It is no secret to wrestling fans that Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon have had some differences in opinion over the years, and that is a big reason why it took so long for Sammartino to accept induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. With "The Living Legend" now on good terms with the WWE, he and McMahon need to settle their feud once and for all.

Throughout the aftermath of the announcement that Sammartino will be a part of the WWE's 2013 Hall of Fame class, it has been widely reported that Triple H was the one who convinced him to change his stance. As it turns out, it was Triple H alone who brokered the deal as McMahon wasn't involved at all.

According to Sammartino in an interview I conducted along with Donald Wood, Brandon Galvin and Michael Cahill for Ring Rust Radio, he has not had any contact with Vince and doesn't plan on speaking him until the night of his induction at Madison Square Garden.

The fact that it took someone other than McMahon to get Sammartino into the Hall of Fame speaks to the bad blood between them, but hopefully a better relationship is on the horizon. It's obvious that Sammartino wouldn't have accepted if he didn't want to forge a better partnership with McMahon, and the same can be said of McMahon in terms of allowing Triple H to go ahead with his courtship of Sammartino.

Read More »15

It has only been a couple weeks since Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow went their separate ways, but nothing good has come of it for either man. With Team Rhodes Scholars reforming to face Brodus Clay and Tensai on the Elimination Chamber pre-show, it should lead to an official reprisal of the partnership between Rhodes and Sandow.

I have high hopes for both Rhodes and Sandow as singles competitors and believe that they both have what it takes to be world champion down the line, but there is no point in keeping them apart currently when they stand to benefit much more from a dominant run in the tag-team division.

Team Rhodes Scholars served as Team Hell No's primary rival for a few months, and although Rhodes and Sandow did score some victories over Kane and Daniel Bryan, they were never able to capture the Tag Team Championships. It seemed as though they were on the verge of doing so at the Royal Rumble, however, Team Hell No was able to foil their plans yet again.

This prompted Rhodes and Sandow to announce on SmackDown a few weeks ago that they were ending their partnership amicably in order to focus on their singles careers. That didn't sound too bad in theory since both of them are strong individual competitors, but the issue is that there is nothing for them to do at the moment. Because of that, they have largely put over other superstars rather than being built up themselves.

Read More »44

One of the biggest news stories in all of sports this week has come from a somewhat surprising source. Olympic wrestling isn't usually talked about much aside from a one-month period of time every four years, but the removal of the sport from the Olympic program in 2020 has many people talking, including fans of professional wrestling, despite the fact that it will have very little impact on WWE, TNA and other companies.

According to ESPN.com, the International Olympic Committee voted to remove freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling from the Summer Games beginning in 2020. With golf and rugby being added to the program for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the IOC needed to make room. In doing so, it has ousted one of the oldest sports known to man.

As a longtime fan of professional wrestling, this is obviously something that piqued my interest. If not for legitimate wrestling, it's very unlikely that professional wrestling would have ever come into existence. The early days of professional wrestling certainly took a lot from amateur wrestling and some of those concepts are still used today.

Most professional wrestlers during the sport's infancy had mat wrestling backgrounds, and that remains true to this day. The likes of Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and so many others excelled in amateur wrestling at a high level, and it is a big reason why they're so technically sound when it comes to professional wrestling.

Read More »25

There may not be one WWE Superstar who is universally loved by every fan, but if there is one guy who comes close, it's likely Chris Jericho. Despite that, many fans have been unimpressed by Y2J's past few stints with the company. Based on what I have seen from him thus far, however, Jericho's latest run will be his best in recent years.

I'm happy whenever Jericho returns to the fold and am entertained by pretty much everything he does, but some fans are a bit harder to please. The main complaint regarding his last run that started in early 2012 and carried on into the summer of 2012 was that he never won a match and he didn't look credible.

It's funny that people felt that way because a lot of them are probably the same fans who want The Rock to lose whenever he returns. There is an obvious double standard and it tends to cloud perception.

I'm a huge Jericho fan and would love to see him win all time as well, but fans have to understand that Jericho loses and puts guys over by choice. That is something that should be commended rather than chided.

Read More »116

Although CM Punk's 434-day WWE Championship reign came to an end when he lost to The Rock at the Royal Rumble, he will have a chance to regain his prize at Elimination Chamber. To make things a bit more interesting, a stipulation was added that will result in The Rock dropping the title if he is disqualified or counted out. There is no question that it could totally change the complexion of the contest.

