Wrestling Week in Review for 1/21
Posted on January 26, 2008
Filed Under Television
Let me start off by apologizing for missing last weeks update, I seem to have contracted the plague or some variation of it and I’ve been down and out since early this week… But, I had plenty of time to catch up on TiVo and watch some Wrasslin’.
We’re about 30 hours away from the Royal Rumble and it’s shaping up to be a pretty decent PPV. The Rumble is my personal favorite PPV of the year… it used to be the Survivor Series but then they forgot to add Survivor Series matches, So I forgot to pay them $40 - Seemed to be a fair exchange to me.
Well since the last update there’s been 2 episodes of TNA, RAW, ECW and Smackdown and since it was a week before a major WWE PPV, I watched each show and I’ll touch on each and at the end I’ll add in some basic Wrestling knowledge for you guys to chew on. Now, without further adoodle-doo… Let’s get ready to Rumble! I really hate that phrase and the guy that says it but I thought it was appropriate under the circumstances.
TNA: Impact - In the previous 2 weeks we got to see 2 very good Main Events, and they both involved the quintessential professional, The Prince of Phenomonal AJ Styles. Week 1 was a barn burner of a 3 Way Dance between Samoa Joe, Christian Cage and AJ Styles. Joe came out like a house of fire and hit all of his big moves in close succession… which told me he was going under first and thanks to a BS angle with a chair, he did just that, by way of DQ. In the olden times of WWE lore there was a GREAT wrestler by the name Eddie Guerrero, and one his specialties was bumping the ref, hitting his opponent with a chair, and just as both were coming to, he would toss the chair to his opponent, and drop to the mat pretending to be the victim, and the ref would reward the victory to Eddie… Classic showmanship from a classic showman. Let’s just say this angle came together much more clumsily. Both AJ and Cage were laid out, and Joe in a very slow, plodding manner gets caught throwing the chair out of the ring. The ref sees both AJ and Cage out cold and assumes Joe is the perp, so he DQ’s him. As much as the match could’ve used a little more of the Samoan Submission Machine, getting rid of him early was the right thing to do for the match. AJ and Cage work very well together or against each other and in my opinion, the match was that much better as a 1 on1 affair. Prince AJ laid what was quite possibly, the prettiest Spine-Buster I’ve seen in years, on Christian… this thing would make Double-A proud. Anywhoo, it was aback and forth battle that resulted in a give and take battle of each man trying to use the other’s finishers and both failing miserably. AJ sets Christian up for the unprettier, and it gets reversed, resulting in a 3-Count and the Main Event for Against All Odds, is now Christian vs. Kurt Angle for the TNA Heavyweight strap.
This week we saw the revitalization of Shark Boy, A 3 way tag match for the TNA Tag Titles, and a Hardcore match for the X-Division championship, and trophy ceremony to crown TNA’s MVP. TNA, Week 2 is underway…
Every once in a while a gimmick will come along that redefines sports entertainment, but what happens when an old gimmick gets redefined with someone else’s old gimmick? Well, if you ask Jay Lethal, I’m sure he’d tell you it was the best thing that could’ve happened for him. On the other hand if you ask the ‘New’ Midnight Express, or The ‘New’ Hart Foundation… They’d probably tell you a vastly different story. So, TNA has shown they will go wherever they want and pinch any gimmick they see fit, nothing is sacred in their eyes. If you were to ask any wrestling fan from the 90’s and early 2000’s who was the single most influential man in the industry, they’d all say the same thing… Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Steve Austin’s creation of the Stone Cold character gave the WWE, the ammo they needed to unseat the WCW/NwO giant and at the same time bring Wrestling back into the lives, and homes of millions. Steve Austin’s contribution to this business will forever be etched in stone, so why not capitalize on that success, one more time??? Well, if you saw this past week’s Impact on Spike you’d see that they did just that and remarkably enough it was done to a very solid reaction. Sharkboy, a long time underdog and cult favorite in the industry got a Stone Cold polishing of his own and based on the reaction he got from the crowd, and insiders in the locker room, this gimmick isn’t going anywhere. Complete with his own variation of the vest, glass breaking, mudhole stomp, Thesz Press, Stunner, mike skills… What??? I said Mike Skills… What??? and signature catch phrase… we may have seen the birth of something pretty cool for TNA… And, That’s the Fishing Line Cause Sharkboy said So!
Back to the Wrestling, after all that is what we’re talking about. The 2 title matches were both quite good and in one we saw Johnny Devine defeat Jay Lethal to become the ‘real’ X-Division champion thanks to the interference of Team 3-D and the no DQ rules of the match. The match was a typical hardcore contest that saw a few pretty spots from both performers but ultimately it was all about Team 3-D and the over the top Heel finish. 2 big men pummel on little guy, little guy loses setting up revenge moment in February PPV. Winner and new X-Division Champ Johnny Devine.
