The MeeThinks Friday FreeTHANKS: 11.23.07
Posted by John Meehan on 11.23.2007
Leftovers, Video, and PLENTY of 'Rasslin News to be Thankful For!
Hiya folks.
Well, Small was *right* in pointing out that I would be one of the (select?) few 411 columnists who'd be hangover-free for Black Friday. So happy day after Thanksgiving, bitches -- and welcome to a "leftovers" (read: short, with tons of video) edition of the MeeThinks Friday FreeThinks!
In case you missed it (I have absolutely no idea how, but...):
Let's face it -- the biggest 'rasslin news of the week went down on Monday night, and chances are pretty freakin' good that if you're taking the time to read about wrestling news on los intrawebz, you've probably seen the "Happenstance" in question.
(See what I did there, Fozzy fans?)
Anyhow --
Jericho's return to the red brand gives RAW a much-needed shot in the arm (of something *other* than "performance enhancing supplements") as the 'E rolls through the late fall and into the final weeks of the calendar year. With Lashley on the shelf for at least the next few weeks, and Cena out for at least another six months -- the re-addition of Y2J has really helped mix up the main event picture on WWE's flagship show. In the meantime, the injection of Jericho to the top of the card has freed up a number of other superstars to keep themselves busy elsewhere (in places where they can be of even better use).
1) Kennedy has paired off with Shawn Michaels, which should be a *GREAT* opportunity for the notoriously hit-or-miss loudmouth upstart to have a chance to develop his in-ring abilities with one of the all-time-greats.
2) Triple H seems to have buddied up next to Jeff Hardy, who has seemingly been -->this close<-- to superstardom for the better part of a decade. With The Game by his side, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the (former?) Rainbow-Haired Warrior won't see his star shine even brighter that ever before. Well, barring Wellness infractions, of course...
3) Umaga, once again, has walked out of a major PPV feud a LOSER (I dunno if that poor sap has actually won a one-on-one PPV showdown all year!), but the fact that Hunter now has Jeff Hardy by his side has really done a great deal to keep The Samoan Bulldozer looking strong with a new victim in his sights. True, he's already held the IC strap in the past... but his programs against *both* Jeff Hardy AND Triple H have been tremendously entertaining, and so I have absolutely zero problems with seeing the savage formerly known as "Jamal" tearing things up in the upper-midcard of the red brand until the inevitable showdown with Jericho (or swap to Smackdown... whichever comes first).
All in all?
Great to see Jericho back, and his return simply could not have come at a better time. Looking forward to the winter months of programming from WWE's flagship show!
In case you missed/were too cheap to order this one...
(Here's hoping the video isn't yanked too quickly)!
Huge news for WWE's "B-Show," as The Rated R Superstar made his big return to the blue brand last weekend, and has totally shaken up the main event picture along the way.
Earlier this year, Edge was sidelined by a freak injury during a sweet mini-feud against The Big Red Machine, Kane. This past weekend, The Rated R Superstar returned to WWE with a bang, taking out his frustrations on Kane's (storyline) older brother, The Undertaker. Now that Edge is back in the picture (and a burgeoning brawl with The Dead Man seems on the immediate horizon), WWE's Friday night broadcast seems just as exciting as the company's Monday night flagship, thanks in no small part to "The Most Watched WWE Champion in the Past Decade."
Face it --
When Edge went out, he was easily as popular and polarizing a superstar as he'd EVER been. With a few months away, fans have been treated to a slew of Batista/Undertaker showdowns -- which, while thoroughly awesome, had pretty much run their course.
Now that Edge is back, however?
1) The Dead Man has himself a perfectly credible (and FRESH!) challenge, which -- if booked correctly -- could even maintain momentum through The Big Dance next March. Many a fan has been chomping at the bit to see Edge go head-to-head with The Phenom at WrestleMania, and even though The Rated R Superstar's "unbeaten" WrestleMania streak is no longer an issue (and even if the feud sees a payoff well before March 30) -- this program could be HUGE in cementing Edge as a certifiable main-eventer for years to come.
