Reported by Mike Siciliano of WrestleView.com
On Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 3:05 PM EST

The word of the day is
MYRIAD.

Gosh, how corny can I get?

To be honest, my head has not been in the game very much, and I have taken to heart some of your comments in the emails I have gotten that I have been a little too negative in my pieces, so it's been kind of tough to go through a piece on a topic and dissect it without sounding whiny. I'll try and go through a myriad of topics here, and see how it comes out.

First off, I have had some requests for a little bit of talk on Ring of Honor. Simple. ROH right now has the absolute best athletes on the planet that are not competing for World Wrestling Entertainment. I have been to several ROH shows on Long Island, and I haven't left disappointed yet. Whether it's KENTA & Davey Richards vs. the Briscoe Brothers or CM Punk vs. Jay Lethal or Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles, it's just flat out the best damn fight for your dollar. I recommend checking out their product immediately, if not sooner, because if you're looking for people to sit back and beat the high holy crap out of each other, you need only look to South Philly, home base of ROH.

Ok, moving on to some more topics at hand... since we're going through the spectrum, let's talk TNA.

TNA has begun to incorporate more skits to their programming, and it bothers me. Jarrett takes a polygraph? Come on.. I would mention the Cornette meetings, but truth be told, Cornette is a wizard on the microphone, so any TV time he gets, I condone. I thought Spike and TNA were ready to agree on two hours. Where did that agreement go?

Regardless of the fact he may be difficult, if not impossible backstage, Senshi, (Low Ki), can still bring it, and I hope this neck problem doesn't turn out to be something more significant. (Check the spoilers or backstage notes from the tapings to find out what I mean.)

What happened to the plans to put the NWA title on Samoa Joe? Why must we endure Sting vs. Jarrett II? Why must, wait, can't go there, it'd be a spoiler.

What's the deal with Raven's new look? Damn, those eyes creeped me out.

Runt has a mohawk. Dude, as corny as it looks, it's still cool.

Abyss should be crowned TNA's King of Hardcore. Every single time I turn around, this guy is falling through barbed wire, thumbtacks, and any table made of any surface possible. I mean, really, ladies and gentlemen, this guy, if he were ever to go in to ECW, would turn Big Show in to a flaming heap of peat moss. (Where the joke is there, I don't know. And that's sad, since I wrote it.)

I really enjoy the team of Styles & Daniels. I think they are quite possibly the technically best tag team on the planet, and it provides some new blood at the top of the tag team division outside of AMW and the Naturals. Although, Shane Douglas guiding, or driving the Naturals crazy, makes for some damn good television.

Where did Scott Steiner disappear to? Team 3D disappeared? Why?

I guess Nash's idea of putting over the X Division went about as well as his partnership with Alex Shelley, wouldn't you think so?

I was so amped up to get the Lockdown 2006 DVD to see the bump AJ put on James Storm on the roof of Lethal Lockdown. While it was major, and tremendous, and the whole thing, the descriptions I read previous made it sound like AJ jumped from a ladder up on the roof to the canvas itself with Storm on a table on the canvas. I was disappointed a bit when I saw that wasn't the case. Doesn't take away the awesomeness of the move, but maybe the describers can work on their wording, eh homer Tenay and annoying West?

Whoops, getting negative. Let's move on.

Let's move to WWE.

First off, I got my hands on some new hardware, so I was able to put up a bunch of new pics of my kids and I with some WWE stars at my myspace page. If you're interested, check out the link at the bottom of this page.

Ken Kennedy will be a major star in this business. He is that good. Congrats on the US title win.

Jeff Hardy is back in WWE. Never thought I'd see the day. Happy to see it, though, although he is making Johnny Nitro look like the rookie that he is with this feud they're involved with.

Sorry to see Trish Stratus retire. Although I am not at all surprised. If WWE is smart, they let Trish win the belt at Unforgiven, shelve it for a while, let who is on the roster gain some needed experience before bringing it back for competition, because outside of Lita & Victoria currently, and Beth Phoenix if/when she's brought back, there is NOBODY out there with the experience to take the title and run with it.

Happy to see Chris Benoit back on the road. Hope the spark is still in his eye. Can't wait to see him back on Smackdown.

Rey Mysterio. Shawn Michaels. What do these men have in common? They're competing with major problems with their knees that require surgery. While I don't have that bad a problem personally, I can relate to having bad wheels, and these men are going down the same path that someone else did which led to their demise from WWE. If they don't do something soon, and I mean, really soon, to fix their bodies, and let themselves heal, WWE will lose more hall of fame talent than they can afford to.

The person I am mentioning in the previous paragraph is of course, Kurt Angle. I spoke about the Kurt Angle scenario in a previous piece, but the fact remains, if these new allegiations that are brought out by WWE have the slightest inkling of truth, then Kurt needs to stop being immature. In the meantime, I am going to blame WWE for treating one of their HIGHEST stars in such a poor fashion in this time of ultimate need for him, and his family. Is Vince so badly after the almighty dollar that he'll ruin people's lives, even in real life? It's sad, if that is true. No pun intended with that remark.

