The Triple Threat 11.05.08: The 114th Edition - Batista Winning the World Title, Bourne, Booker Spotlight and More

Posted by David Martell on 11.05.2008

This week we talk about Batista winning the title, Cena's return, our favorite Survivor Series match and Booker T is out Superstar Highlight. Enjoy!

Welcome back once again to the Triple Threat column. This week we talk about recent title changes in the WWE, Even Borne's injury, Cena's return, Survivor Series and Booker T. Please enjoy!

Topic # 1 Batista won the World Title from Chris Jericho at Cyber Sunday. What are your thoughts?

David Martell: I was definitely not happy with that fact that Batista won the world title. I was really enjoying Jericho's reign because for me it was the title reign he actually deserved. When he was undisputed champion, I didn't think he really got to shine. This time around he was at the peak of his heeldom. Batista just doesn't need the belt. Don't get me wrong, I like Batista for the most part. He has vastly improved over the years and has been entertaining to watch ever since he's been moved to RAW. Him as champion is just plain out boring. I can only hope that he actually loses on RAW this Monday. Save us Jericho.

Alex Mattis: David Martell and I instantly exchange "What the fuck?!?!" text messages and both wonder where the hell they are going with this. I did NOT see Jeri losing the title before the Rumble and kind of expected him to make it to 'Mania with the title. I certainly didn't predict Batista being the one to take his title. Martell brought up a very scary question, "What if they have Bastita-Cena at WrestleMania?" Don't care what people say, it's not a match that I care about and certainly shouldn't be considered "the big one" for 'Mania. I'm still shocked that big Dave has the strap to begin with so I haven't even started to think about what his reign is going to be like.

Zach Brown: Well I have to admit that I'm not too happy about this. I'm sure a few people are like, "Oh the smarks are gonna love this. Can't wait to hear them whine about how Jericho should still be the champ." But it's true. Big Dave does not need the belt right now. Now that's not to say that Batista hasn't been doing a good job on RAW. I liked him in the title picture, but I just didn't want him to have the title any time soon. Jericho was doing a great job as champ, and he's been the best heel that WWE has had in a while. I finally thought that WWE had found a place for the recently returned Jericho. Too bad they had to end a good thing way too soon. So now it's Batista's turn, and after only one episode of RAW, I'm already bored watching him as champ. Jericho as champ was basically my reason to watch RAW, so now I'm going to have a hard time sitting through Batista's unnecessary title run. And part of me thinks that they only had a title change to build up Cyber Sunday as something you can't afford to miss. I know that's a little out there, but you have to admit that when Cyber Sunday comes around every year, it's not something you're just aching to buy.

Topic # 2 CM Punk and Kofi Kingston won the World Tag Team Titles on Raw this past week. How do you feel about this?

David Martell: I really don't mind Punk and Kofi winning the tag belts. To me winning any title just adds to the legacy of a wrestler. I know a lot of people are mad that they just pushed Punk down to the mid card. I see it like this. I believe he is going to have a similar run to Orton. Orton won the world title very young and after losing the belt, he didn't win the title belt again for a few years. I believe this is going to happen to Punk. I think the WWE wants to expose him more before they give him back the strap. He still hasn't had a great match in the WWE yet. At least he has some title around his waist and if anything, they add to the almost non-existent tag division.

Alex Mattis: Not a bad move on the E's part. Both Punk and Kofi are way over and surprisingly enough work pretty well together. I feel, and continue to tell to anyone that will listen, that Pricele$$ lost a TON of momentum when Manu joined them. I don't care what anyone says, from my standpoint that dude doesn't belong with Cody and Ted. I'm interested to see is Punk & Kofi will continuously feud with Pricele$$ or if some other tag teams will get into the mix. I would love to see a Punk & Kofi Vs. Miz & Morrison match, I mean who wouldn't want yet another excuse to see John Morrison's bling'd out abs?

Zach Brown: I guess this is "get rid of the heel champs" week in WWE. But this was a nice surprise on RAW. I wish they had built a little more towards them winning the belts with a good feud or something. We just randomly got a decent match that made Kofi and Punk the new champs. No real build up. But that is a minor complaint. As much as I like both Kofi and Punk, I would rather see Priceless with the belts right now. They doing some pretty solid heel work right now, and it sucks to see the them without the titles. I know Punk said that he was going to be going after the tag titles, but some actual mic work on RAW would have been nice. And I don't know how well Kofi and Punk work as a tag team. When I picture someone forming a tag team with CM Punk, Kofi Kingston is one of the last names that would come to mind. But oh well. Hopefully CM Punk can get a run with the Intercontinental Championship after this to become a Triple Crown Champion. That would be nice.

