While my interest is currently at a low it still has some high points. The main ones being Punk/Bryan and Brock.
Source: The Wrestling Observer
UPDATE x 3: Here are some additional bullet points on how the Jim Ross “retirement” … aka firing went down yesterday.
* WWE is calling the Jim Ross departure a “retirement”. Believe what you will but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
* The entire thing stems from the WWE 2K14 symposium in Los Angeles at SummerSlam AXXESS. Right after the event, there was talk that there was major heat on Jim Ross (and Ric Flair) and both could be released due to it. Flair was pulled from a special SummerSlam cameo and they have no plans to use him in the near future.
* Following the SummerSlam WWE 2K panel, three weeks had passed and nobody thought anything of it. WWE sources thought things had blown over until this past weekend.
* The rumors of Jim Ross’ WWE future started back up again over the weekend and it was the topic of discussion this week at the TV tapings. There was talk that they’d be meeting with JR during the week and that happened on Wednesday.
* Jim Ross arrived in Connecticut on Wednesday. Nobody could confirm why he was there but there was a ton of speculation that he was about to be fired. Triple H, Michelle Wilson, Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon were the very select few people “in the know”. Everyone in Stamford thought “this was it” for JR as they had heard the rumors over the weekend.
* The release stems from Jim Ross “not reeling Ric Flair in” after things went off script at SummerSlam. It should be noted that 2K Sports were THRILLED with the media attention they received and were happy with the panel. WWE was the complete opposite and were EXTREMELY upset. They had something in mind and it went the complete opposite direction. It all stems from WWE corporate being pissed off and all the blame went on Jim Ross and Ric Flair.
* The company was especially pissed when Ric Flair mentioned Reed Flair’s death during the panel. They were also upset when Flair mentioned that John Cena was a “hardcore drinker”.
* The people who put on the event (2K Sports) LOVED what they got as we noted above. This was not a WWE event. 2K was thrilled with the media attention as they got tons of extra coverage due to how crazy things got. Stephanie McMahon apologized to 2K executives after the event and 2K said they were fine with what went down. There are many people rolling their eyes as WWE is extremely pissed and the company that was in charge of the event was happy with it.
* Things got pretty tense over the weekend as the Jim Ross rumors started back up. Many were under the impression he’d be fired once this week’s TV tapings were finished.
* The meeting on Wednesday involved Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. We’re not sure if Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were there but things ended with Vince making the final call.
* It all comes down to this – WWE was pissed that Ric Flair and Jim Ross didn’t represent the company in the manner they should have. All the blame went on the two of them and both are no longer affiliated with the company. It’s well known that you represent the company the way they want you to and Ross and Flair failed to do that in WWE’s opinion. The fact that 2K Sports (the company in charge of the event) loved what they got (including all the extra media attention) makes it even more mind boggling that WWE wouldn’t just let it go and ended up releasing Ross in the end.
More as we get it.
Partial Source: The Wrestling Observer
UPDATE x 7: There were some very unhappy people in WWE after the news on Jim Ross’ “retirement” (aka firing) broke. Some went on record as saying the stuff on TV has turned to reality. The basic gist of things is that if you represent the company in a bad way, you get fired for it because representing WWE negatively is “bad for business.” Many also feel that the blame should be placed solely on Ric Flair and not Jim Ross … but WWE’s mindset is that JR didn’t do enough to switch topics and move on when things started going off script. What was Jim supposed to do when Ric got emotional and was talking about the death of his son Reed – cut him off?! The company also feels Ross “wasn’t his normal self” during the panel and that is certainty debatable although Ross denies the claims that he was drunk.
…….. and for those who have asked or questioned JR’s departure, no, it’s not a “work” by any means. There are no plans to have him return and get involved in the current storyline. Several top WWE officials (Vince, HHH, Steph, etc.) were legitimately pissed off and have been since SummerSlam. It just took until now for them to do something about it. For what it’s worth, Ric Flair has been fired as well but he was never under contract in the first place. A Flair cameo planned for SummerSlam was scrapped and the ambassador role they wanted him to be in is off the radar as of now.
You can expect Jim Ross to remain classy as he always does in tweets, blogs, etc. There are numerous people who are quietly rolling their eyes at the entire situation though.
According to PWInsider.com, some cable companies, including Cox Cable, have been issuing refunds to customers who ordered Night of Champions and felt they were ripped off when the main event decision was overturned by WWE the following night on Raw.
The cable companies issuing refunds have not been limited to Cox, as some WZ readers have noted to us, so if you feel unsatisfied by the event, you are encouraged to call your cable company and ask for a refund.
I think both still have great wrestling. TNA has the better overall personalities/roster for my money. That said, if you missed out on the 11-on-3 handicap match, you missed out on one of the better matches of the year. I think it's safe to say that tag team wrestling has a good ground to stand on at the moment. Now what these companies need to do is make sure some of these tag teams don't just split in 2014.Used to be the biggest wwf/wwe fan when I was a kid, now I'm strictly TNA, some great 'WRESTLING' in this fed.
so why didnt the main event finish? :| no one got DQ'ed