High Road/Low Road 02.13.09: Conclusion of the JBL and Shawn Michaels Alliance

Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road!

A brief explanation of the column: Uncletrunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related “stuff” while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).

The Results for the Matt versus Jeff:

High Road: 67%
Low Road: 29%
Both Roads: 04%

Conclusion of the JBL and Shawn Michaels Alliance

High Road:
I like having the storyline ending feud at No Way Out because it sets up a match that everybody wants to see and that is Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels. When you look at the match up of JBL and Shawn Michaels, you realize that it is not a WrestleMania match up. By having JBL and Shawn Michaels, you set up Undertaker and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania and you also get some other positives which will be explained below.

Low Road:
I agree that this feud should not continue into Wrestlemania. However, My view is that it should have ended sooner, in order for Michaels vs Undertaker to have more build time. As it is, it will get one month. For arguably the biggest match at the 25th Wrestlemania, I’d rather see a much longer build, to add to the classic feeling such a match should have. Dragging the feud between JBL and Michaels out to this point has not helped in this regard. Neither man was due a Rumble win, so it could have ended at the Rumble or even earlier; it’s the sort of feud that really could be knocked on the head quite quickly in my view, especially when it was clear Michaels would not be turned heel as a result of it.

High Road:
JBL and Shawn Michaels having a match at No Way Out is a smart move because it gives No Way Out four main event matches. The two Elimination Chambers matches are world title matches, so they are definitely main event matches. Randy Orton has been the focal point of RAW for a while now and he will be involved in a top match with Shane McMahon. And it was just a few weeks ago where the JBL/HBK storyline was front and center when they were feuding with John Cena. I expect the buy rate for No Way Out to be very good because you have four main event matches and most of them have some intrigue.

Low Road:
I agree that it’s good to make No Way Out as strong an event as possible because it lies between the Rumble and Wrestlemania, the most important time of year for WWE in terms of storylines and buildup. However, as I said above, I’d like this to be the PPV where they really build to Undertaker vs Michaels. As a feud ender, it risks being lost in the shuffle between the chambers and seeming second rate.

High Road:
Now while we do not know for sure that this will be the end of this feud, the odds are good that it will end here. Because of this, I think it was time to end the plug on this feud between JBL and HBK because the fans were not booing Shawn Michaels. I really thought that the fans would eventually start to boo Michaels, but it did not happen enough to warrant keeping this feud going. So, the fans basically dictated that this feud ending match by not booing Shawn Michaels.

Low Road:
This was the case all the way through; it’s one of the reasons this could have been a short feud and not suffered for it. As you say, it did not happen enough to keep this feud going but it has kept going, possibly to the detriment of Wrestlemania. Assuming that Undertaker vs Michaels is what they go with, I’m sure both men will more than compensate for any lack of build – the two of them are, in my opinion, the two best Wrestlemania performers ever – but I don’t think this feud would have lost anything by being cut much shorter to enable the Wrestlemania build to be truly epic.

High Road:
I like the stipulation of the match for a few reasons. The first reason is that we have never seen anything like this in a while. The second reason is that this stipulation makes sense for both sides. If Shawn Michaels win, he is free and he is paid his entire contract. And this also makes sense for JBL because he owns Shawn Michaels forever and also owns his likeness. The stipulation has definitely added some interest for the match at No Way Out because it is something that has not been seen and because the stipulation makes sense for both sides.

Low Road:
The stipulation makes sense from a storyline perspective but it leads to one of two outcomes; an obvious finish or some horribly screwy booking going into Wrestlemania. I hope in this case it’s the obvious finish; the idea of this feud having some sort of hangover into what could be one of the best ever Wrestlemania matches doesn’t bear thinking about.

High Road:
I look at JBL challenging Shawn Michaels at No Way Out and it makes sense. JBL mentioned that he hired Shawn Michaels to get him into WrestleMania as the World Champion and this is now not going to happen because JBL lost to Cena at the Royal Rumble and then did not qualify for the Elimination Chamber match. So, JBL really as no need for Shawn Michaels anymore, so he has to figure out a way to break even, which of course was explained in the last High Road.

