Hee hee

A lot of the TNA wrestlers have MySpace accounts, and many are nice enough to allow folks to be added to their friends list just because they are fans.

So now, on my MySpace account, Samoa Joe is listed as a friend.

Life is good. :)

Some wrestling comments...

First and foremost, even though I didn't see it, it was cool that Rey Mysterio got to win the Royal Rumble last night. Nice job, guys. I'll bet anyone a million bucks that they won't actually let him main event WrestleMania, though, which is a shame, because I guarantee Rey/Angle would draw better than what apparently actually is on the docket, Angle/Randy Orton. Man, we just won't give it UP, will we?

And by the way, putting the title on Edge, bad, putting it on Edge and then hotshotting it right back onto Cena, worse. If you're gonna try something like this, you have to at least be committed to it enough to give it a month at least. Edge basically got any credibility he will ever have in the main event shot to hell thanks to this - I'm not crying in my root beer over that, mind you, but why bother doing it in the first place, then?

And by the way, a first in wrestling has happened...one of my silly ideas got stolen. Last year, when Chris wanted to make "The Miz" for the Jack Sparrow Memorial, I named one of his finishers the "Mizard of Ahhs," since it was a twister slam and it seemed like a suitably silly wrestling finisher name.

Well, "The Miz" just debuted for OVW, which is WWE's regional training ground. And what does he call his finisher? "The Mizard of Oz."

Let us review: not only did I predate this by a good six months or so, but my version also added an additional (and more clever) pun onto the last word. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or applying for a job.

There Is No God and other stuff you should check out

Yeah, I've been absent about a week, but it's been an eventful week, chock full of stuff that I really can't talk to you about yet. Long stories. Maybe next week. But for now, here are a few things online that I've been biding my time with:

Here is a wicked cool spoken essay by Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller) for NPR entitled "There Is No God," which elaborates on Penn's atheism and provides an awesome response to those (like, sadly, my mother) who claim that people who don't believe in God cannot live a moral life. Far from it, in my own opinion.

By the way, for the initiated, P&T's news site confirms that season 4 of B.S. is on the way! April 3rd! Dance the dance of joy!

The cool website TVShowsonDVD.com, where I get 90% of my entertainment info nowadays it seems, has now launched a blog of its creators' thoughts and musings. Some cool stuff, though claiming that "All Dogs Go to Heaven"'s video success was somehow a precursor to "Family Guy"'s resurrection is more than stretching it a little. And the design scheme reminds me of something...

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out my pal Abby's awesome coverage of Miss America 2006 on her blog Being Miss Maumee Valley. (Is it just me or does the new Miss look a lot like Abby? Sigh...)

"Family Guy" has once again been named Worst TV Show of the Week by the PTC. Can we possibly take seriously the opinion of a group which can't even be bothered to note that the name of the show is not "THE Family Guy"?

Heather sent a link to this article from MSNBC, a transcript apparently of a Dateline NBC episode about a truly bizarre murder linked to a low budget horror flick. It's not the weirdest case I've ever heard of, but it's close.

And for all those who are wrestling fans or who know of my devotion to all things Mick Foley, I happily note that the Micker now has a weekly blog on WWE.com, entitled, appropriately, "Foley is Blog." This week's installment is about Mick's friendship with current "Dancing with the Stars" darling Stacy Keibler, and geez, the more I read from Mick the more I identify with my hero. Don't worry, Mick - this "safety valve" has had moments where my "faithful companion" betrayed me, too. Doesn't mean you're not a hell of a guy. Just means you're human.

Actual headline from Yahoo

Scientists discover most fertile Irish male

And sure, it took them forever to get to me, but by gum, once they were there, they knew they'd hit the jackpot...

;)

Ka-chink, Ka-chink, Ka-chink, Ka-chink...

Some quick reactions from an evening of TV watching...

-24 is back in a big way. Whoa. I won't say anything about exactly what happened for fear of spoiling things for those who were forced to tape, but man alive. Two major deaths and one serious wounding before the first commercial break, a few new characters that are already looking promising, and above all, Jack's back to old form in a big way. This season already seems to be capturing a feel the show hasn't had since season 1...a feeling of immediacy and of the events being truly personal. First season for Jack, it was about him being torn between his duty to his country and to his family. The interim seasons, with their end-of-the-world scenarios, saw the downgrading of Jack's personal investment and the rise of bad-@$$ Jack, which was tremendous, but still lost a little of the core of the character established way back when. This time around, with the events set in motion tonight, it feels like the emotional center has been tapped once more, and Sutherland as always rises to the challenge. ("Take the gun" was a classic Jack Bauer moment.) Combine that with the fact that it's still the best-produced show on television, the core cast (the ones that weren't offed in the first 10 minutes, anyway) is as strong as TV has ever seen, and that a lot of the things that I and many other found problematic with the 4th season (the overtly stereotypical enemies, the overtly politicized story) have been seemingly done away with, and you're left with what may be the best day yet. Can't wait for tomorrow night!

