The Steel Cage

I reported a story in today's Newsday about the two fans accused of stealing commemorative chairs from Sunday's Great American Bash at the Nassau Coliseum.

Here's a few things I found out about the alleged heist:

. That's a police evidence photo of the commemorative chairs given away to ringside fans at the Bash.

. Police said the defendants, Timothy Vandewater and Keith Powell, had upper level seats to the show, but snuck down to the lower level. From there, they admired the ringside chairs.

. The chairs the two men are accused of stealing actually weren't from the Bash. WWE officials say Vandewater and Powell snuck into a trailer and made off with chairs from another pay per view event.

. WWE officials said one of the men also tried to steal some sort of lighting equipment case.

. The roadie who stopped the two men was an independent contractor and refused medical treatment at a local hospital because he didn't want to risk his job by possibly missing WWE's next tour stop last night at the Mohegan Sun. He said he'd go to a hospital in the next city, police said.

. As of yesterday, the two young men still hadn't been arraigned, meaning they have already spent two nights behind bars over the alleged stunt.

. Police said the roadie was a pretty big guy and showed a lot of restraint in how he handled the two young men.

. After all the trouble that the two defendants and the roadie went through, in the chaos of the chase, the men dropped the items the chairs they were trying to steal, and another fan made off with them, WWE officials and police said.

. A WWE spokesman said the incident would not put a damper on WWE's future plans to return to the Coliseum.

You can read my story here.

So D.H. Smith moves to SmackDown, the same place where his cousin Natalya is, potentially setting up a longterm storyline with next-generationers. Though Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. remain on Raw (for now), this makes me four-for-four with my draft predictions from earlier in the week.

But don't give me any of the credit. Actually, give the credit to WWE.

Because my predictions were just based on common sense, on what would be the most logical thing to do booking-wise.

And they actually did it. So kudos to them for the longterm foresight.

(And here's hoping that they do some kind of storyline with Triple H and Edge where Triple H is outraged that the only reason Edge is the champion is because his romantic interest is the boss. Remember, Vince -- reality sells!)

That being said, let's look at the rest of the moves in this afternoon's under-the-radar supplemental draft.

First off, I have to apologize for the infrequent posts as of late. I’ve been quite busy, as evidenced in pages A6 and A7 of your Newsday.

This may be a bit late, but I wanted to ring in about what I thought was the most intriguing moment of last Monday’s Raw. Even more intriguing – none of us saw it on television.

I’m speaking about the 12-minute dark match that took place before the show went on the air. In one corner was Lance Cade – the five-year WWE veteran who seemed poised to get a decent push as a mid-card heel after breaking up with his tag team partner Trevor Murdoch.

In the other corner was a pale, plain, light heavyweight – likely unrecognizable to the majority of the fans. Yet somehow, this relative unknown made Cade tap out.

The mystery man’s name – Bryan Danielson.

Just watched the stream on TMZ, and wow, what an emotional day in court.

Nick Bollea was sentenced to eight months in jail and five years' probation for the car accident last August that caused severe injuries to John Graziano.

Nick was taken into custody immediately following his sentencing.

He was also sentenced to 500 hours of community service and had his license suspended for three years.

Nick has 30 days to appeal.

Pro wrestling journalist Irvin Muchnick has done some really good work investigating the Chris Benoit case over the past year, and I just read this very interesting piece over at Slam Wrestling.

With the one-year anniversary of the brutal murder-suicide coming up next month, you'll be hearing more about the case once again. I'm actually reading an advance copy of Scott Keith's book about Benoit and the curse of the Hart Family Dungeon, and it's really sad and eye-opening. And I'm planning to post some of my own thoughts on the crime and also on working with Chris.

But for now, I'll just say that Muchnick does bring up some great points about how the investigation has been pushed aside, and how poorly WWE handled the case. I completely agree with his point about that joke of an interview on Larry King with Vince's propaganda army.

The whole thing is just still so surreal and sad. And yet I still believe that no one's learned a damn thing from what happened.

