The Milner Mat Report: About once a week I’ll publish the top three (or more, sometimes) wrestling stories that are on my mind. This isn’t to say these are the three most important stories, just ones I’m interested in. It’ll be about 25% facts and 75% my reaction to the stories. It will be mostly WWE-centric, with as much ROH as I can get, with some TNA tossed in. (Local indy shows I take in will get their own report elsewhere on my blog.)

With that preamble out of the way, let’s see what makes the cut this week…

Okay wrestling fans, I think it’s time to admit the obvious: I’m going through a major dry spell when it comes to watching pro wrestling. Sure, I’ll turn on Raw on Monday nights and Smackdown on Friday nights. I’ve even tuned in Impact (which I still keep wanting to refer to Nitro for some…obvious…reason) over the last couple of weeks. My Dad and I always make a point of catching Vintage Collection on Friday nights and I watch Ring of Honor on most Saturdays. However, the “Must Watch” aspect of most of the regular shows isn’t there. Usually I’ll be working on something while Raw and Smackdown plays in the background, and I head out to watch 2 Broke Girls and Mike & Molly with my folks on Monday. (This past week, I had a Heroes of Zorra meeting on Monday and never really watched the replay of Raw.) Even this Saturday, ROH may only get watched if there’s a break in the NASCAR All-Star Race.

I’m not sure if it’s the fact that the product is just not cutting it for me, or if it’s because I’m more interested in NASCAR these days. However, at least for this week, I’m going to deviate from my normal format and just focus on offering up some predictions for the WWE pay-per-view, Extreme Rules. Personally, I always thought that Backlash was a better name for the pay-per-view after Wrestlemania, since it seems as if the show was mostly the “backlash” (or fallout) from Wrestlemania…but I guess WWE Rematches from Wrestlemania just didn’t roll off the tongue.

Anyways, weird to think that it’s been about a month and a half since Mania. Heck, even the DVD/Blu-Ray is out…in the States. Canada has to wait until next Tuesday. Oh well, let’s see what WWE has on tap and how I think it might play out.

WWE Championship: John Cena (c) vs. Ryback (Last Man Standing): And so, with the Rock heading back to Hollywood and the WWE upper card pretty much a joke, the WWE decided to pull the plug on the “Ryback as face” movement and turn him heel. And speaking of heels, Cena’s started acting up on the WWE’s latest European tour.  Thankfully for WWE, Cena is able to go (which Vince better be praying his thanks to some deity considering what else happened – more on that below). The bookers don’t have to do much more than just pull out any Hulk Hogan Saturday Night’s Main Event match from the mid-80s and go from there.  JM’s Prediction: Cena wins, Ryback remains #1 contender because there’s no one else. The Internet marks b!tch!

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar (Steel Cage Match): For some reason, the Internet is united (wow! surprise! surprise! One opinion shared by the entire Internet Wrestling Community) in their hatred for this match. I personally thought their Wrestlemania match was pretty decent and what’s wrong with a good old fashioned cage match? If anything, it works on a couple of levels: 1 It speaks to Lesnar’s MMA experience – and yes, I know that the WWE cage is not the same as the UFC cage and 2. It’s not like Triple H would be out of his element in a cage match. See, marks, it combined UFC and WWE.  I don’t think it’ll be Flair/Steamboat but it does make for a decent slugfest. JM’s Prediction: Well, Lesnar won the first match and Triple H won at Mania, leaving them at 1-1. Since the backlash – see what I did there – is pretty heavy against this match, I’m guessing there needs to be a decisive winner. I think they want Lesnar in good standing to do something down the road, so give the nod to him.

#1 Contenders Match: Jack Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio (Last Man Standing Match): This was, of course, supposed to be a Ladder Match for the World Championship, with champ Dolph Ziggler being the third part of a triple threat match. However, Ziggler suffered a concussion and the WWE, deciding discretion was the better part of valour, pulled Ziggler and made this into a #1 contenders match. As much crap as WWE gets over their booking, this was a pretty good way to handle the situation. JM’s Prediction: Since Ziggler is a heel and Del Rio is a face, plus Swagger is probably due for punishment over his recent legal problems, I’m guessing this is an easy pick of Del Rio.

US Championship Match: Kofi Kingston vs. Dean Ambrose: Okay, where did this come from? Not that I mind. Heck it even makes taking the random  title change from Antonio Cesaro to Kofi KingoftheMidCardston make sense….well, sorta! (Note to WWE: Yeah, leaving one of your singles champions off the biggest show of the year is NOT the way to get him over…or rather more over than he was….in case you were too busy texting the Rock to find out where he was to notice!) It also means that the Ambrose vs. Undertaker/Kane/Daniel Bryan makes sense as well. Wow! See, again, better booking than the marks give WWE credit for. JM’s Prediction: Another easy pick: Ambrose for the win!

WWE Tag Team Championship: Team Hell No vs. the Shield’s Reigns and Rollins (Texas Tornado Match): And since Ambrose is winning the U.S. title, why not continue to the push by having Reigns and Rollins go over Team Hell No to pick up the tag titles. As I said, it’s a great way to continue the Shield’s push, plus it might break up Team Hell No, which is what we’ve been expecting. Perhaps the only drawback is that it highlights the Shield NOT having a World/WWE title champion in the stable. JM’s Prediction: If you can’t figure out my pick, you probably are too stupid to read this anyways.

Mark Henry vs. Sheamus (Strap Match): ZZZZZZ!!!!! Okay, remind me again, why is Mark Henry STILL employed? Oh yeah, he was part of the WWE’s Attitude Era so he has a job for life and can basically demand that anybody on the roster job out to him. Someone needs to tell Mark that he only has to show up once every year or so. Oh well, maybe he hasn’t got a reality show he can go hang out and get paid for and figures he might as well clog up WWE airwaves.

Funny thing about Sheamus: You’ll note the commercial for Extreme Rules they’ve been running on WWE TV. There’s a kid who’s supposed to be a young Sheamus (he’s got the latest Sheamus T-shirt, red hair and after the announcer says “Some people never learn!” they show clips of Sheamus in action!) writing out “I will not be extreme!” as a form of punishment in school. But as they open the commercial and pan across the classroom, if you look close they show an American flag…

Uh….I thought Sheamus grew up in Ireland??? Why would they have an American flag in an Irish classroom????

JM’s Prediction: Same as every other strap match in history. The heel goes to touch all four corners, not realizing the face is following behind him. Just before Henry touches the fourth corner, Sheamus attacks, beats him down and touches the corner for the win.

Randy Orton vs. the Big Show (Extreme Rules Match): See, this is the type of match that would have been perfect for Backlash. Big Show turned on Orton (and Sheamus) at Wrestlemania and so Orton wants revenge for Show betraying his trust and Show wants revenge for Orton not tagging him in and allowing him to get the victory over the Shield. Really, if you think about it, pretty solid if simple story. Doesn’t mean I’m willing to pay money to see it, mind you. JM’s Prediction: Randy Orton

Chris Jericho vs. Fandang0: Oh please, WWE. Do the right thing here! Don’t make this a “Well, Fandango go the win at Wrestlemania, so Jericho goes over here to return the favour!” Somehow, Fandango, at least in the short term, became hugely over with the WWE universe and it even spread to the mainstream.  Isn’t Vince always looking for a way to push wrestling into the mainstream? Well, Vince this is closer to that dream than having Drew Carey inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame or putting Snooki in a match at Wrestlemania! Of course, one could probably suggest that (a) Fandango was never over, his theme song was and (b) that’s probably peaked. So by putting Jericho over here, you’re sending a message to your ever-dwindling mid-card: No matter how big you might be, falter even a little and you’ll be jobbing to the nearest Attitude Era star. JM’s Prediction: It’s another win for a part-time star. Welcome back to Jobberville, Johnny Curtis.

