Pinfall Recall
The Best Wrestling You’ve Ever Heard

 

 Wrestling Podcast Episode 173: The Million Dollar RAWcast [20:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

CK may be without a co-host this week, but that doesn’t mean we’re not bringing the fire in our discussion of WWE Monday Night Raw from July 6th, 2009. This week’s show features 20 minutes of the finest wrestling analysis on the web. Highlights include Pinfall Recall’s continuing hatred of WWE’s handling of the Tag Team Championships, Teddy Dibiase acting like a 9 year old, CK’s desire for more Million Dollar moments, and excruciating foot and leg injuries, all brought to you with that PFRC heat you know and love. So fire up your media players, turn up your speakers, and prepare to have the knowledge dropped on your asses by the best professional wrestling podcast you’ve ever set ears upon.

If you’d like to discuss this show with other people who feel similar, or completely opposite from you, please feel free to visit OUR FORUMS.

Do you want to SUBSCRIBE to Pinfall Recall on iTunes and you’re too lazy to look it up in the store? In that case, JUST CLICK HERE and it’ll do all the hard work for you!

Hello and welcome to the return of the highly acclaimed As I See It series. It may only be highly acclaimed in my own mind but that’s neither here nor there because this marks a significant part of Pinfall Recall history. As we edge ever closer to the fourth anniversary of the creation of Pinfall Recall, I am pleased to return to your computer screens with my thoughts on the world of professional wrestling and, what’s more, I’m pleased to once again improve your lives by giving you something to read that can only be described as simply ‘Genius’.

Since Pinfall Recall began this journey about 4 years ago, we’ve all had to endure some pretty horrendous wrestling from WWE and TNA alike. However, I think there are definite signs that we are finally being rewarded for the years of disillusion as the WWE product at this point is pretty damn good. Well, to be honest, Raw is still quite terrible on most occasions but I really can’t speak highly enough of the other 3 shows that WWE puts out on a weekly basis. Smackdown really demonstrates some of the best wrestling programming that I personally have seen in quite a long time to be honest with you. ECW consistently puts out a solid hour of TV each week and the last episode of Superstars that I caught had John Morrison and Chris Jericho tear down the house.

Now whilst we’re finally being repaid for our years of loyalty to the product, the powers that be may not be so pleased as the sheer awesomeness of the aforementioned television shows is not portrayed in the slightest when it comes to the ever important ratings. And it is that fact alone that leaves me with a bit of trepidation going forward as I’m concerned that these really good shows will not be given the time to blossom before some change is inevitable. But for the time being, wrestling fans all over the World should join me in taking pleasure in the extremely high quality of the perceived “B” shows.

Now whether it’s down to the intriguing direction CM Punk is going or the great matches put on each and every week by the mid and upper card respectively, Friday Night Smackdown has been a joy to watch every week for quite some time now. I think it’s no real coincidence that the shows that have blossomed have been the shows that were left to their own creative devices without any array of McMahon influence. Touching back to the point I made a little earlier and with the under-performance in the ratings department, I am a little concerned that big ol’ Vinnie will feel the need to get involved and give it that extra special touch we all know and love…and by ‘love’ I of course mean ‘absolutely despise’. But that’s not something I want to delve too deeply into at this stage as, for the moment at least, we’re being treated to some damn good television.

Whilst on the subject of ratings, I wanted to take full advantage and take a cheap shot at TNA. That being the fact that WWE Superstars airs on the same night (albeit an hour earlier) to a fraction of the potential viewers that TNA iMPACT! reaches yet is only a 0.1 or 0.2 down in the ratings on a weekly basis. I don’t hate TNA by all means but facts like that should be made fun of, simple as that.

So what I’m getting at with this is that it is your duty as a fan of great wrestling that you watch Smackdown each and every week to show the powers that be within WWE that it is this type of show that we wrestling fans like to see. And I’m 100% confident that if you do watch the so called “B shows” (Smackdown in particular) then you will agree with me implicitly. In the past I’ve been first in line to take shots at WWE and I think that it should be noted and appreciated when they outperform the relatively low expectations that I have for their creative team.

I touched earlier on the direction that CM Punk is taking, which is another big factor that is keeping me drawn to Friday Night Smackdown each and every week. They’ve not turned him full on heel, they’ve kind of just let him linger and I really think that Punk is one of the few guys that can pull this off.