Low Road:
Again, it makes sense from a storyline perspective. However, the storyline itself is scarcely believable. HBK is clearly not a poor man. Had they run the angle with, say, Jake the Snake or someone like that, it might have been believable. With HBK it isn’t.

High Road:
I liked the stipulation about HBK not touching JBL until No Way Out. This is one of those stipulations that I love, but it is not used often enough. The beauty of this stipulation is that it keeps the wrestlers from getting physically involved, while they are still able to interact with each other. Plus, it also helps get the fans interested because after seeing the heel goad the baby face, the fans are interested in seeing the baby face get his hands on the heel. I think that this stipulation is going to lead to an interesting match at No Way Out.

Low Road:
It’s a stipulation which can work well. However, it means that the combatants can’t be involved in any matches to build up to the big blowoff, so they have to build the feud ender up by talking. More talking and less wrestling is a Low Road in my book.

Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?

High Road
Low Road
Both Roads
OR

Simply write “High Road”, “Low Road”, or “Both Roads” in the comment section.

E-Mails:

These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.

Sat: No emails this week except from the people that voted.

Comments:

Below are the comments for last week’s columns and our responses. The comments that will be included will be the ones that pertain to this week’s column. Also, your comment will not be included if you are commenting on another reader’s comment.

Sat: My sections were written before Christian’s return, so be on the lookout for that.

DB Writes:

Not sure why quite a few people seem to believe that Matt’s turn was illogical.

It makes perfect sense from a storyline point of view.

Matt is the better wrestler, Matt is more passionate about the business, yet Jeff was always the more popular Hardy, getting all the plaudits because of his high risk nature. Jeff was the one getting World title shots on PPV, becoming champion, while Matt was relegated to ECW.

It was always about Jeff while Matt had to take a back seat.

It makes sense to me.

Sat: Yeah, good point. I think that this will be the main focus going into their WrestleMania match.

Uncletrunx: It makes sense until you factor in the guy he helped; Edge. That destroys the logic right away.

The Gold Standard Writes:

Low Road. I think both Jeff and Matt could be doing so much more than facing off one another like challenging for the WWE Championship especially since Matt is on Smackdown now. Hell they could of feuded for it but I felt this angle is just a lame way to take Jeff Hardy out the main event scene for moment so Triple H can become a champ again. I feel like if the E doesn’t have faith in small guys carrying the belt ex. Hardy, Punk, Mysterio then dont give it to them period because the big win sends everyone happy but the reign becomes a less memorable one.

Sat: I think that while Hardy no longer has the title, they will still get some major time on SmackDown.

Uncletrunx: They will, and sadly it seems that the only smaller guy who is ever likely to get a decent length run and actual push with the belt is HBK if he ever gets it back.

Bobby C Writes:

High Road – for several reasons – I am behind this fued.

1. When they last fueded – they were the Hardy Boyz (not Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy). Now that both are established singles wrestlers and have (at least some) mike skills – their ability to run an all encompassing fued (from wrestling to promos) instead of just a “one-up spot” set of matches.

2. It gets Jeff out of the Main Event picture for Wrestlemania. Jeff’s character is a chaser – and once he got the belt – the chase was over. And since he won the title – there is no need for him to have his “Wrestlemania” moment.

3. Matt did well with ECW title. Had some good matches – and deserves this promotion to upper-mid card on one of the main event shows.

4. They have a whole new set of story line options going forward – Matt helping his arch-enemy Edge win the title, will Edge and Matt somehow become allies (leading to a potential betrayal again), the possible involvement of Christian and where he fits in this puzzle (does he side with Jeff? will this be a 3 on 1 battle?).

Sat: I had a section on Edge and Matt together, but the WWE did not focus on it last week, so I went ahead and removed it.

