Your News, My Views 5.02.06
Posted by Scott Rutherford on 05.02.2006
No, I'm not Larry Csonka but I do know him personally.
No, I'm not Larry Csonka but I do know him personally.
You know weird shit is about. Larry Csonka, the rock, the mainstay, the third testicle of 411 Wrestling actually needs a fill-in. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the request and I seriously thought funny cool-aide never worked so well! You have to realize the enormity of this, Larry NEVER needs a fill-in. This guy is the one-man column machine of any of the wrestling sites out there and to see him throw his hands up and admit he needed a break was sort of like seeing your parents fill your stocking at Xmas time and claim it was Santa. Today some of the magic has died.
In all seriousness Larry filled in for me like three million times during my tenure doing wrestling news reports so I think it only fair I fill in once before the world ends. However Larry himself wants to tell you why he isn't here today so I'll hand it over to him. BTW, I have no idea what he's going to say because he's adding this after I submit the report.
Hello kids,
Well yeah, I needed a break. The short of it is that I am in Charlotte and decided to take my daughter to the amusement park. Sure I COULD have banged out the column, but my wife is always telling me that since I have done so many fill ins that I have earned a week off. So I took it and spent the day with the kid, my brother in law and some others. Good day over all, my daughter was so happy. See I needed this day, because last Saturday I asked my daughter if she wanted to go outside to play. She looked at me and said, "No thanks daddy, I busy I have so much work to do." Well, that's what I find myself saying to here more times than not, so I had that one coming.
Also before I go I figure I should address the little situation with the Heat recappers. Listen you little fuckwards, you wonder why you get no emails right? Because 90% of the readers click off during you little cock fight over the lame B show. If you want to do this get a Myspace and hang out with the other EMO fags. And I fucking swear you better not ever step up to me in your little fucking recap again. You're right, you do NOT want to see what would happen if I left this place. As for not knowing what it's like, I started here doing the weekly TNA PPV's and Impact when like 47 people watched. I FUCKING EARNED my shit here and worked hard to get where I am today. So a kind word of advice, shut your cocksuckers and do your damn work.
PS: I love you my readers, treat Scott well.
Thanks Larry.
For those who don't know me I'm Scott Rutherford formally the Thursday news guy here in wrestling when I'm not being editor of the Movie Zone…the second most read zone of 411. Sure that's like coming second in the Special Olympics but some of us really like acting retarded. Pick which one I am…I also want to say I have no RAW recap since cable provider decided to pull it today but JD and Derek have all the goods on the show.
News
Your News Kurt Angle has suffered a cracked rib. As a result of the injury, the Wrestling Machine will now be out of action for an undetermined amount of time.
The injury originally occurred on the recent European tour when Mark Henry delivered the World's Strongest Slam to Angle during a match in New Castle. "At that point, I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to compete against Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship," Angle later admitted to WWE.com. But being the intense competitor that he is, Angle kept his injury to himself and fought valiantly for the title he feels he rightfully deserves.
Unfortunately for Angle, the final straw came when Henry, perhaps realizing he injured Angle earlier in New Castle, dismantled the Wrestling Machine on SmackDown with a near 400-pound splash through a ringside table.
Just as he did to former World Heavyweight Champion Batista, Henry injured Angle to the point where he will now be out of action indefinitely, meaning he must forfeit his spot in the King of the Ring tournament. As a result, Booker T advances to the final round
From WWE.COM
My View
The funniest thing about this whole mess is the absolute hatred that is being poured onto Mizark Henry. Seriously you think he took a 6 year old white girl out the back of the dressing room and when JBL on her. For starters we all know Kurt is one tough bastard and would often work hurt and when you couple that up with the fact he is so hopelessly injury prone that mix is never going to come out well at all. Add to that that people are in a lather of Henry injuring Dave Batista and the bile is spilling everywhere.
There's just one problem with that…Mark Henry didn't hurt Batista. In what is a staggering piece of selective memory Dave was working months prior to going on the shelf injured and would have done so sooner but for the death of Eddie and the injuries to Ken Kennedy amongst others. The WWE used a smart big of booking to get Mark Henry heat and made an ANGLE of the injury. If you believed what other people are saying Henry is going all out injuring the Smackdown main event.