I really do think that the direction they are taking CM Punk has been quite genius in execution thus far. I’ve heard in some pockets of the IWC that Punk should attack Hardy for having a past riddled with drug problems whilst he has reached the top by completely clean and “straight edge”. In my opinion, this would be the wrong way to proceed. Don’t get me wrong, it would definitely add an intriguing aspect to the storyline but in it’s current form I think it would be detrimental to the progress Hardy has made to step up to the main event level. To focus solely on the somewhat shady and questionable past of our supposed hero would be a quite absurd thing to do in my opinion. Let alone the impact that it could have with regards the views of the parents of the WWE Universe by highlighting the drug addicted past of their youngster’s idol. What it boils down to is the fact that they haven’t put all their eggs in one basket by turning Punk heel straight away, they’re letting the crowd make their own minds up on him and to me that’s the best way to handle him. My only hope now is that they can give him some good storylines going forward to keep him at the top of the card and a fresh heel run may eventually the way to go with him.

Changing tact a little bit, has there ever been a bigger waste of our time than the Donald Trump storyline that lasted 7 whole days? I certainly can’t think of any in recent memory. I cannot see how that enhanced the product in any way shape or form. The whole thing was stupid and it actually resulted in them losing money as some retarded shareholders actually believed this shit to be real. I must admit, I’m not sure how I’d progress with Raw in terms of the management/authority figure but surely there was a more logical way than what we saw with this Trump fiasco. If, as rumoured, Ric Flair is to be the new general manager of Raw then I do not see the problem in having the Trump angle run a little longer but have Flair running the show for him and Donny would be seen rarely, if ever. I would much rather have seen something like that happen than what we were indeed treated to.

As it pertains to this Sunday’s ridiculously named Pay-Per-View “The Bash”, I think it has to the potential to be a fairly interesting show. Either way, it’s free to air in the UK on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports HD1 so I’m not fussed one way or the other. There’s definitely a few matches in there that I’m down for…and there’s the added bonus that as it stands three days away from the PPV, there is no Big Show to be seen on the card! I’m interested in seeing The Miz against Cena, purely as a result of the long (by today’s standards) drawn out development of this angle. The Tag Title match with Legacy against Carlito and Primo should be another exceptional contest in my eyes, especially since the Colons are easily one of the best teams I’ve seen in quite a while. So with a fairly stacked mid-card and a couple good main event matches on the card hopefully this year’s Bash will not be the joke that it has been in pretty much every year that the WWE has promoted the show.

So that’s that ladies and gents, the returning column from yours truly is in the books. I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read and by all means get in touch either by commenting on the blog or posting on the forums or even sending me an e-mail at AK@pinfallrecall.com.

Thank you for reading and may the next week of wrestling viewing be a happy one!
-Andrew Kearney

I’m back, and better than ever. Got a knack, for making things better.

Hello and welcome to somewhat of a rebirth here in the Pinfall Recall World. Yes friends that’s right, I, Andrew Kearney, am back and better than ever. I feel the timing for this couldn’t be better and I can say that I’m extremely excited to start this new chapter in the book of Pinfall Recall. It’s been at least two years since I was a fully active member of this great team but I can only see that as being to our advantage as we look to progress and carry on the excellent work demonstrated by the existing team members. We’re all a couple years older and a couple years wiser since I was last around…quite whether the wrestling industry as a whole has progressed in that time I’m not too sure but I’ll sure as hell enjoy talking about it here with you all. I also just wanted to send out a public thank you to RDB, Milo, Ed, and of course CK and JG for making this return possible. Now I want you all to kick back and just relax as you jump back into the trip known as Andrew Kearney…or AK…or Kearney…well you get the idea.

The purpose of this little piece is to give you all an insight into my views of the current state of professional wrestling. Now I’ll be honest with you all, my finger had certainly slipped way off the pulse over the last two years of absenteeism but since about ‘Mania this year, I’ve been getting back into the swing of things. As hard as I try though it is definitely still a case of as and when I can with regards to the actual watching of the shows. I mean I do try and catch Raw every week, the same with SmackDown also and for some reason, unknown to me or anyone else, I rarely miss an episode of TNA iMPACT. So I definitely do try to keep on top of things but it certainly does take a pretty dedicated loser to watch every single piece of weekly televised wrestling.

