thebubszona17's Xanga

UFC Shockers & Cena-Michaels II

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 15:18:17 GMT

This is in the UFC has been the year of upsets and the year of the underdog. Randy Couture defeated Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight title when no one gave the smaller Couture a chance to win. Matt Serra defeated the peaking Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight title. And now this past Saturday night at UFC 70: Nations Collide, Gabriel Gonzaga defeated the MMA legend that is Mirko Cro Cop for the right to face Couture at a future UFC event, most likely in the summer.

I have yet to see the Shawn Michaels and John Cena match from last night's Monday Night RAW in London but I will somehow obtain a tape of it or even record it via Mun2.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 23:04:17 GMT

TNA LockDown will air Sunday, April 15, 2007 live from the Family Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. As of this writing about 4,000 tickets have been sold for the event, making it the largest U.S. live gate for TNA. The card is stacked from top to bottom and this is the second pay-per-view in its history to run outside of either Nashville or Orlando. Here is a preview of the matches for tomorrow night.

Lethal LockDown
Team Angle
(Capt. Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Rhino, Jeff Jarrett & Sting)
Vs.
Team Cage
(Capt. Christian Cage, Scott Steiner, Tomko, Abyss & A.J. Styles)

If you were a fan of the old WCW War Games gimmick match, then this is the closest match we have in the modern era. The only way to win is to have all 10 combatants in the ring at the same time and then you must score a pinfall or submission to win the match. The man that gets the win will be the number one contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at TNA Sacrifice next month. If Christian Cage (current champ) gets the fall, then he has the next month off from defending the title. So many scenarios can play out in this one. Here’s what I think the booking in TNA will do. Kurt Angle will get the win and get the title shot. He’ll go on to win the title at Sacrifice and thus set up title matches on either TV or PPV with the likes of Sting, Jarrett, Rhino and Tomko. The reason he won’t give one to Joe is because Joe will go through the aforementioned talent like nothing whereas Angle will struggle to beat them. So at Bound For Glory 2007 (yeah, until October) we’ll see the pay off match of Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. But hopefully this current feud between Joe and Angle will be better than the first go-round.

Predicted Winners: Team Angle

Electric Cage Match
NWA World Tag Team Championship
LAX (c) Vs. Team 3-D

My favorite tag team this decade is by the LAX. I just think they have the greatest team chemistry that I’ve seen in a long while. And having Konan as the mouthpiece adds to their creditability. Team 3-D will go down as the best tag team in history based on their popularity and success. And yes the NWA tag titles are the only championships that elude this hall of fame team. That’s why I see 3-D winning the belts this Sunday, thus cementing their legacy as the greatest tag team of all time.

Predicted Winners: Team 3-D

Xscape Match
X-Division Championship
Chris Sabin (c) Vs. Jay Lethal Vs. Sonjay Dutt Vs. Alex Shelley Vs. Shark Boy

This is just going to be a fun match to watch. All five of these guys can go if they are given the time to do so. And since this is a 3-hour pay per view, they’ll have a lot of time. I see Sabin retaining on account that none of the other guys are ready for the X-title. And that’s a not a knock on their talent by any means.

Predicted Winner: Chris Sabin

Blindfold match
“Wildcat” Chris Harris Vs. “Cowboy” James Storm

The former America’s Most Wanted partners will no collide in blindfold match. No I know that blindfold matches have not been the best so why have it? I think this feud needed more heat in it for it to get over. I have always thought Harris would be the more successful singles guy out of the two but he’s been nursing injuries and Storm has taken that singles role and done pretty okay. I see this feud continuing and I see Harris winning.

Predicted Winner: “Wildcat” Chris Harris

Jerry Lynn Vs. Christopher Daniels

Two of the best X-division wrestlers that have ever graced a ring will go at it. Is there anything better? These can go and even if they have a half-asses match, then that’d be better than what we usually see in today’s business.

Predicted Winner: Christopher Daniels

Disco Gets Raided

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:24:09 GMT

Disco fever is no more for Glen Gilbertti a.k.a. Disco Inferno.

Gilbertti was arrested Monday in Georgia in connection with a gambling ring. Gilbertti and 26 others were taken into custody for their involvement. The illegal gaming operation was being run out of the home of Dan and Angela Tyre. For more information on this arrest, click the link below.

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=19196

Glen Gilbertti started his pro wrestling career in World Championship Wrestling back in 1994 wrestling as the Disco Inferno. His music was generic disco music but his gimmick got surprisingly over with the crowd. His character was the type that the fans would hate on and he garnered enormous amount of heat. He would go onto to win the WCW World Television title and WCW tag team titles throughout his career.

