The Triple Threat 6.28.09: 146th Edition - Matt Hardy, Taz to TNA, Tyson Kidd, More!

Posted by David Martell on 06.28.2009

This week we preview The Bash, talk about Matt Hardy getting injured, Taz most likely going to TNA, RAW's high rating last week, and Morrison beating CM Punk on Smackdown. Our superstar highlight is Tyson Kidd. Please enjoy!












Topic # 1 WWE‘s The Bash is this Sunday. What are your thoughts on the card?

David Martell: I actually want to watch this PPV because the card is damn good for the most part. Unfortunately I have to work. Well, lets get started. The Legacy vs. the Colons for the tag straps will probably be decent but I bet they will get it short and sweet since there are nine matches going on. I see the Legacy getting the belts here. Khali vs. Ziggler will probably be the worst match of the night. I would have rather seen Edge vs. Morrison but I cant get everything I want. Ziggler should win here since they are setting him up to be a worthy opponent on Smackdown. John Cena vs. The Miz is interesting but I hope that this wont be a squash match. I want the Miz to look good since he seems to be the only guy they are currently building up on RAW. John Cena should win here no problem. Melina vs. McCool for the Women's Championship will be short and nothing news worthy. I think McCool will win it here. Jericho vs. Rey for the IC belt should be great. These guys are so good together and the added stipulation of Rey losing his mask if he loses is just great. What a great feud we have here and it is sad that this might be the end of it. I think Rey will win here because he is less marketable without the mask. WWE loves their money. The ECW scramble match should be fun and I hope that Tommy Dreamer wins here. If they want to make Dreamer look like a strong champion, he needs to win here. If that doesn't happen I am perfectly fine with Swagger regaining the belt. CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy for the World Title should be great but there is no way Punk is going to drop the belt so soon. He is on fire right now and his character is evolving by the week. CM Punk will win easy. Randy Orton vs. Triple H for the WWE Title in a three stages of hell match should be decent. I really wish this feud would end because it is pretty damn awful. Their matches are really hit or miss so lets hope that two out of the three falls are good. If history serves me right, Triple H has never lost at this type of match. I can only hope that Orton wins here but the odds are in Triple H's favor. Overall the PPV looks pretty good and if I didn't have to work it would be a definite buy.

Alex Mattis: I know I'm getting repetitive with this but... ANOTHER PPV ALREADY!?!?! We can't seem to find a downtime. And again this is the same PPV we've been seeing on Raw and the PPV's before it, I just don't see how some get motivated to buy these. Now I'm not writing the card off or anything like that. I think the ECW scramble match has potential and could be a ton of fun (no that wasn't a poke at Mark Henry). I truly hope Dreamer retains. The 3 Stages of Hell should be interesting, but unfortunately I see Trips walking away from The Bash with the strap. The Hardy-Punk title match is the perfect chance to complete this heel turn for Punk, but I'll talk about that a little later on. Expect Jeri to pull through in his match with Rey and start run #3267 of maskless Rey. With the card demotion expect Cena to win and try to put on a really good match. Melina will retain in what should be a solid women's match. And expect the tag belts to leave with whom they came. All in all this should actually be a really solid cards and one of the better events the E has done recently.

Zach Brown: Can this actually be happening? A good card for The Bash? Who would have thought that simply dropping the "Great American" would break the curse of bad cards for this event? All kidding aside, this is almost a definite must buy in my opinion. The only match that shouldn't really be here is Dolph Ziggler vs. The Great Khali. I would have loved to see Edge vs. Morrison instead, but oh well. Cena vs. Miz should be interesting because it's been building for so long now. But I don't expect anything more than a squash match. Hopefully, it leads to a decent feud for Cena and Miz. Also, Jericho and Rey have been having a fantastic feud. It seems unreal that WWE could possibly make Mysterio unmask for good, but at the same time, I just don't see Rey winning this match. I could see Mysterio unmasking just for one night and then some authority figure stepping in and saving Rey's honor. Melina vs. Michelle McCool is an alright women's match, but I'd much rather see Maryse vs. Mickie James to be honest. Plus, Alicia Fox is nearly unwatchable to me. The ECW Scramble match should be sleeper hit of the night. I fully expect Tommy Dreamer to retain, but if he loses, I hope Jack Swagger regains the title. The Tag Team Title match should be very good also because both teams are supremely talented. But I definitely hope Legacy pulls out the win here because they deserve some payback after getting jobbed out for months on end. Punk vs. Hardy should be a great match, and hopefully match of the night. Jeff Hardy is on a hot streak lately, and Punk is also having great matches himself. But if Punk doesn't retain, I'll be monumentally upset. Finally, Orton vs. Triple H is just a fresh take on something we've seen 10 million times. The Three Stages of Hell match is interesting because it is so rare, but it's completely impossible to predict when Orton and Trips come to play and when they don't. I just hope Orton keeps the title because I'm just tired of Triple H through and through. All in all, The Bash is a great looking card, and one that I can't wait to see.


