Dirt Sheet History: July 2006

Take a trip back to a memorable timeline in sports entertainment with the most important stories reported as fact in the journalistic world of pro wrestling dirt sheets.

Following the timeline of the last Dirt Sheet History looking back at June 2006, we get a glimpse into the top scoops from July of 2006. Check out the latest happenings in WWECW, suspensions and much more from exactly 8 years ago.

Reminder that you can find all editions of Dirt Sheet History looking at 2004 and 2005 right here at this very link. Now enjoy July 2006!

7/3/2006

* HANGING ROCK — Two wrestling superstars from Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment may be tough in the ring, but they didn’t have enough muscle to escape drug charges after being stopped Sunday night by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Robert Alex Szatowski, aka WWE and ECW champion Rob Van Dam, and Terry Michael Brunk, aka Sabu, also a former ECW champion, were pulled over on U.S. 52, near Patrick Street in Hanging Rock at about 10:15 p.m. The two were apparently driving from their performances at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena earlier in the evening.

According to the OSHP, Szatowski was initially stopped for speeding. When troopers approached his vehicle, they smelled marijuana and performed a search. Troopers found the wrestler in possession of 18 grams of marijuana and five Vicodin, prescription pain pills. Brunk was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and also had nine pills that were not immediately identifiable, but were known to be controlled substances, according to the OSHP. Both were cited and posted bond at the scene.

7/4/2006

* The title situation and ECW show tonight is most likely a complete mess. There is no doubt that WWE did not plan on RVD losing his title(s) last night. While he still held onto the ECW Championship, he lost the WWE Championship to Edge. The most telling sign that RVD was not supposed to lose the title last night is on ECW.com where they still have a BIG advertisement that states:

Extreme Rules Match: For the ECW & WWE Championships with a photo of Edge & RVD

So obviously, with tonight being ECW’s one big shot at running solo and in one of their largest markets, WWE had planned on RVD being put over strong. Also, you will notice that there was no mention of Sabu last night on WWE. Just another indication of how WWE has already possibly hit the panic button when it comes to these two.

7/5/2006

* For those of you that have not heard, last week’s edition of TNA Impact did a 1.1 cable rating.

Impact continues to deliver for Spike TV in their target male demographics as they did a 1.3 amongst Males 18-49 and a 1.4 amongst Males 18-34. Those numbers correlate into an overall audience of 1.4 million viewers, the company’s biggest audience to date.

7/6/2006

* Kurt Angle is currently off the road due to personal issues as well as underlying injury problems. Although, Dave Scherer is reporting that Angle is currently serving a suspension as well. We do not know the reason for his suspension at this time but know that it is for 30 days.

With Rob Van Dam serving his own 30 day suspension, one would have thought that Kurt Angle would have made a sudden comeback, however, the reason he did not is because is also “officially suspended.

7/8/2006

* Chris Jericho has been telling various media outlets in interviews that he is heavily interested in pursuing a career in acting that he hopes takes off within the next year or two.

7/11/2006

* Lance Storm recently posted a message on his website talking about ECW:

I might as well touch on the other two wrestling brands while I’m at it. What can I say about ECW, other than I’m really glad I turned down the contract they offered me. I considered it very seriously when Tommy Dreamer contacted me early this year. I loved my old ECW days and working with Tommy and Paul Heyman again had a lot of appeal. In hindsight though this isn’t ECW one more time, it’s WWECW a completely new entity and more than anything else just a third WWE brand.

7/12/2006

* Wrestling promoter Rob Feinstein was backstage at the June 24th ECW show at the ECW Arena, claiming to be an invited guest of Tommy Dreamer. Feinstein was thrown out of the building by security, regardless of his explanation.

7/15/2006

* We can confirm that Jakks Pacific is in the process of producing a Great Khali action figure.

7/18/2006

* WWE management notified the members of The Spirit Squad last night at RAW that they would be breaking them up as a stable.

7/20/2006

* There’s article now online on CBC.ca noting RAW’s move to The Score will not be picking up ECW in Canada as well as RAW. They are reporting that the one hour preemption will allow for content considered to be too racy for Canadian TV standards to be removed. The article also features comments from Ric Flair taking shots at TSN.

7/22/2006

* The Great Khali, who is not suspended, but has been pulled from the Great American Bash for medical reasons will now be replaced by the Big Show. Big Show was flown in just for the PPV.

7/24/2006

* We can confirm that Stephanie McMahon has gone into labor, causing massive changes to tonight’s edition of RAW. Both Triple H and Vince McMahon are on their way back to Connecticut to be with her.

7/27/2006

* Do not be surprised if you see Jake “The Snake” Roberts in an on-air role at an upcoming TNA iMPACT! taping very soon. We reported several weeks ago that Roberts recently pitched an idea involving him and Canadian wrestler Sinn for an on-air role to TNA creative team members. While TNA management remains leery about using Roberts due to his reputation for no-showing events and past problems with drug abuse, they do like his marketability as well as his strong mic skills. Perhaps the reason that Roberts included Sinn in his plan is because that is who provides him with free transportation to shows.

7/30/2006

* The following are a couple of quotes from the latest edition of WWE Magazine where Randy Orton discusses his suspension:

“My problems came to a head when I decided to smoke a joint and someone smelled it and stooged me off. You know who you are, so if you are reading this, thanks. But I’ve also had a few outbursts of anger on the road. I get loud and verbally abusive. But I’ve nipped that part of me in the bud.”

“I just poured a bunch of ointment and Flexall and tanning lotion in her bag; it was like a Louis Vuitton bag. I was fined $8,000 for destroying the bag. I’ve been fined many, many times.” (Referring to an unnamed Diva)

“The reality is the company brought in this Diva and she couldn’t walk without falling over her own two feet. She had no respect for the business. She’d say, “I’m here to help your show, it’s not doing too good. She would call people by the wrong name and rub us the wrong way. I took it upon myself to mess with her my own way.”

– Tune back in next time for the August edition of Dirt Sheet History.

Stories are credited from Rajah, PWTorch, PWInsider and The Wrestling Observer. Month name photo art is by Phillip Martin.

Past editions of Dirt Sheet History are found here.