I hate to break it to you people but wrestlers get injured all the time and in the past couple of years Kurt and Dave have been injured often. Angle is one bad fall away from a wheelchair and Dave seems to tear muscles like I drink beer. Henry has been in the ring for over a decade now and if he truly was so bad at protecting his fellow wrestlers he would have went the way of Ahmed Johnson years ago. If someone can dig up a legit news story on Mark Henry injuring someone in the ring before this current run I would sure like to hear about it.
Just to further prove my point, Owen Hart has broke Steve Austin's someone's neck, Kurt Angle broke Bob Holly's arm, Monty Brown paralyzed Darren Drozdov, Dynamite Kid broke Mick Foley's jaw, Chris Benoit broke Sabu's neck…starting to notice a pattern here? All renowned as some of the best workers ever have injured people. Wrestling is a tough business and I would be more worried about Kurt having trouble staying fit that Mark Henry.
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Your News There are conflicting reports regarding who will face Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand. As mentioned yesterday, Torch is reporting that JBL will likely beat Rey Mysterio for the World Title at Judgment Day and then face RVD at One Night Stand. Dave Meltzer, however, continues to report that the winner of the John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Edge match at Backlash tomorrow will face RVD at One Night Stand.
Seriously anyone from JBL, Cena, HHH or Rey would fit well on this PPV provided RVD is slated top actually win. I will shake each person down…
John Cena - Current whipping boy and without doubt the biggest heel in the business even though he is acting like a face. The ECW fans would almost tear this guy apart especially if Cena shows up in full gansta 2003 mode. The heat would be insane and he is more suited to the garbagey style brawl that a ECW match would necessitate. The typical ECW fan in no way even respect Cena and there would be no confusion on who the crowd would be behind. This match would have the craziest heat.
Triple H - Hunter is a different beast. The ECW crowd would view him as a heel but also respect his ability, his history and his political power. If Van Dam went over Trips it would have more meaning than Cena, sort of like Ric Flair going over Harley Race back in the day. When you also add the BS about HHH holding RVD down years ago blah, blah, it just makes for a very personal type of match-up.
Rey Mysterio - Would be a returning hero of sorts. Although he was booed at last years One Night Stand PPV I think that would change since he would be returning as the World Champ. The fans would have that "lifetime achievement award" mentality and be loving Rey, all 170lbs of him, as the champ. He would also be the perfect in-ring opponent for RVD because they have that similar spot-fest style and given free reign they will give the ECW fans a true ECW match.
JBL - Oh my. I take back what I said about Cena and give it a double shot in regard to JBL. Whether by coincidence or design after last years PPV I'm sure the Philly fans would more than welcome a chance to chant on a Bradshaw match for 20 minutes and I'm more than positive JBL would give them something to chant about. Where as Cena would just not be liked for no real reason the ECW have more than enough reasons to hate on John-boy. This would be a match full of insane heat and more to spare,
How do I break it down…While Cena and HHH have there appeal I think a wise course of action would be to move RVD to Smackdown since they are light on in the main event. Smackdown also has the sort of workers that Robs style gels with better. So out of Rey and JBL you have spotfest vs. heat-a-thon. To be fair to RVD (if he is to win the title) have a straight heel to work with is probably more desirable and no one in the WWE has more heat with the ECW fans than JBL. Plus you can have the Blue Meanie do a run-in and cost him the title…ooo continuity!
++++
You News TNA Impact did just a 0.8 rating on Thursday night, following a 1.6 for The Ultimate Fighter before it.
Credit: WrestlingObserver.com
A correction on the TNA Impact rating. The show ended up doing a 1.0 rating. The .8 being reported over the weekend was a preliminary number.
TNA Hardcore War is almost sold out already. Tickets for the show went on sale Saturday and thus far the $125 seats and the $35 seats have sold out.
