Fantasy PW Draft

So the other day, upon my zaniness of the past 2 weeks, I noticed a video on my Youtube subscription queue (does anyone else actually use that?) from the Wrestling Roundtable, a bunch of guys that sit around and talk wrestling for upwards of 20 minutes a sitting. While doing something monotonous I watched their most recent video about fantasy booking, in which they choose three superstars from each of the major three federations (World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Nonstop Action and Ring of Honor) to make a federation off of. Then a few days later on their radio show (which I also stream off Youtube), I noticed they were taking fan calls with their picks. Now a lot of the picks I thought were respectable, but my main problem came with the way these picks were made.

As I’ve mentioned before, TNA has a 65+ member roster, WWE has more than that, and Ring of Honor has less than 30 wrestlers. So in my mind if you want to do this fairly, you need to level things out, it’s a lot harder to pick three from WWE when there are 100 wrestlers under contract. So I have amended their list to something I feel is a bit more fair, besides, a 9 man wrestling federation is just too small. So here is my breakdown of how I will be picking my fantasy federation…

WWE: 6 Picks
TNA: 4 Picks
ROH: 3 Picks

So that gives us a 13 man roster. But just for the heck of it, let me “draft” three indie wrestlers that aren’t under contract with any of the big 3.

1. Sonjay Dutt-While he is working on and off for Ring of Honor, he is not actually a contracted roster member. And his charisma, in ring ability, and overall look make him a great addition to any roster.
2. Muhammed Hassan-It’s hard to believe that 5 years ago this man caused the ruckus he caused. Portraying a Muslim-American who felt discriminated against in the Post 9/11 America, he just oozed evil. He has disappeared from the scene ever since UPN (pre-CW) said they disagreed with a segment involving masked men choking the Undertaker following his command, and hasn’t been seen wrestling since.
3. Rene Dupree- He made splashed in the WWE both with La Resistance, alongside the highly overrated Kenzo Suzuki, and as a singles performer before being fired for what was thought to be steroid abuse. He’s only 26 years old, and was sure to make it to the top had controversy not knocked him down.

Okay. Now onto the main event. Let’s start small with ROH and work our way to the big guns of the WWE.

ROH: Three Roster Picks

1. Chris Hero



Hero has exceeded all of my expectations. When I first got into ROH, I watched some of his older matches and just couldn’t get into him. Maybe it was the baggy wrestling pants, or the mesh shirt, I don’t know. But over the past year he has been consistent in every aspect of pro-wrestling. His in ring work is phenomenal, especially alongside Claudio Castagnoli, and his promos are believable and very well cut. I pray he’s not too old (30) to truly make his mark, but considering that many of the heavyweight champions of the past 5 years have been over 40, I don’t think so.

2. Kenny King



When people think of Kenny King they automatically dub him as sort of a Shelton Benjamin Jr, but upon even a slightly deeper look, it’s easy to tell King has a lot more lasting power than Benjamin. We all know Shelton is great in the ring, and Kenny is too, however where Shelton may lack that character end of things, Kenny has an overload. He can play to the crowd, and he can just as easily, if not moreso, play the guy whose just too good for his own good. His recent work with Jerry Lynn has proven that King can hang with the greats, and at 28 years old, I think there is a lot of promise in him.

3. El Generico



If there’s one market that loves buying merchandise, it’s kids. If there’s one market wrestling promoters hate to admit effect their product, it’s internet marks who whine about bad wrestlers going over. El Generico can appeal to both of these markets, similar to the way Rey Mysterio Jr. does in WWE. While offending Hispanic people may be an early problem for Generico (the “Generic” Luchador from Canada), his in ring ability and his devotion to such an odd character will surely win over the hearts of all viewers.

TNA: Four Roster Picks

1. Rob Van Dam



An obvious pick. Van Dam may be 40 years old, but he has proven time and time again that he is unstoppable in the ring. And with a few years off from the ring for his body to heal up, he has that much more time to tack onto the end of his career. Not to mention his overuse of marijuana keeps him on a nice relaxed vibe that will keep the stress off him, god knows people like Chris Benoit could’ve benefited from a stress reducing drug.

