Canada is generally referred to by Jerry Lawler as Bizzaro World, and are shown a similar reception as that of the crowd the night after WrestleMania this year, obviously to a lesser degree. The reason for this, as most of the Internet probably knows, is that we’re real wrestling fans, we boo people who are not entertaining us and cheer those who are. To be perfectly honest Canadian fans also enjoy being annoying, especially if the product in the ring is boring. The last SmackDown I attended there were repeated chants of “This is Tuesday” in an attempt to foil the the filming of that weeks episode.The bottom line of this, and I believe the most entertaining of live crowds will agree with me here, that the product has to be entertaining. What they put on the stage, that we paid money for, better be good, because unlike general crowds who will cheer who they’re supposed to and sit on their hands when they’re bored. Rowdy and Canadians fans on the other hand will tear people apart for being boring and adorn them with titles if we appreciate what they’re doing.

We generally get 1 house show in Toronto a year, maybe a live taping of something, being in Toronto I’m close to Buffalo so anything going there is also an option. But for the most part we’re watching Raw, nothing wrong with that, but till not as good as live and we haven’t had a Raw in Toronto in years. Raw recently started airing live, but before that we had a 15 minute pre-show, this was done for tape delay in case of editing needed, because apparently live isn’t as important to us. I suppose I shouldn’t be bitter, we finally got it live. We also have the Ask a Ref segment in between the show with the commercials. It used to feature Arda Ocal, but now is hosted by Jackie Redman and she hosts former WWE referee of over 20 years, the Greek Canadian Refereeing Living Legend and a personal hero of mine, Jimmy Korderas. These segments feature question posed by twitter followers pf The Score (The Canadian channel that carries WWE). We also have segments featuring different people in suits telling us what’s new for Canada in between commercials, it looks like it’s filmed by WWE, where as Ask the Ref is filmed by The Score.

The day after, on the Tuesday, The Score replays Raw and that is usually followed by Aftermath which has featured different people throughout the years but currently feature Jimmy Korderas, Jackie Redman and Nug, who despite my personal disdain for his name was the one responsible for getting Raw Live and for that I have to be thankful. Just as a side note, when WWE wasn’t airing Raw live we couldn’t utilize the WWE Active they push so hard, which simply upsets me from a logical standpoint. The show Aftermath is simply these people giving their opinions on the show and dissecting and personally I think it’s great. I know this doesn’t air in America and I’m curious if there’s anything like it on the USA network. I’m also fairly sure WWE Vintage Collection is filmed in Canada and features Renee Young, whose real name is Renee Paquette, but when she was officially hired by WWE from The Score, her name was changed for television as it was seen as too ethnic.

Canada also has a tremendous amount of indy wrestling if one is so inclined, so it’s certainly not like we’re in any sort of withdraw for wrestling, but we would still appreciate a live Raw or perhaps a Pay Per View. Canada has also earned the right to be rowdy at shows as we have produced some of the best professional wrestlers of all time, if you don’t mind I’d like to list some of. Chris Jericho, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Edge, Christian, Abdullah the Butcher, Steve Corino, Rocky Johnson, Killer Kowalski, Santino Marella, Trish Stratus, Pat Patterson, Lance Storm, Eric Young, Jim Neidhart, Owen Hart and of course Bret Hart. Not to mention we’ve hosted 2 WrestleMania’s and had Stampede Wrestling. Just to finish off here I’d like to say we’re not proud of the Montreal Screwjob, we chant “You screwed Bret” more to be funny than anything else. But for Christ sake it feels like every time WWE comes to Montreal they have to reference that night, please let it go. It is getting better, but look back to the main event of Breaking Point 2009 and see what I mean, 12 years later and completely ridiculous. We’re also not proud of the fact that Jerry Lawler had his heart attack in Montreal, but at least he received free health care.

Reading the comments on that article made me realize that there’s one person out there that could rather easily transition into a career in the world of wrestling, who has no legitimate football job prospects currently. The man is obviously Tim Tebow, a controversial figure among fans of the NFL, not because of his off field antics but because of his on field abilities, or lack thereof. While I’ve never been a Tebow fan (Florida State fan, it’s not allowed, even if he saved my life somehow) I am willing to admit that he’s one hell of a gifted athelete. While I don’t feel he’s right for a career as a starting quarterback in the NFL, he has just enough name value to make a career in the ring. He also, seemingly, comes with very little downside out of the ring as he’s apparently an all-around good guy with very few vices, if he has any. This could be the opportunity that Tebow needs to keep his name out there, he’s still young, so he could use his celebrity platform for years to come as a wrestler.

When you look at it, you don’t even have to come up with a gimmick, Tebow is already built in with a name and a look. Much like Goldberg he could be a one name superstar, he’s got the size, the build, the persona, and is already known by just saying his last name, and it’s such an easy character even Vince Russo could pull it off. Tebow comes with the built in babyface gimmick of being the “God Warrior” a role given up with the retirement of Shawn Michaels, who could actually mentor him on television for a little in order to add legitimacy to his character. He would get over with the religious sect of fans; his already massive fan base would also likely follow him to the squared circle, making him one of the largest merchandise drivers in recent memory. This would seem to be a win on every single possible angle, WWE wins by getting another massive star, Tebow wins by being allowed to continue his athletic pursuits and keep his name on people’s lips, while also keeping his ability to preach the word of God to the masses.

Over time people will get tired of the good guy gimmick, just ask John Cena, eventually leading to a heel turn for Tebow. This will also be an easy thing to pull off with his character, although it would cost WWE money in merch sales, and risk alienating some of the religious fans, it’s something that could keep the character important and top of mind with the audience. The easiest way to turn him would be to make him into a religious zealot character, condemning all the fans for idolatry, having impure thoughts, and anything else that would go against biblical values. This turn may actually give more mainstream value to the character as he would be a much more controversial character than just being the nice guy, all American, Jesus loving, God fearing, Christian guy that Tim Tebow has been known as to this point in his career both on and off the gridiron.

This is one of those can’t miss prospects, if Triple H and his crew are able to convince Tebow to put on some boots and step into the ring to continue his career. I’ll admit I would actually like to see this happen, even as someone who’s never been a fan of Tebow the football player; I may actually support Tebow the wrestler. A role with WWE will give him the world stage still to be able to get out his message; also it would allow him to work with groups like Make-A-Wish on a massive level, as well as helping in their anti-bullying program. Tebow’s athleticism has never been questioned, neither has his heart, he’s an easy star to create as his own value is still hot to this day, he even comes with his own patented pose. In the past Tebow has mentioned he wouldn’t rule out a political future which is still possible as an ex-wrestler, ask Former Governor Ventura about that one. One more thing this would do, which would thrill the IWC more than anything else mentioned here, this would create a big enough merch monster to FINALLY be able to turn Cena. After all, isn’t that the greatest gift Tebow could offer us by coming to the WWE?

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Since his debut in WWE, we have seen flashes of intensity from Bryan – but only flashes. A brief NXT feud with Michael Cole, his return at SummerSlam 2010, and frustrated backstage promos during his Mr. Money in the Bank-era losing streak all showed what many of Bryan’s fans have known for years – Bryan can play a legitimate, dangerous, and captivating character.

Those that were more familiar with Daniel Bryan than Bryan Danielson were skeptical – and for good reason. For his first 3 years in WWE, Bryan mostly portrayed a goofy, unimpressive everyman. His storylines included love triangles with the Bellas and Gail Kim, a meandering, boring feud with Ted DiBiase, and a United States Championship reign that was entertaining in the ring, but forgettable outside of it. Bryan’s use of the LeBell Lock drew comparisons to Chris Benoit, something that his supporters had been trying to draw since his debut. There was something special about Bryan, something that the WWE Universe had not seen from him yet.

Bryan won fans over once he stepped between the ropes, but he didn’t have a permanent connection with the crowd yet. He was not a draw. Although fans were often cheering at the end of his matches, he rarely got substantial pops during his entrance. That all changed in 2012, when his Yes and No catchphrases took off. The chants have had longevity unseen in WWE since “What?” and have only intensified as time passed (recent attempts to replicate it have failed, e.g. Fandangoing). Bryan finally had that connection. He was over. Fans loved him or loved to hate him. This connection grew as Team Hell No grew in popularity, and it has finally come to a head.

Daniel Bryan is one of the most over performers on the roster. He is no longer the face in distress that reaches desperately for a hot tag. He is the face that gets the hot tag, sending the crowd into a frenzy. For those that doubt how over he really is, his recent matches with The Shield are all the evidence needed – and it seems as if the powers that be in WWE are taking notice. Over the past few weeks, he has been booked as a legitimate threat. This isn’t the opportunist that retained his World Heavyweight Championship in a bunch of fluke victories in early 2012. This is a guy that is kicking people’s heads in.

WWE must capitalize on this, and I think they will. Check out Team Hell No’s interview after losing the Tag Team Championships. Bryan is furious about being seen as the “weak link,” and now he’s on a mission to show that he isn’t. The next night on Raw, he dominates The Shield for most of the match. He doesn’t look like a vanilla midget that doesn’t belong in a WWE ring. He looks like a threat. This week’s Smackdown spoilers suggest the next direction of Bryan’s character, and it seems as if Bryan, who now has the complete package of talent, gimmick, and charisma, may be receiving a major singles push.

Should Bryan capitalize on the crowd’s support and climb the ranks as a face? Bryan and Dolph Ziggler have put on match of the year candidates in the past, and a face Bryan chasing the title could bring some much-needed attention to Smackdown. If Ryback wins the WWE Championship, he will eventually need a new challenger. Bryan fans have been clamoring for a David vs. Goliath angle for months now, and an angle with Ryback would legitimize both competitors. However, it may prove difficult to surpass John Cena as the top face on Raw (it’s debatable whether WWE Champion CM Punk was ever the top guy), so perhaps Bryan should embrace his new-found intensity and channel it into an unhinged, dangerous heel.

In any case, this is Daniel Bryan’s time. The giants of WrestleMania season are leaving, and there is more room at the top than ever. WWE’s summer months are often plagued with low ratings and tepid crowd reactions, especially without any new intrigue to keep fans invested. Bryan has proven he has what it takes to entertain, move merch, and get huge reactions. Most likely, WWE will turn Bryan against Kane, effectively turning him heel. In most cases nowadays, turning a midcard talent heel is a death sentence, but Bryan is already getting reactions that performers likes Cody Rhodes and Antonio Cesaro are dreaming of. Bryan is ready to be a legitimate main event star, whether he’s heel or face. It’s up to WWE to decide whether they want to capitalize, or let another potential megastar fall by the wayside.

What should be done with Daniel Bryan? Will he find more success in WWE as a face or as a heel?

Most people are looking at the matchup and saying that they think Triple H made himself look dominant, first by the slap during his promo, then during the match by getting the upper hand at first. While Axel looked impressive in the little offensive flurry they allowed him to break into, he didn’t quite get to take the lead and get the victory over Triple H cleanly. First off, if someone truly thought a repackaged worker was going to take down a living legend (no matter what Bret Hart thinks) in their redebut match, they are CLEARLY delusional. While I’m a fan of Joe Hennig and love that he’s getting a chance with a somewhat less absurd name selection, I’m willing to admit that putting him over Triple H cleanly right away is a bad idea. It sets too high of a bar, making it much harder to climb the ladder as his career continues.

Another complaint is that it was a fairly anticlimactic ending to a show that had been pretty damn stellar to that point, from the F-bomb, to the 6 man tag match, the debut promo with Heyman, and the final match of the night, to end the show with Triple H not being able to get back into the ring seems to boggle people’s minds. I’ll admit that I had to start searching the internet to see if there had been any reports of legitimacy to the ending, as I had been showering and missed the majority of it (although I watched it on DVR this morning) making the lines between reality and storyline blur in my mind. If I had been a new fan, just turning it, this moment would hook me in to see either Smackdown or next week’s Raw in order to see what was going on with Triple H. To someone who’s just looking on the surface, it was horrible; to me it was a massively psychological moment, one I haven’t seen on Raw in some time.

Paying attention to the announce table and the way Axel aimed when it came to his offensive flurry, the ring psychology was great. The night prior Triple H had been brutalized by Brock Lesnar in a cage match, taking a sledgehammer shot to the side of his head. Selling that, he played the concussion angle, while THAT may or may not have been the best thing to do, it worked well in my opinion. With all the issues surrounding concussions in sports, this may have been a risky sell, but sometimes you have to make a risk to get a massive reward. Axel doesn’t come off weak in this matchup as he wasn’t manhandled my Triple H, instead he got to put pressure on Triple H’s head trauma to a point where he couldn’t finish the match. Anyone who can’t see the deeper meaning to the finish isn’t looking hard enough. Unlike the horrible finish to the Ryback match the night before, this time the lack of a true finish is actually a good sign for everyone.

Following Monday night, Triple H now has the built in storyline of his family stepping in to try persuading him to stop getting in the ring and working matches. This keeps him in the game and in the running for matches during the rest of his current performer’s contract. Curtis Axel can now talk about how he was able to do something seemingly impossible, render Triple H unable to finish a match, which can help push him up the ladder. He may not have taken the match, but he’s got now got one up on a legend. Paul Heyman is getting the last laugh in his current storyline, the mad scientist is now getting his chance to step in and bring another star to the dance. While he’s got Lesnar and Punk, he now got the young up and comer to fill out the stable. Brock Lesnar has also been helped by looking even more dominant by taking out Triple H. He’s going to be put over as having been so brutal that all it took was a little work to the head by Curtis Axel the next night to achieve a “Game over.” While some choose to see it as a failed attempt to relaunch a character, if you look beyond the surface you’ll see just how big this moment truly was for all those involved.

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Axel is legitimate, possessing tremendous ability inside of the ring and out. Arguably one of the most underrated work horses in the WWE, Axel had stagnated in the low midcard for nearly 2 years. After a stint in the New Nexus and a forgettable run with the WWE Tag Team Championships, Axel still hadn’t much to show for himself. It wasn’t until he was subject to matches on Superstars and NXT: Redemption where his ability really developed and shined.

In a heated feud with Tyson Kidd, the two had a great program together. Both had fantastic chemistry, blending well with their established heritages and fluid in-ring work. In fact, this was one of the few things that came from this incarnation of NXT that was entertaining. I bring this up, despite it being a year later, to show how much Axel has grown since his initial debut.

Comparative to now, Axel has evolved substantially since the now infamous “Genesis of McGillicutty” promo. Since then, he has developed a comfort in the ring. Now, he shows a considerable amount of ability and intensity, as seen this past Raw.

Things are looking up for his career. This is an opportunity I’m sure he has been working for, and he sure won’t waste. In the near future, I’m certain he will prove himself to be a game changer.

For a long, LONG time WWE fans, especially the Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) have been asking when, or even if, the WWE was going to breath life back into the secondary titles.  When will the United States, Intercontinental Championship, and Tag Team Championships hold some value again?  When will these titles be more than just a throw away belt.  Well who better to restore justice to the secondary titles than the hounds of justice?  The Shield is bringing back some serious prestige to the non-world championship titles.  The progression of The Shield has moved along so smoothly, that this transition into championship gold is not only welcome, it is expected.  These guys have remained dominant since they first arrived in WWE.  Kane and Daniel Bryan did a good job of bringing the Tag Team Titles back from monotony and into the eye of the fans.  They also managed to bring a large amount of prestige back to the titles, holding it for nearly a year now.  Dropping the titles to The Shield becomes even more significant because of their lengthy title reign.  It just fits perfectly with who The Shield is being built to be: unstoppable machines.