Credit: PWInsider.com
My View
I think people are reading too much into this Impact rating. There fan base still is comprised of smarks and the more hard core wrestling crowd. They don't have that huge recognized wrestling superstar (sorry guys, The Dudleys and Christian don't have that status) and really must build up their national audience from the ground up. They need to stay the course and do what they're doing, putting on great matches week in and week out. There product is different from the norm and for it to succeed patience is needed. Compare them to ECW and they really are no different to where they were at the same time. ECW played to smaller buildings and limited buyrates and never really grew beyond that because their quality suffered greatly in their declining years.
I've only seen snippets of TNA and they look to have the platform to really make a difference. Spike TV needs to promote them HEAVILY and promote them as the anti-WWE, as the true competition and the next big thing. Hire first rate TV and production crews so their presentation doesn't look cheap (a huge failing of ECW) but also have be distinct. Try to book TV tapings in bigger arenas so it looks like people care and they must always act like the #1 promotion in the land. It's amazing how many people get fooled by the appearance of success as opposed by actual success.
It's funny when you think of the revised rating of 1.0. That's over half of what WCW was doing towards the end. Without any of the big name stars and the promotional arm of Time/Warner, TNA is well on it's way to matching WCW which is fleshed out by the news of the Hardcore War ticket sales. People are into this product.
++++
Your News Greg Gagne will begin work tonight at Backlash as a new WWE agent.
Credit: WrestlingObserver.com
My Views
Has anyone mentioned how fucked up0 the world is lately? Hands up ANYONE who though Greg Gagne was going to score any sort of gig with the WWE? I'm sure there is some reason for this but reason sort of escapes me at this moment. The WWE has always been careful as to who they use as agents…Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, Fit Finlay, Dean Malenko, Tony Garea, Ted DiBiase, Dave Hebner….these guys carry heavy respect when they walk into a room in wrestling circles. People listen to what they have to say and usually get heard. Greg is the son of a much maligned promoter, has negligible talent and next to no status when it comes to wrestling history. Maybe this will be a case of "those who can't, coach". I personally think that he won't last the year.
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Your News Brock Lesnar was at the K-1 show in Las Vegas last night and announced that he will compete in MMA. He was introduced by ring announcer Michael Buffer and got in the ring and spoke. He met with Akira Maeda, one of the producers of the Hero's promotion in Japan, and will be involved with them. Hero's is owned by K-1.
Credit: WrestlingObserver.com
My Views
If I was a betting man I would have put money down that Brock was going to be "God" in the handicap match. After settling the lawsuit I thought it was almost a lock…how wrong I was. As for Brock in MMA, I'm not entirely sold. He may have come off all badass in a wrestling ring but this is a little different since everyone is pretty much a badass. It's one thing to fail at football, no one expected him to excel in that sport but there will be expectation on him in this area. Having an amateur background is all good and fine but that sort of offence has to be played in close and to the ground where as some of these guys and get you from an arms length away. I do think he has the potential to do well but he will need to bring something else to his style to make it happen.
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You News WWE, via their mobile news service, has confirmed that Jim Ross will announce the Backlash PPV tonight in place of Joey Styles. As reported earlier, WWE is strongly considering putting Ross back on RAW as the regular RAW announcer.
Joey Styles could be moved to the lead announcer spot for the returning ECW brand.
My Views
We knew it was coming. I have never been a big Joey Styles fan and liken his announcing skills to those of you typical ECW wrestlers skill. They work well in that "extreme" context but for angles and storytelling purposes he flounders. I will note the handicap of having Coach and Jerry Lawler as your co-commentators doesn't help. Tazz and Joey would be a great combo or even Al Snow and Joey. A guy that can play off the straight man.
Backlash - The Positive & The Negative
This is something I would do in my column after RAW and PPV's and I think it would be nice to pull out here. Basically I look at each match and call what I think was good and bad about each one. This isn't a recap and it mostly comes down to what I like not so much what is universally liked.
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Carlito Def. Chris Masters The Positive - The right man went over. Carlito has a bright future in this business and for him to lose here would have been bad. Masters is perfect as a new age Kane…someone that is kept strong just under the main event but never beats the right people and Carlito is "right people". Also keeping Carlito exactly the same character-wise is a huge step in the right direction. John Cena is like he is today because they fucked with the character that got over. While it wasn't a great match it was a well worked match playing to each mans strength that hit all the right beats. I will also note the Master got a "sucks" chant thus showing he's getting over the right way as well. Special bonus points for Carlito selling the neck all the way through the match…unless he was legit hurt.
The Negative - At some point they have to let Carlito dominate in a match or he'll start to fall into the "plucky babyface" way of thinking and never realistically be seen as a legit main eventer. A strong offensive segment to this match for him would have been welcomed.
++++
Maria's Interview - Lita The Positive - Her cleavage. Not very forward thinking but man…it works for me. Lita snapping her bra strap was a class touch. Lita did her part, kept it short and got her point across.
The Negative - Not enough Maria cleavage.
++++
Umaga Def. Ric Flair The Positive - Like the first match the right man went over and what's even better was he went over hard. Wins over Flair still mean something and a quick and decisive win is even better. Having Flairs only dominance come from cheating helps as well since it give that aura of "I can't beat him in a normal match".
The Negative - I would have liked to have seen a really big beat down on Flair. If you're going to have him basically squashed at least make it an epic squash…blood, lots of blood. Match was much too short although some would say that's a good thing. Let's hope there isn't a job-for-job thing in the works.
++++
The Vince McMahon Interview The Positive - I laughed. Granted I have a pretty low brow sense of humor and I'm not religious so that helps. The biggest things was Jerry Lawler's post interview comment when he said Vince could forgive his own sins and completely throwing off JR. Always a plus.
The Negative - Pissing off most of the population of the world. Not always a good thing.
++++
Mickie James Def Trish The Positive - Third match in a row where the right person went over. I liked the mind games aspect of this match and how everything that happened in this match related back to the last month and their match at WM. Trish also proved once again just how tough a woman she is wrestling a match in what looked to be serious pain. Kudos to James for working through it as well since the match went out the window rather quickly.
The Negative - A DQ win? This probably wasn't the real ending and was changed when Trish dislocated her shoulder legit. I could have lived with it if Mickie really snapped and when oriental chicken with a chair or something similar. But again the match probably didn't go properly to plan.
++++
Maria Interview - Shawn Michaels The Positives - The DX foreshadowing. When it happens it's going to go over huge.
The Negative - Nothing.
++++
Rob Van Dam Def. Shelton Benjamin The Positive - The right guy went over. Since they're building up Van Dam for the ECW PPV they need a big win here to help sell it and win he did. I think being the Money In The Bank winner is now almost like what winning King of the Ring was, a stepping stone up the card. I liked the balance between the flashy spots and wrestling and considering the athleticism of both these guys it could have turned into spot-rest-spot but they paced themselves nicely. Slow to start while the crowd is hot, build up as the match progresses and then have a hot ending. The formula is simple but hardly used these days. I want to give huge props to the Rolling Thunder counter into a Samoan Drop, the best counter I have seen since Eddie Guerrero countered the Rock Bottom into an arm drag.
The Negative - The wrong guy went over. I know that contradicts what I said above but in the grand scheme of thing neither man should have lost. Shelton is just starting to hit his straps as a heel and a big win here would have served his character perfectly. It's only a small gripe in an otherwise fine match.
++++
Kane vs. The Big Show The Positives - TBS and his pre-match interview. Simple and to the point and the eye for an eye metaphor worked well. I have to say the premise of "May 19th" as the Kane trigger is a great bit of booking. It makes little sense but if you don't know that a movie is coming out on that day you're a complete idiot. Although I hated the finish Kane wigging out was pretty cool. If that was part of his character without all the May 19th bullshit I would dig it.
The Negatives - Typical big man match and that non-finish was lame. I would have rather is be a quick, high impact, 2-minute match with that finish and then they could have put a tag match on or found something to do with Charlie Hass and Matt Striker with the extra time. Certainly the crowd was pretty bored with what they were seeing.
++++
Vince McMahon Promo the Positive - Candice Michelle. Cheesy acting and all. You could see JR's barely veiled disgust at the whole thing.
The Negative - It didn't go on any longer.
++++
Vince & Shane McMahon Def. Shawn Michaels & God The Positives - Shawn is PPV. Bad back and all he can still go like a motherfucker on speed. Say what you will about Shawn the man but Shawn the worker is almost without peer and don't anyone give me crap about A.J Styles and Samoa Joe. I seriously doubt they could have made this match as interesting as what Shawn could. I will always champion a great worker over a great wrestlers because the worker knows what's needed to get the crowd into what they are watching. This was a prime example. Before I bash Vince next I do want to say for a guy that has had all of 10-15 matches in his life he knows his way around the ring. He cued HBK perfectly to duck the chair shot and it looked great as a result. Watch it on the reply to see what I mean. JR said bullshit.
The Negative - A spectacular show of one mans ego. I'm all for humor and since I have no religious leanings I have no chance of being offend by what Vince did but seriously, it just got to much. This was designed to offend as many people as possible and I think he succeeded. During the 411 Live Coverage I could tell Larry was having trouble doing the recap. Larry is a deeply religious guy but not someone that wears it on his sleeve and he actually doesn't mind the odd joke about his faith. To actually get him to the point of open disgust is a fine achievement….rant ended.
The match itself was okay but overbooking killed it and it was WAYYYYYY to long. 20 minutes this went for and they could have easily has trimmed it down to an easy 12 minutes and still get all the important spots in. Less can sometimes be more.
++++
John Cena Promo The Positive - Cena is finally playing the nuance of the crowd reaction. He doesn't contemplate his plight but is adding a subtle dickhead element to his persona. I hope they keep the title on him for a while because if this keeps going they guy that beats him will blow the roof off the place.
The Negative - Nothing.
++++
Matt Striker/Eugene Promo The Positive - Not ONE single thing. Striker has a future in the ring, Eugene doesn't. Making Striker appear like a fool is so counter productive it boggles the mind. The only upside to this is if Striker tears Eugene apart on RAW.
The Negative - Don't get me started but JR told it all. He may be past it as an announcer but he still is unmatched at showing very real disgust at what shit he has to shovel.
++++
John Cena Def. Triple H & Edge The Positives - In the search for the next great heel the WWE have create done by accident. John Cena doesn't need to go the cheat heat route to get booed and that is a true heel. People are really beginning to hate him and they would be fools to have him drop the title when things are starting to really click with him. Having him go over was the right thing to do because a true heel champ is better than a face champ. Couple that with the fact HHH is really started to gel as a face and you have a great chance to have him chase the title to SummerSlam and make it a huge win.
As for the match itself, a pretty good three-way for sure. These are a bitch to book and they managed to get it right for most of it. From Edge stepping out at the start to Cena scrapping a win at the end it all worked. In fact I would go as far to say I thought Cena was the best working the match and I really don't think it's a coincidence that his ring work has improved as quickly as it has since he started wrestling HHH and Edge consistently for the past 5 months. He is also getting his character in order by doing the things that are pissing people off. He fucked up his run as a face by trying to act like a face but in doing so has become a huge heel. Lesson…keep up the babyface act.
The little asides to this match were great. I really liked it when Cena and HHH tried to one up each other by showing who could lay the bigger shot on Edge. The sly look of respect by Cena at the end was fantastic. The attempted double FU, the HHH blade job, HHH doing a great spinebuster on Lita and forgoing a chairshot to get his sledgehammer all added spice at the right times and kept the crowd well and truly into it. The post match beat down with crotch chops was brilliant.
A bit more off the beaten path, if the WWE don't make the pimp clip of a lifetime of HHH covered in blood trying standing with the chair over his head then shit isn't right.
The Negative - Nothing really sticks out other than Edge coming off like the weakest of the three but only just. But really, other than that anything that annoyed me about this match was negated by the good they did. I really hope they can follow this up well on RAW.
Final Thoughts
- This wasn't the strongest PPV ever but overall it wasn't that bad. The RVD/Shelton match was good stuff and the main event was about a ****er in my eyes, Carlito/Masters and Umaga/Flair all did what they were suppose to do even though the matches weren't spectacular while Mickie/Trish had the legs taking out from under it thanks to Trish's shoulder. Solid would be a good way to describe it. If they follow up all the good points on RAW it will help solidify the PPV as being something decent.
Smackdown! Notes
SD! Is currently under going another drastic shift in personal and the main event scene is in disarray. I'm not going to pretend I have any sort of magic cure for the ills of the bastard stepchild of the WWE but I do have some thoughts…
Rey Mysterio - I like Rey as a champ although I would change the "I'm just happy to be here" shtick and have him be more arrogant and say he deserves it after putting over less talented slugs for most of his career. In his current state he is just screaming placeholder champion but he could be used so much better. You don't need to keep him champ for an extended period but three months of him getting all the jobs back he's given in his WWE career would give his reign more distinction.
Kurt Angle - Another year another neck/back injury. I know it says allot about his personal character that he works through his injuries and all the shit but a year out of wrestling would do him the world of good because at this rate he's heading into retirement in a few years. If he takes serious time off now he could prolong his career by another five years.
JBL - I've always enjoyed JBL right from the start of the characters inception and he's even better these days. He works so well because you really believe him and his heat is legit not cheap. He is a true heel in a time when they are so hard to come by and all the WWE needs to do is put the World Title back on him, line up the babyfaces and do what they did in 2004 expect this time, have him win clean.
Dave Batista - Dave really didn't set the world on fire during his first title reign. Sure it was split over two brands and outside HHH he really didn't have a strong opponent but true superstars make so with what they have which is why Ric Flair is always praised so highly, he could make anything and anyone entertaining. If you give JBL the title to run with for the next ten months and really build Dave up in that time you will get a great main event for WM.
Randy Orton - Currently serving out a suspension Randy is the most improved working the WWE over the past year and now is living up the hype. He is the guy to carry Smackdown and only needs to keep his nose clean to do this.
The Undertaker - Has really been on a roll since the end of last year. Do I see him having another short title run? Yeah and especially if he jobs the title to a hot new main eventer clean I would encourage it. Guys like Taker will always have a place because they are over and people can get the rub from him if he is willing to give it.
Bobby Lashley - Is being groomed as the next Brock Lesnar. I remember his debut late last year and was mightily impressed with his in ring potential and nothing has changed. I really like the go-slow push he's on which is more reminiscent of Batista's big push. It seems the WWE learned their lesson from the mistake of cramming Orton and Lesnar down our throats too quickly.
Matt Hardy - You never say never in wrestling but you get he feeling matt has probably had his day unless he REALLY breaks out into the mainstream. He really had something going with the V.1 stuff and his push suddenly ended at the hands of frickin' Zach Gowen. The second time round he was MEGAHOT due to the whole Matt/Edge/Lita stuff but suffered due to politics. If the WWE brains trust pull their finger out they would notice that they have a very over wrestler than can make others look good. He has US Champ written all over him.
Ken Kennedy - The wildcard. Ken was making all the right noises until his injury last year. My only query on him is that his ring entrance gets great heat but his matches are pretty non descript. That's not to say he isn't a good worker but he suffers in the same way of Val Venis, he just doesn't have a distinct style. He needs to add about a half dozen moves that people with recognize as his. I had the same issues with Carlito about a year ago but he has expanded his repertoire (including that wicked vertabreaker move) and now he can get people to pop when he needs to.
Chris Benoit - Almost a forgotten man but still the go-to guy when you need someone to look good in the ring. I think he is more popular now than during his title run and he still has something to offer the main event scene. He would be an ideal guy to transfer a title through if you didn't want certain main eventers to job to each other.
Booker T - You always hear talk about him retiring but I hope he wants to stick around for a while yet. He's never been more interesting or fun and this heel run is infinitely better than his "I don't want to be on SD!" run two years ago. Sharmel has been a huge revelation and if she so desires a long career as a valet. She's a true heat getter in the good way.
The Boogeyman - Got over because he was something different and has real main event potential if they book him right.
Fit Finlay - Still not sure why Finlay came out of retirement but I ain't complaining but keep him away from the main event unless he's being used as jobber fodder. He has a place and a role to play.
William Regal - See Finlay. These two should really forma tag team and Smackdown can start building a new tag division around them.
The Miz - If his ability is half as good as his mouth this guy has huge potential. I have really enjoyed his vignettes over the weeks and I wait to see if they make him a face or heel because I believe he could excel at both. I will also flag he will get over with his promos rather than in ring skill so the WWE should play it careful that they don't repeat the early mistakes of John Cena.
Paul Burchill - I think this guy has talent but the pirate gimmick will get old quick. Let's hope they find a way to move him beyond it and into a more normal character that still retains the heat he's enjoying.
The Tag Division - So we have MNM, Kendrick and London and Gymini as your tag division…lame. The thing is they are so close to having a tag division it maddening. Ad hoc teams are fun occasionally but the actual work into making tandem seem like a tandem doesn't take that much. Kendrick and London work because they do those cool double team moves and act like asylum inmates on acid and suddenly they gel with the fans. You can't throw people together and just expect it to work unless the reason they team is relatively valid.
Just for a big of fun lets say you film Scotty II Hotty walking up to Val Venis at a mixed brand PPV and talking to him about the business leaving them behind and all the young guys taking there place. They suggest they team together and you move Val over to Smackdown and you follow them fighting to make it back slowly but surely picking up wins. Flash forward nearly a year you can have them make a big run at the current tag team champs and the fans will care because they are invested in the team.
Another thing, why not bring Rene Dupree back and reform Le Resistance. Or better yet bring back Kenzo Suzuki and have him team with Dupree again because those two were gold together and the fans enjoyed hating them. All of a sudden you have a strong tag team scene and people care about every team involved.
Overall - I think Smackdown is allot stronger than people think. They have some serious main eventers in Rey, Kurt, UT, Batista, Orton, JBL and a bulging second tier of Lashley, Hardy, Booker, Benoit, Birchill, Kennedy and Boogeyman. You get people into the Cruisers again and revive the tag team scene you have a thoroughly enjoyable show.
Blast From The Past
I wrote this in one of my last columns in the wrestling zone and I consider it one of the better things I did. It's a bit of fantasy booking that goes way outside the box of what is currently happening in pro wrestling and tries to figure out a way to get the best parts of the old school territory days and inject them into the modern landscape. Keep in mind this was done in early January of last year so certain names have moved on or passed away and other have just disappeared. Enjoy...
My WWE
Now I know that I have no clue as to what really goes into making a wrestling federation, I am under no illusion of that. To me, the way I see it, the WWE has basically carte blanche to rebuild wrestling and revolutionize the way they make, develop and discover stars and I believe they aren't thinking outside the box with this. I have touched on this scenario before in a past column, but what I am going to do it expand on it more. Thanks to Csonka (why the fuck is he always in my columns?) for basically saying "write this shit up or I will give your column to someone else".
So here it goes………
Basically as it stands, the WWE have made RAW the flagship show for them. It has pretty much the best wrestlers and most crafted storylines. Smackdown runs a poor second. It is pretty much a four wrestler show and even with all the cruiserweights, they fail to put on many great matches. Their storylines are sub par and the general lack of effort is pretty apparent.
Now what I would do is not strengthen SD to match RAW, I would literally make the divide stronger. Move the last remaining decent wrestlers (Kurt, Cena, Rey Rey, Eddie, Big Show, Undertaker and probably JBL) to RAW and make Smackdown a true minor league and a haven for the cruisers so they don't have to be jobbed out to the heavyweights when they are short of jobbers.
With the basic intention of what I am getting at now been spelt out, what would I do with Smackdown robbed of its draws.
Smackdown
Like I said, SD is now a legit minor league fed. First thing to do is downsize production and the arena's they compete in. Think ECW or the original RAW set-up. A thousand people or so packed into a gritty arena with no pomp or glam. These guys are so close to The Show (RAW) they can taste it, but they still need to win over fans and the office alike with what they can do.
You have a mix of hotshots (Chavo), new blood (Puder), journeymen (Bob Holly) and former superstars (Booker T) all facing off. They don't have a world title but the US title to fight over and the cruisers fight over their title. There's no tag titles, but they do have tag team matches.
RAW wrestlers making their way back from injury must go through here before making it back to The Show. This ensures that the odd superstar still pops up. It gives the guys on SD a yard stick to measure themselves against. Imagine if HBK came back through a televised smaller show and had a few matches against Chavo, Billy Kidman and a newbie like Puder? To me those matches would be interesting to see and Shawn would be expected to win them.
A guy like Mohammad Hassan would have served well to do his gimmick on a SD like this and then move onto a bigger show with some sort of buzz on him, which has been missing from the WWE for a long time. I point to The Radicalz when the made and there initial appearance on RAW in 2000, because we knew who they were it was exciting. If you put A.J Styles, AMW and Abyss in the same position next week people would be "WTF?" because the general wrestling fan base doesn't know who they are. SD as a minor fed would solve this problem.
As I stated, the wrestlers themselves have the US title to aim for. Whoever wins this has the chance to go on up to RAW if they hold the title for more than 120 days unbroken. They get there chance to climb up when they wrestle someone from RAW who is on a losing streak. They winner makes it to The Show, the loser is SD bound.
Once you go to RAW you relinquish the US title and two top contenders (with one being the recently demoted RAW wrestler) face off in a best of three falls match to crown the new champ and then the cycle starts again. You have the potential to have storyline of a guy reigning for 119 days and losing, or never being able to make the final step to RAW etc, etc.
The cruiser title is just that. If a cruiser shows signs of connecting with fans then they can move up to the US title scene and see if they can hang with the bigger units. If not they have a pure untouched division to work in. This would make a lot of people VERY happy.
RAW
So RAW is now The Show, what do you do with it abundance of talent?
Well for starters guys like Maven, Hurricane, Rosie and their ilk are busted back to SD for retooling or what not. In return we pretty much have a top line (and over) set of wrestlers ready to work. Basically the whole show is the main event scene. Keep the IC title and if you win it, you automatically get a title shot.
Since the IC title means so little these days, you might as well make it a true stepping stone. Give the belt power, make the wearer of the belt a powerful man and then you bring interest back to belt on the person who has it.
Still keep the tag team division going with titles. In order to give these belts interest you set up a bonus that if you're the team with the belts that every time you defend the titles successfully you get a $50,000 cash bonus. That way you don't always have to go about establishing teams or creating feuds out of thin air because there is a built in reason for people to be after the champs.
You don't even have to have proper teams, storyline wise you can get two completely disparate people and have them talk about the money and wanting to get at it. So you could have JBL teaming with Simon Dean and not seem like a total farce.
As for the main event, it pretty much takes care of itself as long as you keep rotating the main attractions. With that much talent on one show and constant elevation from a fantastic smaller show full of great talent, it shouldn't be hard.
So what feeds these two shows?
The True Indy Promotions
As the WWE is pretty much doing as I type this, I would have affiliations with many Indy promotions through the US and even Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Canada. Like the NWA during its heyday (and a lesser extent now) it has a network of promotions full of fresh, young and eager talent waiting for their chance.
OVW is a great place to learn but very limiting in its own way. These guys work together again and again but almost all have the same problem, they are learning off each other and only know so much. If the WWE has 20 Indy feds on its books they can move around new talent so they can always be facing fresh faces and different types of workers.
This also makes a network of places the wrestlers have to travel between which is perfect training for them for later. It is almost like back in "the day" of constant travel and matches to help you learn your trade instead of 6-12 months in one spot before being called up and almost certain failure for each of them.
They can be in this system for a few years learning and earning a small income and if they get threw this, they get called up to Smackdown and begin life in front of a national audience.
Well that's my idea. It will never happen because to many people are in power wanting the established structure to stay around. Some ideas are maybe a little too radical but I do know one thing, the WWE is wasting an enormous chance to mould wrestling in their total image unhindered.
The Final Kiss Off
This is been fun. I got to talk about wrestling and it gave me an excuse to buy Backlash to have something to talk about. So wins all round. Larry, the Taker of Carolinian Virginity will be back next week.
Read Stephen "Mr. Monday" Randle from yesterday and tune in for Leonard "Understated Cool" Hayhurst tomorrow.
