Spinning the WWE way.

I believe there are many of you out there in other fields of combat sports who maybe intrigued by the Benoit situation. A lot of you might not be, but those who are please read further.

Right now, in terms of this case, besides the arrest of Benoit's personal doctor, this has been a very slow news week. While prominent wrestlers have come out and spoken up about the pro wrestling industry, the media is dead set in framing the way they http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifwant this case to go.

Right now, we're going to put that aside and look at how the WWE is controlling things with the media.

Last week, we had WWE put out an "anti-steroid" press release to the media. While it's normal for WWE to send press releases saying that they were anti-steroid and that their "wellness policy" is working, this was totally the wrong time to do it. Especially when the tox report hadn't come out yet. So now they have Jerry McDevitt, their lawyer, doing damage control

Speaking of damage control, The WWE gave warning that they'll be testing soon. So the next couple weeks, everyone is going to try to clean everything up for the "surprise Wellness test". Keep in mind, this will be a fixed test. They are going to try the best they can to make it look like they're making effort instead of making one in the first place.

So after the next couple weeks, they will have a list of those who didn't "pass". There will be three types of people.

1.) People that pretty much floating around. These are people who are on the roster that are more or less there. No one has any "story" for them, they mostly put on great matches on the "D" shows and some who have been put back in the farm for seasoning. They'll release them under the guise of "Wellness". and then when everything theoretically "cools down", they get brought back in.

2.) People that management or Front of House doesn't like. This is a perfect way to get rid of people that pretty much go against the grain on how you're supposed to act within the business. This can go anywhere from logically asking questions so one can better carry angles to something extreme as say.....just the look of your face or what school you came from. Or the very extreme of getting Pop more then an established figure made by the company.

3.) People they can't cover anymore. These are the guys that constantly fail and because the situation they're in, just cut all ties if not to show they're "doing their job", then to make sure he's as far away as possible in case the wrestler expires.

Now is everyone under the 'scope. No. I do believe that out of the whole roster.....seven guys will just go through the motions, maybe take a small pay cut. I take that back, six guys. One guy's made no matter what.

But the rest of the roster is under the knife. Clean or gassed. And then they'll say "See! We're doing something about it! We're drug free!"

Wash, rinse and repeat for a couple months and the WWE will be nusense free. It'll be logic free. But it won't be steroid free. Especially if the the test they're taking has a 10:1 testosterone/epitestosterone count to aim for. How is this so bad you say?

Athletic commission levels are 4:1

WADA (World Anti-Doping Alliance) levels are 6:1

And if they get caught, they can whip out a doctor's note stating "testosterone replacement therapy"

10:1 is replacement therapy?

Anyways, they'll keep doing this until either the heat on them dies down or....I don't know....they run out of people.

And then it'll be business as usual.

Like nothing had happened.

For those of you reading this, I don't want that to happen. The days of "but they're just pro-wrestlers" are over. The days of ignorance is over. There needs to be heavy reform called from both inside and outside of the industry. Either call your athletic commissions and tell them to search for ways to regulate or bar and ban the WWE for good from the state. Send them a message that human lives are not cogs to the great MacMahon machine and unless they change or reform, they are no longer welcome.

This constant spin must stop and it must stop now.

Guys With Roids.

Sports Illustrated recently put out an article about several big name WWE wrestlers found on the ledger of an illegal steroid distribution system that has been investigated since late February. Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and Shane Helms have been prescribed everything from HGH to Testosterone from this company. Check out the article. it's a good read.

Now, a few moments ago, WWE put out a statement regarding the article:

All of the allegations set forth in a recent SI.com article mentioning WWE predate the initiation of WWE’s current Talent Wellness Program. This WWE program prohibits the use of performance enhancing drugs, as well as other prescription drugs which can be abused, if taken for other than a legitimate medical purpose pursuant to a valid prescription from a licensed and treating physician. For purposes of WWE's policy, prescriptions obtained over the Internet and/or from suppliers of prescription drugs from the Internet are not considered to have been given for a legitimate medical purpose.

So what they're saying is "That happened before the Wellness Plan. We're not liable for anyone juicing." And, in a way, I agree with them.

But they're liable for the environment that makes one juice.

Sure, these guys can leave whenever they want. If they do though, they'll not be paid the kind of money the WWE puts out. And sure, they can stay within the company, but they won't be making money that the headliners are making. They won't get a cut in merchandising, if they get merchandising that is. The reason for it is that in this business nowadays, wrestlers are conditioned to believe that you won't get everything and the girl if you're not built like Fort Knox and have the sex drive of a passive aggressive rapist. The person who perpetuated this nonsense was Vincent K. MacMahon, owner of the WWE. In fact, it's how he became number one. It's why he's still number one.

If you want further proof, look at Chris Masters. Dude was pushed like a chiseled god. That's the reason he was on TV. That was it. Other then looking ripped, the guy wrestled like a bag of hammers. Then Eddie dies. The WWE institutes the "wellness policy" to y'know...kill the media heat. One of the first victims of the "wellness policy" is Masters. Even though he cycles out badly, he gets back to his normal shape and size and is starting to do well in the farm leagues. They want to bring him back, but guess what? Vince wonders why he got so small and doesn't put him back in his main event position. Guess what's next?

