Why I Love/Hate Wrestling 10.28.07: Cyber Sunday, Vince Russo Sucks, and More!

Posted by Jordan Linkous on 10.28.2007

Take a look at my Cyber Sunday opinions and predictions, as well as the fact that surprisingly I am looking forward to the Monster Mash Battle Royal. Plus I discuss TNA's wonderful booking.......NOT!

In a week of bad injuries, interesting matches, and horrible booking, I have lots to talk about. I don't know what else to say in this introduction, so let's just get to the good stuff!

Why I Love Wrestling

Cyber Sunday, Sunday, Sunday……
Aside from the possibility that this will suck due to the fact that the wrestlers don't know who they will be wrestling, I really love the concept of Cyber Sunday. Why, you ask? Simply put it gives the fans a way to feel important. It gives them a feeling like for once they can call the shots. And when the fans feel like they are more important in the outcome, hopefully more will tine in to see how the show pans out. And the card ain't half bad either. While I won't personally be seeing the show, I still think it has some stuff going for it. The Umaga/HHH match will be a good hardcore brawl. I am personally hoping for a street fight. Umaga's best match to date is the Last Man Standing match against John Cena and HHH has had numerous awesome street fights, such as matches against Cactus Jack and Shawn Michaels. I am hoping that Umaga will pick up the win as it would be a big notch in his belt and I think (hopefully, but doubtful) that the creative team sees enough in Umaga to give him the ‘W.' The Diva Halloween Contest is solely for T & A purposes. The match between MVP and Matt Hardy could be something given the fact that they are both great performers and have some chemistry. I wouldn't even mind the MMA match, just to see what they could do. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay has tons of potential and the added stipulation will add more allure and hopefully closure to a rivalry that has had a series of bad finishes. My bet is on a stretcher match, but any of the matches should be fun, to say the least. All I can say for the ECW Title match is I hope to God that the fans make the right decision. Punk and Morrison were having a hot feud with fairly decent matches until Morrison got suspended, so hopefully they pick up where they left off. If this match is given time it could be the best of the night, but my gut instinct tells me it won't get more than ten ought minutes, which is a true shame. I see that they aren't giving Batista different opponents, which in my opinion is a good thing, for several reasons. The first is the fact that it might be overkill. There are already two ‘Pick the Opponent" style matches and I think three would be too much. Another issue is the fact that Batista can't have good matches just with anybody. He has proven that he can have awesome matches with Undertaker and I think it is a good idea to stick to what works. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But for such a big match I think they need a better stipulation than "Pick the Referee" because that is just lame and really doesn't factor too much into the outcome of the match. The real story is the question of who will face Randy Orton. I am personally pulling for Jeff Hardy. He has been a fan favorite since he returned a while back and has been really been pulling out some good matches. He is incredibly over and I think he deserves it. While HBK is also over, I seriously think that Jeff will pull ahead and pull out a good match. And if, by some odd twist of fate, Jeff wins, I will be ecstatic. Jeff deserves this win and with the craziness of some of the bookers, I think there is a slim chance this may occur. I hope that either way, if HBK or Hardy wins, they have the two runners up face off in a singles match. If HBK wins, Hardy and Kennedy can have the rematch to the awesome match they had a couple of weeks ago. And if Hardy wins, we could have the set up to the inevitable feud between HBK and Kennedy that is on the horizon. Either way, everybody wins. So while some of these matches could suffer from lack of knowledge of opponents, others have tons of potential.

Monster Mash Battle Royal
Man I feel so hypocritical because I detest Mark Henry, Big Daddy V, Khali, and to a lesser extent Kane, but this match makes me want to watch ECW next week. A couple weeks ago I thought we were done with Mark Henry after being squashed by Undertaker, but apparently he is still around. The reason this match has allure is the fact of who is involved. Remember how the fans actually popped during a Battle Royal a couple of weeks ago when Mark Henry and Viscera had a stare down? I think now they are trying to capitalize on that magic and see what this mammoth fatal fourway can produce. I am assuming that ECW has enough sense to know that this match can't really be good unless it is a hardcore match. If they do take the hardcore brawl I would like the match a lot more than if it was a regular match, and it is probably the only the only way the match will be good.. That being said, if it was a regular match, I would be greatly disappointed and would probably not watch it. Another good thing is this lumps all the big slugs into one match where the only way wrestlers they can bog down are other slugs, rather than wrestler with great wrestling ability. Essentially they are just putting all the turds in one pile, which is fine with me. So while this will not have the best talent involved, nor will it be the best match ever, it has the potential to be a decent hardcore brawl and has enough draw to get me to tune in. The big word there is potential, though.

