TNA Spin Cycle

It's the return of the Spin Cycle. This week's guests are Sonjay Dutt, Petey Williams, Shark Boy and Velvet Sky. The funniest part is Velvet telling the crowd "you'd all do me". Enjoy:

"Eight Is Enough"

A clip from last night's historical speech from Barack Obama:

Foley Signs With TNA

According to the Pro Wrestling Torch website, Mick Foley has signed a contract with TNA Wrestling. He should be able to start shortly. I know this had been rumored for awhile but I was skeptical that they could actually come to terms. Foley was a major star during the Monday Night Wars and as he proved in his angle with Edge (and on his commentary), he can still be a great asset in the industry. They have got to make his appearances seem special and not just throw him out there in Bimbo Brawls out of nowhere with no build-up. Of course, that has not been one of their strong suits. I hope he ends up on commentary and with a major behind the scenes role on the creative team. This is a great break for TNA and I hope they don't blow it.

(Photo available at allposters.com)

I Love Money

My favorite TV show continues to roll along. Two quick observations: 1) it seems like everyone on this show has a funny voice and 2) everyone on this show thinks they're a genius but they're a complete idiot. Now onto business. This week, somehow Toastee won the competition and became the paymaster. Megan is falling in love with Whiteboy, so she hatched a plan to get rid of one of The Interchangeable White Guys, which actually made some sense and ended up playing out. Megan spared. Check. Brandi spared. Check. Spitting contest next week. Check.

Dancing With The Stars Lineup Announced

The cast for the new season of Dancing with the Stars was released yesterday and as rumored, the new cast will feature Kim Kardashian and Toni Braxton. Dreams really can come true. This will be a bigger showdown than the Yankees vs. Red Sox, Giants vs. Patriots or Ruben vs. Clay. They will quickly discard the other ten contestants on route to the biggest showdown of the year. America, don't you ruin this for me!

TNA Spin Cycle

Here is the latest edition of the TNA Spin Cycle show. This time around the guests are B.G. James, Consequences Creed, Jimmy Rave and my dinner mate Angelina Love. Good show. Also, regarding the Gail Kim situation, it seems that she may be WWE-bound. Her decision to leave TNA seems to be a financial one as she reportedly will get a good deal to head back to Stamford. Good for her. See ya in the Diva Dance-Off, kid!:

Gail Kim Gone from TNA?

According to wrestlingobserver.com, Gail Kim has left TNA Wrestling. Sure enough, she has been removed from the TNA website. I consider her the top women's wrestler in the country so this is pretty major news. I wonder what happened here. Is she possibly on the way to WWE? If so, I hope she doesn't get the Braden Walker/Chris Harris treatment and just get buried. Whatever happens, I hope something really good happens for her career because she's a hard worker and deserves it.

Say It Ain't So!

According to Radar Magazine, Kim Kardashian has lost her mind. She said:

"I love that I'm curvy, but I'm on this major kick to try and lose weight, especially in my butt," she tells Radar magazine. "I'm just so over it! When you're posing on the red carpet and the paparazzi shout, 'Turn around! Turn around!' — it gets a little offensive."

Why does she want to lose The Butt? That's the reason she has her own show! That's the reason we even know who she is! Girl, take a step back, reflect, and think about what you're doing. Just in case, I'm going to send her a box of cornbread and some red beans and rice. This kind of talk makes me nervous and jittery. I need a drink.

My Dinner With Angelina Love

In addition to the autographs, photos, matches, and vendors at the NWA Legends Fanfest weekend, there is also a Hall of Heroes award ceremony which is proceeded by a dinner. One of the wrestlers is seated at each table, but you don't know who it is going to be until you get there. So as I made my way into the ballroom and went down the buffet line (with Michael Hayes about two people behind me), I was worried that I might get seated with one of the wrestlers who I didn't know much about. I had table number 24. I was looking around for it like a kid looking for a lunchtable on the first day of junior high. Finally, I saw it right next to the stage. There were three people seated at the table: two guys on the right and left side of the table and right in the middle was a blonde woman. It was Angelina Love of The Beautiful People from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. I took the seat that was directly across from her.

