Hey yo! Wrestling was interesting to say the least this week. Not all good, but some things definitely caught my eye. Let’s take a second to discuss these amongst ourselves.
Raw just looks confused as of late. I don’t think they even know where they are going these days.
The exciting storyline of DX vs. The McMahons sort of took a weird turn. I mean, if you think about it, it really makes sense to drag the storyline out. They shouldn’t have DX battle the McMahons yet. If they were smart, they would hold it off until Wrestlemania, but they are not. They will finish it off and there is nothing we can say or do about it.
The funny thing is that I found the DX vs. Spirit Squad feud highly entertaining for some reason. Not having the Spirit Squad involved makes sense since they couldn’t get the job done, but I enjoyed it. Now, I actually like Umaga destroying DX one at a time. They should work with this feud for a little while longer. Umaga is growing on me. Reminds me of the old days of Kamala and Killer Khan.
But, I see there is this poster with the New World Order logo on it and DX spray-painted over it. Now, while it seems to be a fake, it is a damn good looking fake and it actually got me thinking of how good an idea it was for a short time feud. Instead of battling the McMahons right away, they should have gone this route; had DX fight their handpicked opponents and win, only to have a new opponent come out of the shadows to keep DX away from the McMahons. They could essentially still do this by setting up a HHH vs. Vince McMahon showdown for The Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania.
Anyways, the next threat could be Randy Orton. We remember that Orton beat up Eugene and told him afterwards that he should not mess with the McMahons. Obviously, he is in their back pocket, so why not run with it. Either make the Randy Orton vs. Hulk Hogan match lead to a strange alliance between the two or just have Orton go after HBK and HHH by bringing back some of their old friends as part of a New NWO. The group could consist of X-Pac and Scott Hall and there wouldn’t really be a need for anyone else unless they wanted to throw in Eric Bischoff for some reason, or even Bret Hart for obvious reasons, but those are highly unlikely scenarios. It could be a short-term thing. You build up Hall and X-Pac and then have them lose at Survivor Series, before setting up matches for Orton and HBK and then Orton and HHH. Maybe even involve Edge. I don’t know. I only say this because I remember Randy Orton’s shirt looking very much like the New World Order logo. Plus, I like the idea of them changing it and making it a Randy World Order. LOL.
Anyways, that’s what I would like to see. That would entertain me.
But Raw just sort of dulled me out this week. I think I fast-forwarded through everything. The DX vs. McMahon feud was sloppy this week, despite an entertaining HBK vs. Umaga match. I found the Mick Foley vs. Flair angle to be surprisingly dull, meaning they have run out of words and it is time to wrestle. I did like Foley attacking Flair’s family. Foley always knows how to hit a nerve and this feud does seem personal, so you might as well go there, but I was still not entertained this week. Cena vs. Matt Striker was a joke. Poor Striker. He is a great talent that they are misusing. About the only thing I liked about wrestling this week was Shelton Benjamin vs. Johnny Nitro vs. Carlito. That was a fun match.
I also like that Candice Michelle showed some improvement this week in the ring. She is the Go Daddy Girl. She is a Playboy centerfold. She is friggin gorgeous and could have a career doing anything else and yet she wrestles in the ring and takes bumps. Something happened. She got the fever. She enjoyed kicking ass and even getting her ass kicked and I am very happy to see that. Look at what happened with Trish and Victoria. It would be nice if they could do the same for Candice.
Over on ECW, I was teased with a great ECW match between Tommy Dreamer and Sandman vs. Mike Knox and Test. I thoroughly enjoyed the brutality and blood in this match. I felt like I was watching an ECW match and that excited me. I even love how they are playing this angle out. Keep it going. I would love to see a Survivor Series ECW rules match between Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, RVD and Sabu vs. Kurt Angle, Test, CM Punk and Big Show. It would have great wrestling, hardcore violence and lots of blood, all in one match. That’s a great idea. I am so glad I thought of it. You can thank me later when the WWE steals it.
Then we got CM Punk’s debut and I like what I saw. He has a lot of tools. He fits a different type of ECW mold. It’s not the hardcore wrestling. It’s more of the Chris Benoit mold. I can’t wait to see Punk battle RVD, Kurt Angle and Sabu. Those are going to be classics. Space them out.
Kurt Angle’s match was a waste of time, but damn was I happy to see him back.
How do you go to the Hammerstein Ballroom and put Big Show vs. Batista as your main event. That is an insult to every ECW fan out there. It was great to see Sabu attack Big Show and I look forward to a Big Show vs. Sabu match at Summerslam, but if anything, you put Kurt Angle vs. Big Show or you bring back Chris Benoit and have him go against The Big Show. Make the fans happy. Balls Mahoney vs. The Big Show would have gotten a much better response. It just goes to show you that the WWE doesn’t know how to cater to the ECW crowd. I know, you are thinking that Batista vs. Big Show looks better in the ratings for the Sci Fi Network, but a hot ECW crowd can make any match exciting. You know what…you want to get all audiences…you have Batista advertised vs. Big Show and then when the match is about to start, you have an ECW wrestler come out and challenge them both to an ECW original…Three Way Dance. Everyone wins that way.