IF you’ve been watching wrestling at all for the past 20 or so years, you’d know that any trophy given to a wrestler that is taller than 2 feet is bound to get broken… I don’t know what it is about trophies and their inability to remain whole in the presence of anyone over 235 pounds, but they always come apart within minutes of being exposed to wrestlers. This week’s MVP ceremony proved the allergic reaction of trophies and wrestlers is alive and well. Samoa Joe was named TNA’s MVP and just like all trophy ancestors before him, this little sucker just exploded as soon as Joe touched it. In the process he assaulted Jeramy Borash and was named the special enforcer of TNA for the Cage/Angle match and the challenger to the winners title @ March’s PPV. Now as far as I’m concerned we can stop right there because the next 30 seconds of the segment were retarded. Joe demands a new contract, with a 5 year guarantee (good luck fatboy), and a clause that states he will always make more than Kurt Angle… I call Bravo Sierra and it will get no more of my valuable insight!
Main Event time - 3 way tag match with the machine Guns, Team 3-D and Tomko/AJ Styles. Really good tag match with finish that surprised me. AJ runs to the aid of Karen Angle, leaving Tomko to fend off the other 2 teams by himself. a 3-count later and AJ and Tomko are still TNA Tag-Champions. AJ comes back out to check on Tomko and he gets tossed to the floor for his trouble. Next week Tomko will face Kurt Angle in a not-title match in what I expect to be a very good showing from both men. A few weeks ago when Tomko started getting pushed that way he was I wasn’t sure where they were going with it, but now I think I can see what the plan is. Tomko could be TNA’s Goldberg character and based on his size and his mind boggling in-ring skill, it could work. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens after next week but TNA is starting to con-volute their title picture already. IF Angle wins, then what’s the point of putting Tomko in an angle with him IF Samoa Joe is guaranteed the title shot in March??? You Don’t, so expect Christian Cage to defeat Angle… OR, expect AJ Styles to turn on Tomko and that will be the new feud, either way Tomko is getting pushed, and only the writers know where this is going.
WWE - Since we’re in a PPV week (and I’ve been locked away with the plague), I decided to watch all 3 WWE offerings going into the Rumble on Sunday.
Raw had a GREAT matchup between HBK and Kennedy, it made it’s HD debut, Triple H made it into the Rumble match by defeating 3 opponents and the WWE & Jeff Hardy got to see just how much his fan popularity, has grown leading into this Sunday’s big Title Match.
ECW saw a 5 man mini Rumble with Kane, Morrison, Miz, Benjamin and Dreamer. The debut of Kofi Kingston, and the changing of the ECW guard with Chavo defeating CM Punk for the ECW title.
Smackdown brought us a Belfast Brawl, The Undertaker choking out Big Daddy V, A team being disbanded, and Edge ‘cleanly’ defeating CM Punk with a spear.
Now due to the fact I’m getting groggy from the cough medicine… Yay Codiene! and the anticipation of the Rumble is upon us I thought I’d just do a little overall WWE review, and close up shop.
The match with Kennedy and HBK was outstanding and for the first time in a long time I’ve seen guys avoid taking a finisher. Kennedy dodged the Sweet Chin Music 3 times before catching a foot to the jaw and each time it was impressive. Ken Kennedy is a top notch star and if he’s able to stay healthy he should be a big name in this business for a few years to come. The Triple H victory over Regal’s soldiers was not a surprise and to be honest I lost interest about 2 guys in. The Main Event (whatever) was just a handshake between Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton, that turned into a Twist of Fate and a huge pop for Jeff. Overall RAW was very weak but the big thing had to be the HD! The picture was amazing, the colors so vibrant, I was so impressed… WHEN it actually worked! Holy crap what a jumbled mess, every 2 minutes or so the picture would go fuzzy and then it would pixelate to the point you can’t tell Mickie James from Snitsky. If this WWEHD thing is going to work they need to work out the kinks, and FAST! The Rumble is tomorrow and it’s one thing to get hosed by shoddy HD on cable, it’s entirely another to have it happen when you’re paying $50 for it.
ECW and Smackdown are interchangeable these days but I have to say this much… IF you want to make your 3rd brand just that, a 3rd in a quality, content and believability, you’ve done it. Your former ‘babyface’ ECW champion goes under cleanly to a ‘heel’ Smackdown champion with the champ’s finisher… and then you expect a 165 pound, 5′6 Mexican to beat a 6′3 245 pound man after crushing CM Punk! More Bravo Sierra here folks! ECW ‘WAS’ the tribe of Extreme, now they’re just the tribe of the unseen. Ratings continue to plummet and having your former champ go under 2 days before a PPV is ridiculous. Pull your head out of your Ass Vince! Either kill it off and roll the talent into the other 2 brands so this abomination can be laid to rest… OR, F’N fix it because you can’t have it both ways. That’s all I have to say about that, time to get loopy and catch some Z’s. See you sometime on Monday with a Rumble recap and hopefully a better opinion of WWEHD.
Later,
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