-Then it was the replay of TNA's Final Resolution PPV, which turned out to be merely okay. The opening match, an X-Division 6-Man, was as usual very good, but from there a lot of the matches seemed to be on cruise control. AJ/Tanahashi, which sounded great on paper, was only maybe good, as they never seemed to be on the same page. (The fact that they had never wrestled before and didn't speak each other's language may have had something to do with it.) Raven's angle didn't pay off, it's gonna get drawn out even further now that he has "lost his job" in a screwjob manner. Swell. Abyss/Rhino was a little off, too. AMW retain the tag titles in one of the most blatantly bad Dusty Finishes ever, coming from a company that has prided themselves thus far on NOT resorting to that kind of thing. Things picked up, however, with the last two matches, as Joe/Daniels was very good (but again, not the great match it coulda been) with a very emotionally charged ending that, hopefully, will set up AJ/Daniels/Joe 2 next month. And the main event, with the return of Sting to wrestling, was a classic old-school tag team bout with tons of crowd heat (the crowd had been waiting for him all night, seemingly). Stinger looked good, too, a bit winded by the end, but cut him some slack, he hasn't wrestled regularly in, like, 5 years. All in all, though, a step back for the company which has put on awesome show after awesome show since September.

BTW, I'm off the next two days! Anyone wanna see movies or anything? Maybe make fighters for the BGSU Rumble, hint hint? :)

No one told me! Now I gotta send one of them cards that says...

HAPPY BELATED TROGDAY!

Blackwell is Back, Well...

So Mr. Blackwell has once again hit us with his list of best and worst dressed for the year.

The larger question lingering is...why does anyone care?!?!

Really, does this guy do ANYTHING but write this damn list every year? He shows up, gets his .15 seconds of fame by announcing his list and showing up on Oprah or somewhere, and then disappears once again into the quagmire of pseudo-celebs like Jimmy the Greek and Paris Hilton. (And Jimmy's dead, so I can't even rag on him anymore without looking tacky.)

I mean, geez, I never even see the guy doing cameos on Project Runway or anything. So, I'm asking honestly. Does he have any existence outside of this annual "rag-on-people-far-more-famous-than-me" masturbatory exercise?

Another questionaire from MySpace

01. Do you have a friend whose last name is Smith? Yeppers, Adam Smith. The former Plastic Shatners member, not the author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

02. Are your top 8 for Myspace in the order you like the people? Nope. I haven’t even touched that list yet. I think the idea of “ranking” your friends is utterly degrading and I refuse to participate in it.

03. What picture is on the calendar closest to you? Brett Farve throwing a pass. My brother has tons of Packer calendars.

04. Is your Math teacher Hispanic? I am no longer in school, but no, they weren‘t. Is this question some kind of sideways dig at Stand and Deliver?

05. What color is the background of your AIM profile? White. I’m a plain guy.

06. If you had to paint 3 friends any 3 colors, what friends and colors would they be? Say what? Uh, I abstain on the grounds of this question is really too strange to answer…

07. Go on the Internet and on the history from 2 days ago. What is the 4th website? Actually, I just deleted my history a few hours ago. But the fourth site down on today’s history is…yahoo.

08. When was the last time that you picked a flower? Been a long, long time on that one. But I have picked out flowers for the past few years on Valentine’s Day for my now-defunct tradition.

09. Would you ever consider pretending to be blind so people would help you? No. And whoever wrote this list must have seen the Boondocks last night.

10. Have you ever sung the llama song from albinoblacksheep.com? Okay, new rule: people writing these lists cannot get more obscure in their references than Dennis Miller on a bender, okay?

11. Who is your prettiest neighbor? I don’t really have any I know, living in the country and all.

12. How many planets would you like to visit? I’m still working on getting a grip on this one, thank you.

13. What do you like on your hamburgers? Ketchup and mustard, maybe cheese and bacon if I’m feeling particularly naughty.

14. What is one animal you think the world would be a better place without? Well, seeing as how the food chain works as it is and taking an animal out of that might destroy the fabric of the organization which keeps everything alive, I’d have to say none of them, thank you.

