Fish Out of Water

In the 2004 elections the WWE invited the Presidential candidates, John Kerry and President George W. Bush, to debate in front of a live WWE audience. As you may have guessed( or remembered ), it didn't happen. This election cycle is a little different. Rather than debate, the candidates were invited to submit a video to address the WWE fans on Monday Night Raw. This must have seemed more politically safe because the three major party candidatates each has a video this past Monday. I must say, they were all out of their element. ...

To me they each seemed out of their element. The stream of catch phrases was a little annoying( one or two is enough ). I also feel that they didn't respect the fans intelligence enough, or at least whoever wrote the speeches didn't. Sure, the WWE fans like catch phrases - but only ones that they have latched on too from people who have earned the fans respect. I'm impressed that they took the "political" chance, but they still need some work.

It would be great to see how a former wrestler running for office would handled the situation. There always seems to be a rumor that Jesse Ventura will make a run, I'm sure his speech would have been much more audience appropriate. I keep wondering, "How would I have done it different?"

For a wrestler's perspective, here is JBL on Fox news:

Jericho Returns(?)

Well, there was one special return at Sunday's Survivor Series Pay Per View. As foretold by the ads for the event, Edge showed up and made his presence felt. But enough of that for now, today is the last day of the countdown to Jericho's return to the WWE. Since this is his 2nd Coming, let's take a look at the first countdown to Y2J!

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Jericho & Survivor Series

It's a stretch but since Survivor series is today I thought I would post a video of something Survivor Series related for today's Jericho Countdown post.

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...

And since we are looking at Jericho from the days of the Alliance versus the WWF/E, here's another humorous promo of Jericho and Stephanie during that tumultuous time ( ...Congratulations Louie! ).

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Next_Monday

Now it appears that the answer is clear.
...

It seems that with one week left until the big payoff for the "break the code" promos WWE has decided to lay their cards out on the table. With much clearer messages like 6_Days, 23_Hours, 33_Minutes and of course Next_Monday they have let us know that yes, it will all be revealed next Monday. With other messages like X + 1 = Y, J = 9 + 1 * and of course BREAK_THE_WALLS instead of BREAK_THE_CODE have let us know that yes, it is Chris Jericho coming back.

Maybe it is the heel in me, but with this clear communication being used to drive up live viewership, it would be awesome if it wasn't Jericho. The date is still important, but having anyone else come out would be a total swerve. It would have to somehow make sense, and it would have to be someone with a powerful persona and presence. The only thing I can think of would be the Rock, but I don't think that is or even should happen. He's got a decent acting career going on and he has enough credibility now to do some decent films.

All the smarks out there need a good shakeup. It would be better than when Test faked an injury to win a match, and the services of Stacy Keibler. They made it look real, with all the "secret signals" from the refs to the back. I think the doctor even came out. It was a thing of beuty. On a lighter level they could tease the swerve early on in the show with any other wrestler who hasn't been seen in a while. Then in the last half hour of Raw, have Jericho actually return and show us the truth behind the code, while having him take out this lucky wrestler who gets a massive heel push with all his signature moves. That's it, close the show and good night :)

When he comes back, maybe it will look like this:

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*Where's the 2 in Y2J? If they thought about it, which is a high probability
X + 1 = Y: X is the Roman Numeral for 10. 10 plus 1 is 11. 1 + 1 is 2
J = 9 + 1: 9 + 1 = 10 and there are 10 types of people in the world.

Biased/Edited Media

The following video shows a clip that aired on CNN's Death Grip:Inside Pro Wrestling

Now the WWE has been bit before by media agencies that edit what the wrestlers say so that it comes across more incriminating. I believe Mick Foley mentioned in one of his books how he should have had a WWE camera at the taping so that the true version could be available for people. Read on for the unedited version from the WWE camera. ...


In CNN's defense, Cena did say this in regards to the question. However, the reason he answered that was missed because it was edited out. Not to mention they did not show the first thing he answered after the question was asked, "Absolutely Not."

While I may have lauded John Cena for making it through his match with a torn pectoral muscle, I am not a Cena fan. As big as Cena is, he seems naturally built compared to a lot of others. Including, I'll admit, my favorite Triple H a few years back. However, the media is required by ad revenue to make stories more selacious. They need people to talk around the water cooler about the subject. This is just one more example of the requirement in this world to look past what appears to be truth to see what is actually there. To do this requires that we think for ourselves and question everything.

Read an excerpt of Jericho's new book

The WWE is running one of its most exciting (return) promos ever - The Code. All the buzz says that it is the return of Y2J - the Ayatollah of Rock 'n Rolla - King of the World - Chris Jericho to Sports Entertainment. Along with the buzz of his imminent return, something is missing. Chris "Jericho" Irvine has a new book coming out and there is no press about it on WWE.com. This is understandable, but still unfortunate. ...

It is understandable that the WWE wouldn't promote the book for 2 reasons. Number one, Chris is not an active wrestler with the WWE. With the mystery of his return still remaining a mystery, why blow it with even 1 appearance to promote his book. He can do that after he come back. Number two, and this is a big one, it is not a WWE book. This book is being released by Hachette Book Group, which I believe is a subsidiary of Time Warner.

I say that it is unfortunate that Jericho's book isn't being promoted at WWE events only because there may be some wrestling fans who might miss out on a great book otherwise. It seems to be doing well with whatever promotion is being put into it though. According to ChrisJericho.com it debuted at number 22 on the New York Times best seller list and has been number one in Amazon.com's biographies section as a preorder.

From what I've heard, it is a really good book for wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans alike. But now you have a chance to see for yourself. An excerpt from the books first chapter is available online. I'll leave you with a quote from the excerpt:

Originally posted by Chris Jericho:

Even as I got older, I was a firm believer that wrestling was one hundred percent legit.

Also, make sure to check out the article on Chris Jericho and his new book from What's On. In it he says

Wrestling was my passion and my dream as a kid and it still is. I still love wrestling and I’m still a fan, and I feel obliged to help the business out through trying times.

Does he mean to Save_Us?