The WWE Draft: It All Starts (or Ends) Here

The following is essentially a rant, so excuse any misspellings or grammar issues.




So tonight is the WWE Draft, an event that has become synonymous with crushing momentum, prematurely ending careers, and very rarely, causing for some good feuds. Not to say that every single move in the draft is a bad one, but for the most part, the major trades have resulted in the previously mentioned negative things. We saw Jim Ross go from being the voice of WWE’s flagship programming to miserably calling Smackdown for a handful of months. Not to mention the Draft acts as a precursor to layoffs, which have been discussed for a long while. Here are my thoughts on the Draft, some obvious, some less so.

Smackdown obviously needs a major face with a lot of charisma and one who is not accident prone. Randy Orton obviously tops that list, as the WWE clearly won’t move John Cena off of Raw. But will they take that risk with moving Orton, another big ratings draw that has a good reputation among fans of all ages and genders? Smackdown is not short on face main event players, but they are certainly lacking that one guy who can carry them like Edge was and like Cena and Batista were in the past. I think this would be a great opportunity for them to start building Kofi Kingston as a legitimate main event player, or perhaps move John Morrison over and do something with him. WWE is failing at pushing young talents properly, and taking a risk of making JoMo or Kofi the posterboy for Smackdown is certainly a risk, it’s one that could yield long terms results, not to mention WWE fans won’t stop watching WWE because one aspect of the two hour show isn’t to their liking. I mean, I’ve lasted this long.

Another thing that I think this draft needs to do is re-evaluate the main event scene for both shows. The lines are so blurry, it’s confusing as to who is a legitimate threat and who is just being pushed to the upper mid-card just to hang there for a long time. The definite main eventers are clear, Cena, Orton, Mysterio, Undertaker, The Miz, and Aberto Del Rio (also Triple H, who is being less and less active). However, it’s the grey area guys that need to be defined. And that is a larger list of people who have held major titles or been contenders for a long time. People like CM Punk, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, Christian, R-Truth, Wade Barrett, Kane and The Big Show, all ride this constant purgatory of being pushed to the main event and getting title shots and then winding up in mindless feuds that never result in anything. A year ago Jack Swagger was the World Heavyweight Champion, now he’s Michael Cole’s lackey. For the entire second half of last year Kane was dominating a feud with the Undertaker, a well deserved bone being thrown his way after years of having no credibility, but now he struts around the ring doing the trombone thing with Santino. And the most annoying of all of these de-pushes (why isn’t the term PULL used more often?) are two of the best guys on the roster, Sheamus and Wade Barrett. Sheamus is a 2 time WWE champion and Barrett spent most of last year in a massive angle with John Cena, now both of them wear defining mid-card titles. I think if both of these guys dropped their belts and switched brands they would both benefit.


"We'll both be irrelevant in a matter of months."

You could have Sheamus drop the belt to Daniel Bryan in a good match, and move him to Smackdown and have him challenge the likes of Christian and Mysterio. Then you can have Barrett drop the title to someone along the lines of Chavo Guerrero, Yoshi Tatsu, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins or one of the hundred other wrestlers who have nothing going for them. Then Barrett could go back to Raw, where he has beef with literally everyone from Cena to Orton to the Nexus to former Nexus members who are still around...no disrespect is meant to The Corre, but we all know that both Nexus and Corre have overstayed their welcome. You could even have Barrett go to Raw and leave the Corre behind, just to have the New Nexus jump him and have the Corre invade to make the save, which could culminate in one last feud for both groups with the Corre as faces and the Nexus as heels. It’d make the whole thing go full circle and could help establish the individual members of these groups rather than just Punk and Barrett, their leaders.

I also think strong tag teams need to be formed or cultivated in this draft. There are only really four functioning tag teams in the entire WWE, the champs Kane and Big Show (wait didn’t I bring their names up before?), Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, The Uso’s and Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. WWE is certainly undermining the potential of their tag team division. Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, John Morrison, The Miz, Triple H and countless others are all products of TAG TEAMS, so to package young, unused talents as credible tag teams could easily jet them to fame. Trent Barreta and Curt Hawkins are already essentially a tag team, give them matching tights and push them as another incarnation of the Dudebusters, bring back the Hart Dynasty (why did they even break them up?), make David Otunga and Mike McGilligutty a legitimate team, and have Yoshi Tatsu and Evan Bourne team up to be a new Rockers sort of team and you have some potential to have great matches! That way all of that wasted talent would no longer be wasted!

Also, the announcing situation has to be addressed. Good things have come of the recent Jerry Lawler/Michael Cole feud, and also several bad things have as well. The good, the best in fact, is that Jim Ross is back announcing. Ross is a god, the voice of the WWE, and having him around is a pleasure, and I pray that McMahon can understand that while he is aging, it’s better to have Ross wind down his career doing what he’s best at, than having him sit at home and squander his talent posting on Twitter. No offense is meant to Michael Cole of course, the man has a lot of talent and has been doing his thing for a long time, it’s just since NXT started and he became more of a heel, he’s been taking his toll on me as well as a whole bunch of loyal fans. If he were put on just one of WWE’s shows that’d be fine. Also Booker T is bad. Either Vince isn’t letting him be himself or he is honestly terrible at announcing. He has a few decent quips here and there, but his voice is so tolling and he just babbles. Isn’t Nash on the WWE’s payroll? Bring him in to replace Booker T.


This will give Jenna Morasca vs. Queen Sharmell a run for its money.

As far as cuts are concerned, I think a bunch of them are obvious if creative hasn’t come up with some plans behind the backs of viewers. Curt Hawkins, JTG, Trent Barreta, Tyson Kidd, D.H. Smith, Husky Harris, The Uso’s, and Tyler Reks have been doing absolutely nothing for the past few months. Not to mention Youtube sensation Zack Ryder hasn’t been given anything despite his amazing charisma and eagerness to perform (I do recommend those interested check out Z True Long Island Story if you are a fan of WWE, Ryder is funny and he really shows he should be used more prominently). Not to mention, the guys in the back have started confiscating Ryder signs for some strange reason. You think confiscating signs will make people stop wishing for more Zack Ryder? Come on...


If only he had the production budget of Raw or Smackdown, he would have more than a home made poster to stand in front of.