I don’t watch TNA week in week out because I think it’s such an awesome way to spend two hours each week. I think it’s definitely more a case of sheer bewilderment and curiosity that keeps on drawing me back in. I just wanted to make that point perfectly clear before we delve any deeper. Quite simply, the list of things wrong with TNA is longer than my arm and longer than I’m willing to discuss at this moment but the biggest problem that I have with the product is that far too much of it just doesn’t make sense and the reasons to actually care about what’s going on are so few and far between.

In terms of WWE I think there are signs of a decent product in there from time to time, particularly on the SmackDown brand in my opinion. But even then you can spend a couple hours watching Raw or SmackDown and still wonder what happened come the end of the show. I also may have made a fairly large mistake recently as over the last few weeks I’ve been watching my entire anthology of every WWE Raw from 1999 and that really has fuelled even greater cynicism and dismay at the current product. But as I said, from time to time I’m pleasantly surprised and satisfied after watching a WWE show, a lot more than was the case a couple of years ago at least.

But at the end of the day, there’s plenty for me to talk about and I sincerely hope you all enjoy jumping on the back of Pinfall Recall’s own British Invasion.

As has been stated on the forum and the most recent podcast, I am really aiming to add a lot of content to the blog in the form of columns, articles and other fun filled features. So please stay tuned to that the website and the forums for all of my upcoming Pinfall Recalling…and you may also want to keep an ear out for a certain British voice on an upcoming podcast…just sayin’.

I am most definitely back ladies and gentleman and you will unquestionably be seeing a lot more of all over the Pinfall Recall Universe!

Welcome to Pinfall Recall’s Wrestling News Digest, your daily collection of all the news in the professional wrestling world. Each day we collect all the news from WWE, TNA, ROH, and more, and deliver it to you in one easy to read posting. No more clicking 30 links and loading 30 pages to read 3 lines of text. Just point your browser to Pinfall Recall every day for all the wrestling news you need.

After the jump (the read more button) you’ll find today’s top stories, immediately followed by all of your news divided up by organization, for your viewing pleasure.

So, for the latest on how long Batista will be out injured (again) and more…

(more…)

Whaddup everyone!

Once again CK and JG are back together to bring you yet another episode of “The Best Wrestling You’ve Ever Heard”.  We talk about Monday Night RAW from 06.08.09 and sound off on how we feel about the show.  You know you wanna listen… so just DO IT ALREADY!

 

 Wrestling Podcast Episode 170: The Return of Cliff [56:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Do it, Bitches!

Welcome to Pinfall Recall’s Wrestling News Digest, your daily collection of all the news in the professional wrestling world. Each day we collect all the news from WWE, TNA, ROH, and more, and deliver it to you in one easy to read posting. No more clicking 30 links and loading 30 pages to read 3 lines of text. Just point your browser to Pinfall Recall every day for all the wrestling news you need.

After the jump (the read more button) you’ll find today’s top stories, immediately followed by all of your news divided up by organization, for your viewing pleasure.

So, for the latest on Batista’s latest arm injury, Umaga’s job hunt (I think the Samoan Bulldozer would do well in construction personally), Vickie Guerrero packing her bags, and more…

(more…)

WWE

CM Punk interview, Evan Bourne says old ECW doesn’t compare to the new version

- PNJ.com has a Q&A up with CM Punk, discussing tag team vs. singles matches, John Cena, what the “CM” stands for, more. You can check that out here.

- The Sun recently interviewed Evan Bourne, discussing the “old” ECW vs. the “new” ECW that he is a part of. You can checkout the full interview here. Here is an excerpt of the interview:

“You can’t make a direct comparison between the rosters, as we’re so different. But if you compare ECW now to the old ECW on TNN - we blow that show out of the water. Every week we blow it out of the water. I have tons of respect for Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Super Crazy and Tajiri - as they were the guys I idolized growing up. I loved ECW.”

Credit: 411mania.com

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Jeff Hardy comments on Ken Kennedy’s release

- Jeff Hardy was on the Big O and Dukes morning show in Washington DC this morning. You can download the full interview here. He spoke on Kennedy’s release, stating…

“It was really sad, you know? I think he’s a real talented guy. I don’t know if it was the right move, but we’ll see.”

He also spoke on releases in general, stating… 

“There’s been a lot of releases, a lot of friends that are getting released just out of nowhere. You gotta deal with it, move on and just know to yourself that its not the end of the world and that there’s other things out there.”

