?Reported by TJ Siloski of WrestleView.com

On Saturday, April 30, 2005 at 12:39 AM EST

Before I start, I want to send my condolences to the friends and family of Chris Candido. It's never easy to see someone like him go down out of nowhere, a star on the rise that never got the chance to truly shine.

The New Champions

So, Wrestlemania 21 is in the history books, Triple H actually dropped a belt, we finally have a new champ on Smackdown, HBK jobbed at the event, I couldn't be happier. My predictions even went well despite missing one of the title matches. I've got other issues to complain about, but first let's go into the titles on both shows now that both have changed hands. The formula's not changing, both titles are scheduled for rematches at each of the next Pay-Per-Views. Too bad, WWE needed a bigger shakeup than this, I would have wanted at least one rematch be put off a few months and let them struggle to earn the match over time.

On Smackdown, we do have some good matches possible, but not many. Cena vs Angle comes to mind immediately, but that's a big one to be saved for a big moment. In between JBL and Angle, there's not much for Smackdown to work with heel-wise. They could turn Booker T yet again but that would last a whole month before he went face again. I really like the possibilities the draft lottery presents, the Christian vs Cena match is one I'd buy a PPV for. The grand daddy though is reserved for RVD's return, a heel turn upon his return to the ring would put him in perfect position to take the belt from Cena.

Raw seems limited now that Randy Orton, who was building up as a major heel, is going to be sidelined for a while. Edge is the obvious one with that precious contract of his, Jericho seems to be turning heel with this Shelton Benjamin feud, but regardless of how that comes out he wont be able to shoot for the world title. If he wins, he cant because he's the IC champ. If he fails, what sense in pushing him to the world title match again? Moving someone from Smackdown to be a Raw heel might work but only temporarily. We need a Benoit heel turn, that would be worth watching.

This is where the idea of temporary top carders fails. With so few at that upper echelon the newcomers to win the title belts have already been beating up anyone that could be pushed up to compete for the belt. It keeps them from being able to logically put anyone else up on the top card so when you run out of big match possibilities, you're left out to dry.

Hardy and Rhyno

Okay, now to the biggest topics of the last few weeks. Someone explain this part to me cause I really don't get it. Rhyno breaks a pot. One damn pot in public. He's fired for the bad image it put out, an image only the dozen people in that room probably have. Matt Hardy's girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend. The story breaks on his website, so Hardy's fired because he's heartbroken.

Double standard #1: The WWE repeatedly vocalizes their lack of concern/respect for wrestling websites and internet fans. Does anyone remember seeing either incident mentioned on CNN? No. So either they are concerned about internet media or they were looking for excuses to fire them and get their salary back, most likely the latter. Matt especially, what a bad reason, worst situation imaginable and he's fired because he's upset? It's like they noticed Matt has a licensed theme song and realized they could get a bit more cash from his release if they had any slight excuse.

Double standard #2: A past incident got local TV coverage, I believe it was on CNN's ticker, the arrest report was on every wrestling website there was, it raised a lot of negative questions about wrestlers and their mental state their profession instilled in them. What am I referring to? Stone Cold beating his wife. And it happened more than once, one time with a wife, one time with a girlfriend. Where is he today? Wrestlemania 21 and a 3 picture deal with WWE Films.

Lovely.

Good job, WWE, you show just how much class you've got, lots of class and it's all low. Try to take example from real sports, NBA for starters. Ron Artest, one of the best young stars, one of the Pacer's top guys, full year suspension. If WWE's logic applied in the NBA, Artest would get a salary raise for punching a fan and the two guys in the fight you never heard of before would get suspended a year for just yelling at people.

Just as bad is the image they give themselves. They're so concerned with their image when the wrestlers harm it a little but their actions are what really harm them. What assholes they look like firing a guy that's in the situation Matt was. In the WWE, apparently, if you become a big star you can beat up your spouse and get better deals. Sure, let's let a whole batch of new wrestlers think that while they're coming up, let them think they can become politically invincible. Just don't let your girlfriend cheat on you while you're injured or break pots while you're jobbing. Think, if Rhyno was top card he could have torn that hotel down and still gotten a title shot that Sunday at the PPV.

Well there is a bright side. It's a matter of time before TNA brings the Hardy Boys back together and Rhino could get a real push there, if they could figure out what to name him. WWE still has Rhyno trademarked, Marvel has Rhino, guess we're going with Man-Beast. Rhino's just somebody you don't go to the real name for.

Oh, and just to be amusing before I wrap this up, I'm watching Fear Factor on FX, the WWE edition. Lita is the only one on the show that hasn't been fired since. Irony or conspiracy? You ponder it until next time and let me know what you think. Until then!