The Steel Cage

This Sunday’s WWE pay per view features matches between the Undertaker and Edge, Randy Orton and Triple H, and John Cena and JBL.

Wait a minute, didn’t I already write this post two weeks ago?

"One Night Stand" feels more like a stale relationship with no end in sight. I’ve made this point many times, but WWE definitely needs to freshen up its top feuds. Hopefully, we’ll be getting just the shake up we need with the upcoming draft lottery. But there’s actually yet another pay per view before then, June’s Night of Champions. So it may be possible that we see some of these combinations on pay per view yet again in just a few weeks.

My hope for Vince McMahon’s big announcement last Monday was that it would involve a reduced price for One Night Stand, the third WWE pay per view in five weeks. One Night Stand was originally designed as an ECW revival pay per view, and received wide praise in its first two years. But it has long since lost its relevancy and needs to be removed from the pay per calendar, just as WWE wisely did with January’s New Year’s Revolution. Asking fans to spend $160 on pay per views eight weeks is insane.

That said, I’ll give WWE credit for making ONS feel unique by featuring all extreme-rules matches. Unlike TNA, WWE is fairly disciplined in how often it features quirky stipulation matches, so a card loaded with Stretcher, I Quit, Falls Count Anywhere and Last Man Standing matches is something to look forward to.

I’m especially intrigued by the tables, ladders and chairs match between Taker and Edge. We know how great the Rated R Superstar can be in this kind of match, and Taker always gives it his all and tries to innovate in the ring. And we're pretty much guaranteed a new world champion.

I’ll probably check it out.

There’s been a lot of discussion here over the last few days on what constitutes a quality professional wrestling product. Some WWE loyalists have defended the company to the hilt against criticisms that the product has been lackluster as of late. They say there’s nothing wrong with what we’re getting from WWE.

So how good can wrestling be? I’d direct your attention to exhibit A, Ring of Honor’s sixth pay per, Take No Prisoners, which debuts tonight on In Demand at 10 p.m., and has several replays over the weekend.

You know that feeling of complete and utter satisfaction that you get a few times a year from a particularly well executed, dramatic and exciting WWE match? Well, imagine getting that at nearly every show, and very often several times on a single card. That's usually my ROH experience.

Now, I don’t at all profess that ROH is “better” than WWE, nor that WWE should be emulating ROH’s wrestling style. They are two distinctly different products, and both are good at what they do. But if you ever wanted to have your faith restored that you don't need leprechauns, million dollar giveaways, and diva watergun fights to put on a wrestling show, then I implore you to check out an ROH pay per view, which are usually priced in the $15 range.

There’s a big misconception out there that an ROH show is a two-hour high spot fest with of the psychology, storylines, and starpower that separate it from the major leagues. On the contrary, some of the best developed wrestling characters, compelling storylines, hilarious humor and epic showdowns I have seen in the last several years have come from ROH.

And from what I heard, ROH is at its best at Take No Prisoners, which features an ROH dream match between two of Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries, as well as ROH heavyweight champion Nigel McGuinness defending his title against the winner of a four-corner survival match earlier in the night. I won’t give away any spoilers from the show, which was taped several weeks ago, but I heard the title match was a star-making performance for the challenger and a legitimate match of the year candidate.

I enjoy WWE as much as the next person, but I don’t think it’s going out on much of a limb to predict that the best wrestling pay per view this weekend will be ROH’s Take No Prisoners. So spend your money wisely.

Here’s a preview of the show:

Long Island's own New York Wrestling Connection returns to the Deer Park Community Center this Saturday, May 31, for "Planet E Attacks." Bell time is 8 p.m. and tickets start at $15. Find more info at NYWC's web site.

Among the matches scheduled are "The iSuperstar" Rob Eckos taking on Maverick, and "Greek God" Papadon vs. "Superstar" Dickie Rodz.

You may have never heard of some of these guys, but you can be assured that NYWC isn't pumping out a bunch of shlubs. Papadon, who I've known for years, has long been a standout of the NY independent scene. Rodz is one of NYWC's most seasoned superstars, and had a hand in training some of NYWC's talent now in WWE, including Hawkins and Ryder. Eckos is one of the hottest prospects in the indy scene, regularly competing in the East Coast Wrestling Association and even on WWE a couple of times. And Maverick is one of NYWC's most promising young wrestlers.

Support independent wrestling. Check out NYWC this Saturday.

I've enjoyed the spirited discussion that my last post about WWE's latest hotshot angle stirred. On one side of the debate you have fans that are very turned off by the current WWE product and frustrated over getting the same old, same old shoved down their throats. On the other side are fans who think WWE deserves the benefit of the doubt and wish fans would have some patience before dismissing everything WWE's creative direction outright.