With a team of three men, though, it’s trickier.  Do you strap all three men with the Tag Team Championships, and just have any 2/3 combination able to defend the title?  I’m sure that was an option WWE considered, but ultimately I think a better decision was made.  The United States and Intercontinental Championships are also falling into a state of boredom and oblivion.  Quick!  Off the top of your head tell me who the Intercontinental Champion is!….Had to think about it for a second, maybe longer, didn’t you?  So with 2/3 members of The Shield holding Tag Team gold, why not give the remaining member one of these forgotten titles?  It’s a brilliant move by the WWE, because what it does is restore glory to the title.  It’s the man that makes the title, not the other way around.

So the question was, which members of The Shield get which titles?  I think WWE nailed this one, too.  My first instinct would have been to put Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins together given they are the more talented technical ring workers, with Roman Reigns, who is still extremely talented, being more of the powerhouse, able to hold his own better.  Then I started thinking about it, all three members are extremely talented, so it would make sense to make Roman Reigns one of the Tag Team Champions with either Ambrose or Rollins, so that he could balance out their more technical wrestling ability with his more smash mouth in-ring style.  So that just leaves the question who would you strap with the United States Championship and who pairs with Reigns for the Tag Team Championships?  Honestly at this point all you can do is look at Rollins and Ambrose, then try and decide who is the more talented singles wrestlers.  Flipping a coin might actually be easier because it’s difficult to decide.  Ultimately I would have strapped Dean Ambrose with the singles title as well.  I think Ambrose is the best in that group, so giving him the United States Championship is the wise choice.

The these three workers have been a dominating force since they have arrived in the WWE.  The Shield has been so successful because there is no “leader” using the group for themselves.  Good factions tend to fall apart when one member sets their goals above the group.  Factions like Evolution and The Nexus disintegrated over time because they fought among themselves.  The Shield is strong, thus far, because they work as a unit.  Now that they all have their own respective gold, too, makes them more dangerous.  Now that there will be no quarrels about who will get a title shot and who won’t; it unifies them even more.  Making them the unstoppable force of the WWE.

The reason that is such a good thing?  If they are seen as a dominant, dangerous force in the WWE than their championships take on meaning.  When someone is “above” a title they win, it restores illustriousness to the championship.  If John Cena were to carry the Intercontinental Championship it would make people start taking that title more seriously.  Like I said earlier, the man should make the championship, the championship shouldn’t make the man.  So with The Shield coming off as such a supreme force, well that just means that the titles they hold are supreme as well.

Just look at this week’s episode of Raw.  The Shield was standing victorious over Team Hell No and Kofi Kingston, titles held high.  Maybe it was just me, but that was the most memorable moment of the show.  There was no John Cena, no WWE Championship present on this weeks Raw.  Yet I didn’t feel any lack of championship presence at all.  The Shield were the champions for the show, and I didn’t feel neglected.  Not only did The Shield provide a championship buzz for the show, their match was by far the highlight of the night.  The three members of The Shield were on their game in their match.  As a result of The Shield’s work being so glorious, Kofi Kingston, Kane, and especially Daniel Bryan all REALLY stepped their in-ring work up a notch as well.  The faces may have lost the match, but their ring work was off the charts this week, in order to keep up with The Shield’s.

The Hounds of Justice are doing exactly what they said they’d do.  They promised us they would restore justice to the WWE, and they are restoring justice, glory, and prestige to championships that sorely needed it.  They are putting seriously talented wrestling back on the map.  The Shield is one of the best things to happen to the WWE in a very long time, and they are still on rise.  Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose…names that you better get used to hearing.  I, for one, do believe in The Shield.

In one of the more controversial endings to any match in recent memory, the WWE Championship remained in the hands of John Cena following a no-contest at Extreme Rules. The Last Man Standing bout was put to an end when Ryback drove the champion through the LED lights on the entrance way. The contender was helped back on his feet by staff, while Cena was loaded on a stretcher, only for the Post-Show to play a video of him get up, remove his cervical collar and walk off.

Here is what Richard Gray had to say on the matter:

Richard spent enough time in the latest edition of Richard Reacts discussing why the finish did not work and I completely agree with the points he made. Nevertheless, not everyone on the Internet was as outraged as Richard and I were, as some appreciated the fact that Ryback did not have to suffer another major PPV loss on his record. I see what WWE were trying to do, but it would have worked in any other kind of match, including an Extreme Rules one. Point is, they backed themselves into a dead end by booking Cena vs. Ryback as a Last Man Standing Match and they should have at least honored the principles of the stipulation.

I was curious to see how Monday Night Raw would follow up on that disastrous finish. In my view, the only natural way to progress the feud was to have Ryback insist that he should have been strapped after taking out the champion. The opening segment, however, went in a different direction, with Big Hungry instead challenging Cena to an Ambulance Match at Payback.

If there is anything we can draw from the recent developments in the WWE Championship picture, it is probably just how unaware the creative team is of the direction of their own product. As CM Punk said in an interview one year ago, “Trust me… They have no idea what they are doing.”

With the lack of big active names on the roster, it seems very probable that the appointment of Ryback as the No. 1 contender to Cena’s title following WrestleMania was a last-minute decision. Otherwise Mark Henry’s demands for a prominent spot would have probably been ignored in favor of the priority of building The Human Wrecking Ball as a credible opponent for the champ. When the build-up to Extreme Rules began, the higher-ups realized that they had not been left with many options and Ryback had to be fill the void in the main event. The confusingly booked Extreme Rules finish also went on to show that the company had no idea where it was going with the Last Man Standing stipulation.

Such massive plot holes are a result of a lack of long-term planning and the extent to which WWE is currently “going through the motions” is frightening. The opening to the very recent edition of Raw was meant to establish the main event for the next Pay-Per-View, but in no way did it find necessary to address questions arising from the night before. The most likely reason is, there are no answers. Recent WWE programming has not been focused on delivering a quality product, but has instead turned survival mode on, which involves making sure there is a main event set to build up to and hope that the rest will be thought out at a later point.

What is scarier is that the Aces & Eights storyline in TNA, a promotion which is heavily criticized for its illogical booking, has been making more sense in terms of continuity than what should be a fairly simple and straight-forward WWE Championship feud.

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First and foremost on my list, Muhammad Ali, the greatest sportsman of all time, a man who can teach many of the young wrestlers how to sell themselves. Ali was the special referee for WrestleMania 1, everyone can picture the shot of him holding up the Hulksters hand at the end of that historic night in Madison Square Garden.If that doesn’t earn someone a spot in the Hall, nothing will. However Ali even had a match in Japan against famous professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer, Antonio Inoki, which ended causing blood clots in Ali’s legs and ending his career. If that doesn’t guarantee a spot in the Hall, the simple fact that Ali was such a true athlete and a celebrity, he belongs not only in the Hall of Fame, but to be a shining example of what every athlete and entertainer should strive to be.

Without even leaving the first WrestleMania you can find other celebrities deserving of the Hall of Fame, Liberache might come to mind, but really he only had the one showing. However the name Cyndi Lauper stands as an example of someone overly deserving of the spot, yet undeserving celebrities find their way in. Cindy was not only at WrestleMania 1, but helped create the Rock and Wrestling connection that created the media buzz for wrestling in the 80′s. Or what about Mr. T, he was in 2 WrestleMania main events and yet still has not been given a spot in the Hall of Fame. Here’s a major star from the 80′s who was legitimately wrestling, horribly, but was at least willing to step in the ring to bring attention to the product.

But would those celebrities even be there if it were not for the original wrestler/celebrity angle ever done in professional wrestling, Jerry Lawler versus Andy Kaufman in Memphis Tennessee wrestling. The reason Andy was such a perfect fit for wrestling was he loved to blur the line of real and entertainment, refusing to let the audience know what was real and what was staged. Originally Kaufman wrestled women who volunteered from the audience, declaring himself the inter-gender wrestling champion of the world. Perhaps I’ve already said it too many time for it to matter anymore, but that act alone should grant him access to the Hall. However to be the true pro that Andy was, he got involved in a classic feud with Jerry Lawler, the king of Memphis wrestling. Kaufman was in a match with Lawler, received a pile driver and stayed down until he went to the hospital. Of course he was fine, but that didn’t stop Andy from wearing a neck brace for some time. This led to a segment of David Letterman with Kaufman getting slapped, all bringing massive amounts of attention to pro wrestling, and opening the door for more celebrities to do the same.

The final celebrity/celebrities I want to mention that I believe deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame, and rightfully should of taken their spot before Drew Carey (sorry that one just really bothers me) is the band MotorHead. Just before I get into it I’d like to say that I support Donald Trump deserves a spot in the Hall, he hosted 2 WrestleMania’s, owned Raw for a week and shaved Vince bald. MotorHead has created a couple theme songs for HHH, including his most famous one and ‘King of Kings.” MotorHead has also led HHH  to the ring at WrestleMania 17, 21 and 22 and had one of their songs used as a theme for Unforgiven 2008. Finally given the fact that they’re HHH’s band, the likelyhood of them entering the Hall should be pretty high, HHH has also repeatedly introduced them on stage and the below photo should give some fans a clue as to where HHH has got the idea for some of his facial hair looks.

Collectively, they’ve been perceived as a threat in virtually everything they have done. Now with title chances at Extreme Rules, I’m seeing this as a matter of time before they begin to develop their own independent characters.

Besides vague promos both in-ring and with cameras (that are left lying around backstage or something,) the only things we’ve seen from The Shield are some pretty concentrated attacks. They’ve taken out every major face in the company at this point, and have defeated some formidable teams. I’m going to go ahead and assume that they’re going to win at Extreme Rules, all of them, for the simple fact that they have been so heavily built on. Using numbers to their advantage I’m sure, but having every title in a stable, besides the top championship, is an interesting idea. I’m not inclined to trust it for long, but attention-holding none the less.

The shield has built their own following, and I don’t think they’re overexposed. With something this invigorating, I don’t see many shying away from the Shield. As we all know, teams simply don’t go on for years and years anymore. A part of the shield’s character as a whole is their mysteriousness. From a heel standpoint, I understood the whole “justice” thing, at least at first. Now I’m convinced that they’ve stretched on to more than just fixing the system, or whatever the initial plan was to be.

A part of me would love to see them branch off and become different characters while under the shield name. But, I’m not sure if that’s ever happened with any stable in recent history. Legacy’s existence seemed to be for Orton’s success alone, before ultimately imploding. The Nexus and New Nexus both allowed their leaders to shine much brighter than the other members; supporting whatever the leader’s intentions were at that point in time. The Corre followed the same concept, just on a different show, although members eventually won titles. However, the Shield has no clear leader. With Ambrose being the challenger for a single-man title, one could say he was the leader, although I’m not inclined to that. Rollins have Reigns have both proved their worth, and this is a team of “rookies” after all.

It’s much too soon to call how the shield is going to end, and who is going to be a face or heel from the group. However, looking at the downfalls of many other groups, the show of character alone is going to be the beginning of the end. As much as I loved Seth’s moshing and Dean’s sporadic attacks of William Regal on NXT, all of that is going to have to wait. With much careful use of the Shield, it was a matter of time before another milestone was in the group’s run. While the titles may very well start to develop the shield into characters, it’ll also be the beginning of hopefully three more successful careers. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to see these guys be successful?

It would appear that the tag titles are finally starting to get a little attention again, with the emergence of Hell No the division is not quite the joke it has been lately. While I’m usually against just throwing together two singles workers, this gimmick has helped keep two top names in a featured role, while also making the tag titles matter because they’re on a seemingly unstoppable team. That unstoppable team is coming up against two thirds of an even more unstoppable team (seemingly) this Sunday with The Shield taking on Hell No for the straps. If things go as I, and many others, are hoping then The Shield will be carrying the tag titles after Sunday and we’ll see other teams start stepping up to face them. This could actually make people care about the tag titles, maybe even get a ladder match for the titles sometime down the road similar to the old attitude days, when teams like the Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz, and E&C dominated the landscape. While not a guarantee, this would be a step in the right direction after years of massive missteps.

There’s a man carrying the World Heavyweight Championship right now, and hopefully for quite a while, who has the ability to draw and get people to pay attention to that title again. Alberto Del Rio wasn’t quite what people expected him to be with the belt, Swagger is far too dangerous and unpredictable to be given a run right now, you can’t really trust Orton, Sheamus was a better heel than face so he isn’t that safe of a bet, the WHC title picture is pretty much littered with people who aren’t quite right or ready for a reign. Taking that into account, I would keep Ziggler with the title for at least the next 5 months and possibly longer. During that run you could either slowly turn him to a face, while elevating someone like Wade Barrett into contention, or successfully elevate a face to the top of the card to challenge for the gold. Maybe you finally give Kofi a shot, maybe slowly turn Cesaro and move him up, hell maybe you give Miz another shot toward the top of the card, he’s more than capable of filling that spot. I actually think a Ziggler/Miz program would go over very well and entertain a crowd; it’s worth a shot anyway.

The last title I’m going to touch on is one that’s steeped in history, dating back into the NWA days, having been held by many current and future Hall of Fame workers. The United States title once meant something in the business; it once held the place of being the exact stepping stone to being in contention for what has become the World Heavyweight Championship back in the WCW days. I remember Goldberg carrying both titles and being stripped of the US title specifically because it was supposed to be a stepping stone to the top of the card. Once you moved to the top, you didn’t need to worry about the midcard title any longer. With reigns by the likes of Santino Marella and Zack Ryder, it’s become more of a comedy prop at times than the important championship of the past. This Sunday we could see Dean Ambrose, a throwback worker if there ever was one, taking the US title. With any luck this will allow prestige to be brought back to this title. I would like to see Ambrose carry the title EVERY time he’s on television. If he’s in a match the belt comes to the ring, if he’s doing an interview he brings the belt, hell if he’s coming out to jump someone the belt should be with him as well. I would actually change up the belt and give it the old WCW appearance, in the name of doing justice to this once important championship.

There is so much gold in WWE right now that it can be difficult to keep tabs, and manage the distribution of, at times. That understandable, you have so many titles, and only so much time allowed for television, but you should ALWAYS make time for your champions. While there are some people who are theoretically main event workers, if there is someone with a title (no matter how seemingly insignificant) they should get a spot on the show to at least cut a promo, if not actually work a match with someone who could contend for their title. Having the perpetual 6 man tag matches where you throw together multiple storylines just to get the people in front of the crowd has run its course. Instead of seeing Sheamus, Orton, and Jericho taking on Big Show, Henry, and Fandango, maybe we see Kofi working at least a 7-10 minute match against a serious contender who (while not facing him for it) is clearly coveting his title. Maybe we start a transition, you have Fandango working Jericho but then you throw him up against Wade Barrett with Jericho at the announce table, having one of the greatest IC champs critique a match against the current champ. When his run with Jericho ends he can fulfill Austin’s prediction and take the title from Barrett. While this may seem hard to understand to some, it seems so simple to others. Champions are supposed to be held up, not down, maybe it’s time WWE remembered that.

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Stairs Match

The steel steps have always been used as a weapon in the WWE, whether in the midst of a Street Fight or a post-match attack. Stars have thrown their opponents into them, bashed them in the head, or used them to give their finishing move more of an impact. With a match built around this specific weapon, we could see stars find even more ways to use the steel steps to their advantage. This type of match would be best reserved for some of the bigger stars in WWE, such as Ryback, Mark Henry, and Sheamus. While stars who are smaller in stature have shown they can use the steps to their advantage, this match would require wielding the steps much like one would use a chair, which requires a lot of strength and endurance.

Top of the Turnbuckle Match

Many superstars in the WWE today have a signature or finishing move that comes from the top turnbuckle, including Kane’s flying clothesline, John Cena’s leg drop, and Justin Gabriel’s 450 Splash. The idea behind this match would be that in order to win, you must perform a move from each of the four top turnbuckles. These moves could vary from high flying attacks to just a simple superplex. Unlike a strap match, however, they would not have to do the moves consecutively, but rather, keep a tally of which corners have been used. While most superstars do have some type of move involving the top turnbuckle, the cruiserweights in the company would be the best ones to put on this match. Their agility would allow for quick reversals and unique attacks in a fast paced environment.

