Ok. Few things get me thinking on pay per view night.
First off, I read from our resident teacher, Mr. V., that WWE signed a new match for the pay per view, Drew McIntyre vs. R – Truth. I understand the logic behind signing this match for a pay per view, because there’s been more than enough build up, but is Drew McIntyre ready to have his return match to WWE be on a pay per view?? Answer, we’ll wait and see. I think it’s a gamble. I also think that, regardless of the fact if McIntyre is ready or not, I think this will further serve to bury R – Truth in the ranks of WWE, as I would suspect McIntyre to go over in this match. I wonder if Killings is sitting in the background in WWE and wondering how he could book a trip back to Orlando, really fast.
Second, how badly is WWE burying ECW in this pay per view, and from what I can imagine, the one in a few weeks, Bragging Rights. Tonight, there’s not one piece of action involving ECW. You could’ve easily booked Christian vs. Ryder or Christian vs. Regal for the title, or have some sort of tag match involving Regal’s stable against say Christian & Dreamer, and it would’ve been legitimate pay per view material. And then next month, when the whole concept is set around the rivalry between Raw & Smackdown, chances are to correlate with the release of the video game, what is going to happen to ECW then? Is it going to continue to be buried to the point that it may not be salvageable as a viable brand? Only time will tell.
Now I admit I am contradicting myself when I say this, because I obviously want to see the best possible matches on the pay per view cards, but let’s face it. Christian vs. Regal would deliver without question, and there are other matches available with strictly ECW talent that would also manage to provide pay per view quality material. If you have three brands within the umbrella of WWE, it’s kind of stupid to almost omit one of them during the times that it’s paramount to try and spotlight as much of your product as you can.
I’m reading that the newsletter is pushing that there’s still good seats for this pay per view in Newark, NJ. Two ways to perceive that. A) The concept doesn’t thrill everyone, which, by the way, based on what I am reading in my emails, it doesn’t thrill everyone, or B) Nobody wants to travel to Newark, NJ. It’s not a good sign for WWE without question, and if I had to guess on a reason, I would say a combination of both. Attendance for most pay per views for the forseeable future should be down due to the NFL being in full swing anyway, so I guess it’s a catch 22.
I give WWE credit for taking the shot at Ben Roethlisberger as host of Raw in Wilkes – Barre. I just wnder how much mainstream press is going to come out of this stunt by the fact that its happening in the middle of the NFL season. If Big Ben takes one bump or punch from anyone in WWE, it’s going to be major league news that will be difficult for him to push to the side.
How quiet has it been for Stone Cold Steve Austin’s forthcoming movie release, “Damage”? I only figured it out when I noticed that Austin was doing an autograph signing to promote the move in London in the next few days.
I wonder if they are going to pull the strings next month on Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at Bragging Rights. Basically, it appeared that they showed some major league tension between each other during the Decade of Smackdown taping main event 8 main tag match. It definitely would be a viable match for the pay per view given the concept.
Let me elaborate on something I said during the last column regarding the problems I have with the Divas title being on the pay per view and the women’s title being used on Smackdown last friday.
I have a problem with James vs. Fox on the pay per view. Not because of anything else but the fact that Fox is so damn inexperienced in these situations, and James has looked God Awful in her matches leading up to the PPV. The women’s title match used on Smackdown, albeit without any build up, had marquis value in the can already with McCool vs. Melina in a luimberjill match. There’s always a good set up in store with Melina in the match, and I doubt that you’re going to get that good a quality match between the two women that are competing tonight. Not to mention the fact the lineage of the women’s title almost mandates that the title should be the first choice out of the two of them to be defended on a pay per view.
And lastly, and this is an opinion only, the Divas title design is just so God awful, that’s its hard to look at.
Talking TNA, for a brief moment, my friend Suzanne thought that with TNA having titles on two of the three men who have been involved in quite probably the best match in TNA history (Unbreakable 2005, the X Division Ironman championship match), it would be a good option to pull the trigger on AJ vs. Joe vs. Daniels one more time. But to do that with a little zing to the match, Daniels would need to find a way to upset Big Sexy to win the Legends title. While I personally think the idea has a tremendous amount of merit and I would love to see it, I don’t see Daniels in a match with Nash anytime soon, and more specifically, if the match were to happen, I really don’t think that TNA would put Daniels over Nash to win the legends belt with the final solution described in this paragraph as the proposed idea.
I read reports where Scott Steiner really tore up a Swiss Flag on the tour in Europe for TNA, causing chairs to be thrown in to the ring, and having Booker and Sharmell basically run for their collective lives. I wonder, when does the talent realize where the line truly is that you don’t cross. It seems like it’s always crossed in some way, shape, or form, all too often, leading to near catastrophic results. Fortunately, in this case, it doesn’t appear to have gone to that level.
Continuing the TNA aspect, let’s ask something here. What is the logic of keeping the Legends belt in place?? With the second singles title in the mix, it really puts a damper on the X division title being relevant in any facet within the storylines. The Legends belt really has no “classification” within it, and while it’s not mandated for that to be a rule within a championship, it’s kind of almost needed because of the guiidelines used for men who compete in the X Division.
It’s a bit of a stretch with that last point here, but it’s something to at least, ponder, a little bit.
I’m happy as hell that TNA is finally going to airr the Tokyo Dome footage in a special on Spike TV. Their Global Impact DVD is one of my favorites. I hope that they are smart and make Global Impact 2 in to a DVD as well.
TNA is still promoting on their website as the Sting vs. AJ Styles as Sting’s “final curtain call.” All reports lead to the fact that its not the case. I will lose my effing mind if AJ loses the belt to Sting. One other thing to note, It’s kind of funny how mere months ago, Abyss & Morgan were trying to kill each other in matches all over the Impact Zone, and now thursday, they’re reunited against Kurt Angle & Mick Foley. How much of a surprise is it to see Angle & Foley actually teaming up. Not because of the storyline, but just the mere fact of these two men in a wrestling ring on the same team. I never thought I’d see the day.
Ok.. I’m gonna close this out, but before I do, I have an informal poll I’d like to ask my readers.
I was just speaking with my friend Dominic from Atlantic City, NJ, and he wanted to know who I thought was the best wrestler of all time was or is. Truthfully, I don’t know. I have my thoughts, and most of them are from the modern era. What I thought would be fun is to poll the readers and ask them they’re thoughts on this question. I will publish your findings on my blog, and if I get enough, I’ll make it in to a new column itself for the web.
So, who’s the best of all time, and why?
Like I said, as I get them, I’ll publish them on my blog.
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