Topic # 3 Evan Bourne recently got injured and may be out for a few months. What are your thoughts on this situation?

David Martell: Even Borne being injured is devastating to me. He is the most entertaining guy to watch right now. WWE seems to let him do moves that no one else does and he never disappoints. The match he had with Rey last week is a vision of things to come. His popularity has been threw the roof lately and the fact that he got to have a decently long match with Rey is saying something. I really hope it doesn't take him to long to heal because the ECW brand is basically useless without him.

Alex Mattis: Really bad timing for this guy. He was on a roll and getting over like a mother fucker, so for his rise to be derailed is quite unfortunate. Like all wrestlers, I'm sure he'll go through the necessary steps to make a full recovery and come back as good as ever. He'll need to get back as quickly as possible, however, so he's not to lose any of the momentum that he has going for him right now. I wish him and full and speedy recovery. I love his standing moonsault too much for him to be gone very long.

Zach Brown: I'm very upset about this. Evan Bourne is one of the only reasons to watch WWE programming right now. I hate to say that, but it's true. He's always exciting to watch, and it's obvious why Bourne wrestles on RAW every week. Heck, I've even seen commercials for ECW where they are only advertising Evan Bourne. I guess it was too good to be true. So now Bourne is sidelined with an injury, right when he was picking up some great momentum. He also had a great match with Rey last week. I was really hoping that the WWE would let Evan win, but oh well. I just hope that Mr. Sydal gets well soon because WWE needs him more than ever right now.

Topic # 4 John Cena will make his return at Survivor Series. Thoughts?

David Martell: As long as Cena doesn't come in with a guaranteed title shot I will be fine. I am expecting him to be the last member of a Survivor Series team. Most likely it will be Team Orton vs. Team Adamle. Seems to fit the bill. Cena can be the savior of Adamle's team and everything will be happy. Of course I wont be happy. I much rater have Orton win because frankly, he is my favorite wrestler at this time. Yeah, I guess I am being bias but who isn't? I am sure we will see a CTC reunion with this Survivor Series match. it's the only thing that really makes sense. This will be the first PPV that I will purchase since Wrestlemania so I hope it is at least a good one.

Alex Mattis: Is already time to hear those familiar horns again? The man the E has tried to make the face of the company will make his return at one of the year's biggest event and I'm sure there are plenty of fans out there that are excited to see it. I hope he'll be fully recovered and good to go and not go the Kurt Angle route and rush right back into the ring and eventually get re-injured. Cena was putting in some good work before his departure so I'm anxious to see what he'll bring to the table upon his return. Cena is all fine and dandy but why aren't we discussing the imminent return of Randy Orton? Much more important to Alex.

Zach Brown: I guess it will be good to see Cena back. At this point, you can basically look forward to Cena-Batista II at Wrestlemania. That's not something I'm exactly thrilled about, but there are worse main events. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Randy Orton also supposed to be returning at Survivor Series? Maybe not. But if he is, advertise both of them returning! Don't just have Cena on the poster. But that's besides the point. Love him or hate him, Cena's absence has been noticeable. The guy does put on good matches, so it will be interesting to see if he is fired up to be back in the ring. I won't exactly be pulling for him to win the title again, but it will be good to see Cena back in action.

Topic # 5 What is your all time favorite Survivor Series match?

David Martell: This probably isn't the best Survivor Series match but it is the one I tend to remember the most. My pick is Team Angle vs. Team Lesnar at Survivor Series 2003. I remember how ridiculous Lesnar's team was. It was more of a David vs. Goliath match. Team Lesnar consisted of Brock, Big Show, A-Train, Nathan Jones and Matt Morgan. I can only imagine how much weight was in that ring. Team Angle consisted of Angle, an up and coming John Cena, Chris Benoit, Hardcore Holly (who was returning to the ring at the time) and Bradshaw. The funniest thing about this match is when Hardcore Holly came out beating up on Brock and then second later you hear "Hardocre Holly is eliminated." Priceless. I was laughing so hard about this. To bad this match only had thirteen minutes because it could have been a great match. I guess the big guys got gassed to fast in this one. Team Angle prevailed of course and we haven't had a bigger team since. I mean that in weight of course.