Matter of fact, why did they even mention the "wellness policy". We all know it doesn't exist. And when it does, it's mostly to punish or suspend people who are mid to lower card or those who are heading to be headlining material, but aren't there yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they used the "wellness plan" to punish people they hate. If the "wellness plan" did exist, we wouldn't be seeing guys the size of Masters, Bautista or even Triple H in the main event position. I there was any kind of "plan" involved, we'd see more going into wrestling then promoting bodybuilding. And if there was a "plan", a lot of people wouldn't be laid up with muscle tears.

Then again, I'm using common sense on an industry that's ruled by a despot in lala land who can't even surround himself with competent help.

Kurt Angle: Built To Spill

Kurt Angle A MMA Debut Again.

So the big fight over one of the most notable names in pro-wrestling has now begun. I thought it would have started sooner. Let's face it. Angle's probably going to go fight with Elite XC. They can deliver a nice check as well as the head of his most hated person, Daniel Puder, thanks to being in partnership with STRIKEFORCE. What's UFC gonna offer him? A fight with a C level fighter and a three year deal to sit on his ass at UFC events? No thank you sir! Better luck next time. Thanks for stopping by.

Do we really need Angle in MMA though?

Check this out. Two (technically three) MMA organizations are throwing large amounts of money at a guy whose physically broke down, mentally inflated and possibly stylistically obsolete. Whatever fight is matched up with Angle, it's pretty much going to look like a freak match where nobody wins. Angle is that big bulk can of tomato juice you can get at a good price at a bulk storehouse.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't doubt Angle's wrestling ability. I think he's a great wrestler. I think it takes balls to everybody say it with me, "wrestle with a freaking broken neck." Good Good. I also think it takes balls to take on the degenerative sport of pro-wrestling, especially with the combat game like it was back in the day. What had happened though, was he got "spot fever" and instead of getting his neck fixed properly, he opted for a lesser option and to this day, still nag him. While some may argue that Vince had some part in it by overworking him, Angle still could have said no and at least try to recoup. Besides the neck, I seemed to have read reports (I be glad if anyone can confirm this.) that Angle can't lift his arms up fully as well as having multiple concussions. Even if he is on a limited schedule for MMA and even if he did train hard for six to eight months, he still will not be physically ready. His arms and neck will be targets for chokes or submissions.

Mental focus is another aspect of MMA that I don't think Angle has. You need focus to see and understand what your opponent is going to do and how to proper defend against it. You need focus to control yourself as well. Focus helps control cardio and the power of your punches and kicks. My evidence for this is his interviews he did with Bubba the Love Sponge. Angle went on and on during his whole segment degrading Daniel Puder. Calling him "A piece of shit", 'moron", "limited", and pretty much saying he's a wannabe shootfighter*. Now, in my opinion, if I wanted to beat someone, I'd get under my opponent's skin. By getting under his skin, he begins to lose focus and by losing focus, he'll make mistakes. Clearly, Puder has gotten under Angle's skin and if the fight does get made between the two, training or no training, Angle will definitely lose focus and in turn, lose the fight.

While I did worry about his fight technique and wrestling ability being applied to an actual fight, it's good to hear that Angle is looking to go to a good school to build and augment his game. He's also interested in studying under Couture, which is also a big plus. Even though he is an Olympic wrestler, that was a long time ago. The fight game has evolved and mutated to the point that being "pure" is almost a detriment. I wouldn't mind seeing him train at Legends. Now all we need to know now is how much will he retain from working out and learning and how much of that retention will he actually apply to a fight? Will he be like a Matt Lindland, and almost complete fighter who can control the ground effectively or will he be like Rulon Gardner, a wrestler who just wants to dabble into MMA and never get really far as "filling out the requirements" like he always has. This, will be all up to Angle.

* PW Torch around November of last year.

Fight Calender: Feburary

Boxing:

Feb. 10

WBC WW Title: "Sugar" Shane Mosley vs. Luis Collazo

MMA:

Feb. 10

Elite XC: Shamrock vs. Gracie

Feb. 23

IFL: Toronto Dragons/Portland Wolfpack, Chicago Red Bears/NY Pitbulls, Robbie Lawler vs. Eduardo Pamplona

Feb. 24

PRIDE 33: PRIDE MW Championship: Wanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson

Pro-Wrestling:

Feb. 11

TNA: TNA Title: Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle

Feb. 16

ROH: ROH Title: Homicide vs. Jimmy Rave

Feb. 17

ROH: ROH Title: TBA vs. Takeshi Morishima, ROH Tag Titles: Christopher Daniels/Matt Sydal vs. Jack Evans/Shingo

Feb. 18

WWE*: John Cena/Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker/David Batista

NJPW: IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Koji Kanemoto, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Minoru vs. Wataru Inoue, Kurt Angle/Yuji Nagata vs. Travis (Tyson) Tomko/Giant Bernard

Feb. 23

ROH: ROH Title: TBA vs. BJ Whitmer

Feb. 24

ROH: ROH Tag Titles: TBA vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe, Samoa Joe/Homicide vs. Takeshi Morishima/Nigel McGuinness

Feb. 25

NWA: Super Porky vs. Colt Cobana

*While The Smackdown Tag Titles are defended, it will be in a gimmick match and has not been added.