The Happy-Go-Sucky Wrestling Report: 4.16.08
Posted by Steve Sullivan on 04.16.2008
King Of The Ring bracketology, Samoa Joe finally wins the big one, Mickie James shocks everyone, and Jeff Hardy's return is among us.
You can tell Wrestlemania is over. This is that time of year where there's just nothing going on. The steroid scandal of last week has already gone quiet. And let's face it, if there's no scandals, there's no news! So goodnight everybody!
Ok so there is a few tidbits of news that I'm going to sound off on. But before I do, be warned that I'm sick as a dog but I'm toughing this out. And even though I'm sick, I've come up with a new feature that I'd like to include here regularly as well. So with that said, let's rassle.
News: Raw will host a one night King of The Ring Tournament during next Monday's 3 hour special.
Happy: I'm really intrigued by this given that the majority of the former King Of The Rings have gone on to win World Titles, with the exceptions being Owen Hart, Ken Shamrock Big Daddy Mable and Billy "Kip James" Gunn. The last 4 winners have all become world Champions. (Kurt Angle, Edge, Brock Lesner, & Booker T) So given that the King of The Ring apparently means more than it used to back in the mid 90's, I'm pretty sure someone is about to give a big rub. The question is, will it be someone who will need the rub?
From what I've seen in many reports around the internet, the 8 people competing for the King Of The Ring Championship will be Chris Jericho, Triple H, Big Show, MVP, C.M. Punk ,Batista, HBK, & Umaga. 5 out of these 8 are former World Champions, and I don't understand why the WWE would feel the need to push anyone who's already got World Title credibility.
But, just because I did awful in my March Madness brackets, let's have ourselves some bracketology for this one!
1st Round
Chris Jericho
MVP
Triple H
Umaga
Shawn Michaels
Batista
Big Show
C.M. Punk
2nd Round
MVP
Triple H
Big Show
Bye
Final
Triple H
Big Show
2008 KOTR- Big Show
Yes, I believe that The Big Show can receive the biggest benefit from this tournament. Even though he's a former World Champ, he's so far removed from his last WWE Championship (I'm forgetting his ECW reign on purpose), that I think fans will actually enjoy the Big Show putting on the "Royal" gimmick. Not only that, but it would lead up to a possible Big Show vs. Undertaker feud on Smackdown, which would be a pretty interesting big man battle.
Despite the disappointing lineup, it's something different and has me looking forward to Raw next week. I would have much rather have the draft, but again, this is different and I can see what Vince and the boys are doing here by trying to get people interested and excited about something different on the show, rather than the same, dull storylines many of us tend to complain about. I really like what's going on right now. HBK vs. Batista, Triple H vs. JBL, matchups we've managed to never see are happening, and why Raw's ratings continue to drop, really confuses me.
Go Sucky: Again, if these 8 are really the 8 that will be involved in the KOTR this Monday, it's really disappointing. With the King of The Ring, the winner should be in need of the push to make a main event run. In 2006, Booker T, who over the last few years prior to winning the King Of The Ring, had become a midcard mainstay. Winning the throne pushed Booker to the top on Smackdown and lead to a lengthy title reign. I'd like to see the same happen here. And if you're going to push a midcarder to the top out of these 8, that means either Umaga, MVP, or C.M. Punk would need to win this tournament. Umaga wearing the crowd really doesn't make sense, althrough there was that whole King Haku thing years ago. Then there's C.M. Punk who would be a crowd favorite, but he's already got the push and guaranteed gold in his Money In The Bank Briefcase. That would leave MVP, and I have to say, after MVP loses his U.S. Title to Matt Hardy at Backlash, I'd like to see King MVP come to Raw and really make his mark on the sport.
If I had my pick of the 8 who would compete in this tournament, it would be MVP, Finlay, C.M. Punk, Matt Hardy, Santino Marella, Shelton Benjamin, Umaga, and Ken Kennedy, with Kennedy getting the crown, marking his re-push to the top.
One other thing I should not that could potentially be Go Sucky. Let's do some math for a minute. WWE has a new DVD set out. That DVD has a title of "The King Of Kings". The match is called King Of The Ring. Could this just be a ploy to sell more Triple H DVD's? It's a conspiracy I tell ya!
News: Samoa Joe finally wins the TNA World Title.
