State of Wresting: May 13th

Let’s run down the State of Wrestling today, May 13th

Raw:
Some decent feuds and some good talent. Lousy execution. Y2J and HBK could be tearing it up with excellent heel promos. Unfortunately, Jericho seems to be phoning it in. Someone just become a heel already. Kennedy’s feud with Regal is eh. It does not make any sense why Kennedy went after the GM instead of buddying up to him to become some kind of champion.

Speaking of champions, what’s with the Intercontinental Championship? Jericho is the champ, but that title has become so utterly worthless that it is a shame. The WWE United States Championship and WWE Women’s Championship mean more than the once prestigious IC belt. The main event level with Triple H and Orton is going as expected. Triple H feuds are repetitive. If you’ve seen one feud where Triple H is champion, you’ve seen them all.

ECW:
ECW. What can you say about ECW? I guess the biggest thing going is the Mike Adamle experiment. The guy is trying to learn, but I think WWE could have gotten some mileage out of a “terrible announcer” gimmick. ECW is the land of the undying feuds. The ECW champion will face the former champion every week for a month is a theme ECW has had for some time now. See CM Punk/Chavo, CM Punk/Johnny Nitro (later Johnny Morrison).

Smackdown:
Smackdown – the haven for wrestling fans. MVP and Matt Hardy could be WWE’s new Rock and Triple H if they do the WWE handles this properly. MVP is very entertaining on the mic and puts together good matches regularly. The Edge/Undertaker feud is continuing with Edge being the best heel going today. I find it odd that he’s effectively playing Triple H with the whole dating the boss angle. Edge reminds of Ric Flair. You believe that Edge could lose to any one of his opponents, but Edge still manages to squeak out victories using a variety of methods.

The held up World Heavyweight Championship storyline has been done before. I am not sure I understand why the WWE would interrupt what was going to be the Undertaker’s long reign. Maybe Taker wanted to pad his stats by winning the championship for a third time.

The Skinny:
WWE’s wasting talent on Monday night but at least Jeff Hardy is back, no one watches on Tuesday night, and Friday has decent wrestling and storylines on both the midcard and main event levels.

WrestleMania 23 Predictions (by Audrey).

WrestleMania Predictions (by my dog).

Instead of giving you a standard WrestleMania prediction column, I am going to shake things up. I asked my dog, Audrey, to chose the winner of each match of WrestleMania 23. How do you ask a dog to choose? Well, a simple and unscientific method was necessary. I took a memo pad, wrote the name of the competitors on opposite sides of the paper (I consistently placed champions on the left side of the paper). Then I placed a dog treat under each person’s name. Audrey sat and watched. I told her to “pick one.” The first one she chose, I figured was the one she picked. Let’s get to it:

Batista vs. Undertaker: Audrey’s pick — Undertaker. I agree with the dog. I think she picked a winner. Undertaker’s undefeated streak is something I don’t think will be broken — especially by someone as old as Batista.

John Cena vs. HBK: Audrey’s pick — John Cena. Another situation where I agree with the dog. This will be an excellent match because HBK will get the best out of Cena. Also, Cena can really tell a story. Cena is McMahon’s golden boy and should win. (I think Cena is undefeated at ‘Mania, too. Why should he start losing now?).

Lashley vs. Umaga: When I wrote on the paper “McMahon | Trump,” Audrey picked McMahon. I was shocked by this pick. I gave her another go. I wrote “Lashley | Umaga.” Then she picked Lashley. I figured she picked McMahon because she though McMahon would lose his hair. So far, I agree with every pick she made.

Money in the Bank: Audrey’s Pick — CM Punk (2nd Pick: Edge). This was a shocker. I took note of her 2nd pick because of the amount of competitors in this match. I don’t believe that CM Punk will win, but then again, I didn’t think that Lashley would be ECW Champion so early in his career. I figure Edge will win again because he’s got the 2nd most high profile WrestleMania undefeated streak.

ECW Originals vs. New Breed: Audrey’s Pick — New Breed. No one in my house picked the ECW Originals to win. I asked my wife about the match and she didn’t know 6 out of 8 of the competitors. I asked, “Do you think that the WWE will let RVD win in his home state of Michigan?” She answered, “No. New Breed will win, then.”

