The Ringsider – Jim LeMond
LeMond: Behind the Latest WWE Headlines!
Our ringwise analyst looks over some of the big stories that have rocked WWE lately.
WWE announced on Tuesday that MyNetworkTV will be the new home of Smackdown starting in Spectember. No details were released other than the show will remain in its two-hour format. It is rumored that WWE will push for the show to move back to Thursday nights, where its second hour would go head-to-head with TNA Impact’s first hour. When Impact has faced WWE (not including ECW) in the past, it has been slaughtered in the ratings. In the last week, negotiations had come down to MNT and WGN. The Chicago-based WGN has clearance in a little over 70 million homes, while MNT has clearance in well over 100 million homes. MNT is barely a blip on the radar to the general public, so really, it was a no-brainer for both sides.
On Wednesday, the Bobby Rush Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee held much-publicized hearings on steroids in sports. Commissioners Bud Selig (Major League Baseball), David Stern (NBA), Roger Goodell (NFL), and Gary Bettman (NHL) testified. Rush plans on introducing legislation soon. The media speculation is that he is going to push things closer to Olympic-level testing, with mandatory two-year suspensions for a first positive and all positive tests being made public. Representative Terry of Nebraska ripped on Vince McMahon for not showing up and made it clear he plans on having pro wrestling hearings soon. McMahon responded by saying he alerted the committee over a month ago he would not be there since lead counsel Jerry McDevitt (a terrifying man) was in court that day, and also noted he had provided over 3,000 pages of documents as requested. There was no mention of MMA.
Speaking of drugs, Georgia authorities are trying to put together a system to monitor prescription drug medication, as far as what is being prescribed and with what frequency. This is directly the result of the Benoit/Grunge/Phil Astin deal. By the way, at this point Astin is still only charged with overprescribing to Oscar Gutierrez (Rey Mysterio) and Mark Jindrak. Shocking.
John Cena ripped on Rock in an interview with UK Sun, basically saying if he really loved wrestling he wouldn’t have turned his back. I’ll bet he gets a ton of heat for that one. He also addressed drug testing, saying anyone who fails drug tests should be brought up on criminal charges. This coming from a man who tore his pec muscle off the bone and was back in the ring and benching 400 pounds less than three months later, especially when all specialists pegged his return at eight or nine months. Full transcript is at www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/article849554.ece.
Tons of media coverage on the Floyd Mayweather angle. ESPN has discussed it on Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, and Jim Rome is Burning. To make a long story short, no one knows what they’re talking about it as usual. People seem to either belive he is making $20 million (real number is probably about $5 million plus a cut of PPV buys) or think he won’t show up. Two minutes of research would show you that Steve Austin made $8 million as the biggest star of the biggest promotion in the hottest year of professional wrestling ever for the entire year. So there’s no way in hell a boxer is getting two-and-a-half times that for one match on a show that’s already going to likely be the biggest PPV ever.
Speaking of the Mayweather angle, this is Shane McMahon’s baby. He has pushed for some type of shoot fighter deal at every Wrestlemania for the last several years. Stephanie McMahon is going on maternaty leave in June I believe, and I hear Shane has been spending a lot more time at creative meetings of late. If the Mayweather thing is a huge hit, it could be an interesting summer with Shane looking like a genius and Stephanie out.
WWE announced they are increasing their quarterly divident payments to 36 cents per share for Class A stockholders and 24 cents per share for Class B stockholders. Vince is Class B, which means at 48,750,000 shares of stock (seriously), he’s due a piddly $11.7 million per quarter as opposed to $17.6 million. Hopefully he can manage. Remember this next time you read about developmental territories getting cut or guys having to fly coach or any of the other absurd cost-cutting measures that go on.
Big Show will be a regular on Smackdown after Mania.
Victoria will be opening up a customer auto shop in her hometown of Louisville before summer.
–Jim LeMond
jim_lemond@hotmail.com
(3/3/08)
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