Topic # 2 Matt Hardy recently got injured and my be out for awhile. What does this mean for Matt and the RAW roster?

David Martell: Matt Hardy has some of the worst luck in wrestling. Matt Hardy has never been able to break out. He came close when he turned heel and put on some real wrestling tights. Soon after he would injure his arm. He was just about to get rid of the cast and he got injured again tearing his abdominal muscle. I have been a big Matt Hardy fan for a long time and I hope that this doesn't set him back to much. I still don't see him getting to far on RAW when Triple H and John Cena are on the show. I wish he was still on Smackdown because he would have been able to show his true potential. Hell, if Matt was on Smackdown he might even be able to be a World Champion. I hope Matt a speedy recovery and I hope he comes back better than ever.

Alex Mattis: Man, sometimes it seems like Matt Hardy just can't catch a break. It always seems like when he gets rollin' something goes wrong. Since his victory at WrestleMania I thought Hardy was on the rise. It can be argued that his character gained a lot from the loss and the way he lost to Jeff Hardy at Backlash and since then it looked like he was fine-tuning his character and then his bad luck strikes again. Something fortunate about this situation could be Matt Hardy staying as an on-air character and just building his heat through promos and what not. This has worked amazingly for wrestlers in the past, just look at Pillman-post car crash and Austin during his recovery time. We'll just have to see how the E wants to handle this.

Zach Brown: This is very disappointing to me. Just when I thought Matt was getting over his broken hand, he goes and tears an ab muscle. I didn't even know people could tear their abs! Poor guy. I was looking forward to a possible tag team between him and William Regal, but that of course looks like it won't be happening. I hope Matt gets well soon because he's been doing great this past year, and I've definitely been a Matt Hardy fan lately. Some of my friends have been saying that it's possible Matt could get released for being injury prone. I think it is extremely unlikely that Matt would get released. I mean heck, the guy only broke his hand because he took a sick bump for the company. If he ended up getting released, I would be shocked and angered. But as of right now, I only hope Matt has a speedy recovery because I want to see him back in the ring as soon as possible.

Topic # 3 It seems pretty obvious now that Taz is going to TNA. How do you feel about this?

David Martell: This shouldn't be a surprise because he is following in the footsteps of so many others. Can Taz even wrestle anymore? I really don't care to find out. He is out of shape and his ring rust must be awful. I guess he just wants a job in wrestling where the schedule isn't that difficult. I really don't see the upside here for TNA. He is obviously not going to take the announcing booth and he obviously cant perform to the level he once was on. I can only see him being a mouth piece. Maybe for one of the other old ECW guys. Who knows. Either way it is a terrible idea.

Alex Mattis: Is there no end to this?!?!? TNA is just taking anything and everything that Vince once said "Hey" to in passing at a deli, it's passed the label of "ridiculous." I was a HUGE mark of Taz in the ECW days; I was one of those that truly believed he was the baddest MoFo on the planet. I then loved his commentary and thought that he made listening to Michael Cole for 2-3 hours actually tolerable. I thought when he was done with the E, he was done... nope. To TNA! One question... What the fuck for? He can't wrestle anymore and unless they're making a Don West-Taz commentating team I don't really know what they are going to do with him or how they plan on making it work. Does TNA not understand that there are younger, better wrestlers out there that they could make stars of and could make your product better? It seems like that philosophy was thrown out the window at the end of 2006.

