Here are some highlights from Jim Ross’ Tuesday blog on jrsbarbq.com:

- I am told that I have at least four viable book deals that people want to discuss. No discussions have taken place as of yet but I am interested to hear the pitches and proposals. Once those meetings take place then I will better be able to decide if and when I want to assume this major undertaking. I can’t see it happening in 2010 but I assume stranger things could occur.

- ECW made unique and significant contributions to the pro wrestling world and their alumni should feel a source of pride for their accumulative accomplishments. I will enjoy watching old episodes of the “Original” for years to come when the opportunity presents itself. No one can tell the ECW story in today’s marketplace better than their one and only voice, Joey Styles.

- Speaking of ECW, of the many top hands that made their mark in ECW, none were more uniquely talented than Rob Van Dam who is one of the hottest “free agents” available right now. It would seem to me that RVD would be a high priority to any wrestling organization and that facilitating a travel schedule to his liking should be attainable. RVD is a one of a kind talent who connects with his fan base and Rob’s in ring work is singularly his which would be a breath of fresh air to many TV broadcasts.

Labels: ecw, jim ross, Rob Van Dam

Posted by Matt Loede at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

And with that, another Royal Rumble is in the books. It was sort of a bummer Rumble in my opinion, as even with the return of Rob Van Dam, the match itself was a bit lame, and you could sense for most of the match that it was a "coming out" party if you will for Legacy and more importantly - Randy Orton.

Orton's win secures what should be a title match with John Cena at WrestleMania XXV, and I wouldn't doubt that Orton wins the title this time around, and even as a heel champ, I think that they are pushing him to being one of the more hated title holders in WWE history. The issue will be the talk about Cena heading into the match, and knowing that he likely even in Houston will get his share of cat-calls from the crowd. With that, ealry on I am thinking that Orton will walk out of Houston with the belt.

On the other hand, I felt that the Edge-Jeff Hardy match will get quite a few "Match of the Year" votes. I felt this was by far the best 1-on-1 match these two have ever had, and I would love to see this one again, but it appears that that won't happen with the company throwing the curve ball between Matt and Jeff Hardy. Here are some more random thoughts from this years edition of the Royal Rumble:

1. Talk About a Bury Job of Matt Hardy - Two straight clean losses to Jack Swagger should have tipped us all off that something was going to go down between Matt and Jeff Hardy, but it seemed odd that Matt, a guy on the rise in ECW as their champion, would take two quick and clean losses to the still very green Swagger. Seems now that Swagger will be the title holder for awhile.

2. I Never Knew She was THAT Flexible - The highlight of the women's title match between Beth Phoenix and Melina had to be Beth taking Melina's OWN leg and hitting her in the head with it. A wild sight and I can honestly say a move that I have never seen before. With that, I fully expect that we'll see Phoenix and Melina in a rematch at Mania, as these are the two best women wrestlers in the company right now.

3. JBL vs HBK at Mania; Is There Any Doubt? - I'm pretty sure we can book that one right now based on the way things went in the match between John Cena and John Bradshaw Layfield. Shawn Michaels played the old "who do I take out" delima, and in the end of the day, he kicked JBL first, then Cena for good measure. While Michaels for all intensive purposes "did his job," you can see a stip match with JBL and Michaels coming in Houston.

4. Does This Mean No Christian? - All the talk about the eventual title change to Edge did happen, but the thought was it would come out that Christian, who would be making his WWE return, would be the guy behind the attacks recently on Jeff Hardy. Instead, in an angle we've seen already I think twice, Matt turned on Jeff, thus setting up what will be another "brother vs brother" feud and putting the two in a match at WM 25. Maybe we won't see Christian till after Mania.

5. The Rumble Itself was a Snoozer - Yes, I am saying it - I thought this years version of the Rumble wasn't all that great. Most of the real heavy hitters came out quickly, leaving mostly mid-card or flat our jobber guys for the second half of the Rumble. Now I realize that every year can't be a winner, but knowing that Triple H and Randy Orton were the two favorites, having them out there most of the night was kinda stale. All I can say is I hope they continue to develop Orton's character.

Now that it's over, having Orton win was pretty much the only thing they could do with the storyline set forth Monday night, and now he'll be on his way to Mania to challenge Cena. They have had plenty of matches in the past, so it will be interesting to see what they do to freshen the storyline between the two.