Entrance Ramp Match

Much like the steel steps, the entrance ramp has often been used as a mean of attacking an opponent. Whether they are throwing their opponent off the stage or putting them right through the ramp, it was always been a huge difference maker by the end of the attack. This match would work out best if the stipulation is to put your opponent through some part of the entrance set up, as there is nothing kept on the floor below the ramp anymore to break somebody’s fall. This is a match that anyone in the locker room could participate in and pull off. The cruiserweights would have another opportunity for unique offense and defensive moves while the heavyweights could use their brute strength to really sell hard attacks on the steel ramp.

Announcer’s Table Match

Of all the weapons available at ringside for superstars to use, none has been used better than the announcer’s table. Stars such as C.M. Punk and Shawn Michaels have used their high flying abilities to take down their opponents with the table while The Shield has used it recently to make their Triple Powerbomb even more effective. Not only does the announce table make moves look more painful, but it also garners a huge pop from the audience. People love seeing the announce table used and at times are even expecting it. When I went to the No Way Out pay per view last year, before the main event, the guys sitting behind me screamed out, “Why is the announce table still intact?!”. By the end of the match, John Cena had used the Atitude Adjustment to put John Laurenitis through the Spanish announce table. With the fans showing so much interest in the use of the announcer’s table, this would be an easy match to sell and one that any superstar could carry.

What other new gimmick matches would you like to see? Share below!

           While I know this article will seem highly hypocritical considering my last article about the dangers of hardcore wrestling, I want to write about my love for cage matches. I am a big fan of gimmick matches when they’re used properly, and one of my favorites growing up was the cage match. There is so much history to the cage match, and even more memories. There are also all kinds of cages and different cage matches as a result of the overwhelming popularity of the concept (i.e. Hell In A Cell, Lions Den, Lethal Lockdown, Steel Asylum, War Games, Punjabi Prison, Christian Cage, etc.) though I have an issue with the way they have been used lately.

The issue is with how a match should end. Should wrestlers be put into a cage and be able to pin, submit or escape in order to win, or should it be escape only as it was in the old days? I believe it should be escape only and here is why.

The cage match like many believe should be end of a feud. It’s for when the heel is cowardly and runs away or his manager always finds a way to help him pull out the win. There are many other reasons for climaxing a feud in a cage match but it all comes down to the fact it’s when the feud gets so hot, the only way they can end it is in a cage. A great example of this is Stone Cold vs. Vince McMahon at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre for a title shot at WrestleMania

Hopefully I don’t need to remind you how nuclear that feud was, though for those who were not watching back then the basic story is Vince screwed Austin out of winning Royal Rumble ’99. For those that don’t remember/know go look it up. That Royal Rumble match was great. They resulted in a “you beat me in a cage and you get your title shot” match. How better of a way to do it than that? Lock those two in a cage and right a wrong that happened at the Rumble. While the ending was screwy and sort of contradicts my point, it was great. Spoiler alert – Big show debuted and threw Austin into the cage which resulted in the cage breaking and Austin landing outside, winning the match. After a brutal match and a hot feud what a great way to get you jacked for WrestleMania. In my mind it was perfect. Imagine how dumb and boring would it have been if the cage never broke and Austin would have then fought back and pinned

My second point is the Cage match between Bret Hart and Owen Hart at SummerSlam 94. One of my favorite matches of all time. The match itself was just pure raw emotion, and stellar wrestling ability. What made that match was the constant attempts at getting out of the cage. Whether it be Bret or Owen trying to crawl out of the Door or climbing up the cage, the emotion not only in the ring but the surrounding Hart family made the match

My point being is feuds go into the cage to end. 2 men in 1 man out. How does pinning your opponent and walking out end that feud? How is it different than just another match? Because it also has a cage? Nah, to me it doesn’t work. If there is a feud that should end via pinfall then it shouldn’t be in a cage, plain and simple. That brings me to the major point of this blog. The Extreme Rules Cage match between Brock Lesnar and

Love it or hate it this feud picked up when they announced the cage. These are two guys who hate each other, that goes without saying. Brock Lesnar’s UFC past makes this match so much better and in my opinion WWE makes it more enticing. Though the fact remains – A feud this hot needs to end in only one way – one man walking out. How can we believe it is a war when a man gets pinned in the ring? I keep reminding myself about the Hell In A Cell match between Lesnar and Taker. Heyman added so much to that match. That’s seemingly irrelevant because a HIAC match ends in a pinfall, but Heyman can be the guy sitting by the door to the cage preventing HHH escaping. I won’t carry on too much about my opinion of the ending because of Predictions on Saturday. I just think we would be sold on garbage if a man gets pinned.

There is also the case where TNA created a PPV around it. That’s really the only excuse I can see to different endings to a cage match. While I feel a gimmick pay per view can be good, like Extreme Rules where they have options, A cage PPV kills the gimmick. I think we can all agree Lockdown 2012 was a solid ppv. It was one of the few times we can all agree that TNA booked a show good from start to finish. The finishes were diverse and they needed to be. There were eight matches all in a cage there needed to be variety in the booking to the ending.

I was arguing about how a cage match should with my friend Matt and he mentioned the match between Edge and Matt Hardy. Now yes that fits the criteria for what a cage match should be about. The storyline was hot. We both agree it was a great way to end the feud. He thinks the pinfall was adequate, which is where we differ. The Leg Drop off the top of the cage was epic. I just think the story would have been better finished with Matt walking out of the cage instead of getting the pinfall. Watching that match, yes both men were exhausted. Though what could have stopped Matt from crawling out instead of pinning him after that awesome leg drop from the top? Why pin a person when you can crawl out? Regardless, I do urge you all to watch that match.

How can anyone write an opinion piece on Cage Matches and not talk about blood? Yes we all want blood in wrestling but sometimes it’s not necessary. With a feud as massive as Brock v HHH I think blood would be great to sell this match. It is a good way to help elevate a match done two times prior to a level that a cage can’t do alone. Though I believe not all cage matches call for blood. There are many great cage matches that resulted in no blood, like the Hart brothers match I talked about earlier. Legendary, with zero blood.

I can’t really go on much without repeating myself ad nauseam. Cage matches are a throwback to pure old-school wrestling. I bought my tickets for Extreme Rules for one reason, which was to see The Rock. When word got out he was injured, I was bummed. The second they announced Brock vs. HHH I was instantly excited. This could be a stellar match. It’s a reason to buy this Pay Per View. The point remains though, Cage matches should only end one way. That is like I have said many times before, One man escaping.

Everyone has an opinion on how they believe they could improve the business. There is no problem in that. In fact, websites such as this survive on the opinions of myself and others. A different perspective on the topic allows for expansive insight and constructive conversations. However, in cases of extreme ignorance or bias, this can be lost. Each and every week, programs are subject to constant negativity and disagreements. Instead of backing up these claims with facts and info, these empty statements are filled with arrogance and pretentiousness. It seems as if they miss the point completely.

No one likes to see their favorites lose, and everyone can relate to that. However, arguing about the politics of the business is rather foolish. Instead of looking for someone to blame, keep an open mind. Not everyone can win. Not everyone can get pushed. Not everyone can be champion. This is just the way the business works. I understand that it does get frustrating sometimes when the product is lackluster. However, negativity breeds more negativity. In a business that we all care for so much, there simply isn’t a place for this.

If the product is good, support it. This will cause the incentive to create more quality product. If the product is not up to par, don’t support it. Is it really worth the frustration? At the root of it, wrestling is supposed to be fun, and that is lost when people take themselves to seriously. That is the most important thing. Find something you enjoy, and define what it means to you.

It was Ric Flair, Arn & Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard that made me turn away from my local Fox Station where WWF came on at about 1 pm to see Ric and the boys promote the next beating they would issue out. These guys made me believe. Ric was smart, Arn and Ole were tough and Tully was a blend of both. With JJ Dillon in tow, it was an unstoppable force. Tag team gold, Television Title, World Title and NWA National Heavyweight Title, they were the pinnacle of success and they really lived it. Although there would be changes in line up as Ole was pushed out and Luger came in, Barry Windham, Sting, Vicious, Benoit and Many others as well, Arn and Ric were always the cornerstone and foundation of that group. Few stables came as close to the legacy these men created. Some have come damn close though. Here is a look at some of the other stables that resulted from the legendary groups success.

Evolution

Evolution was an extension or evolved version of the Horsemen. With Flair as the anchor, acting as part JJ Dillon part Arn (as in technician), HHH played a modern Flair well. Backed by a legit enforcer in Batista and the wildcard future Apex Predator Randy Orton, this group was the best of the best. Who can forget the Monday Night Raw when Evolution appeared with HHH carrying the World Heavyweight Championship, Flair and Batista with the Tag Team Titles and Randy Orton holding the Intercontinental strap. If the Horsemen were a perfect 10 out of 10, Evolution would be slightly under at a 9.

Fourtune

Fourtune, despite being the bane of spell checks everywhere was the very best stable in TNA History. Anchored by Flair, AJ Styles was a World Title contender, with Beer Money being perhaps the best tag team in wrestling at the time and Kaz as the wildcard and perennial X Division favorite, this was the best of the best. Despite not having the break out scene like Evolution, Styles did defeat Kurt Angle before it was more commonplace, and Beer Money were always stealing the show. If you had to grade this incarnation, it would be at least an 8 out of ten.

The Legacy

So what happens if you spin off of the group. It can go right like the Legacy.That is if was not lead by an increasingly predatory Randy Orton, and if you had Flair or Anderson as anchor guiding the sons of prowrestling legends. With Randy Orton winning World Titles and Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase Jr. on the cusp of tag team and mid card greatness, this group was primed to take over the industry. Comparing them to the Horsemen and you end up with a generous 6 out of 10.

Revolution

Shane Douglass and the Radicals (minus Eddie Guerrero) or Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Chris Benoit. This group had everything except the companies backing necessary to create a legacy and the proof is in the pudding. With Shane Douglass, in my opinion, one of the greatest to not receive his top company World Title push since Ted Dibiase Sr. in the Flair role, Malenko and Saturn as a team and Benoit chasing the US Title, if the company (WCW) had not been bogged down by older stars with creative control and the arrival of Vince Russo, this would have been the future WCW desperately needed in just a few short years. Dean would prove to be a considerable addition to WWE’s undercard and eventually backstage team, Saturn, an amazing worker when sober, rounded out the radicals and Benoit became a world champion. Because Shane was no threat to the World Title and creative would only let this group go but so far they were stuck. With that caveat, what could have been greatness must be judged as a generous 4 out of 10. Just to throw in my two cents, the Radicals would easily be a 6 out of 10 on my Horsemen scale, if that makes any difference.

The Xtreme Horsemen

VCW and MLW had the pleasure of this offshoot. With JJ Dillon being the tie in and CW receiving the Anderson name and subsequently playing the role well, the Xtreme Horsemen cause havoc for independents. As The King of the Old School Steve Corino took the lead, CW Anderson was an excellent step in and Justin Credible taking it to the hardcore along with Simon to round out the group they were impressive. It is also noteworthy that Barry Windham would show up from time to time as an ally. Since they never got to face the lucky guys in the WCW, TNA and WWE locker room it would be a bit unfair to rate them as such but ROH should definitely give us a one off of this unit together as Corino has found his niche there.

And finally, I would be remiss if I didnt at least discuss The Millionares Club. Awful storyline, boring tv and worse PPVs. This group did however contain former Horsemen including Flair, Sting, Vicious, Curt Hennig and Lex Luger. And just remember, even if you werent around to witness the greatness the Horsemen achieved, you benefited from their legacy. Without them there would be no DX or NWO. The big three would not have brought the Heenan Family or Dangerous Alliances, Million Dollar Corporations or York Foundations, or even the Dungeon of Doom and WWE Gang Wars with the Nation of Domination, Diciples of Apocalypse etc.

Extreme Rules Pre-show (PPV, WWE.com, Facebook and YouTube)

The Miz vs. Cody Rhodes

This is a battle of two very talented superstars that have fallen completely off the map. Miz, who at this time two years ago, was WWE champion, but has had very little success since the end of 2011. With Dolph Ziggler becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion the night after WM, I feel that Cody falls into the “Next superstar to become a major champion” category. He has all of the talent in the world, but just haven’t had the right opportunity. While I think that the winner of this match will get somewhat of a push, both are deserving of a push and have the talent to get the job done. Honestly, this shouldn’t be a pre-show match.

Winner: Cody Rhodes

Extreme Rules

United States Championship

Dean Ambrose vs. Kofi Kingston (c)

Mark this date down. May 19, 2013. This is the day that the Shield will fully take the WWE by storm, and it will start with the U.S. title. Kofi is a good champion, but the (sad) reality is, that unless something changes, he may very well be a career mid-carder. Dean Ambrose is a pure talent. Plain and simple. Those who watched him in the indies know what I am talking about. It is time to see what he can do as a champion and I think he will bring some desprately needed credibility back to the United States Championship.

Winner and new U.S. Champion: Dean Ambrose

WWE Tag Team Championship: Tag Team Tornado Match

The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) vs. Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) (c)

Let’s be honest folks. The “Team Hell No” shtick has run its course. It was a great concept and the fans ate it up and creative hit a home run with it. But it has been the better part of nine months since it started. It is time for Kane and Daniel Bryan to go back to singles competition and make a run at individual gold (ok, Bryan definitely). Who better to pass the tag titles to than the rising stars, the agile Seth Rollins and the powerhouse Roman Reigns. I think Hell No brought some cred back to the titles, but The Shield will take it to another level. Long live The Shield.

Winners and new Tag Team Champions: The Shield

Chris Jericho vs. Fandango  FAN-DAN-GOH!

I hope Fandango appreciates what Chris Jericho is doing for him. Here, we have the classic case of the legend (and future Hall of Famer) showing the WWE rookie the ropes and taking him under his wing. On top of that, Jericho is putting him over, which in my opinion is a huge sign of respect and a classy move by Y2J. I think Jericho puts him over again, only building up Fandango’s resume.

Winner: Fandango

Extreme Rules Match

Randy Orton vs. Big Show

This is one of those rivalries that carried over from WrestleMania (so shouldn’t this be Backlash?), when Orton and the Big Show were partners with Sheamus in a six-man tag against the Shield. After The Shield took the victory, Orton and Show have been at each other’s throats for the better part of the last six weeks. Both of these guys are looking to get back in the main event scene, so a win would definitely put on of them on the right track.

Winner: Big Show

Strap Match

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry

Ever listen to Mark Henry’s entrance theme? No? Take a listen here. Somebody may literally get their ass whipped in this match. Why I say that? Because in order to win this match, you have to beat your opponent so senseless that you can drag them across the ring (I did mention you are strapped to your opponent, so you can’t run) and touch all four turnbuckles in succession. Now I know that Sheamus is one strong Irishman. But Mark Henry is 1) The World’s Strongest Man 2) Weighs a ever so light 412 pounds. I don’t know if the Celtic Warrior can do it. But I do know he is gonna try.

Winner: Mark Henry

“I Quit” Match to determine the #1 Contender for Dolph Ziggler’s World Heavyweight Championship

Jack Swagger w/ Zeb Coulter vs. Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez

This was supposed to be a Triple Threat Match for the WHC, that plan was scrapped due to the concussion that Dolph Ziggler suffered.  So instead, we have a rematch of the WHC match at WrestleMania, in which Del Rio won by submission. I’m kind of torn on this one. One side says that Del Rio will win because Vince doesn’t want to push Swagger after that whole Biloxi debacle back in March. But another side of me says Swagger will prevail because of the injury to Ziggler and next month’s PPV titled “Payback.” But with recent developments, as reported on WNW, “Viva Del Rio!”

