JIM ROSS: “I would like to see a series of SD bouts someday w/ Rey vs Kaval. Del Rio has main event potential. Just needs time 2 evolve. Cole helps SD.”

“Seems like I struck a nerve saying Cole helps SD announcing. Got my ass kicked! :) Just saying Cole makes me listen. Good or bad, I listen.”

JOEY STYLES: “Michael Cole is on SmackDown again. WWE’s three man pay per view announce team makes me watch with no subtitles. Now SmackDown too? Ugh.”

“Why does Michael Cole have 3 personalities for RAW, NXT and SmackDown? If a segment on RAW is horrible TV would Michael say so on live TV?”

Labels: jim ross, joey styles, michael cole

Posted by Matt Loede at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments

Word is coming in about a major backstage altercation that took place while the WWE crew was overseas in Iraq for Tribute to the Troops. Former ECW personality and WWE.com writer Joey Styles punched out former WWE Champion John Bradshaw Layfield, busting him open under the eye.

JBL is one of the senior members of the WWE locker room and has a reputation for being somewhat of a bully. According to several sources, JBL picked out Joey Styles to be the target of his hazing during the Iraq tour. JBL was messing with Styles all week, including calling him condescending names in front of other WWE employees and spilling a drink on him intentionally.

After a few days of abuse, Joey Styles had enough abuse and confronted JBL, who had been drinking at the time. The altercation turned physical and Styles dropped JBL with a punch to the face. Several wrestlers had to step in and break it up.

At last night’s RAW tapings, JBL was unusually quiet while Styles tried to play down the incident and did not want to talk about it. While some companies would fire an employee for an incident like this, there are actually some people within the company that feel Styles standing up for himself might actually score him some points with Vince McMahon.

Labels: jbl, joey styles

Posted by Matt Loede at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

If there is one thing you can't say about the last two nights of WWE TV - it's that it's been predictable. Who would have thought after two shows this week the top stories would be about William Regal pulling the plug on the main event, and an announcer who should have never had the position he had walking out? Like it or not, it's soap opera TV at its best, and it's something the WWE felt it had to do to make you want to turn in next week.

For the "true" wrestling fan that turns in to watch moves and action, these two shows have probably not been to your liking this week. The Randy Orton vs Triple H match that was pulled at the end of RAW was going along like no other main event on the show that I've seen since last years Shawn Michaels vs John Cena one-hour plus match in London, that easily was the match of the year in my opinion. I will say this though, pulling the plug on it like Regal did left me wanting more, so I can't blame the WWE too much for that.

We'll get more of Orton vs HHH at the next PPV in now less than three weeks - Judgement Day. The two will go at it again, this time in a steel cage, the first of many rematches between the two, and I am sure not the last that we'll see on a PPV scale. While Orton vs HHH is not a totally fresh program, it's a good enough one to get us through till we see HHH vs John Cena after he gets done shooting the movie "12 Rounds" and what is expected to be a stinker feud with the bland JBL.

On to last night. The "walkout" of ECW announcer Mike Adamle is currently being played as a shoot, but I think in the end it'll come out as a work. I am not exactly for sure what led to the walkout, but again, the WWE has been known in the past to be on the pulse of the fan base, and if they know that Adamle is that bad (and he is), I would not be shocked to see him get thrown into some other role, and have an emotional return next week of Joey Styles.

The bottom line with Adamle is that it's like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Right now within the framework of the company he belongs nowhere near an announcer table. Could he pull off play-by-play right now on HEAT? Probably. But to force feed him each week on ECW has been painful, and hopefully the company listens to the fan base that wants him removed from that position. If this was not a work, then I am sure they would have found a way to edit the final match with some sort of commentary. To have it go on with no announcing, only left you scratching your head, which is the effect the WWE wanted with it.

Labels: joey styles, mike adamle, randy orton, triple h, william regal

Posted by Matt Loede at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

Jim Ross is back once again with another blog entry. You can read the full blog at his official website. Some highlights:

Warrior vs. McMahon at WM25: I read on the vaunted Internet that the Warrior has challenged Mr. McMahon for a bout at WM25 in Houston next year. Certainly a provocative idea, that I seriously doubt would ever come to fruition, but it may be an idea that Dana White might want to explore for aUFC attraction. But as we all saw Monday night, as Monday Night Raw so abruptly went off the air on the USA Network, anything can happen in the WWE. Much like a grotesque car accident, one would have to at least peak at a Mr. McMahon-Warrior encounter.