Uncletrunx: I still don’t like it. It leaves too many questions unanswered, especially if WWE is now going to leave it unexplained.

Iron Knee Writes:

High Road, if and only if it gets Jeff far away from the title picture. He is one of the least credible champions ever in terms of look, moveset, and personality. I know that he sells lots of merchandise, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is deeply and profoundly below average as a wrestler.

Sat: I kind of like Jeff as a wrestler. But, he is moving merchandise, so that could factor into him getting the title.

Uncletrunx: Jeff seems to be one of those wrestlers you either love or hate. He is the Marmite of the WWE (reference for the UK based readers, there.)

Necroz Writes:

Matt vs Jeff helps to play up another swerve of Christian coming in and knocking out Edge which would then set up Matt/Christian vs Jeff/Edge which is the same 4 men doing TLCs all over again. This would of course lead to another eventual swerve by Christian to bring back Concertos and setting up Matt and Jeff reuniting.

Sat: I don’t see this happening. H is getting his title back from Edge at Mania.

Uncletrunx: It could happen in the post Wrestlemania period, but it looks like Christian is on ECW for a while.

Justin Writes:

I’m going HIGH ROAD this is too easy.

Low Road guy needs to get his facts straight because the seeds for this were planted at the December 9th Smackdown taping when Matt was a guest on the Cutting Edge. Edge was talking to Matt and digging into his brain about how Jeff is more popular and Matt plays second fiddle even when Jeff makes mistakes. At the time I thought they were setting up plan B if they weren’t gonna go with Christian.

But nonetheless it makes a whole lot of sense and to me was done more so because when the fans thought about it they just couldn’t believe that Matt would turn on his brother, well guess what….he did and it was great no problems here they just need to keep up the good work goin into Wrestlemania!

As far as Christian goes I have a feeling he will show up at Wrestlemania or after to go after Edge and the WWE Title that is of course after Edge goes over the glass ceiling (Triple H).

Sat: I don’t see Christian return leading him into the WWE title picture.

Uncletrunx: I did overlook the 9th Dec Smackdown thing, but the fact that it was so easy to overlook confirms my point about the lack of true build.

Kwarkior Writes:

I don’t necessarily agree with the sentiment that its a shock. Its quite obvious to everyone that Jeff’s way more popular than Matt and they’ve been emphasizing that, and also that Jeff is a screw up, almost every week. It happens that Matt has been trying to keep his cool and still maintaining his composure, much like what he said last week, but losing the title and being unable to regain it, he finally lost it…and regarding the accidents they haven’t specified who actually was responsible for them as Matt only said “there’s no proof”…and even if he were, it just means that he’s been resenting his brother’s popularity and just about had enough of him…

Sat: I think it was a shock. Everybody was saying it was Christian and Matt was mentioned in spurts, but 95% were saying it was Christian. That is a shock to me.

Uncletrunx: It was a swerve. It’s a shame that the widely anticipated return of Christian was then thrown out on ECW, but there we are.

KanyonKriest Writes:

Jesus H, you guys couldn’t tell I was kidding about Kofi main-eventing Wrestlemania?!

Anyway, I think it’s too early to tell how good this Hardys program is gonna be, but Matt was pretty good in his promo last week – despite the horrendous background score and video editing – and their Wrestlemania match should be memorable, so I’m going HIGH road, barring any more Days of Our Lives music accompanying promos. Wow, what a run-on sentence!

Sat: I did not notice the kidding of Kofi the previous week, but I probably should have seen it because it was in bold. Must have been thinking about something else. I thought the background music helped, but I did not like the multiple video angles.

Uncletrunx: I answered the comments at about 11pm, so I wasn’t looking for subtlety or sarcasm!

~k~ Writes:

High Road.

Matt is great as a Heel. He was a swerve for most. He made the most sense. WWE did good. Christian (imo) would make no point and/or sense to attack Jeff. He would not play a good role in the storyline.

