This and That

September 1, 2006

Celebrity Duets

Yes, for all of you who have asked, I did watch Celebrity Duets and I will admit my good friend Chris Jericho did not fair too well. For those of you who absolutely buried his performance in your emails, I think you should consider how well you might do in the same position, and ask yourself if you would have the guts to go on Live National TV and perform as he did?

In Chris’ defense he really got shafted in his song and duet partner selection. The slow Country ballad with Lee Ann Womack was about the worst possible song for him to get stuck with right out of the gate. That was the only real complaint I had of the show. I think some of the performers were challenged much harder than others. Alfonso Ribeiro and Jai Rodriguez got to perform two similar style songs that seemed better suited to their singing styles while Jericho and Lea Thompson had tough Country duets with Lee Ann Womack, and Randy Travis respectively. It’s obviously much easier pulling off a high energy popular song like “Heard it through the Grape Vine” than a slow Country ballad that I’d never heard of before and can’t remember the name of today.

Chris’ second performance (with Peter Frampton) was quite good and I think demonstrated how much of a difference song and partner selection really is. I don’t know if anyone noticed but the two people that performed with Lee Ann Womack, Chris Jericho and Carly Patterson ended up being the 2 bottom placed performers.

I’m not trying to make up excuses for Chris being eliminated and I doubt he would either. Chris was far from the best performer last night and Alfonso Ribeiro and Jai Rodriguez really blew everyone else away, but I don’t think he was the worst performer either and it’s a shame Chris didn’t get a chance to continue because he would have been an entertaining addition to the show. I’m not sure if I will continue to follow the program, now that Chris has been eliminated, but if I do I hope FOX puts out a Little Richard to English dictionary so I can figure out what the hell that man is saying!

Dallas Hart

As you have hopefully read on the Storm Wrestling Academytm main page, Dallas Hart, son of the Legendary Bret Hart, will be attending my September training session. Bret contacted me a while ago about training his son and after coming by the facility and observing a session both he and Dallas decided that Storm Wrestling Academytm would be a great place for Dallas to begin his wrestling career. This makes for a great “coming full circle” type story, as I moved to Calgary to begin my wrestling career by training with the Hart family, and now some 16 years later Bret’s son is coming to me to begin his. I can’t think of a bigger compliment than Bret entrusting me with teaching his son. I guess the big question now is do I teach him the rolling half crab or the Sharp Shooter? (LOL)

I also want to point out that I am not going to be giving up dates on how Dallas is progressing so don’t even bother asking. Dallas will have enough pressure on him trying to fill the shoes of “The Hitman”, without me judging him publicly each week.

Kurt Angle

I’ve had a lot of people asking me about the release of Kurt Angle. I was shocked when I heard the news, and doubt we are getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth about what is truly going on. Losing Kurt as a performer is obviously huge; he is absolutely amazing in the ring. On the whole I’m glad he got released. Kurt is the most obsessed and driven athlete I have ever met and I doubt he would ever stop performing at his absolute peak level. While this sounds like something everyone should aspire to, in wrestling it isn’t always the case. Wrestling is the only sport that doesn’t have an off-season and because of that we have to look after our bodies differently than other athletes. No athlete can run at 100% forever, the ability to go to that ring, work around an injury, be safe, and still put out a great match is a necessity in this business. Kurt obviously perfected the great match part but not the work around injuries and be safe part.

I remember his first full match back after his first neck surgery. It was the Royal Rumble and after the match he was in the locker room with a bag of ice on his neck in a fair bit of pain. When he told me it was his first full match back, I was dumbfounded. I looked at him as he sat there holding the ice to his neck and offered the only advice I could, “With it being your first match back, perhaps doing [12-15] (I don’t’ remember the exact number) German Suplexes wasn’t the best idea.” That’s right, his first match back after neck surgery he gave or took 12-15 German Suplexes. That’s the way Kurt is; the match comes first the consequences second. You have to respect his work ethic; it is equaled by no one, but it’s also very self destructive in an industry that doesn’t force heeling time with an off-season.

I hope Kurt takes this time off and heels. We have enough tragic stories in this business, we don’t need another one, especially from a man who achieved so much and deserves so much respect. I would love to see Kurt Angle in the ring again, but I would rather he retire than wrestle his way into a wheel chair. Be well my friend.

Lance Storm