15. Does the number 47 have any significant value to you? Not that I can think of…

16. What street does your best friend live on? Whiteacre.

17. About how many pairs of scissors are in your house? Maybe three at any given time. More if you count the ones that are lost.

18. Do you prefer apple juice or orange juice? Apple juice.

19. What was the last state you visited? Illinois.

20. What does your Dad do? He’s an electrician at Brush Wellman in Elmore.

21. What was the last thing that scared you? Checking my bank account to make sure it hadn’t overdrawn. I’m paranoid about that.

22. Does your brother like techno music? Nope.

23. What is the first French word that comes to your mind? Merci.

24. When was the last time you watched The Simpsons? A brief time on Friday - Matt picked up season 7 on DVD. I haven’t really watched an episode on TV in a while.

25. What is one thing you believe in that many other people dont? The quality of the Matrix sequels.

26.What was the last kind of fish you ate? Long John Silver’s. YOU tell me what kind of fish they serve there and we’ll both know.

27. Would you ever consider becoming vegan? I have internal moral debates, to be sure, but on the whole, methinks the carnivore in me is here to stay.

28. Do happy blobs entertain you? What the hell? Can someone please explain this one to me?

29. How many of your friends act blond? Depends upon the definition. If you mean a derogatory remark designed to reinforce the stereotype tht all blondes have dumb moments, I think we all can be pretty dumb at times, myself certainly included. If you mean how many “act blond” through use of hair color…maybe three.

30. Why do you or dont you like Mrs. PacMan? She’s Pac-Man with a bow in her hair, what’s not to like?

Roger "Crash"es into a debate...

Here is an excellent editorial by Roger about a controversy I didn't even know exist - those arguing that "Crash" is actually the worst movie of the year because...well, read. Then come back.

A few comments:

My limited experience with Scott Foundas knows that he also didn't like "King Kong" or "Harry Potter" or "Jarhead" but gave good reviews to "Transporter 2" and "Just Friends." He's also stuck-up as all hell, and just loves using words like "enervating" when a word like "exhausting" would do just fine.

Dave White's columns on MSNBC are more substantial and entertaining, but his comments on "Crash" (taking the movie to task for discussing racism, which is an issue that, he says, "everyone but Neo-Nazis agrees on already") indicate at least some level of blindness to the issue of race in this country that is a little bit disturbing - more than the movie he purports to debunk with his commentary.

And I've always thought that Jim Emerson was a moron.

Long storyline pays off in a surprising way, good. Edge as world champ, bad.

One more wrestling-related story to comment on then it'll be back to the usual, I swear:

http://www.wwe.com/shows/newyearsrevolution/

So let that be a lesson to all you aspiring young wrestlers out there...you too can be a world champ if you cheat on your wife with your best friend's girlfriend and get him fired in the process, and frequently get injured on top of it.

Oh, and he and Lita are gonna have "live sex" in the ring tonight on Raw.

Swell.

The horror...the horror...

The end is near, the apocalypse is nigh, the world as we know it will soon end.

REPENT!

My Top 12 (because 13 would be too many, and 11 too few)

I really, really hate “best of year” lists. To me, it takes away one of the truly wondrous things about moviegoing, which is the subjectivity of it - every film is a different experience, and every film is a different experience for everyone who sees it. To try and compare, say, a multi-textured and emotionally draining drama like “Crash” to an incredible roller coaster like “King Kong” is simply ridiculous. And yet, we live in a society of lists, ranking everything in the most arbitrary of ways. So, here, as a counterpoint, I present my list - not a top ten, not a “best of,” but simply a list of experiences I had in 2005 that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

Please note, there are a ton of titles that have not yet graced these eyes yet (viewing Ebert’s Best of 2005, I am dismayed to note I have seen but 2 of his top ten). But for now, here are my list of 12, in alphabetical order. If you haven’t seen any of these yet, I really hope you will.

“Batman Begins” - The best Batman movie ever made (in live-action, at least, if not best period), and the one which comes closest to mining the complex psychological depths of the character. Christopher Nolan may have cut his teeth in Hollywood by making films which played with continuity and character, but here he crafts a lovingly realized Gotham which is like an amalgamation of reality and fantasy, giving his hero the freedom to do fantastic things, but still allows the audience to remain emotionally invested. A great ride.