Both sides have been relatively well argued, and made some very valid points. But there is one sentiment that I have come across that drives me absolutely mad. That's the notion that fans who are vocal in criticizing a product they don't enjoy are somehow wrong for doing so.

I’d like to take this opportunity to school some newer wrestling fans on some of the sport’s insider terms:

Babyface: A good guy.
Heel: A bad guy.
Major announcement: A major letdown.

It’s become as old as time, yet we somehow keep falling for it. Some sort of wrestling authority figure promises an announcement at a pay per view, at the end of a show, or on a web site that will rock the world, and inevitably it is a colossal disappointment. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me a thousand times… please cut it out.

I fell for it hook, line and sinker last night when I anxiously waited until the end of Raw for Mr. McMahon’s latest earth shattering announcement that promised to change the face of wrestling, forever, ever, ever. What was it? A dopey million dollar giveaway.

Not only do I doubt that this latest stunt will help Raw’s sagging ratings, I truly believe it has the potential to hurt them. The last thing WWE wants to appear is desperate, and nothing says “We’re drowning here” like a prize giveaway.

It's absolutely staggering to me that Friday is nine years since we lost Owen Hart.

I -- like many of you -- still remember the day, crystal clear. It was May 23, 1999 -- just 13 days after I started with WWE as an intern.

I was as saddened as the next person over the news of William Regal's most recent 60-day suspension for violating WWE's wellness policy. It's especially troubling considering Regal was in the midst of the biggest push of his career and seemed primed to be elevated into a main event heel and possible world champion.

But there is a bigger picture here, and one that we should undoubtedly consider good news. WWE appears to be getting serious about its drug policy.

I received the following press release in an email today and thought I'd pass it along.

Incidentally, McMahon calls it "first-ever broadcast television debut of 'WrestleMania." Am I the only person who remembers 1995's "WrestleMania" special on Fox, in which they aired the Michaels-Diesel and Bigelow-LT matches?

Nevertheless, I think it's a great idea to air Mania highlights on free TV. It was one WWE's best shows of all time and a great way to hook some new viewers on the WWE product.

NEW YORK - The WWE on MyNetworkTV will kick off a night early with a first ever broadcast presentation of "WrestleMania" on Thursday, October 2nd at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT), announced the network's president, Greg Meidel. This special presentation featuring the best moments of "WrestleMania XXIV" including Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show® will be followed by the premiere of "WWE SmackDown" on Friday, October 3rd at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT).

In making the announcement, Meidel stated, "We're thrilled to bring fans even more of their favorite WWE action on MyNetworkTV. These side-by-side primetime events are sure to deliver two nights of edge-of-your-seat, action-packed entertainment."

"WWE SmackDown" will be presented on MyNetworkTV weekly on Fridays and showcase a star-studded cast of WWE Superstars, including Edge®, Rey Mysterio®, Batista®, MVPT and Undertaker®. It will feature all the action, excitement, drama and great athleticism that have made it for nine years one of the most popular programs among males on broadcast television, and one of the top ten English language prime time programs among Hispanic households.

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon added, "What better way to introduce MyNetworkTV viewers to the WWE brand than to schedule our first-ever broadcast television debut of 'WrestleMania.'"

John Cena was a guest on the Opie & Anthony radio show this morning, and while it was mostly playful banter, Cena did cover some interesting ground.

A couple of months ago, Cena was quoted in the UK Sun as saying the following: "“What I kind of get peeved about — and this is my Achilles’ heel — is that I've wanted to do this my whole life. At one point Rock loved wrestling and wanted to do this all his life. So explain to me why he can't come back."

O&A producer Sam Robert asked Cena to clarify his statement today, and Cena reiterated much of the same. He said although he believes that the Rock always wanted to be an actor, his "beef" was that he said he'd never leave wrestling behind, and he very clearly has. He said Rock's about face "makes my job harder" because nobody believes him when he says he will always remain a part of pro wrestling, even if he finds success in acting. He said it's similar to the way that nobody believes he doesn't do steroids because fans have "pre conceived notions."

"I'll find a way to make it work," said Cena, who said has a passion for working in front of live crowds on a regular.

On the subject of steroids, Cena said that the proof that he doesn't use them is that he has remained the same size even as other wrestlers' bodies have gotten smaller over the years.

Asked whether he's be interested in taking part in mixed martial arts, he said while he had "nothing but respect" for MMA fighters, he has no desire to compete in their sport. He said he couldn't accept training for six months for a fight that might last just 30 seconds and end with him getting his "a-- kicked." He said he loves going out night after, wrestling as many as 270 dates a year.

Asked by a caller what he does to relax when he's stressed out, he said he'll often tip back some Coors Lights at a local bar, work on his muscle cars, or visit "an establishment of ill repute." Asked by the hosts if he was serious, he said he was.

I can just see Cena walking into a brothel with a wad of cash of exclaiming, "The champ is here!"