2. Homicide



If you know me, Homicide is another obvious choice. But beyond my fandom of him, he is great. While his promos are a tad one note (him yelling in Spanish and hitting himself in the chest), his look and his in ring abilities more than make up for that. He can fly, he can grapple (not so well, but he can) and he can go hardcore like no other. Homicide can feud with anyone, high flier, grappler, hardcore wrestler, or giant and put on a good show.

3. “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero



I was always a fan of Elijah Burke in his stint in ECW a few years back, and you could tell he was just waiting for his moment to really blossom. Unfortunately for him, WWE gave him the ax before he could truly get over. I was weary when TNA signed him because I feared he would fall into the background as much of the TNA roster does, but he has completely changed his previous character and made it a whole lot more awesome. Another guy that can fly, but at the same time is more than comfortable being a grounded wrestler.

4. Ken “Mr.” Anderson



I loved Kennedy and you could tell when he made his one night return to the WWE that they were ready to bring him up to the level he should’ve been at earlier. However, due to a freak injury of both himself and Randy Orton, he was fired immediately, saying he was a liability to both himself and those in the ring with him. He re-emerged in TNA, under his real name and hasn’t injured anyone in the ring yet. And he’s growing as a character better than he ever did in the WWE. If he were given a main event slot, he could prove everyone wrong.

WWE (not including current NXT performers)6 Roster Picks

1. Matt Hardy



This first pick is an odd sort of pick. Matt used to be among my top 5 wrestlers, and to this day I still have a soft spot for him, regardless of the number of times he’s flopped from face to heel to face again. The problem is WWE can never really get their hands around how great he is. He came over on top against his brother at Wrestlemania a few years ago, but since losing the feud overall he has fallen into obscurity and mid card feuds. He has the tools, so a heel main event push could be easy and tangible.

2. Jack Swagger



Some say his quick rise to the main event is dumb, but I love him. He’s a great character with a legitimate wrestling background that not enough pro’s have these days. His big smile makes him that jerk you just need to hate, but I can see him being a great face if he is written for properly.

3. Randy Orton



In the big 3 of the 2000’s (Orton, Cena and Batista) I would have to say that Randy would be my pick (even if Batista was still around) to draft. He’s younger, he’s extremely talented, and it appears as though WWE seems to be holding him back. If he were to be put in an ROH or dare I say TNA ring I think he could step his wrestling game up and take the number of headlocks down drastically. He was so good at being a heel the fans started cheering for him, which says something about his charisma.

4. Mike “The Miz” Mizanin



Chris Jericho is getting old. The Miz is a young Chris Jericho no matter what the marks say. And while Jericho has always operated on his pure talent and abilities, Miz came into a world that scorned him. A group of people, fans and talent, that branded him as a hack have all been silenced over the past few years. Yes, his character is a tad one note and in the same vein as heel Jericho or Christian, but he shows that he can hang with the big guys and he’s got a boatload of potential to boot.

5. CM Punk



A veteran of all 3 major feds of right now, Punk has broken the indy guy in WWE curse and became the top dog. While right now he’s cruising the upper-mid card, he can snap back into main event material without as much of a transition. He is probably my second favorite wrestler ever, my favorite right now, and it’s because he is the complete package. He works as a great face, and clearly right now he is the most interesting thing on Smackdown.

6. Justin Gabriel



I don’t know much about Justin Gabriel and perhaps that’s why I’d want him. He’s cut like a Greek statue, he can do a 450 splash perfectly, and he’s got an accent. When I see the Nexus, I see a handful of mediocre wrestlers and a few good ones. Gabriel is the standout of the group (behind Bryan Danielson of course) and his ability seems to be taking second fiddle to the Nexus angle. If there is someone in Nexus that will turn face it’s easily going to be him. The WWE right now is riding on Evan Bourne’s high flying antics, and perhaps they should shift gears to Gabriel...or at least pair the two together.

That’s it. This sat in my documents folder for a while, but I finally got around to finishing it. I didn’t draft women or managers, you can just pepper them in as needed. There are only a few good managers around, and women’s wrestling is an art of it’s own that needs a draft of its own. So that’s that. Sorry for the lack of posts this summer, keep up with me on http://rateyourmusic.com/dwinch as I post a lot there more frequently than I do on here. Hope your having a great summer and hit me up with some suggestions whether they be related to movies, music, comics, books, wrestling, I’m trying to get into UFC so give me some matches and stuff to watch.

Keep on reading brothers and sisters!

Oh and for those curious here is the link to the Wrestling Roundtable video.

Quick update.

I've discovered this website called Rate Your Music. It's a simple site that lets you sort your collections, create your own rating systems, and just RATE YOUR MUSIC! Check out my profile, make a page, friend me...it's all good!

http://rateyourmusic.com/~dwinch

R.I.P. Pep Pep

Comedy lost a great man on the morn of June 4 (my birthday, dangit!). The passings of Gary Coleman, Dennis Hopper, the bassist from Slipknot, the old woman whose not Betty White, and the other lost celebrities pale in comparison to the loss of Richard Dunn. The Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! regular was the reason I got so hooked on the show. Let us take a look at the best of the great Dicky Dunn...

First, lets enjoy his very last sketch.


In Shot Dunn, we see Richard playing a game of Word Association with a lovely lady. A classic! Also, I love that reggae!


After not appearing on the first few episodes of Season Cinco, Richard made his triumphant return in this classic sketch, where he has to judge the final round of a contest to see whose more handsome, Tim or Eric. His mouth is dirty!


In Dunn-prov, there are several Richard's!


Perhaps, the most well known Dunn clip(s), The Dunngeon. In which Richard speaks with Dave Navarro and two boys from Germany. The real question is whether or not Dave was in on the joke...



And finally, my favorite. Dunn in "Whistle"


R.I.P. Richard. We'll miss you.

My summer checklist!

I used to do this on Livejournal, but since that's obsolete (shame) I'll do it here. Don't worry, a rather lengthy wrestling related entry is on its way to completion, another few things to write for that as well as finding photos and formatting...I should have it up within a week.

But here is what I do. Make a checklist of things I want to do throughout the summer, and then at the end of the summer go back and check to see how I did...

Last year I got eight out of my eleven checks. So here go my ambitious goals.

1. Write in this blog more frequently.
2. Return to E-Fedding (don't know what that is, ask me)
3. Hike more and outside of Roosevelt
4. Spend more time with my extended family
5. Visit Chicago to see my brother and cousin.
6. Go to Yawgoog.
7. Camp somewhere that's not a 10 foot by 10 foot dirt patch.
8. Go mountain biking.
9. Find a legitimately good record store in CT that's not Cutlers.
10. Shoot a short or two.
11. Go to good concerts (already have 1 lined up).
12. Play a gig.
13. Jam with people I've never jammed with before.

That's it.

My Weekend

Hello everyone. I don't really post that many bits of information on this blog about my personal life. I obviously editorialize a lot, but I don't really open the doors into what my days consist of etc. etc. but today I wanted to give you a quick rundown of how this past weekend has been for me. Starting with a rough Thursday AM, things really came together and I think that this weekend is a true full representation of who I am...

