Although it can be interpreted as a slap against the United States Championship, let’s be honest, ladies and gentlemen. How freakin’ cool was the segment with Shelton Benjamin and The Undertaker? I was watching Smackdown with my 10 and 9 year old sons, and they loved it just as much as I did. I thought it was terrific. A good solid promo from Shelton, and then one sentence out of nowhere, a chokeslam, and Shelton is down for the count, and is not getting up, unless you hit him with a gallon of water.
I am going to put this out there. Hurricane Helms returns from the year long plus absence from neck surgery, gets two straight pinfall victories over the US Champion in non title situations, and then, next thing we know, he loses in a title match to Benjamin, and then is given to Kozlov as fodder for the Moscow Mauler. Has Vince already soured on a technical wrestler? Sure, Helms isn’t 300 pounds and carved out of granite, but the man can wrestle, and should be given a shot at something. How stupid was WWE when they retired the cruiserweight championship. Noble, Kendrick, Helms, Carlito, Primo, Mysterio, Bourne, maybe Swagger, and others could be contending for a title that would render some major league talented competition, if Vince is interested in the Wrestling aspect of the World WRESTLING Entertainment.
Has the collection of heel heat gone to the extreme with Vickie Guerrero? I know the heat is needed, but come on, the idea of ‘nude photos’ on ebay was pretty silly and out of left field. It worked out pretty well, though, all things considered. One thing is also shown from this angle. Chavo Guerrero is still made out to look like a weakling in the presence of Triple H, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a travesty. No offense to the Game, but Chavo Guerrero is a talented competitor, and should not be made to look like a jobber in these segments. It doesn’t help his character for any future pushes towards an eventual loftier goal.
I guess it’s official. Michelle McCool has gone heel. It does make the Smackdown divas a bit more interesting and intense to watch, as there will be some obvious heat and emotion between McCool against Maria & Eve. Question remains though as to whether or not Eve Torres has had enough training in developmental to be ready to showcase her talents in the squared circle on television. I’m very concerned about that with this storyline. That’s a pretty big chance WWE is taking, and it could backfire in a big way.
I feel bad for Maryse, finally winning the Divas title, and then getting hurt. A dislocated kneecap has got to be painful, no matter how long she misses ring time. I am surprised that they are saying it’s not that severe, and she should not miss much ring time. I hope she doesn’t have to relinquish the title for two reasons. A) Her arrogance should make her title reign entertaining to watch, and B) there should not be much time dedicated to this title anyway, because it’s a worthless title that really should not have been created in the first place.
Big Zeke and Kendrick get their title shot next week. I’m glad it finally is going to go down. It’s been a nicely built up quiet rivalry that needed to go to this level. Whether or not the champions lose the title is irrelevant, in my opinion, because I believe this has some legs, and can continue for a brief period of time, at least up to Royal Rumble.
Finlay & The Great Khali as a tag team. Funny stuff. How far has Hawkins & Ryder fallen? From WWE Tag Team Champions to involved in a faction with the GM and then the World Heavyweight Champion to barely an after thought. Who would not be the least bit surprised to see Hawkins & Ryder get future endeavoured sooner rather than later?
Kizarny, in my opinion, was a major league flop. I was not impressed whatsoever with this guy. I thought he looked awful. I didn’t see anything that would make me want to see him have any more appearances on television.
I’ll talk more about the Rumble, and try and pick the winner when more of the names are entered. Edge vs Jeff Hardy for the WWE title may be the culmination of the master plan that will bring Christian Cage back to the WWE. If it works the way some of you have said to me in emails, I’ll love it. What I want to see more than anything else, if and when Cage comes back to WWE, is the Cage that has developed in TNA. If he reverts back to the midcarder he was in WWE before leaving, this will be a bad move. WWE has to realize that Cage has world championship experience, and needs to use his talents appropriately. Let’s see how things progress leading in to the pay per view at the end of the month.
Wrestleview has a post about WWE’s talents stats, number of matches, wins, losses, the works. It’s kind of funny that CM Punk has the ‘most matches’ title for 2008 with 174. How funny is it that Triple H has the most victories with 125. Not too funny if you ask me. It’s not funny in any way whatsoever that MVP has the most losses with 121. Matt Striker was winless in 2008? He lost 100% of his matches?? I guess that’s why he found his niche in broadcasting. Interesting stuff to check out.
It’s been almost a week since I wrote TNA about the problems I am having with the Cross the Line 3 pack DVD box set. I am really getting pissed off at the problems I am having with the TNA DVD distribution and the problems with the product as a whole. As I am waiting to hear from TNA on this deal, I am getting angrier and angrier to wait to see how things are responsive from the company.
Speaking of TNA, I have been following the build up for the January 4th Tokyo Dome show, and the forthcoming title shots for the Motor City Machine Guns and Team 3D for the IWGP Junior and Heavyweight tag team titles. It’d be such a kick to see one of these teams come out of Tokyo with the championship and bring them back to the states. I considered it an honor when I had the pleasure to witness a GHC Title Defense when Misawa came to the states and defended the belt against KENTA at the Manhattan Center. It’d be nice to see the New Japan promotion use the exposure of TNA to further promote their company.
I hope there is a release of this Tokyo Dome show, because of the talent that is stacked on this card. WWE has been so high on bringing Mistico in, the luchador from Mexico, and he’s on the card. Low Ki defends the IWGP Jr. title against Tiger Mask, and Tanahashi returned to New Japan to face Keiji Mutoh for the big strap. Tanahashi, who returned from a sour experience in TNA, has a shot to take the big title from the man who is holding two major titles for two companies with two alternate personalities. How much fun would this be to see it in person or on DVD? In my opinion, too much fun. I hope that something is done for the North American fans to see this show.
I know I could continue talking about this, but I don’t want to tread on Hunter’s territory. Hunter Golden does a column specifically about Japanese puroresu, and I recommend you check it out. It’s called Rising Sun Soliloquy. I hope I spelled that right.
I’ll try and come up with some content for a column after I check out the replay of TNA Impact tomorrow. Until then, it’s time to go. Thanks for reading.
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