Credit: 411mania.com

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WWE releases developmental talent

- World Wrestling Entertainment has also released Jon Cutler, who wrestled as “Prime Cut” Jon Cutler in developmental. A Winnipeg native, Cutler had been under contract since 2008.

Cutler joins Maverick Darsow and Lupe Santiago as Florida Championship Wrestling talents let go by the company this week.

Credit: PWinsider.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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ROH

Ric Flair leaves Ring of Honor

- According to a report by “The Slammer” of The New York Daily News, Ric Flair claims he left ROH because it wasn’t right for him to appear on both TV shows…

“I announced I would be leaving them (ROH) last week at the Philadelphia show because it would be on HDNet (cable TV) and I felt it wasn’t right for me to be appearing (on TV) for the WWE and ROH while singing the praises of both. I will be at their event at the Manhattan Center next Saturday as a ’special’ referee, not as a wrestler.” 

But did WWE pressure him to quit ROH? 

“The decision was mine alone. Nothing against ROH, but I decided you can’t serve two masters, and my loyalty lies with the WWE. I feel very comfortable being there.”

What’s his current deal with the WWE and will he wrestle again? 

“I only have a verbal agreement with them to make appearances…. I’m still retired. Well, let me say that under very special conditions I would consider wrestling again.”

Credit: 411mania.com

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Other

Shane Douglas will be inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame

- Legends of the Arena issued this as part of a press release today:

There will also be an induction to the Arena’s Hardcore Hall of Fame. The first inductee that night is none other then The Franchise Shane Douglas! You have heard his promo’s in the past. What will he say on June 27th? Buy a ticket and find out!!!

Credit: PWinsider.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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That’s all for today’s Wrestling News Digest. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another easy to digest batch! Or, subscribe to our blog feed to get the latest Wrestling News, as well as our columns and podcasts, delivered right to your favorite feedreader. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact the Pinfall Recall team on the forums or by emailing them directly through the links below. 

Cliff Karklin (CK) - CK@PinfallRecall.com

Joshua George (JG) - JG@PinfallRecall.com

Robby Boydstun (RDB) - RDB@PinfallRecall.com

Milo Taibi (Milo) - Milo@PinfallRecall.com

Ed Battes (Ed) - Ed@PinfallRecall.com

WWE

More Vince vs. the Nuggets news

- WWE.com has posted the “fallacious, rejected Kroenke-writ release” on WWE.com. Also, the website has announced that Mr. McMahon will confront Denver Nuggets Owner Stan Kroenke on Raw Monday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

- Shane McMahon and John Cena were at the Lakers game yesterday, and interviewed by the LA Times, discussing the Denver deal and the move to LA. The video is here 

Credit: 411mania.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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TNA

TNA releases Sewell and signs new female, Christopher Daniels interview

- Shane Sewell has been released by TNA, according to Jeremy Borash’s Twitter page. Borash also claims that TNA has signed a “well known” female. 

- The Miami Herald interviewed Christopher Daniels, discussing TNA, growing up in North Carolina, being a smaller gut in a business of big men and more. You can check out the full article here.

Credit: 411mania.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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TNA heads to Colorado to capitalize on WWE situation

- TNA sent out the following press release, announcing that they are heading to Colorado:

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling Heads to Colorado, for Sure!

DEJECTED WWE FANS CAUGHT IN THE “DENVER DEBACLE” GET A $10 DISCOUNT FOR TNA TICKETS WITH THEIR UNUSED WWE TICKETS FROM COLORADO SHOWS.

DENVER, May 22 /PRNewswire/ — Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling is bringing a slam-dunk show to Colorado - and unlike its competition, the superstars of TNA will not skip town.

The TNA Live! Tour invades the Pueblo (Colo.) Convention Center on Friday night, May 29, and then moves to Cheyenne, Wyo., on Saturday night, May 30 at the Taco Johns Event Center. Both shows start at 7:30 p.m., and anyone bringing an unused WWE ticket from its recently-cancelled Colorado shows to the box office in Pueblo or Cheyenne will receive a $10 discount for tickets for either TNA show.

“Some of the biggest pro wrestling fans in the nation are in Colorado,” said TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter. “It was sad to see the WWE pull out of all their scheduled shows in Colorado recently because of the scheduling conflict with the NBA playoffs. I want everyone in Colorado to know that TNA Wrestling is coming and we hope to see you at our first shows ever in your state. For WWE fans that paid for any of these cancelled events, we are offering you $10 off the purchase of tickets to come see us and enjoy the best fan experience in pro wrestling.”

