Various thoughts on the NWA advertising Ric Flair, new Dot Net feature, the end of WWE Heat, Mick Foley, the best show on television

Friday, MAY 30 - 12:59 P.M.

-What's up with the kinder and gentler WWE allowing Ric Flair to appear at the NWA's 60th Anniversary show? Is he allowed to take non-WWE bookings? Granted, the NWA poses no threat to Vince McMahon's kingdom, but since when has that mattered? Is the old man mellowing? Does Vince even know about this booking? Is Flair jumping to the NWA? Um, I'm guessing that last one isn't the answer. Assuming everything is legit, this is one hell of a coup for the NWA and one can only imagine that Flair appearing on an NWA event in Atlanta will do good business at the box office.

-In case you missed it, we debuted a new Dot Net feature this week called "Dot Net Water Cooler." Smackdown reviewer Chris Shore and all around Dot Net TV ace Rich Twilling are sharing their thoughts on various topics. Yes, I let them drink water, and yes they do have opinions on something other than the respective shows they cover. By the way, good luck to the Quiz Bowl team that Chris is coaching this weekend. If you missed the first two editions of the Water Cooler, you can check them out by clicking here.

-Tough Enough favorite turned announcer Josh Matthews stated on WWE Fan Nation that WWE Heat is wrapping up its run after 513 episodes. This brought a few burning questions to mind. (1) WWE still airs Heat? (2) If so, where? (3) If Josh calls Heat in the woods and no one is there to hear him, does he still make a sound? (4) Isn't Josh more qualified than Mike Adamle? (5) Am I the only person who would be happy if WWE replaced ECW with another WWE Classics show?

-There's a cool story about Mick Foley meeting a child he sponsors while WWE was in Mexico. Good for Mick. I thought about doing this once and even sent away for information, but I think the agency mistakenly sent me an "after photo" because the kid they wanted me to sponsor had whiter teeth than Chris Jericho and it appeared he lived in a neighborhood that was nicer than the one I was living in at the time. I looked around the apartment I was living in at the time and decided that I needed the money more than the kid did. Does that make me a bad person? Anyway, you can check out Mick's story by clicking here.

-How f'n good was "Lost" last night? I know this may shock you, but I actually have a few interests outside of pro wrestling, so please indulge me while I rave over the best damn television show still on the air. This show is totally addictive. I harped on a friend in the industry about watching it and when he finally broke down, he was so consumed that he watched nearly four seasons of "Lost" in less than two weeks. If you haven't seen the show then rent or buy the DVDs. Now!

Locke in a box? Ben can't come back to the island? Did Christian Shephard appear to Sting right before the evil little person blew up his boat back in WCW? I know I can't be the only person waiting for pilled up Future Jack to say, "Hey, yo." I hope Jacob is revealed as the final Cylon. Wait, wrong show.

Thursday, MAY 29 - 12:05 P.M.

-I finished reading "Ring of Hell" the other night and I'm still not sure what to say about it. I discussed my initial thoughts in Wednesday's Dot Net Podcast. There's plenty of dirt in this book. There are stories about former WWE writer Dave Lagana being fired following an incident in which he allegedly offered to perform oral sex on Kevin Thorn.

There are many twisted stories about Dynamite Kid and various members of the Hart family. There are wild stories about the New Japan dojo, ECW's locker room, and the politics of WCW. Some of the stories tie in nicely with the author's attempt to show that it all led up to Chris Benoit's mental breakdown, while other times it feels like he strays too far away from Benoit just to tell a good story.

Many of the stories the author shares in the book have been told before on the internet, in shoot tapes, or in the pro wrestling newsletters. In many ways, the book is a compilation of some of the sleaziest stories about the wrestling industry. Author Matthew Randazzo quotes a handful of former WWE creative team members and the WWE chapters of the book are filled with jaw-dropping tales of behind the scenes debauchery.

I spent most of yesterday speaking with various people in the industry to get their reaction to some of the stories the author shares and I'll have a lot more to say about the book once I finish speaking with a few more people. The book has definitely generated some passionate responses from people within the industry, and I think some of the stories and quotes from the former WWE employees are quickly becoming hot topics.

-I was shocked and somewhat excited when I first heard that the NWA booked Philips Arena in Atlanta for their 60th Anniversary Show. As one wrestler who is appearing on the show told me during a recent conversation: "They booked Philips Arena? Holy shit. That's a huge f---ing building."

As I understand it, it's a paid show, so there's no major financial risk for the NWA. Perhaps that explains why the show has been promoted so poorly thus far.

I went to NWAwrestling.com this morning hoping to find a lineup for the show. I found listings of the various wrestlers who will be inducted to the NWA Hall of Fame, and I found a few listings for the show, but no lineup. In fact, the only advertised match I could find is Iceberg vs. Judas vs. Shatter. Nothing against the NWA Anarchy crew, but something tells me that their three-way match isn't going to sellout the Philips Arena.