In addition to the wrestling radio that Alfonso mentioned earlier, I'm excited to have been invited to appear on WrestleCrap radio on Wednesday, May 28.

I can't imagine why WrestleCrap would invite me, a guy who was on WWE creative for Katie Vick, Al Wilson and Billy & Chuck ...

You'll be able to listen on the 28th at wrestlecrap.com, and before then, you can post questions here, or e-mail them to RD by clicking here.

This is the time of year when I don't really pay much attention to WWE's product (generally happens between January and December). So I haven't seen much of the build-up to Sunday's Judgment Day show.

Of course, I'd still be happy to post a little something about how bad I think the card is ...

I have foolishly neglected to mention a terrific wrestling radio show here on Long Island that has been kind enough to have me on as a guest a couple times in recent weeks to plug this blog.

Over The Ropes on C.W. Post’s WCWP can be heard Saturday nights at 10 both online and at 88.1 FM.

Nick Malone and Max Caster are two very knowledgeable hosts, and they offer compelling interviews and fun segments each week.

Most recently, I took part in a WWE fantasy draft on the show, in which we took turns putting together teams of five wrestlers who will earn points over the next several months depending on their win/loss record on television. I ended up with Bam Neely and Chavo Guerrero, among others, so I'm not holding my breath that I'll come out the big winner.

I got my start in the journalism business as part of WGBB Get in the Ring program, and later briefly hosted my own show on the station, so I know how much fun a wrestling radio show can be. Nick and Max seem to be having a blast and Over The Ropes is definitely worth a listen. Check them out here.

For the first time in a long time, WWE is presenting a pay per view that feels like it’s there just to fill space. With 14 pay per views each year, it’s actually quite an accomplishment to have run as many consecutive must-see pay per views as WWE has in recent months. I’d say you’d have to go back to September’s rather mundane Unforgiven, which was headlined by the Undertaker’s return against Mark Henry, to find a skippable WWE pay per view.

That’s not to say that this Sunday’s Judgment Day won’t be any good. On the contrary, the potential is there for several fine matches. The problem is that few of them feel fresh. The two competitors in Smackdown’s world title match – The Undertaker and Edge – will have faced each other in four out of six WWE pay per views, not counting Edge’s attack on Taker at the Survivor Series. Raw’s headliners, Randy Orton and Triple H, will similarly have wrestled each other five times in nine pay per views, including twice at October’s No Mercy.

WWE is in desperate need to freshen up their main event scene, but with One Night Stand taking place just two weeks after Judgment Day, I can see WWE sticking to their top feuds through at least another pay per view.

Nevertheless, here are my Judgment Day Picks, for what they’re worth:

One of my favorites wrestling television series returns Wednesday night as MSG presents WWE's At The Garden. I'm especially psyched because tonight's installment features what I believe was the very first wrestling event I ever attended at the Garden.

Ahh, I can remember it like it was yesterday (insert harp music.)

It was July 1, 1991 and I was just 13 years old. Back then, WWE played the Garden about every other month. With WWE only offering four pay per views a year back then, the Garden shows were pretty big deals, with angles taking places, feuds being established and blown off, and, occasionally, titles changing hands.

And although I had already been a fan of wrestling for about 10 years and had attended a few shows at the Nassau Coliseum, I had never begged my dad much to take me to a Garden Show. That was until this night - because on this night The Ultimate Warrior was taking on the Undertaker in a body bag match.

WWE.com reported a couple of days ago that Torrie Wilson has been given her release, apparently confirming the rumors that she's been told that she shouldn't be competing in the ring anymore.

I thought I'd mark the occasion by reminiscing a bit about one of the Wrestle-crappiest storylines I was ever a part of: the Torrie-Dawn-Al debacle.

In his last post, Alfonso referenced that this July's Great American Bash is only the third Pay-Per-View at Nassau Coliseum in the past 20 years.

I'm not sure at all about the financials of dealing with the Coliseum; I do know that high building-rental prices are the reason why WWE runs a lot fewer shows at Madison Square Garden these days.

But there's a bigger reason why WWE doesn't do many TV tapings at Nassau Coliseum.

You.

Just a reminder that tickets for the Great American Bash, taking place Sunday, July 20 at the Nassau Coliseum, go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, at 10 a.m. They range from $35 to $300. You could get your tickets through this link.
This will be WWE's first LI pay per view since 2002's awesome SummerSlam - and only third WWE PPV here in more than 20 years.
The Bash obviously doesn't mean what it used to back in the old NWA days of Ric Flair stepping off a helicopter on his way to the ring, but if you've never seen a WWE PPV in person in your hometown, this is your chance.

Just watched the stream on TMZ, and wow, what an emotional day in court.

Nick Bollea was sentenced to eight months in jail and five years' probation for the car accident last August that caused severe injuries to John Graziano.

