The Triple Threat 12.21.08: 120th Edition - Hardy Wins, Burke to TNA, R-Truth, More

Posted by David Martell on 12.21.2008

This week we talk about Jeff Hardy winning the title, Elijah Burke possibly going to TNA, who we think will win the Royal Rumble and much more. R-Truth is our superstar highlight. Enjoy!

Welcome back to the Triple Threat Column. This week we have a singles match because Alex is out of town for Christmas but if you want to know his thoughts on Jeff Hardy just read his column. This week we talk about Jeff Hardy's title win, Tomko on the outs, Elijah Burke possibly heading to TNA, the return of WWE Superstars and our thoughts on who will win the Royal Rumble. R-Truth is our superstar highlight this week. Enjoy.

Topic # 1 Jeff Hardy finally won the WWE Title. What are your thoughts on this?

David Martell: Although I completely hate that he won the title, I am not going to bash him about how he doesn't deserve the belt. He is over with the fans tremendously and his ring work has vastly improved over the year. The reason I am not going to bash him because of drug use and etc. is because some of my favorite wrestlers have done things just as bad. Look at Hulk Hogan and steroids and Stone Cold beat his wife. Both of those things are basically in the same category of doing terrible things that should null and void a title reign. No one is perfect so I am over it. I am sure that if he screws up again he probably wont ever have the big belt again. The good thing I see out of this is that now I have no idea who is going to win the Royal Rumble. I was dead set on Jeff winning and now I am clueless. I'll explain more about the Royal Rumble winner on topic 5. Either way, Jeff has worked hard and got the title that many think he deserves.

Zach Brown: Well, considering that I'm absolutely sick of HHH's title reign, and that Edge has had more than enough time with the title as well, this is kind of a breath of fresh air. I'm not the biggest Jeff Hardy fan, but this is something fresh on Smackdown, and that's something they need desperately right now. Even with my love/hate sentiment on Jeff Hardy, this opens up a lot of new possibilities for feuds. Undertaker, Umaga, MVP (if he ever loses that stupid streak), Mr. Kennedy and others would all be fresh feuds for Jeff now that he has the belt. And Jeff winning the title at Armageddon was unexpected as well. Everyone expected the champs to retain because Edge and Cena both won last month. WWE is certainly trying to cement the feeling of every PPV being something you can't miss, and that's definitely smart for business. But back to Jeff, I didn't see him winning the title for a couple of months. And a lot of us had him picked to win the Royal Rumble. I hope Jeff has the title for a while because HHH and Edge definitely don't need it any time soon.


Topic # 2 Tomko might already be on the outs with WWE because he possibly got injured during his dark match on last weeks RAW. How do you feel about this?

David Martell: If he was already injured before his dark match then he is completely retarded. I can understand that you want to show that you can go in the ring but wrestling while injured is just insane. If the injury is severe enough then he might be out for a while which gives a good reason for the WWE to drop him. I hope that's not the case because Tomko has improved substantially over the last few years and I think he would be a great addition to the roster. This is one of those wait and see type things.

Zach Brown: Wow that was short lived. So it's possible that Tomko tore his pectoral muscle. That's really unfortunate for the guy. I was at least moderately interested to see if he had some staying power in WWE, It's just too bad that WWE is already willing to cut the strings on Tomko. Let Tomko be Christian's bodyguard again until he heals up! It's not so hard. I just watched Tomko's dark match on Youtube and it's not all that bad and Tomko doesn't look that "heavy" like they've been saying. It sucks that Tomko might be injured, but already releasing him just when he's been signed? That's a little premature, even for WWE. I hope Tomko sticks around, but even if he doesn't, I'm sure he'll find plenty of work in New Japan or any other indy promotion that will have him.


Topic # 3 WWE is bring back WWE Superstars on the WGN network. Your thoughts?

David Martell: This is kind of a surprise because I didn't think they would bring back shows like this. Maybe WGN really wanted some wrestling programming, who knows. I actually liked the show back in the day because it was cool seeing what the wrestlers did in the outside world. I was also a kid then. They could of brought back a worse show I guess. It is much better than Livewire or Shotgun Saturday Night. Scratch that, reverse it. The intro the Shotgun Saturday Night was pretty awesome. I will probably check it out but I have a feeling its going to be a showcase show for Cena. Maybe we will get some behind the scenes of WWE movies, oh joy. I guess it will be worth a look.

Zach Brown: I honestly don't see the need for WWE to bring back Superstars. We already have Raw, Smackdown, and ECW. We don't need all these auxiliary shows like Livewire or Excess. That sort of thing can be accomplished simply by web based videos nowadays. What's the point? I don't know what kind of format this is going to be, but I would be expecting a show that just recaps the three brands' events of the previous week. If that's the case, I'll definitely pass. It would just be for absolute WWE junkies. However, If WWE plans on looking back at classic segments or feuds from the Attitude era for example, then I think it would be much more entertaining. Or maybe it will be a show that highlights wrestlers and gives ‘em a little documentary style segment for every episode. That's something that I might be interested in as well. I might give this show a watch when it first airs, but if it's either a way to further storylines, or just a recap of what happened on Raw and so on, then I won't be tuning in.

Topic # 4 Elijah Burke could possibly be going to TNA in the near future. Is this a good place for him?