Winner and new #1 Contender: Alberto Del Rio

Steel Cage Match

Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H

This is the third match between these two since last August. Lesnar won at SummerSlam, Hunter won at WrestleMania. This match will guarantee the following. This match will be violent. Point Blank. It will not be pretty, it probably will involve blood, it will not be for the weak at heart. This is literally like locking two animals into a cage and saying go beat the absolute hell out of each other, and believe me, both will obliege to that. This match is going to be (in JBL’s words) monkey butt ugly, this will not really be a match, but more like a brawl. All I can say…Here Comes the Pain. And that is for both of them.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship

Ryback vs. John Cena

While I believe Richard’s post from a few days ago, here is a little knowledge you might want to figure into that equation. John Cena very good when it comes to the land of extreme, but Cena has not fared well in a Last Man Standing match as often. One occurrence I am looking at is at Backlash in 2009. Cena faced Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Last Man Standing match. Cena lost. Not because Edge beat him. He lost because Big Show threw him through a searchlight on the Backlash stage. My point? I am going with Cena in this match, but be mindful of the “Hounds of Injustice”, the Shield. If they get involved (which is definitely possible), Ryback’s appetite may finally be satisfied. With the WWE Championship.

Winner and still WWE Champion: John Cena

The official theme song of Extreme Rules is “Live It Up” by Airbourne.

As always, you can leave your thoughts in the comments section below or  follow me on Twitter, I am @jp_mediamvp! I love hearing from the IWC! 

And with that, go ahead and get in the car, because you can take these predictions to the bank! Oh, and you just got slammed!

WrestlingNewsWorld has been reporting for a couple of months now that The Shield might be in store for a WWE Tag Team Championship reign and as of this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, the board is set and the pieces are moving. It is now official that Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will be challenging Team Hell No for the belts at Extreme Rules. A more surprising addition to this Sunday’s card turned out to be a United States Championship match with current champion Kofi Kingston defending against the third Hound of Justice, Dean Ambrose.

As soon as these two matches were announced, the Internet Wrestling Community was quick to react. Some were excited about the contest’s potential to steal the show in St. Louis, while others raised the intriguing question, isn’t this a step down for the three members of The Shield, who have been involved in main event angles ever since their debut at Survivor Series. The trio has been dominating the likes of John Cena, Ryback, and recently even The Undertaker as part of their quest for justice. With Ambrose wrestling The Phenom on SmackDown not long ago, how does Kofi Kingston contribute to The Shield’s progression up the ranks?

I can’t blame the IWC for not buying the upcoming US title bout between Kingston and Ambrose. Secondary belts such as the United States Championship and the Intercontinental Championship have lost much of their prestige in the last few years, with Richard Gray referring to them as “nothing more than props”. Following The Shield’s high-profile matches in recent months, including a win over three top WWE names at WrestleMania, a guy who has been booked with as little faith and dedication as Kofi Kingston may not seem like a big threat. And let’s be honest here, he probably is not.

WWE’s support for the Ghanaian high-flyer has been anything but constant, alternating title reigns with periods of severe burial. The Shield, on the other hand, has tremendous momentum heading into Extreme Rules and a loss to Kingston simply would not make sense. I am betting my money on Ambrose this Sunday and I like the idea of him getting a run with the US title. Nevertheless, the reasoning behind that has nothing to do with the potential benefit Ambrose’s character would gain from the championship reign. The Hounds of Justice are already as over as they can get with the WWE Universe, having worked with some of the business’ biggest names.

Sometimes it is important to recognize that the relationship between title and performer is a complex one. Trophies in sports generally symbolize some sort of accomplishment and are carried by those athletes who have managed to prove their superiority in competition. Professional wrestling, as an art focused on storytelling and character development just as much as it is on live performance, functions differently. Sometimes it is not the title that defines the worker, but it is the worker that brings prestige to the title. My interest in the US Championship has already been ignited by the mere involvement of Dean Ambrose.

Despite the fact that Kofi Kingston has been around for six years now, the WWE Universe has their eyes set on The Shield and their path of destruction. Their momentum can do wonders for the United States Championship and the Tag Team Championships, the prestige of which is crucial for the company’s ability to build stars in the future. Is a secondary belt a step down for The Shield? Considering that the group is yet to hold any WWE title, no, it is not. It is, however, a step up for the US Championship, and after all, it is a breath of fresh air for this particular title match to be arguably the most anticipated match of this Sunday’s show.

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One good thing I will admit about Batista is that he looked good with the World Heavyweight Championship, in no way am I being sarcastic, the belt actually looks like it belong on him. The above picture of Batista has him with the spinner WWE title, which does not look nearly as good on him as the World Title does. That all may sound like petty details, but this is professional wrestling and the look is half the battle. But that right there is part of my problem, as the look is only, at much, half the battle, there is a lot more to creating a superstar. I’m unsure of the numbers, but I know Brock Lesnar got an unbelievable amount of money for his few dates. Brock Lesnar however is a monster. He’s a physical specimen, an incredible athlete, the only NCAA, UFC and WWE champion. He’s a little brutal on the mic, so they got him Paul Heyman. Batista looks incredible, even got some great tattoos, and if wrestling was based purely on selling action figures and 8×10 photos, he’d be perfect. BUT IT’S NOT! Batista is one of the worst on the mic of all time, I don’t remember one time where one of his promos entranced or excited me, or even really made me want to watch one of his matches.

Case in point, let’s think about the promo that was supposed to hype his big main event at WrestleMania, does anyone recall one specific quote that made you want to see that match? No, everyone remembers the brilliant display of showmanship that saw Batista give his thumbs up, and then turn it down. Wow, what a charismatic presence he brought into the ring, the type of hand signals MONKEYS understand. Admittedly he was one of the biggest stars made since the end of the Attitude Era alongside John Cena, but my opinion? Batista’s not even in Cena’s league. I understand that these new part-timer’s help bring some unpredictability to the show, but why waste the money on a star who never really blew up instead of just attempting to create new stars. There has to be a million wannabe wrestlers with a nearly identical look as Batista, or just give the push to Wade Barrett, almost identical, better wrestler and comes with an accent.

Now I’ve gone in to some depth about my feelings on Batista’s charisma or vocal abilities, I will say that I did enjoy him as a heel going into WrestleMania 26. To me this was the height of Batista, he came off as a true problem for John Cena, until he got repeatedly dominated, and his promos were at least tolerable. Was there anything ground breaking with what he was doing? Not at all, but it felt closer to what Batista actually is as a human being, so it came off as enjoyable to the viewer. But what about his wrestling abilities, one of the smallest parts of being a pro wrestler anymore, but it still matters to some fans. So with all the complaining I’ve done about Batista’s in ring abilities, are they as bad as I claim or am I exaggerating? Well look at SummerSlam 2008, John Cena and Batista had a phenomenal match, neither man is known for technical abilities, but this match was fantastic. You can also look to Batista’s series with The Undertaker, some absolute classics, WrestleMania 23 and Survivor Series inside of the Hell In a Cell were some truly beautiful bouts. However aside these select bouts he never impressed me, always seemed extremely boring in the ring and failed to excite me. To me Batista was perfect for his role as an enforcer and beyond that he was just extremely muscled and over-hyped.

So with all that I’ve said any reader would assume that I hate Batista and want him out of wrestling’s history, but this is an exaggeration. I’m happy Batista was in the WWE, I think the sights of him as Deacon Batista is hilarious and his role and even leaving Evolution was some fantastic television. I just don’t see the use in putting out what will need to be big dollars I imagine to sign a star that was less than extraordinary when he was in his wrestling primee. Batista’s been trying MMA and acting and all the power to him, I hope he succeeds in every avenue he attempts. But I want him to stay away from the wrestling ring, that phase in WWE is over, that stage in Batista’s life is over, it’s better for all parties. My personal belief is that the money and resources would be better served going towards the up and coming talent and work for the future. And god forbid, if Batista does make a part time come back, the only thing that makes sense to me is having him help build a rising star. Brock Lesnar has not been used that way and has repeatedly loss, but Batista is worth much less than Brock Lesnar. So I hope in my heart that WWE has learned from the mistakes with Brock and if they move forward with Batista use him properly to save the audience from brutal promos and matches from a wrestler who will be rusty from time away and who wasn’t that great in the first place.

There is no question, Ryback has exceptional heel potential. One should only look at his promos and actions in the past week to see he is as intimidating as he was as a face, but now he seems dangerous. Perhaps this is because he has taken a page from two of the brands best heels in recent times, a pre-injury Mark Henry and Champion CM Punk. From Mark Henry, he seems to move at almost a cerebral pace even though his intentions are not of the Harley Race, organized destruction but because he is aiming to beat you until you can’t mount an offense and then finish you. From Punk, he has crossed to the side where he will do anything within his power to inflict pain and get his point across.

I have always thought the man with the plan was the most dangerous. Ric Flair would chop you until your chest was raw, but his focus, like a Bret Hart was to subtly work your legs and knees until it was time to finish you off. Ryback is more Kane than Flair. A monster that continually moves forward. He has astounded us with his obvious power despite always coming up short of the big win. In comes his biggest fear. Ryback should not be facing a Post WrestleMania Cena unless creative is having him go over.

Sure, Cena is banged up. He should take some time off. However, he can’t with Ziggler down and Punk taking some much deserved time off. There is no main event scene. We are used to seeing part time talent at WrestleMania, but at Extreme Rules? HHH vs. Brock Lesnar is a desperately needed second main event because the rest of the card offers very little. Seeing a program with Dolph and Cena while Punk is away would be amazing. Two Champions going at it would raise SmackDown stock tremendously. All these thoughts are on Rybacks mind. He has to look strong even if it means he goes under to Cena because he is not the logical choice, he is a secondary choice to Main Event right now. Think about it, who else could challenge for the world title right now? Even if you started at the Raw after Mania, you couldn’t program a logical feud with Big Show or Orton. Perhaps if we saved Taker and gave him a shot, having him go under to Cena could set up next year’s Main Event.

If Ryback would have only stayed on SmackDown I feel he would have been in a position to dominate now. Bubbling under the radar, a slow building Ryback could have had increasingly meaningful feuds, Imagine a prolonged mid card title on Ryback. He could have raised that stock and went on to win the World Heavyweight title while Dolph went on to pursue the Raw title scene. Now, his MITB was for the World Heavyweight Belt, which he should have been claimed and moved on. The ADR/Swagger feud, which may still be the hottest thing going, could have been red hot without the strap. These mistakes may be the reason Ryback is seen as a contender by creative but never the guy to carry the ball.

It will be interesting seeing where they carry this. I will note that John Cena has never lost at Extreme Rules. So if history tells us anything, Ryback will be cementing his legacy as the Ted Dibiase of the new generation. Always a challenger and never the Champ. Oh, by the way, just for the CeNation haters….

Tonight I decided that the person I’ve been thinking of when seeing Del Rio is none other than Kurt Angle. The music got me hooked on it, I remember Kurt originally having his horns blaring as his entrance music for so long as the heel character he played in the original, annoying, three I’s phase of his WWE career. Once he turned face he got his music amped up a bit, they added guitars, some drums, and power behind it to get the fans to actually like the sound of it instead of the boring horns he originally had been using. Del Rio now has his music amped up with that James Johnston rock touch, in a ploy to get the fans to actually pay attention to him and enjoy his entrance theme. While it worked for Angle, I don’t see it ever working for Alberto Del Rio, he’s just not the star that you need to be in order to be one of, if not THE top guy in the business.

Another thing that makes me think of Angle is the mixture of MMA and amateur wrestling into his arsenal in the ring. He’s got moves, he can put on a decent enough match in the ring with just about anyone, but how many times have you actually said “I can’t WAIT to see that matchup between Alberto Del Rio” and anybody? My money is on never, while I could be wrong, I’m willing to bet that I’m dead on with that guesstimation. Kurt Angle on the other hand, I can’t really think of many matches, if any, that I HAVEN’T been able to say “I’m really looking forward to/interested in seeing Kurt Angle” against pretty much anyone in the entire business today, tomorrow, or yesterday. I guess Kurt just has that IT factor that we hear so much about in the world of pro wrestling where Alberto just doesn’t. He may be a legend in Mexico and descended from royalty in the world of Lucha Libre, he doesn’t seem to have what it takes to be a major draw in the states.

While he may have started off flat, slow, and even boring at times on the mic Kurt Angle eventually got to the point of being able to put together one hell of a promo while working in WWE. His little “Three I’s” speech became a running comedic gag at one point, but he started to draw people in with his charisma, personality, and just his attitude toward the business. Alberto Del Rio is NOT pulling this off to this point in his career. I’ve yet to have a single time where Alberto took a mic and cut a promo that kept me hooked burned into the mind any points that he was intending to get across to a crowd. The only entertaining point to Alberto Del Rio and a microphone would be his ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez. All he has to do is introduce his “boss” and he gets a pop from the crowd, Del Rio on the other hand couldn’t get a pop if he announced he would be dropping a million bucks from the rafters to all the fans in attendance.

I know the gimmick was originally intended to be a bit of a rehash of the old JBL gimmick but he’s transitioned from that into what I’ve been saying to this point. Bradshaw was an incredible talent and one of the best people to pick up a mic when he hit his heel role, I absolutely loved his run as champion on Smackdown, but he never changed into the face role so there’s no real way to compare him to the current Del Rio character. Angle, on the other hand, went from heel to face and back many times in his career; I’m not really all that sure Del Rio has the ability to do that in his career. I may be coming off a bit harsh here, but this is my honest feeling on the entire scenario, the man just doesn’t seem to be worth all the effort they’re putting into trying to make him a top draw in the business. So tonight I’ve answered the age old question (well, 20 minutes old anyway) of what do you get when you take Kurt Angle and drain about half his talent and three quarters of his charisma? You get Allllllllberrrrrrtooooooooo Delllllllllll Riiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooooooooooooooo.

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Last week on Raw I noticed a certain look from one Dean Ambrose toward the US title while the ref was bringing it in the ring to Kofi after the matchup. I thought, right away, that they were planting a subtle little seed that maybe Ambrose was going to aim for some gold sooner than later. It would appear that my guess was correct, that Ambrose is going to be going after the US title this Sunday at Extreme Rules. While it’s not guaranteed he’ll get the win, I’m hoping for it to happen, maybe it could help in trying to restore some prestige to a midcard title that’s been an afterthought to the IC title in the past few years. I had read at some point that the thought was to make Reigns the singles worker, the leader of the group, it appears the wise decision has been made to push Dean Ambrose as the top member to this point.

Another thing that’s seemingly happening is that Reigns and Rollins are going to get their shot at the tag titles. While I would prefer the Freebird rule to come into play with the trio being able to defend the titles in whatever order they choose, the upside of teaming Reigns with Rollins is that you’re putting the greenest member of the team with one of the most talented in ring workers in the business today. While Seth Rollins is new to WWE television, Tyler Black has been busting ass in the business or some time now and deserves to get his break on the main stage. Reigns, being from the first family of wrestling (in my opinion), is another major benefit to the team. I can see the team of Rollins and Reigns carrying the copper…let’s face it those belts look like melted pennies…for quite some time keeping the prestige that Kane and Bryan have been trying to put into the belts while they’ve held them all this time.

One thing that might actually be coming down the road, and I certainly hope it’s not the definite situation, is that Ambrose winning the US title could be the beginning of the end of The Shield. I can easily see him getting that belt and then maybe going on a hunt to unify the US and IC titles down the road at some point on the quest for “justice” in his being the only person holding onto a midcard title. Once he’s carrying both belts at once he could easily get the big head and start looking down on his cohorts, talking about how he’s carrying them and he’s getting tired of the dead weight. If this happens, one way to carry on the faction would be to bring in someone like Kassius Ohno to take the place of Ambrose in the group, or sign up Alex Shelley to step into that role, no matter what you have options available to keep this powerful faction rolling.

I’ve become a huge fan of The Shield, they are something we haven’t seen in quite some time in the world of wrestling, a young, hungry, powerful faction with a VERY bright future ahead of all members in that group. While I thought that Extreme Rules was pretty much dead in the water when I realized that Ziggler would be kept off the card with a concussion, hearing that you could have this group carrying titles across the board by the end of that show made it back to the nearly watchable status. While I don’t know if I WILL be watching the show this weekend, there’s a chance that I might. It’s not the most impressive card from top to bottom, but Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns possibly taking home championships would make for a very interesting show. Even if O’Doyle gets the WWE title, The Shield taking gold would be a good savior for a mediocre Extreme Rules card this year. Going into this weekend, even with their first loss, I do believe in The Shield.

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Jesse Sherwood submitted a question this week, so we will be starting with his. Also, because of what happened this past week with Swagger, we’ve added a sixth question to The Fine Line.

1- With the Brand Extension officially over, should the WWE trim the roster down to a more manageable level?

KB Honestly, I doubt much will really be changing with the Brand Extension ending. All Championship have appeared on both major shows, and most have been defended on the major shows, so I don’t see as this is any big deal. I went to see how many wrestlers were actually on the WWE roster, and to compare – even though there’s little real comparison – the numbers with TNA and ROH.

WWE Wrestlers – 62 Divas – 12 Other Talent – 22 Refs – 7
TNA Wrestlers – 44 Knkts – 12 Other Talent – 15 Refs – 3
ROH Wrestlers – 30 Girls – 3 Other Talent – 10 Refs – 4

Then there’s WWE’s developmental where there’s 10 Divas, 5 refs, and what appears to be 45 male wrestlers. Yes, the WWE has more shows to outfit, but they really seem to push quite a few of the same wrestlers, rather than rotating them very often. All that being said, I think the WWE needs a huge pool of wrestlers to work with because they are the top wrestling company in the USA, and as we have seen recently, things can happen where a number of wrestlers need to be out do to injury or because they’re involved with something else at any given time. I counted 18 on the regular (male) roster who have not been seen on RAW or Smackdown in at least three months. And then there’s those who are there to be enhancement talent. Looking at all that, the numbers really dwindle. I honestly didn’t know how I felt about this question until I looked at the numbers. Breaking them down, and knowing how the WWE has been trying to groom younger stars for top roles, I don’t think they should trim down the roster at all – other than their yearly spring cleaning.

Alex First off, I want to say that I am fully against the eliminating the brand extension.  If you watched the McMahon DVD, released back in 2006 or so, it was stated that the brand extension was because they wanted Raw and Smackdown to compete just like WCW and WWE.  It was suppose to be more than a brand.  It was suppose to be a war.  It never turned out that way though.  As years went by, both shows were pretty much the exact same.  Smackdown never got as big as Raw did and it wasn’t competition at all.  There were some good points about it, but it never served the purpose it was suppose to.  Since it is over, I would be in favor of shredding the roster, or have WWE use the roster more efficiently.  I haven’t paid attention to Smackdown in quite sometime, but I very well know they use stars for both shows.  I can understand why, but at the same time, WWE has such an extensive roster.  It’s not like they aren’t paying these guys.  They get guaranteed money.  Anyway, since we know WWE won’t bring the brand extension back, I would advise them to use more of the roster.  Does it have to be called an extension?  Just use different stars for the shows.  If you look at it, it is basically having one big show with the same stars.  No one will get anywhere.

2- If Ziggler is going to be out more than two weeks – even after Extreme Rules – should he be stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship?

KB When word first came out that Ziggler was injured and had a concussion, my first thought was of Ziggler’s health. After that, I was sure that Swagger was to blame and I was raring for him to actually get in trouble for something he’s done recently. I adore Ziggler – something that has garnered me a lot of crap this past year – and absolutely do not want to see him stripped of the WHC. Ziggler has worked long and hard to get to this point in his career, and I (along with many others) have felt that he was ready for this quite a while ago. It is really crappy that Ziggler is going through this at this point in his career, and I hope he’s able to bounce back and return to the ring without any lasting health issues from this concussion, but if he cannot do so in a reasonable time, then I am afraid that he might have to be stripped of the belt. I don’t know where that line should be drawn, but before Extreme Rules isn’t it for me. Just because he can’t defend at one PPV – especially since it’s one of his competitors who put him out of action – doesn’t mean he should automatically be stripped. I think AJ and Big E can carry on for Ziggler being out a bit of time, and could really amp up the storylines for him. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Ziggler. Even though the WWE is taking head injuries seriously, we all know that just one concussion can take you out of the ring (Chris Nowinski), and while I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone, I care more about Ziggler’s health than his wrestling career.

Alex Let me answer this question with a question… when CM Punk was injured and couldn’t compete at TLC last year, was he stripped from the title?  No!  He was off for several weeks, maybe a month, but held the title.  So, why should Ziggler lose it?  Of course it all depends on how long he is out, but I doubt he will be out as long as Punk was.  If Ziggler is stripped, it would be quite insane.  It would really show how much WWE “believes” in Ziggler.  They took forever to push the guy.  They give him the Money in the Bank briefcase and book him to look like a mid-carder.  Now he is champion and he very well could be stripped.  Pushing someone as a top guy takes commitment. When I wrote my wrestling shows online, I was committed to push stars to the top.  The more stars at the top the more people are happy.  It is good for that star and good for business.  WWE has forgotten all about making main eventers because, as long as they have Cena, they think they are fine.

3- Who do you see John Cena losing the WWE Title to?

KB Alex and I actually talked about this a bit as I wanted to see what he was thinking, but didn’t want it to influence my answer here. I will admit that I had forgotten about the possible booking for WrestleMania XXX, but honestly, the last person I want to see carry the WWE Championship is Brock. I would rather see Slater, Santino, or my dog as WWE Champion over Brock – but I’ve been vocal enough about Brock recently, so I will talk about who really could take the strap off Cena. I think it would be a travesty to strap Ryback at this point. It would make both Cena, The Rock and Punk look ineffectual as champs. Cena really needs to hold the strap for a bit to show that it’s not just getting handed around after Punk held it for so long. Then, to me, the obvious choice would be Punk. I don’t want to see them feud, or fight, but it would make a lot of sense. Honestly, it feels as though we’re seeing the same people – other than The Rock – passing around the strap, so why not really shake things up? I know you’re going to think I’m daft, but people thought that when Sheamus was so quickly strapped, and he’s turned out to be quite a solid wrestler, performer, and character. So, after what we’ve heard about Cena taking Big E under his wing, and is helping to groom him for the future, why not strap Big E. See, I knew you thought I was a bit loony, but why not swing things in a strange direction now and then? Sometimes something really special can come out of it.

Alex I was questioning on whether to make this a question because we do not know when Cena will lose the title.  It could be at Extreme Rules, but it could also be in a year.  We never know.  It all depends on Vince’s mood one day as well as Cena’s health.  I do see 3 stars that could possibly take the title from Cena though.  Sadly, I wouldn’t book any of these stars to get a title reign in the near future.  The stars are CM Punk, Ryback, and Brock Lesnar.  Let me start with Ryback.  He is in the main event now.  He is the only credible guy on the roster who can go after Cena.  We don’t have Punk or Rock.  No one else is booked to be at the top.  Sad, isn’t it?  Now is CM Punk.  Who knows when he will return.  I hope he stays out for awhile because he really needs to heal.  You can’t rush yourself back.  Leave it to Kurt Angle for giving me that advise.  Now, when Punk does come back, we know he will be in the main event.  We know he will go after the title.  Who will have it then?  Could very well be Cena.  The last is Brock Lesnar.  In Lesnar’s 2 year contract that he just signed, there is a stipulation in there where he will get a title reign and a main event spot at Wrestlemania 30.  So, I am thinking that he will be going into WM 30 as champion.  Will he beat Cena over it?  WWE isn’t afraid to do Cena vs. Brock 2.  They are doing Triple H vs. Brock 3.  Who is going to stop them?  Vince sees it as money.  We could also see Punk vs. Brock.  Now that would be awesome, in my mind, but will it be for the title?  Either way, I can’t see any of these guys getting the title yet, so I expect Cena to carry the title for awhile.

4- What do you think about the WWE bringing in more ROH guys?

KB I am thrilled at the thought of more ROH guys coming into the WWE. Punk has been a fantastic addition to the WWE roster. Daniel Bryan has been amazing, and has brought back some of the technichal wrestling many of us have been missing, while showing he can be a real bad ass, or work the comedic side with Kane. Heck, that he can run with a workhorse like Kane and keep up with him without batting an eye shows a lot about who Bryan is, and I think he learned a lot of that in ROH. I know Brandon Silvestry (Low Ki) didn’t work in the WWE, but I feel that was mostly the WWE’s fault, and that I’m not sure it was the best fit to start with. Colby Lopez is proving he’s so much more than Tyler Black, and I know as Rollins he is going to be huge after The Shield disperses to become singles competitors. I’m a huge Claudio Castagnoli fans, and while his start with the WWE was a bit rocky, I’m hoping things are smoothing out because I know he has so much more to give! I’m so excited to see what Chris Spradlin (Hero) and Rami Sebei (El Generico) do when they’re called up to the WWE, as I adored both of them in ROH. Punk seemed to clear the way for these other wrestlers to be brought in, and other than Silvestry, who I’m not sure would have worked out in the WWE, even if he hadn’t been humbled from the start, I see big things from ROH wrestlers in the WWE.

Alex I honestly do not watch ROH, so these guys coming in are all new to me.  I do have to wonder why WWE is bringing them in though.  I mean, I bet they are talented and WWE wants to get them locked in with a contract, but shouldn’t WWE worry about their roster now?  I mean I just described above about how they have an extensive roster.  It’s great that WWE has the developmental program and NXT to groom stars and showcase their talent before they come on the grand scale of Raw and Smackdown, but when will that happen?  Where will they be when they appear?  Look at Drew McIntyre and Antonio Cesaro!  These are the people who should be pushed.  How about stop having Brodus Clay dance around the ring and show some talent?  I know Clay is pleasing those kids out there and that is what WWE is targeting, but it’s watering the product down.  Anyway, if WWE can hire these people and use them correctly, I have no problems.  Younger the stars the better.  Seems like WWE is really wanting to groom stars for the future and they really should.  What is the future though?

5- How do you think the Brock Lesnar video on RAW went? Did it sell?

KB After watching Brock trash ‘Triple H’ office’ I was left wondering if that counted for a live appearance, or if they booked Brock in that way so it wouldn’t use up one of his live appearances. Then I went on to rail on the WWE for not hitting up used furniture stores, Salvation Army, Goodwill, and find furniture that looked more realistic for a top executive’s office. I’d have rather seen them buy used, or snazz up stuff from Ikea than go to Walmart and buy the cheapest furniture they could find for Brock to destroy. It might have been cheaper to do it that way, and it would have looked a heck of a lot more believable. But the biggest thing that bothered me is why they thought they needed to do it. I still don’t understand why beating up Trip’s fake office was supposed to be so big and scary. We already know Brock is a powerhouse, and that he’s virtually unstoppable. I’m so over Brock, and even more over Brock facing Trip. Both of them would be so much better served getting the younger wrestlers over at this point. They need to be building for the future, but Brock and Trip continuously fighting is keeping us in the past.

Alex I went on record before to say that you can’t sell Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar anymore.  They sold it for the first match and they tried to sell it for the second match.  Here is the third match.  What else can these part-time workers do?  When I heard about Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar showing up at WWE Headquarters, I was a bit excited.  I wanted to see what came out of it.  Quite honestly… nothing.  The biggest pop it got was when Brock stared at the Royal Rumble PPV poster that had Rock on it.  I popped there but also when Brock through the TV and the one W came off from the WWE logo.  I been saying that the “Wrestling” in “World Wrestling Entertainment” should be taken out!  The point of this promo was to sell how destructive Brock is.  It worked, but couldn’t they use it on someone else?  We know Brock is destructive.  Just look at what he has done in the past year!… or even before that!  Couldn’t they use that segment for Ryback or someone else wanting a spot or push… like Cesaro or Big E. Langston?  Have Ryback go to a house that resembles John Cena’s (remember when Triple H broke into Randy Orton’s house years ago?) and have him be destructive.  It would work.  It will sell.  Why do all this selling for a part-timer?  Why do all the selling on something we already know?  It sold Brock more than it did for the rivalry.  Triple H’s segment with Paul Heyman didn’t even sell the match.  I can’t see it going anywhere else unless you add something new.  WWE certainly had a good idea, but they used it on the wrong person and for the wrong story.

6- Do you think Swagger has been reckless recently? Not caring because he knows his time is numbered in the WWE?

KB I would like to give Swagger the benefit of the doubt, but there’s so much doubt hanging around Swagger right now that I’m really not sure what to think. We know the man has a serious ego issue, and that he thinks he’s beyond reproach has been obvious over and over, especially with his recent arrest. The fact that Swagger wasn’t pulled from WrestleMania, but that he also didn’t win, made me wonder if it was WWE’s way of saying they weren’t quite sure about him yet. Further that they strapped Ziggler the next night, the guy Swagger thought of as his sidekick the last time he was getting pushed, made me wonder how he was handling this. I’ve been saying for a couple months that Swagger has been looking dangerous and reckless, but readers told me I was being too sensitive and to remember this is wrestling. Well, wrestling only goes so far when you go out and throw around ladders and catch serious crap down around you for not being careful enough. The Triple Threat Ladder Match for the World Heavyweight Championship was one of the most anticipated matches at Extreme Rules, which isn’t saying much, but it still looked like it could have been a top notch match. We don’t know what the three wrestlers in the match knew of the outcome, but after Swagger was so reckless on Monday at RAW, and caught such crap for it, I thought he’d pull back a bit until the PPV, but he went right back out there and worked it just as hard. I’m sure there are many people out there wondering if Swagger went out there not worrying who he might injure, because he hasn’t had any major trouble from being arrested, so he must be untouchable, like Cena, so why worry about who he might injure, and if it’s the Champ, even better! I’m not saying he purposefully hurt Ziggler, but after being reamed out the night before, you’d have thought he would have been a little more careful about things, not go out there and about punt Ziggler’s head off. Hopefully it won’t be ignored that Swagger’s ego has taken over again, and let him get away with this one. This absolutely deserves a slap to the hand, a humbling, or more.

Alex Personally, I don’t think his days are numbered. I mean, just look at what WWE says: He is innocent until proven guilty. If they didn’t believe in him anymore, then they wouldn’t put him in a Triple Threat Match at Extreme Rules. I just think Swagger’s ego is getting to him again. Once he gets to the main events, he gets really cocky. Personally, when I saw the ladder shots on RAW, I thought Swagger was trying to impress. There’s no shame in that. Yeah, he’s reckless but I think he wants people to be impressed as well as having an ego problem.

Thanks for bearing with me getting this up late. I came down with some sort of something, made worse by being on immunosuppresants, and my brain was really foggy last night. I would rather take a bit more time and put out something that makes sense than just throw anything up on the site.

Happy Mother’s Day!

KB & Alex

I didn’t want to make mention of Swagger being the person that injured Ziggler until I had a chance to see the spot for myself. The spot aired on this week’s Smackdown and is now online at this link or embedded in the video below:

It’s clear the injury occurred at the 0:28 mark. Following Swagger’s kick to the head, Ziggler didn’t seem to know where he was.

Shortly after news of the injury broke, I referenced my Backstage News report from this week’s WWE Raw. Below is an excerpt from the WNW Premium exclusive:

We’re told Jack Swagger got heat as soon as he got backstage for being careless with the ladder following Alberto Del Rio’s match against Dolph Ziggler. Not only from Del Rio but from WWE officials as well. The feeling was he was reckless and could have hurt someone.

Following a stern warning and public chewing out, Swagger takes out the World Heavyweight Champion with a kick to the head the very next night.

Check out the spot he got heat for at 2:45 of this video. You can also watch the footage in the video embedded below:

Let’s face it. Injuries happen and are part of this business. Every performer knows when they come through the curtain, they have a chance of not walking back. However, what happens when a certain worker has a reputation for being reckless?

Following his concussion, while speaking with dot com, Ziggler recalls:

“When I asked, over and over, what happened, AJ told me that Swagger kicked me in the head,”

“Apparently, all I said was ‘classic Swags.’ As for Del Rio, even a zombified me is more charismatic than Del Rio. I don’t get him. Maybe because he’s closer to my Dad’s age.”

Now obviously these are part-kayfabe comments. Ziggler, who doesn’t do a lot of “shooting,” is furthering his gimmick in an article that is also served to update his condition. However, the “classic Swags” line might be more of a shoot than one realizes.

I’ll reiterate what Swagger was told Monday night, “The feeling was he was reckless and could have hurt someone.” The very next night, he does just that.  He hurt someone.

It’s interesting to note that Sin Cara made his return to the ring Friday night after being out for two months due to a concussion. I looked up Cara’s opponent for the match and was intrigued to see the answer — Jack Swagger.

Is Jack Swagger dangerous?

However to say that this will be an overall good thing or that he will provide the most entertaining product possible I believe is a wild exaggeration. Sheamus fairs pretty strong on the microphone, I’m not a huge fans of his promo work, but I can admit that he knows what he’s doing. But it seems that he’s almost little more than an Irish John Cena; just a generic strong man who has the odds piled against him, but continues to smile and fight anyways. I’m sure Sheamus’ promos are great for children and bring them further into the product, but personally I feel it almost doesn’t matter what he says. Sheamus opens his mouth, drops the standard ‘arse’ and ‘fella,’ and beyond that it’s the same basic stuff that he says only with a different person’s name inserted. Really think about it, was there all that much difference between his work when he was going against The Big Show, or Wade Barrett or now Mark Henry?

Turn over to his in ring work, how does he stand up, not only to his current peer group, but to the tests of time, but past and future. Well I’ve heard negative things from the internet about that Brogue Kick, but honestly I like it, it does look like he’s is legitimately hurting his opponent and it comes in the blink of an eye. The rest of his repertoire? Well I can’t exactly say that his move set is boring, but there’s just nothing there that’s new, original or distinctively his. Even the Celtic Cross, while wildly impressive, can be easily compared to Hernandez’s Boarder Toss. Originality isn’t exactly necessary in the pro wrestling business, but it is nice to see, it does give another reason to tune in. Sheamus isn’t really doing anything wrong, but beyond his look he doesn’t do anything to make him stand out in my mind.

So then let’s look at Sheamus’ overall package, let’s look at the product of Sheamus and what he brings to the table of WWE programming. Well one thing I need to mention is his professionalism, I’ve never heard of Sheamus having any legal problems and more importantly, he’s constantly in character when talking to the media, which is always greatly appreciated as it brings a little legitimacy to the business in a time when it is sorely needed. Sheamus is also capable of being both a good guy and bad guy, in that he can make children boo or cheer. However I find his good guy character far too happy, not the type of person I’d like to know. I think Sheamus’ bad guy character is much better, he appears threatening, but his presentation can still come off as unpleasant to watch. Finally Sheamus is the first Irish born WWE champion and represents a way for WWE to bring in a section of the market previously feeling alienated with no one representing them.

I want to be perfectly clear here, I believe Sheamus can be extremely valuable for WWE for many years to come, I just don’t see him being the guy as some believe he will be. I like to compare Sheamus to Kane; these are two guys that are reliable, can be counted on, can be used in the main event picture, but simply are not the main reason people are buying tickets. They could be part of the equation, they could even be a part of the best match of certain nights (Hell In A Cell 2012 Vs. Big Show comes to mind), but neither man have fans pouring money into the company. Sheamus, in my eyes, will never reach the level of a John Cena, of a Rock, of an Undertaker. Sheamus has the ability to make a lot of money and be a significant player, Big Show’s been one of the most valuable members of WWE since 2000, but he has never the biggest name on the card. Sheamus can go on to build quite a fan base and be recognized by the general public, but I do not see Sheamus ever cracking through and becoming THE main event or a legitimate legend.

Extreme Rules was already starting to look like it was going to be struggling in a huge way, then Cena screwed up his Achilles tendon and everything was up in the air. Many of us were starting to question what was going to happen with the WWE Title at Extreme Rules, and would this destroy any shot the PPV had? Then, in true Cena fashion, the injury isn’t wasn’t bad as they thought, and he bounced right back into the ring with barely a stutter step. Because of how Super Cena did it again, Last Man Standing is a fantastic idea for his match with Ryback. Knowing what lengths Cena will go to win this type of match, this might not turn out so bad after all.

I have been calling for Triple H to return to the ring over the past year. I think he could do a lot to push some of the younger performers to a higher level in the ring and on mic, yet he keeps going back to working with the bigger names. While it’s true he’s only worked the ring a couple times in the past year and a half, those matches have been with either Brock or Taker. To me this is a huge waste of Trip’s talent. I will admit that their build toward Extreme Rules has been creative, and somewhat entertaining, I think the WWE is banking on this match bringing in a lot more than it actually will.

Then there’s Sheamus and Henry. They have been building toward this match since right after WrestleMania, and have done a solid back and forth with them. The stipulation for this match hasn’t been decided, but after the implements that have brought these two to the ring recently, I’m seeing possibly a Strap Match, a Texas Bullrope Match (Henry is originally from Texas, and JBL was hinting at it recently), or something along that ilk. As long as it’s not an On A Pole Match, I won’t be too annoyed, but that doesn’t mean that this match will bring up the buyrate, or impress the fans.

The only other match on the card right now is the World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Ladder Match. This was one that could have been a show stealer. ADR, Swagger and Ziggler have all won at MITB, and are not strangers to Ladder Matches, and have been pushing each other hard in this three way feud. But now this match is in question due to Ziggler’s health. I must admit that I am worried that Ziggler will be stripped of his Championship for the sake of having a World Heavyweight Championship Match on the card, but it think that would be a travesty. Ziggler has been proving himself week in and week out, even though some rather risky work by others in the ring. Everyone involved in this feud have been lucky to not be injured after some of the reckless work we have seen – specifically this past Monday night by Swagger. Stripping Ziggler of the Championship would push his career back a year or more, and could seriously injure both AJ and Big E’s pushes. I am sure there’s a lot of scrambling around to decide what to do about this match, and I hope that Ziggler isn’t the one screwed in the end. EDIT – WNW just posted JR’s Blog about the severity of Ziggler’s concussion. Yes, every concussion is serious, and I’m thrilled that the WWE is starting to take head injuries serious. If it looks like Ziggler is going to be out for a longer time, they might have to strip him of the WHC and go in a different direction. I hope that whoever caused this concussion – if it came about through recklessness – is reprimanded accordingly. My heart goes out to Ziggler, and I hope he recovers quickly.

It has been looking as though there might be a match between Big Show and Orton at Extreme Rules, but that hasn’t been set up yet (I have not read the Smackdown spoilers), but in all honesty, it’s nothing I’m really chomping at the bit to see. And Jericho’s feud with Fandango seems to be heading back to the ring as well, but I don’t see that being a show stealer either – even though they’re both fantastically entertaining.

I will admit that I’m hoping for a solid Divas Title Match between Kaitlyn and AJ, but if the Divas matches of the past couple years show anything, this won’t be anything special. Gone are the days of Trish, Victoria and Lita going hardcore on each other in the ring. I’m speaking specifically of Survivor Series 2002 where Victoria beat Trish in a Hardcore Match for the Women’s Title in a match that saw Trish busted open. And then there was the November 2003 RAW Roulette where Victoria beat Lita in a Steel Cage Match when Matt Hardy slammed the door in Lita’s face. Those two matches prove that WWE Divas have been more than capable of going into serious matches and making it work. Kaitlyn and AJ would absolutely rip up a match worthy of Extreme Rules, if given the chance.

The Shield is WWE’s biggest hope for Extreme Rules. Those three men, and the three they face in the ring could really make Extreme Rules worth watching, worth paying for. As of writing this nothing has been announced for them, but running off what we saw this past week on RAW, The Shield facing Team Hell No and Kofi with all belts on the line. The way Ambrose was eyeballing the US Title on RAW was seeming to foreshadow what’s to come, and those six men in the ring together could be epic. The Shield has been proving themselves every time they’ve been in the ring, and on mic. Even when they just come to ringside, but don’t end up doing anything, they sell it! At this point The Shield, this match, seems like Extreme Rules’ only hope.

So where does all this leave the WWE? Well, I think it’s going to leave them with a very low buyrate for Extreme Rules. I know not every PPV is going to have the best numbers, but the WWE waits six weeks for the first post-WrestleMania PPV because they don’t want the fans too not buy the show so soon after doling out big bucks for WrestleMania. This time of year is always a problem for the WWE as many fans take a break from wrestling after the heightened fervor brought on by The Road To WrestleMania, and WrestleMania itself. The problem is that many people were not overly impressed with WrestleMania XXIX, and that’s going to lead to even more troubles going into Extreme Rules.

KB

After Wrestlemania CM Punk decided he was going to take a break to let his body heal.  Vince McMahon didn’t want to let him have the time off, but Punk stuck to his guns and threatened to quit.  I know some fans saw this as a “whiny” move on Punk’s part.  That he was just throwing his weight around because he could.  It’s funny how quickly people forget.  The internet wrestling community (IWC) is so quick to get angry when a storyline in the WWE requires fans to overlook or forget something that happened in the recent past; claiming “how stupid do you think we are?  That we would forget so quickly and easily?!”  Yet at the same time, people are getting mad at Punk now for taking time off to heal his body.  They are claiming he just wants to throw his weight around, that he just wants to flex his political muscles because he can.  Fans have already forgotten that Punk was WWE champion for 434 days.  That means no days off folks.  I’d like some of the IWC go that long without a vacation from their job and not get a little fed up.  Not to mention he had problems with his knees during his rivalry with Ryback, and elected not to have surgery, but to work through it.  Remember, CM Punk is the guy who cracked his skull and kept wrestling.  It isn’t like he is one to just call it a day because he is hurting.  Punk will work through the pain if he feels he can.  If he is taking time off, it’s because he truly needs it, both mentally and physically.

I look at his time off for the time being as a blessing.  Not only will it prevent Punk from getting burnt out mentally and physically, giving him time to rest up.  It will also help regain his love from the IWC.  If the IWC were a person, it would be a greedy, spoiled 7 year-old with severe A.D.D. Think about it, IWC gets a new toy it likes, no one else likes it, so it says that everyone else should like this toy, then if everyone DOES start to like that toy the IWC decides it’s stupid now and picks a new toy, starting the process all over again.  A break from CM Punk will make the fans forget about him for a bit, so when he does return everyone is back on board, remembering why they loved him so much in the first place.  It also helps that John Cena is the WWE Champion again.  Fans will start complaining about that soon, I’m sure, so if Punk returns to challenge Cena, fans will look at him as a knight in shining armor.  Here to save the WWE from the evil John Cena title reign.

If you think about it, fans are so easily won over by a return.  Not that fans shouldn’t be happy one of their favorites has returned, but they go from hating a superstar, to marking out for them when they return.  Think about some of the great returns where fans were not only glad, but ecstatic, to see said superstar back in the squared circle.  Kane returning with his mask got fans on their feet.  When Edge made his big return at the Royal Rumble fans came unglued.  Every time Chris Jericho makes a surprise return to the company the fans get electrified, and he does it fairly often, too.  When Triple H made his triumphant returns to the company after his two knee injuries people were overjoyed to have him back.  For the most part fans dislike Triple H because of his stroke with Vince, but not on those nights when he returned.  Even the big bad, always hated, John Cena had fans on their feet in excitement with his shocking return to the WWE when he entered at number 30 in the 2008 Royal Rumble.

If all those stars, who fans would go back and forth on, can regain love from the masses with a return, CM Punk will as well.  Especially because Punk is mostly a fan favorite, even if people have been turning their backs on him lately.  The problem is, do they want to bring Punk back as a heel or a face?  Having a heel return is never easy, the fans will naturally want to cheer for the returning superstar.  If you remember, when Chris Jericho returned to Raw early last year, they had to slowly phase him in to being a heel, by having him be silent for weeks on end.  WWE knew he wouldn’t be able to draw heat right away on a return, especially a fan favorite like Jericho.  Don’t get me wrong guys like Jericho and Punk can get heavy heat when they want to.  It is just the nature of the return after a long break, people WILL cheer for a returning hero.  So does WWE bring him back as a face and let it ride?  Will they try for the difficult heel return?  Heel returns are difficult but not impossible.  It would probably be something along the lines of a surprise run-in attack on a face.  If they go that route they can’t have him attack Cena or fans will just cheer him.  Maybe they do the face return and a quick heel turn.  Have him return as a face, work a tag match with a beloved face like Jericho, perhaps against The Shield, and have him leave said face high and dry to be attacked.  Maybe they bring Punk back as the new leader of The Shield to put him instantly as a heel.  There are plenty of options, but the question is which will they go with, and when will he return?  Either way, this break that Punk is taking is a win/win all around, for WWE, for Punk, and for the fans.

It’s happening again…

The most recent thing that’s got me thinking of the past is the current WWE title storyline between Ryback and Cena. The only thing we’re missing is an IC title and some face paint on Ryback, and some horrible mic work by him to boot. Well, ok, we’ve got the last one, but seriously am I the only one seeing something I have already seen back in the early 90’s happening in 2013? While the villain may be a bit more evil, a bit more “bad” than the past version, it seems to be ripped from the exact same playbook, and it doesn’t sit too well with me. Actually, judging by last night’s ratings it’s not sitting well with other people either.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m seeing a lot of the old Hogan versus Warrior story here, all the way down to the constant attempts by Ryback to bring up a massive loogie when he’s staring down Cena. Warrior wasn’t known to be the best worker in the ring, called reckless, dangerous even at times, and we’ve all seen that from Ryback. Warrior would have his rambling, incoherent promos where you had to ask if yourself if her were drunk or high when he started talking, Ryback CLEARLY suffers from the same problem. The one thing Ryback has that Warrior didn’t (not that we could ever tell anyway) is his catchphrase. Every time I hear Ryback rules I picture the family of bullies in Billy Madison, O’Doyle rules!

John Cena is obviously the Hogan of this era, unquestionably. He’s making more money for himself and the company than any other worker currently. He’s the “ultimate good guy” who can never be seen as a true potential villain in any situation. He’s got the limited moveset that has the setup moments for fans to cheer specifically for what move is coming next. Cena has the “you can’t see me” while Hogan had the “I can’t hear you” motion. Hell, lately Cena’s even been wearing yellow as his primary color. There’s no question about it, Cena is the new Hogan and at WrestleMania this year Rock essentially passed the torch back to the cartoon character generation after Hogan passed it to him so many years back.

I can’t take this feud seriously because it’s such an over the top mimic of one that was such a big deal so far back in the company’s history. Hogan versus Warrior was THE feud back in the day, it was the past decade versus the new decade, old school versus new school, and I sincerely hope Ryback isn’t a sign of things to come in the world of pro wrestling. Love or hate Cena all you want, but I hope he holds onto the title at Extreme Rules and rights a wrong made so many years back when Vince let Warrior take the title off Hogan on the biggest show of the year. There are so many people with more talent that Ryback on the main roster currently who should be getting this shot, I hope he’s pushed aside and someone like Antonio Cesaro gets a chance to enter the main event after this pay-per-view. At the very least, give Ryback a manager, someone to cut promos for him for god’s sake. If I have to sit through another of his boring rants I swear I’m going to hijack Cena’s plane, knock out all the pilots and put the thing into a nosedive into parts….crap I got caught in a time warp there, my apologies.

