The WEI is a weekly look at the events that have made an impact, both positive and negative, on the world of oiled up, hairless men that pretend to hit each other that we all so love to watch. The range goes from 0-100 with 0 being a world in which every PPV is like Heroes of Wrestling while a perfect score of 100 would be wrestling nirvana.
Rob Van Dam returns to ECW, blows spot. Everything back to normal. During the main event match between Kurt Angle and Sabu last Tuesday, wrestling's resident hashish expert, Rob Van Dam, came back from his 30 day suspension for failing an IQ test. To be more specific, he was caught speeding in a well known speed trap and then bagged for having marijuana in the car. RVD also gets bonus moron points for driving the car without a shirt. Anyway, RVD came down during the main event and tried his trademark move, the Van Daminator, on Kurt Angle, but missed horribly. Despite blowing the spot, I think everyone is happy that ECW's biggest star is finally back in action. WEI Rating: +1
Sean Carless with new edition of Back-Leg Front
Kick: Be sure to check out Sean Carless's latest in unbridled insanity with The Back-Leg Front Kick! Featuring the
world's most absurd look at WWE and more! Including: WWE inspired TV shows for the upcoming
fall season such as Punjabi Prison Break! In depth look at the super secret script for John Cena's "The Marine"! Things WWE programming has taught us! And the ballad of Kevin The Vampire! All this and more~! Check out Sean's (fully illustrated) column right Here! WEI
Rating: + 2
***Check out this YouTube video of an IWA-Mid South match between Rey Mysterio, Eddie Gurerro, and C.M. Punk! Not exactly sure when this took place, but it must have been in the 2002 time frame when Rey Rey wasn't in WWE yet and Eddie was working his way back up the ladder in order to prove himself.
TNA ratings building catches fire: The Orlando Sentinel covered the odd story this weekend of the Impact Zone
catching fire during TNA's PPV. Part of the story reads: The fire started about 8:15 p.m. when a burlap sandbag, used as ballast, was ignited by a hot light, Orlando Fire Department Assistant Chief Skip Kerkhof said. I really think TNA should have ran with this during the show and had people speculating that LAX were behind the fire. Instead we got a bunch of time killing. In fact, even though I believe there was only about 20 minutes of air TNA had to fill, Tenay and West made it seem like 20 hours. I don't blame TNA for what happened and not being prepared. A freak occurrence that hopefully never happens again. If it does, let's hope FIREBREAKER CHIP is in the house! WEI Rating: +2
Luke Perry best thing on SmackDown: What happened to this show? I mean, I know it has sucked for a while, but man, I don't see how ANYONE could actually enjoy watching this shit. Luke Perry, whose 15 minutes of fame died out over a decade ago, was the only good thing that I saw last Friday during an absolutely atrocious 'Rat Search segment. Meanwhile, and this almost made me want to puke, Vickie FUCKING Guerrero was brought back to WWE television so that we can watch angles based on the death of her husband for conceivably forever. Don't worry, things are looking up as the Undertaker vs. Great Khali match, which even WWE is convinced beyond all reasonable doubt is going to SUCK ASS, will not be on PPV and instead will air next week on free TV. I'd be pretty pissed right now if I were a fan of one of the many WB/UPN shows that were dropped when the CW formed and this crapola airs every single week. I think it's official. WWE WELLNESS KILLED SMACKDOWN. I would say it will be missed, but it's not. WEI Rating: -4
***Yee ha~! There's a new edition of Gimmick Table over at WrestleCrap. This edition spotlights new TNA merchandise, such as the new Jarrett 24:7 t-shirt. The idea spawned in the mind of Sean Carless after TNA started selling the DeGeneration X rip off shirt for their X-Division. After digging a little
deeper, Sean and I discovered several other pieces of merchandise that TNA plans
to market that also look like products that we have seen before...
Don't forget to check out the archive of Gimmick Tables over at TheWrestlingFan.
WWE not sending Rey Mysterio to house shows in Mexico: This week WWE announced they were scaling back their upcoming shows in Mexico by going from the 50,000 seat Plaza de Toros to the 20,000-seat Palacio De Los Deportes on September 20th and are moving from the 18,000-seat Arena Monterrey to the 14,000-seat Plaza de Toro Monumental on September 23rd. For some reason that I'm sure no logical human being could ever explain, Rey Mysterio will not be at these shows None of this can be taken as a good sign. WEI Rating: - 1
***I'm not even sure where I found this now, but I think this is the spec for an upcoming action figure for the Notorious 187, Homicide. Longtime WEI readers know of the Curtain Jerker comic strips which combine wrestling toys and goofy situations. If this figure is legit, and it looks like it is, it just may be the first wrestling figure I ever order online to make sure I get a hold of it. I saw that little GHETTO FORK and totally marked out. The detail in this small picture does not do justice to the gigantic stuff I have on this figure. If you want to see the original picture, send me an email and I'll hook ya up.
***Amish Roadkill has a new look. CLICK HERE if you dare. Seriously though, it is NOT a pretty picture.
ROH Titles unified: This week in Jolly Ol' England, Ring of Honor unified the company's two singles titles, the World Title and the Pure Title, when Bryan Danielson beat Nigel McGuinness. The Pure Title, which was a great idea in theory, never really took off in ROH. The guys who have held the belt reads like a who's who list of talent (AJ Styles, Doug Williams, Jay Lethal, Samoa Joe) but the Pure title as something meaningful just didn't catch on. All that said, I'm looking forward to seeing this unification match on DVD as Danielson and McGuiness are in one hell of a Zone lately. WEI Rating: + 1
Cena gives Big Vis the F-U:
Last week's Raw had one hell of a visual. John Cena, star of the soon to be unwatchable movie The Marine, picked up Viscera and gave the fat bastard an F-U. I've seen Cena give some pretty big dudes the same move, but Big Vis is a little different. Vis is 500 pounds of pure fat. What Cena used to grab a hold of is anyone's guess. After finishing the move, Cena seemed about as excited as someone winning the WWE title at WrestleMania. Seriously, Cena was almost on the verge of tears. I don't blame him. Halfway through the move Cena probably saw his life flash before his eyes. WEI Rating: + 1
WWE not happy with release of study: Last week on WWE.com was the following: In response to the 1999 study involving the relationship of watching wrestling on television and engaging in date fighting, Vince McMahon issued the following statement:
“We regret that this seven year old junk science was re-issued. It was junk science then, and is junk science now. It took them seven years to get someone to actually read it and it hasn't even been subjected to a peer review. There is nothing new in the study, and we think it is recycled garbage put forward by some obscure professor who finally got someone to read his paper and is trying to get his name in the media."
There is also a link to the 1999 study as well as an article from 2001 Media Life that quotes the head of Syracuse University’s Center for the Study of Popular Television and supposedly "debunks it." With all the God damn problems that company has, it amazes me what they spend their time and energy on. Granted it was rereleased this past week, but didn't anyone give a damn until WWE started sending out press releases denouncing it? WEI Rating +3
***Attention all bodybuilding fans. Check out this new DVD No Pain, No Gain. Here's the hype: The award-winning film seen in movie theaters across the USA and praised by newspapers, magazines, television and radio is now available on DVD. Starring bodybuilders Gus Malliarodakis and Dennis Newman, "No Pain, No Gain" also features Emeric Delczeg, Jill Mills and Michael Turcotte with special cameos by Julie Strain, Lana Battagello, Lauren Powers, Toni Ferrari and Harry "Ain't It Cool" Knowles.
Sounds interesting. I'm a big fan of the classic bodybuilding film Pumping Iron. I'd like to check out a couple DVDs from certain bodybuilders that I've seen advertised over the years, but they all seem to be about $40 for like a two hour DVD. I'd much sooner commit the cash to something like this disc instead. Check out No Pain's website for more info, including stuff on their COMIC BOOK~! If we can get a copy of that comic, you better believe we'll review it. Will it join the elite, such as Ultimate Warrior's book, or, dare we say it, Kevin Nash's comic? Time will tell true believers!
Your Internet Audio update for this week:
Figure 4 Daily -Another
great week in F4W land as, besides that awesome Bryan & Vinny shows, Bryan had
several guests on Figure 4 Daily such as Larry Sweeny (guy who played Nasty Nick
Hogan on the unfunny Orton Knows Best skit), Buddy Wayne, Dr. Tom Pritchard and
David Bixenspan. Bix actually makes the topic of converting old wrestling reels
to DVD something that didn't bore me to tears. BRAVO!
James Guttman's Radio Free Insanity - with special guest, Nikolai Volkoff!
Between the Ropes - Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito returned to the airwaves for two packed hours of Between The Ropes. The news from all over the sport entertainment industry was overflowing and the guys covered all of the happenings. Plus, Jim Cornette joined the guys live to talk about everything in wrestling as well as his work in TNA and Ring of Honor. Jim will be appearing this weekend at the Capitol Wrestling Legends FanFest in Rockville, MD. All of this plus your phone calls and much more.
Wrestling Mayhem - This week the boys deal with Sorgstock fallout, Flair vs. books, their fans
overseas and the re-writing of the next few years in wrestling. Check it out loyal WEIers!
Last week's Wrestling Enjoyment Index: 45
This week's net change: + 4
Current enjoyment level: 49
Don't forget to check out Derek's Weekly Enjoyment Index, Gimmick Table columns, Opinion Pieces, MySpace page~! and goofy stuff on The Wrestling Fan.
Special thanks to the Dr.Keith Show's Keith Lipinski, SmackDown main man Mike Roe, and The Wrestling Fan's Sean Carless, and the one and only This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for their help in making this week's WEI a reality.
Billionaire philanthropist Derek Burgan, who fights crime when not writing DVD reviews, has been watching wrestling since he was ten years old. If you have any questions, corrections, feedback, or goofy ideas, Derek Burgan can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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