Happy: TNA is FINALLY on the right path to pushing an original product. An interesting fact about this title reign is that Samoa Joe has become only the THIRD TNA World Champion that had never wrestled under a major contract for either the WWE or WCW. Abyss was the last TNA original champion when he won the title from Sting in November 2006. AJ Styles has 3 TNA World Title reigns to his credit with the last one ending in June 2005 when he lost the belt to Raven. Now given that outside of AJ Styles, there really isn't anyone on the TNA roster who has never wrestled in the WWE or WCW who is anywhere near World Title contention at the moment.
With Samoa Joe however, TNA has a chance to build itself as something different and original. The last few months, TNA has been nearly mimicking the WWE and old WCW days. Now, all but one of their champions (Tomko) are TNA originals. This is the TNA many of us have wanted to see, and hopefully will get within the next few months.
Go Sucky: Although Samoa Joe was probably the most deserving person on the TNA roster to have a World Title reign, at what cost did it come? First, the match was way too predictable. Were we really supposed to believe that Samoa Joe, who is only like 24 or 25 years old, was actually going to quit wrestling all together?
Second, the match took it's toll on Kurt Angle. And even though Kurt will be Kurt and continue the show, will it do TNA any good? Are we going to continue to see Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle and will we continue to see short title changes? I saw a poster the other day that has the gold strap on Kurt Angle with Samoa Joe looking on from behind. Yet, Samoa Joe vs. Sting is expected for October's Bound For Glory pay-per-view. Either we are about to see a bunch of World Title changes similar to what we saw toward the end of WCW, or we are going to get a long reign from Samoa Joe. The latter obviously being the best thing TNA can do for itself right now.
News: Joey Styles has left the ECW Broadcast booth to be a part of WWE.com.
Happy: Joey Styles just hasn't been the Joey Styles many of us came to enjoy during the original ECW. He's been WWE-ized and had become kind of bland. Regardless, I think this is good for both the WWE and Joey Styles. If I remember right, Joey Styles wasn't sure about taking the job originally when Jim Ross was released years ago because he didn't want to have to give up work on his website. Now, he get's a website job and replaces Michael Cole. I used to visit Joey's website and it was a mess, but, given the tools the WWE can give him, I expect that WWE.Com will become a bit more interesting, and that Joey Styles will be happier and less stressed.
Go Sucky: It's official. I do believe Tazz and Tommy Dreamer are the last remaining members of the old ECW on the new ECW. Does it even need to be called ECW anymore? Can we just call it Velocity? Even though he had become dull, Joey Styles was the voice of ECW. In its old form, and new form, and it's going to be weird not having his voice on there.
News: Mickie James defeats Beth Phoenix for the Women's Title.
Happy: This was a pleasant surprise since I had all but forgotten about Mickie James. I mean, she didn't get to have a match at Wrestlemania. She had been left for dead since Trish Stratus retired. And now, suddenly, she's a 4 time Women's champ! Now, with the Playboy angle as a thing of the best, we can start a fresh women's division, starring Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall, Melina, Katie Lea, and when she returns, Candice Michelle. There's a lot of talent there and I'd love to see some great booking with these talented stars.
Go Sucky: I would have liked to have seen Beth become a longer reigning champion. She had been built up as an unbeatable champ. At least she lost by a cheap roll up and not shenaningans or some improbable move from Mickie James.
This was also a bit predictable. First off, a title always changes hands when the WWE goes overseas. In fact, today is the 1 year anniversary of the Milan Miracle when Santino pinned Umaga for the IC strap! Secondly, anytime Jim Ross starts a match stating how long someone has held the title, they usually lose it. It's like he's letting people know prior to the match that she was a good champion, but history is about to be made. I've seen this happen more than once in title matches that aren't on pay-per-view.
News: Ted Dibiase Jr may be called up to Smackdown soon.
Happy: There are a ton of 2nd and 3rd generation stars in WWE Developmental right now, and I'd like to see Dibiase lead them in a stable similar to what his dad did in the 80's. Think about this for a second. A stable made up of the offspring of these guys:
Davey Boy Smith
Ted Dibiase
Jim Neidhart
Mr. Perfect
Ric Flair
I'd love to see a stable of DH Smith, Ted Dibiase Jr, Nattie Neidhart, Amy Hennig, and Reid Flair invading Raw and Smackdown and disrupting matches. And I can only hope that Teddy Jr. has his dad's evil laugh! I think if the WWE is going to continue giving fans something "different", pushing younger stars would be something very different.
Go Sucky: The chances of this happening are slim. DH Smith has already put himself in a rut with a Wellness suspension. It's obvious WWE Creative has no idea what to do with him, given one week they turn him heel and the next he's a babyface. And if you can't have a role on Heat, how the hell can you have a role on Raw? Then there's Nattie Neidhart, who made her debut on Smackdown recently. She's a woman wrestler on a show where there is no women's championship. She's already doomed.
News: Jeff Hardy vs. Lance Cade is being advertised at a house show in New Mexico on 6/20.
Ah yes, the trimumphant return of Jeff Hardy. When we last left Hardy, he was beating Umaga for IC Championship, he was jumping off the titan tron and putting Randy Orton on the kayfabe shelf. Jeff Hardy was beating Triple H at one of th WWE's Big Four, and had recently defeated Shawn Michaels. Now, he's fighting....Lance Cade?
This looks like bad news for Jeff Hardy and a sign of things to come for Jeff Hardy. Luckily, I haven't heard about anything else bad happening for Jeff Hardy since his week of hell prior to Wrestlemania. In fact, I haven't heard much from Jeff at all so hopefully that means he's getting help.
But the fact that they are starting Jeff out with Lance Cade at a house show says to me there won't be any kind of dramatic comeback or push when he returns. It says to me that Jeff Hardy has been sent to the very bottom of the pile which will take a miracle for Hardy to dig himself out of this hole he's dug himself into.
Hopefully I'm wrong and this may just be a tune up match for Jeff following de-tox and hopefully they are going to ease him into a role that may have pressure with it, so that Jeff may not resort to his old demons again.
One way or the other, I can't imagine that the fans will keep Jeff Hardy at the bottom for long, unless of course he begins to job out similar to what Umaga did following his Wellness suspension.
And with that, I'd like to introduce the newest editions to the Happy-Go-Sucky Wrestling Report!
Happy-Go-Sucky World Title Contenders
WWE Champ: Randy Orton
#1 Triple H
#2 John Cena
#3 JBL
#4 Chris Jericho
#5 HBK
World Heavyweight Championship: The Undertaker
#1 Edge
#2 Batista
#3 The Big Show
#4 MVP
#5 Finlay
ECW World Champion: Kane
#1 Chavo Guerrero
#2 C.M. Punk
#3 Shelton Benjamin
#4 Elijah Burke
#5 Kofi Kingston
TNA World Title: Samoa Joe
#1 Kurt Angle
#2 Scott Steiner
#3 Christian Cage
#4 Sting
#5 Booker T
The Happy-Go-Sucky Time Portal
1 Year Ago 4.16.07
WWE Champ: John Cena
WWE World Heavyweight Champ: The Undertaker
ECW World Heavyweight Champ: Bobby Lashley
WWE IC Champ: Santino Marella
WWE US Champ: Chris Benoit
WWE World Tag Team Champs: Matt & Jeff Hardy
WWE Tag Team Champs: Brian Kendrick & Paul London
WWE Women's Champ: Melina
TNA World Champ: Christian Cage
TNA X Division Champ: Chris Sabin
TNA Tag Team Champs: Team 3-D
5 Years Ago: 4.16.03
WWE Champ: Brock Lesner
WWE World Heavyweight Champ: Triple H
WWE IC Champ: None
WWE US Champ: None
WWE World Tag Team Champs: Kane & Rob Van Dam
WWE Tag Team Champs: Team Angle
WWE Women's Champ: Trish Stratus
TNA World Champ: Jeff Jarrett
TNA X Division Champ: Kid Kash
TNA Tag Team Champs: Jerry Lynn & Amazing Red
10 Years Ago- 4.16.98
WWF Champ: Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWF Intercontinental Champ: Val Venis
WWF Tag Team Champs: New Age Outlaws
WWF European Champ: Triple H
WCW Champ: Sting
WCW US Champ: Raven
WCW TV Champ: Booker T
WCW Tag Team Champs: The Outsiders
ECW Champ: Shane Douglas
ECW TV Champ: Rob Van Dam
ECW Tag Team Champs: Chris Candido & Lance Storm
15 Years Ago- 4.16.93
WWF Champ: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champ: Shawn Michaels
WWF Tag Team Champs: Earthquake & Typhoon (Natural Disasters)
WCW Champ: Vader
WCW US Champ: Dustin Rhodes
WCW TV Champ: Paul Orndorff
WCW Tag Team Champs: Steve Austin & Brian Pillman (Hollywood Blondes)
ECW Champ: Don Muraco
ECW TV Champ: Jimmy Snuka
ECW Tag Team Champs: The Suicide Blondes
And with that my friends, I'm out of here to hop myself up on Benadryl! Until next week my friends, may your lives be Happy...or Go Sucky!