Regal Staying RAW GM: So, Raw General Manager William Regal is not going to give up his G.M. Title which makes the current King of the Ring have a fair amount of stroke in the ‘rasslin world it would seem. If Regal is ever going to take his wrestling game to the next level, he may well never have a better opportunity than now. I suggest strike while the iron is hot because this sort of timing might not be replicated again any time soon.

Bret Hart at FCW: Natalya Neidhart, who we barely saw Monday night but is going to be special, told me her Uncle Bret Hart was in Florida and I just hope that someone will invite Bret to the Florida Championship Wrestling training facility to talk to the prospects. Few men I have ever known in this business have the vision and complete understanding of what is needed bell to bell as does Bret.

Joey Styles & WWE.com: Joey Styles is already making a huge difference at www.wwe.com and you don’t have to take my work for it just check out the site. It’s amazing what a bright guy with actual product knowledge can do in a role such as Joey has now. He too seems really happy with the way things are

Labels: jim ross, joey styles, ultimate warrior, william regal

Posted by Matt Loede at 6:34 AM | Permalink | Comments

Jim Ross posted his latest blog entry on www.JrsBarBQ.com today. Highlights from the entry included:

William Regal as King of the Ring: "KOR winner William Regal is arguably one of the more underutilized talents in the biz and even though Regal can definitely talk, which all General Managers must obviously be able to do, he adds a valuable element of experience and expertise to any bout in which he is involved. In the immediate future one has to wonder if Regal is likely to continue to be the Raw G.M. or will Regal focus more on his wrestling career now that the U.K. native from Blackpool, England is the reigning King of the Ring?"

Joey Styles' move to WWE.com: "Joey Styles told me Monday in catering, no jokes please, that he was really enjoying his new gig at www.wwe.com. Joey seemed to be the most relaxed and comfortable that I have seen him since coming to work at the WWE. Joey has already instituted several changes to the WWE website with plenty more on their way. Joe said he was now a "retired announcer" and budding corporate executive."

Howard Stern saying he would not vote for a President that watched professional wrestling: "Seems like a strange thing for Stern to say. Apparently, Stern has a very low opinion of the wrestling business. Now that’s irony coming from Stern, who is one of the last guys I thought would have an antiquated, wrestling bias."

Yesterday's Obama vs. Clinton parody: "Some wrestling pundits really slammed the "match" between the impersonators posing as Hillary and Barack. I am not sure what folks expectations were for this "contest," but it was, plain and simple, nothing more than a publicity stunt that did garner a great deal of pub the week of a WWE pay per view. The WWE made air on media outlets that would never mention the WWE unless there was a tragedy or a scandal. While the "match" was not my personal cup of tea, it did not last long enough to offend me and I sort of got a kick out of the ovation Umaga received when he came to the ring to put an end to the frivolity."

The Best Wrestler: "Just for the record….Danny Hodge is the greatest, living wrestler in the world….especially on this website."

Jr's Restaurant: "J.R.’s Family Bar-B-Q got a really nice write up in this month’s "Oklahoma Monthly" magazine that featured Oklahoma’s best Bar-B-Q joints and we made the list. I write this for two reasons….1. Because I am proud of our Bar-B-Q team and am excited about the direction of our fledgling business and 2. To give those "wrestling fans" who like to bash us for talking about our Bar-B-Q business more cannon fodder."

Labels: jim ross, joey styles, william regal

Posted by Matt Loede at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments

Mike Adamle is Truly Awful

OH BOY. I thought this was going to be a quiet week. No such thing, I guess.

In a decision that really threw everyone for a loop, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and Executive Producer Kevin Dunn pulled Joey Styles from the position of ECW play-by-play announcer, and replaced him with the indescribably amateurish Mike Adamle.

The reaction was immediate. Even those who never saw Joey in the original Extreme Championship Wrestling were outraged.

Adamle's performance was so terrible, it drew an intense reaction from even casual fans who couldn't possibly care less, and who were ready to take a baseball bat and smash their television sets after listening to his butchering of the program.

