Long-time fan of your website and your columns. I just want to tell you that I couldn't agree with you more about Jesse Ventura. When he ran for governor in 1998, I thought it was finally something exciting in politics. He ran probably the best successful third-party candidacy I've ever seen. He boasted his outsider credentials while attacking the establishment and promising change. I thought he had a bright political future. But in the end, he was no different than any other politician.
Once he got into office, his chief concern was making himself money. He used his governship to get himself media jobs and cash. He liked to talk about how he was bigger than Vince McMahon, but once McMahon threw some cash in his face, Ventura was at the side of his old master once again. Every time he opened his mouth, he said something incredibly stupid.
He likes to talk about how he "changed things" when he was in office and justifies his not running for re-election because of his wife's health. But the fact of the matter was he was so disliked in his state that he would have lost if he had run again.
So Jesse is back to do what he does best - running his mouth and whoring himself out for money. He's also become one of these 9/11 conspiracy whackos. He was on "Opie and Anthony" talking about this and the two of them and Jim Norton got into his face about it. Ventura sounded like a moron and the show labeled him their stupidest guest of all-time.
It's a shame his political career turned out the way he did but in the end, Ventura was just another politician.
Joe Davis
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KANE THEORY
I'm not a fan of super gory horror movies (apparently). I didn't bother to pay money to see "See No Evil" but when I saw it come up on the menu on my TV I recorded it. C'mon, it was on right after "The Descent" or one of those movies about a bunch of girls in a cave (there were like three of them that came out at the same time...) Anyway, it was on Showtime and I recorded it, and watched like five minutes of it and determined that it just wasn't my kind of horror movie because there was just too much grattuitous gore from the start. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I did end up watching like the last three minutes of it. And, from what I recall, some hot chick ended up killing Kane's character at the end of the movie or something there about. So, since WWE has invested so much time and effort into this "Is he dead or alive" malarky, isn't it entirely possible that there's a "See No Evil II" on the horizon or something goofy like that?
Afterall, after the movie came out initially Kane had that goofy gimmick where he carried a hook on a chain to the ring as though he thought he really was his character from the movie or something like that... of course, I can't recall exactly how that storyline ended - with Kane and the hook... But it seems like something WWE would do since all of Kane's promos for his own movie were worked as a character.
Sarah Knight
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RAW RATINGS DROP THEORY
Hey Wade! Great work on the site, as always. One other thought/theory regarding the Raw rating last night. Usually Raw doesn't have to go head to head against the season premieres of very popular shows.
On TNT, The Closer drew 7.8 million viewers, and Saving Grace grabbed 5.2 million. I did watch Raw because my daughter did; without her I'm probably in the living room watching The Closer with my wife. :)
Not THE reason, or even a big one, but it was unusual competition on cable for a Monday night, on top of the Home Run Derby.
Having said that, last week's show was abhorrent, and last night was good until about 11:02 p.m. ET. :-(
Rob Witham
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CENA-JBL SHOW-CLOSING ANGLE
I thought the finish was lame. However, I enjoyed it since we don't get stuff like that too often. It reminded me of when the NWO did a similar thing to Rock when they were feuding leading up leading to their WM match. I found that scene lame just like this one given what had happened with Hogan running a semi into Rock, but I overlooked how corny it was and just enjoyed that I saw something that I don't see too often and I felt that way again when JBL tried to kill Cena with his car last night on Raw.
Todd Widhalm
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LATEST PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #1039 (17 PAGES)
This issue begins with a cover story by Wade Keller who attended Brock Lesnar's first UFC victory on Saturday night in the semi-main event in front of a record-setting crowd in his hometown. Keller's BBL looks at Lesnar's place in MMA and in what ways he seems more comfortable than ever... Bruce Mitchell's Memo examines the dilemma of Chris Benoit and the Hall of Fame... Sean Radican reviews the two latest TNA DVD releases... In-depth coverage of the TNA Hard Justice PPV including Keller's match report with star ratings and the newsletter-exclusive Roundtable Reviews... Jason Powell's "Page 2 Buzz" with scoops and insider analysis... WWE Newswire, TNA Newswire, and ROH Newswire with insider news, big story analysis, and notebook tidbits... Plus Keller's reports on Raw, Smackdown, and Impact, the Top 5 Stories of the Week, and more....