Nick was taken into custody immediately following his sentencing.

He was also sentenced to 500 hours of community service and had his license suspended for three years.

Nick has 30 days to appeal.

It seemed a lot of you really enjoyed my story from last week about the night I went home from Madison Square Garden with the World Heavyweight Championship. So I thought you might also enjoy this story about Brock Lesnar and the WWE Championship belt.

So Long Island native Ashley Massaro claims Rolling Stone's article connecting her to a prostitution ring is wrong, and the magazine stands by its claims.

This is the wrestling business. Does it really matter if it's true or not?

It's out there. People are talking about it. Which in America in 2008 means people are going to believe it no matter what.

So it's time to take what wrestling does best and exploit a painful reality.

Ring of Honor makes its debut in New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom this Saturday for what is being talked about as one of the biggest shows in the six year history of the promotion.

Every match on the card has the potential to be something special. I'm especially looking forward to seeing Bryan Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji and Austin Aries & Jay Briscoe vs. The Age of the Fall for the ROH tag titles. The Briscoes-AOTF match at Final Battle 2007 was one of the best I saw all year. You can find out more information by visiting ROH's official web site.

In the main event, ROH champion Nigel McGuinness is defending his title against the popular Swiss heavyweight Claudio Castagnoli. For those of you who've never seen Castagnoli in action, you are really missing something special. At 6'3" and weighing more than 230 pounds, Castagnoli certainly has the look to be a star in most any promotion. In fact, about a year and a half ago, WWE signed him to a contract, but then dropped him before he wrestled his first match. WWE's loss was certainly been the gain of fans in ROH, where over the last two years Castagnoli has risen to become one of the company's top stars.

With his impressive combination of size, agility, and an innovative offense that makes use of his European wrestling roots, it would not surprise me to see Castagnoli leave the Hammerstein with the belt.I recently had the opportunity to talk to "Double C" about his big match this Saturday.

Alfonso Castillo: Is your match against Nigel McGuinness one of the bigger ones of your career?

Claudio Castagnoli: Oh, it’s the biggest. I would say it’s by far the biggest match. It’s for the ROH world title, it’s in the middle of New York City, and it’s the Hammerstein Ballroom. That’s pretty big to me.

So ECW is celebrating its 100th episode on the Sci Fi network tonight. Less than two years ago, ECW debuted with what many people considered the worst hour of televised wrestling in the sport's history. We all complained at the time about how the new WWE-era ECW had little resemblance to the cutting edge, exciting, and charming brand we watched a decade earlier.

Yet, compared to the 2008 version of ECW, the 2006 version was as hardcore as it came. Little by little, the new ECW has lost nearly every link to the past. Let's look at some of the extreme staples that have fallen by the wayside over the last 100 weeks of the new ECW.

1. Paul Heyman - The architect of extreme was dumped at the end of 2006, reportedly after butting heads with management over their polar opposite visions for the brand. More than anything, this was the beginning of the end of the new ECW. Even when he was offering very little creative input, Heyman's on-air role gave the product the stamp of approval that kept some fans coming back each week.

2. Rob Van Dam - Possibly the biggest lost the ECW brand has suffered to date. Let's not forget that when the ECW brand was launched in 2006, not only was Van Dam the centerpiece of the brand and its champion, but he was the WWE champion, having defeated John Cena at One Night Stand. I always thought he was a bit over rated, but he was one of the few things keeping some traditional ECW fans watching in the brand's earliest days.

3. The Sandman - Strangely, before WWE made the decision to cut the beer drinking, chain smoking, cane-swinging icon, they moved him to Raw. Having the ECW brand around, why would you move one of the most recognizable characters in ECW's history to a different brand? There was no reason to have Sandman on the pay role, if not for his history with ECW.

Pro wrestling journalist Irvin Muchnick has done some really good work investigating the Chris Benoit case over the past year, and I just read this very interesting piece over at Slam Wrestling.

With the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder-suicide coming up next month, you'll be hearing more about the case once again. I'm actually reading an advance copy of Scott Keith's book about Benoit and the curse of the Hart Family Dungeon, and it's really sad and eye-opening. And I'm planning to post some of my own thoughts on the crime and also on working with Chris.

But for now, I'll just say that Muchnick does bring up some great points about how the investigation has been pushed aside, and how poorly WWE handled the case. I completely agree with his point about that joke of an interview on Larry King with Vince's propaganda army.

The whole thing is just still so surreal and sad. And yet I still believe that no one's learned a damn thing from what happened.

So on the heels of the Michael Hayes racism accusations and Santino Marella's being charged with DUI, I didn't think the past week or so could get weirder for WWE.

Then I went to prowrestling.net and saw this accusation about Long Island's own Ashley Massaro.

Oh well ... on the bright side, at least the company is drug-free thanks to that wellness policy, right?