I'm not being overly hard on Mike Adamle. It's the old joke about Vince Russo going to WCW. Russo's booking did such damage to the promotion, people in the industry actually believed Vince McMahon sent him to WCW to kill the company.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article

Labels: joey styles, mike adamle, paul heyman, vince mcmahon

Posted by Matt Loede at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Source: PWInsider.com

Many within WWE were surprised at yesterday's announcement at the SmackDown/ECW tapings in London that Mike Adamle would be replacing Joey Styles as the full-time play-by-play man for ECW.

On last night's ECW show, Styles announced that he was leaving the announcer's desk for his new job as the "head of WWE.com". In reality, WWE employee Brian Kalinowski will still be in charge of WWE.com, however Styles will assume a "managing editor" role, similar to what Michael Cole used to do.

There is a lot of backstory to the whole Adamle-Styles situation. One of the main reasons Adamle is being promoted is that he's being paid a pretty hefty contract. Several reports indicate WWE is paying Adamle around $300,000 a year and officials within WWE (including Vince McMahon) felt like he was not being used enough to merit his price tag.

Furthermore, WWE has been putting a lot of resources into developing WWE.com over the past several months. Traffic has been declining month after month and the company has always been adamant about the site's potential and they feel Styles is the man who can help turn things around. Prior to working with WWE on the new ECW, Joey Styles was the co-owner of the original ECW website and news site 1Wrestling.com.

This is by no means a demotion for Joey Styles. He will continue to attend the weekly SmackDown & ECW tapings. In addition to that, he will also attend WWE RAW every night and will be sitting in on meetings with WWE's creative team. Management wants Styles to be aware of upcoming storylines and know what to emphasize on the website. He will work out of WWE's Corporate Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.

Labels: joey styles, mike adamle, vince mcmahon

Posted by Matt Loede at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments

It appears Joey Styles is no longer apart of the announce team for ECW. At the Smackdown/ECW Taping today in London, England, it was announced that Mike Adamle will replace Styles as the new announcer for ECW. He will announce tonight's entire broadcast along with Tazz. As of now it appears Styles will be moved to working on WWE.com full time.

Credit: Pwinsider.com

Labels: ecw, joey styles, mike adamle, wwe.com

Posted by Tymo55 at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

In ECW's Joey Styles' latest blog entry on WWE.com, he takes some pretty good shots (one has to wonder how true they are) about JBL and his work on SmackDown. here is the entry:

"This week's Most Extreme Player is former and, in my humble opinion, future WWE Champion, John "Bradshaw" Layfield. After being goaded out of retirement by Chris Jericho, JBL made the decision to leave the SmackDown broadcast table to return to the ring on Raw. JBL was the longest reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history, and has the potential to do so on Raw as well. In addition, JBL appears six times weekly on both FOX News and FOX Business as a financial commentator.

However, none of the aforementioned is the reason that I have selected JBL as my MEP this week. The fact is, myself and millions of English speaking SmackDown viewers owe a huge debt of gratitude to Y2J for getting JBL to relinquish his headset and allowing all of us to resume watching SmackDown with the sound on.

What an early Christmas gift! No more JBL cliches such as "Ballgame!," "The lights are on bright," "He smells like smoke because he's been through fire." Not to mention JBL's outdated sports references to everyone from Ben Hogan to Honus Wagner.

Just when I thought nobody could butcher color commentary worse than Ernest "The Cat" Miller did years ago, along came JBL, tempting me to drive my pencil into my own ears at every WWE pay-per-view. JBL spent more time talking about himself in his Foghorn Leghorn voice than he did talking about the matches he was supposed to be calling. While I have no doubt that JBL will one day be inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame as the great in-ring superstar he is, the self-professed Wall Street wizard will not be joining Gene Okerlund and Jim Ross in the announcer's wing.

While I don't believe that I am going to be inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame anytime soon, (if ever), I take comfort in the fact that unlike JBL, I did not force millions of our viewers to learn how to operate the closed captioning on their televisions.

I wish JBL the best in his future endeavors if only so I never have to suffer through him calling another match."

Labels: jbl, joey styles

Posted by Matt Loede at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments