Blue Meanie: What the f*ck did he do to deserve what he got?

ECW One Night Stand…one helluva show!

WHAT can I say? This was a tremendous PPV that had me tingling and excited in a way I haven’t felt watching a WWE PPV since last year’s Wrestlemania.
Best PPV of 2005? I’d say a definite “Hell, yeah!” to that one even though the show had its faults:
* The in-ring action was average at best, perhaps disappointing on many levels (Benoit vs Guerrero and Rey Misterio Jnr vs Psicosis, in particular)
* Mick Foley’s commentary was surprisingly lacklustre
* The presence of so many WWE “superstars" – particularly Steve Austin’s appearance at the end of the card – was distracting, AND
* All the bouts were too brief.
Also, while I can understand the absence of TNA employees (most notably Raven, Shane Douglas and Dusty Rhodes) from the card – and New Jack couldn’t be in NYC for legal reasons – I have to ask: where was Terry Funk, Johnny Grunge, Mustapha, Steve Corino, Missy Hyatt, Woman, Jazz, Miss Congeniality (actually, I understand PERFECTLY why she wasn’t in the house ’cos she would’ve got booed out of the house), the Eliminators, Dean Malenko, Dory Funk Jnr, Ian Rotten, Jerry Lynn, Bam Bam Bigelow, Juventud Guerrera, 911, Tommy Rich, Nicole Bass, 2 Cold Scorpio, Matt Borne, Da' Baldies, Tammy Sytch, Cyrus, "Dr Death" Steve Williams and all the other Dudley Boyz. Just a brief appearance from these guys would've been nice.

These quibbles aside, One Night Stand was simply incredible and filled with many highlights including:
* Seeing tears in the eyes of both Joey Styles and Paul Heyman when they entered the squared circle and heard the crowd's reaction
* Watching the most under-appreciated manager in North America – “Sinister Minister” Jim Mitchell – at ringside for the three-way dance between Tajiri, Super Crazy and Lil’ Guido
* The moving tribute to those workers who’ve passed away since ECW’s demise
* Joey Styles’ brilliant commentating effort on the night
* Rob Van Dam’s shoot comments at the WWE writers and, even more so, Paul Heyman’s shoot comments directed at Edge (“Matt friggin’ Hardy!”) and JBL
* The crowd’s intense hatred towards the WWE guys. This was real heat, my friends, and it felt great watching it
* Masato Tanaka vs Mike Awesome, surprising everyone and having the best match of the night * The crowd singing along to Enter Sandman as the Sandman made his grand entrance
* The clusterfuck main event that summed up perfectly everything that rocked about ECW back in the mid-90s, AND
* The final brawl between ECW wrestlers and WWE superstars, which saw ECW come out on top (even though that mid-carder piece of shit JBL managed to get in a few legit cheap shots on The Blue Meanie, of all people. See below to see the outcome on that lil’ incident).

Seeing how well One Night Stand was handled by WWE, one has to ask the question: why couldn’t this have been done four years ago in the WWF during the original botched “invasion” angle? Just think how much money Vince McMahon would’ve made if it he’d done it right the first time round, eh?

Now, onto the Blue Meanie-JBL incident (which started in the ring and continued back in the locker rooms afterwards. Seems JBL has had legit heat with Meanie for years). Courtesy of www.pwinsider.com:

“Josh N. sent the following about One Night Stand’s show-ending brawl involving John Bradshaw Layfield once he was separated from The Blue Meanie:
‘Basically, if you watch in the corner, JBL and Axl Rotten square off a bit and a couple of punches are thrown. Tracy Smothers, who as you know is a legit tough guy, leaps in and lands a couple of haymakers to the head of JBL, as Sandman wraps his cane around JBL’s throat from behind and holds him in place. Balls Mahoney and Mikey Whipwreck leap in, and as they start whaling on him, he goes to the mat. Bubba Ray Dudley is outside of the ring and walking around the corner, when he apparently realizes what is going on, grabs JBL, and yanks him outside of the ring. He throws a punch (legit, I don’t know) and sends JBL reeling toward his WWE counterparts. I’m not sure if the first part was a work or shoot. It seemed legit in watching in, but the camera is so far away, it’s hard to tell. But Smothers did seem to really be going after JBL. Watch the footage for yourself.’”

I have to say, it certainly appeared to me as I watched the PPV, that a group of wrestlers seemed to “gang up” on JBL. It looked as if Bubba Ray pulled him out of the ring to save JBL from copping a beating. I couldn’t understand the reason why at the time (apart from the obvious reason that JBL is the sorta guy who deserves to be beaten up). I also couldn’t understand why Blue Meanie was bleeding at the end of the show. Of course, two and two have since been put together.

REVIEW: Let's Mock The Dead

AS HELEN and I drove more than 5000 miles through 22 American states during a three-week period, we saw a lot of roadside memorials to car accident victims. They're a sobering reminder to the dangers of driving and a sad personal testimonial to those who have died.

Of course, to some people - like professional Yank comedian Jason Curless - the memorials are a source of great amusement. So he's posted a bunch of photos of himself on his web site waving and grinning gormlessly next to various roadside memorials. He then mocks the fuck out of the victims with all-new "obituaries".

Is it black comedy? Is it a sick bastard getting his jollies from the suffering of others? The latter opinion belongs to one victim's mother and American TV's ABC affiliate in Kansas City KMBC 9:

“Comedian Thinks Roadside Memorials Are Funny
Victim's Mother Doesn't Get Joke"
February 19, 2004
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City comedian posted pictures on his Web site that poke fun at those who have died in traffic accidents along highways. For most people, crosses along highways are somber reminders of traffic deaths. But Jason Curless calls the crosses high comedy, KMBC's Jeremy Hubbard reported.
'Sheila Dyer didn't find Curless' site funny. She found a picture of her dead son's roadside memorial on the site, with the comedian smiling and waving next to it. She said it "took the wind" out of her.
Dozens of similar pictures are posted on Curless' site. The standup comic travels across the area, posing at the shrines and posting the pictures online. Curless apparently considers them to be tasteless tributes, often writing mock obituaries that lambast the way in which the victims died.
"Can you imagine anyone who would think that was funny? No. If there are, they're sick," Dyer said.
Her 21-year-old son was killed by a drunken driver (file photo, right). Now, Mothers Against Drunken Drivers is banding with Dyer to see if something legally can be done to take the comedian's Web site down.
However, that might not be easy to do. While Dyer may consider the site in bad taste, a court could consider it free speech, Hubbard reported.
The site remains online. Curless declined to speak with KMBC.'

But he gives the news item plenty of coverage on his web site.

Genius or idiot? And what are Jason Curless's motives for doing this site?
Check it out for yourself and make up your own mind by going to www.porkjerky.com/rip.htm.

In the meantime, below are two samples of Jason's "work" from the site.

Sick bastard writes, "The only thing worse than a plain white shitty cross with one crappy plastic flower and nothing to identifiy who died there is an overly decorated white shitty cross with tons of plastic flowers and a fucking resume attached. You can't read it from the pic, but the world lost a gem when stephanie got plastered against those rocks. She enjoys being in band, cheerleading, not wearing seat belts, being on student council, driving fast, youth church group and *NSYNC. Or maybe its a personal ad because It also says she was a 17 year old naturally blonde Aries. Unfortunately for potential employers and necrophilic suitors, she has no last name nor contact information, but salary is negotiable and she is "open to whatever happens between us--friends or more! :) "."

Sick bastard says, "Fucking awesome. This just might be the best cross ever. What I am thinking, and hoping, is that this is one of those times where someone does something so wrong for so many reasons, so horrible, so stupid that they couldn't have possibly done it serioulsy. They are actually doing it for just that reason--to be wrong, horrible and stupid, because that's what people have come to expect. For example, when someone pulls out a cigarette and asks "got a a light?", I immediately say "my face and your ass...oh yeah, you walked right into that one buddy". Its so not right, so stupid, wrong for so many reasons, that its funny because its so wrong. I hope that that is what this cross maker was doing. It had to be.
Honestly that cross is fucking awesome. I think they actually made it there, just minutes after the wreck. They wrote his name in pencil--how fucking cool is that? This cross was probably done and up even before 911 was dialed. Not only was Jeff's body not cold before the cross went into the ground, I bet Jeff even had a faint pulse and was only beginning to cough up blood. Fucking awesome."

We're baaaaaaaack...

Yes, after five weeks of unbridled travelling and drinking - including a three-week driving odyssey that took in 22 states and 5000 miles - Helen and I have returned from our holiday to America.

The highlights? Too many to mention. You'll have to buy the next issue of BETTY PAGINATED to find out as it will be our special "Coming To America...Again" edition. It should be published before the end of this year.

Drop us a line at danhelen@idx.com.au and say, "Hi!" Any back issues of BP you want are US$5/AUD$5/5 pounds.

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaater...