I love baseball. I’ve loved it since I was an 8 year-old kid growing up on Long Island and watching the “Miracle Mets” of 1969. I can remember every player on that team---and I wasn’t even a Mets fan. Swaboda, Charles, Jones, Agee, Kranepool, Seaver, McAndrew---seriously, I could still name every one of them right this second. My favorite player on that team was the back-up catcher behind Jerry Grote, #9 J.C. Martin. Truthfully—I have no idea why J.C. was my favorite, as a matter of fact---he stunk---but, I still loved the guy for whatever reason.

 

Going back 45 years, I can still remember my first game that my father brought me to at Shea Stadium. It was 1970, and the Giants were playing the Mets. The Giants were my favorite team, because my dad grew up an AVID New York Giants fan when they played at the Polo Grounds. He remained l...

 

While compiling some news bits to discuss on the next episode of LIONS, TIGERS, BEARS, AND DIRT, I found an interesting tidbit on the (false) rumor that Eva Marie was going to replace Jerry Lawler as the host for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  WrestlingInc.com summarized a report from Dave Meltzer on the issue, and this is what they said:

 

“Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that many people were talking about Eva hosting the Hall that weekend and it appears the original story of Eva hosting was right but WWE just changed their minds and put Lawler back as the host.”

 

I don’t know any different, as I have no “sources” for this issue, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.  It does, however, point out something that has been written over and over in the past how the original...

 

 

 

First off, I want to state that I am not by any means a John Cena hater.  I’m quite the opposite.  I enjoy the man’s work and consider him one of the all-time greats.  Any criticisms I’m about to discuss are in regards to the way the John Cena character was handled on last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw.

 

I think it is a mistake to have Cena kiss the fans’ butts after they boo him.  For those that missed last night’s episode, Cena came out to a lot of heat from the English crowd.  The “John Cena sucks” sing-a-long with his entrance music was louder than usual.  Cena then proceeded to put over the crowd.  He mentioned how they are one of the best crowds in the WWE Universe, even though they don’t always “see eye to eye.”  He finished off the public suck-up fest by saying that he thinks London deserves to host Wrestl...

This morning I had to go to a dentist to get a root canal performed. I gotta be honest---I was petrified! As a kid growing up on Farmingville, Long Island, I can vividly remember going to the dentist on the corner and him absolutely BUTCHERING me with his root canals. I swear, I remember the excruciating pain as if he was sticking his sharpened instruments deep into my molars---YESTERDAY!!! The guy used to freakin’ kill me---a real hatchet job.

 

So, I went in there this morning like Joe freakin’ wuss. Literally I asked the female dentist if the chair had a seat belt attached because I was going to be fleeing my skin in a minute. I took two rounds of Novocain just to assure that there would be no pain. From there, after a good 90 minutes in the chair, much to my surprise . . . there was little or no pain. Yeah, I was uncomfortable wi...

 

Obviously, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet---especially wrestling related. Take it from me, a guy who was sworn to be meeting with, hired by and working for Lucha Underground, when in truth I had never even met the person who was almost guaranteed to be hiring me. That story was “created” when I simply visited the organization  six weeks ago to get content for my website.

 

HOWEVER---when you see a story surface numerous times, even though it may not be the “exact” truth, as many wrestling stories reported aren’t, there just might be some shred of credence to it. Since WrestleMania last week, it has been reported on numerous occasions, by numerous wrestling sites, that almost 70 year-old Vince McMahon . . . is just not happy these days. The first story circulated concerning Vinnie Mac and his anger with “Stone...

 

I got a bit behind in my NXT viewing the past few weeks, so I spent the better part of Saturday binge watching a bunch of episodes to get caught up.  I noticed that I get a better feel for the product, or any wrestling product, by watching it in bulk.  The biggest observation that stuck in my mind during this NXT viewing session was how different the in-ring product actually is compared to what I have been watching since I was seven years old.  

 

Those that know my tastes know that I prefer to see a fight in the ring.  I don’t want to watch ballet.  I don’t want to watch gymnastics.  I want to see two guys in a fierce battle.  I want pacing.  I want selling.  I want strategy.  I want characters.  I want drama.  Most importantly, I want it to look realistic.  Keep in mind, these are my preferences.  If you totally disagree...

 

 

(This column is dedicated to my friend Chris Kanyon, who passed away five years ago today. I miss his heart and soul. Peace forever with you my friend). 

 

Here’s how huge my ego is---I’m telling the entire social media universe right now---that I CRY AT CONCERTS. Yeah, it’s a real, strange thing. Doesn’t matter who it is—RiRi, Neil Diamond The D . . . I sob at them all. Went to see Fleetwood Mac with my wife Amy last night---cried like an infant. Lost it all during Everywhere. Now, I know that’s my daughter Annie’s favorite “Mac” song, but freakin’ tears? Come on.

 

How did this start? I think I have a small idea. When I was sixteen, me and my friend Chykirda were just obsessed with KISS---it was an absolute sickness with us. Gene Simmons was our GOD . . . at that time. I remember back in I think 76’ or 77’, KISS was playing three s...

 

• Chicago White Sox’s first baseman, Jose Abreu, is hitting a ridiculous .518 this spring.

 

• Shane Victorino will be the starting right fielder for the Boston Red Sox come Monday, which means that Cuban sensation, Rusney Castillo, is more than likely to start the season at Triple A. Not something that you wanted to hear if you drafted the blue-chip prospect.

 

• In a minor league game, Chris Sale, fanned 13 batters over 6 innings yesterday. Looks like that fractured foot is doing a helluva lot better.

 

• Oakland A’s center fielder, CoCo Crisp, will be out 6-8 weeks due to surgery needed to remove bone chips/spurs from his right elbow. In the past, Crisp could add life to any slumping fantasy team as an offensive replacement, or alternative---WHEN HEALTHY---problem---DUDE NEVER HEALTHY!

 

Good morning, all! It’s not yet 6:30 here in the Colorado Rockies, and I’m up and at em’ as I wanted to leave you with a blog prior to me leaving to San Jose for WrestleMania weekend. Man, just typing that seems weird. Even though I’m not “really” going to be associated with WM over the weekend, just being “around” it is going to be a little weird for me. I haven’t participated, or even watched for that matter, a Mania since 1999, and that’s an absolute shoot. As I’ve stated many times before---since Ed and I were heavily involved in the Attitude Era, I really haven’t been a fan of wrestling. Back then, I couldn’t even wait to get back to the office to view what we had done on Monday nights, but since, it’s really been nothing more than I job.

 

And, that’s sad---it just is. I never purposely lost my passion---I just did. When I fel...

 

I can’t tell you how excited and honored I am to be joining Vince here on The RELM Network.  Actually, I can.  I am beyond ecstatic.  Since August of last year, I have had the opportunity to be a contributing member to this wild ride called The Brand.  It is only going to get better from here.

 

For those unfamiliar with me, I do have a background in wrestling - but I consider myself an entertainment guy.  My content on the old site covered many forms of pop culture including television, movies, comic books, sports, and of course wrestling.  I’m going to bring the same enthusiasm for those topics here to The Relm Network.

 

One wrestling feature that I did for The Brand members on the old site was called the Daily Dirt Roundup where Vince and I commented on the usually ridiculous news and rumors that hit the dirt s...