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Badseed's Bottomline #336: Welcome Home |
» Reported by Jon Minners of WrestleView.com
» On Monday, October 3, 2005 at 9:02 PM EST
Badseed’s Bottomline 337
Welcome Home
By Jon Minners
Hey yo! This is the week where it is just really good to be a wrestling fan. TNA is back on television. The WWE is back where it is supposed to be. Let the wrestling wars begin again.
Welcome home WWE. It’s time to go back to your roots. In all honesty, you never should have left at all. The WWE never seemed at home on Spike Television. The network for men never seemed to give the WWE the freedom it needed to be a sport entertainment show for men. I don’t think anything from when WWE was on Spike TV could be considered cutting edge television. I never felt like I was ever seeing anything groundbreaking. The most groundbreaking aspect of their time on Spike was the WCW-ECW invasion ruined by an ill-fated Alliance and the ECW invasion ruined by no further ECW references afterwards. Oh, maybe you can count Eric Bischoff’s first appearance on Raw, but other than that, in five years on Spike TV, can anyone really remember anything exciting that changed the face of wrestling.
Change was what being on USA was all about. It was the station where Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Andre the Giant and Rowdy Roddy Piper gave way to Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect, Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels who would give way to Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley and HHH. It was the company that took the concept of taped Prime Time Wrestling matches and went live with Raw. It was the channel that gave us The Attitude Era; Brian Pillman shooting at Steve Austin, the birth of DX and the rise of the most electrifying man in sports entertainment. This was the company that gave us Mankind vs. The Rock in a Half-Time Heat empty arena match that was as unique as it was entertaining. WWE on USA gave us the rise of the Hardy Boys, The Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian. WWE on USA was where things happened. The biggest claim to fame on Spike TV was Batista and Evolution; the Draft Lottery and Katie Vick.
I am really excited by the WWE Homecoming this Monday. It should be a hell of a show, but before we discuss that, I feel the need to discuss the last episode on Spike TV. What a bunch of petty bastards. Listen, television is a business and the WWE made a wise business decision to leave Spike TV behind. Spike TV was smart enough to use the remaining weeks to hype the start of TNA Wrestling on Spike. The WWE did the right thing by thanking Spike TV during their final broadcast, albeit with a little dig on Spike’s earlier identity crisis, but it was thanks nonetheless. Spike TV paid them back for high ratings and their appreciation by blatantly censoring a live show; not for cursing, nudity or blood, but for informing people about where they would be next week on USA. It made the show quite annoying to watch and may have been exactly why ratings were so low. Why sabotage your own ratings with childish antics. I feel the WWE deserved to be treated better. Business is business and there was no malice on the part of WWE when leaving Spike TV. Get over it and concentrate on TNA and UFC.
Well, now on to USA. It looks like a stacked show. Matt Hardy vs. Edge could be a show stealer with their ladder match, but then again, you know Kurt Angle vs. HBK will deliver. I just hope they don’t have a screwy ending leading to fans having to vote for either HBK or Angle to fight John Cena at Taboo Tuesday or worse yet, make a HBK-tantrum induced triple threat match. Also, Cena vs. Bischoff could have potential if they overbook it with a number of run-ins that could surprise the fans.
In addition, Piper’s Pit with Mick Foley should help push another young star that is certain to intervene on the proceedings. Steve Austin will strike, but against who? HHH will return and hopefully help Ric Flair give the rub to Carlito and Chris Masters. Vince McMahon will probably announce Taboo Tuesday. Hulk Hogan will get involved and I have a feeling a special guest will rock the show. It should be fun, especially if the WWE uses the opportunity to have the legends push the younger stars to get USA’s reign off on the right foot.
Finally, Smackdown will have a chance to shine in a match on USA, which will serve to showcase the show’s attributes should the WWE ever want to move Smackdown over to USA. Wouldn’t it be great to see HHH and Batista interact one more time?
Anyways, I am pumped to see this big show. The move to USA is a move in the right direction. I’m looking forward to more cutting edge television in the near future. USA and the WWE; it just feels right.
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