The Triple Threat 9.05.10: The 202nd Edition - No Surrender, Kaval Wins NXT, Possible Title Unifications, More

Posted by David Martell on 09.05.2010

This week we preview TNA's No Surrender, we talk about Kaval winning NXT season 2, Chris Jericho's contract status, rumors of WWE unifying all their titles, and Serena getting the axe. Alberto Del Rio is our Superstar Highlight. Please Enjoy!



Topic # 1 TNA‘s No Surrender is this Sunday. What are your thoughts on the card?



David Martell: This card looks half decent to me but nothing special. I am not a big fan of a PPV not having a World Title match but I guess it is understandable in this case. Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne will be a typical women's match but I guarantee a run in of some sort. Abyss vs. Rhino sounds awful on paper and that is what I am expecting. Abyss will win hands down. I don't expect much from Kevin Nash and Sting vs. Jarrett and Joe. It will be a decent match at best. Jarrett and Joe will probably win here. AJ Styles vs. Tommy Dreamer in an I Quit match could be good. Dreamer can have good matches when he wants to and I expect him to win here to have the upper hand. Wolfe and Magnus vs. the MCMGs could be the match of the night if given time. Glad to see a new team going for the belts but I really cant see the MCMGs losing the titles so fast after having the best of five series with Beer Money. Mr. Anderson vs. Pope should be good and I expect Anderson to win here. Angle vs. Jeff Hardy should be damn good and hopefully this is the main event. I am convinced that Angle will win the whole thing and eventually regain the TNA World Title. It is all in his storyline. Overall it could be a decent PPV but I don't know if it is worth the buy.

Jacob San Antonio: Interesting looking card, with a couple of no brainers thrown in. Kurt Angle will beat Jeff Hardy and advance to the finals of the championship tournament. Anderson will go over Dinero and meet Angle in the finals. Angle's been working his way up the roster over the past few months, so I think barring any surprise finishes he's going to walk out of No Surrender the heavyweight champion. I really doubt the Machineguns are going to lose to Desmond Wolfe and Magnus, but it should still prove to be an exciting match. I find it hard to believe AJ Styles would lose and "I Quit" match with Tommy Dreamer, so unless TNA is purposely making this look obvious I expect Styles to win. I get the feeling Jarret and Samoa Joe will beat Sting and Kevin Nash, though I've got my fingers crossed for a great match regardless. With three of the wrestlers involved getting pretty old, it's hard to say just what level of performance we'll get. Abyss will win over Rhino, unless anybody interferes in their matchup. Douglas Willams will retain against Sabu, and Madison Rayne will win against Velvet Sky. The tournament has me interested, as does the "I Quit" match, but otherwise I'm not that wow-ed by this PPV. I'm always open to being proven wrong, though.

Zach Brown: This year's No Surrender has a decent looking card in terms of match quality, but it looks like it's also fairly predictable. First of all, Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne....I expect Rayne to win here since Velvet just hasn't shown as much in-ring dominance as Madison. Plus, Angelina and Tara will get involved, giving it a screwy finish. And why has TNA made the match for Rhino vs. Abyss? Is anyone actually thinking that TNA will give Rhino the win and push him out of nowhere? It's seriously laughable. It may be a decent two star brawl at the very best. Douglas Williams vs. Sabu is an interesting choice as well. I definitely don't know how well these styles will match up. But I think it's obvious that Williams will retain here. Sting and Nash vs. Jarrett and Joe...that is something that I am not exactly clamoring to see. At least Samoa Joe stepped in instead of Hogan because then it simply would have been a battle between the geriatrics of TNA. But this match will likely be very slow paced and seeing Nash and Sting pick up the win. AJ Styles vs. Tommy Dreamer in an I Quit match...I see AJ being the one to say "I Quit" because of his cowardly personality. But I also expect him to just walk out instead of being beaten to the point where he has to quit. But this match could be a sleeper hit if done right. MCMG vs. Wolfe and Magnus should be an excellent, show stealing match. If Wolfe and Magnus can pick up the pace where Beer Money left off (which I'm sure they can), then this may be the start of a beautiful new tag team feud in TNA. And finally, the tournament semifinals to determine who is champion while RVD washes off all that barbeque sauce that Abyss put on him. Anderson vs. Pope is a great matchup but I expect Anderson to get the win here. He's getting a bigger push, and it makes sense for Anderson and Angle to have a rematch. And that sort of tells you who I expect to win between Hardy and Angle. Even with his drug charges, it's hard to believe that TNA hasn't utilized arguably WWE's biggest star of last year better than they have. And I still doubt they will move Hardy closer to the belt in this instance. Angle needs to win here because of his storyline. I think that TNA needs to find a way to give Anderson or someone else the belt without forcing Kurt to retire because of his storyline. They've kind of booked themselves into a corner on this one. As for the event as a whole, it has three matches that look excellent, while the rest is either meh, unpredictable in quality, or completely predictable in outcome. Plain and simple, it's a bad undercard. It could pull out some surprises, but I think that No Surrender is only a buy for the die hard TNA fan.