Melina vs. Ashley: I feel bad for a lot of wrestlers that are not on the card (Ric Flair, Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Johnny Nitro, Kenny Doane, Chavo, Kendrick and London, Jimmy Yang, Greg Helms, and maybe William Regal) while Ashley has a championship shot. We all know that Mickie James or Victoria should get the title shot because they can actually wrestle. Audrey’s pick — Melina. I agree with Audrey, I think that Melina should win, but I think that Ashley will win because it will continue the feud to Unforgiven.

Kane vs. Khali: Audrey’s pick — Kane. I found this pick surprising since it is rumored that Kane is going to take some time off after WrestleMania. Maybe Audrey thinks that the WWE will let Kane have a win and then take some time off. I figure that Khali will win because the WWE always screws Kane.

Benoit vs. MVP: Audrey’s pick — Chris Benoit. I guess Audrey does not see a lot of title changes for this WrestleMania. I figure that Benoit is repeating his role as temporary U.S. champion (he lost the title to JBL last year, why not lose it again to MVP?). I’m picking MVP.

That’s it for WrestleMania Predictions. Even though it doesn’t seem like the best WrestleMania card ever, I think it will be a fun show where every wrestler performs their best. This is WrestleMania — the biggest PPV of the year. There will be some great wrestling, some great mania, and plenty of fun.

Quick Monday Night Raw Review:

Just got done watching a pretty good Monday Night Raw. The WWE has been doing very well leading up to WrestleMania — they go right back to basics. It’s odd how just creating competition (for a title or the Money in the Bank match) is a great way to create good wrestling matches.

The conflict within Rated RKO was interesting, but you knew that Edge was going to win once you saw the combatants in the Last Chance (Raw Only) Battle Royale. The battle royale match itself was quite good and Edge showed himself to be a very entertaining heel when he won. The match almost definitely cemented the Ric Flair versus Carlito showdown for ‘Mania as well.

The Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton match was also a fun preview of the Money in the Bank match. The DQ finish was a nice way of keeping both competitors strong and Hardy’s over the ladder legdrop was quite the sight.

I like the WrestleMania Reversal Matches. Granted, we only had one this episode, but it’s still a great concept.

The HBK-JBL (that’s a lot of initials) encounter was good for what it was — a device to get audio for the spectacular video package that will air right before Raw’s Main Event of HBK vs. Cena.

The Benoit-Cena match was very good and told a story as well. While I was hoping for a DQ finish or something other than Benoit losing cleanly, the ending was well booked with Cena using a take-down to get Benoit in position for the STFU.

The Battle of the Billionaire angle was pretty predictable, but was nonetheless entertaining. Vince’s yelling that he was symbolically shaving the heads of those who booed him was odd and showed that he was a bit demented and strange leading up to the WrestleMania match.

Also, it looks like the end of the Masterlock Challenge. I didn’t think that Masters was going to be successful against another brand’s champion (even if that brand is ECW). Lashley was believable as the first person to break out of Masters’ challenge (although my wife did ask why didn’t anyone just kick their way out – either by kicking low or stomping on Masters’ foot).

Melina’s angle with Ashley was served well via Candice Michelle. Melina’s a bit like the mean popular girl in high school — at least in the way she acts.

Overall, a pretty good show. Great ending with the announcement of the No Way Out rematch of Cena-HBK vs. Batista & Undertaker. Conflicts a plenty in that match.

Christian Cage’s Consultant: The Suspects

This past week on TNA Impact, Christian Cage revealed that he was working with a consultant to prepare himself for Kurt Angle.

The clues:
this person, they think just like you
this person wrestles just like you
this person is intense just like you
this person, like me, and for good reason can’t stand you

Suspects:
Sylvester Terkay – Recently released by WWE. According to Wikipedia, “While attending North Carolina State University, he finished second in the 1992 NCAA Division I Heavyweight tournament, losing to future Olympic gold medalist (and future fellow Pro Wrestling superstar) Kurt Angle by points, 2-1, and later became champion in 1993.”

Samoa Joe – Obvious candidate.

Eric Angle – Kurt Angle’s older brother. Perhaps he doesn’t fit Cage’s description perfectly, but could easily “think just like” his brother, Kurt. Additionally, Eric Angle could be built up to fit Cage’s description. I do not know his current contractual status.

Brock Lesnar – mentioned specifically by Kurt Angle, the WWE and Lesnar worked out a deal April 25, 2006. The terms of the deal aren’t known, but I would bet there is a no-compete clause that probably prohibits participation in TNA or wrestling in the United States.

Chris Benoit – Currently the WWE’s United States Champion, he fits Cage’s description perfectly. Unless Chris Benoit does something completely uncharacteristic like walking out on his WWE contract, Benoit should be staying put.