Carter also confirmed that TNA is “formally inviting” all Nugget players, coaches, broadcasters and front-office staff to the Pueblo show.

Appearing live will be “The King of the Mountain” Jeff Jarrett, “The War Machine” Rhino, “The Monster” Abyss, The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky), Cute Kip, the Motor City Machine Guns, “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan, TNA X Division Champion Suicide, Lethal Consequences, Taylor Wilde, “Showtime” Eric Young, Brutus Magnus, Kiyoshi, and more.

Cross The Line to TNA Wrestling, the most innovative experience in professional wrestling today. “TNA iMPACT!” airs every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV.

Credit: 411mania.com

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Other

Legends of the Arena card set for next month

- The following is the card for the Legends of the Arena show set for June 27th:

Sandman with Tod Gordon vs. Sabu with Fonzie with special guest referee Terry Funk

The Franchise Shane Douglas vs. Al Snow with Head

Chris Hamrick vs. Crowbar

BWO vs. FBI with Big Sal-

Raven vs. Justin Credible with Jason and Chastity

Rhino vs. Spike Dudley

Balls and Axl vs. The Baldies

CW Anderson with Jack Victory vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

Also appearing, Tammy Sytch, Gary Wolfe, Scotty Riggs, The Queen of Extreme Francine and many more!

Credit: PWinsider.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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That’s all for today’s Wrestling News Digest. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another easy to digest batch! Or, subscribe to our blog feed to get the latest Wrestling News, as well as our columns and podcasts, delivered right to your favorite feedreader. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact the Pinfall Recall team on the forums or by emailing them directly through the links below. 

Cliff Karklin (CK) - CK@PinfallRecall.com

Joshua George (JG) - JG@PinfallRecall.com

Robby Boydstun (RDB) - RDB@PinfallRecall.com

Milo Taibi (Milo) - Milo@PinfallRecall.com

Ed Battes (Ed) - Ed@PinfallRecall.com

Danny Charisma (DC) - DC@PinfallRecall.com

WWE

Santino storyline continues online 

- There is a new goofy video feature focusing on Santino Marella on WWE.com. The video features Santino in-character furthering an internet-only storyline WWE has been pushing on the website recently.

Credit: wrestlezone.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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TNA

Time Warner buys Midway but leaves TNA

- Today, Time Warner put in an official bid of $33 Million in an effort to acquire all of the American assets of Midway Games, Inc.. The agreement does not include the Company’s development studio in San Diego and the TNA franchise games, nor does it include the Company’s development studio in Newcastle which had developed the Company’s recently released Wheelman game. 

Credit: 411mania.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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ROH

HDNet heads for the chopping block

- Multichannel News is currently running an article discussing the HDNet situation. Time Warner Cable confirmed to the trade Monday it will stop offering HDNet and HDNet Movies across all of its systems effective May 31. Time Warner Cable director of corporate public relations Robyn Watson stated the following…

“There’s a limited appeal for the programming. In a world with more than 100 HD channels, being in HD is not enough. We are adding other channels in HD to give our customers more choice.” 

Mark Cuban emailed Multichannel News to say that they were still negotiating, and also stated…

“[T]here are millions of viewers who enjoy our unique and exclusive programming. We are not a cookie-cutter network like those from the big media conglomerates. HDNet’s viewers do business with providers specifically to get our programming.”

You can read the full article here.

Credit: 411mania.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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Other

Dawn Marie has another baby

- Former WWE Diva and ECW original Dawn Marie gave birth to daughter Katie this past Tuesday. Marie had to have a C-section, but is apparently doing fine health-wise.

Credit: wrestlezone.com

Discuss this news on the forums

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That’s all for today’s Wrestling News Digest. Be sure to come back tomorrow for another easy to digest batch! Or, subscribe to our blog feed to get the latest Wrestling News, as well as our columns and podcasts, delivered right to your favorite feedreader. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact the Pinfall Recall team on the forums or by emailing them directly through the links below. 

Cliff Karklin (CK) - CK@PinfallRecall.com

Joshua George (JG) - JG@PinfallRecall.com

Robby Boydstun (RDB) - RDB@PinfallRecall.com

Milo Taibi (Milo) - Milo@PinfallRecall.com

Ed Battes (Ed) - Ed@PinfallRecall.com

Danny Charisma (DC) - DC@PinfallRecall.com