ROH Champ Briscoe Makes Controversial Tweets

Remember about a month or so ago when I said how nice it was to report on a “feel good” story when Chris Masters made headlines for rescuing his Mom from being held captive? Well, this is the opposite of that.

This past week, Ring of Honour Champion Jay Briscoe took to Twitter to express his displeasure at his home state of Delaware legalizing same-sex marriage.

His tweets read as…

“The Delaware Senate passed a bill yesterday that allows same sex couples to get married. If that makes you happy, then congratulations!!!!!!

“… try and teach my kids that there’s nothing wrong with that and I’ll f**king shoot you”

After the proverbial crap hit the fan over this, Briscoe tweeted that…

“I feel very strongly about how and who should teach kids about certain things but I showed poor judgment by using that analogy and I’m sorry.”

Briscoe followed up by deleting his Twitter account approximately a half hour later.

Ring of Honor has responded to the controversy by announcing that the views of Jay Briscoe did not reflect those of Ring of Honor. Later, they announced that Briscoe would make a public apology at the next ROH show on Saturday and donate his pay from the next two shows to Partners Against Hate charitable organization, which was created to help prevent, deter, and reduce juvenile hate-related behavior.

So….

First off, let me say that I was a big Jay Briscoe fan (notice the tense of the sentence). When I first started watching Ring of Honor, Jay and Mark Briscoe were the two guys that really drew me into the product. However, this is where Jay Briscoe and I part ways and for the same reason “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and I parted ways a decade ago. It’s one thing to be a heel in the ring, but it’s another to be a heel in real life.

Obviously, in his first tweet, you can tell by the tone that he’s not happy about the decision. He doesn’t agree with the decision and that’s his prerogative. On a personal note, I’ll disagree with Briscoe on this. To me, trying to legislate against same-sex marriage is basically trying to legislate against happiness. (There’s a blog in there somewhere and maybe someday I’ll write it.)

But I think it’s the second tweet that’s gotten him in hot water with fans and Ring of Honor, basically threatening anyone who dares teach his kids the pros of same-sex marriage.

It may fit in with his “just this side of being a heel” redneck persona, but this wasn’t directed towards an opponent, this was directed towards life outside the ring.

And I’ll go so far as to say that perhaps had Briscoe phrased it differently, he might have saved himself a lot of internet hate coming his way. Maybe if he’d said “Just let me teach my kids whether this is right or wrong” or “Just keep teaching about this stuff out of my kids’ school,” etc.

Again, I’m not trying to defend him or justify his actions, but he may see teaching the pros and cons of same-sex marriage in the same light as many people see teaching about religion. That’s something best done at home (or in the latter case, at church).

And the fact is, he didn’t phrase it in anything remotely resembling those examples he gave above, he phrased it in the way that he did. And again, it wasn’t as if he said “If you wanna try and take this belt from me, I’ll f**king shoot ya!”, he chose a non-wrestling, real life subject in which to tackle.

And no matter what his views on the subject, he chose the wrong venue and the wrong mind-set to express them. And I think Briscoe is going to have to live with those consequences for quite a while. It’s all well and fine for him to come out and apologize but it would appear it was less a case where he realized the impact of his actions and more a case where ROH said “Apologize or forget working for us again.”
It’ll be a tough sell for ROH to promote Jay Briscoe as their World Champion. It’s tough enough for small promotions to carve out a niche and survive against the juggernaut of WWE. It’s even worse for one with a flag-bearer that has certainly turned many fans against him, not for his in-ring actions but for his real life attitude.

Dolph Ziggler Suffers Concussion

Out of the frying pan, into the fire for WWE. I swear, this is like the GM module of Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 for the Playstation 2 where no matter which roster you took control of, about four or five months in, half the roster suddenly went down with injuries.

In real life, Vince McMahon and company must now know what that feels like because, after dodging a bullet with John Cena’s heel injury (at least for now), they get hit with more bad news, as World Champion Dolph Ziggler suffered a concussion at this past week’s Smackdown tapings.

During the tapings, Ziggler interfered in a match between his “muscle” Big E. Langston and one of the contenders to his World Championship, Jack Swagger. Swagger and Alberto Del Rio were scheduled to be in a Triple Threat ladder match, with Ziggler, for the World title at the WWE’s next pay-per-view, Extreme Rules.

Initially, Ziggler suffered from some memory loss and a headache and was being kept under observation by WWE medical staff. There’s also no word on what the WWE’s plans are going forward with the World Championship match at Extreme Rules.

For the short term, if Ziggler can’t compete, the WWE’s best route might be to declare the title vacant and let Swagger and Del Rio battle it out. If anything, should WWE want to turn Ziggler face, this would be a great opportunity. Let Swagger take the belt and when Ziggler returns, he vows to regain the title he was never beaten for, etc.

But like the Cena injury of a couple of weeks ago, the long term issues is that, again a top star has fallen victim to injury and the WWE needs to overlook the “WWE Universe’s” relunctancy to allow anyone (save Fandango, or rather Fandango’s theme song) to get over and develop the next generation of stars, not just mid-card jobber to the stars.

Raw 1, Impact 0 in Canada

It was recently announced that Rogers, the cable company that basically has a chokehold on Canadian television broadcasting, has purchased The Score, one of several all-sports channels that airs on Rogers, and immediately announced that WWE Raw, which had long been airing on a delay, would start airing live as of May 8.

This has been a very welcome announcement to Canadian WWE fans who otherwise had to miss out on much of the WWE’s social media movement because they were watching footage that was 15 minutes behind the U.S. (Yeah, it sucked to read on Twitter that Ziggler was cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase the night after Wrestlemania.)

Meanwhile, Rogers recently announced that, as of May 23, “Spike TV will no longer be offered as part of VIP. It will be available as part of the following packages: Ultimate Digital Specialty and Classic TV Theme Pack.”

I don’t have the facts in front of me, but my guess is that it’s going to cost the average “wrasslin’ fan” a fair chunk of change to upgrade to these packages to watch TNA Impact on Spike. My guess is that TNA’s viewership in Canada is going straight down to nil.

Now, at first glance, these two stories aren’t really related…until you discover the WWE is a minority owner (I’ve heard the figure of 5%) in The Score. And suddenly, things become much more….I don’t want to use the word “sinister” so let’s go with “controversial”, when you realize that Rogers buys The Score – in which WWE has an interest in – and immediately gives Raw a boost in popularity by airing it live, rather than via tape delay and also announces that TNA Impact will now be unavailable to Canadian fans unless they want to pay a pretty penny and get a special package for basically one show a week.

Am I reading too much into this? And the argument of “Oh come on John, it’s pro wrasslin’ and the company only owns 5% of the network. They’re not going to do that much for WWE” isn’t really as valid as you might think. After all, The Score did produce their own in-house post-game show for Raw (Aftermath) and filmed similarly in-house bumper segments with the departed Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas. Obviously, The Score knows the value of WWE programming and how much revenue us “white trash” fans can pull in. If crippling TNA’s “impact” in Canada is what Rogers has to do to keep WWE happy, looks like it was a small price to pay. (And it helps Rogers out in the long run, because there are probably a few fans out there who will upgrade, meaning more money for Rogers.)

In the days and weeks since the last edition of Track Talk, we’ve had races at Richmond, Talladega and Darlington. Kevin Harvick, David Ragan and Matt Kenseth have all gone to Victory Lane. Denny Hamlin has returned. We’ve had penalties reduced to two of NASCAR’s biggest teams and we’ve seen fights on and off the track and even away from the raceway.