Zach Brown: Haven't you heard? TNA is where ex-WWE wrestlers go to die. Seriously though, Taz has nothing to gain from TNA besides a paycheck. What is he going to do in TNA? Wrestle? Taz hasn't wrestled in probably over six years. The ring rust on the guy would probably be almost unbearable. So I really doubt that Taz is going over there to make a return to in-ring action. Would he just be an authority figure? Probably. I could see that happening. And he'd be great on commentary, but I don't see TNA getting rid of either Mike Tenay or Don West (much to my chagrin). I simply don't see anything positive coming out of Taz's involvement with TNA. What have the last 10 ex-WWE acquisitions even done for the TNA product? Will Taz's presence change the face of TNA forever? Will he improve the TNA product with his involvement in storylines? No. Absolutely not. TNA just doesn't get it and it seems like they never will. I don't want to see guys that are long past their prime, and don't belong on TV anymore. I want to see young, fresh talent getting the spot they deserve. I want to see guys like Christopher Daniels and Alex Shelley becoming the face of the company, and take professional wrestling to a whole ‘nother level. Whoever thinks I want to see Mick Foley, Taz, Stevie Richards, Kevin Nash, Booker T and Kurt Angle fart around and tarnish their legacy just does not understand what wrestling fans want. It's just tired, and not worth my time.

Topic # 4 What are your thoughts on the high RAW rating this past week?

David Martell: This was one of the two shockers for me this week. I can't even remember when RAW had a rating that high. Having a high profile celeb and no commercials really brought in the viewers. Although I didn't think the show what that great, it had somewhat of a PPV feel with the Orton vs. Triple H last man standing match. The one thing I found dumb about this RAW was that they got rid of Trump after one show. What was the point of the storyline? I guess they only wanted ratings for one week but who knows, maybe somehow it can continue.

Alex Mattis: Either Donald Trump or a "commercial-free" clause really drew some people in, and I doubt it was the hair-piece. The E has got to be pumped about this; especially considering they gave a solid effort and a solid show that may very well bring back some of the viewers and continue to build upon their average rating. I hope that's the case and the E can get a potential boost in viewers. If the ratings drops big time this week bring back Trump, make him GM, commentator, and occasional referee.

Zach Brown: Wow, Donald Trump really does bring in the ratings. It's become apparent to me that Raw is the brand to watch for outrageous and eye catching storylines, while Smackdown and ECW are the brands to watch for actual wrestling. As much of a cynic I was about Trump's involvement with Raw, you just can't argue with the numbers. I guess this storyline really did work. And considering that it did so well, it's somewhat disappointing that WWE seems to have put the kibosh on it after only one night. It would have been interesting to see it last for at least one more week. The only thing that makes me a tad sick to my stomach is that Raw has been so terrible except for these past two weeks. When taken into account that the quality of Raw altogether has dropped like a brick, I honestly don't believe that Raw even deserves a 4.5 rating. I wish I could go into every household that watched Raw that night and force them all to watch Smackdown (an exponentially better show) as well. It's just upsetting to me when Raw earns a 4.5 while Smackdown hasn't even broken a 2.0 in the last 2 months. All in all, it's great that Trump wants to help out Vince whenever he can, but I wish Raw would improve their match quality and storylines first instead of resorting to celebrities for a cheap pop.

Topic # 5 On Smackdown John Morrison defeated World Champion CM Punk clean. Soon after Punk hit the GTS out of anger. Your thoughts?

David Martell: Pardon my language but this totally blew my fucking mind. I was totally expecting Morrison to take the pin. I literally sat there in shock. Morrison is finally getting the respect he deserves and if he ends up being in a program with Punk for the World Title, I am all for it. To make things even better, Punk became more heelish than ever by giving Morrison a GTS after the match. Who ever is booking Smackdown needs to start booking all of WWE's programming. This was a huge moment for both stars and both came out looking great. Morrison got that much needed rub and Punk is showing his true colors. Simply great television. Smackdown is the show to watch.

Alex Mattis: This is an excellent call for two reasons. One, the E is putting faith in Morrison and is possibly in the process of building him up and making him a major player (which would totally reek of awesomeness). Two, this is the perfect lead-in to a big heel turn this Sunday. I was talking about this earlier today with a friend; look back to the Nash heel-turn at the end of '95. It went down very similar. He was beaten, out of nowhere, by someone who shouldn't have beaten him and BOOM he snapped. Very similar dealings here and I think a win via HEEL TACTICS (!!!!) this Sunday for Punk could officially put him into the bad guy category. This win for Morrison is terrific for both he and Punk.

