Quick Hits: Rise of the Planet of the Quick Hits

Photo Credit: ChikaraPro.com

- Chikara announced three more wrestlers for their North Carolina/Tennessee swing in October. Joining KANA will be Jessie McKay, Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada. I think McKay has wrestled for Chikara before, but she hasn't appeared since I started following the fed in 2009. Kotoge and Harada not only have been at the last two King of Trios tournaments, but they also amassed three points at Night Three this year, which means a title defense by the winner of the QuackSaw/Team FIST match in September. Just three more reasons for me to be jealous of you Southerners, well, at least until y'all remind me that I live in Philly and get a lot more than you do on a regular basis in terms of indie wrestling. So yeah, shame on me?

- Shane Helms obviously learned a life lesson from Matt Hardy this past weekend. No silly, it wasn't not to drive impaired, it was that if you end up getting caught driving impaired, make sure you don't crash into a tree first. Helms got popped for DWI Wednesday morning in Johnston County, NC. Honestly, I'm not sure how stupid someone could be, but hey, whatever, he clearly doesn't value his own life. For the people who do value his life, for their sake? I hope he gets help.

- In future endeavored news, Impact and Becky "Cookie" Bayless have parted ways. No details have been discerned yet, but the disgruntled former Knockout and manager of Rob "Robbie E" Eckos left a Twitter message relaying that she was indeed gone from Impact. I may be in the minority, but I really thought they had something with The Shore. They didn't have the charisma of Zack Ryder, but at the same time, I thought they were a good pairing. Of course, they went out and hotshotted a big moment early on by having J-WOWW punk out Cookie in one of the latter's first appearances with the company, but hey, no one has ever accused Impact of being a smart company. She'll be back on (i)PPV for WSU in November.

- In Future Endeavors (the podcast) news, they had Chris Masters on yesterday. Give the interview a listen.

Todd Grisham Follows in the Footsteps of Jonathan Coachman

Via Cageside Seats via Twitter

Todd Grisham, the often maligned but still too-plain-for-WWE announcer, has taken a job with ESPN. He's the second WWE announcer to take a job with the Worldwide Leader in the last three years, with Jonathan Coachman jumping ship in 2009. Grisham had announced for both ECW and Smackdown before being shunted away on NXT lately. I always found him to be serviceable, a calm counterbalance to his usual broadcast partner Matt Striker's overbearing bombast. Still, I can see why someone would think he never quite fit in WWE. Anyway, at least his home office won't be changing states. Good luck and godspeed, Mr. Grisham.

Matt Hardy Gets DWI, Impact Fires Him

Photo Credit:
ImpactWrestling.com

Via TMZ

In the most surprising move ever *wanking motion*, Matt Hardy was busted for driving while intoxicated in North Carolina today after slamming his Corvette into a tree. He was uninjured. Actually, in the surprising move, Impact Wrestling FIRED him hours later. Impact, a company that has rarely ever fired for disciplinary reasons, has finally had enough.

But yeah, it's not like this was the first offense either. Most recently, he posted a video where he and his brother Jeff and girlfriend Reby Sky all appeared intoxicated, playing with a taser. But yeah, as with everything, here's hoping the guy finally finds the help he needs. Yeah.

The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 15: Trey Irby

1-2-3 Kid A

Trey Irby of Wrestling Theory joins the podcast this week to talk about SummerSlam, Vladimir Kozlov and the other future endeavorees, why preseason college football polls are useless, being the only guy in town who isn't indoctrinated into the blood cult that is college football fandom and his problem with Dave Lagana co-opting the Kevin Steen sign on RAW for himself. There are also a lot of weird segues and a lot of cheap plugs, which make for some comedy. Enjoy!