Posted By: Diggler (Guest) on April 15, 2008 at 11:15 PM
Yeah but for like what, 2-3 Months?
That was when WCW was about to go bust and couldn't really maintain Top Star
wrestlers so they basically filled up the roster with Indy up and comers.
But does it really matter from what company they came from? Seriously does
anyone recognize Steve Austin as a WCW Wrestler or Mick Foley as one? Not
really because they made their mark in the WWF/E.
Posted By: Sega (Guest) on April 15, 2008 at 11:50 PM
"#4 Elijah Burke"
Oh, so we've got a comedian in the house, have we? I wish this were true but
that' crazy talk considering how he's been booked since the New Breed breakup.
Posted By: The Glide (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 12:10 AM
Pretty sure it said specifically "MAJOR CONTRACT". AJ was filler.
Posted By: Steve307 (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 12:11 AM
I have no idea why everyone keeps saying that the next King of the Ring winner
will don the "royal" gimmick. Even though he's no longer with the
WWE, that's still Booker T's thing, and having someone else use it would just
be stupid (not to mention pretty much no one else could pull it off without it
coming off as ridiculous). Of course, it could mean Triple H winning and
resurrecting his King of Kings/Conan the Barbarian gimmick and becoming heel
again.
Posted By: Chay (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 12:15 AM
"Then there's Nattie Neidhart, who made her debut on Smackdown recently.
She's a woman wrestler on a show where there is no women's championship. She's
already doomed. "
Actually, alot of people fail to realize that Smackdown is the show where the
divas are utilized best. Yes, RAW has the women's title.. but for several years
now, Smackdown has been the place where a woman can freshly debut, develop an
interesting character/personality and actually have a nice chunk of a storyline
dedicated to her. Look at the way Victoria, Michelle McCool, Cherry and Maryse
have been handled thus far. Even in the past, look at Torrie, Jillian, Nidia,
Melina and Dawn Marie. Once Jillian, Melina, & Torrie were moved to RAW -
they got lost in the shuffle, until the WWE decides to go the TNA route and
actually spark up the women's division again. Even the handful of Smackdown
matches, featuring Victoria & Michelle McCool have been better than the
hair-grabbing, botchfest of anything involving Melina, Maria and Ashley Massaro
( and Mickie on a bad night ). I remember once reading an article that mentioned
Booker T being upset because he was moved from Smackdown to Raw. Raw had too
many politics compared to the "laid back " nature of Smackdown. This
could also hold true when it applies to the divas..You can certainly expect to
see some promo/interviews/full storylines between them instead of some rushed
RAW match or a 2 minute tag match.
Posted By: Quatah85 (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 12:24 AM
Umm Steve....the tease for this article says "Mickie James shocks
everyone" and then you call it predictable?
Contradiction much?
Posted By: Leo (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 12:27 AM
James' win was shocking, yet I knew a "minor" title would change, I
just didn't know which one. But once I heard JR give the exact amount of days
Beth Phoenix had been champion, I pretty much thought, "Holy Crap,
Mickie's gonna win!". If that makes any sense.
Posted By: Steve Sullivan (Registered) on April 16, 2008 at 12:43 AM
Big Show for KOTR? I still say Billy Gunn should get his push!!! Either him or
Jericho so we can have a Jericho/Punk prorgram - IC title/KOTR vs MiTB... Thats
a lot of good stuff there
I hope Jeff gets completely burried. I would fly over to America just to see
tht house show if i knew he was losing.
Posted By: Brad (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 12:46 AM
10 years ago the I.C Champ was The Rock, not Val Venis. Venis hadn't even
debuted yet.
Posted By: Kristian (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 01:01 AM
20 Years ago in WWF:
WWF Champion: Randy "Macho Man" Savage
Intercontinental Champion: Honky Tonk Man
Tag Team Champions: Demolition
Ah.... good times!
Posted By: M:-X (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 01:03 AM
5,000,000 years ago - 4/16/4997992 BC (Remember: it was the "WWWF"
back then)
WWWF "World" (2.5 acres of land in central Africa) Champion: Gugga
Dah
WWWF Wielder of Fire Champion: Burrg
WWWF Tag Team Champions: Mmoog Jannetty and a large rock
NWA Champion: Ric Flair
... Get it? Because he's old!!
Posted By: KanyonKreist (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 02:01 AM
Those were great times, M-X
Posted By: theHomewrecker! (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 02:05 AM
Kristian
Good call. Rock was the champ then. Val's first match was May 18 '98 and won
the IC title Valentines day '99. Kinda ironic that a 'porn star' would win the
title on Valentines Day. Then again the initials are V.D.