“Crash” - Paul Haggis has established himself in the space of two films (the other being a little thing called “Million Dollar Baby”) as a creative force in Hollywood. Here he makes a powerful statement about race and racism, finding no easy answers, but simply and directly suggesting to his audience that maybe we should try to understand each other a little more.

“Everything is Illuminated” - Sometimes, when we go looking for our past, we aren’t prepared for the things we see in ourselves. Liev Schreiber’s film begins with charming human comedy and ends hauntingly, with a journey through the Ukraine and three unforgettable characters. Particularly excellent work from Elijah Wood and Eugene Hutz helps bolster this little-seen but much-cherished film.

“Good Night, and Good Luck” - Timely and timeless, George Clooney’s black-and-white news drama remembers a time when commies were hiding everywhere and how that paranoia helped bolster a paranoid senator’s wild and unsubstantiated charges. The parallels to today’s world, and the task facing today’s news media, are scarier the more you reflect on them - even more so when McCarthy defenders came crawling out of the woodwork to try and discredit the film. An absolute must-see.

“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” - As time passes, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the Harry Potter movies will become one of the most important and enduring fantasy series of all time. Each film thus far has superbly captured both the story and the feel of Rowling’s world, without sacrificing the elements needed to make a good film. This chapter is the best yet, as Harry took further steps into adulthood, faced the horror of Voldemort, asked out his first girl, and - most shockingly - turned PG-13.

“King Kong” - One of the great adventure films ever made, period. I was not among the die-hard fans of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, mainly because I felt the films lacked a human center I could care about. Well, that factor was present here, in spades. One of the most emotionally involving films I have ever seen, featuring the most incredible effects-created character ever, this is a film with tremendous beauty at its core. It is also (pardon me while I get out the list) a rip-roaring, full throated action film, an epic in every sense of the word, a remarkable creation of imagination, incredibly faithful and reverent of the original material while actually enhancing the story it tells, and simply terrific entertainment.

“Lord of War” - From the creator of “The Truman Show” and “Gattaca” came an examination of the soul of a man who is responsible for more deaths than he could possibly ever calculate - an arms dealer. Nicolas Cage, one of my favorite actors, plays gun runner Yuri Orlov as an ever-revolving series of both contradictions and self-assurance. He may never have confidence in who he is, but he always has confidence in what he does, until it hits closest to home - and even then, he can talk himself back into work. If I said this was my favorite film of the year, I wouldn’t be lying.

“March of the Penguins” - The poster sold this film as a story of the triumph of love, but I see it more as an examination of the tenacity of all living things to remain living - and this remarkable film, a tale of emperor penguins’ amazing breeding ritual, underlines that point. A film so unusual, entertaining and involving that even though it’s a nature documentary that was released in the summer against all the blockbusters, found a huge audience. But don’t let the fact that families went to see it in droves scare you - the film is an amazing experience for grown-ups, too.

“Murderball” - If any film deserved a far bigger audience this year, this was it. My going theory is that people took one look at the title, somehow thought it was a bad action flick like “Rollerball,” and gave it nary a thought. Too bad, as this was one of the most inspirational films in years, an incredible documentary about the high-speed, full-contact game of wheelchair rugby. Beyond being a fascinating film about a little-known sport, it’s also the thoroughly engrossing story of many memorable people, as well as an examination of the realities of living with a disability.

“Sin City” - The year’s most stunningly imaginative film on a visual level, Robert Rodriguez’s masterpiece of hard-boiled style brought Frank Miller’s incredible comic to life through a combination of live actors and frankly artificial settings to create a thoroughly realized world that was like film noir on steroids. If other comic films have tried to capture the feel of the page, Rodriguez captured the soul.

“Walk the Line” - Or, “why I can’t hate Reese Witherspoon anymore.” Two of the year’s most engrossing performances were turned in by Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Witherspoon as June Carter, in this thoroughly entertaining biopic based on Cash’s life. Like the previous year’s “Ray,” this film is an examination of the toll fame can take on someone who’s really not prepared for it, and how it is often when we are at our lowest that we truly learn who is on our side.

“Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” - The year’s best family film, and one of the most entertaining animated films in years, Aardman’s trademark heroes Wallace and Gromit finally graduate to feature-length in a film that practically bursts with the delight of its making. With the exception of Pixar, Aardman is easily the best animation studio going today in terms of not only consistent quality of its work, but also the consistent level of imagination in its creations. Like its predecessor “Chicken Run,” “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is funny, exciting and a pure joy to experience.

PWInsider.com Year-End Awards!

And now, we begin our wrapping-up-the-year thing with my votes in the PWInsider.com poll for their year-end awards…my movie column will be arriving soon.

WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: A.J. Styles

Little contest on this one. No wrestler was more consistently involved with better matches, no wrestler consistently got more out of his opponents regardless of their skill level, no wrestler has inspired more of my friends to give wrestling a second look than A.J. Styles. From the Ultimate X, to the two Ironman matches, to the Unbreakable 3-way, to the classic match vs. Joe to close the year, A.J. has been THE reason to watch wrestling all year long. If Samoa Joe had been introduced earlier in the year, he may be in this slot, but for this category I look for who did the most year-round…and for this one, A.J. is, no doubt, the man.

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR: America’s Most Wanted

MNM were great over on SmackDown, but consistently undercut by nonsensical title switches, and didn’t really have a break-out, blow-the-doors-off match to put them over the top. AMW came into the year off of one of the best matches in TNA history - the cage match vs. Triple X - and continued to bring the goodness year-round. They were the champs most of the year, feuded with the Naturals, turned heel effectively, and sprouted funny personalities, too. They’re the team to watch in ‘06.

MATCH OF THE YEAR: A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels - Unbreakable, 9/11/05

Lots of good stuff this year: Michaels/Angle from WrestleMania will probably win the vote, since it was WrestleMania and more people saw it. A.J./Joe from Turning Point had a better story and more drama. But this three-way from September has done more to get more people re-invigorated about wrestling than any other match I’ve shown in years. And I’ve watched it time and time again, and I gotta say, it’s as close to perfect as I’ve ever seen a match since the Flair/Steamboat classics. I mean, no blown spots or flubs, just flat-out awesomeness from bell to bell. And the brilliance of the booking protected all three men and has set up the continuing awesomeness we’ve gotten all fall. The other two are excellent choices, but in my mind, no match from this year will stick in my memory longer than this one.

ANNOUNCER OF THE YEAR: Mike Tenay

Joey Styles is one of the best announcers ever, but he’s still growing into his new role on Raw. Jim Ross, ditto, but he’d kinda gone downhill as of late before he got canned. But Tenay has blossomed into one of the best announcers around, striking just the right balance of expertise, analysis, enthusiasm and emotion. He never takes a match off.

COLOR COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR: Tazz

Little contest on this one. Lawler annoys the cr@p out of me. Coachman is worse. Don West has improved by leaps and bounds, but he’s still not great. That leaves Tazz, who’s consistently the most enjoyable and insightful color man in the business. And more or less the best reason to keep watching SmackDown.

HOTTIE OF THE YEAR: Trish Stratus

First and foremost, I didn’t name this category, I promise. :) That said, Melina is a great manager and a great personality over on SmackDown, but really hasn’t shown all her cards…yet. Meanwhile, Trish was champ the whole year, consistently one of the most entertaining personalities on Raw, whether she was playing face or heel, and has carried basically the entire women’s division, even though she was on the shelf for months with a back injury. No contest.

FEUD OF THE YEAR: A.J. Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe

Angle/Michaels delivered some great matches, but was fairly short and self-contained. Eddie/Rey delivered awesome matches, but the storyline itself was groaningly horrible. Edge/Matt Hardy was the most talked about, but was botched from start to finish by creative. But this three-way war over the X-Division title had lead to no end of incredible matches all fall, helped establish Samoa Joe as wrestling’s brightest new star, and sets up more incredible things for ‘06.

FLYER OF THE YEAR: Rey Mysterio

See, I don’t really consider A.J. a “flyer” per se…he’s just awesome all-around in the ring. Christopher Daniels is more of a tactician with the ability to fly. But Rey Mysterio has been consistently setting the bar against which high-flying wrestling is judged, and this year, with awesome matches against Eddie and others, he’s proven his value to WWE as, probably, their 3rd biggest baby face.

BRAWLER OF THE YEAR: Abyss

While Samoa Joe will probably win the vote, he’s too good at every aspect of his game to be considered just a “brawler”. But Abyss, who started the year as little more than a blend of Mankind and Kane, ends it having established his own niche and identity, as well as putting on the most entertaining brawls against such varying opponents as A.J., Jeff Hardy and Sabu. You’ll see this big man’s name again before I’m done.

TECHNICIAN OF THE YEAR: Samoa Joe

While Kurt Angle (current leader) is indeed one of the best ever, Joe gets my vote here for his efforts to re-define what technical wrestling and psychology is. Not just “pick one body part and hit it,” but using moves in combination, taking advantage of every opportunity to apply another variation of a hold. Watching Joe work is like a revelation of what wrestling moves can really be, and no one will have more of an impact on the future of the business than him. Mark my words.