For the record, she was a very nice lady. Very striking. I didn't eat much because I didn't want to spill anything or knock over a drink and humiliate myself in front of her. It was quiet at first, but I tried to get the conversation going by asking questions, like if she was in the new TNA Video Game (no) and if the Knockouts would get their own show on Spike (it's just in the talking stages). I asked her about Billy Gunn joining the BP's as their fashion consultant and joked if he had come up with the ensemble that she was wearing tonight. She kind of laughed, kinda put it over. I was thrilled. Speaking of the outfit, she had a jacket over a short dress and when she left the table you could almost hear an audible gasp from us as we all watched her walk away.

In between bites and chatting, she was also texting a lot. I think it was mostly with Velvet Sky, who was a few tables away. I asked if she could text Sting to ask about his behavior lately on Impact. I crack me up. Eventually Velvet came over to the table and chatted with her. Her man, The Hurricane, was also seen lurking in the area. He was really friendly with everyone who came up and chatted.

We eventually were joined by a guy from Canada and his friend (who sat next to me). We started chatting and he asked me where I was from. He said that the only person he knew from St. Louis was Fred Sanford of Sanford and Son. I was cracking up. His favorite episode was the one where a guy stole all of the copper out of their house. He was saying all of this in a Canadian accent too. It was hilarious. We were also joined at the table by a guy who called himself "Tater" (wouldn't it be funny if his real name was "Potato").

Anyhow, we had a fun time, the food was decent, the people at the table were cool, we took a picture and it was a good evening. I learned the following about Angelina Love: she's very personable, kinda funny and texts a lot. And she made it the entire evening without putting a paper bag over anyone's head.

Still More Pictures from the NWA Legends Convention

Me and the Greatest Wrestler of All-Time

J.J. Dillon

Kevin Sullivan



Magnum T.A.

Jimmy Garvin and Precious

Even More Photos from the NWA Legends Fanfest

Bruno Sammartino

We are the Beautiful People

Me and Dawn Marie

Sunny and So Cal Val posing for pictures

Autograph panel with Jack Brisco, Jimmy Garvin, Precious and Buddy Roberts

More Photos from the NWA Legends Fanfest

LOD 2008: Me and Road Warrior Animal

Terri Runnels and the miracle of double-sided tape

Me and Bruce Mitchell of the Pro Wrestling Torch

So Cal Val and a Black Machismo lookalike

Daffney!

Pictures from the NWA Legends Fanfest

Here are some photos from my trip this weekend to the NWA Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, North Carolina:

A very sober Michael Hayes

"The Perfect 10" Baby Doll

Five-time referee of the year Tommy Young

Wrestling's favorite MILF, Dawn Marie

Me, Sunny and a bunch of wrestling dolls

WWE SummerSlam Results

Results from tonight's SummerSlam show, a WWE pay-per-view show that I actually watched for a change:

- MVP beat Jeff Hardy. Shelton Benjamin caused a distraction at the end to set up the victory.

- Beth Phoenix and Santino Marella won the Women's Title and the I-C Title by beating Kofi Kingston and Mickie James when Beth pinned Mickie.

- Shawn Michaels came out with his wife presumably to announced his retirement. Chris Jericho interrupted. Michaels moved out of the way as he was about to get sucker punched by Jericho, but the punch ended up hitting Michaels' wife, knocking her to the mat. Poor Whisper. Good angle and good acting by everyone. HBK tended to his wife instead of going after Jericho.

- Matt Hardy beat Mark Henry by DQ in less than a minute. Thankfully they kept it short. Tony Atlas interferred and Jeff Hardy made the save. The Hardys aren't having much luck with the brothers tonight.

- C.M. Punk beat JBL to retain the Raw title in a decent match. A sigh of relief for JBL not getting the belt.

- Triple H beat The Great Khali. Next.

- Batista beat John Cena clean. Good back and forth match. Cena is officially a scrub.

- Undertaker beat Edge in a great Hell in the Cell match. At one point they knocked over a side of the cage and the action spilled outside. After Taker got the win, he went back into the cage and chokeslammed Edge off of a ladder and through the mat. Then flames came out of the hole. I guess he's never coming back.

(Photo from wwe.com)

Foley To TNA?

Rumors continue to swirl that when Mick Foley's WWE contract runs out at the end of the month, that he may be headed to TNA. That wouldn't shock me. Much like the Ric Flair rumor though, I would be wary of what the creative team would do with him. I could see them trying to book a main event of Mankind vs. Dude Love vs. Cactus Jack. On a pole.

