Bleacher Report - Articles by Jason Richmond

Michael Irvin's Reality Show Just Might Work

Jason Richmond — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:50:02 -0500

We all know the headline about Michael Irvin’s new reality show. One man will be the 80th man on the Dallas Cowboys roster.

I hear the jokes. I hear the critics.

But in the world of reality television anything is possible. This move actually is very clever for the Dallas Cowboys. In a week where the football world is supposed to be talking Steelers and Cardinals, we have a story about the Cowboys.

But what does this mean for the other 11 members of the cast who aren’t on the Cowboys mini camp squad? Do they have a chance catching on with some other team? Could this show mean something for teams other than the Cowboys?

Let’s take a look at reality show successes shall we?

WWE Tough Enough/Diva Search

If you don’t believe Wrestling is a sport, I accept your opinion. But look for a bit at what these shows were trying to accomplish. It was guaranteeing a contestant a roster spot.

The Diva Search has produced 10 current members of the WWE’s roster and two of TNA’s. Plus Hugh Hefner has banked off the Diva search as three contests have graced the pages of Playboy (not counting Carmen DeCasare who was in Playboy previously).

WWE’s Tough Enough boasts five current WWE roster members and 2 on TNA’s roster. The most notable of these is Mike Mizanin, who was supposed to be a reality joke on a reality show. ‘The Miz’ was first seen on MTV’s real world and was perceived by many to be someone who had wild dreams about being a wrestler.

But now he’s making bank for himself and the WWE as one of their most successful heels.

American Idol

The most successful reality contest in history is by far American Idol. American Idol gives unknowns a chance to be stars. Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson…the list is A list in the music industry.

The list of awards are many….42 Billboard Music Awards,15 American Music Awards, 5 Grammys, 1 Academy Award, and many many others. You may not have heard of any of the above names if not for American Idol.

Others shows like Top Chef, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance?… Unknowns from these shows are now making money doing what they never thought they’d have the chance to do.

Am I saying Michael Irvin’s show is going to create the Carrie Underwood of the NFL? No, not at all. But before you write it off as a joke, think about the possibility that maybe….just maybe…..it might work.

What Is The WWE Thinking!?

Jason Richmond — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:24:10 -0400

Well the WWE better have something REALLY good up their sleeve.

The Main Event of August 4th's RAW was, quite frankly, very disheartening. It placed SummerSlam Opponents Batista and John Cena against the World Tag Team Champions Ted Dibiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes. The stage was set. The cocky heel champions against the face opponents at SummerSlam. What better way to put over the young tag team and build heat for the SummerSlam match right?

Wrong.

Instead of doing the one thing that would help everyone involved, the WWE took the opposite route. Cena and Batista are the World Tag Team Champions. Not only is this a recycled storyline from John Cena and Shawn Michaels late January of 2007, it totally killed the 16-month run over having the Tag Team Championships around actual tag teams.

This article is short and nothing special. A high percentage of WWE fans think the exact same thing I do at this very moment. What are you thinking WWE? Whatever it is…it’d better be REALLY good.

Top 10 'Non-Champions' of All Time

Jason Richmond — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:25:51 -0400

In this edition of ‘Ranking the Champions’, I am actually not ranking the champions. I am ranking those wrestlers in the post-Wrestlemania years who were NOT given a WWF/WWE Championship Belt of any kind.

This is a hard list to construct for a variety of reasons. First off all, it’s not like a ‘Ranking the Champions’ list where I can go to a list of champions and weed out who I don’t want and make my decisions from there. This one took a little research.

Also, I am ranking these champions as to what they did in and for the WWF/WWE. Some of the entrants on this list had GREAT success in other promotions but were never given a title run in Vince McMahon’s promotion. I weighed what they did while they were in WWF/WWE.

This list is EXTREMELY old school, since there are so many titles these days and three shows to choose from that a lot of the post ‘Attitude-Era’ wrestlers had a run with a title, mainly the Hardcore Title or some makeshift tag team they were in at the time. To my knowledge the people on this list held no titles.