Also, the way Matt is always second to Jeff dealing with wrestling, the fans, and even the merchandise I’d be pretty pissed too. He played it off amazingly well. Plus, it leads up to Wrestlemania with a great start.

Again, good job WWE.

Sat: Yeah, the reasons make a lot of sense.

Uncletrunx: It makes far more sense if you take Edge out.

Sev Writes:

Is Matt really allied with Edge or just angry at Jeff? Wasn’t Edge supposed to be surprised at the turn at the Rumble or something?

Sat: I thought it was an alliance between Edge and Matt, but I guess the WWE changed their mind after the show.

Uncletrunx: They also left that bit unexplained. I really wish more attention was paid to these things, it’s the attention to detail (and not leaving huge plot points hanging in the air) which makes for a great storyline.

Can I Get A Witness Writes:

Can we please have Matt Hardy walk out of No Way Out WWE Champion. Only then can we have two wrestlers lacking the verbal skills necessary to carry a feud of this caliber matter the way it should. Have it culminate at the biggest show of the year and you get revenge, redemption and a happy crowd all in the same night.

Sat: Matt can deliver a good promo, but not all the time. What you mentioned could hurt this feud.

Uncletrunx: I liked some of Matt’s V.1 promo work and think he’s far more charismatic as a heel. If Matt does the promo work and Jeff jumps and flips off things, this will no doubt be a success.

JLAJRC Writes:

High Road for the reasons that DB listed.

Also, it would be pretty easy to insert Christian into this storyline for almost the same reason Matt attacked Jeff.

Christian worked hard to entertain the fans and try to advance up the ladder, while Edge had to have a affair with Lita and marry Vicki Guerrero to stay in the main event. This pisses Christian off and he can’t take being second best to his brother anymore, so he sides with Jeff and goes after Matt and Edge. I can see this being a future HITC match. That would be fun.

Sat: Yeah, Christian could be put into this feud, but if he is, I see it happening after WrestleMania.

Uncletrunx: I don’t think he will be. He’s basically a face on another show, although I suppose that’s never stopped them before.

HBK Fan Writes:

HIGH ROAD.

Matt hardy has not been this interesting in a long time , the last time i gave a damn about Matt was the Lita affair.

Plus , it makes perfect sense , brother v brother is an easy feud to set up.

MATT V JEFF should be A good match at WM Silver.

If they make it a fatal 4 way by adding Edge & Christian , it will be a great match.

I know it will never happen because as we all know , if HHH does not main event WM , the UNIVERSE will Implode.

Anyway , i’m almost sure Jeff will win the match .

What else could matt hardy have done at WM ?

Be in MITB ? , that would not have helped him , this is the best match he can have at WM .

Sat: This is really the best match up for Matt at WrestleMania. Without this he would be in MITB.

Uncletrunx: It does give Matt something really significant to do at Wrestlemania. Plus it might mean that Jeff doesn’t screw up and get himself fired for a wellness violation.

The Great Captain Smooth Writes:

High Road. You have the brother vs. brother dynamic, both are over with the crowd, and if they finally make up, it will be a very emotional moment. The main thing that I want to see come out of this is Christian come back and side with Jeff. He could talk about how he has gotten older and more mature and that he is disappointed in the man that Edge has become.

Sat: I want to see this to, but I don’t see Christian coming back until after WrestleMania.

Uncletrunx: Unless he appears on ECW this week to challenge Jack Swagger…

Guest #9269 Writes:

Christian could be fine as a face coming back. He could pull a chris jericho, only dont let the lame drag on like jerichos feud with jbl. Have him come back, do the natural angle where he goes against edge (alongside hardy possibly), then when the time is right have him turn heel by taking out jeff and he’ll instantly become hated by the fans.

Sat: Yeah, this is probably would they will do.

Uncletrunx: Unless he appears on ECW this week to challenge Jack Swagger…

John Writes:

I’m going low road for the simple fact that I just cannot buy this angle. I believed HBK being out of money more than this.

