Inside The Ring: The Next Generation!
On the newest edition of Inside The Ring, New ECW Announcer, News On Rey Mysterio, 80’s Tag Legend In Hospital and a whole lot more!
WWE Mike Adamle Becomes New ECW Announcer 
With Mike Adamle apparently replacing Joey Styles as the play-by-play announcer on ECW, Styles will be involved with WWE.com in some capacity. Additionally, Styles is not going to be announcing on SmackDown.
Mikk’s View: This is really a puzzle as to why he has been put into the announce role on ECW, surely somebody else would have been a better choice like Michael Hayes. I can’t see him lasting too long in the role and I’m really just waiting now for Vince to get rid of ECW altogether and combine it completely with Smackdown.
Jeff Hardy And The Tour Of Mexico
Jeff Hardy is scheduled to work WWE house show tour of Mexico at the end of May. He is advertised to wrestle Carlito and Lance Cade over the course of four nights. Matches scheduled for the tour include: John Cena vs. Randy Orton, DX vs. Umaga & JBL, Jericho vs. Mr. Kennedy, and Jeff Hardy vs. Carlito on 5/21 at Plaza de Toros Monumental. 5/22 at the Plaza de Toros Santa Maria is advertising Cena vs. Orton vs. HHH vs. Umaga, Michaels vs. Kennedy, Jericho vs. JBL in a street fight, and Jeff Hardy vs. Lance Cade. 5/23 at Palacio de los Deportes has Cena vs. Orton, DX vs. Umaga & JBL, Jericho vs. Kennedy, and Hardy vs. Carlito. 5/24 in Mexico City has Cena vs. Orton vs. HHH vs. JBL, Michaels vs. Umaga, Jericho vs. Kennedy, and Hardy vs. Cade. Other talent advertised to appear on the tour include Super Crazy, Santino Marella, Beth Phoenix, Candace Michelle, and Maria.
Mikk’s View: I’m interested in seeing what they now do with Hardy as no doubt he was being pushed and pushed hard but then he went and did himself up the bum. He’s still going to be popular but I’m guessing its going to take him some time to get built up and I don’t think he’s going to have much of a backing from HHH again.
Raw Rating Drops Again
Monday Night RAW scored a 3.2 cable rating, rounded up from a 3.18. RAW did hours of 3.11 and 3.25, which isn't good numbers at all.
This week's episode was skewed 68% male with a median age of 36. Versus last week, WWE Entertainment was +5% among P18-49 and M18-49. Raw was Ranked #1 among M18-49, while landing behind The Hills with P18-49.
Mikk’s View: Now I don’t know if it was because of it not being live this week and because of it being in the UK but they surely have to look at this and think to themselves its about time the booking was maybe changed or altered.
King Of The Ring Participants Announced? 
WWE's official site has a graphic promoting the King of the Ring tournament on next week's three-hour Raw. The eight wrestlers featured on the graphic include Chris Jericho, Umaga, Shawn Michaels, CM Punk, Batista, Big Show, Triple H and MVP. Although, the preview for the King of the Ring also notes Mr. Kennedy and Finlay, so the wrestlers featured in the graphic likely aren't final.
Mikk’s View: Well whoever is going to receive the win here is going to get the gimmick King Booker had and at the moment I can’t really see anyone on that list that would fit that gimmick.
I can’t see Punk winning as he already has the MITB win and the rest I’m unsure on.
It will probably HHH or HBK winning though.
Rey Mysterio Update 
Rey Mysterio was said to be in bad shape during WrestleMania weekend due to an infection in his recently surgically-repaired biceps. Rey isn't scheduled to be back in action until June, but if all possible, he will return at the Mexico tour in May. That's not very likely though. Rey was still being advertised for the Mexico tour until the day after tickets went on sale, then WWE pulled him from the ads. Rey will still probably appear live at the shows just because it's Mexico.
Mikk’s View: To be quite honest, I’m not too bothered when Mysterio returns. It will only be a matter of time when he comes back he’ll get stuck in another big vs. little feud as that’s it.
Randy Orton Injured On Raw?
WWE Champion Randy Orton suffered a stinger to his neck during his match with William Regal at the RAW show. Some fans may have noticed the referee throw the X up. Orton later returned to do a run-in on the main event, so he appears to be well. Many people backstage in the locker room were impressed with Orton's dedication and his insisting on finishing his part of the show.
Mikk’s View: Pleased to hear he is ok as I don’t think WWE could afford another year like last year when they were losing top wrestlers every other week.
Latest On Mike Knox 
The Mike Knox situation appears to have blown over. His name wasn't on any of the steroids or GH bottles found in the Georgia residence, so it's going to be difficult for authorities to prove they were his, especially considering that three other wrestlers were living in the place at the time as well. The only real evidence they have against him is that documents with his name on them were next to the bottles of drugs found, which doesn't really prove anything unless one of the documents relates to drugs. Knox insists that the drugs weren't his and WWE believes him.
Mikk’s View: Meh.
TNA TNA Announce Slammiversary Location 
TNA Wrestling is proud to announce that its worldwide Pay-Per-View spectacular “Slammiversary 2008” will be held live in the Memphis area at the DeSoto County Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi at 7 p.m., Sunday, June 8, airing exclusively on Pay-Per-View.
TNA President Dixie Carter made the “Slammiversary” announcement on the “Off The Ropes” ESPN radio show (KQPN 730 AM) in Memphis. The city of Memphis is the top-rated television market in the United States for “TNA iMPACT”
Mikk’s View: Its certainly good to see TNA in different locations that WWE don’t visit all that often.