So that’s it. Tonight has potential to change things for the better in WWE, but will they take advantage of the opportunity or will they continue to disrespect their longtime fans with this poor quality programming.

Prowrasslin' Roundup!

This is the big weekend for pro wrestling, so I'd like to come here and just give my opinions on the goings on in Ring of Honor, Total Nonstop Action and World Wrestling Entertainment. I am also doing this from my now functioning dual monitor setup. I like it a lot, but it really strains my eyes after an hour or so. But how is that relevant?

Ring of Honor
-This weekend is ROH's 'Honor Takes Center Stage' series which are both pretty awesome shows (one of them is over and I haven't read the results). It's good for ROH to put on high profile shows Wrestlemania weekend in Atlanta. Especially considering they are putting on two. I am glad Shelton and Charlie are wrestling on both shows, and I pray the Briscoes destroy them.
-Eddie Edwards won the ROH World Heavyweight Championship from my guy Roderick Strong. I feel like they are jumping the gun with Edwards. He's a phenomenal talent, and one that certainly is Championship material, I just think giving him the belt at this juncture is a bit quick, and really takes away from Roddy's title reign. Eddie Edwards was trending on Twitter, which is amazing! I pray that ROH fans keep up the networking regarding the product, it is amazing and it can truly vill the void presented by WWE and...

Total Nonstop Action
-A lot of stuff has happened in TNA since I last updated this blog. So allow me to pull my tweets from the now infamous 80 second main event where a stoned Jeff Hardy came out visibly inebriated and unable to perform, and after Sting won, he acknowledged the fans "Bullsh*t!" chants by shrugging and saying "I know!" Here is my tweet (remember to follow me @DH_Winchell, I have protected tweets, but accept pretty much all follower requests)....

Good to know that at every corner of his career @jeffhardybrand continues to screw up and let his fans and employers down. Pathetic.

-Bringing back Christopher Daniels is not a bad move, but it is an upsetting one. His move to ROH showed that he has passion for THIS BUSINESS rather than a paycheck. Aligning him with Fortune is brilliant though, and if they toss Samoa Joe in there as well and promote Fortune as the Whose Who in TNA it can really be a good stable of deserving people.
-I am sick of nearly every feud in TNA right now. I am sick of the main event, even though I like all of the wrestlers in it. It's stale and it takes away credibility from the wrestlers in it. Mr. Anderson is still young, I shouldn't be so tired of him yet.
-The hypnotizing angle with Angelina Love/Velvet Sky/Winter is absurd. It's so unrealistic. Not only because the hypnotizing is dumb, but because Winter was in WWE and garnered a decent amount of respect as Katie Lea Burchill. When they go "Where did she come from!?" I just want to call Dixie Carter and say "I remember her from ECW on SyFy 2 years ago."


World Wrestling Entertainment
-Wrestlemania is shaping up to be great. I am really proud of the people in WWE for putting on Monday's Raw. The energy was high, the star power was there, and the writing for the most part was good. In wrestling, it's upsetting to see such piss poor writing as of lately, because it makes non-fans who flip by it on TV go "Whoever watches this is a moron." but when they see The Rock in an awesome bit, or see guys like Sheamus, Daniel Bryan and more bust their rears on TV they may be more likely to leave it on.
-A lot of people have been criticizing the youth movement and saying The Miz and Alberto Del Rio have been pushed too quickly and neither deserve a major title. I disagree entirely. Miz has the work ethic of a poor person! The guy is working his tail off promoting WWE and for critics to say he's not a great wrestler and people hate him are jaded fans. As far as Del Rio is concerned, his buildup has been superb and completely logical. It made sense for him to have those series of matches with Rey Mysterio, and then injuring Christian only to take on his real life best friend at Mania is perfect. Not to mention that in the process of putting himself over, Del Rio has brought Christian up to the main event level without forcing him. If Vince denies him the chance for a good heel run or a face one against Del Rio he is a fool. Look at the pops Christian is getting.
-Triple H/Undertaker got really good Monday when Shawn Michaels came out. I had no excitement for this match until that promo. Does it deserve to close the show? No. Not in my opinion at least. We all know Undertaker is going to win. Triple H doesn't deserve to be able to say that he ended the streak.
-As far as The Rock's return, I am a bit jaded. I am siding with Cena here, or whoever wrote Cena's first and final promos against Rocky. I love The Rock, but for him to basically command the fans to turn on Cena is so dumb! Cena HAS been working his tail off for more than half a decade and The Rock has the audacity to cut a clearly unwritten promo where he said he loves the people and he'll always be with the people, yet he swore off WWE before so many of his films flopped. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Rocky is back where he belongs, I just think his approach to his return is disrespectful.
-Snooki is on Wrestlemania in a match with John Morrison, Trish Stratus, Dolph Ziggler and Layla El and Michelle McCool. Biggest waste of 5 people for buys? And honestly who is buying Wrestlemania for Snooki?

That's it! I've been tuning into a podcast by wrestling critics Bill & Doug (youtube username rvdtito4life) and I think it's something all fans should listen to. BUT, I feel like they are very, very extreme in their opinions. I mean, it is entertainment. I left them a formspring question and they called me a loser, saying the Miz is good. So I mean, a good listen for people critical of the industry, but not one to really stand behind, because they are just angry, cynical non-fans.

WTF TNA part II

Before I get into this let me just say that Ring of Honor is the best wrestling promotion going today and they are losing their TV deal in April. With that being said...


Total Nonstop Action wrestling is the most upsetting thing in the world. Literally. There is nothing more upsetting to me in the world of wrestling than the current state of TNA. And it’s upsetting for a few reasons, I’ll touch base briefly on a few of them and then go into detail on the more pertinent ones. A little over a year ago Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff “took over” TNA creatively. They took away the trademarked 6 sided ring, inflated the roster with WWE and WCW rejects, and made us all feel like we were in the sinking ship that was WCW 10 years ago. But as the year progressed we had our shares of ups and downs. The ups seemed a bit more logical than the downs, Hogan axed good friends Bubba the Love Sponge and Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags (The Nasty Boys) among others. We also saw the departure of Scott Hall, Sean “X-Pac” Waltman, Sean “Val Venis” Morely, Shane Douglas, and a slew of others culminating in the departure of Kevin Nash, a wrestler that many fans and critics wanted out of TNA years before he finally decided to leave. The downs were also present,, but forgivable, an attempted ECW reunion that ended up in a half-assed stable of washed up veterans, losing great talent like Christopher Daniels, Homicide, Awesome Kong, ODB, Consequences Creed, Petey Williams, Sojay Dutt and arguably Sting. So at the end of the day, TNA did beef up their roster with WWE rejects and did push a small handful notably the obvious Jeff Hardy, Ken “Mr. Kennedy” Anderson, and the Fairfield CT native Matt “The Blueprint” Morgan. But they weren’t trashy rejects, they were deserving rejects. But the roster problem is one that has plagued TNA for years, it’s really not the roster, it’s how they use it.