I can’t wait for ECW-only PPVs. You need to give them some time to build characters, but once they do, it is an exciting prospect. My only worry is this: CM Punk, RVD, Sabu, Kurt Angle, Justin Credible, even Tommy Dreamer, Sandman and Balls Mahoney are used to working long matches. Will the WWE-owned ECW let them perform the right way on PPV. We all know that a one hour show can only do so much, but a 3-hour PPV should have at least three 25 minute matches, if not longer. I just wanted to let that be known.
WWE Classics is awesome, but please keep the Raw shows to a minimum. I enjoyed this one, because it had Steve Austin and The Rock, Farooq, D Lo Brown and Ahmed Johnson. I enjoyed Bret Hart, HBK and even the cool Goldust. I was happy to see Cactus Jack and HHH with Chyna. It brought back a lot of memories, but that said, I don’t want to see HHH make his return to MSG after his quad injury or Kane unmasking…it’s just still fresh. I want classics and by classics, I mean Roddy Piper vs. Hulk Hogan or Paul Orndorff vs. Cowboy Bob Orton. Things like that. I was really excited to see some old school Randy Savage. He was a genius during his time. I also loved the Ricky Steamboat vs. Greg Valentine match, but I didn’t understand why Gorilla Monsoon was calling for Valentine to be disqualified just because Jimmy Hart pushed his charge into the ring to try and avid the 10-count. If anything, that showed that Hart wanted his wrestler to be a fighting champion and not a coward. I enjoyed the cage match between Don Muraco and Hulk Hogan, more so for the blood and the promo that I always wondered about (I saw highlights of Hogan in the Rambo-style garb before, but never knew why). The actual match was not as good as the regular Hogan vs. Big Bossman match from a few weeks prior, which I thought was just much more fun. Don Muraco…I miss him. He was really getting good just before he vanished from the scene. This week, we got King Kong Bundy vs. Andre the Giant and they heard my call and gave us Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair from back in the day. Now, that’s a classic.
TNA is getting hot again. I was worried about their direction lately. They just seemed to be throwing together matches that made no sense to me, but now things are coming together nicely. Check out this lineup. We finally get to see Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting and I am thankful, because I just want the feud over with. I want to see what they do for Sting once that feud is done and I think it will mean a Sting vs. Christian Cage feud, which I am excited to see. We also get Monty Brown vs. Samoa Joe vs. Rhino. Are you for real? That’s an awesome match between three rising TNA stars. Something keeps holding Monty Brown back, but I hope to see him break out during this battle. Samoa Joe vs. Rhino is sick enough. These three can tear the house down. I’m ordering this PPV just for this match. And then I get AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels vs. LAX. They actually made this match look good and I can’t wait to see Homicide show what he can do against an opponent more his style. We got Tag-Team Turmoil matches and a strangely intriguing battle between Brother Runt and Abyss. This looks like a fun PPV. I can’t wait to see what else they have in store for us.
TNA has to come up with great matches and they need to sign the hot indy talent that can deliver in the ring. Look at how Senshi and Samoa Joe are doing. They really created a name for themselves. Look at Alex Shelley. Look at Eric Young. We need more of those types of stars to get people talking, because right now, as bad as it is, WWE and ECW seem to be the only game in town again. It’s like TNA disappeared. They need to get their name back on people’s lips again. Attack the competition. The Rhino promo brought the spotlight on TNA again, but they need to keep applying the pressure. Keep running with it. Attack the competition. Get people talking. The WWE beat WCW when they attacked them. It’s time TNA took a page from their book. They’ve done it before, but I am talking about a full-court press attack.
Smackdown is intriguing me only because of the number of new stars showing up on the program. We get a new tag-team this week that will probably win the tag-team titles right away. We also get to see Elijah Burke wrestle. I didn’t think he was going to wrestle. I thought he was only going to come out for Sylvester Turkay. So, that’s kind of cool. I want to see more of Turkay. He seems green right now, but being an amateur star, I am sure he will pick things up and perform well. Montel Vontavious Porter will also be trying to make a name for himself and I hope he does. Believe me…Smackdown needs new talent and fast. I can’t wait to see what they can do. I actually like the idea of Raw being a place where the bigger stars perform while Smackdown has its share of veterans like Batista, Rey Mysterio, William Regal, Matt Hardy, Fit Finley, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Booker T and Undertaker, but focuses on new stars like Ken Kennedy and Bobby Lashley. Still, a part of me actually misses JBL.
Well, that’s all for today. I am going to brave the Bronx heat. Wish me luck. Until next time, stay cool. Peace.