Direct link for your downloading pleasure

WWE Chopping Block Report, Part 1

Adios, Masterpiece :(
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Five WWE Superstars have left the company, four by way of future endeavoring, one by way of quitting. The worst news is that more are reportedly forthcoming, which is terrible. I hate reporting on people losing their jobs, and I don't get why people pass that info along with such glee. It's news, but it's also people not being employed anymore. Here are the five that have been axed so far:

Gail Kim - She was the one who quit. She's been making a big fuss on Twitter about how unhappy she's been lately, and it seemed everything came to a head when she inexplicably eliminated herself in the Divas battle royale Monday. Well, apparently she quit after RAW Monday but waited until today to drop the knowledge. Oh well, she really hadn't done anything for me since coming back, especially after everyone pumped her up to be this great worker. I guess Kharma/Awesome Kong did all the heavy lifting in Impact, right? Plus, she quit, so she obviously didn't want to be there. I wouldn't be surprised to see her retire, since she's engaged to big deal TV chef Robert Irvine.

Melina - This is the least shocking firing ever. She's apparently been batshit crazy backstage, and constantly getting her boyfriend John Morrison in hot water because of the dumb stuff she said and did. Again, this is apparently and reputedly since I really don't have a whole lot of firsthand sources to go on for this. She really hadn't been featured for months either. Something tells me WWE will be better without her.

Vladimir Kozlov - I was a little bummed about this one. Kozlov had found a niche as a tag wrestler and a big Russian blockhead who got some comedy with culture-shock spots and the like. This also continues to prove that WWE really has missed the boat on featuring a tag division, since he was over by proxy of absorbing some of Santino's heat when they were Tag Champs. Oh well.

David Hart Smith - The rumblings are that he wants to do MMA. He's been training in it for months, so this is really not surprising either. Nothing more to say here either.

Chris Masters - This is the one I'm gutted most over. Really, he had come into his own as a worker, and every time he was featured on Superstars or Smackdown, he came through with a good to great match. He also was able to get over as a good guy without the benefit of any promo time whatsoever. Yeah, the jiggling pecs were a huge boon to him, but when that died down, he stayed somewhat over. Why? Because he knows how to engage a crowd and get them behind him in the ring. That is something that is invaluable and what a lot of current faces lack in the ring. Ugh, total miss the boat moment on him. Hopefully, he continues to wrestle, preferably in the indies, like I don't know, CHIKARA? Really bummed, man.

And again, there are more coming apparently. I fucking hate when WWE cleans house.

Amazing Red Gone from Impact

Via Twitter

Amazing Red, the long-time Impact wrestler who's been used very little lately, has parted ways with the company. Apparently, he got the "Creative has nothing for you" line, and he decided to head it off at the pass rather than wait around for no bookings and thus no paychecks. I was never the biggest Red fan, but he was good at Chikara's King of Trios this year. Obviously, the rumors are going to swirl about him signing with ROH, but at this point, who knows anymore.

Anyway, even if you don't agree that Red was a guy that needed to go, at least Impact is shedding some roster members. They're extremely bloated still, although given the choice, I'm sure that many Impact fans would have rather seen Rob Terry, Murphy and the Hardy Boys gone rather than Red, Jay Lethal and the Young Bucks. Them's be the breaks though...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Meet the New Champ, Same as the Old Champ

The Queen of the Weekend

- It was a Chikara weekend, and I went to both shows. A full report will be up soon, but for the impatient, here's a very concise run-down. Night one saw Fire Ant and Mike Quackenbush earn points towards their goal in the 12 Large Summit with wins over Jigsaw and Claudio Castagnoli respectively. Johnny Kidd beat Johnny Saint in what may have been the best match of the year. UltraMantis Black spiked Jakob Hammermeir on his head and told Ares that he would do the same to the rest of the BDK until the co-founder of the group stopped being so chicken and wrestled him. Finally, the Flex Express was derailed as Tursas defeated US Ant (Green Ant), but only after crooked officiating, a Jim Cornette-esque tennis racket shot by Jakob and a top rope splash from Tursas himself.

Night two saw a surprise appearance from luchadors Rey Bucanero and Atlantis, only to be disqualified in their match against Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano thanks to a low blow that didn't happen. Kidd and Saint tore the house down again, only this time in a tag match where Kidd teamed with Colt Cabana and Saint with Quack. Saint got the receipt on Kidd in this one. Both 12 Large Summit matches were PHENOMENAL, as Eddie Kingston took out Jigsaw in one, and Sara del Rey shocked the world and became the biggest babyface in Chikara in the process, rolling up Claudio in the main event. For her troubles, both she and Daizee Haze got attacked after the match by the big Swiss sore loser.

