promo on Raw this week was that he was attacking TNA's James Gang (when he spoke of people who used to be big stars and are now certain jerking somewhere else) and also Bret Hart and Kurt Angle (when he talked about those who calls themselves 'the best in-ring performers in the world'). Michaels legitimatly feels that he (or maybe he and Flair together) is the best in-ring performer of modern times and has a genuine resents others who claim they are.

 

 

 

 

Typical HBGay trying to spit in Bret Hart's face. I always felt that Brokeback Hickeybottom was just as overrated as HHHonker. They seriously need to STFU, and leave Bret alone.

 

Check it out......Billy Gunn posts on the board.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Wrestlemania in Orlando? Hell Yeah, I'll be there.

 

 

WRESTLEMANIA PRE-SHOW BATTLE RAP

JOHN CENA vs. O-TOWN

 

And yeah, I know they aren't rappers. Any of them.

[RepoMan 0]

The front runner for the location of Wrestlemania in 2008 is Orlando. It was orginially planned to be in Las Vegas.

I go to Orlando quite often, so if I could score some tix I'd be sure to go. But is there another somewhat big facility other than TD Waterhouse Centre? I was there last year for the RAW/SD! taping the day after the Royal Rumble in Miami (which I also attended) and it seemed rather smallish, specially if you consider doing a WrestleMania there.

 

I know UCF is building a stadium that seats around 40k in the near future, that seems like a good size for WM. The 70K Citrus Bowl is there too. I would guess there's too much potential for rain to have an outdoor event in Florida.

[Hawk 34 0]

Just glad they are out of the Midwest regardless. Where would it be at Vegas anyways? Thomas & Mack or return to Ceasar's Palace or one of the many other casino hotels that would kill for that business?

 

Only wonder if they'll break up the 10 year format with MSG for the 25th Anniversary. Probably not and it'd likely be in LA or Toronto again.

[Art Sandusky 0]

The 25th anniversary Wrestlemania should be live from London, starting at 7pm local time. NBC Universal can hook 'em up with some Olympics-caliber HD cameras and it can be a global celebration like it supposedly is. Book a worthy main event and you can fill up a stadium. Make it a little later than usual since it'd be on a Sunday afternoon during the NCAA tournament normally and use SNME or some other big special to fill the void.

[Slickster 0]

Using Ford Field for WM23 is an aberration, as the company wants to generally keep WM in major cities and smaller arenas to guarantee sellouts and a lot of media coverage.

 

Orlando will ALWAYS be a tourist center due to Disney/Universal in proximity. Plus, they can get the late Spring Breakers and the tourists due to the decent weather.

 

The Amway Arena held 12,876 the last time WWE ran there for a PPV (Armageddon 2003) but its capacity is officially 18,000.

[Art Sandusky 0]

 

I didn't realize it had been totally rehabilitated either. Oh yeah, book it now.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

The 25th anniversary Wrestlemania should be live from London, starting at 7pm local time. NBC Universal can hook 'em up with some Olympics-caliber HD cameras and it can be a global celebration like it supposedly is. Book a worthy main event and you can fill up a stadium. Make it a little later than usual since it'd be on a Sunday afternoon during the NCAA tournament normally and use SNME or some other big special to fill the void.

 

They could run two hours and do a "Top Five Wrestlemania Matches Ever" SNME ... keeping with their own agendas of forgetting the existence of former employees, they could do Austin vs. HBK, Benoit vs. HHH vs. HBK, Bret vs. Piper, Taker vs. HHH, and maybe for the fifth spot they could go with the overplayed Hogan/Andre or maybe show Edge vs. Foley from 22. Just clip them if needed and give each a little intro (possibly by the wrestlers involved if possible).

[Guest NateW]

Claudio Castagnoli was fired due to visa issues. He was in the States on a tourist visa rather than a working visa. WWE signed him before checking this out. The blame for that has gone on Mike Bucci (Simon Dean). When Laurinitis found out he cancelled the contract as it would cost several thousand dollars to sort out a working visa and he didn't feel Castagnoli was worth the extra investment. Having said that, ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky who has used Castagnoli for a long period of time says that he has a Green Card so none of that should have been a problem.