2) This frees up Batista to find himself a new challenger. For weeks, WWE has been teasing an in-ring return of John Bradshaw Layfield, and even though these two stars went toe-to-toe on a number of occassions throughout 2005, JBL is (arguably) as popular today as he ever was during his in-ring tenure as a regular member of the WWE roster. With some clever booking, there is absolutely no reason to believe that fans wouldn't pay some serious money to see these two champs go at it one more time... perhaps, even at WrestleMania 24.
3) Now that Undertaker and Edge seem destined for a program of their own, the rest of the Smackdown! main-event crew (Rey Mysterio, The Great Khali, and Kane in particular... with Mark Henry, Dave Finlay and maybe even MVP rounding out the next tier) will be given the opportunity to take their respective shots at the now challenger-less World Champion. That said, it's pretty obvious that none of these matchups seem particularly "marquis-worthy" as a singles showdown, but this could easily lead to a few months of gimmick matches and multi-man main-events to help mask the lack of depth in the SD! upper tier. We've already seen that Batista absolutely shines in the right type of gimmick match (he's put on killer performances in each Hell in a Cell, the Punjabi Prison, and No-Disqualification matches/Street Fights pretty much across the board)... so the fact that we're likely to see a few more of these contests in the near future is a great reason to keep an eye on the blue brand in the months to come.
4) Two words -- "Ric Flair." Sure, The Nature Boy is slated for a WWE return on the company's red brand next Monday night, but with the 'E playing somewhat fast and loose with the brand extension, of late, we could just as easily be seeing a Smackdown! return of The Dirtiest Player in the Game sooner than later. Let's face it, a Batista/Flair program is about as sweet a "swan song" as The Nature Boy could ask for, given the current roster of World Wrestling Entertainment's three brands... and if retirement really is right around the corner for Flair, a one-last-hurrah "respect"/World Title showdown between these two could be absolutely epic. Even if Flair can't manage to wrangle the Big Gold Belt from The Animal -- wrestling fans the world over will tell you that "the older guy" doesn't always need to walk away the victor in order to put on a classic program and draw all sorts of fan appreciation (and money). Kinda' like Rock vs. Hogan at WrestleMania, come to think of it.
Regardless of how the blue brand's title picture shapes up in the next few weeks, it is most definitely a HUGE advantage for the show to have such an established and credible uberheel like Edge back in the fold. Much like Jericho could well "save" RAW, there is absolutely no reason to believe that The Rated R Superstar can't do much the same for Smackdown!
In a bummer of a development, Smackdown! mainstay Matt Hardy underwent an emergency appendectomy earlier this week. Apparently even though the surgery was a success, the guy has a ton of toxins in his system, and so he's expected to be out of action for anywhere between 1 to 3 months. (:-o )!
Good news from this one is that Hardy's feud with MVP *finally* turned a corner last week on Smackdown, and so his real-life surgery rehab will dovetail nicely with his on-screen altercation with the United States Champion. Two weeks ago, an MIA tag champ would have resulted in a belt forfeiture and an indefinite tabling of their mega-hot feud.
Now?
The titles are lost, and the last image fans saw of Matt Hardy was the guy absolutely getting the tar beaten out of him by his tag-partner-turned-opportunist foe, MVP.
Hey look at that... we've got ourselves a perfectly plausible injury angle!
Even better, "worst case" scenario puts Hardy on the shelf for three months (translation = February), which means that the superstar that "Will Not Die" should be back in the fray just in time to seek revenge and blow off his long-awaited in-ring showdown with MVP over the US Title come 'WrestleMania XXIV in O-Town. For as awesome(z) as this feud has been over the past few months, the fact that this "untimely" injury might well see this program get a new burst of energy right before the "Big Dance" is a VERY good thing. Looking forward to seeing that one.