If you click on any of the ads for the show, you're simply directed to Ticketmaster.com. Ticket prices range from $17 to $52 for ringside seats. I'm sorry, but I wouldn't pay $7 for a show with no lineup. The Hall of Fame is a nice touch, but it's not like anyone knows what to expect from an NWA ceremony. Will they wrestlers give speeches? Will they simply come to the ring and accept their awards?

I gave up on the website and made some phone calls to find out who is on the show and what matches are going to take place. Sid Vicious, Sean Waltman, and Rob Conway are scheduled to wrestle. In addition to the NWA Anarchy match, I was told that they are planning a Rock-n-Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette), and Tommy Rich vs. Abdullah the Butcher. Masked Superstar (a/k/a Bill Eadie) is also likely to appear.

Maybe the NWA has previously announced more matches and additional details and I just missed it. Either way, I should be able to find out this information when I visit their website. This is a big opportunity for the NWA to make a splash and get people talking again, but the promoters have dropped the ball thus far.

Tuesday, MAY 27 - 12:40 P.M.

I'm still shocked by Vince McMahon's decision to hype a silly money giveaway as a major happening. I'd like to say that this will come back to haunt Vince the next time he has a major announcement, but the fact is that he's built up enough goodwill over the years that viewers will still pay attention the next time he teases them.

However, I believe this move will cost the company some pay-per-view buys on Sunday. They did such a good job of building up the One Night Stand pay-per-view in rapid fire mode last week, but they shoved the entire show into the background by teasing Vince's announcement throughout Raw. Suddenly, the action in the ring didn't seem to mean as much and the pay-per-view hype was an afterthought as viewers pondered what the big announcement would be.

Although there's still time to create interest in the draft lottery, it just seemed odd that Vince chose to make that announcement first as if to say that it wasn't as important as the giveaway. My guess is that he knew the giveaway wasn't going to live up to the hype, so he chose to include the draft lottery to pacify viewers.

Great, Vince wants to give away his own money. It's never been done before in the history of television. Of course, there are a slew of game shows that give away money all the time, but apparently they don't give away the owner's money. Guess what? No one cares where the money comes from.

WWE failed to deliver a big final push for Sunday's pay-per-view and there's not nearly as much buzz as there normally would be over the draft lottery. The giveaway announcement didn't excite viewers as much as it seemed to deflate them. The winners will be pleased, but other 99.99999 percent of the audience will be sitting home rolling our eyes as if they're watching a bad Diva Search contest.

I'm not saying that this stunt won't help the ratings to some degree, but why was it done at the expense of the One Night Stand pay-per-view and the draft lottery? Surely, Vince could have waited a week to give away his money.

Monday, MAY 26 - 11:34 A.M.

-The Hogan family destroyed its own image this weekend when the audio clips of their phone conversations with jailed son Nick Hogan were released to the media. It was bad enough when Nick came across as a whiney momma's boy in the initial audio clips, but the sound bytes of he and Hulk Hogan badmouthing victim John Graziano was downright appalling.

I wonder what Hulk would have thought if Brooke Hogan had been seriously injured in Sunday's car crash. Would he have blamed it on her for upsetting God? For that matter, I wonder if Linda would still feel that an eight-month jail sentence was too severe for a "car accident" if Brooke were in Graziano's position today and the driver had been street racing. Sadly, I'm guessing the narcissistic family will fail to make the connection.

-Last week's Raw was entertaining, but it didn't really leave viewers with a big hook for tonight's show. I suppose there is the general manager issue now that William Regal was fired according to the storylines. However, they failed to make a big fuss over who the next G.M. will be. In fact, they're still not making a big deal out of it, as it's not even mentioned until the final paragraph in the official Raw preview. WWE needs a hot show with only six days to promote the One Night Stand pay-per-view, so it should be an interesting evening.

-Sabu has been praised by some fans for showing up at the XPW show over the weekend despite his health problems. I'm not sure whether XPW or Sabu is to blame, but he should have been pulled from the advertising. After all, he told Mexico's AAA promotion roughly two weeks ago that he needs surgery and would not be able to wrestle for at least a year. In other words, he and/or XPW promoters knew he would not be able to appear on the show, yet he was still advertised as appearing in the main event.

-I do know that Sean Waltman was grateful to be booked on the XPW show. He mentioned the booking when he talked the night before he was released from a treatment facility, but he wanted it kept quiet because it was an unadvertised, surprise appearance. He stated at the time that he was just happy to have a booking just days after his stint in rehab.

-The XPW reunion didn't stir up any feelings of nostalgia in me. I think it's great that Big Vision Entertainment is entering the world of Blu-ray discs, but I wish they'd come up with their own big vision for wrestling rather than revert to the tired garbage wrestling style. XPW always came across as a low-class, second rate, wannabe ECW promotion under Rob Black. It won't be easy for the company to shake off that stigma if they choose to move forward with this venture.