But even though there’s a lot to talk about in terms of current events, I want to tackle a subject that’s a bit broader, if less time sensitive: the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Now there’s a number of things I’d change about NASCAR if Brian France were to accept my resume and give me a job.

Much like NASCAR itself, I’d want to do more to even the playing field. I’d rather have a half-dozen cars within tens of a second of each other coming to the white flag, so as to ensure an exciting finish, rather than just one guy 2 or 3 seconds ahead of everyone else so that the last 20 laps are anti-climactic or hinging on a late caution to let the field catch up. Or, as was the case with this weekend’s Darlington race, half less than half the field on the lead lap by the mid-point of the race.

Also, I’d bar Sprint Cup drivers from racing in Nationwide. It makes for great headlines that Kyle Busch has won the five of the nine Nationwide races this year and I can concede the argument that having guys like Busch and Harvick and Kahne and Logano participating in Nationwide will increase attendance and give the Nationwide guys some experience racing against Sprint Cup drivers. However, with Busch dominating the races, not only does it overshadow what guys like Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon and Sam Hornish, Jr are accomplishing but whoever wins this year’s Nationwide Championship might as well have a huge asterix next to his name. Because if Regan Smith, the current points leader, wins the championship, people are going to look back and think “Regan Smith won the championship, but he only won one race. If Busch had been allowed to compete, he’d had won it hands down!”

Let me put it in terms that readers of the Milner Mat Report might understand. If the Big Show was in a battle royale with a bunch of NXT rookies and eliminated half the roster, but when it came down to him and Bo Dallas, the Big Show stepped over the top rope and eliminated himself, do you really think that’s going to do much to elevate Bo Dallas? No…because everyone’s going to know that Big Show dominated and then took himself out of contention. Same with the Nationwide Series.

And as much as both those points are important (especially that first one, which is also the most difficult to correct), there’s one more thing I’d like to correct, and that’s how the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is formatted. I understand that there was some backlash over how Matt Kenseth won the Championship in 2003, despite having won only one race, while Ryan Newman won 8 and finished sixth in points.

And so NASCAR installed the Chase for the Championship in which all drivers try to earn points to be among the top 10 drivers (plus there’s a wild card component where the two drivers from 11-20 with the most wins can make the Chase) during the first 26 points races of the season. Those dozen drivers are then entered in the Chase, which takes place over the final ten races, ending with the race in Homestead. Whoever comes out on top at the end of that 10th race is the champion.

I have a couple of issues with this format, but I also have a solution.

First of all, I liken the cut-off point of the season (before the final roster for the Chase is set) to the Trading Deadline in baseball. No matter how many players say “Well, there’s still a lot more baseball to play. Anything can happen”, you know that’s BS. At every Trade Deadline, there are buyers and there are sellers. Buyers scoop up the best-producing players, the big RBI guys, the solid middle relievers, the starters who are looking to crack the 20-win plateau. That’s because they have a solid shot at the playoffs. Sellers are doing salary dumps and hoping to score a few prospects that might mature into decent players a couple of years down the roads. Why? Because they know they have no shot at the post-season but hope they can lay the groundwork for “next year.”

So, if your team is a seller at the Trade Deadline, the team (and you as a fan) is just going through the motions, stroking games off the schedule and looking forward to an early off-season where they can watch the buyers get their chance to go to the World Series.

Now, there are no “buyers” and “sellers” in NASCAR. It’s not like Danica Patrick is going to send her #2 starter to Jimmy Johnson’s team in return for a couple of mid-infielders from Triple-A Buffalo. However, once the final race of the “regular season” ends, there will be about a dozen contenders for the Championship, and thirty-odd also-rans with no shot of claiming a title. And much like baseball, those teams and their fans will just be going through the motions until Homestead.

And this is where things could be dangerous for NASCAR. Now, if you’re a NASCAR fan, odds are you’ll watch all 36 races, to see if Jimmy Johnson, Matt Kenseth or Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will claim the title. Even if your’e not a fan of any of those guys, you’re still going to follow along because of your overall interest in NASCAR in general.

But what about fans who have specific favourites and their overall interest in NASCAR hinges on how those favourites fare? What about the guy who loves Greg Biffle but doesn’t care how Matt Kenseth or Jimmy Johnson does? How much of a risk is there that once Biffle is eliminated from the Chase, this guy is going to become less and less enamoured with NASCAR in general, and starts watching the NFL or MMA or the Yankees-Red Sox game that’s on instead?
And on a less drastic note, what about that Victory Lane on that last race at Homestead-Miami? No matter who manages to slug it out for 500 miles and win the race, they’re immediately overshadowed by who won the Championship. Jeff Gordon, who won at Homestead in 2012 said it best when he told an interviewer (and I’m paraphrasing here) “That’s enough from me; you want to go talk to the Champion!” And yeah, I’ve seen a number of times where the winner in Homestead is almost an after-thought. At best, he celebrates with the winner, having to share his spotlight. (That must suck if Homestead is where you win the first race of your career.)

Now, in many cases, people toss out a problem, a criticism, an “opportunity for improvement” and then leave, as if simply mentioning a problem is worth a pat on the back. However, I always prefer when someone says “Here’s a problem…and here’s the solution” and so I’ll do the same here.

I believe that the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship should last for the entire season – all 36 races. Let every driver have the entire 36-race schedule to try and make his way into the Chase. Not only does it give borderline drivers an additional ten races to either rise to the challenge or be left behind by another contender, it means that the fans of Casey Mears can cheer just as long as those fans of Jimmy Johnson.

As a plus: whoever wins the race at Homestead should be celebrated for winning that race, not having to share his spotlight or be overshadowed by the Sprint Cup Champion.
But once the 36 race schedule is over, tally up the points exactly as the system stands now. Let the Top 10 drivers be locked into NASCAR’s post-season. Since my understanding is that there are 43-44 teams who actively run in Sprint Cup, let’s let the “Elite Quarter” compete for the Championship and just to add some extra excitement, let the 11th contender be the “Wild Card”: the top driver from the rest who has at least one win. (Hmm…as of this writing, that would be #26-ranked David Ragan, who won at Talladega.)

NASCAR would schedule the race one week after the Homestead race, and would hold it at Daytona. The venue would bring the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule full circle and what track, save maybe Charlotte, would be more fitting than Daytona to host the Sprint Cup Championship Final. (Okay, we might want to work on the name.)

Having it a week after Homestead (or maybe two weeks) would give the industry, the drivers and fans a chance to really let the excitement build. Even the drivers not in the race could be in attendance to do press, give their opinions, sign autographs and move merchandise. The build-up to the race could take its cue from Speed Week prior to Daytona, with a Fan Fest, practice sessions and a Media Day.

As for the race itself: The starting lineup will be determined by the final point standings. If Jimmy Johnson is leading in points (as he is now), he’d get the pole while David Ragan would start at the back of the field. Those eleven drivers will race for 75 laps (enough time to need at least one pit stop), thereby ensuring that the team with the best strategy involving pit stops would be a serious contender for the title.

The winner would claim the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.

Now, even I’ll admit there are flaws in this plan. After all, should 36 races, each of 500 miles, really come down to a 75-lap dash? Would it be fair (to Flair) if somebody who wins five or six races loses out to somebody who won one race and made it to the Championship Final through a wild card? I would suggest it’s no more unfair than somebody finishing in the Top 10 in eight of the last ten races but having no shot at the Championship because they had a bad start to the year.

My Sprint Cup Championship Final idea solves several problems that I see the current system having:
1. It keeps everyone (theoretically) in the hunt for the Championship until the end of the season.
2. It doesn’t overshadow whoever wins the final race of the season at Homestead.
3. It gives NASCAR one final Super Bowl-like event that they could market the heck out of, giving fans a chance to get super-excited about the outcome.