The manner in which the stipulation was added is certainly curious. Paul Heyman requested that Vince McMahon agree to such terms and McMahon did precisely that, despite the fact that Brock Lesnar attacked him a couple weeks earlier. With that in mind, both Heyman and McMahon figure to have something up their respective sleeves.

Since The Rock is a face, he certainly wouldn't get himself disqualified and it's unlikely that he would be counted out as well. That would seem to indicate that Heyman has a plan of some sort. He nearly helped Punk escape the Royal Rumble with the title as he enlisted The Shield to attack The Rock, but McMahon reversed the decision. The Rock is the one who stands to lose out due to interference this time, though.

Most fans would probably agree that The Shield, Brock Lesnar or maybe even both entities will get involved in the match at some point. Punk hasn't wrestled a clean pay-per-view match since Night of Champions and I highly doubt that he'll start now. There will be a dirty finish of some kind, but it's tough to pinpoint exactly how things will play out.

Read More »87

With five matches currently in place for Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, the card is nearly complete. There is still room for two more matches on the main card as well as one on the pre-show, though, so this certainly has the potential to be one of the WWE's best events in recent memory. That, of course, is contingent upon the creative team molding a strong undercard.

Due to main-event matches like The Rock vs. CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show, a No. 1 contender's chamber match and The Shield vs. John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus, there isn't a ton of focus on the rest of the card at the moment. There is plenty of other talent on the roster that should be utilized, however, and the undercard will offer the WWE a great opportunity.

A Divas Championship match between Kaitlyn and Tamina Snuka was also announced unceremoniously on WWE Active, leaving room for only a few more bouts. The United States and Intercontinental Championships haven't yet been accounted for, so they figure to come into play. There are plenty of other superstars to choose from as well, so hopefully the WWE isn't yet done preparing for Elimination Chamber.

Here are the top three matches that the WWE would be wise to add to the Elimination Chamber card in the coming days.

Read More »20

Betting on professional sports is one of the world's oldest pastimes, but one aspect of that which is fairly new is betting on wrestling. I wouldn't say that wrestling betting is rampant, but several sportsbooks now offer WWE betting lines for pay-per-views. Few matches are more receptive to bets than the Elimination Chamber match.

The Royal Rumble is probably the most-bet-on match in professional wrestling due to the large field, and WrestleMania gets a lot of play as well as it is the Super Bowl of wrestling. Aside from those two events, I have to believe that the Elimination Chamber match is among the bettors' favorites. The match is often unpredictable and it features six top stars, so there are a lot of possibilities.

This year's chamber match is even tougher to call than usual as there is no title on the line. The incumbent champion usually has the advantage from a storyline standpoint, but that won't come into play on Sunday. Randy Orton, Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho, Mark Henry, Kane and Daniel Bryan will do battle in the demonic structure to earn a World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania.

The following are my personal betting odds for those involved in the chamber match. These odds aren't taken from any sportsbooks, rather they are based off my own opinion with regards to each superstar's chances of winning.

Read More »18

Ever since Dolph Ziggler earned the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank contract this past summer, fans and analysts alike have speculated about when he might cash it in. Many predictions have been made and all of them have obviously been wrong to this point, but never has a better opportunity presented itself than at Elimination Chamber.

The mere fact that the WWE has seemingly put Ziggler on the back burner as of late is a pretty good clue that something is in the works. He did not appear on Raw or SmackDown last week, and while he was on Raw this week, it came in a losing effort to Kane as he attempted to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match to determine the No. 1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

With that loss, Ziggler now has nothing to do at Elimination Chamber, which is a bit fishy when you consider how integral he has been to the product since TLC. I figured Ziggler and Chris Jericho would go head to head in a singles match, but Jericho earned a spot in the chamber, so I can't imagine that Dolph will have a scheduled match.

It obviously isn't outside the realm of possibility that the WWE is leaving Ziggler off the card in order to create speculation that he will cash in, but the more likely scenario is that the WWE hopes leaving Ziggler off the card will make fans forget about him. That will probably be the case for many fans, but all it does is make me suspicious of Ziggler cashing in on Sunday.

Read More »81