With Sabu clearly out of the ECW World title picture, who is going to unseat the Big Show? I know CM Punk can do it, and with his recent loss of the OVW title, he'll have the time to do it, but frankly, is he going to get the political push to do so? It's something that needs to be done, but is WWE smart enough to do it? Time will tell.

Ric Flair reduced to kissing Maria (which isn't a bad thing, by the way), and being a stepping stone for the Umaga/Kane feud? What has happened to the dignity of the 16 time World champion?

Cryme Tyme. Man, I am telling you, ladies and gentlemen, where do they come up with such ridiculously offensive gimmicks?

Unforgiven has me intrigued. Hell in the Cell and TLC in one card. Even if the Hell in the Cell is predictable, which I think it is, it's still intriguing, which brings me to my main point of this piece, and that is the WWE title TLC match between Edge and John Cena.

Now, it pains me to say this, and believe me, you all know how big a Cena fan I am, but....

John Cena is going to Friday Night Smackdown.

I can't see Cena reclaiming the title with this stip in the match. I can't see Cena, as the 'top babyface' of Raw continuing the fight for the WWE title when this is the 2nd shot that Edge is giving him on PPV for the belt. And, although tainted, he is 0-1 in those shots, losing the match at Summerslam. And primarily, and this is the reason I am most displeased with, when the DX storyline fizzles, the top babyface position will go to Triple H, that is a lock. Triple H will challenge Edge for the WWE title soon after Unforgiven, I would say. I would expect Vince and Shane to disappear for a time, Coach to run things, and H to get his 11th title over the Rated R superstar. I only hope when that happens, they go back to the classic title. I liked the WWE logo in the middle of the spinner, but this rated R thing is really disgusting.

When you look at this from the Smackdown perspective, it makes all the sense in the world. Benoit has to work his way back up. Batista may be the champ when Cena comes over, but either which way, Batista vs. Cena is something they've been teasing since Batista won the Rumble before Wrestlemania 21. It would be very interesting to see. Also, Outside of Batista, there is NOBODY on the Smackdown roster who is ready to step in as #1 babyface and challenge for the World title. Like I said, Benoit has to work back up. Outside of him and Batista, there is nobody. Rey will go out, and after that, who's left?

Smackdown gets Cena, which provides a nice push for their transition to the CW Network, and Cena goes in to a brief feud before challenging for the World title. It makes a lot of sense, so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't happen. But, as much as it pains me, it probably will, and that really makes me not want to watch Raw anymore, because Edge as champion really makes me sick.

Besides, I want to see someone else besides Batista kick the crap out of the King, and who betta than Cena to do that. Sorry Chris Kanyon for the use of the lingo.

I can't stomach this deal involving Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero with Vickie. I do not in any way dispute Vickie getting a paycheck from WWE, but as she said herself, its time to move on, let Eddie rest, and keep the action in the ring. Don't continue to let the spirit of Eddie Guerrero lay restless. End this, it's gone beyond the point of offensive to down right ludicrous.

I don't understand Sylvester Terkay and Elijah Burke. While I know, from watching past OVW stuff that Burke can go, Terkay looks like a reject out of the Nathan Jones school of pro wrestling, and he doesn't seem, in my opinion, to have the it factor that would succeed in sports entertainment. Not to mention the fact that when the eventual disbanding of this pair comes to pass, it will be the biggest mismatch feud from sheer size I have seen since Mysterio and Big Show.

Ok, when they brought the Miz in, I liked the personality. Hell, I even liked his intensity in the ring when I saw him compete in Ohio Valley. But, this damn Hoo-RAH thing is getting old, really fast. If ever someone needed a niche to grasp on to before becoming the next version of Josh Mathews, its Mike Mizanin.

I am shocked, we have tag team feuds! The Spirit Squad vs. the Highlanders on Raw, and Stevens & James vs. Kendrick & London on Smackdown. I am thrilled! It's nice to see young talent get the chance to shine. I know London and Kendrick have their heads on straight. It looks like Rory & Robbie are down to earth too. I only hope the same for the other participants in these feuds, because they could be the foundation for a blossoming new tag team division on both brands.

What happened to Shelton Benjamin? Is he hiding in the witness protection program or something? When are we, if ever, going to see the technical masterpiece that could unfold with Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin? Or, if worst case scenario, TEAM THEM UP AGAIN. God knows they'd have a better showing that Haas & Viscera.

Michelle McCool looks outstanding, but damn, that voice is tough to endure.

Ok, closing time. Before I go, some movie related notes with regard to wrestling, specifically one active, and one retired personality. I am a AUTHORITY on bad action movies, which means that I probably will absolute love "The Marine". Not because of Robert Patrick, although he sounds like he has a lot of fun in this flick, not because of Kelly Carlson because she is smoking hot, but because, I am who I am and that's all who I am. I am a bad movie fan.

Speaking of the movies, I have interest in seeing Rock's new film, "Gridiron Gang", which is rare, since I haven't touched a movie from Rock since Walking Tall. I even have Be Cool on DVD, and I haven't watched it yet. I will, but I haven't yet. Looks like maybe Rock's career, outside of his repeated achilles tendon problems may be beginning to turn around.

Das it for now, ladies and gentlemen. Hope you liked this mishmash.

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Beaucoup cenabling!