Goldberg – Another person specifically named by Kurt Angle as a possible consultant. Goldberg doesn’t fit Cage’s description at all. Unless “wrestles just like you” means that this person is a wrestler in the business and not describing Angle’s method of wrestling.

RVD – Also under a WWE contract, see Goldberg comments. No intensity here.

ECW: Monty Brown Arrives

A week after CM Punk lost his win streak, he needed help from Kelly Kelly to beat Matt Stryker? Maybe he ate Vince’s donut or something.

Monty Brown has been sort of repackaged as Maqrquis Cor Von. This kind of feels like back in the 80s when the WWE would never acknowledge an athlete’s past. I remember “the newcomer Harley Race” back when Harley Race came to the then-WWF.

Too bad they saddled Monty with lousy music. I didn’t watch TNA enough to know if he used an armbar finisher – I always thought he used the Pounce as his finisher. Also odd is that when Monty Brown was signed by the WWE, WWE.com had a statement that Monty Brown had been signed. Why publicize the fact you signed Monty Brown then go ahead and rename him?

Lashley promo? Well, he can only get better. His promo included Lashley explaining how a Triple Threat match works – I guess since it SciFi that may be necessary. Lashley needs a manager.

Elijah Burke can cut one hell of a promo. He should be Lashley’s manager.

The Sandman and Burke had a sloppy match and the finish looked weak. Burke needs some more time in the ring.

Lashley retained the championship using a running powerslam? Powerslam? What year is this? Decent match, although Lashley and RVD seemed lost at times. Surprisingly, Test was the star performer of the match. His offense looked solid, his selling was rather well done.

Looks like Test is ECW’s Triple H. I remember back when Raw ended a number of times with Triple H over the fallen champion yelling that he would be champion. Now Test is doing the same.

This show could have been a lot worse. I only watched it since I read that Monty Brown was debuting.

2006: Reviewing the Year of Wrestling: Part 1.

There are plenty of other articles looking over the past year in wrestling. I’ll be writing a couple of articles about the past year. I’ll look at the year in terms of WWE, TNA, their main event scenes, their undercard, tag team situation and miscellaneous. This will be a multi-part posting considering how long this post could be.

WWE Main Event Scene:

Raw’s WWE Championship scene brought in new main eventers this year. Only three men held the WWE Championship this year: John Cena, Edge, and Rob Van Dam.

Edge has now solidified himself as a believable main event-caliber wrestler. He had some fantastic matches with Cena, but the one match that stands out to me is Edge’s title defense against Ric Flair in a ladder match on Raw. The match was excellent with dangerous spots and showed how badly Edge wanted to keep his WWE Championship. Actually, every WWE Championship match Edge performed in showed how badly Edge wanted to be champion. From good promos to excellent matches, Edge should remain a main eventer (assuming Triple H doesn’t crush him in singles competition).

Rob Van Dam looked to be the new/old face of WWECW. WWE took a chance by having the WWE Championship given to the high flyer at an ECW PPV. WWE’s biggest championship belt rested on the shoulder of RVD. RVD then blew his spot by getting caught on drugs. The ECW and WWE championships were taken from RVD quickly and it looks as though Van Dam will never be a champion again. I expect RVD to go to TNA as soon as his contract is over.

John Cena is the champ and has been quite established as the top face of WWE. I think his ring skills have improved and he does what he can with scripted promos. Raw is stacked with other main event level talent such as HBK, Triple H, Randy Orton, Ric Flair (when necessary), Umaga and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Okay, I’m kidding about Duggan – just seeing if you were paying attention.

SmackDown!’s World Heavyweight Championship scene was chaotic. Batista vacated his title, Raw’s Kurt Angle filled in as champion (after HBK refused to go over to SmackDown! according to articles online), Rey Mysterio was terribly booked as champion only to lose to the revitalized King Booker. King Booker kept the title with excellent promos, created a stable of wrestlers, but lost the championship to Batista in November. The best thing for the division this year was King Booker. His size and ability allowed him to feud with wrestlers of all sizes and his personality made the fans root for the babyface. Hopefully, he’s solidified himself as a true main eventer after numerous false starts (such as the WrestleMania XIX debacle against Triple H).

SmackDown! needs to position some more main eventers for its championship scene. Finlay’s feud with Batista, involvement in King Booker’s court and his excellent ring work make him a candidate for rising to the main event. Chris Benoit is a main eventer and does not need the U.S. title. Mr. Kennedy has positioned himself at the upper mid-card/lower main event after his excellent feud with Undertaker. If need be, Kane can become a champion with the right push. Mysterio and Undertaker can float around in whatever scene they would like although Taker has more control over his own destiny.

Next Time: I’ll cover either TNA’s main event scene or WWE’s undercard.

SummerSlam 2006 Thoughts

Now I had said I didn’t want to pay for SummerSlam 2006 because the card didn’t seem too great. But then I got caught up in the SummerSlam hype. I actually attended the first SummerSlam with the MegaPowers vs. the Megabucks – so I’m a SummerSlam fan.

They got me to pay up the 40 bucks and I watched the show. Here’s my opinion on it: It was a decent show that was quite fun and set up storylines for a while. Did anyone else notice that every match (except the DX one) had the loser enter the ring first?

The night opened up with Rey vs. Chavo because no other match could open. I enjoyed the match and the two have very good chemistry. Chavo selling of Rey’s offense is believable and the two did not disappoint. I think their No Way Out match was better and no Vicki Guerrero interference would be nice, but all in all a good opener with some nice highspots.

Hogan/Orton was what I expected except for the finish of Hogan going over. It’s not like he needs to protect his spot so I don’t understand why he didn’t job to Orton. Hogan played the crowd excellently and he’s the smartest man in wrestling – I wonder how he would do as a booker (assuming he was no longer an on-air talent).

Show vs. Sabu was alright. I was surprised there was no interference by Paul Heyman or RVD or someone. The two didn’t work together that well and the match was sloppy in parts.

The I Quit match was more hardcore than the ECW match. Some crazy bumps had me cringing for both wrestlers. The match ended abruptly with Mick quitting to save Melina and quite possibly means that the feud will continue.

DX vs. The McMahons (+10): I enjoyed seeing Ken Kennedy getting such offense on DX. It would be nice to see a Kennedy vs. HBK feud since the two can be loudmouths very well. Since Kennedy is such a star on SmackDown! it’s only a matter of time before he is sent to Raw. Anyway, the match portion was weak, but I enjoyed seeing the McMahons using tag-team finishers from the past. I was disappointed they did not use the Midnight Express’ finisher. It also set up a Kane-Umaga feud to give both men direction.

King Bookah vs. Batista: Batista needs some conditioning work since he nearly botched the Batista Bomb. Bookah retains and the feud will continue. That’s good for SmackDown!

Edge vs. John Cena: Cena loses in front of his home crowd so Edge will do the job at Unforgiven in Toronto. I’m glad Edge successfully defended the WWE championship at such a major PPV. It was a good match and I still think that Edge is a great champion. He seems like he could lose any match to any opponent (take a look at his ladder match against Ric Flair or his recent match against Carlito). He draws good heel heat and fans want to see him get his butt kicked in the ring.

BTW: I also liked the interaction between the champions. It makes the two shows really seem like two different promotions.

Last Week’s WWE Supershow

Last week, I attended the WWE Supershow in East Rutherford, New Jersey. For those of you who don’t know, a WWE Supershow is where the WWE records both SmackDown! and Raw at the same event. SmackDown! is taped first and then is followed by the live episode of Monday Night Raw. Telltale signs of the Supershow include black ring ropes and the Raw polygon-shaped Titantron.

The show started with a dark match featuring the return of Bob “Hardcore” Holly. The fans were supportive of Holly’s return to the ring.

SmackDown! followed the dark match and the fans were pretty much sitting on their hands until Ken Kennedy and Batista had their match. The crowd did not care for SmackDown! as evidenced by a sign I saw, “I only came here for Raw.” The Chavo/Rey segment did not get as much heat as it should have. Two people in front of me tried to start an “Eddie’s Dead” chant. I found that quite distasteful and disrespectful of the late, great Eddie Guerrero.

King Booker and Undertaker had a quality match that the fans appreciated. However, the crowd was hot for Raw even though the episode of Raw was really no better than SmackDown!

The WWE Red and Blue brands shouldn’t be competing, all the WWE should see is green.

It just shows the sad state of the WWE. WWE constantly puts over Raw as the “flagship of the WWE” and puts down SmackDown! At least JBL tries to put over SmackDown! as the “A Show.” The fans have bought into the WWE thinking that SmackDown! is the B show and not worth watching. For a short time, SmackDown! was the real A show with Kurt Angle, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Los Guerreros, John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show and Brock Lesnar.