SHOW OF THE YEAR: TNA Unbreakable (9/11/05)

WrestleMania is WrestleMania, and draws more buys than any other simply because of its history, but it was overall kinda mediocre and had Triple H in the main event. ECW One Night Stand was an incredible event that offered fans a chance to relive a wonderful time of history, but was on and off in terms of actual match quality and had the terrible addition of the Raw/Smack Down “Invasion” storyline. But Unbreakable was THE best wrestling show this year, top to bottom. No match was a clunker, everyone worked their butts off, and the whole shebang was capped with the match of the year. And no Jeff Jarrett.

BEST INTERVIEWS OF THE YEAR: Christian Cage

Captain Charisma established himself as a major player with his mike skills in ‘05, and somehow no one in WWE noticed. Their loss, as he headed to TNA and has continued to be the most continuously entertaining talker in the game. Expect big things from this one this year.

MOVE OF THE YEAR: Samoa Joe’s Muscle Buster

The Canadian Destroyer is amazing to behold, but the Muscle Buster looks just as devastating, and has been a major part of the reason Joe has gotten over to the degree he has. You can believe that if he hits you with that, you’re not getting up.

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR: Sabu

No contest - the man started the year confined to a bed and having benefit shows held in his honor. A year later, he’s having awesome matches with Abyss in the feud that established the big man as a player, and somehow has regained his old form as one of the best in the game. ECW may get the sympathy vote from fans who miss the promotion, but that “comeback” was short-lived. Sabu, on the other hand, is one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen, and in some way, a testament to the human spirit.

ANGLE/STORYLINE OF THE YEAR: Samoa Joe disrespects TNA’s X Division, remains undefeated

Joe’s status as a rebel who is dominating an entire division sets him up as an amazing heel for ‘06, and also has already contributed to a great match - A.J. vs. Joe at Turning Point.

CHARACTER OF THE YEAR: Carlito

If you can judge this one best based upon how the average person reacts to them, Carlito wins it hands down. Steph, who’s barely watched wrestling lately, immediately reacted to and loved Carlito from the moment she first saw him. Other friends have followed suit. He’s just mastered a truly fascinating and entertaining persona that is instantly readable, and gets my vote on that basis alone.

MOST IMPROVED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: Abyss

A major progression for the big man, from mid-card dweller to true monster heel. And whereas before he had few great performances to his name, he now has the cage match with A.J. and the awesome Sabu feud on his resume. Bravo, dude.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Samoa Joe

No, he’s not a true newcomer, but he’s new to millions and millions of folks via TNA and Spike TV, ergo, he’s my winner here.

NEWS STORY OF THE YEAR: TNA gets on Spike TV

(Note: PWInsider has omitted deaths from consideration in this category, otherwise Eddie would be the obvious vote.)

TNA hasn’t broken through to the mainstream yet, but they have gotten on the map. (To the point where they’re actually leading the voting for the following award so far.) Another wrestling company is on national TV, and drawing steady and strong ratings in a late night timeslot. Edge/Lita/Hardy may have drawn more intrigue, but this is by far the more important story to the business as a whole.

PROMOTION OF THE YEAR: TNA

They made it onto the radar. They put on awesome shows. They established new stars and brought in great talent that the opposition deemed unnecessary. All these moves, WWF did back in the day when WCW was falling apart. And now, they are doing a damn good job of playing WCW. The stars of TNA, by and large, are young, they’re hungry, they’re working their butts off to make the best show possible. It’s time for a new breed, my friends, and this is it. TNA is the easy winner this year.

STUPIDEST THING ABOUT WRESTLING THIS YEAR: WWE Creative

Bar none. When I cannot even watch a WWE show even ONCE without snorting incredulously at something either ridiculous, repetitive, or both, that’s bad. When even I, a longtime wrestling fan from 1988, find myself detesting the very company I’ve supported all that time, it’s worse. And as long as Daddy’s Girl stays at the top of the creative reign of power, and Vince keeps using WWE for little more than an excuse for his own amusement (that’s no storyline, that’s reality), this will keep on like this. Sigh.

Back online...

My new year was greeted with good friends and good times, but sadly no internet access. Been offline about a week thanks to my DSL connection pooping out on us and suddenly (and inexplicably) re-activating this afternoon. Thank goodness for small favors, I suppose...

Anyway, I'm back, and I'll catch up with everything blog-related soon!