I'd be lying if I said I remembered much about Chase Tatum's pro wrestling career, but nonetheless, I was saddened when I heard the news of his passing this morning. His death is another on the seemingly never ending list of young former wrestlers who passed way too early.
And if the news coming from his father that Tatum, 34, was battling a pain medication addition that began during his wrestling days is any indication, his death - like so many others - cannot be written off as an isolated incident.
The pro wrestling industry - through its promotion on superhero physiques; inherent physicality; history of punishing wrestlers who take time off to heal injuries; lack of unions to establish standards for working conditions; grueling road schedules; and so many other reasons - has long contributed to a toxic culture among performers.
That said, we must be careful in lumping all wrestler deaths together. Since the Chris Benoit tragedy last year, every time a wrestler with even the smallest bit of notoriety passes, it has become mainstream news. In a way, that's good. The spotlight needs to be shone on the unusually high mortality rate of wrestlers. But also, we should consider each death on a case by case basis.
Tatum only briefly competed on a national stage as part of the now-defunct WCW - his biggest run being as a member of the No Limit Soldiers in the ill-fated angle involving rapper Master P eight years ago. I don't believe he ever worked for Vince McMahon.
It could be that Tatum's demons had little to do with wrestling, and nothing should be done to trivialize his tragic death. Still, we should never lose sight of the bigger problem facing the wrestling industry, and its possible solutions.

News has surfaced over the last few days about former Minnesota governor and pro wrestling great Jesse "The Body" Ventura teasing in his new book that he is considering running for president.

I was at Ventura's WWE Hall of Fame induction four years ago where he first hinted that he was considering vying for the Oval Office. At the conclusion of his induction speech, Ventura said something to the effect of, "Maybe we should put a wrestler in the White House in 2008." It didn't get near the reaction he would have hoped at the time, and I'd be surprised if the Body gets much attention now.

I got my hands on an advanced copy of Ventura's new book, "Don't Start the Revolution Without Me," which has few mention of his wrestling past except for this portion. As so many other wrestlers-turned mainstream stars do, Ventura tries to distance himself from his wrestling roots, until he could use WWE to promote something.

Here's the excerpt from Ventura's book, in which he envisions a meeting with WWE chairman Vince McMahon at WWE's Connecticut headquarters:

"Vince, you've always been a gambler. You've been P.T. Barnum on just about every stage in America. Except - I can bring you to the biggest stage out there. And that is the presidency of the Unites States.

WWE chairman Vince McMahon took a major step in his lifelong pursuit for credibility outside the wrestling world when he got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday.

Some critics of the pro wresting industry might be appalled over McMahon being honored in the television category alongside the likes of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. But putting aside whatever negative perceptions that pro wrestling has in the mainstream, there is little dispute that McMahon has been a pioneer in the television industry.

It's true that wrestling was plenty successful on television before McMahon came along, dating back to the days of Gorgeous George becoming one of the most recognizable stars on the tube. But there is no question that McMahon's vision of what pro wrestling could become revolutionized the industry, and firmly implanted its place in popular culture.

From the highly rated Saturday Night's Main Event NBC series of the 1980's and 1990's, to his massive syndication empire, to the resounding success of WWE's flagship cable program Monday Night Raw, to his contributions toward growing the pay per view industry, there are countless examples of how McMahon has contributed to the television business. During the peak of the wrestling boon in 1999, more than ten million people were watching Monday night wrestling each week.

Even in his most publicized failure of all time - the XFL - McMahon left the business of televised football better than he found it. I don't recall seeing some the NFL's more creative camera angles before the XFL tried them first.

Of course none of this is to say anything about the character of Vince McMahon - the man - nor the redeeming values of pro wrestling. But one thing is for certain - a heck of a lot of people have made a heck of a lot of money in television because of the risks McMahon has taken over the last three decades.

(Photo credit: pwtorch.com)

Various Internet sites are reporting that Jeff Hardy's home burned down last night in a fire.

Reports state that Jeff and his girlfriend are OK, which is the good news. Sadly, it appears his dog didn't make it, and most of his possessions are gone.

With this, and his 60-day suspension for violating WWE's wellness policy (I refuse to capitalize those words the way WWE does; that would be pretending it was something more than a P.R. ploy), and the various ailments that Matt Hardy has battled lately, what a trying time this has been for one of the greatest tag teams ever.

Jeff is a good guy who deserves a break, and Matt is one of the most creative people I worked with during my time at WWE (the Version 1 stuff and the Mattitude stuff -- all his idea).

Here's hoping they can get back on their feet quickly and rebuild from all this. Our prayers are with you guys.