- AIW ran their fourth Girls Night Out even Friday, and they crowned a new Women's Champion in Mickie Knuckles. She defeated Jessica Havok in a match after the announced main event of Havok retaining over Angel Dust. This seems to be a trend with indie feds lately, with this being the third time in the last couple of months, second time in AIW. Also on the card, Portia Perez retired Roxie Cotton, although Cotton after the match jumped her. Something tells me she's not staying retired for long. Also, Sara del Rey defeated Sassy Stephie.

- Adam Pearce is once again NWA World Champion, in essence negating the entire fiasco that evolved from him losing the title anyway. For those not in the know, he dropped the belt to Colt Cabana in NWA Hollywood, who then dropped it to The Sheik a month or so later in the latter's home fed of NWA Fusion in Jacksonville. This sparked rumors that Cabana was an intermediary between the two because of politics, although again, they were just rumors and were not confirmed by anyone so they are not to be taken as fact. Anyway, Sheik then pulled out of a title defense against Pearce in Milwaukee, which caused the NWA to strip him of his title, necessitating a match in Columbus where Pearce regained the Championship in a four way dance against Chance Prophet, Jimmy Rave and Shawn Tempers. Got it? Good. Anyway, the good news is that the World Championship will again most likely be featured on TV in Hollywood again, and maybe if they do the right thing and strap Cabana again, it'll stick a little longer. Anyway, this is Pearce's fourth reign with the title, and it could be his last as he's on a "One Last Ride" tour, a farewell tour of sorts where he does his thing for a little while longer before his neck injuries become too bad for him to wrestle.

- Finally, in sad blogger news, Josh "PUNTE" Zerkle is leaving Kissing Suzy Kolber. Why should you care about one of six guys leaving a football-related blog? Because if it weren't for PUNTE, there'd probably be no Wrestling Podcast right now. I was a guest on Episode 43 of his House of PUNTE podcast, and thusly, I was bitten by the podcast bug. I had him on Episode 8 of TWP as well. I'm not sure what he'll be doing in his spare time now, although hopefully he'll continue doing the podcast. Either way, best of luck in your future endeavors...

...wait, that didn't come out right.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Young Bucks and Orlando Jordan Gone from Impact

Peace out, Bucks. Hope you guys didn't make a premature decision.

Via F4W Online

The Young Bucks/Generation Me are gone from Impact Wrestling, one night after the landmark Destination X event where their X-Division brethren had the night to shine. The two were not happy in Impact for awhile, per their Twitter pages, and last night was their "put someone over on the way out" moment, as they lost to Eric Young and Shark Boy. This is somewhat of a bummer in one way as if the critical reaction to last night's event indicates a number of buys and thus a change in direction, well, the Bucks could be jumping ship at the wrong time. That being said, this is the former TNA we're talking about here, and it'll take more than one event for me to be sold on them changing their stripes. Plus, this means they can go back to ROH or do DGUSA if they so choose (but not both). So yeah, I guess this is somewhat neutral news? I dunno.

Oh yeah, Orlando Jordan got axed too. I hate seeing someone lose their job in this economy, but at the same time, he did absolutely jack shit for me as a character or a worker in his time there, so I'm not terribly broken up about this.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Chavo Future Endeavored

Photo Credit: WWE.com

Via WWE.com

Chavo Guerrero has parted ways with WWE. This doesn't come as a shock to me, because of the following Tweet he dropped yesterday:

Guerrero's [sic] have always been rebels, so It's time for me to start being a Guerrero..Big news coming a bit later..stay tuned!