Zach Brown: This could not have been done any better. If someone simply told me that CM Punk got pinned clean as the World Heavyweight Champion, I would have rolled my eyes and thought that it was just a repeat of Punk's arguably weak run as champ in 2008. But the way this was done was brilliant. First of all, Punk and Morrison had a fantastic match. I was glad the match was happening, but the whole time I was thinking, "This match is great but it sucks that Morrison has to do the job." But "do the job" he did not. A clean pin over the world Heavyweight champion! This wasn't as shocking as Shelton pinning Triple H or Hurricane pinning The Rock, but it was still very shocking nonetheless. So now Morrison has a huge feather in his cap, AND Punk finally gives us the heel turn that we've all been waiting for with a GTS on ‘ol Morry. Like I said, brilliant. So simple, yet so well executed. It was a win-win for both men. This is just the latest testament to how hard Smackdown is rocking the shit right now. It is the show to watch. And if you haven't been watching, you are absolutely positively missing out on the best wrestling show on television.



Superstar Highlight

Tyson Kidd



Our thoughts on Tyson Kidd.

David Martell: I like what I see from Tyson Kidd but he is still very green. I am glad that he is getting the chance to develop his skills by wrestling the likes of Finlay and Christian. The matches he has had with Evan Bourne have been quite impressive to say the least. I think the WWE doesn't quite know what to do with the Hart Dynasty just yet but I am sure eventually they will get their shot at the WWE Unified Tag Belts. Until then, they are just going to be thrown into the mix where ever they are needed. He still has a long way to go before he is going to be a superstar but being on ECW is definitely a good start. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hart Dynasty got moved to a different brand when the next draft comes around because ECW isn't the greatest place for a tag team. I wish the best for him in the future and I hope he shows us all that he can live up to Hart expectations.

Alex Mattis: It's always interesting to see new faces in the E, and when they're someone who comes from the Hart lineage how could you not be intrigued? I've liked what I've seen from Kidd thus far, I think that he has a lot to offer and this Next-Gen Hart Foundation, Hart Dynasty, whatever is working out much better than I anticipated. I believe a large part of that is the effort put in by all involved. I would like to see Kidd, and the rest of the gang, to be bumped up to a bigger show so they could compete against other established tag teams and ultimately have a run at the tag straps. I think they are doing fine where they are right now, but a bump up should be in their near future. I think Kidd has lived up to some of the expectations that surrounded him and he is showing that he has what it takes. I think that if given the ball Kidd, and the Hart Dynasty, could really rake in some good things for Vince & Co.

Zach Brown: I have said this before and I'll say it again. I'm not entirely sold on Tyson Kidd yet. Now that's not to say that I dislike the guy. I wouldn't go that far. I just haven't seen anything from him that impressed me all that much. I've seen a few matches he had with Finlay and I just wasn't totally sold. Maybe the kid is still kind of green. Then again, I don't know how you can be at all green in the ring when you are a graduate from the Hart dungeon. Maybe it's also that I think his hair looks stupid. Or maybe he's waiting to turn face to do all the cool flip-de-do stuff, and just sticking with heeltastic mat wrestling for now. Perhaps it's also that I would slit his throat in a heartbeat just to date Nattie Neidhart. Is that in bad taste? Eh. That being said, I am glad that the Hart Dynasty finally came to fruition. Granted, I have been more impressed by David Hart Smith than I have been with Tyson. But I have been waiting patiently to see Tyson bust out some crazy incredible match with someone like Paul Burchill or Evan Bourne. If I am impressed with Tyson in one area, it's his mic skills. He's not bad on the mic, and he plays the heel well. For now, I'm just taking a wait and see approach with Tyson. Hopefully, an ECW title run will open my eyes to Tyson. The Hart Dynasty needs some gold to be more of a threat, and I wouldn't mind seeing some gold around Tyson's waist.


That is all for this week. Feel free to write comments at the bottom of the page and have a great week in wrestling. CYA!