Every time SmackDown! has some momentum, the WWE undercuts it. Take a look at that list – who is left? Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero are left. Triple H took Edge and brought back Orton to Raw. Show and Angle are anchoring the WWECW with star power.

SmackDown! is usually saved by a Raw wrestler coming over to the show. When Batista vacated the World Heavyweight Championship, Raw’s Kurt Angle managed to win the SmackDown! championship. Shortly thereafter, HBK got a pinfall victory over Angle on Monday Night Raw (while Angle was the SmackDown! Champion) to further show the fans that Raw is superior to SmackDown!

I cannot understand why the WWE would bother to do this considering any WWE brand brings the WWE money. For some reason, WWE is choosing to bury one show at their own expense. WWE could be making money on all of their brands, but chooses to do so with Raw and the new ECW. SmackDown! has quickly become the third brand.

So if anyone from the WWE is reading this, build up SmackDown and ECW to be equal to Raw and just make some serious money. When the brands are built up, fights between SmackDown! and Raw during the big-money PPVs would generate buyrates. The perfect example is the interpromotional classic, Raw’s HBK vs. SmackDown!’s Kurt Angle. Two superstars whose interactions were limited by being on separated brands allow for a slow building feud that can take months and their match will make money on a joint-brand PPV.

The WWE Red and Blue brands shouldn’t be competing, all the WWE should see is green.

ECW: Aug. 1, 2006: Meh edition.

Live thoughts on ECW

Last night, I was at the WWE Supershow taping of Raw and SmackDown! I’ll do a posting about my thoughts on that later. I’m watching ECW tonight and so I’ll throw my thoughts down in TextEdit.

Paul Heyman looking for company and no one wants to say hi to him. What a terrible thing. Sabu steps up to Heyman. Sabu speaks live? Faces against the heel boss? Where have I seen this before. WWECW in full effect.

When the hell is CM Punk going to wrestle? I’m tired of these damn promos. Tonight? Alright. I’ve never seen the guy wrestle. He’s got some internet buzz and they’ve got that Killswitch Engage song attached to him (Randy Orton’s theme song for a split second).

Stan “The Man” Lee talking ECW and his “Who wants to be a Superhero.” Cool.

Justin Credible vs. CM Punk
I’m actually paying attention to this match. Let’s see what CM Punk can do in WWECW. The last time I saw Justin Credible, he was getting destroyed by Kurt Angle. Could he be an ECW jobber? Justin Credible’s got a nice moveset. CM Punk is quite good. I’m not sure he’s as great as I’ve read about, but he can be something if the WWECW doesn’t screw this up.

ECW puts over Batista
No one needs to put over Batista. The guy is over and is a legit main eventer.

Wow, the Brooklyn Brawler is on TV, twice in a week? Kurt Angle returns (from what, I’m not sure – rib injury?). Kurt Angle’s reaction at ECW is one of respect. Angle slaps around Brawler – once again, I approve. Quick match. A headbutt lead into the ankle lock. It’s good to see Angle back. I’ve read that Kurt was not happy being demoted to ECW, but he’s a good fit. I hope he enjoys the fan reaction if nothing else.

Batista vs. Show
I’m pretty show Batista didn’t win the championship considering he didn’t have the championship when I saw him on Monday night for the SmackDown! taping. The fans don’t seem to want to watch this match. Could it be that ECW fans don’t want to see two WWE guys fight it out for the ECW championship? Nah. DQ’s on an ECW is like seeing flaming tables on a televised Sunday mass.

Hey, it’s Sabu.
I never thought I’d want to watch Sabu. Then I watched WWECW for the past couple of weeks. That guy is crazy. He’s a draw.

If you want a one word opinion on this episode of ECW: “meh.”

ECW: Show and Flair get “Extreme”

I didn’t watch the majority of the show. I just got HD and there was a special on birds. I like birds, especially in HD.

I had ECW in a picture in picture. Then I saw the Flair/Show match. Flair’s use of weapons was rather intelligent. He had a fighting chance. Then the thumbtacks came out. Flair pissed off Show by knocking Show into the thumbtacks. It builds Show’s ECW credibility. Flair taking a face down bump into thumb tacks got me cringing. Ric Flair is a wrestling legend; he is a man who could wrestle a broom and make the broom look like a millon bucks. He doesn’t need to have matches like this.

That being said. Ric Flair is crazy and he can still go. I think this will be put in the Foley/Flair video package for SummerSlam.

I have no idea how the rest of the show went. I will assume that it was the same as the other weeks.