The ECW/Smackdown Merger
While this may seem bad and it signals the fact that WWE doesn't have much hope in ECW, it is actually a blessing in disguise. In terms of ratings, Smackdown has ECW definitely beat. But if ECW can get their product out there on Smackdown by showcasing guys like Morrison, hopefully it will persuade some fans to check out ECW. And they did a nice job hyping up the Monster Mash as well. And while this will get more wrestlers exposure on Smackdown, it works the other way too. ECW has a slim roster right now and with the merger we could see some new matches and rivalries. Things like CM Punk vs. Finlay make me feel all warm and bubbly inside, and the prospect of some guys like Elijah Burke and John Morrison getting airtime and interesting feuds is nothing but good. I could see Burke vs. Hardy, as well as a handful of others such as Morrison vs. Edge. While some may not that be new, they could have some new life breathed into them like Matt Hardy vs. Johnny Nitro. And hopefully the cruiserweights could find a way onto ECW and get some honest to goodness match time, just like where it all started in US wrestling. In the beginning, this seemed to be bad for ECW, but in perspective it could lead to higher ratings for ECW, new rivalries, and all around good wrestling.

Why I Hate Wrestling

I Hate Russo!
Remember a couple of weeks ago when I criticized McMahon for constantly putting himself on TV? I would rather see him taking up a portion of time on my TV than have to sit through a show run by Vince Russo. His is still stuck in the nineties and he thinks that the fans are there, too. Let me give you an example. The Murder City Machine Guns, the greatest tag team in the world, are having a match against one another. They are sparring and starting to feel one another out when who bum rushes the ring but 3-D. The fans were totally into it and were pissed off by the fact that the match was cut off. This has occurred multiple times in recent history. First they had MCMG (the greatest tag team in the world) look like utter and complete jobbers. They were made to look like total jobbers when they lost to The Lame Gang, and now, once again, they are made the fool by 3-D. I am sick of seeing this talent go to waste and remain unexposed. The sad part is the fact that they probably won't ever get to show the world how amazing they are. And if they were to somehow escape their TNA contracts, they would be treated like a second rate London and Kendrick in WWE. The only place they can actually be themselves and prove their true wrestling ability is in the Indies. But if they go back to the Indies, they won't get to be very popular but I would rather have them go unnoticed by the general public and kick ass for all the Indy fans. But no, they remain on TNA and continue to look like complete jackasses and job out to a bunch of has-beens. So now onto the next part. At Bound for Glory, Sting and Kurt Angle put on a good match against one another that only had a little bit of shenanigans. They had a rematch on Impact this past week that was filled with tons more wacky shenanigans, but, as always, that is to be expected with the given booking team. But that isn't even the worst part. Mere weeks after Sting regained the TNA Championship, he lost it back to Angle. I understand the concept of a transitional champion, but he didn't even pass it on to someone else! What is the point? It was unnecessary and pointless, and accomplished literally nothing. Honestly, what the hell? Do Vince Russo and the rest of the booking team have their heads so far up their asses they can't realize how stupid this makes Sting, and the company as a whole, look? So now we had to Genesis, where it will be Nash and Angle vs. Sting and a mystery partner, and the winner of the fall gets the title. This concept keeps popping up in TNA, most recently in the Match of Champions, The Lockdown Main Event, and the Buckets of Blood Doomsday Extravaganza Match. Why do they continually make tag matches number one contender or title matches? There is just no logic there. Why in the hell would you make it a tag match? Just make it a Fatal Fourway or a Battle Royal. But no, they have to make it so incredibly stupid that the concept has now become synonymous with TNA. And then we come to mystery partner. Who will it be this time? Booker T? Rob Van Dam? Ric Flair? History shows that mystery partners tend to be rejects from other promotions and I think this is no exception. It will probably wind up being either Jeff Jarrett, PACMAN JONES (knowing how stupid TNA is), or one of the various past their prime superstars on TNA's roster. Of course, there is a chance that it will be Samoa Joe, which is the only person that could really make the match good. And I just realized this, but what the hell is Kevin Nash doing in the title match, let alone wrestling in general? They should have just kept him doing promos and skits and kept him away from the six sided ring as a whole, but now he is in the main event! But there is a silver lining. Rumor has it that several people backstage, including Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe, don't like the way things are being run. They are calling for less shenanigans and more clean finishes, which is always good. I don't know if I already commended Kurt Angle for this before, but I was pretty stoked when the single's title matches went without any tomfoolery and had clean finishes. Bravo, Kurt, bravo. Now if they can finally overthrow the creative team, I will be a happy camper. But until then, screw you Russo.

Now if that isn't a rant, I don't know what is.

So this week has WWE looking pretty good and TNA looking like a big heaping pile of crap. By the way, my predictions for Cyber Sunday are as follows: Umaga, Torrie Wilson, Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio, Batista, Jeff Hardy, and CM Punk. There are a couple odd picks in there but that is what makes this interest. Guitar Hero 3 comes out today in the US, so be sure to pick that up. That is what I will be doing all of today. Be sure to check out the other great columns on the website and enjoy. Stay classy, 411Mania readers.