David Martell: I still don't understand why the WWE dropped this guy. He was a great talent and was years ahead of guys like Ricky Ortiz who is just a waste of space. One year he is the leader of the New Breed and the next year he is not even on television. Kind of strange to me. TNA is a great place for him to go in my opinion. He fits in perfect with the X Division guys and has great mic skills. TNA would probably actually use this guy. I doubt he will get over right when he gets there since he was only on the C show. With time though, he should get a solid spot on the roster. Maybe he is even worthy of the TNA Frontline.

Zach Brown: More power to Mr. Burke. If this is the case, it's a wise choice for Elijah. Out of all of the releases from WWE in the last 2 to 3 years, I think this was one of, if not the most illogical release. Elijah Burke is an extremely talented guy, so shame on WWE for not utilizing him to his fullest potential. It could come back to bite them because I could imagine Elijah become a big deal in TNA. I would have initially thought that a move to TNA would be a bad idea because a lot of younger guys in TNA don't get utilized either. But with Christian and Angle, and maybe other original TNA guys thinking about heading to WWE, maybe some of the younger guys could get more of a push in the future. I want Elijah Burke to get the treatment that Christian Cage got when he arrived in TNA: instantly over, and used to his fullest potential. I know that's asking a lot, but I can always hope, right? All in all, I'm anxious to see what TNA will do with Elijah Burke.

Topic # 5 Who do you think will win the Royal Rumble?

David Martell: My original thought was that Jeff Hardy would win the Royal Rumble but that obviously isn't going to happen anymore. Now I am going to predict Randy Orton to win. I once predicted years ago that Orton would face Cena at Wrestlemania 25. I was joking around of course but now it seems like it is a possibility. It would be a big match between the biggest face, and in my opinion, the biggest heel. This match would sell PPV alone. I think Randy is planning to use his "Legacy" to win the Rumble match for himself. If he has enough followers and then he will have the best chance of winning the big prize. It all makes complete sense. Randy Orton is not a team player and he is obviously using them to take down his opponents. I believe that if Randy Orton win the Rumble, he might drop his team and Ted Dibiase will happily take his place of leadership. Saying all this actually gets me excited. I hope this is how it works out because I want to be there when Randy Orton headlines Wrestlemania. I sure do love the road to Wrestlemania.

Zach Brown: This year's Royal Rumble is much more unpredictable because Jeff Hardy was basically a shoe in. There are a lot of people that I would love to win the Royal Rumble. But first, let's cross off the people that I flat out do not want to win the Royal Rumble. They include (in no particular order) HHH, John Cena, Batista, Undertaker, Edge, and JBL. No offense to those guys, but if any one of those guys won it, it would be a little stale in my honest opinion. I think the person who is most deserving to win is Randy Orton. This should finally be the year that Randy secures his Royal Rumble win. I know things are just getting started with The Legacy, but a huge opportunity opens up for him now that Jeff Hardy is out of the running. Another person I'd like to win is Chris Jericho. It hasn't been that long since his return, but 2008 was Jericho's break out year. A Royal Rumble win would be great for his momentum right now, and he's one of the few big names from the Attitude Era who has never won the Rumble. And last but not least, I think Shawn Michaels is a great candidate for this year. Yes, Shawn has already won twice, but it has been a while since Shawn has been in the title picture. And Shawn Michaels is one of the few faces on Raw that I wouldn't mind having the title. So those are who I'd like to see win the Rumble this year. Those aren't who I'm necessarily predicting, but that's just who I believe would make the most sense.



Superstar Highlight

R-Truth


Our thoughts on .

David Martell: I am just going to be honest here, I hate R-Truth. I think he is terrible at wrestling and it is so hard for me to watch his matches. Yeah, I know that he is over with the crowd but I think if any wrestler was going to yell what's up every time he comes out to the ring that guy would also be over. He is a very athletic guy don't get me wrong, but I think he needs to relearn how to wrestle. Is that too much to ask for? I think the WWE could of gotten someone better out of TNA. I just don't see what is special about this guy. He absolutely does nothing that impresses me and he doesn't make me want to watch him wrestle in any way. I just think his is another waste of space on the WWE roster. He is not the worst, but he isn't that far from the worst.

Zach Brown: Speaking of TNA wrestlers going to WWE...I like R-Truth all right I guess. Sometimes I think he's pretty decent, and then every once in a while, I'll see a match where he's just awful. However, I do like his athletic style of wrestling. He's fast, he's high flying, and he's almost never dull to watch. He does do a lot of unnecessary stuff like spinning in the air to deliver a punch, but it's all entertaining to watch. And man, that guy can get over like a mother fucker just by saying "What's up?" It's weird how audiences respond to such simple sayings like that. But hey, I give credit to Truth for making that work. But Truth is an entertaining personality. He's never mediocre to the point of not wanting to watch him, he's likeable, and I enjoy his wrestling style. He fit in well back in TNA when he was around guys like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. Now that guys like Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne are in WWE, he doesn't stand out nearly as much as he used to, but he still serves his purpose. The thing that I found weird is that he used to be very pro-TNA, with his whole "Hard but Fair, Sad but the Truth" videos. I remember him rapping about how TNA was coming for WWE and how he wanted to rap battle Cena and all that. He seemed like such a company man, if you know what I mean. I guess it just goes to show you that money and fame can make your loyalties switch drastically. All in all, I'm glad that R-Truth found a place that works for him in WWE because I think we all know it's better than his run as K-Kwik.


That is it for this week folks. Hopefully we will have the whole crew next week. Have a merry Christmas and a great week in wrestling. CYA!