»Reported by Dale Mills of WrestleView.com

On Saturday, February 12, 2005 at 4:36 PM EST

Hello grapple fans. Yes, that's right. It is that time again, time for.... Dale to have a cold. It seems that every three weeks I get a God damn cold. Meh. So as I sit here typing and sniffling I will try my best not to let my bunged up-ness get in the way. So, here goes.

Just a few things before I get in to the wrestling side of things that I want to tell you all about. First is probably the best shop I have ever been in to in my entire life. 1up Games. 1up Games is a shop based in Doncaster here in the good ol' U.K that I stumbled across while looking on Ebay(gotta love the Bay). After viewing their online delights me, Glencyclopedia and Milky all decided that a road trip was in order. Seeing that we only live an hour or so away from Doncaster it wasn't going to be that hard getting there. And it wasn't. Finding the place was another matter as no one had ever heard of it. But after half an hour or so we found the shop in question and boy, was it worth the effort. Wall to wall wrestling merchandise. Figures, masks, belts, tees the lot. I was in heaven. Four hours later I was £200 lighter in the wallet(the Mrs took it well which is a bonus in itself) but in possession of the classic Bret Hart winged Eagle World title(not HBK Glenn), a JBL and Eugene figure and a Psychosis mask. Glenn bought the Chrissy Trish double pack(what else did you expect)and a Eugene figure plus a psychosis mask. Milky bought a Rey Rey mask. Did we get many people looking at us as we drove home in our Lucha masks? What do you think. All in all it was a top shop and we will be going there on a regular basis. Ker-ching!

The other monumental thing that happened in my life this past week was. I had my hair cut. Yes, you read right. A Hair cut. Its not super short but it aint long either. Head over to http://www.freewebs.com/millsanomics/index.htm over the next week or so to check out the pictures(when Glenn adds them) Reet, with that out of the way. On to the Wrestling.

Two weeks have past since the Royal Rumble and the WWE are well on the Road to WrestleMania. Both shows seem to be very focused on the run up to the Grand Daddy of them all. Over on Raw they are doing an absolute blinding job with Batista and HHH. Everyweek I look forward to seeing what is going to happen between these two and catch the eventual explosion of Big Dave turning on Evolution. The lingering look that Batista was giving the World Title and the look on Hunter's face was a classic way to end the show this week. Remember what I said about making me want to tune in next week? That is what it's all about. Although HHH and Batista are the main thing happening on Raw right now, there are many other things going on that are well worth watching too. The ongoing saga of Randy Orton and his concussion for one. Now I will be the first to admit that at the Rumble I really thought that Orton was concussed. The glazed look in is eyes and the way he stumbled about the ring(go back and watch how it takes Orton two attempts to grab the sledge hammer)coupled with the abrupt anticlimactic ending to his World title bout with HHH made me think that he was proper hurt. Top notch stuff. And now it looks like that Christian is heading in to a Mania showdown with the Legend Killer which is also all good. A Chrissy Orton Mania match almost guarantees great bell to bell action as both guys are outstanding workers in the ring with Captain Charisma just shading it due to his experience level. Another good thing that should come out of his match up is, now that the Edge experiment looks to have failed, the Raw brand may be looking for a new choice for main event stardom. Could CC be that man? Maybe. Given the same push and treatment that Edge has been given, win or lose at WrestleMania, Christian could finally break in to that upper echelon. If that was to happen then the question will be, will CC be able to maintain the lofty heights he has reached. I can't see why not. Christian has the look, the moves, charisma by the boat load and the all important catchphrases that will stand him in good stead. The only thing that Chrissy could do with removing is Tyson Tomko. Tomko is a waste of space. When the only decent thing that you have done is say a stoic 'no' in a Royal Rumble backstage segment then you know you are in trouble. With Tomko given his marching orders the path should be clear. Hell even if Christian tries and fails what have they lost? Nothing. Chrissy would just slip back in to his upper mid card role with main event experience and the WWE can try with someone else. But if Capt. Charisma does have a chance of main event stardom then it has to be worth the shot. Another good reason to tune in to Raw is both Benoit and Jericho. Whatever these two guys are involved in is always worth watching. And when the fight each other, I could watch that every week. Especially if the bouts are like this weeks effort. What two guys do you send out to open a show in Japan. Benny and Jezza that's who. Their classic Dungeon style bout was great. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Not since Bret Hart retired has that happened. Stellar stuff indeed.

Over on the other brand, SmackDown! looks to have finally found its feet. First of building up to the Barb Wire steel cage match and the number one contender tournament. I got to say that I was a little disappointed at seeing the Barb Wire cage as I was thinking that the Barbs would be wrapped around all the mesh, not just the top. I'm not sure how the Barbs being wrapped around the top is going to affect the Big Show as climbing over the top to win will be the very last thing on Big Show's mind. Still, JBL should come out on top as they have done everything as humanly possible to make Bradshaw look as strong as strong can be as champion going in to Mania and his eventual showdown with the winner of the tournament. Judging by the Royal Rumble main event and an FU on the champ, the safe bet looks to be on John Cena. I know that last time out I was a bit harsh on Cena because of the amount of gimmick he is(and now he has added that awful HAA HAAW 'catchphrase')but there is no doubt that the fella is super over. Really super over. In fact I would say that at the end of the Rumble when the refs were doing the holding up of the hands of the guy they thought had won spot Cena was slightly more over than Batista. And some times being over like that can be more beneficial than being an in ring technical wizard. Hogan, Nash, Warrior and The Undertaker all had varying degrees of success as World champs but none were known for their ring work(well, not in a positive anyway)but all were super duper over. And to be fair to John, when he tries, he is a better worker than most on that list. And, again, to be fair to Cena he has upped his game since the Rumble. It looked like that his backstage rap on that other star in the making Christian, was his wake up call and return back to how he was before the gimmick side of him totally consumed him. Let's hope that this trend continues. Other SD highlights are Kurt Angle, as always. The still impressive Big Show. The raw talent of Luther Reigns and my favourite thing on SmackDown. The French Tickler. How can you not be amused. When Cena eventually drops the U.S Title, Rene' Dupree' should be the man to carry that division again. Along with Rey Rey perhaps. I could go for a Mysterio Dupree' feud.

There are still weeks to go until WrestleMania and you can be sure of many intriguing twists and turns on the way and I will be here to give you my thoughts and for you to send me yours and as a fan I say bring it on.

D

Email: big_d@wrestleview.com

Msn: big_dalebowski@hotmail.com

http://www.freewebs.com/millsanomics/index.htm