THURSDAY:
-Went to my Fitness For Life Class and upon final physical evaluation improved in every field (Upper body & ab strength, flexibility) EXCEPT for my 12 minute run, which I blame on terrible shin splints that hit me like 7 minutes in, however I did stay the same as I had the past 2 times. Running has never been my thing, I don't mind.
-Bombed a fine edit for my RTVF class partially because footage was bad and partially because the definition of "fine edit" is impossible to categorize. Luckily I wasn't graded and used the experience to make my final edit great.
-Worked my very last Atrium Table hour with my Freshman "family" Frank Buttafaro, Vinny Pezella, Ryan Sinnott and a slew of other people who aren't worthy enough to be named. I will truly miss those hours of just shooting the breeze with those kids.
-After weeks of talks got Mike Falzone out to Hofstra to perform at our very last Coffeehouse! I was worried it wouldn't end up working as he had to get from Hamden to Hempstead in a very fine cut window of time, and he made it early and performed for a very responsive and surprisingly big crowd. A great way to end the Coffeehouse Series with some fresh 203 flavor.

FRIDAY:
-Worked. Productively.
-Found out towards the middle of the afternoon a certain A-List celebrity might be coming in to talk about getting a reality show. Waited anxiously all day with the other interns, and after waiting an extra 45 minutes after the persons appointment was, left Chelsea Market. Upon getting outside we noticed a security guard waiting by the door, so like all starstruck interns we waited for about 10 minutes before a car pulled up with this A-Lister inside. Paparazzi came out following her and it was one of those things that made me go "Whoa. Followed that up with dinner and drinks with the Oxygen interns, which was awesome. I will miss them when they leave this week and I still have until the end of the month.

SATURDAY:
-Finished setting up Music Fest, as I had missed day 1. Saw Bad Rabbits after listening to them since February, and after the activities of the day I went backstage druing Kevin Devine and the God Damn Bands set. And there 10 feet in front of me was Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan. Before Music Fest I had said I was going to forget about professionalism and just go up and ask for a picture, but I was sort of struck with responsibility (that or his 10 man entourage was too much for me to handle). However, when a bass needed autographing for a charity auction, I was lucky enough to ask him to sign it. I swear to god that bass was shaking like crazy when I went up to him. I told him I was a big fan and all of this stuff and he was just really soft spoken just saying "Aight?" and stuff like that. It was underwhelming, mostly because I didn't ask for a picture.
-When I heard Streetlight Manifesto play the opening line of "A Moment of Silence" it brought me back to the moment when I was 17 years old walking into the main hall of the Webster theater with Three Years Accident Free and hearing them sound check to the same tune. For a minute I was just like "Holy moly, I have lived quite a life in these 21 years."

TODAY (SUNDAY):
-Went to sleep at 9 AM after working all night.
-Donated to the Max Kolb Telethon and got a Fantastic Mr. Fox DVD and Poster! Hooray for good things!
-Found out TNA fired Bubba The Love Sponge.

A Brief TNA Talk.

Hey guys, just wanted to post something that I noticed. I'm listening to the Wrestling Roundtable Radio on Youtube and they are talking about TNA's ratings and such...(don't get me started on the Wrestling Roundtable guys, but they are one of the few wrestling programs I can listen to) I pulled up the TNA roster page and noticed that the roster has over 69 faces on it, granted a small number of those faces are managers, interviewers and announcers, but still...over 55 people on a roster that gets a 2 hour show and one "Explosion" match on Youtube. That's just WAY too many people, and let me tell you who should get cut. There are too many names to give reasons, but I'll explain after.

CUT:
-Bubba The Love Sponge
-Don West
-Mike Tenay
-Hamada
-Jimmy Hart
-Kiyoshi
-Shannon Moore
-Shark Boy
-Suicide
-Tomko

Okay, let me run down this quickly. Four guys on this list are X Division guys, granted Suicide is Kiyoshi/Kazarian/Daniels, but he is a true "character." It's become abundantly clear that TNA has stopped caring about the X Division and it has clearly become nothing more than warm up matches for the likes of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. And you may notice that I didn't mention either of those names in my list, let's think about this for a minute. Scott Hall, when motivated, can be a great wrestler, even at the ripe age of 50. Nash, while he has rickety knees, is one of the best talkers and can surely transition into a great manager or announcer in a matter of years (the sooner the better). As far as announcers, Mike Tenay sucks plain and simple.This isn't WCW, so why get WCW's Jim Ross on your roster? It does no good. Tazz was a great step forward, but with Hulk Hogan, Eric Bishoff and the aforementioned Kevin Nash on your roster, as well as having free agents in Paul Heyman, John Bradshaw Layfield, and countless others that would probably work for them, there is no reason to stay stuck in the past.

Now let's look at who needs a push, I'll put what division they need the push in.

PUSH:
-Brian Kendrick (Heavyweight)
-Daffney (Knockout)
-Eric Young (Heavyweight)
-Homicide (Heavyweight)
-Jay Lethal (X)
-Jesse Neal (Global)
-Orlando Jordan (Global)
-Raven/Stevie Richards (Tag Team)
-Rhino (Global)

Okay, a brief breakdown here. Kendrick, as I've said before on this blog, is one of the most talented and charismatic little guys in the ring. He can transcend the X Division if he is given the proper time on screen, but unfortunately, with the 69 member roster, he is lumped in the X Division. Jesse Neal and Rhino are two guys I am torn on, Neal is good, and Rhino isn't good enough. Both men need this Global Title to try and make these guys relevant again.

That's all I have to say now. I might review Vampire Weekend's "Contra" because I meant to do that months ago.

Extreme Rules 2010 Predictions

Okay so I think I got like 2 matches right for Wrestlemania...and I know you people reading probably wanna see me write about something that's NOT wrestling but right now I don't have much time to dedicate to writing reviews and this stuff is easy.

Before I start I'd like to say that I WILL come back with stuff on RVD winning the TNA title and WWE's releasing of Jimmy Wang Yang, Mike Knox, and the rest of them leading up to SHELTON BENJAMIN? Either way, expect stuff within the next few weeks.

So without further adieu, lets see if I can get more than I did last time...



Michelle McCool (c) vs. Beth Phoenix Extreme Makeover Match for the WWE Women's Championship
Winner: Beth Phoenix
Why: Because Beth is supposed to be this dominant woman who doesn't stoop herself to the low of the makeover stuff. These are probably the two best workers in the womens division right now, so they hopefully can actually entertain.

JTG vs. Shad Gaspard in a Strap Match
Winner: Shad Gaspard
Why: Cryme Tyme breaking up was dumb. But if they want to do this right they'll push Shad properly. JTG is a tad too gimmicky, perhaps the reason why CT never truly succeeded was because he was just too over the top. Shad has a bright future, he just needs to stop wrestling in blue jeans and Timberland boots.

Edge vs. Chris Jericho in a Steel Cage Match
Winner: Edge
Why: Jericho won at 'Mania, Edge will win now to give him the hero win. When will they turn him heel? Face Edge just doesn't work.

Triple H vs. Sheamus in a Street Fight
Winner: Sheamus
Why: Before WM, Triple H made some comments about how the guys that beat him at WM go on to become huge superstars and the guys that lose fade into oblivion. Sheamus lost. Triple H is the reason he has made it this far, so hopefully he will get off his throne and help put over this potential champion (who also sports a nice mustache).

Randy Orton vs. Jack Swagger (c) in an Extreme Rules Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Winner: Swagger
Why: Because WWE has invested a lot in this man in such a short amount of time. It would be a true injustice to them as promoters, writers and to Orton and Swagger to have him drop the belt. And this face turn has really changed the way Orton is, he is just so confused when people cheer for him.

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk, if Punk loses he has to shave his head
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Why: Because CM Punk wants to shave his head. These guys could've stolen the show at WM had they been given more time. Maybe they can prove in this match that they both should never have been demoted from the Main Event.

John Cena (c) vs. Batista for the WWE Championship in a Last Man Standing Match
Winner: John Cena
Why: You know what? At this point in time I don't hate Cena. I don't hate what he stands for. I don't hate him as a performer. I don't hate him at all. It's inevitable he's going to be champion, so why not put him over the equally overrated Dave Batista.

Okay, that's the card thus far, I'll update this if any more matches are added. Also, I have a new feature coming out soon for this blog. Get ready people!