Posted By: imskyclad (Registered) on April 16, 2008 at 02:43 AM
I like the new addition to the column. For 20yr fans, its good for nostalgia
purposes. Good job.
I do need to question your bracket though. Why would HBK and Batista wrestle
each other Monday when they have a decent program building to Backlash? That
dosnt make sense. Also, Umaga/H3 has been done to death, please no more of
this match until Jamal is built back as a monster again. I do like Y2J/MVP,
but we just saw this match a few weeks ago. Show/Punk would bury Punk to much
and hopefully Vince wouldnt do that with his mini-push, but we all lnow he
would.
Posted By: Zeke (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 03:01 AM
"Pretty sure it said specifically "MAJOR CONTRACT". AJ was
filler."
Well then we should count Tomko as a TNA original. He was a nobody in WWE
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 03:39 AM
Stevie Richards is still actively involved in ECW if they don't fuck up his
current push, he could be onto big things. Plus Nunzio, and Mahoney are still
emplyed.
Posted By: Tapp (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 04:04 AM
Undertaker vs Show feud on Smackdown would not be an intersting battle of the
big men. It would be f**king abysmal.
Posted By: StrongmanCM (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 05:46 AM
... Get it? Because he's old!!
Posted By: KanyonKreist (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 02:01 AM
took a while to get there, but THAT was funny!
Posted By: francisco (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 08:25 AM
ah yes mickie won. more of seeing that beautiful aaaaaassssss on someone who can
work like she can makes my normally crappy monday so much better.....droooool
Posted By: ted g (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 09:17 AM
quick correction. 15 years ago the wwf world tag team champions were Money Inc.
(Mike Rotundo & Ted Dibiase)
Posted By: jlevysan (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 10:30 AM
I think Joe Hennig and Mike DiBiase are also under developmental contract, or at
least they were at one point, to add to your stable of second- and
third-generation wrestlers.
Posted By: Wyatt (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 10:46 AM
The answer is simple: have the next generation wrestlers form a stable, get
someone like Teddy Long who's tired of playing second fiddle to be a heel
manager and have them go up against some of the established WWE stars. The
build practically writes itself, and....
...oops I forgot they tried that with ECW and ruined it from the get go.
Anyway, enjoyed the nostalgic piece, but where were the contenders for the X
Division/Knockouts titles?
Posted By: Orlando (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 01:50 PM
"Go Sucky: It's official. I do believe Tazz and Tommy Dreamer are the last
remaining members of the old ECW on the new ECW."
There's still Stevie Richards and Nunzio, and I THINK Balls Mahoney still has a
job, but your point is still relevant.
Posted By: The Informant (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 04:23 PM
1 - Samoa Joe is 29 (a 2 second Google search told me that!) And no, nobody
believed he was going to retire - the PPV was being sold on the fact that long
suffering Joe fans were going to see him FINALLY get his chance with the
belt.
2 - Jeff Hardy's return is among us. What does that mean?
Posted By: Come off it. (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 06:17 PM
I didn't post anything other than World Title contenders. There are so many
titles out there it would take a long time to come up with all the contenders,
but it is something I will definatly consider.
And thanks to everyone who has corrected my mistakes in the nostaligic piece.
Posted By: Steve Sullivan (Registered) on April 16, 2008 at 06:21 PM
"Stevie Richards is still actively involved in ECW if they don't fuck up
his
current push,"
i think they did fuck it up by having him job to Mike Knox.
Posted By: Blanky (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 07:33 PM
Wasn't Black Machismo the TNA World Champion for like a week?
Posted By: Shelly (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 09:32 PM
I posted it before but the only one to lead the next Gen in this day and age is
none other than The Age Of Orton. His daddy will be proud!
Posted By: NastyRud (Guest) on April 16, 2008 at 10:03 PM
"This looks like bad news for Jeff Hardy and a sign of things to come for
Jeff Hardy. Luckily, I haven't heard about anything else bad happening for Jeff
Hardy since his week of hell prior to Wrestlemania. In fact, I haven't heard
much from Jeff at all so hopefully that means he's getting help."
I don't look at this as necessarily a bad thing. Sure he will have to serve
his on air punishment, but it looks as if the E is about to give Cade a bit of
a push, so this isn't necessarily the end for Hardy, just a further punishment.
Posted By: toddo (Guest) on April 17, 2008 at 09:57 AM
Kanyon
that was too funny
Posted By: Colin (Guest) on April 17, 2008 at 06:13 PM