 

I'm not well informed on these type of matters. So do work visa problems not matter if you have a green card? Could Claudio still have been clear to work for WWE?

[Guest jaderock]

Dang The Decemberists...I could have save myself $90 if I knew your WON "notes" were so good...thanks!

 

WOnder who'll get the rub from the mainstream rub? Who's gonna play heel in this manager vs manager quickie fued?

[Bruce Blank 0]

Claudio Castagnoli was fired due to visa issues. He was in the States on a tourist visa rather than a working visa. WWE signed him before checking this out. The blame for that has gone on Mike Bucci (Simon Dean). When Laurinitis found out he cancelled the contract as it would cost several thousand dollars to sort out a working visa and he didn't feel Castagnoli was worth the extra investment. Having said that, ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky who has used Castagnoli for a long period of time says that he has a Green Card so none of that should have been a problem.

 

I'm not well informed on these type of matters. So do work visa problems not matter if you have a green card? Could Claudio still have been clear to work for WWE?

If you have a green card then you technically have a permit to work and live in the United States for a longer period of time, Work Visas is usually meant for shorter periods of time if I'm not mistaken.

 

if he has a Green Card then he should sue for wrongful termination

[Chazz 0]

So I guess The VKM stuff is getting to HBK for him to "lower" himself and react to it in a promo, even if a small percent knew who he was talking about.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I think it's more of wanting the people who are "insiders" that are watching WWE to think that DX IS cool because they sheepishly call out Angle and VKM.

 

The way they did it...no one who didn't already know would care...and anyone who did "get it" would have chuckled at best.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

"HBGay trying to spit in Bret Hart's face"

 

I'd say "his workrate did that" but then we'd get a 10-pager on who's better, remember those days?

 

So for the record I refrain from saying that.

 

I thought he was mentioning The Rock, since he also said "I'm still WAITING to get in the ring with THAT GUY!" Why would he say that about Bret/Angle, two former WM/various PPV opponents?

[The Decemberists 0]

I think the idea was that HBK was saying there are people who say they're better than him, but he's yet to face anyone who actually is, which would fit Angle/Hart.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Either or, it's cool to hear that the "top guys" of our lifetime all think they're the best.

 

Way too different of styles to judge fairly between Bret, Angle, and Michaels. To me, those three, along with Chris Benoit, are the four best professional wrestlers of the 1984-2007 Modern Era.

[bob_barron 0]

Typical HBGay trying to spit in Bret Hart's face. I always felt that Brokeback Hickeybottom was just as overrated as HHHonker. They seriously need to STFU, and leave Bret alone.

 

Please post how long it took for you to come up with all of these. And then never post again.

[Black Lushus 0]

 

WOCKA WOCKA WOCKA!

[JN News 0]

Nice, real nice, guys. Ok, maybe I pushed the envelop a little too much. But, it was so easy to buy into Meltzer's stuff that, you know, since he's basically the "Go To Guy" for wrestling news.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Either or, it's cool to hear that the "top guys" of our lifetime all think they're the best.

 

Way too different of styles to judge fairly between Bret, Angle, and Michaels. To me, those three, along with Chris Benoit, are the four best professional wrestlers of the 1984-2007 Modern Era.

 

If you're expanding to that large of a timeframe, aren't your forgetting about Flair, Austin, Dibiase, Windham, Vader, Steamboat and about two dozen other guys? Maybe if you said 95-05 I'd maybe buy it, but those four certainly aren't the best of the Wrestlemania era.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

I think Bret Hart is terribly overrated for his ring work.

[JN News 0]

I think Bret Hart is terribly overrated for his ring work.

 

 

CGH, is that you?

[bob_barron 0]

Crazy Gay Hickenbottom?

[JN News 0]

Crazy Gay Hickenbottom?

 

 

 

Nope, Canada's Greatest Heel.