And speaking of the TNA Creative Team, I could have sworn that I saw a split second subliminal message during the Tayor Wilde vs. Christy Hemme match. I think it has something to do with a new wrestler that they will be introducing who is suppose to be based on a character in their upcoming video game. Allegedly, Kaz will play the role. I just hope they don't have him out there feuding with Donkey Kong and the guy from Pitfall.

(Photo available at allposters.com)

WWE Raw Thoughts

Decent lead-up show to SummerSlam, althoughI think they should have held off Batista vs. Cena until WrestleMania since there are so few fresh match-ups. Plus, this was only given a two-week build... The Kane mask angle was pretty good. So is Rey Mysterio locked up in Kane's basement? This should lead up to some absolutely horrendous matches... Shout-out to St. Louis' own Randy Orton, who according to wwe.com, was in a motorcycle accident and should be out three more months. Way to go.

Gratuitous Spice Girls Update

Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell on the cover of Hello Magazine:

(Photo from Hello Magazine)

I Love Money/Brooke Knows Best

This week on I Love Money, someone finally got the bright idea to break up the most powerful alliance, the Stallionaires. Amazingly, it was Pumkin who was able to carry it out. Now she's the main target. At least the Stallionaires handled it with class and grace. Whoops, I mean they said "bitch" about 32 times. Oh well. At least Megan and Brandi C. were spared and really, that's all that matters.

Over on Brooke's show, at least we didn't have to deal with Hulk this week. The show was focused on Brooke dating some new guy who was into extreme activities and sports. Did this clown have a job? At the end, he put his head in an alligator's mouth and that was too much for her and they broke up. No indication of whether she put out or not. More madness next week.

(Photo from vh1.com)

TNA Hard Justice Results

Results from last night's TNA Hard Justice PPV from New Jersey. It was a good show but would have been much more enjoyable by applying the most basic wrestling logic and scaling back on the weapons. Otherwise a fine show:

- Petey Williams beat Consequences Creed to retain the X Division title. Good action and the crowd was really into it. They cheered Petey and booed Creed. The artist formerly known as Davari attacked Creed to lead to the finish.

- Gail Kim, ODB, and Taylor Wilde beat The Beautiful People and Awesome Kong. Fun match. Still love the The PB's entrance.

- Beer Money Inc. beat LAX to win the tag team titles. Good match, perhaps the best of the night. Storm hit Homicide with a bottle to gain the victory.

- Jay Lethal beat Sonjay Dutt in a chain/tuxedo match. The stipulations hurt the match instead of enhancing it.

- Christian Cage and Rhino beat Team 3D in a New Jersey Street Brawl. They fought all over and used all kinds of weapons. Good match.

- A.J. Styles beat Kurt Angle in a last man standing match. Great match. These two guys are incredible. I wish Kurt would take some time off to rest. They teased taking Kurt off on a stretcher at the end, but A.J. attacked him again. On his way up the ramp, the lights went off and Sting gave him the reverse DDT. It appears that Sting may really be going heel. No one wants to see that.

- Samoa Joe beat Booker T in a cage match with weapons. This was overkill. It would have been so much better with just a straight wrestling match. The weapons made it feel like an ECW brawl from 1997. That was not a compliment. At the end the lights went out again and a guitar appeared which Joe used on Booker to get the pin. I guess Jeff Jarrett is coming back.

(Photo from tnawrestling.com)

Isaac Hayes, 1942-2008

I didn't really know much about Isaac Hayes-- his music was a little bit before my time. Obviously though, I was still sad to hear about his passing today. He is best known for the theme song to the movie "Shaft" and recently for voicing the character of The Chef on the South Park cartoon. His name was also the punchline of one of my favorite lines from my all-time favorite show, Good Times. During one episode, JJ was hanging out with some ladies and one of them said "JJ, you're just about the coolest dude that I know!" Then he replied "Do you know Isaac Hayes? Because maybe I am!" In a pathetic instance of life imitating art, one day at work some broad actually said that I was the coolest guy that she knew. And of course, I rattled off that line. It's humiliating just thinking about it. Thanks, Mr. Hayes.