And I’ll add one more advantage: By the time NASCAR gets to Homestead, even those drivers who made the Chase initially have been whittled down to where it’s one or two guys who still legitimately have a shot at the Championship. Last year it was Johnson and Keselowski, the year before it was Stewart and Edwards, the year prior it was Hamlin, Johnson and Harvick. Much like those fans whose favourites don’t make the Chase, this set-up means that every week, more and more fans will be less and less interested in the Chase, as their favourites are eliminated.

Take this scenario: last year Jeff Gordon made the Chase but was eliminated with several races to go. Sure, his fans could cheer him on to win the individual races, like the one at Homestead, but in the grand scheme of the Chase, Gordon was out of the championship picture.

In my Championship Final scenario, there would be 11 drivers with a chance to win that last race and the Championship, maximizing fan interest in the entire season and the Championship picture.

As you can see by the accompanying photo, I’m “borrowing” Jack’s office as I draft this general update on what’s been happening here in Glob of Thought-land. I know I’ve been kind of delinquent with my Milner Mat Report and Track Talk updates over the last couple of weeks. It’s the combination of not having a lot of wrestling to talk about, devoting my time to job-hunt related tasks and having bouts where I wasn’t really feeling 100%. Having said that, I’m going to try to get this week’s installments of both typed up tonight as I’m heading out-of-town over the weekend. (I do have three bullet-point for MMR and a thought or two to discuss at length for Track Talk.)

Meanwhile, what’s been happening here on Delatre Street, you may ask? Well, as many of you probably know I know have about five months of unemployment under my belt and up until recently I didn’t have a lot to show for it save about a ten to twelve failed applications a week. If you can believe it, I was even turned down for a job at (an unnamed book chain)…twice! Yeah, I applied to be a cashier…er, sorry, Customer Experience Representative and despite having the better part of five years’ experience with their sister store, (another unnamed book chain), they didn’t even bother to interview me before rejecting me. Oh, but it gets better, a few weeks later, they sent me yet another rejection letter. What? Was it there was of saying “Just in case you forgot we don’t want to hire you, here’s a friendly reminder.” I kid, I’m sure it was just a software malfunction or something.

However, before you think this is going to turn into a “Woah is me” entry, I do have some promising news to report. About a week or so ago, I took an interview to work in the marketing department at an area manufacturer. (I don’t want to give out too many details but if you’d like to know more, email me or drop me a message on Facebook.) I didn’t hear back right away so I assumed they had gone with another applicant and so I emailed them to say “Thanks for the interview. If you have any other openings, keep me in mind.” As it turns out, the reply was to apologize for not getting back to me (they had been busy –which is a good sign). I was still in the hunt, and could I come in next week to discuss further details.

I’m not putting the cart before the horse here, but I am keeping my fingers crossed…and am continuing to hit the job boards to make sure I’ve got as many applications out there as possible. Stay tuned.

Looking for something to do above and beyond my job hunting tasks (as well as something to add to my resume), I’ve become involved with a local organization called The Heroes of Zorra. Heroes of Zorra is developing a website that will showcase the stories of the men and women from the township who have served and continue to serve in our armed forces. There is a website in place right now (http://www.heroesofzorra.ca/) to give you an idea of the project but the revamped website will be unveiled during a ceremony in August.

I’ll be supporting the website activities through data input, providing background information and social media. You can follow us on Twitter at @HeroesofZorra and I’m going to create a Facebook page as well. (I’ll update you when the page is up and running.) Meanwhile, if you know of anyone from Zorra Township who has served or is serving, let me know and I can pass the information along.

(Update: You can find the Heroes of Zorra webpage at https://www.facebook.com/HeroesOfZorra)

I joined (is that the right word?) Netflix a couple of weeks ago. The irony is that Entertainment Weekly published a section on “Binge Watching”. Man, Netflix is great for binge-watching, although I don’t know that I’m following the rules of such a task to the letter. I mean, I’m not starting a series and just watching it straight through in one sitting. More like I’m choosing a series and watching it three or four episodes at a time (usually when I’m working on something) and polishing it off over the course of a few days.

Thus far, I’ve watched Square Pegs (Wow, I never realized how much they were parodying the 80s…during the 80s), the IT Crowd (a British show about IT employees at a corporation), the Guild (a series of webisodes about members of an on-line gaming club), and now I’m just about through the first three seasons of Archer (a very mature and politically incorrect animated series about a secret agent).

I don’t know that I’d “recommend” it to anyone but of the four, I think Archer might be my favourite. I say that I’m hesitant to recommend it because (a) what am I? Friggin’ Blockbuster Video? and (b) it’s definitely an acquired taste. Even if you get past the violence and gore and swearing and hints of animated nudity and references to fetishes and drug use and promiscuity and a flashback scene where Archer’s Mom mistaking a young Archer’s impression of Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit for that of Richard Petty…well, if you’re still reading this far and haven’t thought “Yeah, I don’t think that’d be appropriate for me to watch” (especially the last part) then you’re as screwed up as I am.

Yeah…dwell on that for a while.

But seriously, although I am tempted to dive into the Facts of Life (or at least the first season, when the cute girl quotient was quite a bit higher and included a young Molly Ringwald), I think my next TV marathon will be devoted to Mad Man.

I know there are movies on Netflix but I haven’t really watched too many of them. I did watch Thor, which was a fair bit better than I expected, about a third of Not Since You, and watched Friends With Money, with my folks, which sucked! There are quite a few movies I’d like to check out but it’s a matter of finding a couple of hours to devote to watching a movie.

I know most of you have come to know and love (tolerate with bemusement?) me for all my wrestling chat. However, I have to admit that I think the torch has been passed to NASCAR. (I know, like my white trash street cred couldn’t get any higher.) Don’t get me wrong, I still have Raw and Smackdown and Ring of Honour on and often think I should make a point of watching TNA Impact…only to forget about doing so once the Big Bang Theory is over. However, it seems more and more (and more) that while I’m checking Facebook and email, I’m flipping over to one of the half-dozen or so pages devoted to NASCAR rather than to one devoted to WWE. I don’t know if there’s just not a lot to keep me tuned in to wrestling as opposed to NASCAR or what.

(Actually, I think I may have just hit on what makes NASCAR more appealing than wrestling right now but I’ll keep that to myself until a future update.)

I recently visited my friend Paul, the editor of Shelf Life, to get the new issue. I’ll be working on the updates for the site over the next week or so. Even though I haven’t been able to read and review books as much as I’d like to (I have a stack of completed books I need to review so that’s another thing on my To Do list), I have been reading several really good ones recently including Lamentation by Ken Scholes. It’s the first of a fantasy series which caught me by surprise in how quickly I became swept up in the story and the characters. I also am just about finished A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland by Charles Lachman and just started the latest from Jeff Shaara (the author of Gods and Generals). I also need to finish up Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell which Kelly recommended I read and is really, really good.

I know there’s a ton more stuff I could toss in here but at over 1400 words, I think this particular entry is enough for now. Drop me a line on Facebook or email if you’d like to start the conversation about anything you read here. Meanwhile, I hope all is well with all my “loyal fans” out there.

The Milner Mat Report: About once a week I’ll publish the top three (or more, sometimes) wrestling stories that are on my mind. This isn’t to say these are the three most important stories, just ones I’m interested in. It’ll be about 25% facts and 75% my reaction to the stories. It will be mostly WWE-centric, with as much ROH as I can get, with some TNA tossed in. (Local indy shows I take in will get their own report elsewhere on my blog.)

With that preamble out of the way, let’s see what makes the cut this week…

1. Finally…the Rock Has Gone Back…to Hol-ly-wood!

This past week, we got a lot of mixed messages from the Rock and members of his family as to whether or not we’ve seen the last of Duane Johnson inside a wrestling, er…sports entertainment ring. While his Mom has said she’d like to see him wrestle again, his father and the Rock himself (via Twitter) are stating that Wrestlemania XXIX was probably the last match he’d ever have.

To paraphrase his Twitter account, the plan was for him to return for three years to “elevate” WWE, and considering he has three movies in theatres or on the verge of release (GI Joe, Pain & Gain and Fast and Furious 6), I’m guessing the Rock’s priorities lie back in Hollywood and not with WWE. However, his argument  that he “elevated” WWE or was actually “back” for three years is going to be a pretty tough one to get over. The Rock was back for a handful of live dates, a bunch of videotaped spots and less than a half-dozen actual matches. His promos were lackluster, he conveniently forgot he was WWE Champion – or even involved in wrestling – when he made the talk show circuit and who exactly was elevated by his appearances?

Apparently there’s a train of thought that “the WWE needed the Rock more than the Rock needed WWE” and that we, as fans of the product, should be eternally grateful that he lowered himself to making a comeback to “elevate” the company. To which I call B***s***! The WWE did not need the Rock to make sporadic appearances and put himself over at the expense of the talent WWE should be trying to develop.  I can list a half-dozen ”performers” from Kevin Nash to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to Triple H to Brock Lesnar to the Undertaker to Chris Jericho who are more than willing to come back and be pushed for as long as their schedules will allow them to be and then take off for a year or two, until such time as they need a quick pay cheque, an ego boost and a chance to promote whatever reality show/movie they’re involved in.

Do I think we’ve seen the last Rock “match”? Maybe. Do I think we’ve seen the last Rock appearance in WWE? Oh hell no. Not when the WWE’s tried and true method of getting the young talent over is to have relics of the Attitude Era humiliate them. I’m sure the next time the Rock has a movie to promote, he’ll show up, run through his ever-growing list of catchphrases and drop the People’s Elbow on some random mid-carder that was starting to show some potential, then head back to Hollywood. (What? The Rock wrestle? You don’t need to even wrestle anymore if you’re a member of the Attitude Era. Just think back to Shawn Michaels super-kicking the entire Nexus roster, saved Punk, on an edition of Raw….because you know, that’s how you get guys over, let them eat Sweet Chin Music from a retired HBK!)

2. Hogan/Sting vs Team 3-D

And since we’re on the subject of relics showing up to ruin any momentum that a member of the regular roster might be getting, it appears more and more likely that Hulk Hogan will be stepping back into a TNA ring to avenge the honour of his daughter, Brooke at an upcoming TNA pay-per-view.

For those who have been following along, Bully Ray (the former Bubba Ray Dudley, one of the few Attitude Era stars who has maintained a regular schedule and continues to reinvent himself to keep his character fresh) was leading the TNA charge against the invading Aces & Eights while winning the heart of Hogan’s daughter, Brooke.  But just when it seemed as if Bully Ray was set to be the biggest face in TNA, he revealed himself to be the leader of Aces & Eights, and claimed the TNA World title to boot.

Of course, while TNA was elevating Bully Ray into the top face in the company, they made a slight mis-step that other companies have made (more on this in a moment): they forgot to elevate anyone else…you know, just in case Ray got injured and there was a gap in the main event scene. And while Bully Ray didn’t get injured, they did turn him heel and with him now the top heel, there’s no top face with whom he can do battle for the pride of TNA, Brooke’s virtue and the TNA World Championship.

And so, I guess there’s no alternative but for Hulk Hogan to step into the ring on behalf of both family and company. Sure, it’s just a tag match with fellow legend Sting taking on Bully Ray and Devon. Keep telling yourself that Hulk! And it’s a dream match to boot…if this is 1997. I’m sure that this one single tag match will be all that is needed for Hogan to get his revenge on Bully Ray.

I’m sure that there will be absolutely no reason for Hogan to get a one-on-one match against Bully Ray…and I’m sure there will be no reason for the TNA title to be on the line.

Suuuuuurreeeeee!!!!!!

3. Cena Injured…WWE Screwed?

During the WWE’s recent European tour, it was reported, by WWE.com no less as well as dozens of other wrestling websites, that John Cena suffered a heel injury during a tables match against Ryback. Cena continued to wrestle for the remainder of the tour, but was booked in six man tag matches in order to limit his in-ring time.

As I’m writing this, I’m being told that Cena will appear in action on Raw, teaming with Ryback against the Shield.

If this is a minor injury that Cena can work through by limiting his schedule and appearing in matches that will curtail his in-ring time, it may be a case where WWE operations will not be hindered. However, if Cena re-injures himself and is forced to miss a lengthy period of action, then the question isn’t so much “Is the WWE screwed?” and more like “Just how much is the WWE screwed?”

This could net the fallout from the WWE’s inability to properly develop the next wave of talent combined with the Internet Wrestling Community’s dismissal of just about every young talent that was given a few minutes to shine in between commercials for the Rock’s latest movie, Michael Cole trying to put himself over and replays of whatever Brock Lesnar had done. Even coming out of Wrestlemania, there was a huge gap at the main event, what with 75% of those involved in the upper card leaving for weeks, months and perhaps years. Even CM Punk who, with Cena was the only member of the current WWE roster to be placed above the mid-card level at Wrestlemania, left a week after Mania to heal from some nagging injuries.

Although the Undertaker has made several appearances post-Mania, that really left Cena as the only main event face to be had.

And now he’s down with an injury, the extent of which is uncertain at this point.

And so the perfect storm of WWE not developing their talent, burying anyone who does try to get themselves over, having too many part-time wrestlers being pushed and the IWC crapping over what little effort is made to bring up the next superstar has resulted in perhaps the biggest void in the main event scene of any organization since the NWO-centric days of WCW. (And at least the NWO was around to cut a main event promo!)

Let me just state a couple of things right off the bat…

First, as much as I think the term is kinda corny, I am a member of “Junior Nation” and not just because I count myself among the members of “Senior Nation.” Despite not getting to Victory Lane much in recent years, Junior remains very much under the NASCAR spotlight and has handled himself well. This season, Junior got off to a great start and it seemed as if he might dominate and be en route to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. However, a couple of tough luck finishes dropped him from 1st to 5th but I’m still hoping that with the season still being in its early stages, one good finish might propel him back even closer to the #1 spot (currently held by Jimmie Johnson).

Secondly, I don’t want to be one of those fans whose favourite doesn’t win and so they whine and complain that someone cheated or NASCAR made a bad call or “Well, he only one because my favourite driver got a bad break! If everything was equal, my guy would have won hands down!”

However, while NASCAR seems content to step in and place cars, teams and drivers under a microscope after the race is over, they seemed content to stand back and let race day operations run their course, as was evident during last Sunday’s race at Kansas. Otherwise, what other explanation could be had for the allowing of Brad Keselowski’s damaged race car to run lap after lap after lap with a large piece of sheet metal hanging precariously off the back end of the #2 car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr, Ricky Stenhouse and Carl Edwards had the bad luck to be pitting when that piece of metal finally fell off, causing a caution to come out.  That meant that all three drivers, who had been running up front, went to the back of the field. For Junior (who finished 16th), it was his third consecutive outing that saw him plagued with bad luck and for Stenhouse (who finished 11th), it cost him a possible first Sprint Cup win.

Okay, maybe I’m taking a bit of a negative spin on this because I would have liked to have seen Junior win but would have also been excited to see Stenhouse get his first victory. Much like I am with wrestling (and readers of the Milner Mat Report know this all too well), I’m all for having younger talent come to the forefront whenever possible.