After WCW was sold in 2001, Gilbertti fell off the wrestling radar. He came back to mainstream wrestling in 2003 with TNA wrestling. He became part of the group Sports Entertainment Xtreme (S.E.X., get it?) He then spawned a group called the New York Connection (N-Y-C, get it?).

Gilbertti was a pretty decent talent in the ring and great on the mic. Too bad he’s in a world of trouble now.

Matt Serra Shocks the MMA World

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 17:04:26 GMT

Before Saturday, no one in the world of mixed martial arts thought that Matt "The Terror" Serra had even a puncher's chance against then UFC Welterweight Champion Georges "Rush" St. Pierre. And after Saturday night, Serra proved the world, and myself for that matter, wrong.

This is the beauty of this sport. No one knows who will ultimately win a fight. Serra was going up against arguably the best fighter in the UFC in St. Pierre. To some extent that still holds true but after Saturday night, Serra is the man on top of the food chain.

A couple of days leading to the fight in Houston, everyone said that Serra had no chance at beating St. Pierre and would need either a lucky punch or just great strategic fighting. Well Serra got that lucky punch and took full advantage of it.

Matt "The Terror" Serra was on "The Ultimate Fighter 4" last season on Spike TV. TUF is a show about 16-18 potential MMA fighters vying for a contract with the UFC. The show is predicated around 16-18 unknown fighters with little to no experience in MMA competition. But season four had a different aspect to it. That season took 16 fighters who had actually competed on past UFC pay-per-view events but had gotten out of the game due to various issues. From the start of the season, Serra and Shonie Carter were the stars of the season. This was Serra's time to prove that he belonged. He defeated Chris Lytle in the finals of TUF 4 to get a shot at the welterweight champion, whomever it would be (St. Pierre and Matt Hughes had not fought for the title yet).

I was at Buffalo Wild Wings with my significant other when I saw Sportscenter on the big screens. I saw the UFC logo and was amazed that ESPN was actually giving results of the fight on its Sportscenter broadcast. I was in total shock to see Matt Serra win the title. I was happy for him also. His story of defeating arguably the best fighter in the UFC is one that people can look at and get inspired. He proved 99% of the world wrong and I honestly think no one gave him a chance except for himself and his family.

Serra is now in a tough division that includes Nick Diaz, Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Jens Pulver, Sean Sherk and of course Georges St. Pierre. This is the spot that Serra has always wanted to attain and now he's got it.

BREAKING NEWS: Matt Serra defeats Georges St. Pierre

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 07:05:24 GMT

Matt Serra defeated former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre earlier tonight at UFC 69: Shootout from Houston, Texas. This is by far one of the biggest upsets in the history of mixed martial arts. I will have more on this story tomorrow. (photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Story of Inspiration

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:24:21 GMT

Matt Cappotelli was the co-winner of WWE Tough Enough 3 title in 2003 (along with John Hennigan, now known as Johnny Nitro). Now he battles his toughest fight of them all: brain cancer.

Matt is the only Tough Enough winner to never appear on WWE television as a full fledged chracter. But his story is one that can inspire anyone in this business and no storyline or chracter development can ever attain that type of inspiration.

During its initial 2002 run on MTV, WWE Tough Enough was a show about several wannabe male and female wrestlers vying for a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. Matt was by far one of the better ones on the show and deservedly won the title. Matt's most famous moment on the show (and for that matter, the series) was when WWE veteran Hardcore Holly potatoed Cappotelli and made him bleed hardway. (Potatoed means giving legit punches and hit and bleed hardway means legitimately cutting open a man's head without help of pre-cutting).

Matt was very successful in Ohio Valley Wrestling, the minor league affiliate for the WWE. He was the OVW champion and from reading the reports on the show, Matt was the most over wrestler in the promotion. He was given the gimmick of a surfer type guy and he looked the part. But it was announced in 2005 during one of the OVW tapings that he had a brain tumor and had to stop wrestling. That night at the arena was described as being one of the most emotional nights in wrestling history. Here was a guy with all the potential in the world to be a success in this business and all that was taken away due to this tragic medical condition.

At the time of news, there were no plans for Cappotelli to be called up to the main roster. Its a shame too. He was a talented individual but his size pretty much prevented him from attaining any success in the WWE. That's not a knock on his talent and certainly not his heart. That's just the way the WWE runs.

