The Happy-Go-Sucky Wrestling Report 05.06.09

Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 05.06.2009

Discussion of the Sacrifice main event, injuries to Undertaker and Hernandez, potential new stars on SmackDown and much more in the latest Happy-Go-Sucky Wrestling Report!

Welcome to the Happy-Go-Sucky Wrestling Report! Your regular host Steve Sullivan has work commitments, which are unfortunately keeping him away this week, but on the bright side, you get me filling and discussing the Happy and the Go Sucky of all the big news stories in the wrestling world. You'll have to excuse the briefness of some of my points though, because I am rushing to get this done, and I my attention is split between this and celebrations stemming from Manchester United reaching the Champions League Final. That'd be real football, by the way. Onto the news.



News: *SPOILERS* The main event for TNA Sacrifice is Mick Foley defending the TNA World Championship against Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle and Sting

Happy: Well, the good news here is that because this a four man much, those who are more advanced in terms of age will be able to hide their weaknesses by taking the a few minutes out here and there to rest up, and you'd imagine that there'd be a lot of brawling around ringside, which hopefully won't be too strenuous for the likes of Foley and Sting.

Furthermore, any time Kurt Angle is in a main event, you can bet you're ass that the match should be pretty good. Jarrett can still go and Foley and Sting are both pretty carriable, so this one should be passable at least.

This is four of the biggest names in the company, all of which have issues with one another, and hopefully all of those issues can finally be resolved here and soon enough this whole Main Event Mafia/Frontline/Management stuff can be put to rest.

And who knows, this match may get TNA a big buyrate. Angle and Sting are proven draws if you look at some of the PPV figures from recent years, and one imagines Foley is too.

Go Sucky: This just about manages to vindicate all of those whiney bitches that complain that TNA never puts the younger talent in the main event. This isn't just one old guy, or WWE-reject in the main event, this is four guys together in a match that pretty much underlines every problem a lot of people has with TNA.

Where are the likes of AJ and Joe and Daniels and even Morgan? Regardless of who sells the most shows, these are kind of guys who have to be the future of the company, not because it's what the IWC wants, but through necessity. The likes of Sting and Jarrett and Foley and even Angle, they can't go on forever, even if they'd like to.

News: There is talk of adding a Wednesday night show to WWE programming.

Happy: So Vince McMahon sees the need for an extra hour (or two) of WWE programming to go along with Raw, ECW, SmackDown and Superstars, which a lot of people already argue is a superfluous show.

At the end of the day, if this happens it's just going to mean more revenue from WWE through steady ratings and advertising. Vince loves money, and he'll only go along with this if it's going to make him money. Making money is never a bad thing.

And it may give more exposure to some of the mid-card guys on Raw and SmackDown who may otherwise struggle for TV time on their own brands. Even better, perhaps we'll get a show that focuses on a particular division, maybe a tag team brand, where they can put half a dozen tag teams on there and put them in singles and tag matches. Or maybe WWE will go with a Divas-only show, which I believe has been discussed recently. Anything that puts emphasis on a particular aspect of wrestling generally makes said aspect that much more important, which is always a good thing.

Go Sucky: Can you say burnout? This would take us up to seven hours of WWE a week, with WWE having TV shows on every night of the working week. While it's plausible, isn't only going to make people more tired of the product? Aren't the same people who are already overexposed going to become even more overexposed?

And if this show is used as a highlights show, is there any need for it when so much time is spent on SmackDown and ECW and Superstars recapping events from the other shows? Are there not already enough mediums through which fans can keep up with the product?

Personally, I struggle to catch Raw, SmackDown, ECW and Superstars every week. Most weeks I'll catch parts of ECW and miss Superstars. And I'm one of the company's more dedicated fans, so how are casual fans going to be able to cope with so much WWE.

News: TNA is interested in bringing in Lance Cade once he has worked through his commitments in Japan.



TNA Bound?
Happy: Lance Cade has a great upside. He's fairly talented in the ring, as was evident from his run in WWE. In particular when he split with Trevor Murdoch and aligned himself with Chris Jericho last summer, I thought he showed tremendous potential and glimpses of greatness.

He also has a really good luck. I think TNA could use a few guys with his kind of look as a lot of people in TNA are either too small to look like legitimate wrestlers, or too old and chunky to look like threats.

There's also the opportunity to pair Cade back up with Murdoch who has just recently started with TNA under a new name I can't quite recall off the top of my head, but whatever. TNA's tag division sucks at the moment and because someone doesn't think it's a good idea to push the Guns, that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon. Cade and Murdoch are a proven team, who most viewers will be familiar with and would be a good addition to the tag ranks.

