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 2007 featuring the Benoit tragedy, we get a glimpse into the top scoops from July of 2007 and the aftermath as we read Dirt Sheet History.
Reminder that you can find all past editions of Dirt Sheet History looking at 2004 through 2006 right here. Now enjoy July 2007.
7/1/2007
* There is some talk that one researcher is interested in looking at Chris Benoit‘s brain to see if years of head injuries and trauma may have played a part in this story. However, the problem is that Benoit’s brain may not be in any shape to be examined as he was dead for several hours in 93 degree weather. One source claimed that his brain was “in no condition to be looked at” as it was probably virtually liquefied.
* This past weekend in Tokyo, Japan, TNA World Champion Kurt Angle defeated Brock Lesnar to capture the IWGP Title at the debut show of Antonio Inoki’s new IGF promotion. Angle defeated Lesnar in 11 minutes with his trademark finisher, the anklelock.
The new IGF promotion (INOKI GENOME FEDERATION) has an mixed martial arts twist to it – with competitors wearing open-fingered gloves and the matches having no count-outs.
Angle started strong early on, giving Lesnar several German Suplexes in a row. Lesnar managed to ground Angle and put him a headlock for a few moments, before Angle powered out of it. They both teased doing their finishes in the first part of the match, with each managing to escape from the others’ finish. The end of the match came when Lesnar managed to F5 Angle, then placed Angle in an ankle Kurt managed to roll out of it, reversed the move and placing Lesnar in the ankle lock. Lesnar tapped and Kurt Angle is the new IWGP Champion.
After the match, Brock Lesnar challenged Angle to a re-match under mixed martial arts rules. With Brock Lesnar now a legit MMA competitor and Kurt Angle stating many times that he is interested in entering the world of MMA, it is very possible we will see the two face off in a worked MMA-style match.
7/2/2007
* It appears as if Triple H is having second thoughts on his proposed upcoming return feud with Randy Orton. The original plan was for The Game to return in a main event feud with his former Evolution member and work a match against him at the end of the summer at WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. However, Triple H is now pushing for Orton to get a run with the WWE title.
Triple H’s reasoning for not wanting to return in a feud with Orton is because he feels that Orton is the top heel character on RAW and it would kill his momentum if he should come back and beat The Legend Killer. Furthermore, Triple H thinks that John Cena would benefit more from losing the title as he has been getting a lot of resentment boos from fans that are tired of him as champion. From a business aspect, a program with John Cena chasing Randy Orton for the title would probably be more profitable.
The feeling now is that Triple H’s feud with Randy Orton will be delayed for one of the other four major pay-per-views whether it be Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, or WrestleMania.
* Paul London was nearly fired over his name being listed as the source of the Survivor information getting out. However, Ashley went to management and asked them not fire London, which helped save him. She said that he didn’t know he was talking with anyone with a website, which is true, and that he didn’t intentionally leak the info. London also got in trouble for having that big smile on his face when Vince McMahon walked to his “death.” The talent didn’t know what was going on, but they were told to treat the situation as serious and real, and the feeling is that London did the exact opposite of the instructions.
