Hailey's Newsies - Issue 79 - April 3rd 2010 - Huge Newsie!

Newsies will now be moving to Saturdays, so that at least the Power 25 can be for the right week.

Bret Hart Hat

WWE has released the very same baseball cap that Bret Hart wears to the ring.



Ezekiel Jackson Missing

Ezekiel Jackson was strangely absent from the entire Wrestlemania weekend down in Arizona.

While it's no surprise that a handful of wrestlers miss out on the main Wrestlemania card, it is surprising when a wrestler completely misses the entire weekend.

Ezekiel Jackson, the last ECW Heavyweight Champion, was not involved with any of the Wrestlemania festivities whatsoever.

Usually, WWE requires all of their performers to be around to help out with various functions. Some are sent to local businesses to promote the event. Others are used at autograph signings and other audience interaction functions. Plus, WWE has a new tradition where they'll reward these wrestlers with a spot in a battle royale that usually takes place before the pay per view.

The absence of Ezekiel Jackson comes as a surprise to many people.

When he won the heavyweight championship on the final episode of ECW, many were expecting Ezekiel Jackson to get a midcard push on either Raw or Smackdown. The thought was that he would then be elevated as a main event heel if he were to connect with the audience during the midcard push.

To see him not being utilized this past weekend could be a sign that management has changed their minds.


Wrestlemania Bidding War

A bidding war to host Wrestlemania is being waged by over a dozen cities.

When you're good, everyone wants a piece of you.

Word is getting out to community leaders that WWE and Wrestlemania are the hot tickets to help bolster the local economy.

Over the last three years, Houston and Orlando have played host to Wrestlemania weekend. During that weekend, the city received an increase in business by over $50 million each. When wrestling fans flock into town for the biggest show of the year, a lot of money is spent. It's been estimated that more than half of the people that attend the events are from out of town.

With that much money on the line, it's no secret that city officials from Houston and Orlando are desperately trying to convince WWE to come back into town.

Joining them on that list of potential hosts are Miami, Los Angeles, New York City, Detroit, Toronto, Tampa, Vancouver, New Orleans, St Louis, and Jacksonville. With their brand new football stadium, Dallas was originally a strong candidate as well, but the city had to back out because they are going to playing host to various other events such as the NCAA tournament.

It is believed that city officials in Phoenix are going to start lobbying WWE to bring Wrestlemania back as soon as possible. Official numbers have not been released yet, but it is believed that the city was rewarded with at least $40 million in revenue this weekend.

Atlanta will be playing host to the next Wrestlemania event in 2011.

Consequences Creed Released

Consequences Creed has been released from his contract by TNA.

Consequences Creed Released

With Wrestlemania 26 taking place over the weekend, everything else is going to be under the radar. Right now, the entire internet wrestling community is squarely focused on the events that took place last night.

However, that didn't stop some minor rumblings this morning about a potential TNA release for an X division wrestler.

It turns out that the wrestler being released was none other than Consequences Creed, who has been with TNA since the fall of 2007. TNA confirmed the release by removing his profile from the official company website. Consequences Creed himself confirmed the release via his Twitter account.

As of right now, the reason of departure is unknown.

Potential Reasons For Departure

With the official reason unknown, we're going to do what we do best as wrestling fans.

We're going to speculate.

Over the last 12 months, Consequences Creed has been nothing more than a bit player. Despite being ultra talented in the ring, the Georgia native was never given a push in the X division. He wasn't going to become a main event wrestler, but he could have been one of the better stars in the midcard division. Teaming up with Jay Lethal simply made it felt as if management did that because they couldn't come up with a storyline for either of these guys.

When Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff rolled into town, they immediately identified guys that they wanted to push. Unfortunately, though, Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal were not among the top priorities.

With the future looking bleak, Consequences Creed knew that his time in TNA wasn't going to last forever. He was either going to be released, or he asked to be released to pursue other opportunities.

What's NXT?

Hard to believe but Consequences Creed is only 23 years old.

That means that he's still young enough to get another shot in this business. It also means that he's still young enough to improve himself to the point where he can be a top star in the industry. Already, he's giving Ken Doane (formerly known as Kenny Dykstra in WWE) a run for his money for the title of "Most Talented Free Agent in Wrestling".

One potential place for Consequences Creed to land on is with WWE's new NXT division.

The division is meant to introduce new wrestlers to the WWE Universe. Since the majority of the WWE Universe has no clue who Consequences Creed is, Vince McMahon and friends can easily repackage him and tell the world that he's found himself a brand new wrestler. We already know what he's capable of since he was able to keep up with the other X division wrestlers.

If wrestling isn't where Consequences Creed wants to go next, then he has options.

When young fans ask about going to wrestling school to become a wrestler, they're generally advised to continue their education to have something to fall back on. Consequences Creed was one of the smarter ones who took that advice. While working for TNA, the 5'10", 205 pound star graduated from Furman University with two degrees (psychology and philosophy).

Unlike a lot of other wrestlers who get released from one of the big two companies, Consequences Creed won't have just one option.

Tila Tequila Hosting Raw

Tila Tequila says that she's in talks to host Raw.

During a recent radio interview, Tila Tequila informed listeners that she is currently in negotiations with WWE. If a deal is agreed upon, then the reality TV star will be doing guest host duties on an episode of Raw (rumored to be in late May).

Despite the deal not being finalized yet, wrestling fans are already critical of the move.

Tila Tequila has openly admitted that she does not watch wrestling. Nor does she know much about the product.

In the past, the best guest host performances have been by those that follow the product. Guys like Seth Green, Shaquille O'Neal, and Freddie Prinze Jr have been among the best guest hosts because all three guys are well known wrestling fans.

A model who came to fame through her immense popularity on MySpace, Tila Tequila is releasing her debut on May 11, 2010. It is entitled "Welcome to the Darkside". If a deal with WWE is signed, then the promotion will be centered around that album.

Raw Results - March 29, 2010

The following is a brief overview of what happened on the 29th March edition of Monday Night Raw.

Results

Good Points

Bad Points

Nasty Boys Released

The Nasty Boys have been released from their contracts by TNA after a backstage incident.

Wrestling fans are rejoicing today.

TNA has released the Nasty Boys.

Three months ago, the Nasty Boys made their debut in TNA on the special January 4, 2010 edition of iMPACT! The company, led by Hulk Hogan's wishes, had decided to bring in the veteran tag team to work a program against Team 3D. It was a move that was not well received by fans whatsoever.

Now, thanks to an incident at a company function, Jerry Sags and Brian Knobs have been shown the door. According to reports, Brian Knobs did something wrong in front of executives from Spike. With TNA desperately needing to keep their relationship with Spike on very good terms, Dixie Carter decided that it would be best to remove them from the roster.

Jimmy Hart, the hall of fame manager who was recently brought in to complement the Nasty Boys, has not been released. The belief is that he will remain with TNA in a backstage role. There's still a chance that he might end up being the mouthpiece for one of the midcard wrestlers, though.

The releases show that while Hulk Hogan does have a lot of power within TNA, the priority is still business.

Shane McMahon Skips Hall of Fame

Is the feud between father and son the reason why Shane McMahon skipped Wrestlemania weekend?

The Missing McMahon

For years now, Wrestlemania weekend always meant that you were going to get a healthy dose of all four members of the McMahon family.

This year was a little bit different, though.

Of course, everyone saw Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon. There's no two people on this planet that are more obsessed with WWE than them. They were obviously going to be there.

With Linda McMahon taking time away from the company to focus on a political career, there were question marks as to whether or not she would make an appearance. There were talks that she might avoid Wrestlemania weekend because she needs to separate herself from the wrestling business if she wanted to have a better shot at winning a spot in the Senate.

The face that was missing this past weekend was Shane McMahon.

Vince McMahon's first born son was not in attendance for Wrestlemania or the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Father vs Son

A lot of the wrestlers and employees were privately wondering if Shane McMahon was going to be showing up this past weekend.

Back in October of 2009, Shane McMahon released a statement informing people that he was going to be leave WWE at the end of the year. Having been with the company for 20 years, it came as quite a shock to everyone, both inside WWE and outside.

The official reason for leaving the company was because Shane McMahon wanted to pursue other interests in the business. In fact, the 40 year old was spotted in the Middle East earlier this month, trying to find some new media ventures at a conference.

When the shocking announcement was first made, there were a lot of questions being asked backstage. However, the frequency of those questions took an immediate drop when it was discovered that Vince McMahon wanted nothing to do with the conversation. It became a taboo thing to talk about backstage in much the same way that no one is allowed to ask about Randy Savage.

With his absence from Wrestlemania weekend, it appears that the friction between father and son has not died down yet.

Ric Flair Bar Incident

An incident took place between Ric Flair and Orlando Jordan's male companion.

Reports have surfaced that an incident between Ric Flair and Orlando Jordan's male companion at a bar where TNA wrestlers and employees usually frequent after the iMPACT! tapings. Apparently, the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion was disgusted with the guy because he was dancing at the bar that he decided to verbally abuse him. Witnesses have stated that Orlando Jordan's male companion was so shaken up by the incident that he simply left the bar. No word yet on whether or not Orlando Jordan was in attendance.

Recruiting Matt Hardy

Shannon Moore and Jeff Hardy are recruiting Matt Hardy to jump to TNA.

Recruiting Matt Hardy

In the world of professional sports, the players are not allowed to talk about players on other teams. Even if they're the closest of friends off the field/court, they simply cannot do so. That's considered tampering.

In pro wrestling, though, there are no such rules.

If there were, Jeff Hardy and Shannon Moore would have gotten TNA into so much trouble with their recent comments on Twitter.

The smart guess is that "Ace" is referring to WWE vice president John Laurinaitus, who happens to be in charge of talent relations for Vince McMahon.

Jeff Hardy's comment seems to be a response to an earlier comment by Matt Hardy, who basically was telling fans that his brother would return to WWE once he got his life back together.

These are just the public comments that have been made. Imagine the private conversations that they on a regular basis.

Childhood Dreams

The appeal of jumping to TNA has to be quite strong for Matt Hardy.

While it's true that he still enjoys working for WWE tremendously, deep down, he has to know that he only has a small window of opportunity because age catches up to him. In WWE, it's highly unlikely for him to ever be pushed into the main event title scene. TNA has expanded their roster quite a bit over the last few years, but they're more likely to give him a chance. Just ask Christian.

Another big reason to join TNA, though, would be to fulfill a childhood dream.

Back when they were younger, Matt Hardy and the fellows all grew up wanting to be professional wrestlers. They've been dreaming about this since they were teenagers. They even had their own wrestling promotion called OMEGA.

TNA is more in tuned with the internet wrestling community than WWE is. If Matt Hardy does make the jump, then there's a very good chance that they would capitalize on the real life friendship and put him together with his boys. Jeff Hardy and Shannon Moore are already there. Gregory Helms was recently released and has been rumored to be on TNA's radar. Those three guys were recently seen together at a UFC event.

Imagine a stable with Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Shannon Moore, and Gregory Helms.

That would be more than enough for TNA to create a buzz within the internet wrestling community. There's bound to be a handful of WWE loyalists who will start watching TNA as well once they hear rumors that the stable was created.

Great Khali Taking Time Off

The Great Khali will be taking some time off.

Shortly after Wrestlemania 26, the Great Khali informed his coworkers that he was going to be taking some time off and heading back to India for a bit. The belief is that management is willing to approve his request for a break for a couple of reasons.

Shawn Michaels Hat

WWE has released a brand new baseball cap for Shawn Michaels called Pericardium.



Mr McMahon Retires

Wrestling fans will no longer get to see Mr McMahon on television.

Mr McMahon Retires

One of the biggest heels of all time has decided to retire.

According to backstage sources, Vince McMahon has decided to retire his on-screen character that he's had for approximately 13 years now. The Mr McMahon character was considered to be one of the best heels of all time.

The character was essentially created because of real life heat that Vince McMahon had from the wrestlers and the fans back in the fall of 1997 when he screwed over Bret Hart in front of a worldwide audience. From there, the character reached even greater heights when he feuded with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who was easily one of the most popular wrestlers of all time.

With Bret Hart returning to WWE this year, it was the perfect opportunity to end the character with the person that it started with. When the Hart family all assaulted Mr McMahon at Wrestlemania 26, that was said to be the final chapter in the character's long and storied history.

Vince McMahon will still make appearances on camera from time to time, but he won't be playing a character any more.

Not So Fast

Mr McMahon might just be leaving a little too soon.

When you're one of the best at generating heel heat, it helps others out quite a bit. When the fans hate you, they're naturally going to cheer for whoever it is that's on the other side of the ring.

Some of the best feuds since the Attitude Era have involved Vince McMahon. The reason for that is because he's a legitimate main event performer (solid in the ring, great on the mic).

With that said, there is one more main event feuds that Vince McMahon should have participated in before retiring the character.

McMahon vs Cena

A feud against John Cena is the last big ticket program for Vince McMahon.

It's a match that could easily headline Wrestlemania.

Vince McMahon has worked matches against some of his biggest stars of all time. He's feuded with Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Ric Flair, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin.

Well, John Cena has joined that list of top tier wrestlers. While a lot of people try to discredit him, John Cena is a legitimate main event wrestler that the company is built around. He's a draw that can also move merchandise.

A program between Vince McMahon and John Cena makes sense. It wouldn't even take a brilliant storyline in order to make it entertaining either. John Cena's character has been known to defend the audience and do whatever it takes to please them. He could easily generate some support by going against Vince McMahon for insulting the audience.

Of course, a program between these two isn't going to be without any complications. With half of the audience hating John Cena with a passion, they might be inclined to root for Vince McMahon. That's where the Chairman needs to step up with his near impeccable ability to have an audience turn on his character.

