With Extreme Rules on tonight, we’re looking for your input on where the best and worst coverage is for the show—anything that sticks out as particularly bad or good going in to tonight’s show, including live coverage or post-show reaction podcasts/reports that you find interesting. Send to Les@sheetsandwich.com
We’ve got our feature story up this weekend looking at some of the top free alternatives to paid podcasts, including where to go if you like Raw recaps, interviews with superstars, and why the Jim Cornette Experience might even appeal to some of you. We also cover why, for some, the best best will remain a paid source of podcasts for now.
We also have a brief look at the Camel Clutch Blog, which is quickly becoming required reading for anyone who likes train wreck wrestling writing. This is the site that recently pulled a giant coup by scoring Joe Babinsack, but also boasts a few other penmen I’ll be keeping a close eye on.
Don’t forget to check out our compendium of Extreme Rules predictions from some of the bigger names in wrestling journalism, including Dave Meltzer, Todd Martin, Pat McNeill of the Torch, and more.
Sunday News Update
** Wanted to make mention that, based on feedback on our feature concerning the best free podcast alternatives, a lot of people suggested the Fight Network shows, with John Pollock and Wai Ting in particular. You can check them out here.
** Here’s how Dave Meltzer summed up tonight’s Extreme Rules event in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
“The guy is if the stipulations add or detract from the matches. The last man standing match will add. The chain match is a challenge because chain matches are always a challenge, but even more so here with the limitations. The street fight will add. The cage match could go either way, but they’ve gone from the key thing being Orton’s quest for the title to a double thing involving whether Kane will go face.”
** He clarified earlier today by saying:
“On paper, this one looks good. The only questions are the finishes and where the new programs go from here.”
Keen insight, Dave. Thank you for sharing.
** Bryan Alvarez made an appearance on the Mat Men podcast, hosted by Andrew Zarian and Rich Stambolian. Nothing new here, really, with Alvarez basically parroting and rehashing all of Dave Meltzer’s opinions and news from the past week. Really cutting edge stuff from Zarian and Stambolian, though… before bringing Alvarez on they were discussing their great idea of having Brock Lesnar win the Money in the Bank when he comes back.
** Today marked another low in the steady decline of the daily updates at F4Wonline. While the plug to news ration increased (3,521 words worth of plugs vs 1,864 for news & results) the issue was that half of the news was in a virtually unreadable, microscopic 10pt Arial font. Boggles the mind how this can happen as frequently as it does.
** According to the Sunday news update, if Dave Meltzer had an 260,000 dollars lying around, he would choose to invest it in kids college tuition, retirement, or real estate—not ringside seats for Pacquiao/Mayweather.
** Second show in two weeks with Filthy Tom Lawlor talking with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer on the show, and adding an incredible level of fun to it. Interestingly, Lawlor’s appearances on the show seem to energize Meltzer to a level not typically seen much anymore on his podcasts, and actually help keep Alvarez focused, too.
** Lawlor’s last two appearances have many WOR Subscribers clamoring for him to become a regular, and rumor has it that Alvarez may be willing to pull the trigger on the deal in order to assuage listeners still stinging from the loss of Todd Martin.
** Following our report in yesterday’s update regarding the rehash of Dana White’s comments from John Pollock’s interview with him on the Fight Network being put behind the site’s pay wall, the story was made public.
** Of course, the 2007 interview with Vampire was also free to stream on the site yesterday, as well.
** Regarding the botch, customer service rep Ken Nida commented that, “It’s easy to mess up [the settings for] who can view something or not.”
** Hope to have a recap up in the next day or so on my first Wade Keller VIP hotline. It looks to be a good one on the surface, hyping an in-depth idea on how to shake up opening segment of Raw, how to introduce Sami Zayn and more.
** The Torch’s James Caldwell also has a VIP article on issues between Austin and WWE quoting four paragraphs worth of quotes from Austin regarding his t-shirts being taken off ProWrestlingTees.com from a recent episode of his Steve Austin Show podcast on PodcastOne. Bottom line is, Austin still denies he and WWE are at odds, WWE lawyers had issue with trademarks on the shirts, acted accordingly, and Austin had a conversation with their lawyers and everything is fine, the shirts are down and there are no hard feelings.
