Receipts and Rodman: Looking at Episode Seven Of Hulk Hogan's CCW

As Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling creeps toward its final weeks, there are five guys left and two shows remaining. In order to get to the final four, there's a final elimination that has to be made before this Saturday's CCW title coronation. Here's what we learned from this week's episode seven, "Recap All Skills."

-Receipts, receipts, receipts: If there was one running theme throughout the entire show, it was giving payback in the form of a "receipt" to someone you're upset with. Not surprisingly, the main focus was Dennis Rodman, whose stiff work has been upsetting people the entire show.

He especially enraged Butterbean with a hard chair shot last week and Bean promises revenge. After the show was over, I never got the sense Bean gave Rodman the receipt he was looking for. More on this in a minute.

-Moves of the Week: the armdrag, a basic chop (to add "pizazz") and a body slam ("what all the kids talk about") which Hogan was brought in to teach. Not surprisingly, he recounted the story of Wrestlemania III and lifting a 700-pound Andre The Giant over his head. The dialogue and amount of b.s. during this entire segment was hilarious. The kids talk about the body slams, I guess.

-Rodman's Attitude: As I mentioned last week, Rodman is getting less and less interested by the episode. This week, he doesn't want to do chops and is moping around. Hogan brings him aside and gives him a pep talk. For anyone that has watched CCW since the beginning, I'll ask this: have you seen any improvement from him? The only reason he remains is because he's a former pro athlete and a good one at that.

-A note on Hogan: There was a lot more of him this week and it made for a better show. He was more involved in teaching and talking, which helped push the amazingly irritating Brian Knobs somewhat to the background. I get that Knobs' personality is supposed to be this way, but after a while, it wears down on you.

If this show makes it to a second season, I'd love to see more Hogan and less Knobs. Brutus Beefcake came off really well early on, but with the team's recent merging, there is less of him talking and more you-know-who.
-Quick Notes: Todd Bridges wearing his fedora non-stop (even in training) looks stupid, as does Rodman's sunglasses and trucker hat routine. Seriously, you look like idiots using it in practice. Stop pretending you're cool and take it off...Dustin Diamond continued to irritate people, giving Bridges advice on in-ring work which raised Knobs' ire.

I really think you'll see Diamond in TNA eventually if he doesn't win out and yes, it is very, very possible they'd take him with open arms...They did medical diagnoses of all the competitors left and Diamond has a slew of injuries. I did gain some respect for him working through all of it.

-Matches of the Week were Rodman vs. Butterbean in an anything-goes match and Dustin Diamond vs. Danny Bonaduce vs. Todd Bridges in a trios match. The three-way was actually pretty good and with the judges looking for quality and execution, they gave it a good run. I don't know whether this is a good thing or not for the business, but they really know how to work matches...at least heavily-edited TV bouts.

However, I didn't think the Bean/Rodman match was that great. Rodman still doesn't run the ropes well and I don't think Bean knows how to sell anything. Maybe it was the constant discussion of receipts overdoing it, but I thought given the show's execution of building up toward this match, the payoff failed. I didn't feel drama, but rather two guys going through the motions.

-Cut Time: In my opinion. Rodman should be cut. Eric Bischoff says he is working too stiff, but somehow he survives, along with Bean and Bridges. Huh? Hogan says Diamond's chops and kicks are bad...says his action and facials aren't matching up.

Bonaduce also gets slammed for weak-looking offense and Bonaduce thinks his performance was "adequate." Bonaduce ends up getting the Jabroni cut and is actually classy in leaving. He didn't deserve to leave and I fear they're going to give this thing to Rodman for all the wrong reasons. Ugh.

Next week: The jabronis return for revenge as all of the eliminated contestants return to action on the final show. Plus, the final four of Bridges, Bean, Diamond and Rodman will compete for the CCW title in the season finale of Hulk Hogan's CCW.

Josh Nason has written and maintained Ropes, Ring and Cage since 2007 and can be reached at [e-mail]. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!