Random thoughts on Nick Hogan, Bobby Lashley, Torrie Wilson, TNA Sacrifice, hot tubbing with Matt Leinart

Friday, MAY 9 - 11:10 A.M.

-Is Nick Hogan really planning to plead guilty without any clue as to the type of sentence he'll receive? I'm not buying it. Hulk Hogan's comments through Bubba The Love Sponge sound a little too noble to me. According to Bubba, Hulk said Nick is "manning up" and taking responsibility for his actions.

If so, that's great, but my guess is that Hogan's lawyers have a pretty good idea about the type of sentence Nick will receive and Hulk his just using this opportunity to make his son look good. Hulk told Bubba that Nick won't beg for mercy, yet a MyFoxTampaBay.com report states that the Hogan family will appear in court to ask for leniency. Stay tuned.

-No TNA pay-per-view preview this month. I'll discuss the show in the latest Dot Net Podcast later today, but with only four matches announced there's really not much to preview. TNA is banking heavily on the three-way main event, the tag title tournament, the TerrorDome, the promise of a woman getting her head shaved, and the mystery surrounding the wild card teams to sell this pay-per-view. I'll be covering the show live on Sunday night so feel free to watch along with me or just check in and scope the results.

-Bobby Lashley is a free agent. He's already announced his first match will take place in Booker T's promotion, but he continues to state that he has interest in MMA fighting. I've been saying for a while now that he's not going to get the Brock Lesnar treatment or payoff from UFC or other MMA promotions. In fact, UFC has made it clear that they're not interested in using Lashley at this time. My hunch is that he will end up in TNA at some point and I guess it wouldn't shock me if he made an appearance this weekend. That's purely speculation, though.

-I wasn't surprised to see WWE release Torrie Wilson on Thursday. She announced recently that surgeons had advised her against returning to the ring, and WWE doesn't seem to have much interest in featuring women in non-wrestling roles. There's Vickie Guerrero, Lillian Garcia, and that's about it. That being said, Torrie never established herself as a good talker so I'm not sure how much she could do beyond a T&A role.

-I made my triumphant return to the world of fantasy football reporting via FFChamps. I'm writing a weekly article for the site, which features most of the former Fanball/Fantasy Football Weekly content team. My first assignment was Matt Leinart, and you should know me well enough by now to know that I went the hard-hitting route by discussing his hot tub exploits with Nick Lachey and a group of attractive young women. You can read the "Matt Leinart Impact Report" by visiting FFChamps.com.

Wednesday, MAY 7 - 11:48 A.M.

-Ashley Massaro went from issuing an emphatic denial of allegations that she worked as a high-paid escort for Bella Models to thanking fans and acting as if all is right in the world on her Myspace page. If you were accused of something you didn't do, wouldn't you continue to deny the allegations? Then again, I suppose it's possible that Ashley's lawyer or WWE asked her not to comment on the matter.

-It never would have made it to the accusation stage if a woman had paid me $25,000 for a night of passion. Hell, I'd post a huge banner at the top of Dot Net announcing it to the world. Well, unless the woman was Ashley, because she's accused of accepting $25,000 for working as an escort and everybody knows it's disgusting and wrong when a woman accepts money for sex. Insert a wink symbol here.

-By the way, I have every intention of handing my girlfriend a bill for $25,000 the next time we're intimate. I'm sure that will go over well, but I can't resist.

-THQ announced that they are producing the new Legends of WrestleMania for WWE. This is another example of how retired wrestlers who are in the legends program are able to earn royalty checks from WWE. I'm not suggesting that this excuses WWE for not having pension plans and doing more for some of their longtime workers, but it's good to know that some of the retired wrestlers will cash in via this project.

-TNA sent a text message to their mobile subscribers on Tuesday to hype the upcoming X Cup tournament. They touted the fact that wrestlers from CMLL (Mexico), New Japan, and Dragon Gate will be competing. I like the concept and I'm always excited to see foreign wrestlers I don't get to see on a regular basis, but I hope TNA will prepare for the tournament by pushing their X Division wrestlers in a more serious manner. It's going to look silly for TNA minis such as Black Machismo and Little Petey Pump to face off against some of the world's finest in a serious tournament.

-Very cool to see a passage from this blog quoted in the UK Sun's article on the Ashley story. You can check out their coverage by clicking here.

Tuesday, MAY 6 - 12:47 P.M.

-WWE is celebrating the 100th episode of ECW tonight on Sci-Fi. To commemorate this monumental achievement, I'm going to dedicate this entire blog to reliving some of my favorite memories from WWE's version of Extreme Championship Wrestling. My favorite moment has to be... OK, I'm sure there are just too many to choose from. I mean, who could forget that time when... Wow, I'm having a brain fart here. Oh, I know, remember that one episode where...

It's all coming back to me now. I enjoyed portions of Big Show's reign as ECW Champion. Rob Van Dam and Hardcore Holly surprised me with a good match once. Test shocked the world by joining ECW and... Wait, no he didn't.

Oh, that's right, ECW is all about the younger wrestlers. This is their chance to step into the spotlight and make names for themselves. It's a launching pad for the stars of tomorrow. Just look at what it's done for the careers of young up and comers like Kane and Chavo Guerrero. Wait...

I almost forgot. C.M. Punk held the ECW Title once. Just think about where Punk would be if it wasn't for his big ECW victories over guys like Chavo and Elijah Burke. If it wasn't for ECW, he'd probably still be bouncing between brands, winning mid-card matches, and losing to the top guys. Just remember that the next time someone tells you that the first 99 episodes of ECW were meaningless.

-I guess those ECW memories didn't take up as much space as I thought they would. I haven't been to any Twins games since last week (by the way, it's no coincidence that they are undefeated since I went to the game). I haven't bought any magazines since Saturday. So now what the hell am I going to do to fill space? When in doubt, turn to a sex scandal. Everyone loves a good sex scandal.

-Does anyone else find it odd that a publicly traded company that is marketing to children via on-air programming and the films division currently employs an accused racist, an alleged high-paid escort, and a guy who may or may not have left a shoebox filled with syringes and drugs behind in a house? I'm sure this stuff happens at Disney all the time, though.

It may surprise you to learn that the overwhelming majority of industry sources I've spoken with do not believe that Ashley Massaro should be fired if the Rolling Stone allegations are truthful. I'll talk more about that in the Prowrestling.net Podcast later today.

-Rich Twilling and I will be serving up a double dose of "Live Coverage" of tonight's 100th episode of ECW on Sci-Fi. I'm curious to see if they even acknowledge the fact that Mike Adamle and Tazz walked off the set last week. I assume they will, but you never know since it wasn't even brought up last night on Raw.