Samoa Joe’s Contract
To put all the rumours regarding Samoa Joe's TNA contract to rest for once and for all, Joe is signed to a long-term deal with the company. An issue did arise recently surrounding the copyright and trademark to the Samoa Joe name and character as Joe purchased those for himself, which led to intellectual property issues with TNA, which wanted to maintain that ownership to license the name. Similar issues have led to Low Ki and Amazing Kong changing their names while working for TNA to Senshi and Awesome Kong, respectively. This led to discussions between the two sides as they continued to work together. There was never any fear of Joe leaving the company, as seen by TNA putting their World championship on him at the Lockdown PPV. The two sides have worked everything out and came to an official agreement regarding the name this week, with Joe maintaining the rights.
Mikk’s View: Its good to know that everything has now been worked out and that Joe isn’t going anywhere. Joe deserves his title run as its been so long in coming, he is TNA’s greatest non former WWE/WCW star
TNA House Show’s Turning A Profit 
Jeremy Borash has been put in control of TNA house shows and is trying to push them to become a bigger deal. He wants to make them a complete experience with both wrestling and meeting the wrestlers to offer something different at their house shows. After the shows they will be bringing some wrestlers and personalities out for autographs, but they won’t announce who they are until the very end of the show.
The company is trying to book venues that hold closer to 1,000 rather than 5,000 and up, a trick that Paul Heyman used in the ECW days to give it the packed house atmosphere.
TNA is actually making money by doing house show tours because they keep the overhead low. They only have a two person ring crew and Jeremy Borash handles the music and lighting and hosts the show. All of the match finishes and angles are sent from the Nashville offices via email and they are straight forward short action-filled matches where the company tries to use clean finishes almost all the time. As previously noted, it looks like TNA actually became profitable in 2007 which had to put a smiles on the faces of the Carters.
Mikk’s View: Certainly good to hear one part of TNA is turning a profit by using their head and not paying for unnecessary expenses. I’m also pleased they have put someone like JB in charge as he certainly seems to have the correct head on.
TNA Pulling Talent From Impact Tapings
TNA pulled several originally scheduled wrestlers from this week’s Impact tapings, including Consequences Creed who just recently made his Impact debut. Jimmy Rave, Lance Hoyt and Curry Man were also pulled from the tapings.
The wrestlers were informed late last week that they would not be going to Orlando after the Lockdown PPV as scheduled. One source within the company explained that there was no point in bringing in these guys since there were no plans for them. TNA used nearly 50 wrestlers on Sunday’s Lockdown PPV and the company clearly doesn’t need that many to fill up the two Impact tapings this week.
There is some speculation that the company is going to start cutting back on some of the comedy acts they’ve been featuring.
Mikk’s View: I can see what they are doing but its not cleaver when they pull some of the talent that is making a decent following. Curry Man should be on impact every week as the fans love him. Consequences Creed should be given the opportunity too and I’m hoping both are brought in for the next batch of impact tapings.
Other News 80’s Tag Legend Bobby Eaton Hospitalised
A new report has come in that 80's Tag team legend, Bobby Eaton, who was part of the Midnight Express tag team, was hospitalised and put into the ICU due to a heart ailment. Jim Cornette's wife, Stacey, posted the following update on the Wrestling Classics message board:
"Hey guys,
First Jim and I want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers about Bobby. Here is some updated news for you all.
Bobby did have a recurrence of a previous heart issue but, is improving and according to a family member at 9pm this evening (4/15). He is scheduled to be transferred out of ICU sometime tomorrow.
No word as of yet of when he will be released so please...keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
Thank you again so much,
Stacey Cornette"
Mikk’s View: Lets all hope he gets better soon.
First Matches Announced For ROH In The Hammerstein 
Ok, we know you've waited long enough. The first three matches for the 5/10 Hammerstein Ballroom debut in Manhattan will now be announced. GHC Heavyweight Champion Takeshi Morishima and Bryan Danielson were given a chance to pick each other's poison. They have selected each other's opponents for the card. Morishima has decided to match Danielson up against a man that has held every title in NOAH. It will be Danielson vs. Naomichi Marufuji in a battle of two of the best that ROH and NOAH has to offer. These two met in 2005 at ROH's "Final Battle 2005" event, but they have each matured and gotten so much better. This one has the makings of a classic.
April 17th: Danielson has gone a different route with Morishima's opponent. He wants someone that can beat Morishima up. 5/10 in NYC will see a first time ever battle of the brawlers as Takeshi Morishima fights The Necro Butcher. OUCH!
Danielson vs. Marufuji and Morishima vs. Necro already bring two unique, different matches to 5/10 in Manhattan. Now one of ROH's hottest feuds will come to the Hammerstein Ballroom, but with a different twist. Just signed for 5/10 is FIP World Heavyweight Champion Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens vs. Go Shiozaki. Since either Strong or Stevens will walk into the Hammerstein as FIP Champion after their 4/26 Crystal River, FL match, the FIP Title will be on the line in this one fall three way. This show already has the largest advance of any event in ROH history so you know you have to be there.
Mikk’s View: That’s going to be one sick match, Necro and Morishima will be mental. Danielson vs. Marufuji will be a great technical match.
And Finally!
The Top 10
This weeks top 10 gimmick matches
10. Casket
9. Dog Collar
8. Tables
7. Strap
6. I Quit
5. Ultimate X
4. Money In The Bank
3. Inferno
2. Texas Death Match
1. Hell In A Cell
Linear Mode
