August 27, 2007 Observer Newsletter: SummerSlam & UFC previews, WWE responds to Congress

We are at a couple of interesting crossroads this coming weekend as both WWE and UFC each have one of their biggest events of the year, one day apart.

WWE’s SummerSlam, on 8/26, at a sold out Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ, has seven matches announced at press time, and will feature the returns of HHH and Rey Mysterio, along with John Cena vs. Randy Orton, as the biggest draws. It will be the first time in three years that SummerSlam didn’t feature Hulk Hogan, and last year’s show was loaded, with Cena vs Edge, plus a Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley match backed up with some of the best interviews of that year. This year, the TV by and large has not done a good job of hyping the show itself. Cena vs. Orton has been promoted okay. The angles have been by-the-book. The promos have been average.

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August 15, 2007 Observer Newsletter: More on the life and career of Karl Gotch, second congressional letter to Vince McMahon

Some notes regarding the letter. First off, Dr. Phil Astin did prescribe testosterone to Chris Benoit under the guise of replacement therapy. So there was medical usage and one could even argue, medical need for such therapy. Whether it was being abused is a different question. The idea he was prescribing ten months worth every three to four weeks would seem to indicate that, although Astin has not yet been indicted on any charges related to his treatment of Benoit.

The noting of pro wrestling as an unregulated form of entertainment, and asking the question as to whether there is need for Federal regulation of the industry right there shows it is a subject that is at least under discussion. If this happens, it would be due to the industry as a whole largely (not completely) ignoring 20 years of both warnings and problems, and it should be noted that most states in the 80s were regulating wrestling and allowing far more rampant drug problems than exist today to go unchecked.

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