So this past week at the OVW tapings Cappotelli announced that his tumor had enlarged 7-8 centimeters and is scheduled to have surgery May 1st. The wrestling world's thoughts and prayers are with Matt.

WrestleMania 23 Fallout & UFC 69: Shootout Preview

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 03:52:01 GMT

In a word, WrestleMania 23 was great. The crowd was the biggest ever at Ford Field with 80,103 fans attending. If you didn’t see the show, it is well worth checking out.

The matches that took me by surprise as far as quality of the match goes were MVP versus Chris Benoit and The Undertaker versus Batista.

MVP and Chris Benoit was a pleasant surprise because MVP has gotten so much flak all over the internet due to his wrestling ability or lack thereof. But MVP was given time (and it doesn’t hurt that he was in the ring with Benoit) to show off his stuff. Like I have said before, MVP’s character is really starting to grow on me and his performance Sunday was one that will truly make his career. Benoit was Benoit. He can’t have a bad match even if he wanted to.

The Undertaker and Batista lobbied heavily to be the last match of the card. But that request was denied over and over again. (Michaels and Cena went last and quite frankly that was the right decision). These two goliaths went out there and proved the agents, the higher ups and the fans that they can go balls to the wall and put on a great show. The match was great and the crowd and I at home ate it up. The powerslam from one announce table to the other was awesome.

So Vince McMahon is bald. That doesn’t and should n’t come as a surprise. This guy will do anything to put on a great show and say what you will about the man. He really sets a standard for his talent to up the ante.

Congratulations to Ken Kennedy (Mr. Kennedy) for winning the Money in the Bank ladder match. 20 bucks says that he’ll win the World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash in June.

The last few minutes of the Cena-Michaels WWE Championship match was awesome. In fact the whole match was great. Cena is a damn workhorse in the company right now and Shawn Michaels has a switch in his head when the spotlight is on him.

Its huge week for the UFC. I wish I had tickets to go see UFC 69: Shootout. It takes place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The main events are Josh Koscheck versus Diego Sanchez (no relation) and Georges St. Pierre takes on “The Ultimate Fighter” 4 winner Matt Serra for the UFC Welterweight Title.

Koscheck and Sanchez were documented on Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter” in seasons one and two respectively and are very good fighters. Sanchez is more of a mat wrestler and wants to ground and pound. Koscheck would like to keep this match standing up.

St. Pierre and Serra should be a great fight. Serra has something to prove but St. Pierre is in a league of his own right now. The guy is pretty much unstoppable and once he beat his bitter rival Matt Hughes for the title he’s carrying, his confidence shot up ten-fold. All in all, the event should be great.

Mando Sanchez presents...The WrestleMania 23 Preview

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 05:05:59 GMT

Mando Sanchez presents:
WrestleMania 23 Preview
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Ford Field-Detroit, Michiga

WWE Championship
John Cena (c)
V.
Shawn Michaels

Cena’s been groomed to be the man of the present and the future of the company. Shawn Michaels is just continuing his legacy. Knowing the way Michaels performs and the heart and effort Cena puts into every high profile match, this one seems to be the one that will be talked about for a long time.

Michaels has a history of putting on some awesome matches at ‘Mania. He wrestled Razor Ramon at ‘Mania X and both men revolutionized the ladder match. At ‘Mania XII, he wrestled Bret Hart to a 60-minute draw and went into overtime to win his first WWE Championship. He put over Stone Cold Steve Austin at ‘Mania XIV and thus was instrumental in making Stone Cold reach the top of the mountain. At ‘Mania XX, he was involved in the first ever triple threat match for the World title in what is considered one of the best main events in history. At ‘Mania 21, he and Kurt Angle has, in my opinion, the greatest WrestleMania match of alltime, slightly surpassing the Bret Hart-Stone Cold match at ‘Mania 13 and the Ricky Steamboat-Randy Savage match at ‘Mania III. So to say that Shawn Michaels and WrestleMania are synonymous with each other is an understatement.

John Cena is slowly building his ‘Mania legacy is by far the most over wrestler in the company today. In his short ‘Mania history, he’s faced the Big Show, John “Bradshaw” Layfield and Triple H. He’s won titles in two of those bouts and retained a title in the other. No when you think of Cena, you don’t think of pro wrestling skill. He just doesn’t have the skills of that of a Michaels or Chris Benoit but that’s okay. What he lacks in the wrestling department he makes up for in merchandising and charisma. He generates a unique kind of heat. Either you love him (women and children mostly) or hate him (any jealous male or pro wrestling purist). Personally I like Cena and for what he stands for. He isn’t the greatest wrestler of all time but I’ll be damned if anyone says he doesn’t work hard at what he does or enjoys himself in the ring.