 

 

Formely of JD's Worst of Wrestling message board.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

If you're expanding to that large of a timeframe, aren't your forgetting about Flair, Austin, Dibiase, Windham, Vader, Steamboat and about two dozen other guys? Maybe if you said 95-05 I'd maybe buy it, but those four certainly aren't the best of the Wrestlemania era.

 

One of the problems with giving your opinion on who you think is the BEST is that everyone who reads suddenly thinks you hate on INSERT X HERE because he's not on the list.

 

Barry Windham was AWESOME until early '93, and had matches that were *****, but is not better than Angle, Bret, Michaels, or Benoit.

 

Ted DiBiase was an amazing bumper, character, but nowhere near those four. Well below Windham.

 

Steve Austin was such a hybrid of everyone. He started out as a heel Windham, bumped like a machine, great promos, great charisma. But in his biggest matches with the big 4, I felt the opponents outshined him. Austin's right there, though, but he's also produced a lot of STINKER big-level matches, while the other 4 have always produced something decent to great when on the main stage. I.E. Angle carrying UNDERTAKER to a great match in '06. God, Austin had an energized Taker in 98 AND 2002 and had the most boring matches ever with him. Among other common opponents. Such as Jericho. Austin couldn't carry Jericho, their matches were awful. Angle took RVD to an awesome main event match in 2006. Austin couldn't do the same when RVD was at his 2001 peak.

 

Ric Flair has wrestled the same match, chop, flair flip, flair flop, figure four, eye poke since 1994. He's been a cartoon of himself for over a decade. The other 4 have had a much more diverse set of opponents and had more classic matches.

 

Who are these 2 dozen other guys?

 

Vader is nowhere near these guys. Great worker but always needed an energetic opponent to have great matches.

 

It's just my opinion. Everyone has different ones.

 

But given your candidates, I would rank them:

 

1 - Michaels

2 - Angle

3 - Bret

4 - Benoit

5 - Austin

6 - Windham

7 - Steamboat

8 - Vader

9 - DiBiase

10 - Flair

[Guest NateW]

Claudio responds to rumors on his myspace page

 

Ladies and Gentlemen this is an official statement issued by one Castagnoli Claudio.

 

There have been rumors about my status as a US resident, my visa, work visa and so forth.

 

Those rumors are FALSE.

 

These rumors hurt me, my integrity and my status in this country and business.

 

I’m a man of honor, pride and integrity.

 

I do have a green card or permanent resident card if you will and also do have a social security number. In case you don’t know, you need both of these in order to be and work in this country legally.

 

So before so called “News Sites” and “Newsletters” release heavy statements or rumors like that, they should really do their job. It’s called research.

 

Let me close by saying there was and is nothing wrong with my visa or residential status.

 

Sincerely,

 

Castagnoli, Claudio

[snuffbox 0]

DiBiase was awesome.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Thanks for posting as always.

 

George Murdoch who debuted on the 12/26 Smackdown house show is 6'8 and 375lbs. No guessing as to why he was called up to the main roster without even being on Deep South TV then. He only started training in August. He got recuited when some wrestlers spotted him working as a bouncer in LA and Dreamer said that with his size he should enrole in UPW but Murdoch said he wasn't interested. Dreamer took his phone number and Laurinitis rang him soon after and signed him immediatly.

 

I shudder to think of what this company is going to look like in ten years. Anyone with wrestling talent is left in the development territories and big lugs keep getting called up the big stage that have little to no respect for the business. The product is just going to get even more unwatchable and I shudder at the thought.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

The story behind HBK's promo on Raw this week was that he was attacking TNA's James Gang (when he spoke of people who used to be big stars and are now certain jerking somewhere else) and also Bret Hart and Kurt Angle (when he talked about those who calls themselves 'the best in-ring performers in the world'). Michaels legitimatly feels that he (or maybe he and Flair together) is the best in-ring performer of modern times and has a genuine resents others who claim they are.

 

 

 

 

Typical HBGay trying to spit in Bret Hart's face. I always felt that Brokeback Hickeybottom was just as overrated as HHHonker. They seriously need to STFU, and leave Bret alone.

 

 

What the fuck is wrong with you.