Topic # 2 Kaval won season 2 of NXT this past week. Your thoughts?



David Martell: Kaval very much deserved to win NXT season two. He has been in the business for over a decade and he has worked his ass off wrestling around the world to get to this point. It is hard to believe that a few years ago I saw this guy in person at some garbage indy promotion. It is also hard to believe that he has a title shot. It will be interesting to see where he goes with that. I am also wondering what brand he will be going to. He could end up on RAW and teaming up with Daniel Bryan which is fine with me. They could make the tag team division look more legitimate. I could also see him going to Smackdown where he can get a good amount of TV time and could actually be a part of the main event. Either way I am happy.

Jacob San Antonio: I'm shocked to see them give him the win. With how Daniel Bryan was treated with the whole "Internet Darling" angle, it's surprising to see the WWE acknowledge Kaval's abilities. I've got to give credit where credit is due, though. Throughout this season of NXT I've been entertained by LayCool working as his pros. I wasn't too excited about it when they initially announced the pairing, but the WWE played it perfectly. The rest of the finale to NXT was less than stellar, thanks to the abysmal promos made by the likes of McGillicutty and the eliminated rookies. The ending to the show has yet to make sense to me, but I'm hoping we don't see a new Nexus-type group made of Season 2's rookies. That'd be terrible, at this point.

Zach Brown: It's good that WWE let the odds on favorite win this time around. It's almost like an apology for how they treated Daniel Bryan in Season 1. Not that Wade Barrett isn't awesome, but you know what I mean. Kaval was by far the standout of Season 2. Even McGillicutty's promo after he lost about the "Genesis of McGillicutty" was lackluster and almost made me laugh. It just further proved why Kaval is the winner. No other wrestler had anything on Kaval this season. And then the post victory beatdown occurred. What an absolute clusterfuck. Not only did Titus O' Neil no-sell MVP's Drive-By like it was nothing, but Alex Riley proceeded to beat the piss out of Percy Watson, hit his finisher on him, throw him out of the ring, and then Watson gets in the ring like nothing happens 2 minutes later and they act like nothing happened! Did he just forget that he was supposed to be attacking pros? That whole segment is just begging to be put on Botchamania. And what is WWE doing? Creating another Nexus? One former NXT stable is enough, but two is pushing it. Maybe Nexus can pluck a few members from Season 2 to increase their numbers. But as for Kaval, I couldn't be happier for the guy. I am in disbelief that he now has a title shot. I can't wait to see how he integrates into Smackdown or Raw, and I can't wait to see him becoming the next breakout star.

Topic # 3 Chris Jericho and the WWE still haven't come to terms for a new contract. How do you feel about this?



David Martell: I would be pretty sad if Jericho was going to leave the WWE again. He has always been one of my favorite guys to watch and since his last return, he has been awesome. Jericho's character has always evolved and right now he is by far one of the best heels in wrestling today. I can understand that he deserves a break but I don't want him to leave for a few years. Losing Jericho means losing good matches. Jericho had a decent match with the Great Khali the other night and that is basically impossible. I know Jericho is a busy man with his book writing and his band but I don't want to see him take a long break from wrestling.

Jacob San Antonio: I'm not too worried about this. At the worst, Jericho takes some time off before coming back in a few months. Best case scenario, nothing changes with the exception of Jericho missing a few shows. He's been juggling his wrestling career and his rock band for a while now, and even if he's running into a roadblock right now I'm sure he can get past it. A world without Jericho wrestling in some capacity just doesn't seem possible to me, so I'm absolutely certain this will work itself out with little to no consequence in the long run.

Zach Brown: I really hope that Jericho decides to stay in WWE. I have thoroughly enjoyed Jericho's return to WWE. He's had great runs with the World title, he made the Intercontinental Championship mean something while he had it, he reinvigorated the tag division with JeriShow, he's awesome on the mic, and he has been one of WWE's most solid performers year after year. If Jericho decided not to renew his contract, I imagine that he would simply retire from wrestling for good. I don't imagine he would go to TNA. There is no reason for him to do that. I expect he would go back to touring more with Fozzy, and/or trying to get into more movies. But leaving WWE would be a mistake for Jericho. He is healthy, he's never been injured, and he has a good five years left or more in wrestling if he wants. Sure, the argument could be made that he has done all there is to do, but this is one older guy in WWE that I do not want to stop wrestling. Because unlike Cena, Triple H, or Undertaker, Jericho actually puts younger guys over on a consistent basis. Jericho is constantly awesome, and I would be very disappointed if he didn't renew his contract with WWE.

Topic # 4 There are rumors going around that the WWE is going to unify their other belts much like the divas titles and the tag titles. How would you feel about this?



David Martell: Well I guess it could lead to some big Mania matches. Undertaker vs. Cena has been rumored for awhile and what better way to make the match even more important. The only real problem I have with this is the fact that there is just too many wrestlers. I mean you could have the champions show up on both shows but what happens when the champion is feuding someone on RAW? It will make Smackdown feel less important. If they decided to combine both rosters and have everyone on both shows, that would just make everything cluttered and many people would have their tv time cut. Storyline wise it could be fun but it wouldn't work for the big picture. I like having two big belts and I like that RAW and Smackdown or separate shows. It is good for the tag belts and the divas titles but the other titles should just be left alone.

Jacob San Antonio: I like the idea of unifying titles, but I seriously don't think it's happening. With the WWE currently pushing their younger talent and gearing the shows to reflect their growing importance, unifying the titles makes for less opportunities for the stuffed roster. Granted, you're not seeing a lot of action with the US Title, and the Intercontinental Title is being used as a prop between Kofi and Ziggler, but the fact remains that having two separate belts allows for more talent to get their chance to play champion. As exciting as it would be to see the return of undisputed champions, I can only really see that being useful for smaller rosters. Coincidentally, I'm pretty glad the Divas are finally unifying their titles again. The WWE refuses to bring up more serious female wrestlers, so only having to be burdened by one Divas' title match a PPV would be a welcome change.

Zach Brown: Well it's just a rumor at this point. Sure, they have unified the tag titles, and are about to unify the women's titles, but I think that these two unifications do not equal a trend. The tag division in WWE was floundering, and it didn't make sense to have two tag champions anyway. So it made sense to unify them. And they never should have created the Divas title in the first place, so unifying those titles is a no-brainer. So it's very possible that the unifications will end there. Should they unify the US Title and IC Title? Hell no. Unifying those two titles almost gives it enough prestige to be the top title of an entire brand. And the US Title and IC titles do a good job of giving two great mid-card wrestlers a way to stand out. They shouldn't lessen that to only one. And the big topic, of course, unifying the WWE title with the World Title. It has it's pros and cons. On one hand, I like the idea of having an Undisputed Champion. Hell, Jericho still talks about that to this day. It's a great feather in any wrestlers cap. But I also like things the way they are right now with the different brands. Two champions, one for each brand. It works. I like that system. If they were to do the Undisputed Champion thing, I guess the champ would defend on both shows. But I would only want it to be for a little while because those belts are too unique and loved to be united for a long period of time. I am especially partial to the look of the World Heavyweight Title. The big gold belt is iconic, and we should always have that image in wrestling. It's much better looking than that glitter sprinkled, bedazzled turd of a spinner belt. If anything, they just need to redesign the WWE Championship and call it a day. If the rumor has any weight to it, I'd rather WWE not unify the remaining titles. It just doesn't need to be done, and I like the brand system the way it is right now.

Topic # 5 What are your thoughts about Serena getting fired?



David Martell: Well is looks like she didn't play the straight edge character in real life. Supposedly she was a real party animal and people were getting pissed that she wasn't keeping kayfabe. I am pretty sure she isn't very happy she had to shave her head now. She was an interesting character but it seems like the SES was going down hill anyways even though I felt like they never really took off as a group. The segment on Smackdown of her drinking was pretty retarded and she really didn't show us much by her one match. I guess she really didn't get the chance to stand out in the first place. I am sure she will be able to find work on the indies easily and hopefully she can get her act together and come back to the WWE in the future.

Jacob San Antonio: This really sucks, mostly due to how close to the chest the WWE is playing it. I'd love to hear the full story on this release, since the few details released about it raises even more questions. The story goes that Serena made a nasty habit of partying way too hard during her time off. This would conflict with the SES angle she's been with for the past couple of months, so it raised a few eyebrows. At a Smackdown a month or two ago you even had CM Punk mention her breaking the SES rules in a weird angle that lasted a week. Supposedly, this was Serena's warning to shape up or pay the consequences. I find it hard to believe that any company would expect wrestlers on the roster to adhere that strictly to kayfabe, but on the other hand the possibility exists that Serena's bad habits were too extensive to ignore. I'm not happy about Serena's leaving, since it's just another blow to the SES, but I figure it must have been quite the problem if the WWE had to warn her on air.

Zach Brown: This isn't the first, and it definitely won't be the last, but I think this was an unwarranted firing on WWE's part. Not living the gimmick? Really? I don't know how severe this was. It could have been anything from her going out and partying and getting drunk to something as simple as her being nice to the fans when she's supposed to be playing heel. Who really knows? If she was in fact getting drunk or something, you could argue that she actually was practicing the gimmick outside WWE since it was in her character to have lapses in the Straight Edge lifestyle. But this is all speculation on my part. No matter what Serena did wrong, it seems like WWE is firing people for lesser and lesser offenses these days. I mean where is the job security for these people? It seems like anyone in the wrestling business except for the main eventers can be fired at the drop of a hat these days. But I digress. Serena was a promising diva. I thought she was a very attractive girl, even after she shaved her head. And the one match she did have made her look good. She did a move that was an homage to the G2S, and it looked sick. I couldn't believe they let her do a move like that in a women's match. And then suddenly, she's gone. She was a solid part of the SES, and now it looks like the stable is breaking up anyway. Oh well. I hope Serena grows her hair back and goes back to being awesome on the indy circuit. WWE could have had a great new diva on their hands, and it's unfortunate to see Serena let go so prematurely.









Our thoughts on Alberto Del Rio.

David Martell: I can definitely see why the WWE didn't put him on NXT. This guys doesn't need any work, he is already on the verge of being a main eventer. You have to give props to the WWE for booking Del Rio perfectly. So far he looks pretty unstoppable. He beat Rey Mysterio clean in his first ever match on Smackdown CLEAN! For a newcomer to beat a main eventer in their first bout is almost unheard of. I love the way he cuts promos and his mannerisms are just perfect. He plays that arrogant rich guy perfectly, its almost scary. I still want to see more of Del Rio in the ring. His Arm Bar finisher looks great and the way he does it bring a real impact to a normal arm bar. I am glad the WWE is bring back submissions to be a normal part of the fold. Overall, Del Rio is a star and he is keeping me watching.

Jacob San Antonio: I was on the fence about this guy back when he was just cutting promos, but I'll admit he's made a believer out of me. Del Rio seems to be the real deal. He's working this heel persona remarkably well, despite the obvious similarities to JBL. He was allowed the benefit of a fantastic victory over Rey Mysterio, and all of a sudden we have another legitimate heel to consider on Smackdown. He's got the physical talent to make himself a star, and he (thankfully) knows how to cut a promo when he needs to. I'm fine with him working a feud against Rey Mysterio for a while, but I'm seriously anxious to see where he can take himself. It's rare that a new face to the WWE makes a successful debut, so I'm really rolling with Del Rio's momentum.

Zach Brown: This guy is a star, plain and simple. He has only been on Smackdown for a few weeks, and everyone is talking about him. He debuted against Rey Mysterio, won decisively, and has been cutting great promos left and right. His recent promo against Christian was entertaining. I'm glad someone finally said that Alberto was like JBL. With the car entrance and the way he dresses, it was a hard thing to ignore. I wish Alberto would say that he is the complete opposite of Eddie Guerrero in that he does the exact opposite of "Lie, Cheat, and Steal." He could say that he's honest, is a sportsman, earned his money, etc. That would make Rey's blood boil. And I'm so glad that someone is using an armbar as their finisher. I've always been surprised that hardly anyone has used it in WWE because it is such a sick move. The one minor complaint I have is the Spanish announcer. That's a little over the top for me. But overall, Alberto has been very impressive thus far, and I can't wait to see him wrestle on Pay Per View.

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