With all that being said, I say Cena takes this one. But it all depends on the ego of Michaels. We have Michaels and Undertaker (whom I will discuss in a later blog) who have huge reputations on the line as far as history and WrestleMania go. I don’t see this feud ending yet though. I cannot see who the WWE can put with Cena in another program. Mr. Kennedy is not ready yet, Orton and Edge need to air their differences on TV first, and Umaga is old news as far as a chase goes. We’ll see how this match is booked come April 1.

Predicted Winner: John Cena

World Heavyweight Championship

Batista (c)
V.
The Undertaker

Its goliath versus goliath in this one. Batista’s dominant reign as champion over the past couple of years is going up against the undefeated record of the Undertaker at WrestleManias. Since Undertaker’s first WrestleMania in 1991 (WrestleMania VII versus WWE legend “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka), ‘Taker has gone 14-0 in WrestleManias, beating a laundry list of great superstars including Snuka, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Kane, Triple H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton.

Batista has a reputation of not being the most pleasant man to work with backstage. He’s had his run ins with some talent but most notably with Booker T. in 2005. So his position in the company (which is high since he is the champion on the SmackDown! brand) may very well tell the outcome of this match.

Undertaker’s record is one that will never be touched for several reasons. One is the fact that no one can stay in the company for as long as he has and achieve the same amount of success he has attained. Its just impossible. I don’t think the WWE started caring about the record until about WrestleMania X-7 (which was one of the best ‘Manias of all-time which got me to thinking that I should rank the top WrestleManias and matches in a future blog) when he defeated Triple H.

So how do I have this match? Undertaker has to win this match. I just don’t see any other way. Its going to be great to see these two goliaths tease their finishers on each other because I think the Detroit crowd (which has a great mix of mainstream fans, hardcore fans and smart marks) will be hot. Undertaker will win this match and thus win his fifth World championship.

Predicted Winner: The Undertaker

Battle of the Billionaires-Hair V. Hair

ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley (w/ Donald Trump)
V.
Intercontinental champion Umaga (w/ Vince McMahon & Armando Estrada)
Special Guest Referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin

It’s funny to see and hear all the entertainment media outlets covering this match. This is exactly what McMahon wanted. And this is what Donald Trump wanted. They both want this much of media attention to this event. It means a lot of money all around.

Several goals are to be met with this match. The WWE wants a MONSTER pay per view buyrate (which it will get). The company wants this match to be talked about for a very long time (it will). And Donald Trump hopes that this stint with the WWE will provide success to his NBC show “The Apprentice.” Not I don’t know how much of an affect this match and event have had on his show. But I just don’t see wrestling fans dying to watch is show.

And lets not forget the two wrestlers in this match. Bobby Lashley is in a great position in the company right now. His name and status in the company is just as important as Cena’s or Batista. Umaga is one of the best big men today. This should be one hell of a match and hey, someone is going to get their head shaved.
Predicted Winner: Bobby Lashley (Vince McMahon gets his head shaved).

Money in the Bank Ladder Match

C.M. Punk, Finlay, King Booker, Mr. Kennedy,
Randy Orton, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy & Edge

This match has been a staple of ‘Mania for three straight years now. The beauty of this match is that the past winners (Edge at WM 21 and Rob Van Dam at WM 22) have gone on to win world titles. This match literally allowed Van Dam and Edge to step into main event status (although the jury is still out on RVD for reasons that deal with misconduct and political BS). First off, this is going to be one hell of a match. There is so much talent in that ring and adding the ladder and concept of the match only makes it more special. Allow me to run down the list of talent and my reasons why they have a chance of winning or not winning this match. And its in no particular order.

C.M. Punk:The indy darling for the past two or three years before signing with the WWE. The chances of him winning the whole thing is pretty good because 1) he’ll battle for the ECW title, which is his brand and the forgotten child the WWE did not want, 2) he is slowly being groomed as the future of the company and 3) he’s pretty damn good in the ring. But no, he will not win this match.

Jeff Hardy:Based on the fact the only two winners of MITB have won world titles, Jeff is not world title material. I am not ragging on the guy by any means but he is not a main eventer. A hell of a worker but he will never be on top bill of the WWE. He did it in TNA but not in WWE. Sorry Jeff.

Matt Hardy:Will the brothers (real life at that) help each other in this one? For some reason, Matt’s been getting over heavily with the crowd but the WWE simply doesn’t want any of that. He’s a great worker and won over a lot of the hardcore fanbase with his true love life happenings being aired on WWE TV. Matt comes close but won’t win.

Finlay: He is one my favorite wrestlers in the company right now. But Finlay has never been one for titles and all that jazz. He just wants to kick ass and take names. Finlay was brought in for one reason and that was to bring out the best out of the young talent in the company. He made ECW Champion Bobby Lashley look like gold in their feud last summer and fall and made Lashley an even better wrestler. But Finlay will not win this one.

Mr. Kennedy:MIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSERRRRRR KEN-A-DEEEEEE...KEN-A-DEE!!! He’s defeated seven past world champions in the last year or so. That is nothing to sneeze about. This is one of the newer talents that the WWE is investing in for the future. He combines a great combination of wrestling ability and charisma and familiarity with the mic. This is my pick to win the match and win a world title within the year.

Edge: He is in there because 1) he’s a veteran of the ladder match, 2) he’s a damn good worker, 3) they wanted to hold off on the Orton-Edge match and 4) Orton’s in the match. This will set the foundation for an Orton-Edge match down the line.

Randy Orton:See Edge but replace the name “Orton” with “Edge.”

King Booker:Another one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. He was world champion for several months last year. King Booker will always be a contender for the title and it makes no sense for him to win this match.

Predicted winner: Mr. Kennedy

WWE United States Championship

Chris Benoit (c)
V.
MVP

You know Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) may not be the best wrestler on the face on the earth (that title may very well belong to his opponent) but his character is really growing on me. When he first burst onto the SmackDown! scene late last year, I wasn’t digging his gimmick. But he’s really starting to grow into his own man now. That being said, I’d like for them to stick these two in a long term program, which is looking like the direction they are going. Therefore I see MVP winning and Benout chasing the title and extracting revenge on MVP.

Predicted Winner: MVP

WWE Women’s Championship: Lumberjill Match

Melina (c) V. Ashley

Yeah, this is going to be one of those matches. I mean I love these girls, I really do. But Ashley cannot wrestle a lick but that’s not her primary job in the company. Melina is not the best at carrying a match but ALL the divas are in this one and if you’re man, you’ll enjoy this match very much.

Predicted Winner: Melina

ECW Originals V. New Breed
Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Sandman & Tommy Dreamer
V.
Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, Kevin Thorn & Matt Striker

The running joke around the pro wrestling world is the fact that the WWE was able to insert the likes of Sandman, Tommy Dreamer and Matt Striker onto the pay per view card. (Yet there’s no Flair or Carlito on the card, go figure). I will say the New Breed wins this one, in an otherwise unimportant match. It is cool to see Marcus Cor Von (former NFL linebacker Monty Brown) at ‘Mania.

Predicted Winners: New Breed

Kane V. The Great Khali

Two big men. One can’t wrestle worth a damn. The other is a great big guy but wrestles well with others. Prepare for something bad. Then again, it could turn out to be decent.

Predicted Winner: Kane

WrestleMania 23 Preview: Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 06:29:28 GMT

Randy Orton, Mr. Kennedy, Finlay, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, King Booker, C.M. Punk & Edge

Randy Orton:See Edge but replace the name “Orton” with “Edge.”

Predicted winner: Mr. Kennedy

Gators get "Whooooooo!!"-ed

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:21:03 GMT

“Nature Boy” Ric Flair knows a thing or two about winning championships. As a matter of fact, Flair knows about 16 things about winning a championship. Flair holds the record for most world title reigns in wrestling history. Flair is the best wres tler of the modern era if not of all-time. Flair has that rare quality of having great in-ring skills, in-ring psychology, and cutting some of the best promos the business has ever seen. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that he paid the Florida Gators’ basketball team a visit before their game against the Butler Bulldogs.

The Gators are trying to win back-to-back national titles, a rarity in college basketball. The last time it was done was in 1991-1992 when the Duke Blue Devils won back-to-back titles. In fact, that back-to-back title run has been the only once since the UCLA teams of the early 1970s.

You can write a book on Flair’s career as well as produce a DVD on his life. (And yes he does have both. His autobiography is awesome and the DVD showcases some Flair’s best matches in his career).

He is one of the best of all-time and he deserves a blog all to himself. Which is why I plan to work on that blog sometime soon. I hope to have it done this week. MARCH MADNESS BABY!!