Matt has always been known as a very caring older brother and has always looked for Jeff both in the ring and out of it.

It just doesn’t seem plausible at all to me.

Sat: I think the promo that Helms cut this past Friday did a good job getting us to believe that this is plausible.

Uncletrunx: I agree with John. It’s not believable to me.

James Writes:

LOW ROAD.

I haven’t watched wrestling consistently in at least 2 years. But I DO remember watching consistently during the Edge/Matt/Lita controversy. And I didn’t even read the whole article since I’m not a die-hard anymore, but Matt and Edge aligning sealed the deal. THIS IS STUPID. What’s worse? This, or Sting v. Angle v. Dudley v. Dudley? Toss up if you ask me. RIP awesome wrestling storylines. 18xx-2004 (give or take)

Sat: I would not compare this to Sting v. Angle v. The Dudleys. TNA seems to be insane because they just have to put the Dudleys in the main event every year.

Uncletrunx: Must be in the Dudley’s contracts that they get at least one main event a year.

Toby Kinson Writes:

HIGH ROAD. If you’ve seen Matt on the Hardy Show web site, you know that he has a range in his promo work that hasn’t been reached on WWE TV. His recreation of the Lita breakup is worth visiting the site alone. The ‘E can take this feud and build it toward WM and beyond, and we all know that Christian will show up eventually. What they do with Matt after he loses the blow off match to Jeff is my concern. I hope this will propel Matt into the Main Event picture, God knows Kozlov doesn’t belong there.

Sat: Kozlov has really dropped in value in the past month or so. I personally blame Triple H. And as for Matt, I think that his promo work on SmackDown has been very good.

Uncletrunx: Anyone fairly new who gets the Triple H feud is going to decrease in value.

B.W.G. Writes:

High Road, as I hate seeing one of the best tag teams of the last decade break up and rob the division of another such team, but I also realize this is Matt’s big ticket to breaking the glass ceiling, and I hope both of them end up all the better for it.

I understand the illogical arguments being thrown around, but it’s hard to complain about that when the ‘E has done things even more illogical from a booking standpoint–such as taking the Spirit Squad when they were drawing massive heel heat and putting them through the whole “destroyed by DX while RAW tag champs, losing the tag belts to old farts, and breaking up to end up doing nothing with them individually” deal. You get jaded by the inherent stupdity in things after a while, and any lack logic in plots like this become bearable, or not noticible.

Sat: I agree with you that this is probably Matt’s chance at becoming a star/

Uncletrunx: Just because other things are equally bad, it doesn’t mean I’m going to put up with it quietly!

17 Writes:

High Road. Matt’s promo work has been better than expected so far and both Hardys have improved since 2001 so I’m remaining hopeful about their feud. It could still go south but why hate on something when it’s only in its early stages and seems to be going better than expected so far.

Sat: Yeah good point. So far it has been good and there is very little to complain about.

Uncletrunx: Because it’s my job to hate on it! That aside, it’s another case of something that could be so much better with just a few tweaks.

Brad Writes:

Jeff Hardy = Low Road

I cant see in any way, shape or form how this will help Matt out. He already got the upper hand at the Rumble, sure a WM victory would be nice but we all know this feud ends with Jeff jumping off a ladder (cause he’s a talented wrestler and all) and beating Matt.
Plus with Edge on Smackdown w/ Vicky, Matt is the number 3 heel technically. Hell Kozlov could be getting a bigger push.

Unless Matt absolutely burries Jeff this is a Low Road.

Sat: In a way, I want Matt to win this feud, but I just see Jeff coming out at the end.

Uncletrunx: Matt is not going to win this feud. As you say, it’ll undoubtedly end with Jeff jumping off something high to get a win.

Your reasons for taking the High Road, Low Road, or Both Roads and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road are welcome at [email protected] or in the comment section. Your reply will be included in next week’s column.