But I’d like to think that even if that had been Junior’s car that the piece of metal was hanging off of, I might have thought to myself “Maybe he needs to go in get that taken off.” As it was, the piece flew off and landed harmlessly. However, what might have happened if that piece had flown off and hit a car behind Keselowski? It might have injured another driver or caused a major wreck which might have injured several.

And so, my thinking is that if NASCAR can step in and basically destroy one team’s (Matt Kenseth’s) run for a championship because of a part that was two grams lighter than it should have been coming out of the factory, how could they not step in and say “Sorry Brad, you gotta get that piece taken off before it injures someone”?

Now, Brad Keselowski’s team had been hit with some pretty hefty fines and penalties earlier in the week and Brad was pretty outspoken about his displeasure and there was some insinuation that some conspiracy afoot. Perhaps NASCAR felt that Brad was upset enough as it was and didn’t want to enrage the reigning champion anymore by costing him spots in the race by calling him to pit road.

However, I think that if NASCAR wants to do all they can to ensure the safety of their drivers, fans, teams and staff, they owe it to the sport not to wait until Monday or Tuesday to step in and make decisions. They need to make sure that all 500 miles raced on Sunday are as safe as can be.

I know that track position and points are important but so is safety.

TRACK TALK EXTRA

Warning: The following contains discussion of religion that may not comply with everyone’s view on the subject. Please read at your own risk.

I have no beef with Keselowski over this. I’m sure that he and his team were thinking “Hey, it’s not costing us any time and if we come in to try and get this piece off, it’s going to cost us track position. If NASCAR isn’t saying anything, neither will we.” And to be honest, most teams probably wouldn’t have done anything as long as the damage wasn’t costing them speed.

As a matter of fact, I was tempted to write about Brad this week. Seems that he was the reason behind those good folks at Westboro Baptist Church protesting the race at Kansas this past weekend. You know the good folks at Westboro? The wonderful people who believe they’re doing God’s will by protesting funerals of gays and U.S. soldiers, along with just about anyone else whose views don’t fit their narrow-minded view of the world.

Now, as much as I’d like to discuss my views of Westboro Baptist Church’s views and how their God and my God are apparently very different deities, I’ll save that for another time. The reason that the “Good Christians” of Westboro are upset with Brad Keselowski is that he was asked, in a recent interview, about whether an openly gay race car driver would be accepted in NASCAR. Brad replied with words to the effect that, as long as you can win, you’ll be accepted at the Sprint Cup level.

So…apparently, out of this declaration of acceptance of others (you know, the kind of thing my God would have been on board with), Westboro Baptist Church’s followers went so far as to declare that it’s this kind of thing that is causing “idiot drivers and their fans” to be killed and maimed on such regular occasions and that “God hates Brad Keselowski”.

Again, my God loves everybody and doesn’t really want to see people killed or maimed, doesn’t hate anyone and is extremely accepting of all lifestyles. And I’m not sure I’d want to be a follower of a church (is that the right term?) that promotes hatred of people just because someone’s world view doesn’t match their’s.

And so while I’m a little on the iffy side of Brad Keselowski, NASCAR driver, (I might cheer for him depending on who he’s running again, but I appreciate his ability to speak his mind and not be a mild, politically correct talking head), my respect for him as a person has grown. Good on Brad for saying, basically, that “hey, I don’t care about your personal life. It’s what you do on the track that will determine if you deserve to be in NASCAR.”

It’s a view we need more of in this world, above and beyond NASCAR.

The Milner Mat Report: About once a week I’ll publish the top three (or more, sometimes) wrestling stories that are on my mind. This isn’t to say these are the three most important stories, just ones I’m interested in. It’ll be about 25% facts and 75% my reaction to the stories. It will be mostly WWE-centric, with as much ROH as I can get, with some TNA tossed in. (Local indy shows I take in will get their own report elsewhere on my blog.)

With that preamble out of the way, let’s see what makes the cut this week…

But first, a short note about the lack of an update… I wasn’t able to update last weekend. I was going to post on Monday but by Monday evening, it just didn’t seem appropriate to blog about wrestling and NASCAR. I figured we all had bigger issues to deal with, and no one was going to miss the Milner Mat Report or Track Talk for an extra week.

Also, I had planned to do a special update regarding Wrestlemania and Raw the following night. I’m still tempted to put together a “Raw Retrospective” at some point – perhaps this week, just to put the two shows in perspective.

1. Ryback Turns Heel

I have to be honest, when Ryback dropped the fall to Mark Henry at Wrestlemania, I was…well, maybe shocked is too strong a word…disappointed perhaps? I know that Ryback’s star seems to have faded since showing up in WWE about a year ago. After all, there was a point where, due to an injury to John Cena, he was pushed from mid-card Goldberg clone to main event challenger to CM Punk’s title. (See, this is what happens when you spend all your time salivating over returning stars from the 90s/2000s and don’t develop your young talent: one of your major superstars goes down with an injury and you have to press someone who isn’t ready into a role they’re not capable of holding.) However, my argument is that Henry’s time has come and gone and Ryback is over with the crowd to the point where he deserved a win which could have jump-started a push for him. It was also kinda strange that Ryback loses, then comes back, successfully hits his finisher and leaves Henry laying.

But, as it turned out, WWE decided that even a loss on “the grandest stage of them all” doesn’t mean you can’t give the guy a push as long as he comes out and attacks the WWE champion the next night on Raw, then gives a critically panned promo talking about how he was pushed down to the bottom rung of the ladder, while Cena was at the top.

I have to wonder about the logic of taking a guy who can get the crowd chanting his catchphrase at the drop of a hat and pitting him against a WWE Champion who is, at most, cheered by about half the crowd and booed by the other half of the crowd. I’m guessing you’re going to get some very divided crowds when Cena/Ryback happens, but I guess as long as people tune in and respond enthusiastically in some fashion, it’s all good.

I will say that Ryback should make a good heel. I think he’s got that BMF/@sskicker look to him that will serve him well in a heel role. Of course, they probably should have built him up in that role a lot longer when he first got to WWE. They should have had him coming down to beat up guys like Marella and Ryder just to make a statement. Build him up the way WCW did when Sid Vicious first arrived on the scene in 1990-1991. (Yes, despite what WWE and the Internet would have you believe, WCW did do a few things right back in the day.) Have EMTs wheeling guys out on a stretcher after Ryback beats the crap out of them. Build him up to the point where the minute his music hit, workers get a frightened look on their face. Then, when he faces Cena, it’s going to be a classic good vs evil battle.

2. Kevin Steen Turns Face

I suppose we knew this was coming, after Steen lost the ROH World title and walked away from a battle between SCUM and ROH. And certainly once Steve Corino hit the ring to interrupt Steen’s first address to ROH fans on ROH television this weekend, you knew how this was going to end. As it turns out, Steen is out and Matt Hardy is in as SCUM’s top dog.

As I have stated before in this space, Steen is one of those guys who I think will work best in a heel role. We’ve all seen heels who become so good at being heels that they develop a cult following that grows and grows and grows to the point where they’re more popular than a lot of the faces on the same rosters, so the writers/bookers decide “Hey, he’ll make us more money if he’s a face!” but the resulting character is a watered-down version of the heel. (The Miz is probably a pretty good example of this, although he’s better than most people give him credit for.)  And we’ve all seen faces who don’t get over as faces, so they turn them heel…except their motives are pretty shallow so people hate them, not because they’re good at being heels, but just because they come off as whiney little brats. (Shawn Michaels could have been this guy but he evolved into the Heartbreak Kid character. Ricky Morton was probably closer to being a good example of this.)

I think Steen is probably going to be a tweener, at least at first. He might be almost like Sargeant Slaughter was (or more correctly, should have been) in 1992. The faces aren’t going to trust him and the heels are going to be trying to destroy him because of the “difference in ideology” that exists between them.

I think Ring of Honor fans will accept him, however. After all, they were chanting “Thank you, Kevin” when he first entered the ring on this weekend’s ROH TV. However, it’s entirely possible that he’ll be more like Randy Savage or Roddy Piper, the heel who can keep his intensity level up even after the face turn. (There’s an argument to be made that both Savage and Piper eventually lost some of the intensity after their face turns, but they were still able to keep most, if not all, of their “IT” factor even as faces.)

3. Zack Ryder…Does Something

This past weekend, Zack Ryder posted a video to YouTube where, initially it seemed as if he was resurrecting his Z: True Long Island Story. However, just moments into the video, Ryder announced “I can’t do this anymore” and threw down his gimmicks (including his Internet Championship belt and foam finger).

This has, of course, led to a number of theories as to what comes next for Ryder. Is he changing his gimmick? Is he turning heel? (Joey Styles asked that question on his Twitter account.)

Remember what I said about faces who are turned into whiney heels? As much as I like Ryder, I think he’d be one of those whiney heels who people just boo not because he does heelish things but because they’d be bored with his act as a heel. Don’t get me wrong, I know that Ryder has been frustrated with his current role in WWE (he spoke to that during his final episode of Z: Long Island Story) and with good reason. After all, I think he got hit with the Hollywood Blondes treatment by breaking the cardinal rule of “You shall not get over unless we want you to get over” and after a short push to basically shut the fans up, he was sent back to mid-card city.

However, since I’m guessing Ryder’s next storyline isn’t going to be about how the WWE wasn’t pushing him enough, they’re going to saddle him with a very non-engaging reason for turning heel that no one is going to care about. Personally, I think if Ryder was smart, he’d play nice until his contract is up and head out to some New York state indies, as he has hinted about doing before.

Oh…and take Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and the Prime Time Players with him. They deserve better and sometimes it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond than bait in an ocean.

First of all, I’ve always like Kevin Harvick. In fact, I picked him to win the Daytona 500 back in February. The fact that he’s basically driving Dale Earnhardt’s car has always made him a sentimental favourite with me. But Harvick is more than just the guy who occupies the seat that formerly belonged to one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. He’s always been a strong competitor, the guy who knows when to make his move, leading him to be dubbed “the Closer.”

But this past Sunday at Martinsville, Kevin Harvick closed the deal in another way. He didn’t win at Martinsville, that honour belongs to Jimmie Johnson. He didn’t even crack the Top 10 at the finish. In fact, the praise I’ll deliver to Harvick has absolutely nothing to do with his performance from green to checkered flag.

Instead, it was what happened immediately after he, Brian Vickers and Danica Patrick crossed the finish line that made Harvick earn even more of my respect.

Now, I can concede the fact that with 43 cars on a track as short as Martinsville, there’s not a lot of room to be had, so sure cars are going to bump into each other over the course of 500 miles. Certainly, this particular race was no different. In fact, Vickers’ own car looked like someone had taken a hacksaw to it, ripping off panels in front and back.

However, twice during the race, Vickers slammed into Patrick.

Earlier on in the race, his bump of Danica caused Danica, in turn, to bump Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and sending him into the wall. Last Sunday was certainly not Junior’s day overall but I have to wonder just how much of a setback to a respectable finish Vicker’s chain reaction caused, and how much of Junior’s fall in the point standings from 1st to 3rd can be contributed to this. (I will concede probably not all of this was Vickers’ fault, as Junior was having a crappy day, but he might have been able to salvage some of his day had he not been involved in this incident.)

Then, as Vickers, Patrick and Harvick raced for positions 11-13 out of the final corner, Vickers again nudged Patrick out of the way to take the position. In seeing that, Harvick must have decided enough was enough and that it was time for a gentleman to do what had to be done. After crossing the finish line and waiting for Patrick to get clear, he took a page out of Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s own book and tapped the back bumper of Vickers, causing the #55 car to spin out. It wouldn’t cost Vickers his 11th spot finish, but it certainly expressed Harvick’s displeasure at Vickers’ driving style. To borrow another quote from the “Intimidator”, Harvick was just trying to “rattle his cage.”

Of course, after the race, Vickers expressed his own displeasure at Harvick’s ”intentional” bump. Of course it was intentional. Harvick took note of Vickers’ erratic driving style throughout the race and gave him a shove as a little non-verbal communication that he need to “shape up or ship out”.

To me, there’s nothing wrong with playing policeman with your fellow drivers under the right circumstances. This wasn’t Gordon trying to wreck Bowyer at Phoenix or Logano slamming into Hamlin, both of which took place at high speeds in a situation where someone else could have been hurt. Harvick waited until the race – at NASCAR’s slowest track – was over, and even going so far as to wait until Danica was past Vickers, and turned Vickers at a time where the already beat-up car wouldn’t even lose track position. It wasn’t even that Harvick was trying to muscle his way by Vickers to pick up a spot.

This was, plain and simple, Kevin Harvick’s way of reacting to the wrong he saw being perpetrated on the race track. He saw an aggressive driver who repeated slammed into the car of a rookie driver and so Harvick decided to give Vickers a taste of his own medicine. Harvick wasn’t the bully who picked on a youngster; he was the older kid who wasn’t going to stand by and let the youngster get picked on. He wasn’t going to beat up the bully but he was going to give the bully a shove as they passed in the hallway to send a message: I’m watching you and I won’t tolerate that kinda behaviour!

Good for Harvick!

…And for that matter, good for Danica. I haven’t written anything with regards to this, but I’ve been critical of her being pushed to Sprint Cup. Nothing against Danica, and she’s one of the drivers I cheer for, but I think she was pushed too quickly to the top Cup level so that NASCAR could use her as a marketing tool. I think she would have been far better off to have spent a couple of full years at Nationwide, allowing her to become more comfortable with stock car racing. Had she raced Nationwide until she was consistently gaining Top 5 or Top 10 finishes, it would have done a lot more for her career than tossing her into Sprint Cup and then having everyone express disappointment when she’s finishing in the low 30s.

However, having said all that, I think she proved a lot by her performance at Martinsville. She didn’t qualify well and had to go to the rear of the field because, I believe, of an engine change. (That happens to everyone from Juan Pablo Montoya to Kyle Busch.) She got spun out early and soon found herself two laps down. I have to be honest, my thought at the time was “Oh man…another mediocre finish to Danica’s day!” However, Danica battled back, got back on the lead lap and produced a good showing, especially considering it was her first time on a short track. I don’t think this necessarily means that she’s set to conquer NASCAR just yet, but it’s a step in the right direction.

With this being Wrestlemania weekend, I decided to do something a little different and present a video version of the Milner Mat Report. (Well, it’s more just me talking with the Milner Mat Report logo on the screen.) With so much more happening this weekend than JUST Wrestlemania, I broke my video report up into two parts, with the first focusing on other shows, including offerings from ROH, TNA, Pro Wrestling Syndicate and Evolve, and the second touching on a couple of other shows (Shimmer and Dragon Gate) and my Wrestlemania Predictions.

Since this is my first attempt at a “video column”, I’ll ask you to not expect WWE-calibre video production but hopefully it’s not too bad for a first attempt. I will let you in on something fun. Make a drinking game out of every time I say “Uhmmmm…” and I guarantee you’ll be falling down drunk within 5 minutes…

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es6za3QL9CM

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqAXAnWGFHM

Canadian Pro Wrestling (CPW) held another show in Woodstock a couple of weeks back, of which I was in attendance. I have to be honest, as good as CPW shows have been in the past, this one seemed to be lacking something and I have to be honest, I think it was the crowd. It took a lot to get them into the show (unless you count the moronic ”What? What?” chants during all the promos). The workers were putting on good matches, but they weren’t getting much response.