Bernie Mac, 1957-2008

I was sorry to hear about the passing of Bernie Mac, who died this morning of pneumonia. I am an avid fan of comedy and standup and he was one of my favorites. He was the last of the "Kings of Comedy" (with Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, and Cedric The Entertainer) to make it through to the mainstream audience and when he finally did it, he did it in a huge way with the successful Bernie Mac Show on Fox and appearances in a bunch of movies including Charlie's Angels and Oceans 11. I would have to say my favorite Bernie Mac moment was his appearance in The Kings of Comedy movie, especially his bits about women and taking in his sister's three bad kids (which turned out to be the basis for his TV show). And when it was all said and done, one thing was for sure: he wasn't scared of us motherf***ers.

Dancing With The Stars Update

Several outlets are reporting that Toni Braxton will appear on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Phenomenal. Her and Kardashian? On one show? This is already the best season ever. Other rumored names include Dan Marino and the mom from the Brady Bunch. The official cast announcment is on August 25th.

Pam: Girl On The Loose

It was only a matter of time before Pamela Anderson got in on the reality TV show craze. After all, if the daughter of Hulk Hogan can draw a rating, then we can't she? It was actually a decent show and she was less annoying than I thought she would be. She's 40 and still looking good. Most of the show was focused around meeting her family and showing her preparing to move to a new house. She wanted to get rid of some things before the move so she had an estate sale. A bunch of geeks showed up. If I was anywhere nearby, I would have been one of them. I would have been looking for videotapes and old bicyle seats from the Baywatch-era. They also showed her getting naked at a photo shoot, which should surprise about no one. I would expect a naked photo shoot to be a staple of each episode. I will probably catch this show again. In the meantime, they can get rid of the artsy filming and editing and just show the damn footage. This show's regular time slot is Sunday's at 9PM CST on the E! Network.

I also caught a bit of the new Celebreality shows on VH-1's Monday night lineup. The I Want To Work for Diddy show was better than I thought. It would be even more enjoyable if he wasn't such an overbearing prick. Also making its debut was New York Goes To Hollywood, featuring the quest of the former Flavor of Love contestant to land on someone's casting couch. I surprisingly enjoyed this one too. And thankfully, they left her mother off of this one. I only caught a bit of the new Luther Campbell show but it seemed like your typical contrived reality show about a famous guy trying to cope with his family. Seems like since the success of Flavor Flav, VH-1 is trying to give every late 80's/early 90's rapper a show. Can't wait for the new shows about Heavy D., Young M.C., and Monie Love.

(Photo from eonline.com)

I Love Money/Brooke Knows Best

Another stellar week on I Love Money. The green team went down again. Toastee had the chance to take off one of the strong players and break up the Stallionaires alliance, but of course she was too stupid to do it. I predict she will be gone next week. Destiney was cut this week and thankfully reality's favorite tag team, Megan and Brandi C. (above) were saved yet again.

Over on Brooke Knows Best, it was another "Daddy is meddling" episode. Brooke was "hosting" some events during Spring Break and Hulk Hogan kept crashing the parties. Unfortunately, he was accompanied by annoying former wrestler Brian Knobbs, who I would call a "shithead" but that would be an insult to shitheads. I watched fifteen minutes of this thing and could take no more. She better start taking it off more or I can see the ratings tanking for this show.

(Photo from vh1.com)

TNA Spin Cycle

The latest TNA Spin Cycle is up on You Tube. This time it's a special all-Knockouts show featuring Gail Kim, Traci Brooks, ODB and Salinas. Check it out below:

Flair Gone From WWE Again?

According to a report at wrestlingobserver.com, Ric Flair and WWE have parted ways yet again. The Observer said it was "an amicable parting of the ways related to WWE not allowing Flair to take offers that he was wanting to accept." Why would WWE step in the way of offers that Flair was getting? They wanted a cut? They're not making enough of a profit without nickle and diming the greatest wrestler ever? Who knows. Anyway, if it can get Flair on Dancing with the Stars, I'm all for it. I wonder if he will come out of retirement now. I would almost hate to see him go to TNA and see him trying to climb up some structure and climb through a hole to win a match. Maybe he could show up in Japan or ROH. I would also love to see a Ric Flair shoot interview. I hope it turns out well for him.

Ring of Honor PPV Tonight

If you are looking for some great wrestling action minus all the foolisness like inept heel GMs and nonsense pole and climbing matches, be sure to check out Ring of Honor's "Respect Is Earned II" pay-per-view show tonight at 9PM CST/10PM EST. It's only ten to fifteen bucks for two solid hours of state of the art wrestling action. I've seen all of their PPV shows thus far and they never disappoint.