People have accused John Cena of trying to be like Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin. Well, he might as well do it by feuding with Vince McMahon.

Jack Swagger Wins World Title

In a move that has shocked the wrestling world, Jack Swagger has won the World Heavyweight Championship.

Jack Swagger Wins World Title

When the 10 participants were made official for the Money in the Bank match at Wrestlemania 26, Jack Swagger was among the many wrestlers who were going to compete for a shot at the title. However, he wasn't one of the most likeliest candidates to win the match.

Well, he did.

When Jack Swagger won the match, many people were predicting that he would become the first wrestler to lose the title shot after cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase. No one thought that he was going to win the title because management had seemingly gave up on and started demoting him on Raw.

Well, he did.

On tonight's episode of Smackdown, Jack Swagger surprised the audience in Las Vegas by coming out during the opening interview segment between Chris Jericho and Edge. After a short brawl between the two, Jack Swagger jumps into the ring, hits his powerbomb finisher, and pins Chris Jericho to win the match.

A stunned audience watches as Jack Swagger wins the World Heavyweight Championship.

Too Soon

Wrestling fans were still not done bashing WWE for elevating a guy like Sheamus to WWE Heavyweight Champion.

Now, they're focusing that very same opinion and debate towards Jack Swagger.

No one ever said that guys like Sheamus and Jack Swagger didn't have the potential to become a world champion in the future. It's just that no one thought that the future was going to take place a lot sooner than expected.

The very best champions in this business are the ones that had credibility by the time that they reached the top. Generally, you want to build up a guy's momentum before putting him on the throne.

Take a look back at history, and you'll see many examples of this.

Goldberg tore through the entire WCW roster when he made his debut. After each passing week, his credibility and crowd support grew. By the time he got into the ring with Hulk Hogan, the audience was practically begging for a title change to take place. The Georgia Dome erupted when Goldberg pinned Hulk Hogan to become the world champion.

The NWA planted the seeds for their future world champion back in 1988. At the very first Clash of the Champion event, a young Sting went to a 45 minute television time limit draw with then world champion Ric Flair. He had a lot of momentum at the time and management built him up for another two years before giving him the world title.

Batista was Triple H's sidekick in the Evolution stable for a good period of time, which gave him some momentum and credibility. When dissension arose within the stable, the audience started getting behind Batista. After weeks and months of teasing the babyface turn, the fans went wild when it finally happened. Batista had ridiculous momentum going into that Wrestlemania 21 match against Triple H. When he finally won the World Heavyweight Championship, fans were more than pleased.

Neither Jack Swagger nor Sheamus went through this process.

Salvaging Swagger

The trigger has been pulled, so now WWE has to figure out a way to make this thing with Jack Swagger work.

Obviously, he's going to need to work programs with Chris Jericho and Edge. Jack Swagger needs to work matches against top level guys or else the audience won't are much for him. Beating these guys would also provide him with some credibility as well. A program with Rey Mysterio would also do well for Jack Swagger.

WWE should also look into having Jack Swagger defending the World Heavyweight Championship on Smackdown as well. There are plenty of midcard babyfaces that he can beat in order to build up some momentum and credibility. Smackdown has guys like Matt Hardy, Finlay, John Morrison, and R Truth to throw at him.

One o the things that WWE has to avoid is to pit Jack Swagger against the Undertaker. Regardless of the fact that he's the champion, very few people are going to believe that he can actually pull off the upset victory.

While Jack Swagger has to prove himself on the mic and in the ring, it's the job of the writers to make sure that he's booked well to the point where the audience isn't going to turn on him.

Credit: WrestlingRevealed

Power 25 Divas

24 - Beth Phoenix
Although she was on the losing side of action at The Showcase of the Immortals, The Glamazon redeemed herself with a victory on Raw and a tag team win with Tiffany on Friday night.

22 - Maryse
The Divas Champion can not be happy with the result of Monday's WrestleMania rematch when she was pinned by Eve just moments after the bell rang, no doubt leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

21 - The Hart Dynasty: Kidd, Smith and Natalya
Blood is obviously thicker than water in the Hart's case and The Dynasty proved it by standing by their uncle's side both at WrestleMania and on Raw.

20 - Michelle McCool
Everything has been going downhill for the Women's Champion since her team won at WrestleMania XXVI as she lost in a rematch in Raw and alongside Layla in tag team action on SmackDown.

15 - Straight Edge Society: CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Serena
Losing to Mysterio must have been demoralizing for Punk, but he wants a rematch and is willing to put his hair on the line for it.

Almost Making the List
Eve Torres - With Eve pinning Maryse for the second time in the last few weeks, it seems as thought she might have the Divas Champion's number.

Credit: WWE.com