Shawn Spears works Supremo Fantastic over in the corner in the opener.

Shawn Spears took on Supremo Fantastico in the opener. Spears is great as a heel but he was getting shat on, not because people were hating him as a heel, but just to be jack@sses. (Again, every time Spears paused, some idiot had to chant “What?”) I know Spears is a great heel and should have been able to really get the crowd into the opener, but he deserves to be higher up on the card. Fantastico is a good face, and appeals to the younger crowd, but he’s probably well-suited to an opener.

One funny moment was, after Fantastico got under Spears’ skin with his dancing (including with the ref), Fantastico decided to get Spears to dance which he eventually, relunctantly did.

This match had a couple of faults to it. As I said, Spears belongs higher up on the card. Plus it seemed to last a couple of minutes too long, which caused it to drag in spots. It’s almost as if they were told they needed to add a minute or three and weren’t sure how to fill the time. In the end, Fantastico went over, which was even worse than putting Spears in the opener. I mean, it’s arguably one thing to put someone who can (under normal circumstances) get mucho over as a heel in the opener, but to have him job out? Epic Fail!

Courtney Rush makes her way to the ring as her opponent, Kelley Slater, looks on.

Kelley Slater took on Courtney Rush in Divas…Knockouts…Women’s action.  I know I’ve seen Rush before. For some reason, I want to say that she and Jake O’Reilly were a heel combination during the last CPW show in Woodstock.

Slater had brought some kind of protein concoction with her to the ring and she insisted on being able to have a mid-match training session and drink after the early going didn’t go her way. After a bit of a slow start, they did a series where both girls got near-falls, and Slater took command with a leglock. Rush won with a spear, but did a great job of selling the injury from the leglock.

I’ve said that there are some great female heels in the Southwestern Ontario indies, but Slater just wasn’t doing it for me. But then again, no matter what she was doing, the crowd wasn’t appreciative.

John Greed slams Psycho Mike during their Triple Threat match.

There is a Heavyweight Title Tournament underway in CPW and the show included a Triple Threat Match that was part of the tournament. Tornado, John Greed (which I only know his name from going to the CPW Facebook page…sounded like Reed or Reeve to me) and Psycho Mike were the three combatants. Psycho Mike is great (he was the guy who, after losing a match at the last Woodstock show, walked away and yelled “Yah! Second place!”) and I’m glad they turned him face. I understand his character would work as a heel, but yeah, I think he’s better as a face.

With Greed and Tornado being heels, this match was a 2 on 1 for the first half. Of course, after a while, this makeshift heel team started arguing about who was to get the pinfall, and there was some miscommunication on double-team moves. One funny bit was the two of them setting up Mike in a “Hart Attack” maneuver and each claiming “I’m Anvil” in a Team Hell No-like bit.

As much as the crowd was flat for most of the show, they really started getting into this one. In the end, after Mike had Greed down for the cover, Tornado came in and threw Mike off and took the cover himself. That result kinda surprised me because, again, Mike was probably the most over guy in the match. The only thing is that perhaps their rationale was to have at least a heel or two advance to the finals.

After the match, Greed came to, saw himself the only person in the ring and thought he should be declared the winner.

Cody Deaner and Tyler Tirva battle in their CPW match.

The last match before the break was “Tricked Out” Tyler Tirva and Cody Deaner. Tirva, fooled us during his promo by teasing us with a pseudo-face promo, talking about being from Woodstock, only to start badmouthing the area and cement his heeldom for the night.

I swear, Deaner and Tirva are set to be the Flair-Rhodes of Southwestern Ontario pro wrestling. Not that that’s a bad thing, since this is now the third match I’ve seen them have and while this might have been the weakest of the three, it was still pretty good. And not to keep harping on this, but it did what very few other matches could do, get the crowd into it.

The psychology was that Tirva wanted to wrestle, but Deaner wanted to fight, with his goal being to hit the DDT. The knock against Deaner is that he keeps doing this bit where he beats down Tirva, then sets up for the DDT, but looks to the crowd and asks if they want to see the DDT, and waits for them to reply. But then, when he goes to hit the move, his opponent either backs him into the corner or slips out of the move. Once a match is one thing – you know, you build to it and then hit the false ending - but three and four times a match is a bit much.

The ending to this match was similar to Santana-Savage in that Deaner went for a back suplex, but Tirva used a foreign object to get the KO and seemingly the pinfall. However, as Tirva was celebrating his win, the object fell out and the ref saw it and restarted the match. Tirva and the ref were arguing, and the ref pushed Tirva (sorta) into Deaner’s DDT for a Cody Deaner victory.

Tyson Dux prepares to toss “Action” Jackson off the turnbuckle.

At that point, they announced a 15 minute break and, as usual with CPW, they kept it right to the 15 minute mark. (Gotta give props to CPW for their punctuality. Their shows always start within about five minutes of their advertised bell time and their intermissions are always kept to an acceptable minimum.) Afterwards, the CPW Commissioner Sid Sylvain (sp?) showed off the CPW Championship belt and announced that CPW would be in action at Cowapalooza in August.

Abe “Action” Jackson (with his cool ‘fro) took on Tyson Dux (Dux being the second person on the card, next to Deaner, who I’ve interviewed) in the first match back. I started to get a “Fear the ‘Fro” chant going but other than one guy laughing (which I appreciated), it didn’t get much response. But then, as good as this match was, the crowd really didn’t get into it as much as they should have.  Dux won with a nasty looking Attitude Adjustment-type move into the corner.It occurs to me that Dux should work as a heel. He has the whole “Miz” vibe going for him, much like Tirva does. He works well as a face but I’m wondering if he’d be better as a heel.

Anthony Darko rubs Scotty the Body’s face along the ropes during their tag match.

In the following match, Anthony Darko and Jake O’Reilly (The Pissbeaters) teamed to take on Scotty the Body and Crazy Steve (dubbed the Schizophrenic Gentlemen) in a tag team match. Scotty the Body (who looked more like Sting than Raven) was all for “biting their faces”. They did a pretty good formulaic tag matches, with Scotty the Body playing the face in peril. Much like the Skater/Rush match, there was a lengthy series of near falls, before the Gentlemen locked on dueling submission maneuvers to get the victory. (I’d like to see a 6-man with Scotty the Body, Crazy Steve and Psycho Mike.)

Bolen expresses his displeasure to the crowd.

The Main Event was, apparently, to be Robbie McAllister vs. Krimson. However, “the American Menace” was a no-show and McAllister tossed out an open challenge, which was accepted by Bolen. If this was a last-minute booked affair, it was pretty well-done. Robbie and Bolen battled all over ringside, into the crowd and at one point, Robbie tossed Bolen out the side door of the arena.

Once they got back into the ring, Bolen got the advantage on Robbie but went over the line and drew the DQ. Afterwards, Bolen grabbed a toolbox from the arena staff and was set to finish off Robbie until Cody Deaner and the Schizophrenic Gentlemen rush the ring. Robbie recovered and hit a Pedigree Piledriver type maneuver on Bolen. Afterwards, all four faces celebrated in the ring.

Robbie grabbed the mic and thanked everyone for coming and announced that CPW would be at Cowapalooza and return to Woodstock and Ingersoll next fall. Pretty good show but it lacked something because of the crowd response.

The faces (Scotty the Body, Cody Deaner, Robbie McAllister and Crazy Steve) stand tall to end the show.