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The issue with booking CM Punk is one of character progression. WWE’s main event scene is currently pretty low on star power and the Universe would not really care much about another match against John Cena. Even though it has been less than a year since Punk’s heel turn on the 1000th episode of Raw, I think it is time for The Voice of the Voiceless to have another babyface run. Why?

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3. THE RETURN POP

WWE programming always dies down a notch in the months following WrestleMania. Part-timers disappear from TV and Raw is more or less filled with throwaway content (*cough* tug-of-war *cough*). This year the company is also deprived of the guy who has been carrying their programming for about two years now. Several months from now, when Punk’s body is healed up, people will be itching to see The Straight-Edge Superstar bring his pipebombs back to WWE. Drawing heel heat upon return has proved problematic even for the best villains in the business, such as Chris Jericho and Edge. That is why I think Punk should utilize the massive pop that awaits him when he does appear in front of the cameras again, rather than defy the natural crowd reaction.

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2. A SHORTAGE OF MAIN EVENT BABYFACES

The main reason CM Punk turned heel in the first place was because the No. 1 babyface position would always be occupied by John Cena. While that is not about to change anytime soon, we have recently seen Ryback turn heel and let us not forget that Randy Orton’s turn can happen anytime now. Cena and Sheamus remain pretty much the only big babyface names on the roster, which makes Punk’s ability to get over as a fan-favorite that more valuable.

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1. A PLETHORA OF UP-AND-COMING TALENT TO PUT OVER

This has to be the most important factor to consider when making decisions regarding Punk’s character. WWE is currently in a transitional period. It is getting more and more important to build new stars as the weeks go by, as the number of big names on the roster is shockingly low. The likes of Antonio Cesaro and Dolph Ziggler have finally been getting the pushes they deserve, but one has to ask, what will take them to the next level? What feud or storyline will turn them from promising up-and-comers to the leaders of the WWE locker room?

With Punk himself teasing retirement in 2015, the smart way to go would be to utilize him in a way that would put young talent over. The fact that most credible up-and-comers on the WWE roster are heels is a noteworthy phenomenon. In addition to Cesaro and Ziggler, the likes of Wade Barrett, Damien Sandow and Fandango, as well as Kassius Ohno, who is to be called up from NXT at any point now, greatly outnumber the young babyfaces who have made an impact as of late. It comes as no surprise, since it is usually much easier for newcomers to draw a negative crowd reaction than to make the fans love them. For the sake of their bright future, however, they need to be working with credible babyface talent.

What I feel would make for the most compelling TV would be a storyline involving CM Punk and The Shield. Even though The Hounds of Justice made their debut at Survivor Series by assisting Punk, the trio has also made it clear that they serve no one. Furthermore, no WWE star should feel safe from The Shield. With The Undertaker already on the list of the faction’s rivals, it would allow for compelling character progression for everyone involved and it would set the stage for the ultimate passing of the torch.

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Holding a championship title is an honor, there is no disputing that. The journey of attaining an illustrious title is something of inspiration, regardless of who it is. Being one to capture a championship, of any form or shape, is absolutely a representation of one’s hardwork, dedication, ambition, and so on and so forth. Nonetheless, a championship should never define the performer. In fact, the opposite should reign true. For example: CM Punk’s reign was wildly successful because of CM Punk, not the WWE Championship. Punk’s position ascended from becoming WWE Champion, that’s no lie, but think where he would be should that reign have failed. Each one of the 434 days as WWE Champion added legitimacy and prestige to the championship, not because of the duration of the reign, but rather because Punk flourished as a character. As a result, his 14 months as champion will be regarded as one of the best.

Take Mick Foley as another example. In 3 reigns as WWE Champion, the overall days only culminate to a staggering 47 days. Although reigns longer than that would have been nice, Foley defined himself as a champion after obtaining the belts on three separate occasions.

Now don’t get the wrong idea with getting caught up in days and reigns. I believe as long as the wrestler is given the ability to carve their mark into the history of the title, they have been a successful champion. Now that’s not to say they can’t go above and beyond, as one should always strive for their full potential. Sometimes though, one should question the purpose of giving a championship to someone.

Remember Alberto Del Rio as WWE Champion or Jack Swagger as World Heavyweight Champion? Probably not, but I digress. These are just two of many examples where the gun was jumped, and an unproven Superstar was given too much responsibility. You aren’t invested in them at that point, making the victory less illustrious. In fact, I doubt many even remembered the two aforementioned wrestlers even had the respective belts until now. Not that they are to blame, however a forgettable reign for transitional purposes is.

What I’m trying to get at, if anything at all — allow a champion to prosper. Those who are worthy of the championship will flourish, creating history in the process. They will define their character, bringing a seeming prestige to the title. Others who don’t will crack from the pressure, being a name that will be listed as a forgettable champion in a future article to come.

While going through a ton of boxes that had not been touched for at least the past ten years, I happened to stumble across a box marked “Old VHS Tapes.”  When I opened the box, sitting right on top was my copy of WrestleMania VII.  It may not have had the prestige of featuring the technical masterpieces like Steamboat vs. Savage from WrestleMania III or Owen vs. Bret from WrestleMania X, but it does have what I consider to be a few monumental matches. Everyone has their favorite WrestleManias, and this is one of mine.

The Undertaker’s WrestleMania debut came at this same event.  The birth of the Streak began with a past his prime Superfly Jimmy Snuka.  While not necessarily a great one, the importance of this match cannot be taken lightly.  None of the excitement surrounding the Streak would ever have come about had the Undertaker not started 1-0 against the legendary Snuka.  The fact that Snuka was willing to job to this relative newcomer is a perfect example of how so many wrestlers have had and will continue to have for the Undertaker.  I cannot think of a single person who can show up once a year and still capture the attention of the wrestling world like the Undertaker.  Just as the Superfly put Taker over, the way he put over the Shield a couple weeks ago was an unselfish way of giving the newer guys the rub.

One of the best examples of how a match built around a well-developed storyline can result in a true classic match is Randy Savage vs. the Ultimate Warrior.  It may seem a little odd for someone to write about a great match involving the Warrior, but he pulled his weight in two straight appearances.  His match with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI had been practiced to a T, and it showed in the product they put forth to the crowd in Toronto.  His match with Savage was even more impressive because of the way he not only performed but in the way he helped to tell the story.  Billed as a Retirement Match where the loser would be gone from wrestling forever, this feud began at the Royal Rumble when the Warrior refused to give Savage a title shot.  With the Warrior well on his way to successfully turning back the challenge of the turncoat Sgt. Slaughter, the Macho King (as we was known as then) ran down to ringside and attacked the nailed the Warrior in the head with his scepter.  The result was a new champion with the perfect opponent for WrestleMania VII in the “Real American” Hulk Hogan.  The seeds were now sown for the best match of the year though with Savage vs. Warrior.

There was not a single person who did not KNOW that the Hulkster was leaving Los Angeles as the WWF champion.  The outcome was never in question even though Slaughter was in control for the majority of the match.  We all knew Hogan was going to “Hulk up” and finish him off with the big leg drop.  We all knew what was going to happen, but the fans in attendance and watching on pay-per-view still erupted in cheers for the (at that point) three-time champion, Hulk Hogan.

Now if I can just keep the wife from finding where I hid all these old tapes so she does not try to put them in the yard sale in ten more years.

Let me quickly clarify that I do not feel that the secondary titles, the IC and US titles, even including the tag and divas belts, should be treated as irrelevant. Anytime that there’s a belt in pro wrestling that belt should have significance placed upon it or it shouldn’t be on the television show, unless the point of the belt is that it’s pointless, but that’s an entirely different subject. However I think the importance placed on these belts by the internet wrestling community is unwarranted and feel these titles are, for the most part, actually being treated correctly as of late. And what I say next may come at the cost of controversy, though I’m told that creates cash, but I’m not even against the champions losing in a non-titled match. I don’t believe that with the World or WWE titles, but with the lower level titles I think they can afford to have the champions lose on television, which creates a sense of unpredictability, as long as it’s not a constant thing, all things in moderation.

I think too much importance is placed on these titles by fans because in honesty, these title don’t really matter, in the grander scheme of things. I think this stems from the fact that we can all remember when these titles were very important and it was a big deal when a new champion was crowned. The fact of the matter is that we are in a different wrestling world as of right now than that of the past, and these titles now are used for nothing more than adding credentials to a new superstars achievements list, with 4 singles title available for the sole roster of the WWE. This is much different than most other times in wrestling history. Looking back to the raging 80′s of wrestling, there was the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles, perhaps some other various unknown titles. During the Attitude Era the European title was added, but quickly grew to have little importance. The Hardcore title was created but pretty soon that became one of the most ridiculous titles in wrestling history.

Then WWE split into 2 brands, where each brand had a primary and secondary title, and in this set up every title, for the most part was significant in some capacity. However that brand extension is now over, so we have 2 World titles on every show, making the World Heavyweight Championship the new secondary title. Meaning that the IC title and US title, though memories of prestigious battles, are now fairly irrelevant and only serve the competitors by name value for something to do without deeper stories needing to be created. That does create the debate of whether or not these belts should be eliminated from active use in WWE. I believe this titles will continue to be treated with little significance, because they are so far away from the main event scene, but that doesn’t meant I think WWE should get rid of these titles.

I’d be fine with WWE keeping all the current belts, I could even stand the idea of these belts continuing to be treated with little significance. I understand that WWE has the ability to sell more replica belts with these other titles on the show and they help to build superstars, or give something for stars who can’t be in the main event scene at the time to. My problem is not that there is irrelevant content being created, lord knows in the genre of wrestling more than enough pointless product has been made. I just wish the titles could have a wider set of variety, with a different set of rules to break up some of the monotony. If some of the titles were only to be defeated on certain shows, or came with specific stipulations with title matches. It doesn’t even need to be anything too intense like the new X division rules in TNA, but even things like a 20 count on the outside instead of a 10 or a submissions only title. What about certain weight specifics or wrestling styles specific championships? I’m not saying that every title needs to come with a new set of rules, but having one title that was actually different to any of the other titles would help bring something different to the show and make one now meaningless title have a little more importance given to it.

Many adults still enjoy watching old cartoons, and I myself will become immune to anything going around me on Christmas Eve when Ralphie gets his Red Rider BB gun. I started to Google all sorts of great wrestlers and tag-teams from the past, and it was as if I was right back in front of our old television sitting on the floor watching WWF Tuesday Night Titans all over again. The names may have changed, but stories keep repeating. I used to complain about that (and I am not saying it is always a good thing), but I have found a sense of comfort with it over the past couple weeks. Part of what keeps drawing me back is the familiarity with the product. We could stop watching wrestling all together and never check any of the wrestling websites for an entire year. After the year is over, it would take us a week to catch ourselves up on all the feuds and storylines. That’s the great thing about being a wrestling fan. We enjoy being shocked, but we also enjoy the feeling that we can lose touch and never miss a beat.

Until next time, be careful or else “You’ll shoot your eye out!”"

The Rock:
The Rock has hinted at this match. He has said he wishes to wrestle Taker, but I don’t think this is the best possibility. This would be a headline for sure, and people would definitely buy the show for this. However, I think Rock should be put with Brock for next year and then maybe if Taker still wants to go at Mania 31 and The Rock still wants to wrestle then, it could happen.

Triple H:
Just kidding I hope we never see this again. They were good but 3 is enough.

Brock Lesnar:
I think Rock versus Brock would be better at Mania 30 to open up for another opponent for Taker that will be talked about later. However, you will not hear me complaining if this match is announced for next year. These two would have a brawl. With Undertaker’s arsenal of MMA moves and Lesnar’s obvious MMA style. These two would tear the house down.

John Cena:
This is a dream match, and has been for a very long time. I would love to see this match finally happen at Mania 30. Cena’s wrestling ability is something that stop people from wanting to see this match, but people forget Cena has had a lot of great matches. This would be no different. Cena would push Taker to his limit and vice versa. They would no doubtedly put on a memorable match.

In my opinion these opponents would be incredible. Each one of these matches would be a big reason of my purchase of Wrestlemania 30 and make it worth it for me. The best part about these matches is they haven’t happened in a long time, and none of the three have faced Taker at Mania. Thank you for reading.
For more, follow me on twitter @WrestlingM4RK

It seems like almost every time a good guy gives a promo they have to mention the fact that the reason they step in the ring and perform is for the fans. The good guys talk of how much they give to the fans in appreciation for what the fans give to them, placing the audience on a pedestal. The bad guys harass the audience, obviously to gain heat, but this is still a method of drawing the audience in and making them a part of the show. Having no proof I would say that within the past several years the wrestlers have been told to try and include the audience as much as possible. That being said I can recall Stone Cold Steve Austin’s retirement speech at Survivor Series 2003 and it was directed at thanking and addressing the audience.

Taking a more recent example, look at the night after WrestleMania this year, the emphasis placed on the audience, they were the biggest star of that night. Not only that, but WWE promoted it that way, the fallout from that night placed the spotlight on the crowd from New Jersey. Or look at just last week’s broadcast of Raw. While some may point to it as an awful episode of Raw, I instead insist on looking at the segment with John Cena and the Make-A-Wish kids. Not only was John Cena doing something extremely beautiful, he was letting us all feel the joy that those kids and their families received and deserved. Beyond that, every time Cena mentioned Raw he used the word “us” implying that we were as important as he was, and when the audience feels that warmth they are drawn to the product.

WWE is aware of the profits to be had by creating this sense of community, and all the new social media kick is doing a fine job of that. People are going on the social media to get news and end up getting into talks with other fans, making them feel more comfortable and further invest in WWE. If you want to look at how important fans are to a wrestling company, all you have to do is put in a little research on ECW. This promotion was created by the love and passion of the fans, whom felt they were doing something TOGETHER. In the closing moments of the first ECW PPV Barely Legal the fans are chanting “Our Way.” The fans were so dedicated, and invested so deeply from the community created in the ECW arena that Paul Heyman has gone on record saying that the best thing created by ECW was the fans.

Lately WWE has been promoting anti-bullying and using WWE as an escape from the real world. Mick Foley tweeted saying that he hoped that Raw would distract him from the latest tragedies of the Boston bombings. And that’s what WWE is, it’s entertainment, it’s a distraction and there is a tremendous amount of support to be found within the WWE universe. Regardless of what may be going on in your personal lives, there will always be a match or a segment that can lift your spirits, if you let it. If you are fortunate enough to appreciate professional wrestling you become a part of a community, something to be lost in if you need an escape. Even farther beyond that, if you are a wrestling fan and you see someone wearing a wrestling show, that is someone you know you can relate to, that you can understand, because you are a part of their extended community. And I could not be more proud to be a part of this glorious community, for the record.

There’s a powerful young man working his way up the ranks in WWE, building up through NXT to his eventual date on the main roster. While I wish he would go with his real last name, as it would draw instant attention in the world of wrestling, his face alone is a dead giveaway of his family tree. The son of country music royalty, Garrett Dylan is a big, tough Texan who is destined to ascend to the top of the card someday in the future. I’m looking forward to his debut, as a fan of his father I would hope that he is able to get something licensed from his father as entrance music. It could be interesting to see how things go, hopefully by this time next year we’ll see Garrett Dylan (or Kristofferson, hopefully) in contention for a midcard title and starting the climb.

Another up and comer in NXT is the son of wrestling royalty, he’s got the look, the moves, and the genes to get ahead in the business. His father is the one and only Dragon, Ricky Steamboat. I’m obviously speaking of Richie Steamboat; he’s a very talented young man with a very bright upside. He worked some stellar matches in the FCW days against Seth Rollins, showing his prowess in the ring, sooner or later he’ll be coming to the main roster and impressing us all on a weekly basis. I wouldn’t mind seeing him and “Bo Dallas” work together for a little while, except “Dallas” would give up that gimmick and use the Rotunda name, giving their team a bit of a lineage to build off of for their futures. My hope is that these two men team up and get right into the tag title picture by the end of this year.

Lastly, the person I’m most intrigued by in the rankings of NXT is a young man who has a high probability of being a bit of a powerhouse and tearing up the ranks of the main roster as soon as he debuts. The son of a Mastodon, Jake Carter has everything it takes to become a top draw in the WWE down the road. The one thing I’ve noticed that MIGHT be a disadvantage is that he looks like a bigger version of The Miz, although that could help if they decided to bring him in with a bodyguard gimmick of some sort. As the son of Vader he’s already got me as a fan, I’m one of those weird people who are proud to admit they were a big fan of the masked monster. As I’ve said with the others, I would love to see him use his family name in some way, but then again nobody ever really called Vader by his real name, so it might be a bit tricky to go by White and expect people to pick up the connection. I think, with the proper grooming, he could step in as a master of the powerbomb just like his father, becoming a World Champion within the next 2 years.

There are clearly other workers who are in development and climbing the ranks of pro wrestling as I write this article. The likes of Kassius Ohno, Bray Wyatt, and as a trademark filed by WWE may suggest even Colin Cassidy (Crush Couture?) are already starting their ascension, may be coming to television soon. I’m very optimistic for what we’ll be seeing as time goes on, and Triple H actually seems to be the best man for the job of replacing Vince once he’s gone. It would seem that he’s more interested in making the company based on workers over just being built like a monster, also he’s taking steps to give them the best opportunity to heal and rehab current main roster stars while building up new stars. I’m living in central Florida, just outside of the new hub of WWE, if they actually go forward with the physical Hall of Fame, I’ll be sitting there at WrestleMania every single time it’s in my area. Hopefully I’ll be watching Kristofferson, Steamboat, Rotunda, and Carter somewhere on that showcase. For once, the future of the WWE is bright you’ve got to wear shades.

{Follow me on Twitter @Surrency525 and Like me on Facebook}

First, and most importantly, WWE has a major partnership with NBCUniversal (NBCU). Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown are both on NBCU-owned networks (USA Network and Syfy). NBCU has a long history with the WWE, dating back to the WWF days. Saturday Night’s Main Event had it’s original run (with the exception of two shows on FOX in 1992) on NBC, with a 3 year revival for 2006-08, also on NBC. But WWE has made it’s true home with the USA Network, and RAW was NOT the first WWE program on USA’s airwaves. In fact, there were several programs to call USA home. WWE has had programs on USA spanning 4 decades, including “Tuesday Night Titans”, “Sunday Night Heat”, “Prime Time Wrestling” (which was the predecessor to RAW), among so many others. You could legit call USA, “America’s Home for Pro Wrestling.”

In addition to the USA Network, Syfy has become WWE’s second home. At the time (2006), the Sci Fi channel picked up the WWE relaunch of ECW, and the show became an immediate network hit. Often times, ECW would be Sci Fi’s highest rated show (which is a lot, seeing that ECW was WWE’s #3 brand). It played pivotal roles in the launch of superstars careers, such as Kofi Kingston, CM Punk and Sheamus. In 2010, ECW was dropped in favor of launching NXT, which was the search to find the next great superstar (similar to Tough Enough). NXT had 3 “seasons” on Syfy, helping launch the Nexus (all of the Season 1 stars, of which Wade Barrett, Daniel Bryan and Ryback were apart of; Bryan was kicked out after debut) in the summer of 2010. NXT was dropped in favor of bringing on SmackDown, fresh off it’s contract with MyNetworkTV. While SmackDown has done very well on Syfy, NXT, revamped from it’s original format, has yet to find a TV home in the U.S..

WWE partnering with Non-NBCU networks

Currently, WWE only has one show not on a NBCU network, which is Main Event on ION Television, although NBCU has previously held a stake in the company. However, there was a long period of time which WWE was not on any NBCU network. Starting on September 25, 2000, RAW left USA to go to TNN (which is now known as Spike). Sunday Night Heat left USA as well to go to MTV on October 1 of the same year. Heat would later move to Spike in 2003 and become RAW-branded. WWE would also create a SmackDown-branded weekend show, Velocity, which debuted in 2002 and came on Saturday nights on Spike. In addition to Velocity, WWE debuted “Confidential,” which showed an inside look to the superstars and divas’ lives. The show was hosted by “Mean” Gene Okerlund and aired after Velocity on Saturdays. Then lastly, we move to WWE Superstars, which debuted on WGN America on April 16, 2009. After two years of lower-than-expected ratings, WGN did not renew it’s contract and much like NXT, could not find a TV home. Both are syndicated via Hulu Plus.

The Future Lies Ahead

With WWE actively looking to launch the WWE Network some time this or next year, this time frame proves extremely critical for the success of the network. The first issue that they will face will be to find programming BESIDES pure wrestling to keep viewers tuned in. There are already two shows “in the works”: WWE Legends House and a yet to be named Divas show. In addition to that, I think a great move on WWE’s part would be to bring back WWE Confidential. I know “Mean” Gene would probably not be able to host, but I think that would be a role perfect for Michael Cole. That was a brilliant show on Spike in a horrible timeslot (11:00pm ET on a Saturday Night). Also (going without saying) NXT and Superstars would be on the network. But if WWE can figure out how to keep fans tuned in all seven days a week and keep ratings decent for the first few months while carriage continues to rise, it would be absolutely a perfect storm. Another route to go would be to see about acquiring a current network. NBCU had G4 as a promising prospect, but that will now be taken over by Esquire Magazine and will be named after the magazine.

Long story short, when you are watching WWE programming and reading info (such as ratings) on WNW, realize that in the next two years, that will have a bigger impact than you know.

After a record breaking WrestleMania, the idea that hiring part time talent was vindicated. The exploits of Brock Lesnar, HHH, Undertaker and the Rock put a spotlight on the rest of the talent that would not have been there otherwise and has satisfied the bottom lines of Vinnie Mac. Lately, I have been seeing articles here suggesting certain names that would be great to bring back. This had me thinking, what tag teams should come back. A while ago, TNA did a great thing where Jay Lethal faced legends. Why not bring back a few teams from yesteryear just to give a nod to the nostalgic and give a little boost in the struggling tag team division.

The Bushwhackers

With a penchant for getting the crowd excited, it didn’t matter if they won or loss. Brought back as a comedic team, their matches against Santino and Ryder or even Team Hell No would be great Smackdown material. And, if you had to satisfy the IWC (myself included), a drubbing by The Shield would be a great exclamation point after a match.

London and Kendrick

So if you take away any heat this duo may have respectively, you have a very early version of what became the MCMGs. Extremely fast and versatile, London and Kendrick were as exciting as the Hardy’s. Coming back for a series against Sin Cara and Rey could culminate at a PPV, helping giving Sin Cara some shine being in the ring with 3 veterans of the American style, a possible second look at two superstars who should be more involved (Kendrick’s psychology is really good) and a loss would give reason for a Sin Cara heel turn.

Booker T and Goldust

One of the most entertaining teams backstage ever. Pure athleticism, comedic timing and veteran skills, this was an example of good tag team entertainment. Booker is currently going through a slow transition. Why not cap it by bringing back his buddy and doing a one off maybe were he can turn on Dustin and begin his heel GM Persona and subsequent political battle with Teddy Long.

Powers of Pain

The team of Vinnie’s dreams, these guys were bigger than the LOD, with the gimmick of Demolition. Still competing to this day, a one with a few local jobber teams before being confronted by the Shield for their years of injustices would make Ambrose and company appear ruthless.

MNM

Mercury and Morrison should be in the WWE now. In fact, if they were in the Shield as the tag team I wouldn’t judge the move too suddenly. This team has instant credibility and a return would be awesome.

Too Cool

What to do with a faction like 3MB. They are hilarious but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to book them to look like a team that will get anything done. Book 3MB vs. Ryder and Too Cool. The Broskii team would be the perfect vehicle to get Ryder on TV winning matches and booking 3MB in matches they could conceivably win. Also, there is a perfect vehicle here to eventually face turn the three man band and heel Ryder, moving him to the next level of his development.

The Hart Dynasty

This pick is loaded but not really. While Tyson kid is still with the “E”, DH Smith is not. Since his departure he has gotten increasingly better. With Kidd on the mic and Smith dominating physically, there is no way this team couldn’t succeed in a feud with Team Hell No.

World’s Greatest Tag Team

Ok, so Haas has announced he is retiring and Shelton is in Japan. But, being the best seasoned team in the business, not in the big time, that can still compete means if HHH calls, they will be in Stamford signing a contract. This would only raise their stock. So a program that eventually leads to Kurt Angle making his WWE return and subsequent final run before HOF would be WrestleMania worthy. Oh its true… its damn true.

I didn’t mention the New Age Outlaws because they did exactly what I am talking about. They put the boots on and came in and made the boys look good. With that in mind, let me know who you would want to see comeback and make a splash in the tag team division.

Wrestling fans tend to be overly nostalgic at times, exaggerating the positive qualities of past WWE programming, especially when compared to the current product. They praise the Attitude Era and bash the new generation of wrestlers for “not getting the business”, but I feel statements of this kind are out of touch with reality. The industry undergoes constant evolution and the pros and cons of each “era” are debatable. Nevertheless, few can disagree with the claim that WWE’s Divas Division is not what it used to be.

Over the past decade, superstars like Chyna and Trish Stratus have been replaced by eye candy lacking personality or wrestling ability. Looks have always been crucial for a female star’s success in WWE, as the majority of the division has always consisted of stunning bombshells, but it seems like beauty is the deciding factor nowadays. The likes of Rosa Mendes and The Bella Twins come into the company without any wrestling experience and the short time they spend at developmental is unable to mask how green they are in the ring.

What is worse than the Divas’ talent recruitment is their booking. Performers like Beth Phoenix and Natalya come along occasionally, but they are never given the chance to shine. Phoenix’s title reigns were diluted by random jobbing sessions, and the daughter of Jim Neidhart has been reduced to the role of a valet for The Great Khali. There are some names in the company who are capable of putting on entertaining matches, but WWE simply does not care enough to showcase their abilities.

Or is that about to change?

Naomi of The Funkadactyls has been a treat to watch in the ring and what is even more surprising is the fact that WWE seems to recognize her talent. She has been getting more and more matches on TV over the last few months, despite receiving nowhere near the screen time she deserves. That fact alone is of course no evidence of intention to invest in the Divas, but it does indicate that someone backstage is paying attention and wants to see more of Naomi.

On the other hand, you have AJ, who is arguably the only female performer to have a big impact on WWE programming in the last year. Ever since she was called up to the main roster, she has been involved in high-profile angles, including Daniel Bryan’s World Heavyweight Championship loss at WrestleMania 28. Her “love triangle” storyline with Bryan and CM Punk proved to be a major boost for her popularity and she went on to become the Raw General Manager, before assuming her current position as Dolph Ziggler’s valet. Recently she has also become the No. 1 contender for the Divas Championship. The thought of having a champion who actually gets a reaction from the crowd is refreshing.

Furthermore, last night’s Raw planted the seeds for a “secret admirer” storyline involving the current Divas Champion, Kaitlyn. It was not a long segment, but it raised questions. For the first instance in a long time, a story is developing in the Women’s Division, and as opposed to AJ’s push from last year, it does not have anything to do with the WWE Championship picture.

Considering that WWE and E! have teamed up for the production of the upcoming ‘Total Divas’ series, exploring the female workers’ personal and professional lives, is that a sign of reinvigorated interest in the division?

Or was it just a temporary impression left by yesterday’s overly stretched out edition of Raw?

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As “Assistant Managing Supervisor of Raw,” as he likes to put it, his role has been drastically increased since his debut. Coming from a fame-hungry wrestler, he seems to shine in non-combative roles. Regardless of the flack he has received in his most recent segments, he absolutely brings something different to the table. Maddox’s character maintains a huge ego, acting smug at any moment. His loud-mouthed, boisterous and irritating persona meshes very well with his unaware, clumsy and awkward attributes. It sounds like the perfect formula for a easily-hated heel. The self-centered personality is something to be despised and mocking his foolishness is a perfect way to have his ego damaged.

All comprehensive character development aside; he is just damn entertaining. Maddox rides that perfect line of being a comedy act as well as being a viable heel. The most relevant example I can offer is Fandango, who also balances the aforementioned traits. With a slow build, Maddox will eventually be legitimized; not unlike Fandango.

So here’s the dealio. Maddox has tremendous charisma and potential. Yet, he still rubs people the wrong way. I suppose one must have a proverbial acquired taste for these types of characters. Like Fandango, all he needs is time. I assure you, Maddox will take his “Beef Mode” to the max.

The first, and easiest thing, in defense of Cena is the fact that even if you hate him for being a stale character who’s been in the Superman gimmick for far too long, but you have to respect him for his Make-A-Wish dedication. The main reason we’re stuck with the over the top good guy gimmick is pretty obvious, it’s hard for an asshole to be the guy that every kid wants to meet. While all males over the age of fourteen may not like his gimmick and may want the Doctor of Thuganomics back, there’s really not much of a payout on the Make-A-Wish side for that character. The man may be stale, but he’s one of the best people you could ever want walking this planet. Anyone who watched Raw tonight and didn’t at least feel SOMETHING when he had the segment with the kids, you have zero heart and need to debate if you’re even a human being.

Next up is the gimmick, while it’s stale as all hell; it’s not the absolute worst gimmick we’ve ever seen in wrestling. You can say what you want, but he’s pretty much this era’s answer to Hulk Hogan. While he may be behind on sales of merch, the fact is that he’s not known for having the most massive repertoire when it comes to moves in the ring, and he’s over primarily with women and children. He’s a larger than life, cartoon character, hell he’s even on the box of Fruity Pebbles (thanks Rock). While he may not be held in with the whole red and yellow that Hogan wore back in the day, he has the slogans, the appeal to the crowd, and the championship credentials, and no matter what you think about his character he STILL gets the loudest reaction out of crowd every single time he’s one a show, although this guy Fandango seems to be on the climb pretty quickly.

Lastly, the lack of in ring talent people speak about when they bring up Cena’s matches is what I’ll attempt to defend. As I said earlier in this piece, I have a feeling that his ring work is less to do with his inability and more to do with his character being less technical and more of a “tough guy.” If you look back at his debut matchups with Kurt Angle he was able to hold his own in there with one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, even looking back at his work as the Doctor of Thuganomics against the American Badass version of Undertaker was actually pretty solid. Probably the most obvious moment when Super Cena started his run was the night he worked JBL at WrestleMania and got pounded the entire match only to somehow get the victory. The start of the “never give up” and the over the top “you can beat on me all you want but you can’t beat me” gimmick seemed to be that night and it’s lived on ever sense. The gimmick may be one of the more one dimensional, boring, and flat out basic you could picture in the current age, but his ring work isn’t nearly as bad as the gimmick would lead us all to believe.

Cena is a good guy (no matter what you think about his divorce or anything else), making wishes happen for child after child. You can’t possibly care that much about kids and be a bad person inside. His gimmick may need a massive overhaul, but he’s able to pull it off in a manner that still gets one of the loudest reactions every time he’s on a card. His ring work, while sometimes being less than stellar, is much better than we’re allowed to see on television (STF excluded, I mean that thing is horrible). On top of everything else the man is probably the toughest son of a bitch we’ve seen in the business in so many different years. The man is working a main event (albeit a 6 man tag match) tonight with an Achilles injury. I think I may have issues with mine at the moment, and it’s one of the more painful and nagging things you can live with. I can’t imagine running to a ring and actually working a match with the way my ankle feels currently. The man may have his detractors, but he’s easily one of the biggest characters to come along in quite a while. While we’re all awaiting the “Hollywood” turn, enjoy the new Hulk while you can. Like it or not people, the champ…is…here.

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