That leads me to believe that this was mutual, or he asked for his release. Regardless of whether that was the case or not, it's somewhat of a bummer, but not much of one. I enjoyed his series with Sin Cara a month or so ago, but at the same time, he wasn't doing much of anything. Personally, I'm hoping he's with ROH when they hit TV in September, but whatever he does, as long as it's nothing as patently offensive as rehashing Kerwin White, I'm cool.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Comings and Goings: Shimoda to Chikara, Wolfe Gone from Impact

Photo Credit: ChikaraPro.com

Some personnel moves to report on in the wrestling world. First up, Desmond Wolfe, the slave name of former ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness, has been released by Impact Wrestling. His career since leaving ROH has been pretty tumultuous. He had a deal with WWE worked out until it was voided last minute due to medical concerns. The then-TNA jumped in, signed him and debuted him with a bang, having him beat the crap out of Kurt Angle at every turn. After not being able to amass a win over Angle, ever, he shifted over to the new Fortune stable, where he was humiliated at nearly every turn before bowing out sheepishly to more injury concerns. It looks more and more like he'll step away from wrestling, as he's taken to stand-up comedy as well as writing a sitcom in Orlando. Sucks for him, but hey, wrestling isn't a kind business.

Secondly, Chikara will continue to give lessons in joshi to the American indie fans as they're bringing over tag veteran Mima Shimoda during Chikarasaurus Rex weekend. That adds to Johnny Kidd, Johnny Saint and some other Japanese women from Ice Ribbon as guest stars for the weekend. Not bad, not bad at all I say. Add that to Manami Toyota and Toshie Uematsu, and wow, Chikara is serious about exposing the States to serious Japanese women's wrestling. I applaud that move, but then again, I'm usually known as Chikara's propaganda arm. You know what? I don't care. This company has done no wrong by me yet, so I will continue to be excited for everything they do. Full disclosure, bitches. Anyway, Shimoda will be appearing courtesy of CMLL for some reason, probably because she's doing a tour down there. Either way, C-Rex weekend is shaping up to be pretty epic.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Tarver, Novak Released

Via F4W Online

Michael Tarver and Jacob Novak were among the five wrestlers released by WWE today. The other three were FCW names. Disappointing to hear about Tarver most, because I thought he had some potential. Novak was just there, although I thought he shone a bit in his feud with William Regal on NXT.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Enter the Dragon

Still the Champ

- Dragon Gate USA had a triple-shot of shows this weekend, culminating in an iPPV last night that had feed problems. Feed problems suck, but Gabe Sapolsky is making good on the customer dissatisfaction by throwing in a free viewing of their Open the Southern Gate show along with any purchase of last night's show on demand. This is how companies should operate. Anyway, the first night of action in Revere, MA, on Frriday was headlined by an Open the United Gate Championship defense by PAC and Masato Yoshino over YAMATO and Akira Tozawa. Saturday night's show on Long Island didn't have any title matches, but saw Ricochet defeating PAC and Rich Swann in what probably was a breathtaking spotfest of the main event. Last night's show looked pretty loaded. The Dirty Ugly Fucks of Sami Callihan and Arik Cannon took out Masaaki Mochizuki and Susumu Yokosuka, and the Ronin stable defeated the Blood Warriors group in an elimination match, with Johnny Gargano getting the final elimination on Austin Aries (giving him a receipt from Friday night's singles match where Aries was victorious). In the main event, PAC was unsuccessful in his attempt to corner the market in American DG gold, as YAMATO retained his Open the Freedom Gate Championship.

- Apparently, Mick Foley's exit from TNA on Thursday's show was more shoot than they let on at the time. According to several news outlets, and according to Foley's Twitter itself, he's out of TNA after "trying to change the creative process" and all that other jazz. While the fact that all the usual suspects are reporting this as news lends credence to it being real news, I am still suspect at the timing of it, ESPECIALLY given that Vince Russo has never met a worked shoot he didn't like. That being said, if Foley shows up on RAW in three months, then I'll readily admit that I was wrong, but I can't shake the nagging feeling that this is some elaborate work. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to your discretion, I suppose.

- Betty George, the first wife of wrestling icon and WWE Hall of Famer Gorgeous George, passed away Friday at the age of 98. Wow, 98, that's a hell of a run. Regardless though, I wish my sincerest condolences to her family and friends.

- Finally, this isn't so much wrestling news as it's site news, but I'm rebooting all the features on the blog. The Six Packs, the Best Move Ever, Know Your Indie Wrestlers... they're all going to start over again. What does that mean? Eh, just that I'll be repeating topics and such. But yeah, so if you see a repeat for any feature, you know now why, so at least I can point you to a warning rather than you going "BLOGGER Y U NO HAVE ORIGINAL TOPICS FOR FEATURES?"

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!