Go Sucky: Again, this is fuel to the fire that is the TNA-haters. It's another "WWE reject." And it's not like Lance Cade is such a huge name that TNA can't resist signing him, so it's arguable that TNA comes out of this looking like the minor leagues that they are.

Furthermore, I don't think Cade ever managed to supersede mediocre levels in WWE for a sustained period of time. He did OK in a tag team, and did OK for a while as Jericho's lackey but there's no guarantee that this signing will be a winner.

News: Following his recent neck surgery, Hernandez will miss between six and nine months of action.



Will Hernandez's injury open the door for Homicide in the X Division?
Happy: It's never good when a wrestler goes down injured, but this could have some positive ramifications, particularly for Hernandez's regular tag team partner Homicide.

Homicide has never really had an opportunity to showcase what he can do as a singles guy in TNA and this may be the chance he needs to take off on his own. He's very competent in the ring and now has a much better chance to showcase that. Hernandez almost overshadows Homicide in LAX due to his impressive power moves and aerial feats, but now Cide gets the chance to stand on his own.

This should also mean great things for TNA's X Division, which has been looking pretty lacklustre lately, to say the very least. Homicide is a perfect fit for the X Division. He's also very over with the Impact zone and as such brings the division instant credibility. It's always a good thing when you can add a guy like Homicide to the X Division ranks, and I wouldn't be too surprised if he even got an X Division Championship reign in the coming months.

Go Sucky: Well it's an injury, the "Go Sucky" of this is self-explanatory. Hernandez is going to miss a lot of ring-time it seems and because it's a neck injury, it could have serious ramifications for the remainder of his career in terms of what he's able to do and how long he's able to do it for.

But this is also bad news for the TNA Tag Division, which wasn't in great shape before losing LAX, one of its most popular and experienced tag teams. TNA's tag ranks now consist of Team 3D, the champions who have done everything and feuded with everyone, Beer Money, the Machine Guns, who, regardless of how over they, are never going to be pushed beyond a certain point, it seems, The British Invasion, who obviously the jury is still out on, and a couple of make shift teams comprising of jobbers and newcomers. It really doesn't look too good.

News: The Undertaker requires knee surgery and will be out for an undetermined amount of time.

Happy: As I said regarding Hernandez, it's not good to see someone go down injured but there can be positive consequences of guys going down injured, which I'll predominantly under the next news headline. But sticking with Undertaker here, it's at least good that he's taking the time off to get the surgery done. I've no doubt that Taker has been working through these injuries for a long time. He's a workhorse and over the last few years has been one of the company's very best performers. But if he needs time off, he needs time off and it's good to know he's being sensible and getting any injury problems dealt with.

Go Sucky: This is a big loos for WWE and in particular SmackDown. Undertaker is arguably the biggest star in the company and certainly the biggest name on SmackDown. People go to shows to see this guy and his absence could prove costly for WWE.

It also leaves a gaping whole at the top of the SmackDown brand where there aren't too many faces that have much credibility in terms of being a threat to the main event. Taker is always a guy they could fall back on and now he's going to be out for a while.

There's also a suggestion that there could be other injuries discovered which could mean Taker needs even more time off. We've known for a while that Taker is in the twilight years of his career, and with the way he's been performing in recent years we'd perhaps forgotten how old the guy is, and he may not have much more time in the ring. I doubt I'm alone in saying I'd much rather see Taker go out when he's putting on the best performances of his life, rather than with a whimper because nagging injuries have kept him away.

News: As a result of Taker's injuries and Jeff Hardy's contract limbo, there is extra emphasis on pushing CM Punk and John Morrison.



The future of SmackDown?
Happy: This is great news. Despite his numerous title reigns, those in the office haven't really put much faith in Punk, that may change now that he's on SmackDown. If Jeff Hardy goes, Punk becomes the number one face on the brand, so it makes sense for creative to start preparing for that very real possibility by pushing him and John Morrison.

Morrison has potential to be a huge star and a face turn could help him channel that into huge success. His moveset lends itself to getting big face pops. It's cliché, but the guy does have that "next Shawn Michaels" vibe to him. This apparent feud with Chris Jericho should do him a world of good.

Bottom line, Morrison is awesome, and it'll be great seeing him at the top of , or near the top of the card.

Go Sucky: It's a risk, pushing unproven talent. Both Punk and Morrison have been great mid-card acts but that does not always translate well into the main event. Punk's World Championship run last year didn't exactly set the world on fire, even if it was through no fault of his own.

And it's worth point out here, if WWE are still worried about Hardy's contract status, why is he the guy getting the title shot at Judgment Day?

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Presumably Sullivan will be back next week. Until then, keep yourself occupied by the latest edition of Thoughts From the Top Rope, which will be on the site from some time today.