Labels: 2009 royal rumble, john cena, randy orton, Rob Van Dam, triple h

Posted by Matt Loede at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

From: Wrestlescoop.com

The decision to give Jeff Hardy the WWE Championship belt took place during a creative team meeting two weeks before the pay-per-view match at Armageddon. Vince McMahon first brought up the idea, which caught most of the creative team by surprise.

Ever since Rob Van Dam’s drug possession arrest in July 2006 (who held two major title belts at the time) and all the drug related suspensions of September 2007, McMahon said they could never put a major title on someone who was at a high risk of being suspended because all of the creative team’s major storyline plans would have to be overhauled not to mention that it would set a bad example.

At the creative team meeting two weeks ago, Stephanie McMahon was the only one to challenge Vince’s idea of giving Jeff Hardy the WWE Championship, bringing up his own doctrine of a wrestler at a high risk of getting suspended receiving a major belt setting a bad example to the talent. Vince acknowledged the doctrine, but said in the short-term, his plan could work if Jeff handled the opportunity properly.

With WWE’s rule of publicly releasing names of talent who fail drug tests putting enough pressure on them as it is, strapping the title on Hardy isn’t going to make people say that they can fail a test with no punishment.

If somehow there is a relapse on Hardy’s part before his title run comes to an end, McMahon made it clear he’s immediately dropping the title as a failed drug test would of course mean the termination of their world champion because it’s would be Jeff’s third strike. McMahon said Hardy getting fired while champion would send the ultimate message to the locker room.

Labels: jeff hardy, Rob Van Dam

Posted by Matt Loede at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Following story is by Seth Mates, who was with the WWE and writes about how the WWE major Title belts were split

By the time I joined the creative team in July 2002, they already kinda knew that having one world title that went back and forth between the two shows wasn't working. There had been some hesitation to splitting the titles, more out of tradition than anything else I think. But as we developed the Stephanie/Bischoff general manager thing and really started giving each show its own identity and feel, we debated it and finally resolved that for the longterm success of the brand extension, it was probably the best thing.

So we sought to come up with a plan as to how to create a whole new title that had the instant feel and legitimacy of a world championship.

We threw a bunch of ideas out there for how to crown this new champion, and eventually came up with a plan playing off the fact that the Intercontinental Championship has been seen as the No. 2 title in the promotion, so perhaps we could crown someone a No. 1 contender for the current world title, and then have them face the IC Champion for this new title. Seemed that like that would give it some weight.

We knew we had 16-time World Champion Ric Flair in our back pocket as an early win for whoever this new champion would be to give the title even more pop. I also suggested we use the big gold belt for the new title (it hadn't been seen since around the time that Triple H won the unified title at WrestleMania in Toronto that year), since that belt has so much history and instant recognition.

Click Below to read the rest:
The story behind splitting the WWE Championship into separate Raw, SmackDown titles

Labels: ric flair, Rob Van Dam, triple h, wrestlemania

Posted by Matt Loede at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

The UK's Power Slam magazine recently interviewed Rob Van Dam. Here is what RVD had to say regarding his relationship -- or non-relationship -- with Triple H:

Is it true you had problems with Triple H when you worked for WWE?

Problems? I had problems liking him. I had problems feeling compatible with him on any other level other than the fact that we're both wrestlers. He would be one of the last guys you would see sharing a car with me. If we weren't both wrestlers, I doubt I'd have anything in common with him.

There were a few occasions -- Unforgiven 2002 springs to mind -- when it seemed like the perfect time for you to defeat Triple H. After he attacked and beat you down on the September 16, 2002 Raw, you sought revenge in a singles bout at Unforgiven six days later. A win there would have been a tremendous boon for you. Meanwhile, a loss for HHH would have done his status no harm at all. As it turned out, HHH won by pinfall. It seemed like he cut you off.

Well, I don't disagree with you. And that's why I'm glad my career is caught on videotape and DVD, so the fans can watch what happened in my career and say it all for me, like you just did.

You've nothing further to add about HHH?

When you're watching RVD TV (his online TV show), don't look for HHH to be in Rob Van Dam's house.

Labels: Rob Van Dam, triple h

Posted by Matt Loede at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments