Category: WWE

Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan “Confrontation”

If you haven’t seen Ric Flair’s first promo for Hulk Hogan’s Australian Hulkamania tour, go check it out. If you have seen it, prepare for part II. The Nature Boy and The Hulkster meet to try to drum up interest in the tour.

This promo made me a little sad. Although Flair can still put on a good match with a solid partner like Shawn Michaels or Kurt Angle, he can’t do much with an old, broken down, and extremely limited wrestler like Hogan. I found it amusing that Flair mentioned “the big boot”, but didn’t mention Hogan’s leg drop, which he can’t do anymore because of his hip problems. At least neither of them are as pathetic as “Nasty Boy” Brian Knobbs, who was never that good and is only on the tour because he kisses Hogan’s ass.

Ric Flair Cuts a Promo for the Hulkamania Tour

To promote the Australian Hulkamania Tour, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair cut a promo on YouTube. While Flair is still money on the microphone, I’m sad that he’s getting back in the ring. Don’t get me wrong, he was the best in-ring performer of all time and it’s up to him if he wants to make money getting in the squared circle…but his send-off from the WWE and his WWE WrestleMania 24 match against Shawn Michaels were perfect. Hopefully ‘Naitch does well in Australia, but I’d hate to see him tarnish his legacy.

Raymond’s Random Rants

– I received the Wrestlemania 24and Wrestlemania 25 Blu-ray discs. Between videogames and the World Series, I won’t have time to watch the entire cards, but I sure as hell am going to watch the Shawn Michaels matches from each event. HBK/Flair was a brilliant, emotional match that excelled in the storytelling department. HBK/Undertaker was one of the best matches I’ve seen in the last decade.

WrestleMania 24

– Speaking of HBK, what a remarkable career he’s had — especially the second half. I never bought into the “boyhood dream” and I only started really enjoying his matches just before his first hiatus. Since his comeback from back surgery, it’s crazy how good he has been. While he can’t do some of things he used to in his younger days, his storytelling and psychology are the best they’ve ever been. Plus, nobody sells moves as good as Shawn does these days.

– I’m still wondering why the hell R-Truth is on the cover of the WrestleMania 25 box. What’s up?

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Hulk Hogan Signs with TNA Wrestling

Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling has announced that it has signed Hulk Hogan (brother), marking the return of Hulkamania. Hogan will perform on its TNA Impact shows and pay-per-view events (brother). In today’s press release (brother), Hogan said:

I’m thrilled to be jumping back into the world of professional wrestling. My fans have been asking me to return to the business for many years on a full time basis, but the timing or the opportunity has never been right until now. TNA Wrestling is a great company with an already excellent fan base, business and broadcast partner. I firmly believe now is the time for some change at TNA as they are positioned to jump to the next level in their development and I’m here to work with Dixie to help make that a reality.

Hulk Hogan TNA signing

This is a huge move for TNA (brother). Even though Hogan isn’t 10 percent of what he used to be (and let’s face it, he was never that good in the ring), there’s no denying that fans still go nuts for The Hulkster (brother). Despite his extremely limited abilities due to various hip ailments (dude can’t even do his famous leg drop), Hogan will sell tickets and PPVs (brother).

It will be interesting to see how Hogan impacts the ratings of…er…Impact (brother). It will also be interesting to see how well he works with Vince Russo. The two had some pretty huge conflicts in WCW and Hogan has been known to hold grudges (brother).

Hit the break for a TNA teaser video and let me know what you think of Hogan working for the company (brother).

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Raymond’s Rant on WWE Monday Night Raw 10/16/09

Chris JerichoAfter a mixed PPV in Bragging Rights, WWE Monday Night Raw followed up with a show in Buffalo, NY hosted by two NASCAR studs — Kyle Busch and Joey Logano. These two were, by far, the least interesting guest hosts to me, but I completely understand that NASCAR has a huge following. Anyway, here are some random thoughts on tonight’s Raw.

– Chris Jericho is just amazing. Like Hammer, he’s magic on the mic. I loved how he smiled proudly, holding up the Bragging Rights trophy, and I love how he cleared out when the cards were stacked against Big Show. One of the most impressive things about Jericho’s current run is that he can lose and still remain strong. Tonight was another example of that. He lost, still maintained his spot on the totem poll, and was able to give Kofi Kingston the rub.

– Speaking of Kofi, it’s awesome that he finally dropped the goofy Jamaican accent. His promo on Orton was very good — way better than I thought he was capable of at this stage. It’s funny, I didn’t know that Kofi’s accent was a work until I was eating with him at Summer Slam ’09. He just started speaking in a neutral American accent and it totally froze me.

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Raymond’s Random Rants

Yankee Stadium new

– I’m finally done with my “pay the bills” projects! One was charismatic and one was awesome. *snicker* The good news is that I’ll be able to sleep for more than four hours a night and next week I’ll be able to focus more time on the site.

– I hope the rain doesn’t drown out the Yankee game tonight. I’m kind of bummed that it won’t be Yankees/Dodgers in the World Series. That would have been a nice story — Joe Torre and Don Mattingly taking on their old team.

– John Morrison’s Starship Pain is such an awesome move. I love watching him perform it. That and Evan Bourne’s shooting star press are currently my two favorite finishers in WWE.

– I’m thrilled that Nigel McGuiness is getting a big push in TNA, but his new name (Desmond Wolfe) is stupid. Another brilliant idea from Vince Russo. Oy.

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The Miz Dreams of Going After The Rock on WWE Raw

WWE The Miz

My buddy Jon Robinson at ESPN has a fantastic interview with WWE Superstar The Miz. Apparently one of The Miz’ dreams is to go one-on-one with The Great One, Dwayne Johnson (the wrestler formerly known as The Rock). The Miz said:

I think he’s too much of a girl now. He’s no longer The Rock, he’s Dwayne Johnson. ‘I’m Dwayne Johnson [in his best girlie voice].’ I think now that he’s Dwayne Johnson, I can take him. He’s skinny. He’s like a toothpick. He’s what, 150 pounds soaking wet?

Okay, The Miz was partially in character when he made those comments. Anyone that’s in the business has to respect what The Rock accomplished in the “Attitude Era”. I know some of you don’t like The Miz, but I find him thoroughly entertaining. While I wouldn’t be too excited about an in-ring confrontation, the mic exchanges between The Rock and The Miz would be outstanding. After all, he’s The Miz…and he’s awesome!

Source

Raymond’s Random Rants!

Derek Jeter– How awesome are the Yankees looking right now? I don’t want to jinx it, but the team’s confidence reminds me of the great Yankee teams of the late ’90s. I was still living in NY when they were snatching up World Series — kind of weird to think that I’ve been watching Jeter, Rivera, and Posada their entire MLB careers.

– I know a lot of you are down on WWE right now, but I really can’t say enough about SmackDown. Jericho is doing his best work ever (though he’s on both shows most weeks) and it’s great seeing future stars like John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler develop. The Harty Dynasty should develop into something good, especially Tyson Kidd. I dig Cryme Tyme, but have to admit I’m biased because Shad Gaspard is geek chick (dude loves his comics!).

– Btw, I was toying with the idea of live blogging RAW on Monday. Anyone interested?

– This Google Wave video of Pulp Fiction just cracks me up. I’ve watched it like ten times in the last day. I haven’t gotten my Wave invite yet, but a few of my friends have…which makes me extremely jealous.

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