And in 2010 we saw TNA make the strangest and most unnecessary alliances in TNA history. One extremely logical and amazing stable formed was Fortune, headed by the legendary Ric Flair and featuring four TNA breakout stars in AJ Styles, Frankie Kazarian, and Beer Money Inc. Robert Roode and James Storm. The group was phenomenal (pun intended) and then they started adding other guys to beef up the ranks. Morgan was in there for a bit, as was the incredibly underutilized Douglas Williams. They are both good performers, but they don’t need Fortune, and the Fortune certainly didn’t need them. Then....on the overhyped 10-10-10 we saw the tides change. A new stable formed that Hogan and Bischoff thought would be like the nWo, a “cool” group of heels that everyone wanted to like. So who do they make it up with? Hogan, Bischoff, the out of shape and never over enough Abyss, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett AND the entirety of Fortune? Aside from Hardy, none of this absurd stable, called Immortal, was shocking or cool. And from October to last month the stable ran the place, capturing all of the titles in the process (though losing the heavyweight title to Mr. Anderson in the end). However, during that time Hardy got over as a heel (most notably walking down to the ring puffing a cigarette) and Jarrett reinvigorated his career with his MMA spoofing Double J Double M A tournaments, but the rest of the group kind of floundered. The tag titles were an easy win for Beer Money, the X title in Kazarian’s hands was almost a waste, as the X title has been as of late. TNA’s breakout star AJ Styles had no real push, Abyss won the Legends title (that title still exists?) and we were treated to boring TV. Great. Not a surprise. At all.

So then the Amazing Red’s kayfabe brother Crimson comes in telling tales of another “they” coming. He speaks of a group that will put Immortal in their places and restore peace to TNA. And then Kurt Angle brings in Scott Steiner. And we start seeing hints of the return of the Main Event Mafia. Okay where do you start here? Where does one begin to criticize this? Because Immortal is so stagnant and it’s clear they’re being carried by Flair’s Fortune, they want to bring in a group of wrestlers that was never over that tout a youngest member who is 42 and an oldest member who is 51? The entirety of Fortune is 35 and under (sans the manager of Flair) and most of the members of the rest of Immortal are in feuds. How could a feud be believably booked where a bunch of retirees face a bunch of peak wrestlers who are widely considered some of the best in the game? And why would I waste my time watching a retuning Kevin Nash, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Sting and Kurt Angle wrestle Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Abyss AGAIN. Who will the crowd get behind? The talented young guys? The overbooked guys? Or the old veterans? Clearly Fortune was the group to highlight and make babyfaces in this instance...but not according to their plan.

And what is perhaps the best part of this plan on TNA’s side is that after teasing the Mafia return, even putting a video together showing the group, they didn’t sign Sting, Booker and Nash to contracts! So when the WWE beefed up their Royal Rumble to 40 stars and wanted a few guys to get nostalgia pops, who would they go for? Kevin Nash and Booker T. So now TNA has re-signed Scott Steiner, booked a major angle, and then lost it all in the blink of an eye because of bad negotiations. The second that idea popped into their heads they should have had Booker, Nash and Sting in Orlando signing papers to ensure it would happen properly. Instead they assumed that these guys would want to wrestle in front of the rabid and unforgiving Impact Zone crowd for another several months, and then hang up their boots and call it a career. Little did they know that Booker and Nash had greater aspirations. So what does TNA do? After making a hype video for the MEM’s return they literally tell you “Anything is possible” and swerve Fortune to be faces. Great. In fact that is fantastic. That means that AJ Styles will go back to being a main event player and Flair can be the man again without Bischoff and Hogan on his side. But at what cost is this good news? TNA looks completely unprofessional, poorly booked, and entirely unbelievable. I am glad Fortune are the good guys, and I am glad that the members will not have to share the spotlight with Abyss and Jeff Jarrett, but I am completely offended as a viewer and as a one time super fan.

So what does the future hold for this company of fools (on the booking and writing side, not in the ring)? Well they have to do something really good to clean up this huge mistake. Turning Fortune face is a good move. But now that we have Scott Steiner under contract does that mean we have to be subjected to his god awful matches? And are Angle and Steiner part of Fortune now? I don’t know. TNA has unlimited potential and perhaps the best roster in the business but these mistakes they keep making are what is making them lose fans that at one time would do anything for them (myself included, I was on a street team for a little while). It is a common and upsetting question, but once again I find myself asking WTF TNA

Ramblings #1

Hello all. I always have ideas for lengthy posts on this blog, but due to a combination of things (laziness and school) I never post them and they become irrelevant. However, I'd like to get a new thing going that can skim topics that are somewhat important and can be addressed further if interest is shown. So let's go!

Music:
-Listened to Hurley, the new Weezer album yesterday. Going to re-listen maybe tomorrow. A review for that may come. I am certainly motivated to write one for that album in particular.
-Also have the new Lordi album Babez for Breakfast sitting on my desk, along with DJ Muggs and Ill Bill's Kill Devil Hills. I don't know if I'll review those for this publication, but check out my Rate Your Music page for ratings for those albums as I listen to them.

Live Shows:
-Saw Biffy Clyro in the Studio @ Webster Hall in Union Square tonight. Fantastic performance. I've said it on Twitter and Facebook that the Biff is easily my favorite band right now. They are extremely talented, musically diverse and they rock really, hard. I finally picked up a concrete copy of their latest album Only Revolutions, which was my #2 album of last year. I am extremely glad to have made the purchase. Listen to Biffy if you don't, they are incredible.
-Next weekend is Hofstra's Alive at 75 festival which features Lisa Lisa, Sha Na Na, Fountains of Wayne, Trey Songz, Blue Oyster Cult and my #2 favorite rapper of all time Chuck D and Public Enemy. An exciting show.
-The Roots and John Legend are playing at Terminal 5 in a few weeks. I may make my way out to that show, as my roommate does the sound at that venue.

Wrestling:
-Matt Hardy is really digging his own grave, or is he? After being sent home from WWE's European tour, lying about it on Youtube, and sending cryptic tweets every 15 minutes, the man is on thin ice. But say he is released from WWE, what can he do that is really going to make all of this talk of "change" legitimate? A TNA run would basically set him up to be in Jeff's shadow again, an ROH run, while legitimate in the eyes of fans, would make him little money, an OMEGA reunion maybe? I don't know, and frankly I think WWE needs to be the ones to push him. If he leaves WWE for TNA that will not be a positive change. He needs to get in shape and prove to Vince and the suits that he can be the draw that Jeff was.
-Went to Ring of Honor's Glory By Honor IX last weekend and had a blast. I think myself and my good friend Corey Mack Nair had the worst seats in the house, but it was honestly the best ROH show I've been to.
-TNA is bad. I feel sad saying that because I do still support their product, as it is an alternative to WWE (on TV that I have access to until I can get HDNet). But it's really badly booked, the main event slots are interchangeable and mean nothing, and the roster is still way too big for its own good. I'm glad the wrestling is still okay, but I would love to see everything within the company equal out in quality to the wrestling.

Life:
-Life is okay. School is stressful, but it will yield many a reward. I am excited to finish, but a tad frightened of the real world. Not in a sense that I won't find a job, but in a sense that I won't have school to go back to.
-Eh.

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.

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!

Wrestlemania XXVI Predictions

Just wanted to come on here and give my reviews for Sunday's Wrestlemania Pay Per View. Usually I try and avoid talking WWE on this blog, as TNA and Ring of Honor seem a bit more okay for a 21 year old male to watch. Granted I don't actually watch WWE regularly, but I still feel as though my opinion is valid. So here are my predictions for the biggest night of wrestling...



**Just added**

Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, Mickie James, Gail Kim and Beth Phoenix vs. Vickie Guerrero, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Layla and Alicia Fox
Winner: Eve, Kelly, Mickie, Gail, Beth
Reason: They're collectively hotter than the other team.

Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
Stipulation: If Punk wins, Mysterio is forced to join the Straight Edge Society
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Reason: They would never have Rey join Punk's awesome Straight Edge Society. Punk's bad guy gimmick is so over and they need to have the good guy beat him. This may be match of the night if treated properly.

Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase
Winner: Ted DiBiase
Reason: Orton doesn't need the victory and Cody isn't over enough. I would love it if Cody won, because I think he has more charisma and in ring ability than Ted, but putting Ted over on this stage could move him to the level he needs to be at.

Triple H vs. Sheamus
Winner: Sheamus
Reason: Triple H only puts over people he likes, and Sheamus is an Irish version of him. It'd be pointless to have Triple H win, I mean it's possible, but I think even the Game himself knows Sheamus needs to get over to seem legitimate.

ShowMiz (c) (Big Show and the Miz) vs. John Morrison and R-Truth
Stipulation: WWE Unified Tag Team Championships on the line.
Winner: ShowMiz
Reason: Morrison and R-Truth were thrown together so they don't have to be in the Money in the Bank match. ShowMiz have potential.

Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon
Stipulation: No hold barred
Winner: Vince McMahon
Reason: I think this is what will happen; Vince screws Bret yet again and wins the match and then all of the good guys will destroy Vince and Bret will get his moment.

Christian vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kane vs. Matt Hardy vs. Jack Swagger vs. M.V.P. vs. Drew McEntyre vs. Evan Bourne vs. Kofi Kingston
Stipulation: Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Winner: #1 Choice Christian #2 Choice Matt Hardy
Reason: Not many people in this match actually seem to have the legitimacy to gain the victory. Matt and Christian have both proven themselves as ECW Champions and I think are over enough to deserve a shot. If not either of them Kofi Kingston will win. Expect the 10 guys to make this match really spot heavy obviously, but it won't have much time to focus on each man.

Batista (c) vs. John Cena
Stipulation: WWE Championship match
Winner: Cena
Reason: This match will be mad boring. The good guy wins, Batista gets a year older.

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
Stipulation: Taker's streak vs. Michael's career
Winner: HBK
Reason: They won't make him retire. Undertaker is closer to that door than Shawn.

Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge
Stipulation: WWE Heavyweight Championship match
Winner: Jericho
Reason: Edge is hot off coming back from his injury, but Jericho has never had his "Wrestlemania moment" and this is his chance. Also, I think this feud has the potential to keep going for another few months and this is a good starting point.

That's it.

More TNA Talk

Okay, I figured there's nothing wrong with these brief rants about things. That's what blogging is about right?

I have one HUGE problem with the new direction TNA has. I don't mind the square ring, I don't mind the fact that the ramp goes right into the ring, whatever that's all fine. My problem with TNA is the fact that they try to put Hogan and Bischoff over as a team, but Hogan is so clearly trying to be a top face and Bischoff is trying to act like a heel. To me it's pretty clear that Hogan should go heel in TNA. He is the reason all of these people no one wants to see are in TNA, why not run with that? He tried to "out-face" the founder Jeff Jarrett on January 4th and failed miserably, maybe he should've thought to himself, "I will sell t-shirts regardless, maybe I could go heel and put all of these originals over!" But no, Hogan continually tries to make it like he's the good guy...

We'll see how this plays out as the weeks go by. I don't like Sean Morely around, nor do I like Orlando Jordan. The Nasty Boys are fat, old pieces of trash, but I do want to see Team 3D beat them, so I'll let them stay. Rumors are Jeff Hardy isn't even sticking around, I'd like Shannon Moore to though. Hardy doesn't have huge drawing power it seems, I feel like the WWE had the resources to really put him over, and TNA has this laundry list of main eventers and they think they can just let Jeff hang on the under card. I think he is a valuable asset, but I also think that he doesn't have what it takes to actually perform to the level of Kurt Angle, Ken Anderson, A.J. Styles, Chris Daniels, Samoa Joe perform at. But if TNA can hook him in, promote the holy hell out of his presence, and keep the heavyweight title off of him I think they should do that.

Oh, and I think that Brian Kendrick and Generation Me (a.k.a. ROH's Young Bucks) are doing great. Look at Kendrick in this clip...



Kendrick has this distinct character yet he still brings a certain ruthlessness to the ring that I really like. He's like 150 pounds and he still manages to come off as somewhat of a threat. It's awesome.

More Kendrick, less Bischoff please.

WTF TNA?

I keep starting to write TNA critiques and then Impact comes on and something drastically different happens that makes me have to go back and re-write and so on and so fourth so basically I'm not getting anything done.

But let me just give a few thoughts on TNA's recent actions.

-Getting the 4 sided ring back is dumb. I understand it may be considered more legitimate, but one of the things that made TNA instantly recognizable was the 6 sided ring. The "Six Sides of Steel" made a cage match sound a whole lot more flashy than it actually is.
-Adding The Nasty Boys, Sean "Val Venis" Morely, Orlando Jordan, and The Band (X-Pac, Scott Hall) to the roster only means that TNA has more checks to cash and none of these men will do anything to draw ratings.
-The new Hulk Hogan shirt (http://shoptna.com/hulk-hogan---change.aspx) is awesome.
-Brian Kendrick and Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Anderson are two of the best free agents for TNA to get. The only problem is that putting Kendrick in the X division truly takes him away from being that one little guy with big enough balls to make it in the heavyweight division. Kennedy is just great. Makes me wish Umaga hadn't passed away. He would've been a great addition.
-It's good to see that TNA is pulling some of the "main eventers" who don't deserve their spot down. Bobby Lashley, Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash, Hernandez and Fairfield CT's own Matt Morgan all have their special talents to offer, but the main event is too cluttered as it is, so they will all have their time.
-TNA needs a hardcore division. Stevie Richards, Raven, Rhino, Team 3D, Abyss, and Mick Foley aren't really good enough to get over on their wrestling abilities alone, so making a hardcore title would really stick it to WWE's TVPG rating. Also with a hardcore division they could justify hiring Necro Butcher.
-D'Angelo Dinero annd Desmond Wolfe are two fantastic superstars who work so well with each other. I can see both of them getting their due in the main event within the year.
-It's ridiculous for Hogan to think he can "out-face" anyone in TNA. While Hogan is a name, TNA fans, especially those in attendance at the Impact Zone are very loyal to their originals (A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Jeff Jarrett etc. etc.) and Hogan simply saying things like "That doesn't cut it!" won't make the fans turn on them. For a man with so much experience in the game it's dumb for him to make these assumptions, especially when he's the man who let in so many aging wrestlers who have nothing to contribute.
-And finally, I wish Eric Bischoff and Dixie Carter would stay off screen. Bischoff is a great booker and writer, let him do that. Dixie...well Dixie is just a waste of time on TV. She used to talk about how she wasn't going to become like Vince McMahon, taking TV time away from wrestlers, but now she seems to be hopping in the spotlight every once and again and it's annoying.

Okay, that's it. I figure that's better than writing something long and drawn out and then finding it irrelevant. More posts soon. Just got the new Vampire Weekend, going to bump it a few more times and then maybe review it!

Wrestler of the Year: 2009

To call myself a pro wrestling fan is one of the hardest things I’ve had to come to terms with. When all of my friends grew out of it I didn’t. I’ve explained this before, but I always feel as though it needs to be reiterated. In the past several years the wrestling industry has gone from bad to worse, and as my old TNA pieces pointed out the problems with particular divisions, I had such a difficult time writing the remaining pieces I gave up completely! The company had lost so much credibility that I just couldn’t justify writing critique pieces. It’s like critiquing a third graders art project. It may be terribly painted, but it’s a third graders! In TNA”s case, it may be a terrible wrestling promotion (at this juncture) but it’s people who have no idea what they’re doing! So you have to let it slide.

But all of that being said, in my Best of 2009 series, I’d like to present my wrestler of the year. Before I do so though, I’d like to go over some runner ups.

Jeri-Show. For those that don’t know, the tag team of Chris Jericho and The Big Show. When Y2J brought out Show as his partner at the Night of Champions pay-per-view I was upset. With so many talented undercard performers like Mike “The Miz” Mizanin, Chavo Guerrero, Jack Swagger, and former partner Christian on the roster, why would he “choose” a multi time heavyweight champion instead of putting over a younger guy? The answer came in the following months as the team proved to the world exactly why tag team wrestling is great. The combination of Jericho’s incredible microphone skills and proficient ring work alongside Big Show’s size, strength and vastly underrated ring work, they just dominated. So much so that they brought the tag team titles to the main event of WWE’s TLC pay-per-view.

C.M. Punk. Punk has been a favorite of mine since he debuted a few years ago. The straight edge gimmick that he really lives is great, and can work easily as a face or heel alignment. Punk’s face run was great, becoming the first man to win the infamous Money in the Bank ladder match twice only adding to his credibility. But perhaps the most shocking and awesome move came at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view when Punk cashed in his money in the bank against Jeff Hardy after Hardy had won a grueling ladder match against Edge (fantastic match by the way, great finish). Punk slowly morphed into the manipulative heel that he is now, chastising the beer drinking audiences at live shows and converting the one time “slow” wrestler Festus into Luke Gallows, who claims everyone had him on sedatives to keep him from being himself. Punk has become one of the top heels in the company and he has done it quickly and effectively. While he has left the main event level for now, I have no doubt he’ll return to it.

Alright. To the main event.

Dave Winchell’s wrestler of the year for 2009 is Nigel McGuinness.


The shirt looks like the beer logo!

Wrestling fans shouldn’t be surprised by this call, but those that don’t keep their finger to the pulse of the industry may be a little weary about just what Nigel has accomplished in the past year.

He started the year as the reigning Ring of Honor champion, and he was a fighting champion, with a title length closing in on Samoa Joe’s record. He battled through much of the early year, and upon injuring his shoulder, STILL had a match of the year candidate against KENTA in New York City (I was there, it was fantastic).

Even after dropping the belt to Jerry Lynn, Nigel’s presence in Ring of Honor was felt. He cut promos on video wires, showed up to shows, basically did everything he could to keep his name relevant. He even took the place of Ric Flair in New York City as enforcer of a match after Flair stormed out ( I was there for that too, Nigel was on his game).

Perhaps the biggest shock came to the industry this year as Bryan Danielson signed with WWE, and Nigel followed suit shortly after. Ring of Honor is probably the number 3 federation in the country right now behind WWE and TNA, so losing its two top draws in less than a week was a devastating loss. After the announcement, ROH went on a “Final Countdown” tour that touted Danielson more than Nigel, but ended with an epic bout in New York (I did not attend that one...) between Nigel and Danielson. Ring of Honor gave them the grand finale they both deserved.

And as Bryan Danielson moved into WWE’s “before we put you on TV you’re going to have to adapt to OUR style attitude” Nigel seemed to veer off the radar. Nigel didn’t have the connections that Bryan did (he was Shawn Michaels and William Regal’s star pupil), and as if nothing happened all rumors about him seemed to fall off the face of the rumor sites all of us wrestling fans flock to.

But Nigel just couldn’t sit around, within days of his WWE rumors disappearing he reemerged, in the biggest way possible. The word had barely hit the air when Nigel signed with TNA, under the name Desmond Wolfe. But the signing wasn’t the big deal, it was the instant elevation of him, the fact that he was made a superstar in a matter of minutes after his debut. Against whom? Most big guys start their TNA run against the likes of Scott Steiner, Eric Young, Kevin Nash, anyone that can put them over, but not quite over that rope of title contender-ship. But not Nigel eh-hem, Desmond. He made his debut approaching none other than Kurt Angle and telling him just how much he respected Angle as a competitor, and within moments of shaking his hand he had him knocked out in the ring. Basically, Nigel said, “Hey WWE, you don’t want me? Well how about I go to your top competitor and make myself a star in 5 minutes.” Although he lost two pay-per-view matches to Angle, he still got his name, and his in ring abilities over in less than two months.



Rumors going around are that Nigel wouldn’t sign with WWE because of some qualm he had with the drug testing policy, and what that means about his use of drugs is beyond me, and I don’t care to know. But Nigel in TNA is the best thing for him right now.


Bobby Lashley should stick with unscripted stuff.

So, all of that being said, Nigel McGuinness a.k.a. Desmond Wolfe is easily the most dominant and impressive wrestler of the year. While his win/loss streak isn’t flawless, the fact that he created such waves in the industry is enough to make people aware of his incredible in-ring and microphone abilities.

Rarity....

You're never going to see my posting online wrestling critics on this site because I think most of them are geeks with too much free time, moreso than me, which is saying something. But this video by Truthslayer actually rhetorically asks some good questions to the wrestling world. Check it out if you like wrestling, if you don't, leave me alone.

WWE Extreme Rules Pay-Per-View Review

Before I begin let me say that I'm not 100% on the match order, but all the matches are there.

I’ve never written a review for a pay-per-view before so I’m going to do this as follows: Give my pre-show thoughts, rate each match individually, and then give my overall thoughts. Okay? Good.




PRE-SHOW THOUGHTS:
I was mildly interested in watching this show. The card was underwhelming, and the fact that WWE has cut so much “extreme” stuff like bleeding and dangerous moves from their now TV-PG rated programming really lead me to believe that this show was going to be a really weak representation of what “extreme” truly is. And with the recent release of Mr. Kennedy, I’ve been down on the company. So the odds were definitely stacked against the ol’ WWE for this event.

MATCH #1:
FATAL FOUR WAY for the UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP
MONTEL VONTAVIOUS PORTER vs. MATT HARDY vs. WILLIAM REGAL vs. (c) KOFI KINGSTON
What urked me about this match initially is that somehow putting four guys in a match all of a sudden makes it “extreme.” They really didn’t let any of the guys show off their stuff, as each of these four truly are fantastic performers. Kofi hit a few good moves, Matt kind of bummed around, MVP was way over and Regal was very clearly the man to hate, regardless of his immense skill. I thought Kofi botched the finishing kick on Regal, but then I realized that Kofi’s finisher just sucks.
2/5


MATCH #2
NO HOLDS BARRED for the INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Chris Jericho vs. (c) Rey Mysterio
Should have been prior to the first heavyweight title match. This feud has been a fun one to watch, and while Jericho is playing the stereotypical angry-at-the-world heel right now, he was really selling his dislike for Rey as a whole leading into this match. But like so much of the WWE’s product in recent years, this didn’t live up to expectations at all. There were a couple of good moments, mostly Jericho jumping out of the way of Mysterio’s now overly clichéd cruiserweight moves and countering them. A great spot with Jericho hitting the Code Breaker against Rey’s West Coast Pop. The end of the match was good, and when I realized that Jericho was holding Rey’s mask I went crazy. This match is definitely a great way to re-ignite this fed and have Rey come off as a lot more menacing. Jericho seems to be used to rejuvenate stars that really need to get over stars that have faded over the years, and right now he is doing a fine job.
3/5

MATCH #3
SAMOAN STAP MATCH
C.M. Punk vs. Umaga
I had no desire to see this match. Up until last month I thought Umaga was garbage, and although he has definitely stepped up in the ring, I still think he’s not a good fit for Punk. But this match exceeded all of my expectations. I had no idea the point was to hit all four corners in succession to win the match, as the only strap matches I have seen have just involved guys chained together. Umaga definitely sold Punk as winning, which is good, as many big guys never seem to be able to put over smaller, more technical guys. Punk won with a good spot and solidified his place as the good guy...
2.5/5


MATCH #4
HOG PEN MATCH for the MISS WRESTLEMANIA TITLE
Santina Marella vs. Vicki Guerrero w/ Chavo Guerrero
Santino is by far the funniest guy in the WWE right now, and his stuff is generally good. But once this SantinA gimmick started, I really started hating the writing team. It’s stupid and it’s not over and it’s not making anyone involved in the feud look at all credible. A year and a half ago Chavo was in a great feud with C.M. Punk for the ECW belt, and now he’s been reduced to having mud thrown at him since his widow Aunt wants her honor defended. Where’s the honor in booking a Hog Pen Match?
.5/5

MATCH #5
EXTREME RULES MATCH for the ECW TITLE
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Swagger vs. (c) Christian
As I said in my pre-show comments, any and all remnants of “extreme” are more or less gone from the WWE right now and this match really nailed the coffin shut in my mind. The stipulation that if Dreamer lost, he’d have to retire clearly failed, as everyone had seemed to forget that was the case until a few weeks ago when they tried to re-ignite the feud between him and Swagger. The reason he was only ECW champion for like 15 minutes back in the comapny’s prime was because he doesn’t really work in the “main event,” and while he tossed Christian and Swagger into garbage cans, he definitely didn’t come off as all that extreme here. We’ll see how he does in the future, but this match didn’t give off it’s desired effect, and the crowd was not into Tommy at all, so that really took away from the ending of the match.
2.5/5


MATCH #6
CAGE MATCH for the WWETITLE
Batista vs. (c) Randy Orton
Cage matches suck. To non-fans they seem appealing, but to anyone who has watched wrestling for over a year, they know that there are only so many ways you can toss someone into a steel fence. And the match played out so poorly too, it was like neither men had ever watched (mind you, both have been in several) a cage match in their entire career. Batista winning, while dumb and illogical considering he has a torn tricep, really will open the door for Orton to do things aside from chase the belt, as his character really has a lot that he can do.
1/5

MATCH #7
SUBMISSION MATCH
John Cena vs. The Big Show
When I think of a great submission bout, these two men don’t even enter into my brain one bit. There are so many good technical wrestlers on the card who could’ve taken this and made it interesting, but they had to sell the fact that even though Cena has taken Show out a hundred times, he still had to win an uphill battle. And the finish was stupid, the fact that Cena used the ropes to get Show to tap is bogus, as in any match, when someone reaches the ropes the hold must be broken. It was predictable and lame, but recently, all of Cena’s work has been such.
1.5/5

MATCH #8
LADDER MATCH for the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
Jeff Hardy vs. (c) EDGE
The bit before this match about how these guys have been throwing each other off ladders for ten years was good and gave some true meaning to this match. And overall it was great. I’m not too big on Jeff Hardy to be honest, and judging him by a spot-fest ladder match is certainly unfair to the great technical guys like Regal and Finlay, but he entertained the hell out of me. Edge took the spots better than Jeff most of the time, and the bump that broke the ladder was really awesome. The way the match ended was great too. Jeff stuck Edge between rungs of the ladder, and Edge flailed around as Jeff snatched the belt. It was badass.
4/5

BUT WAIT...
MATCH #9
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
C.M. Punk vs. (c) Jeff Hardy
Me and my friends had jokingly foreshadowed Punk coming out to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase, but we literally went nuts when it actually happened. The music hit and Punk looked like he was ready to become a heel. Jeff was all battered and Punk was just smirking staring at him, it was tense. He quickly hit the Go To Sleep, but when Jeff kicked out it really seemed like Punk was actually going to lose, but thankfully they played it out realistically and Jeff couldn’t take any more of the fresh faced Punk after a second GTS. I was skeptical about how they would make Punk react, as he might apologize to Jeff and stay face, but when he started strutting around the ring playing the belt like it were a guitar, you could just tell how good of a bad guy he’s going to be.
3/5 (for a match, 5/5 for a shock)



OVERALL THOUGHTS:
The show was wildly inconsistent and way too short. There were four great matches, one of which was based entirely on shock value.

A pretty harsh thing to watch.

I love wrestling. If you come on this blog you know that. I take it about as seriously as I think it can be taken, but I'm also open to criticize it and pick it apart. But if there's one thing I truly respect it's that the guys understand each other. The really good wrestlers know the really bad wrestlers are bad and they need to tweak their games to approach their matches. Kurt Angle is probably in the top 3 wrestlers alive right now. Eddie Guerrero, rest his soul is one of the top 5 of the past decade (ironically alongside Chris Benoit). Here is a pretty intense shoot where Kurt divulges into a bit of a qualm he had with Eddie.

TNA Rant 2/5: The Knockout Division

This is part two in a series of five critiquing the state of Total Nonstop Action wrestling. In my last piece I wrote about TNA overdosing on special gimmick matches, both on their monthly Pay-Per-View shows and on their weekly Impact program. I won’t dwell on this, so if you missed it and you want to read it, click the wrestling tag on the bottom of this post and you will find that piece. So let’s get to the meat and potatoes, eh?


I do that kind of stuff on a daily basis.

TNA has always had a few women on their roster, I mean before I even watched I’d heard about Trinity moonsaulting off the cage, a maneuver that garnered Kurt Angle much acclaim, and when a male gets as much attention as he did for doing that, it must be awesome for a woman to do it. A few years later TNA acquired ex-WWE Womens Champion Gail Kim, who had been cut from the WWE because she wasn’t their blueprint of a female wrestler, A.K.A. she wasn’t blonde with big boobs. She was a real wrestler and that was something WWE hasn’t been really into for the past several years. To non-fans that must not make sense, how could WWE not want “wrestlers”? Simple, middle school boys get off to scantily clad women on TV, so if WWE can hire a bunch of bikini models who can throw a fake punch and get the boys to keep their TV on, they’ll do that rather then hire people that spent years of time and thousands of dollars on formal ring training. So, back on track, TNA signed Gail Kim. And at this point Trinity is gone from the company, so all of their women are valets. How could they showcase Gail Kim with 2 other female wrestlers on the roster, neither of whom could wrestle well at all? They decided to bring in a handful of legitimate female wrestlers in for Gail to “compete” against more or less. They branded the new division the “Knockouts” and ran promos where the women claimed “They weren’t divas,” as WWE calls their female wrestlers.


The Beautiful People: They could do just about anything on camera and I wouldn't boo them.

So for a little while everything was cool. Gail won the Knockouts Championship, we had the debut of ODB (One Dirty Bitch), as well as the development of Velvelt Sky and Angelina Love a.k.a. the Beautiful People, a tag team of women aimed to parody WWE’s Divas in one form or another. They’re hot blondes who complain that the rest of the roster aren’t nearly as good looking as they are, and for a while it worked. They were over as heels, but they were also kept guys interested in their matches because they were indeed…Beautiful People. Brilliant business move if you ask me. Also signed were a slew of other female wrestlers, some to manage or valet like Roxxi Laveux, who later dropped the Laveux to become the Hardcore Knockout, and they had stock valets Traci Brooks and ex-WWE red head Christy Hemme. And then there was one woman…one woman who basically revolutionized and monopolized the Knockout Division, a woman named Awesome Kong.


She used to beat me up after school when I was a kid.

Kong is huge. And she can move too. Unlike large male wrestlers, who are often very slow and sluggish in their moves, Kong could work the ring like a champ. And soon enough she had the Knockouts Title. Thus started a long feud with Kim that basically traded the belt between Kong and Kim, throwing in other women like ODB and Kong’s manager Raisha Saeed to valiantly attempt to keep the feud fresh. After far too long they ended the feud and Gail Kim walked away from TNA quietly to go back to WWE. So without Gail Kim, who was athletic enough to take down Kong?

The writers began a very poorly put together challenge, in which Kong would have an open challenge to the audience, and a clearly placed female wrestler would emerge and lose. This went on for far too long when along came Taylor Wilde, a prototype blonde bombshell, who could actually wrestle. She got the upset and they put the belt on her. Cool! They took a chance with a brand new wrestler, finally the belt was off of Kong and they could finally start showing off the division! Right?! Wrong. Weeks later Kong won back the belt and she has kept it since.

So enough history, I’m here to critique TNA, not chronicle their life as a company. The current state of the Knockout division is in shambles. It goes like this, Kong is the champ and people are trying to challenge her but they end up getting dominated because she is the size of many of TNA’s male wrestlers, bigger even than some. Now to say Kong is not deserving is a lie, she has paid her dues overseas and during her time in TNA, but she is to the Knockout division what John Cena is to the WWE, a face (not like a good guy, but literally, a face). She makes non fans go “That woman that could kill me wrestles for TNA? Let’s tune in!” And I suppose I should commend TNA for doing that, however, the ratings haven’t risen at all, and if anything, Gail Kim was a better face to use, as they would snub WWE in showing off how good of a wrestler she was. But still, Kong is also like Cena in a sense that people tune in to see who she’s going to beat this week. Will it be ODB again? Or will her former stablemate Rhaka Khan (good name, right?) go for it and fail?

This formula is tiring. It bores me writing about it. It bores me watching it. It bores me knowing that there are a staff of writers who have kept this going for the better part of a year. The roster of women is great, and I’m sure they could play up the “Girl Power!” angle if the title wasn’t on the most masculine of the group. An easy out would be have someone interfere and cause Kong to lose the belt, starting a feud for Kong and easily moving the title off of her. So lets use Rhaka Khan again as an example, lets say Kong is in a title match with new recruit Daffney (who spent several months impersonating Sarah Palin, and has now thankfully dropped that gimmick) and she is more or less doing her thing and smashing Daffney around and no selling clotheslines and kicks. Khan comes in blindsiding the referee, and taking him out before he can realize what has happened. She takes a chair to Kong’s back and basically obliterates her in the ring. The ref wakes up and Daffney hops onto her broken body for the three count, winning the title. Hooray! Kong isn’t champion anymore, Daffney is in the limelight, and Khan is lined up to keep Kong busy for at least a month, and knowing TNA’s booking, more like 6 months.


I proposed to her, but she said she had commitment issues.

Okay, an easy out to move the title. But what about the rest of the division? How do they hold our time for another segment or two without really boring us? Easy. Book wrestling matches. The roster is too talented not to utilize in some fashion, and they all more or less look hot in one way or another. Book non-feud matches with Taylor Wilde, Roxxi, Sojo Bolt, and let the rest of the ladies act as managers and valets to tag teams and singles wrestlers, and have The Beautiful People attack anyone, male or female, for not living up to the standards presented by WWE eh-hem, themselves.

Not a hard fix at all. The Knockout Division has potential to really show WWE and other indy competitors that they are willing to take a risk as far as ratings as well as financially, to show off great competition between females. And what is a natural things between several companies all trying to be at the top? Competition! So in turn, WWE may just step up their women’s roster, I mean they re-hired Gail Kim, so that’s gotta mean something. So TNA, if you fix your mess not only can you mend your own wounds, but you can help fix up the rest of the industry.

The best 18 seconds of your life.

Yay Necro!

Ouch.

On this blog I talk about how bad TNA has gotten since it got a TV deal with Spike, however, in the early days of that even there was still a lot of awesome things going on. For example, this match between Sabu and Abyss is so ridiculously insane I cringe every time I've seen it, and I've seen it several times.



And that wasn't even the main attraction!

R.I.P. Test

Andrew Martin, best known to WWF/E fans as Test has passed away.



He was only 33 years old. He last wrestled in TNA under the name "The Punisher" but they didn't keep him around because rumors were he was pretty doped up on steroids. I never really believe that to be the case, as he never looked unnaturally ripped like so many wrestlers these days. It's a shame, he was a much better talent than he was ever given credit for. His last stint got him close to the main event of WWE's ECW program.

The cause of death has yet to be determined, so we'll see whether or not prescription drugs had anything to do with this loss.

Necro Butcher

Okay, the Oscars sucked. The music numbers were decent, the awards were predictable, and the one shimmer of hope of Rourke winning and truly crowning himself as champion once again was tainted by the Acaedmy's desire to show that it cares about homosexuals. Not to bash Penn's performance, I've only seen pieces of it, but no way was it as moving as Mickey, and he even acknowledged that. But all that aside there was an Apatow piece which had a noticeably skinnier Seth Rogen and James Franco revisiting their Pineapple Express roles, and at one point they show a scene from the Wrestler in which one guy, Necro Butcher, takes a dollar bill and a staple gun to the head. They make that a running joke for the rest of the segment, with Rogen having a dollar bill stapled to his head. I was reading the Baltimore Sun's Ring Post Blog, in which columnist Kevin Eck mentioned Butcher in a post Oscar rant, and I decided to search him on Youtube. And what I found is intense, this vid is only a small fraction of the damage this guy has been a victim or cause of.



I thought they hired some guy to do that, I didn't know he was a real wrestler!

The Uncler

Check out this funny vid from people that get like 10 more hits a day than I do, Funny or Die.

The Uncler w/ Uncle Sam and Alyssa Milano from Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano looks an awful lot like Marisa Tomei.