The Best Of The Rest 5.01.08: Volume 42 - Backlash Thoughts, A Preview of IWA-MS's Weekend and More

Posted by Alex Mattis on 05.01.2008

Thoughts on Backlash, taking an in-depth look at Triple H Vs. Randy Orton, and a preview of IWA-MS's weekend ahead.

Hello everyone and welcome back to "The Best Of The Rest." This week's theme is change. At Backlash we saw some titles change hands, we see how much Orton and Triple H have changed since their initial feud, IWA-MS is changing things up in the company and crowning a new champion, and this column is undergoing a little change of its own. My usual "The Stoppage" segment of the column has been cut, but fear not those who still want to read some MMA goodness. Starting this Sunday I will have my own weekly MMA column here on 411. So if you'd like be sure and check it out in the MMA section. But let's get back to wrestling, shall we?

Backlash Ends The Age Of Orton... And Alex Cries...
This wonderful time known as the Age of Orton came to a screeching halt this past Sunday, and the belt has gone back to HHHitler himself. Probably the worst case scenario for someone like me who hates Trips with a passion, and has a legit mancrush on Randall K. Orton. But there event didn't bring all bad changes.

-Good change happened when Matt Hardy finally put a cap on the tremendous rivalry he has had with MVP. I'm not saying this thing is over, but this was a big, overdue win for Hardy.

-Kane Vs. Chavo... eh, I don't care.

-Big Show has some good change coming his way, he is out of a feud with the worst wrestler on the E roster. I guess it was only a matter of time before the E did this "Battle Of The Giants" thing, but aren't we glad they got it out of the way sooner than later? Show should move on to something big from here, no pun intended. From what I've heard, he may be heading over to SmackDown and feuding with Taker, I think that would be good as I have always enjoyed their matches in the past.

-Some big change is coming to come in the wake of the HBK-Batista match. What that change is, I have no clue. Going into the event I expected a heel turn from somebody, that didn't happen but we did get a screwy finish. I don't know about y'all but this interests me and has me scratching my head asking "where are they going with this?" From the look of things, I'd guess that Chris Jericho is heading for a heel turn. But with the way this unique feud has been going, who knows.

-The women's match... eh. I'm tired of the E acting like they have a women's division when only about 4 of these women truly deserve to be in a wrestling ring. I understand them working the heel team Vs. face team to change things up a bit, but couldn't we just do another lumberjack match rather than an overbooked mess? We're just on track to a Phoenix-James showdown so I guess we need to kill time. Oh, and to clarify I don't dislike Mickie James at all! Many of you have misunderstood what I have been saying for the last two weeks. She is an excellent wrestler and I love watching her matches, I just had a problem with her taking the belt off of a dominant champion, on Raw, with a roll up. I just felt what could have been a big moment for her was rushed and came off as an "oh, neat" rather than a "HOLY SHIT!"

-One thing that didn't change on this night was the owner of the world title. I'm hoping this is the end of the Taker-Edge feud, but we all know there will be an eventual hell in a cell between the two. Did anyone else find it to be badass when Taker mouthed the words "I'm going to hurt you."? This wasn't as good as their 'Mania encounter, but still solid considering it was Edge. And I totally agree with Csnoka, the E needs to quit calling it "that vicious submission hold" and shit like that. It's called a gogoplata. Taker is an MMA fan, and I'm sure he'd love it if they called it properly.

-On to the main event and the biggest change of the night. While I'm obviously not happy with the outcome of the match, I like the direction the E took with this match. I really enjoyed the back to back eliminations of Cena and JBL, really surprised some people and now we have a JBL-Cena feud on the horizon. After these eliminations we got some one on one action between Triple H and Orton which eventually led to Triple H winning the title. Yay. Not. I loved Randy Orton as champ, he's one of the top heels in the company, and I don't feel that we should have even been close to the end of his reign. It makes his win at WrestleMania seem rather pointless. But it is interesting to see this happen again between these two, to take a more in depth look at these two and their title history let's go to...

Triple H Vs. Randy Orton: Four Years Later:
It's an oh' too familiar scene watching Triple H shatter Randy Orton's title hopes. Let's take a trip back to late 2004. Orton was top of the wrestling world right after becoming the youngest world champion in history, then one month later it was all gone. After only having the title for about 4 weeks, Orton lost it to the then dictator like Triple H. Over the course of the next six months Triple H would beat Randy Orton, Randy Orton would beat Triple H, but the title never changed hands. A half year after defeating Orton for the world title Trips lost it to Batista at WrestleMania 21, H wouldn't see gold again for nearly three years. At No Mercy 2007, at the top of the broadcast Triple H won the WWE title from Randy Orton. He lost the title back to Orton in the main event of that same PPV. Why would something screwy like this be done? I'll get to that in a moment, moving on. On April 27, 2008 who did Triple H win his next title from? That's right Randy Orton... again. Of course things were different this time around, Orton had held the belt for 6 months, Triple H was the face this time, etc. Thing's may have changed, but how may they stay the same? My friend, and fellow columnist, David Martell has an interesting theory about Triple H and the WWE championship. David feels that H doesn't care about long, dominant, Hitler like title reigns anymore, all he wants is to top Ric Flair's number of 16 title reigns. I'm starting to heavily support this notion. Why would Triple H win a title, defend it, and lose it all in the same night? Just to say he had another title reign. The numbers of titles won will eventually add up, and with the enormous political pull Triple H has it's going to be easy to rack up these short title reigns. I feel this title reign is going to be the same thing and just a detour in the Age of Orton. I expect Triple H to hold on to that belt for 4 weeks, and lose it to Orton. Just like what happened almost four years ago.

IWA-MS's Big Weekend Promises To Bring Forth A New Champion
The on again, off again company know of IWA-MS returns this weekend. IWA, Ian, and co. have experienced their fair share of up's and down's, but one thing that has always remained constant is their fan support. And to show thanks to the fans that have been there with them through the good times and the bad, IWA is having "Fan Appreciation Night" this Friday in Joliet, IL. A stacked card for only $10. Headlining the card will be the interesting match up of Too Cold Scorpio and Roderick Strong. Scorpio has always struck me as a guy who didn't get his just due, Roderick has be around the game for a while but still could be classified as an "up and comer" so a win over an indy legend like Scorpio could be huge. Two independent superstars will clash when Delirious takes on Jimmy Jacobs in what should be a very entertaining bout. And in what is the most interesting bout, to me, of the night it'll be a women's tag match with two great teams. It'll be Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze Vs. Mickie Knuckles and from right here in Texas (cheap pop), Rachel Summerlynn. Two strong teams that bring different styles to the game, this should be great. Rachel has improved so much in the past 3 years or so that I have been watching her here in Texas, so I am really happy to see her land some gig's up North. Also on the card Drake Younger will battle Danny Havoc... violence. And in two strong style showdowns Claudio Castagnoli squares off against Michael Elgin, and Chris Hero takes on Egotistico Fantastico. This of course is only the beginning of things for this weekend, because this Saturday...

Presents a "Night Of Champions." After missing several scheduled title defenses IWA-MS management had no choice but to strip Eddie Kingston of the heavyweight title. So now with the title vacated IWA looks to crown a champ this Saturday with a one night tournament, lined up with many names that would make a fitting champion. In the first round we have four big matches: Claudio Castagnoli Vs. Too Cold Scorpio, Chris Hero Vs. Brodie Lee, Chuck Taylor Vs. Vito Thomaselli, and BJ Whitmer Vs. Michael Elgin. Like I said any of these men are fit to hold the gold, and this should be a great tourney. Also on the card Danny Havoc and Corporal Robinson will engage in what should be a bloody war. Devon Moore and Mickie Knuckles will team up to take on Cheech and Cloudy. And it what should be an awesome match, Rachel Summerlyn will take on Sara Del Rey one on one. This should be a huge weekend for IWA, and any and all fans in the area should head out to the shows.

Well that's all for this week. I'll be back in two weeks, I'm taking an absence next week to focus on those oh' so fun finals.

Here I would usually ask for feedback, and it is still very welcome, but this week I'm asking for something a bit different. We're entering that wonderful time known as summer, and what this brings for me is no school for awhile. More time to focus on writing. So what I'd like to have from y'all is some ideas of things to write about over the summer. Things you would like to get my opinion on, things you just want to see written about here on 411, things you want to debate about, any and all ideas are welcome. Leave 'em below or send them to me via e-mail at [e-mail]. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you guys. And for you MMA fans, don't forget to check out my new MMA column here on 411 this Sunday. This week I'll talk about why Tito Ortiz's fight against Lyoto Machida, may be the most important of his career.

*This Week's YouTube Sendoff*


Take care, and to those who need it... good luck on finals.

-Alex