Alex Mattis: Lordy there is quite a helping to choose from. I've always been a fan of the Survivor Series format of all team vs. team matches with the big one-on-one main event, or two or three one-on-one mega-matches. That being said I think Survivor Series in 1996 really molded to that format and delivered on many levels. Which leads me to my favorite Survivor Series match, Bret Hart Vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. This was right around that time that Austin was picking up some serious momentum and looking to make a statement. Bret hadn't been on E, or F, programming since his title loss to HBK at WrestleMania 12. After repeatedly challenging The Hitman, Bret finally accepted a match with Austin at Survivor Series. These two went out and put on an absolutely astounding wrestling match. While I still favor their iconic match at WrestleMania 13, this one is surely an all time great and one of the best matches of '96, which is saying a lot.

Zach Brown: Well this one's a no-brainer. 1997, Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels. Kidding. But really, my choice is absolutely a no-brainer. In 2001, Survivor Series may have had the most star studded match in history. Not to mention, this was right during the Alliance Era, which was one of my favorite times in wrestling history. The Rock, Chris Jericho, Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show vs. Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, Booker T, RVD, and Shane McMahon. Who can argue with the greatness of that match? And great it was. If you haven't seen this match, I highly recommend it. There's nothing else to really say about it.



Superstar Highlight

Booker T


Our thoughts on Booker T.

David Martell: I really thought I was going to miss Booker T when he left the WWE but I realized that I wasn't missing much. Booker T has had a great career and the stuff he did in WCW and his King Booker gimmick was great. The tag team of him and Golddust was absolutely hilarious. They were an odd couple of sorts and the backstage segments they had were priceless. What he is doing in TNA right now is not so great. He is just one of those veteran wrestlers who the WWE doesn't need. I honestly don't remember that last great Booker T match and you can please tell me what it was. I am not saying he isn't entertaining, because he has done some great stuff over the years but right now he is just completely stale. TNA seems to be the place that older wrestlers go to die and unfortunately I think this goes for Booker T as well.

Alex Mattis: I've never been able to make up my mind on Booker T. I'm on this thin line between "one of the most overrated ever" or "underappreciated veteran." I honestly think it is a little bit of both. God forbid I give props to Triple H for anything but what he said about Booker when he referred to his work as "hit or miss" hit the nail right on the head. Another problem with Book is that fact that, at least I feel, he has held back when in comes to his work. If you look at his "big" matches against the like of The UnderTaker or Big Show and especially his WrestleMania XIX match with Trips you can see that Book has great talent, he just chooses not to apply himself all the time. His run in TNA, to date, has just made me lean more toward the "overrated" state of mind. I have really cared for anything he has done for quite some time but I really hope that he can make something happen during his stint in TNA.

Zach Brown: I've always been a fan of Booker T. So many things about Booker's character were just priceless. Such as the "5 time...5 time...5 time...5 time...5 TIME WCW CHAMPION!" Awesome. And I loved the classic sketch where Stone Cold is attacking Booker T in a grocery store. Such a classic segment. And Booker's reacting in that bit is what makes it great. And his King Booker gimmick was such a great repackaging of Booker's character. He was just absolutely hilarious. Too bad it was short lived, and he ended up leaving WWE before we got enough of it. In TNA, I have to say that it seems that Booker may have lost something in his transition to TNA. Now he has his "Legends" title, it looks like he might be getting back that sense of entitlement and royalty that makes Booker such a great character. Hopefully he can become great again, because I was beginning to think that his run in TNA was growing a little stale. Wrestling wise, I've always liked Booker's wrestling ability. Even at this stage in his career, he's an acrobatic wrestler. I love his scissors kick and the Bookend, and as much as it can make me roll my eyes sometimes, the Spinarooni is pretty hilarious. I can't really say which match of his is my favorite, but I've rarely seen him in a bad match. All in all, Booker T is an underrated main event guy (if that makes any sense), and a great future Hall of Famer.

Something to remember Booker T by.


That is it for this week. Please feel free to leave us comments. Have a great week in wrestling. CYA!