In a relatively underpublicized nugget-o-news from the WWE alumni department this week, former Smackdown! diva Kristal Marshall spoke out on her recent axing from the 'E. According to Marshall:
This is way over due. First off the reason why I was released was because I did not want to do a morally degrading storyline that was already done, plain and simple.
Lita was in my opinion the greatest female wrestler of all time (next to Jazz). Lita revolutionized the world of wrestling. She showed that women could be strong, beautiful, and be a draw in the sexiest world of wrestling. She had little girls watching her wanting to become an athlete instead of a princess when they grew up. She was also one of the few women who wrestled men. With blood, sweat, tears and a broken neck later, she earned the respect of everyone in the wrestling business. So the WWE had the bright idea of turning her personal business into a public free for all. Sure that "storyline" transformed a well-loved babyface into a huge heel, but at whose expense? Look at how Trish retired…now look at how Lita retired. On the day of Lita's retirement, the fans didn't just boo her because she had heat; they booed her because despite all that she contributed to women's wrestling, all that they seemed to remember about her was the "slutty" vamp she played on TV.
I am nowhere as accomplished as she was, so imagine what that type of role would have done to me. I have seen a lot of people sell their souls to this business for whatever reason, but I stand strong to what I believe in. I feel like now that I am not in the WWE there is a lot of b.s. talk of me being a difficult person or having a huge ego, believe what you want that is not the case.
MeeThinks?
Kristall Marshall is either:
a) INCREDIBLY deluded, or...
b) Absolutely full of you-know-whatz.
Lita wasn't booed by the 'rasslin fans because she played a heelish hussy on WWE programming, she was booed by the 'rasslin fans because she played something of a mega-heelish hussy in REAL LIFE.
Yes, many a casual fan only became aware of the "heel" Lita after her real-life indiscretions were played out in pantomime for all the wrestling audience to see, but there were PLENTY of "smart" fans out there who turned on Lita (and Edge, for that matter) the moment they found out that peeps had been running around on perpetual-fan-favorite Matt Hardy while the poor bastard was nursing a serious injury and receiving a pink slip. Where Lita failed was *not* in "playing" a heelish Jezebel on WWE television, but in cheating on her longtime "real life" boyfriend with a guy that was supposed to be his "real life" best pal. Sure, we 'rasslin fans are dumb and all -- but we've got pretty fantastic memories when it comes to this sort of stuff, and if we get the idea that one performer is actually "screwing over" (screwing?) other superstars once the cameras go dark? More often than not, fans can't help but takes things personally and feel a little betrayed by their on-scren "heroes."
Political powerhouses like Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Jeff Jarrett continue to fend off vocal in-crowd critics of these men's off-screen actions/politics/attitudes TO THIS DAY.
Sour grapes former-grapplers like Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and (heck, even) Marc Mero field a TON of criticism from former fans who think that these guys have an axe to grind against "the biz" and its current lot of employees.
Shoot, even ex-stars who were "victims" of one form of injustice or another during their in-ring tenures (think Bret Hart) occassionally run up against a fanboy or two that give *THEM* a hard time for not having "done what's right for business" and for (in the critic's mind, at least) "only looking out for themselves."
Lita's magically disappearing fanbase has absolutely ZERO to do with the character she played on WWE television, and absolutely EVERYTHING to do with the fact that just about every single wrestling fan over the age of, say, 8, knew *exactly* what the deal was regarding the way she handled her personal "affairs" once the curtains were closed and the television cameras went dark. As a result? They held her accountable for those actions in the best and only way they knew how... by booing the absolute crap out of her every time she walked out through the curtain.
If Kristal is either a) dumb, or b) deluded enough to think that the wrestling fanbase is *really that simple* that they'd find it impossible to show some real-life respect for an onscreen rule-breaker? She's either off her rocker or making a clear and desperate attempt to cover her own ass for having been canned for reasons she'd simply rather not discuss.
At the end of the day?
No matter WHAT the reason was for Kristal's WWE departure, MeeThinks wrestling fans are simply better off without her at this stage in the game. Judging from her blog entry this week, the woman is either riddled with denial or painfully unwilling to accept personal accountability for her own actions -- and in either case, that's not the kind of "company (wo)man" you want to see other performers trusting their health, safety and well-beings to once they step into the ring.
I'll keep this one short, as it's still in the "likely but not 100% confirmed just yet" stage:
If Carlito is done with WWE, then *good* for both parties involved.
Carlito has been one of the laziest and most unmotivated performers on the main WWE roster for the past year solid. Prior to WrestleMania 23, he went whining to the media that his Big Dance payday was being bumped for a Kane/Khali showdown... and since then things have pretty much all gone downhill.
Whether it's because Carlito has a chip on his shoulder or is simply too immature to "get it" that he has to work for a push if he's ever going to hope to maintain one, the bottom line is that his in-ring work over the past few months has ranged from "passable" (at best) to "terrible" (at worst). The shame of things is, Carlito has one of THE EASIEST gimmicks to pull off with tremendous success. He's a legacy superstar raised 'round the 'rasslin biz, he's paid to play "cool" and cocky, and he's been given two insta-title-runs from the moment he first arrived on both of WWE's highest rated programs.
Instead, we get a cheap photocopy of Razor Ramon.
Pop quiz: how many separate t-shirt designs did the folks over in WWE marketing churn out for Carlito in the past three years?
a) More than the number they produced for CM Punk
b) More than the number they produced for Bobby Lashley
c) More than the number they produced for Umaga
d) All of the above.
Answer, of course, is "d" -- and behind perpetual WWE mainstays like Cena, Batista, Mysterio, and some variation of HBK/HHH/dX, Carlito was one of THE (long-sounding "eeee") easiest stars to build a marketing campaign around. Start with some bright Caribbean-inspired colors, throw in an apple or an afro with a cocky and cartoonish swagger -- and BAM, you've got yourself a brand-spankin' new t-shirt and yet another chance for the man behind them to connect with the fans.
But instead...
We get the same sloppy in-ring showings, one of the LEAST convincing back-handsprings in the biz, lazy and redundant promos, and a guy who's quickly earning himself a reputation as one of the worst sandbaggers in wrestling today. ("Sandbagging," for all the casual fans out there, is the term used to describe a performer who just flops around like a heavy and wet bag of sand, making his opponents' offense look absolutely terrible as a result).
Long and short of it?
Carlito went from this...
To this...
(Ric Flair is AWESOME, by the way).
To crib a line from Ivan Drago regarding the Carlito contract situation...
"If he dies, he dies."
If he's not willing to give things 100% effort (despite NUMEROUS pushes and marketing opportunities), then WWE is better off without Carlito. Carlito, in turn, is better off without WWE as he plies his trade elsewhere, brushes up in the ring, and loses that chip on his shoulder. And wrestling fans on the whole are better off with a roster of guys willing to perform than with a few extra guys who are just collecting a paycheck.
Memo to TNA: DON'T make the mistake of hiring Carlito like you did with Booker T. I'm not saying there isn't a place for former WWE performers when mixed with current TNA talent, mind you... I'm just saying that if you want to be taken seriously as an "alternative" to WWE, repeatedly hiring just about every second active performer that washes our Wellnesses out of World Wrestling Entertainment ain't gonna' help your cause.
And With That, I'm Outta' Here
My apologies for the truncated column this week, folks. YouThinks Reader Mail will return with a vengeance next week, as I gave myself the week off simply because of the holiday schedule here in the States. Let's face it -- with plenty of food, friends and family to go around over the past (and next) few days... you've probably got a lot more stuff to do than spend an hour on los intrawebz reading your favorite week-end-dose of IWC optimism, no?
Like I said, back to our regularly scheduled program next week. 'Till next time, enjoy the leftovers and the official arrival of the Holiday Season. Big game for the Pats this Sunday night (ha), so enjoy another great weekend of football, and always stay positive!
