My Top 10 Favorite Raw Moments

Well folks, tonight's the night. This has been built up for quite a while and I admit that I'm actually looking forward to watching RAW tonight. I'm sure this is one the WWE will be going all out for, and many surprise appearances will be in store. WWE.com has been counting down RAW's greatest moments of the last 15 years. I'd like to share my favorites with you…

10. Intercontinental Title Battle Royal

This was the 20 Man Battle Royal for the vacant Intercontinental Title from 1993. While Bobby Heenan's Bastion Booger jokes would have been reason enough to rank this #10, this would be the shot in the arm of the singles career of Razor Ramon (aka Scott Hall.) He and Rick Martel would co-win this and meet next week for the title with Razor coming out on top. That win was the first of several Intercontinental Title reigns for "Da Bad Guy," and while Scott Hall is nothing short of sad nowadays, he was one of WWE's major players in the early years of the Raw era.

9. ECW Invades (Part 1)

This may not seem like that big of a deal now with ECW as a 3rd Brand, but tuning into Raw during the attitude era and seeing Paul Heyman was a pretty big deal at the time. ECW was invited to show up and give WWE fans a taste of extreme, as ECW stars wrestled each other in 3 matches of the Raw telecast. It was pretty surreal seeing The BWO, Little Guido, Taz, Mikey Whipreck, Tommy Dreamer, and D-Von Dudley on Monday night programming. The highlight of this, of course, was Sabu appearing and jumping off of the RAW letters in the entrance way onto Team Taz. I, for one, was very excited to find out that this angle will be a featured as of the 15th Anniversary Best of Raw DVD coming out later this month.

8. Edge's Birthday

One of my favorite backstage segments EVER… Edge, Christian, Kurt Angle, and Triple H sitting around in a locker room celebrating Edge's birthday. What made this so awesome? Theme music played via kazoo by Christian with Edge covering the vocals. This continued on for a few more weeks with the Canadian duo paying homage to Chris Benoit and Crash Holly using this method. For this initial segment, however, these four played off of each other perfectly, and was one of the early stages of developing Edge & Christian's personalities.

7. Replay of Hart/Smith from In Your House

My memory isn't kicking as to when this actually occurred, but it was sometime between the night after and two weeks after the December 95 In Your House Pay Per View. It was pretty awesome of them to do this, as they aired the WWE Championship Match between Bret Hart and The British Bulldog in its entirety. It doesn't hurt that the match was pretty damn good, too.

6. Mike Awesome wins Hardcore Title

The Hardcore Title, held by Rhyno, was under 24/7 Rules at the time. Rhyno is shown walking backstage when all of a sudden he gets blindsided by Mike Awesome who promptly pins him to win the Hardcore Title. Why was this so important? Mike Awesome was a member of the WCW roster. This Again, my memory isn't the best but I think he laid Rhyno out with a chair then put him through a table. Regardless, this is what kicked off the WCW Invasion, and while that failed in the end, this moment was at least pretty intriguing.

5. DX Parodies The Nation

One of the all time classics. Jason Sensation playing Owen Hart, Triple H as the Crock, and X Pac as Mizark Henry were all very humorous. While this opened up a can of worms to let them think they could recreate the awesomeness of this by doing impersonations of the Corporation and more recently The McMahons again, this was something that I remembered and people were talking about for a very long time.

4. ECW Invades (Part 2)

This almost would have ranked higher on my list had it not turned into "The Alliance" by the end of the show, but the night that Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam debuted on Raw was pretty sweet. Kane & Chris Jericho were facing Lance Storm and Mike Awesome of WCW when they attacked. Members of the Raw roster (The Dudleys, Tazz, Justin Credible, Rhyno, and Raven) came to make the save, only to realize that they were all former ECW wrestlers and lay the boots to Jericho & Kane while Paul Heyman reveals it all as an ECW Invasion. For me, this was one of the most unbelievable moments I had witnessed in wrestling. They were sitting on a gold mine with this, but somehow they managed to screw things up royally. Just like they did again in 2006...

3. Lita & Trish Main Event Raw

These last 3 are kind of feel good moments for me. Lita and Trish Stratus had countless battles between one another and at this point were capable of putting together a pretty kick ass match. The bookers had a pretty good feeling that they would and let them go out there and close out the show in December 2004. The feel good moment stemming from this is the faith in these two to run with the ball. They delivered, and while Lita fucked up her neck in the process, she beat Trish to regain the Womens Title. While Lita winning the title initally from Stephanie McMahon in the Main Event of Raw in 2000 felt pretty good too, this felt a little more special headlining the show considering there was no one in the match named McMahon.

2. Eddie Guererro Tribute

While his death was a tragedy, the Raw where they paid tribute to Eddie was a special night. Seeing Raw stars vs Smackdown stars was a treat, as was Chris Benoit going over cleanly on Triple H. The match that stood out, however, was Shawn Michaels vs Rey Mysterio. They had a great match, and Shawn did the selfless thing by putting Rey over clean. To me, that win helped legitimize Mysterio as being able to hang with Main Eventers on his way to winning The Royal Rumble and eventually the World Title.

1. Mick Foley wins World Title

This was the ultimate feel good moment, as nobody saw it coming, or at least until they posted it on Wwe/f.com and Eric Bischoff blurted it out on Nitro. Foley had already gotten screwed over by the Rock at Survivor Series and Rock Bottom, and got screwed one more time this night by Shane McMahon in a match against Triple H. Frustrated, Foley did the only thing he could... hold Shane McMahon hostage in order to get one more rematch with Rock later that night. After some help from DX, the unthinkable happened, and Mrs. Foley's baby boy was the WWE Champion. Contrary to what Bischoff believed, it did in fact put some asses in seats, and some viewers on the TV.

A lot has happened in the last 15 years, but Monday Night Raw is still around, and will most likely be around another 15 years from now. I'm looking forward to seeing what they end up doing for this, to see will become of the Evolution Reunion, to see if Carlito will win the Intercontinental Title as part of the agreement for him to stick around, to see the return of Sunny, to see what will most likely be the second coming of the Gimmick Battle Royal… WWE can easily bounce back from Thursday's ratings loss with a good number here. There's enough hype surrounding Raw tonight. Here's to hoping they deliver, and here's to hoping for one more feel good moment for Monday Night RAW...

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Armchair Booking The ECW World Title Picture

Are you the kind of person that watches something on WWE or TNA and think you could do it better? Yeah, that's the kind of person I am. The reality is that 90% of us probably couldn't. What makes me think I'm any different? Nothing really. I do have 7 1/2 years experience in the wrestling business as a worker, but very little experience booking (just one show really.) I have contributed ideas for matches, angles, and feuds that have worked out pretty well, so I'd like to think that I have a good mind for booking.

Alot of people were surprised that ECW retained its timeslot for another year, especially given the ratings they have drawn. It is one of the highest rated (if not THE highest rated) program on Sci Fi, but it doesn't compare to the ratings pulled in by Raw or Smackdown. With the same roster as Smackdown basically, there's no reason why ECW shouldn't be able to pull in the same ratings as it's Friday Night Counterpart, especially since Tuesday night is a more convenient night of the week to be watching wrestling (assuming the average wrestling fan has something to do on a Friday night.)

As of last night's ECW/Smackdown tapings, there is no ECW angle leading into the Armageddon PPV that is almost 2 weeks away (yes, it is in Pittsburgh, and no I won't be going unless someone surprises me with tickets as a birthday present.) My take at armchair booking makes things pretty interesting, and carries all the way through Wrestlemania. What I want you to do is read this article now and read it again in April after Wrestlemania is in the books. I want feedback at that time to see if you were happy with the job the WWE has done at that point, or if this is the booking you would have much rather enjoyed. Let's also examine at that time if the ratings have remained steady or have increased, and if you think this fake booking would have made a difference in the numbers.

Next week on ECW, the show begins with CM Punk cutting a promo about not having a challenger lined up for an ECW Title Match at Armageddon. He invites to the ring Tommy Dreamer. He puts over Dreamer for initially winning the Chase to the Title series a few months back and remind us all that he never recieved a title shot for his efforts. Tonight, CM Punk is going to make Tommy's dreams come true and give him what (I think, but could be wrong) would be his first ECW Title shot since the brand relaunched last year. Dreamer accepts. Later in the Main Event, Smackdown Tag Champs John Morrison and Miz are on commentary for the match and get involved at the end, causing the match to end in a no contest.

On Smackdown that Friday (or even ECW next week since I believe they tape Smackdown before ECW airs live) Punk and Dreamer return the favor, involving themselves in a non-title match with Miz & Morrison against any random pair of babyfaces (why not Finlay & Hornswoggle for shits and giggle?) To protect Morrison here, Miz takes the pin. As a result of this, a Tag Team Title Match is set for Armageddon.

At Armageddon, Morrison and Miz retain the Tag Team Titles against Punk and Dreamer. Morrison gets the pin on Punk in this match, and the following week on ECW TV, Morrison gloats about pinning the Champion and uses that to get another rematch for the title. This rematch happens the following week on December 27th. Why December 27th? It's the week of Christmas and ECW airs on Thursday head to head with Impact. One would think they should stack this show up to beat them in the ratings, but I think it would be more beneficial to rely on one match to carry the show, literally.

What I am proposing here is Punk vs Morrison in a 60 Minute Iron Man Match. One match to take place during the entire 60 minute broadcast. I think this would be a good idea to do regardless, and with the Smackdown merger, some ECW talent can just wrestle on the Friday Night broadcast. A match like this is just what the ECW Title needs to build a little prestigue and to be deemed more important than the US or Intercontinental Title. Plus, they'll have a week to advertise the match. I'm sure TNA will be trying to put on a strong show and a strong main event to compete with this, but even fans that are flipping back and forth will most likely want to tune into the last 10 minutes of this to see things really heat up. Now in my booking, Miz gets involved toward the end, followed by Dreamer saving, but both of them staying at ringside for the final few minutes. In the end, Punk retains, and Dreamer helps him celebrate, only to turn on him.

Somewhere before the end of the year finally have Mahoney/Kelly vs Miz/Layla so that feud can finally be blown off. Just please keep the Women's Wrestling to a bare minimum and DO NOT have Kelly attempt another Circus Panda in the corner...

The next week, Dreamer explains his actions via heel promo, basically venting his frustrations about his role in WWECW and saying that he cares more about becoming ECW Champion and challenges Punk to a match. Enter Punk, brawl ensues, and they meet at New Years Revolution with Punk retaining. They have a rematch again at the Royal Rumble, this time in an Extreme Rules Match.

Does the ECW Title feel a little more important yet?

To build for Wrestlemania, Bobby Lashley makes his return in time for the Rumble, but comes up short. Let's say for the sake of argument that a member of the RAW Roster wins the Rumble match itself, leaving the heavily rumored Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out where the winner gets a shot at the other World Title… on Smackdown. Lashley returns to the Blue Brand in an attempt to again become a World Champion, and turning heel in frustration of not winning the Rumble match. While this is all happening, Punk is having a great series of matches with Shelton Benjamin, who has been built up as a credible challenger for the last couple of months. Lashley comes up short yet again and turns to his last option to have a World Title Match for the Granddaddy of them all, targeting CM Punk.

One problem is the ECW brand is built up with a strong assortment of heels that can be Main Eventers, while they still only have one Main Event face in CM Punk. Let's just say that the fans accept Dreamer back as a babyface after his match with Punk at the Rumble, and Elijah Burke has a falling out with Shelton Benjamin that leads to a face turn and a match at Wrestlemania. I don't see ECW getting another match on that show, so let's put them both in the Money In the Bank Ladder Match.

At Wrestlemania, Punk's reign is ended by the only other member of the ECW Roster not named John Morrison who could make a believable Champion for that brand in Bobby Lashley. From there, the summer months can be spent feuding the two together, maybe even switching the title a couple times if needed (ala Angle vs Lesnar.)

There you have it. Will it make the ECW Title feel as important as Big Gold or The Spinner belt? Will it help ECW's ratings go up a whole point? Will it make the ECW Brand as a whole seem like it's not the read headed stepchild of the WWE? Those are all debatable, but tell me come Monday, March 31st if this would have been a better idea.

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Time to Play the Game

I've been playing a lot of Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 lately. I run raw in General Manager mode. One of my struggles is to keep my roster up-to-date with WWE's current offering. I don't go through the trouble of creating guys that aren't there, but I do release guys that the WWE has actually released. The reason that this is a struggle is because anyone who is not on your brand is not yours to release and make unavailable. I have done a pretty good job however. Currently the only active wrestler on the game who has been released in real life is the recently released Chris Masters.

I assume that when WrestleMania occurs for the umpteenth time, I can acquire him and send him back to whence he came. I just completed another Royal Rumble. The Great Khali picked up the victory, but rather than beating 29 other men, he defeated 26. Why? Well, with WWE releasing so many guys in the past year, There just aren't enough guys to fill out the Rumble.

Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 came out yesterday, and as of this writing, I do not own it. The only thing I know for sure is that in the time between the last game and this one, WWE has gotten rid of a number of their SvR 2007 roster members. Aren't these guys supposed to be the cream of WWE's crop?

Well, if that's true, WWE should be in a lot worse shape than they are now. After all, these aren't just the scrubs that are no longer there. Former World Champions like Big Show, Booker T, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and Rob Van Dam are among those who have departed since the last edition of the popular game. I would add JBL and Mick Foley to those names. JBL is no longer an active wrestler, and while I question Foley's addition as a regular roster member last year, it is without doubt that he hasn't stepped in the ring for a match anytime recently.

William Regal is another superstar who like JBL has strong WWE ties, but no longer serves a regular active in-ring role.

After these guys the biggest releases come from the Women's division. It's nothing impressive to be a former Women's Champion. Almost every WWE diva can lay claim to that title. Not every diva can claim to be Trish Stratus or Lita however. These two women revolutionized WWE women's wrestling.

The rest of the releases are made up of a lot of guys who frankly never really would have meant much. The only member of the list that I could have ever imagined with a World Title reign would have been Chris Masters. Unfortunately, he was unable to deal with the pressures of his gimmick in relation to the WWE Wellness Policy.

The other guys who have left WWE television include Daivari, Joey Mercury, Kid Kash, Paul Burchill, Psicosis, and Vito.

With rumors that Carlito may be the next on his way out the door, the prospects of me filling a Royal Rumble ring on SvR 2007 looks even bleaker.

The outlook for SvR 2008 isn't much better. Chris Masters, King Booker, JTG, Marquis Cor Von, The Sandman, Shad and Sabu have already been released and the game just came out. Again, William Regal is serving in a non-wrestling role. Who knows who will still be around by the 2009 edition? By the time I pick it up for Christmas, I may already be unable to have a true Royal Rumble.

That's ok with me though. I have a ways to go with Smackdown vs. Raw 07. After all, my video game is about the only place in wrestling that can boast a hot tag team division. DX, The Brothers of Destruction, Finlay and Regal, and Cade and Murdoch aren't too shabby. Add occasional appearances from Rated-RKO, Umaga and the Great Khali, and John Cena and Batista, and you'd swear it was 1989 when it comes to the depth of tag teams who are actually over.

For those who are curious, my full roster currently consists of Batista, Edge, Finlay, Khali, Cena, Nitro and Melina, Kane, Ken Kennedy, Lance Cade, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Trevor Murdoch, Triple H, Umaga, The Undertaker, and William Regal. Yeah, I know. I'm stacked!

So if the World were perfect and WWE released Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 tommorow, who should be on the active roster?

Last years game included 44 active wrestlers. Assuming that the game is continually getting better, let's add six.

1. Shelton Benjamin
2. Lance Cade
3. Carlito
4. Charlie Haas
5. Jeff Hardy
6. Brian Kendrick
7. Mr. Kennedy
8. Santino Marella
9. Paul London
10. Shawn Michaels
11. Trevor Murdoch
12. Randy Orton
13. Cody Rhodes
14. Snitsky
15. Triple H
16. Umaga
17. Chris Jericho (Unlockable)
18. John Cena
19. Bobby Lashley
20. DH Smith
21. Val Venis
22. Batista
23. Deuce
24. Domino
25. Kenny Dykstra
26. Finlay
27. The Great Khali
28. Matt Hardy
29. Mark Henry
30. Kane
31. Rey Mysterio
32. Jamie Noble
33. Chuck Palumbo
34. MVP
35. The Undertaker
36. Jimmy Wang Yang
37. Edge
38. Ric Flair
39. Chavo Guerrero
40. Gregory Helms
41. Big Daddy V
42. Elijah Burke
43. CM Punk
44. Tommy Dreamer
45. John Morrison
46. The Miz
47. The Boogeyman
48. Stevie Richards
49. Matt Striker
50. Kevin Thorn

The last game included seven divas. If we can get the number up to ten, WWE should include:

1. Jillian Hall
2. Mickie James
3. Maria
4. Melina
5. Beth Phoenix
6. Candice Michelle
7. Michelle McCool
8. Victoria
9. Torrie Wilson
10. Kelly Kelly

The last game included 16 legends. Let's bump to 20:

1. Hulk Hogan
2. Randy Savage
3. Bret Hart
4. Steve Austin
5. The Rock
6. Arn Anderson
7. Ricky Steamboat
8. Ted Dibiase
9. Barry Windham
10. Andre the Giant
11. The Ultimate Warrior
12. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
13. Vader
14. Yokozuna
15. Mr. Perfect
16. Ax
17. Smash
18. Sid
19. Owen Hart
20. Razor Ramon












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The Time is Now

There is a newsfeed on our blog that keeps me up to date on the latest happenings in professional wrestling. One interesting article I came across speculated on the effect that the Hollywood writers strike would have on the WWE.

The writer speculated that the NBC network might turn to the WWE for additional programming to make up for the loss of The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, and others.

At the same time I thought that if this model proved successful, CBS might look into their affiliate network Spike TV about TNA programming.



If the strike lasts as long as projected, the WWE and TNA may receive major outlets for their programming. The question of whether or not the negative stigma related to the Chris Benoit murders and the related steroid probes will prevent networks and advertisers from looking towards professional wrestling is valid.

Let's assume however that the WWE actually does have the opportunity to benefit from added television time. Can WWE bring the goods?

Over the summer, Linda McMahon stated during a conference call that professional wrestling was about to hit another boom period. Since that announcement, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, and Ken Kennedy have returned from injuries.

Also since that time, Rob Van Dam and Booker T have left the company, and Bobby Lashley and John Cena have gone down to injury. So the question is, is the WWE in better or worse position than they were six months ago?

The answer is better, and the reason for that all looms on the horizon. If WWE is able to get three slots of network television time, they have three major events guaranteed to occur. The eagerly anticipated returns of Edge, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho are all slated to occur sometime in the near future, and the timing could not be more perfect.

An interesting proposition would see classic wrestling as an option during this time. This is an interesting concept, indeed. The suggestion of the very best of Raw from the 1990's being available may overshadow today's product, or it could alternatively light a fire under WWE creative and remind the casual fan of what they enjoyed so much in the past.

I must admit I am not always the biggest "Stone Cold" Steve Austin fan. I think he was a better worker before he adopted the Stone Cold persona, and at times his act has grown tired to me. Still, during his confrontation with Santino Marella on Monday Night, all I could feel was magic, and I wished to myself that Austin had the ability to wrestle again.

Some critics are suggesting that Santino Marella's fantastic mic work over the past several weeks was all for naught because of the Austin confrontation. I couldn't disagree more.

Santino Marella has established himself as one of the most entertaining characters on Raw. A beer-spraying hose cannot wash that away. Just the opportunity for Santino to work with Austin elevates him. So what if Austin got a kick-wham-stunner on him. Who hasn't Austin done that too? The point is, Marella got under Austin's skin enough to bring Austin back to a WWE ring to confront him, and when Austin stood face to face with him, he was true to his convictions and never backed down.

Now Marella is positioned fantastically as the perfect antagonist to a returning Chris Jericho, and fans understand that the potential for classic mic work is outstanding. Marella doesn't have the character to be a main event caliber wrestler yet. However, as the green wears off and his comedy runs its course, he is going to be a very hot commodity as a serious title contender.

All Santino's program with Austin did was elevate him to bigger and better things. What if next week Santino was fuming about being embarrassed by Austin the week before? In a fit of rage, Marella announces that he is issuing and open challenge to anyone under a WWE contract for a match at the Survivor Series. All of the sudden, the countdown is on!

Another can't miss storylines for fans old enough to remember the good old days involves the return of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Since his WWE wrestling debut, fans have clamored for the storyline that sees Flair donning the big gold belt one more time.

While Flair currently seems far from the title picture on any brand, it will not take long to convince fans that Flair is ready and able for one last hurrah. Flair's return should see him gain convincing victories over major superstars and at the same time reestablish the figure-four leglock.

For those worried about Flair going over younger talent who are the future of the company, I would first suggest remembering how many guys Flair has attempted to help put over (although attempts with Kenny Dykstra and Carlito weren't all that successful). In professional wrestling, losing to Ric Flair is certainly not the type of thing that a wrestler will be unable to overcome in the future. If done right, A Flair for the Gold will convince anyone that Flair has the ability simply because of how bad he wants his final day in the sun.

How would I suggest they position Flair for his title shot? The same way they positioned him for the title during his first WWE run. Imagine the underdog Flair defeating 29 younger superstars at the Royal Rumble and choosing his own destiny at WrestleMania.

The current World Heavyweight Title picture is irrelevant, as WrestleMania is months away. Say the Undertaker defeats Batista at the Survivor Series and is positioned for a World Title Match with Edge at the Rumble. This is the perfect time for Batista to cost the Undertaker the belt and turn heel, as his babyface character has grown tired to many anyways. The Rumble can come down to Batista and Flair, who have a hell of a back-story of their own, and Taker can return the favor. Now you have two hot Smackdown main event matches. Perhaps and interesting twist would see Edge recruit his own pseudo-horsemen in the months leading up to WrestleMania. Arn Anderson would insist on helping Flair in his battles, but Flair would insist that this time he has to do it alone, and Arn would be left to struggle with respecting Flair's wishes and being the enforcer. He would reconcile those differences when he meets Flair in the ring to hug him and celebrate his title victory.

Flair would drop the belt the next month, most likely in a return match with Edge, but a unique and incredible WrestleMania moment was made, and Flair can retire with his legacy in tact.

The main problem I see is that outside of these returns, there is not a lot in the immediate future to look forward to on Raw. The Triple H-Umaga program has pretty much run its course twice now, yet it is still going on. The Randy Orton-Shawn Michaels program has no happy ending, as Michaels should not be regaining the belt right now, but he certainly needs to get his heat back from Orton kicking a field goal with his face and putting him out of action. So how does the Raw brand create exciting television outside of the return of Chris Jericho?

Well, one interesting prospect would involve the return of another major attitude-era superstar. If the WWE is looking to recapture the casual fan from the late 1990's, who better to bring back than The Rock. Now I know this seems a bit of a stretch, but with a major writer's strike in Hollywood, Rock's Saturday Night Live appearance has already been cancelled, and plans for any major movies he might have done could be on hold.

I would not suggest that Dwayne Johnson return in an active wrestling role for many reasons. He is not in wrestling shape. The risk of injury is high and unnecessary for him to take. Still, the Rock appearing and electrifying live crowds in a general manager role, bantering with Chris Jericho, Santino Marella, William Regal, Ron Simmons, and others is the recipe for good WWE television. I would think it a lot more doubtful had not the Rock appeared prior to WrestleMania to suggest that Umaga is Samoan for shriveled-up monkey penis.

To follow the momentum of events like Ric Flair, Edge, Chris Jericho, or even the Rock's return, you need to really establish your current and future guys as stars. That means having Cody Rhodes serving as Hardcore Holly's bitch is not going to cut it. That means having Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas jobbing to a makeshift tag team that no one cares about like Super Crazy and Jim Duggan is not going to cut it. That means having Snitsky, as a featured part of Raw, defeating jobbers in 30 seconds with a stupid pumphandle slam is simply not going to cut it.

For the love of God, if the WWE does get this opportunity and intends to take advantage of it CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga, Finlay, Matt Hardy, and MVP better come out the other side as huge stars.

If I had it my way, Shelton Benjamin, Lance Cade, Santino Marella, Val Venis, Jamie Noble, Elijah Burke, Beth Phoenix, and Victoria would be right there with them. What is it going to take for the WWE to write some good TV for these guys? With their look, charisma, and ability, it should be easy to get them over. Hell, the fact that they aren't over is blasphemous. Here is an analogy: If I was ever going to get an F in elementary school, I was going to have to try for it. Just showing up writing my name on the paper and taking the test would likely get me a C, even if I hadn't done any work prior. When it comes to these talents, WWE creative is getting an F… in elementary school… because you have to be trying to do THAT badly.

At any hot point in professional wrestling, you have great storylines in the main event and a hot exciting midcard full of guys you can see one day wearing the heavyweight title. Just because John Cena is sitting at home rehabbing a pectoral muscle doesn't mean that his theme music has no resonance in today's WWE landscape. If you work in the WWE offices, give a listen. Your time is up. The time is now!

If done correctly, this could be a hot as hell ECW World Title Match at WrestleMania 24:



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Jericho Debuts... In My Mailbox

Today when I opened my mailbox, the biggest angle of 2007 layed inside. I wouldn't call it a spoiler, because it only confirmed what we already knew. Chris Jericho has returned to the WWE.

In the magazine he cites John Cena and Shawn Michaels as reasons he wanted to return. He also mentions wrestling at Lance Storm's Academy to shake off the ring rust, as well as having a new finisher which did not debut in my mailbox.

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Weight Classes Could Help Drug Problem in Wrestling

When you turn on the television to watch wrestling, what do you see? Big beefy bodies usually. Tall, muscular heavyweight wrestlers are the rule of thumb in wrestling, for a variety of reasons.

I do not think the average person understands how difficult it is for a person to weigh in over 200 lbs. on a six foot frame and have a low body fat percentage. There is a reason that people that have body types like that are on the covers of magazines and can make good money with such a physique - it is not common. And, while having the talent to become a WWE star is not common either, proficiency at a sport does not necessarily require the physique of a Greek god.

Look at the sport of football. Big beefy offensive linemen are often promoted as being complete pigs because of their physique. Hell, football players like Mike Golic have even made careers after their playing days on the idea that linemen are eating machines. I’m sure everyone has heard a story about a local pro, college, or even high school team’s linemen going to some kind of buffet and being asked to leave after eating plate upon plate of food. In the NFL, these guys are athletes of the highest magnitude, and weigh an average of 285 lbs.

I ask you to take a look at your favorite NFL team next Sunday. How many of those players look as “ripped” as the WWE wrestlers? How many of them are built like bodybuilders? These guys are of the same height and weight as required by the WWE and are some of the highest paid athletes on the planet. They are required to be in the best possible physical condition to compete at the highest level of their sport.
Not to look like they are in the top condition to compete at the highest level.

According to people that I have spoken to that have been to places like OVW, or that have been scouted by Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., the only major wrestling promotion in the United States is not interested in any wrestlers who are under 250 pounds, and under 6’2” tall. In addition to those minimum requirements, they expect their wrestlers to have “the look”. “The Look” is a catch-all term meaning “the look of a bodybuilder”.

Chris Masters is a great example of this. This is a guy that, from the outside looking in, was not a great wrestler. The WWE even promoted him as having the body of a Greek god – thus he was branded “The Masterpiece”. Outside pressures (such as wrestlers dying and/or murdering their families) forced the WWE to start testing its competitors for steroids and other performance enhancing drugs and illegal narcotics such as marijuana. Suddenly, Masters found himself suspended. Then, he was ridiculed on television for losing weight while not taking the banned substances. It should be no surprise then that he failed another test, and was suspended again shortly after gaining most of his muscle mass back.

Last week, Masters was suspended yet again, and then released. No where did we hear any reports about McMahon or the WWE putting Masters into a drug counseling program, or the FBI or ATF questioning him about where he was getting these substances. This kid was chewed up and spit out by the WWE machine simply because he had “the look” and they required him to maintain this look. Afterall, wrestling skill was not important.

I am willing to bet that there are about 25 wrestlers who had a fair amount of publicity and reputation that, if they had debuted in the WWE in 2005, could have gained a fan following and drawn more money for the company than Masters. But, they were not winners of amateur bodybuilding contests like Masters. Nor were they all over six feet tall.

Simply put, the WWE does not hire the best wrestlers in the world; they hire people who look like models. Alex Rodriguez is poised to become the highest paid athlete in the planet, and I guarantee that not one team that is thinking of signing him has debated whether or not he has “the look” of a baseball player. No, A-Rod can prove all he needs to with a look at his stats. If he looks nice in his underwear, maybe he can pick up modeling work endorsing… underwear. Charles Barkley was always known as the “Round Mound of Rebound” because he was pudgy. Barkley also was a multiple time all-star and is on his way to the hall of fame because he could play basketball. Not because he had six pack abs.

So, why is having “the look” so important in wrestling? A look that, simply put, is not natural.

According to the American Heart Lung and Blood Institute, a person who is 6’2” and 250 lbs is obese. A person of that size would have a Body Mass Index of 32.1 – 2.1 points over the obesity threshold. While the ignorant masses watching RAW every Monday may look at stars such as John Cena and think that this is what an athlete is supposed to look like, it is actually the exact opposite. Looking like what the WWE wants is unhealthy.

I think there is a simple solution to all of this: weight classes.

The hottest fighting sport in the world right now is the Ultimate Fighting Championships. UFC is destroying the WWE when it comes to pay-per-view. UFC PPV events average about 400,000 buys – and they now take place on a monthly basis. While they may not generate the television revenue that WWE does, UFC sells nearly double what WWE does on PPV. When you ask people to name UFC stars they will often name Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson, Rich Franklin, and Ken Shamrock. Except for Couture, none of those men fight as heavyweights for UFC. And Couture has fought most of his career as both a heavyweight, and a light heavyweight.

So, if no one wants to see average size people fight, why is UFC destroying WWE at the PPV box office? While there are a variety of factors why UFC may be a booming business, my argument is that the size of the competitor is not one of them.

Vince McMahon and people of his same train of thought will tell you that people will not pay to see “small” wrestlers because they want to be entertained by “larger than life characters”. That mentality comes from the fact that for years, the most prestigious title in all of sports was the Heavyweight Champion of the World. In Boxing. Why was it prestigious? Because the heavyweight division had characters like John L. Sullivan, Jack Johnson, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, and many, many more. These were all first class athletes, sure. They also were first class personalities. Guys like Jerry Cooney may have been good fighters, but they had no personality, so they were not stars. Roy Jones, Ray Leonard, Shane Mosley, Oscar de la Hoya – these guys are stars too because they had personality – despite not being heavyweights.

The WWE machine is about creating and branding a “personality”, rather than letting an athlete’s real personality shine thru. The territory days and the studio style of promo have gone away in favor of the WWE telling someone what their personality is. The WWE does not sign the best personalities it can find, they go for the bodies that define what wrestling should be to Vince McMahon.

What UFC has done is find a formula for promoting the personalities of their fighters in a way the WWE no longer does. UFC has press conferences, interviews with legitimate media outlets, and lets their fighters be themselves on their television shows such as “The Ultimate Fighter”. UFC has promoted their heavyweights as hard hitting and their smaller fighters as quick and exciting. Guys weighing in at 170lbs and standing 6’5” is not as uncommon as you might think. Heavyweights weighing in at 265 lbs and not having ripped six pack abs are the norm. Hell, guys like Chuck Liddell even get over with the fans because their bodies are more like a “working man”. UFC shows the monster eight hour workouts that guys like Tito Ortiz put themselves thru – and you see that Ortiz isn’t as ripped as Chris Masters. Ortiz trains to fight. Vince McMahon seems to have forgotten that is what is supposed to be going on in the ring – a fight.

“Weight Class” is a dirty phrase in wrestling. Everyone wants to be heavyweight champ, not a “junior” champ. Well, at least in the United States. Other than when WCW promoted the Cruiserweight Division in the late 1990’s, no major promotion in the US has given non-heavyweights a forum to get over a different style of ring work. In Japan, maybe you could debate if it was more prestigious to be the IWGP Heavyweight or Junior Heavyweight Champion in New Japan. In Mexico, the most prestigious championships are the CMLL and NWA Light Heavyweight Championships. In UFC, the division where the big money marquee matches are is the Light Heavyweight. Two guys under 200 lbs. fighting for a title can draw 20,000 paying fans to an arena in Japan, Mexico, and the US – but not for the WWE. Or so says Vince McMahon.

Currently, the WWE has three different heavyweight championships. They have zero singles championships for non-heavyweights (or did you not notice that the Cruiserweight Championship disappeared after Hornswaggle won it?). Is it even at all possible to conceive that there are not enough wrestlers out there less than 200 lbs. for the largest wrestling company in the world to put together a division for them, but they have so many good heavyweights that they put together three different divisions for them?

Maybe the WWE product would become less stale, fewer wrestlers would die, and ratings and buyrates would increase if the WWE actually promoted wrestling by athletes instead of crappy acting by bodybuilders.
Here is what the WWE could do:

Hold a tournament to merge the Raw, Smackdown and ECW Heavyweight titles, as well as the US and Intercontinental titles. The winner would be the only heavyweight holding a singles title in the WWE. Plenty of room in this division for guys like HHH, Batista, Undertaker, Mark Henry, Khali, Randy Orton, Bobby Lashley, Ken Kennedy, John Cena, and others.

Hold a sixteen man cruiserweight tournament, with the winner getting the revived Cruiserweight Championship. This would only be for wrestlers who weigh less than 200 lbs., such as Super Crazzy, Matt Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Carlito Colon, Cody Rhodes, Chavito Guerrero, Montel Porter, Greg Helms, Elijah Burke, Stevie Richards, and Edge.

Introduce a “Welterweight” Championship for wrestlers weighing less than 175lbsWrestlers such as Shannon Moore, Rey Misterio, Jr., Jimmy Yang, Jeff Hardy, Spanky Kendick, Paul London, CM Punk, The Miz, and John Morrison could compete in this division.

I’m not even going to get into tag teams, as that could be another topic completely (Hmmm… next week’s blog topic?!?), but you cannot tell me that the prospect of a card with three big title matches consisting of Batista/Undertaker, Hardy/MVP and Morrison/Punk would draw worse then anything they do now – because that is the same damn thing they are pushing now.

The difference is that by introducing titles for different weight classes, you keep wrestlers healthy, and you have to bring something to that weight class to get a shot in the first place. Bigger isn’t always better.

Just ask Chris Masters.


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Don't Miss CNN's Death Grip

Tonight I plan on watching the presentation from CNN Special Investigations Unit, "Death Grip - Inside Pro Wrestling."

Death Grip is a look at the professional wrestling industry and what has become of it. Analysis of the increase in deaths by various causes is what they will focus on.

This is a replay of the event, tonight (Saturday, November 10th). A good friend of mine caught this show when it originally aired on Tuesday night and he highly recommended it.

Check out the rundown of the show at this link. Looks like the McMahons have quite a bit to say on the topic. Come back to the Pundit and let us know what you think after you watch the show.

-NAPALM-

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Jericho Returning to WWE? Not So Fast...

I know that many wrestling fans are interested in learning of the plans for Chris Jericho in the WWE, so I couldn’t wait to make this post on the Pro Wrestling Pundit.

If the “Save Us” promos are indeed something having to do with the return of Chris Jericho, then we may be seeing them for quite some time.

Last week, Jericho appeared on the Sirius Satellite Radio Channel Howard 101 with Bubba the Love Sponge. On the show, Bubba was grilling him pretty heavily on if and when he would be returning to the WWE. Chris danced around the question quite a bit, but he did say something like, “The only thing I can tell you for sure is that I am promoting my book for the next month.”

In other words, Jericho is probably not going to be making appearance on WWE TV for a while, and when / if he does, he may start out promoting his book, similar to how Mick Foley has done in the past.

Speaking of the book, Jericho highlighted in the interview that following the Chris Benoit tragedy, he had to go back include a foreword to the book. From what Jericho said, throughout the book, he discusses his early career, friendship and other experiences with Chris Benoit, written in a very positive light. He had to go back and indicate that his writings were about the Chris Benoit he knew, or that he thought he knew.

Some other interesting points that were brought up included an altercation Jericho had with Bill Goldberg, regarding how disappointing their feud angle had become. They had words backstage and eventually Goldberg reached out and grabbed Jericho by the throat. Jericho told Bubba that instead of saying something witty or beating Jericho up, all Goldberg did was growl at him. Jericho then said he wasn’t intimidated and due to his experience as a mat wrestler in high school was able to get Goldberg to the ground and leverage him into a submission maneuver that he had seen done in an MMA fight.

Jericho also eluded to the political moves Scott Hall and Kevin Nash tried to pull when the NWO angle was brought to WWE. Solidifying their reputation for poor business skills, Jericho said Scott Hall constantly wanted to cut promos in the ring as opposed to developing angles on TV by wrestling. There was also a time when Hall, Nash, and Hogan had Jericho in a room trying to convince him to do their angle the way they wanted to do it, but Jericho said he refused. He made his points that he felt the way he wanted to do it was best for business, and eventually they all agreed to let it go down the way Jericho wanted. Hogan would later approach him and applauded his standing up for himself and the good business sense that he had.

-NAPALM-

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Remembering Moolah

Lillian Ellison, better known by her alias, The Fabulous Moolah passed away over this weekend. A true legend, Moolah is given credit by Beth Phoenix, Tammy Sytch, Victoria, and many others as being the reason that they have had such successful careers in the world of professional wrestling.

The first woman to hold both the NWA and WWF women's championships, Moolah grew up idolizing another legend in Mildred Burke. Ellison debuted as Slave Girl Moolah, but later went on to become dominant under her more well-known Fabulous name. Her first World title reign begin in the mid 1950's, and she would hold the Women's world title on and off all the way until the 1980's. Revisionist WWE history suggests she never lost the title during that 30 year period, and while that's not true, the amount of time she didn't hold the belt was a period of weeks.

The first real professional wrestling "screwjob" occured when Moolah regained her title by beating Wendi Richter. She would dominate for two more years. Moolah dissapeared as the Women's championship lost steam in the U.S. In 1995 she became the first woman in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Moolah began making semi-regular WWE appearances in 1999, and actually captured the World title again at the age of 76. Moolah wrestled her last televised WWE match against Victoria on her 80th birthday. After defeating my favorite diva, she received an RKO from Legend Killer Randy Orton.

WWE had the following to say about Moolah:

"WWE is saddened by the passing of Lillian Ellison, who was known to sports-entertainment fans as Hall of Famer Fabulous Moolah. She passed away last night in Columbia, S.C.

In the world of women’s wrestling, there will always be one irrefutable legend that stands head and shoulders above the rest: The Fabulous Moolah. She was the longest reigning champion in the history of her chosen sport, or any sport for that matter. And with more than 50 years in the business to her credit, she established a legacy that will never be forgotten, making her name synonymous with female wrestling."
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Way to Go, Roid-O

Like father, like son? DH Smith is living up to his name. After all, it's presumed that most Major League Baseball designated hitters are abusing steriods, and now it's presumed that old Designated Hitter Smith is too.

Smith's past comments on the issue suggested that he had learned all that he needed to from his father, and would not touch the stuff. If I want to take Smith as a man of his word, I have to assume that he is abusing an alternate substance.

Smith will be serving a 30 day wellness policy violation. Chris Masters on the other hand will be serving a 60 day suspension, meaning that after one more, he is out of the WWE.

There is some confusion as this appears to be Masters' third. Masters first trip to rehab predates the current version of the Wellness policy. Fans will remember that Masters returned looking "leaner and meaner." The sole lost PWP article suggested he looked more like a weiner.

Triple H decided to poke fun at Masters' muscle loss on WWE TV, sending the message that the Masterpiece is nothing without his overboard physique. Hopefully both Masters and Smith can get past the demons that are currently haunting them and make a great deal of money in the wrestling business.

For the first time, WWE is publicly releasing violators names. Both Smith and Masters stories have been picked up by Sports Illustrated. More on This Story...

Backstage Raw News

Even though Chris Jericho did not show up (on camera),WWE and Jericho did a lot to try to swerve the fans last night.

For starters, one of my colleagues confirmed that Jericho actually cut his autograph signing - at the University of Penn Barnes and Noble - short last night, offering no real excuse. Those in charge of the event claimed after he left that he had to make it to the arena as soon as possible.

WWE also had the staff of the Wachovia Center block off an entire quarter of the stadium that overlooks the loading docks below. These docks are where the wrestlers arrive and leave, and also where they film the parking lot segments. Traditionally, they tend to block off access to this section whenever there's somebody showing up that they want to keep as a surprise.

I was also excited to see that Jason Static had a match against Ron Simmons, presumably for Heat. Static was actually my first interview for an Introducing column upon joining Pro Wrestling Illustrated! I called and left him a voicemail while he was in the ring, but, unfortunately, the match did not last as long as my voicemail.

Mick Foley's appearance was a complete surprise to just about everybody in the arena. He arrived presumably in a limo and was quickly escorted inside. Perhaps he was the real reason for the blocked section of the arena.

Even though I did not actually make it backstage, I did have a guy on the inside who confirmed the presence of Foley well before the start of the show.
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Soup Du Jour: Soups Hot Come And Get It

What do Irv Gotti and Ric Flair have in common? Seriously, what in the world do they have in common?

Look at this: (taken from WWE.com)

Ric Flair: Hey, Irv.

Irv Gotti: Hey, Ric.

RF: How are you, sir?

IG: What’s up, man?

RF: It seems like you’ve been busy. How’s your reality TV show, Gotti’s Way, going?

IG: It’s going good, you know. I like it. I did it, and I really like it....

Lets stop right there.

"I like it, I did it, and I really like it"...Seriously kids "DON'T DO DRUGS". It sounds like Murder Inc.'s boss has been triping way too much. As a matter of fact, why the hell am I even talking about this! Why in the world has the WWE, The leader in sports entertainment, put an ICON with a B-rate producer.

What has Irv Gotti contributed to the planet earth? Ja Rule...please. Ashanti? Now theres an amazonian woman. The second generation of rap wars. Nope he accounts for zero zilch nada zip of anything that could be thought as important.

Then again WWE what are you doing? Your main rival is just added an additional hour to its show and your booking interviews for your website with IRV Gotti. TNA is getting better by the day, and you want your fans, which might not even know who IRV gotti is, to stop and read about Gotti's Way.

Open Message to the WWE:

To whom it may concern,

Your company is in a world of shit. You put all your eggs in the Super Cena Basket and the bottom fell out. You drafted a world of talent to your Raw roster, and squandered it all in order to put over Cena and Umaga. Then when all the true talent is injured you don't even groom talent to come up. Well you could have with Dustin Rhodes... but he is just one ALabama slammer away from TNA. Meanwhile on the ECW/Smackdown branch...this is just like the WCW-ECW angle a few years back. You want them to coinside with one another. 2 Gm's, 2 Heavy weight titles, a lack of Funding and 2 crappy cable spots = disaster. I personally think that UPN was better than Sci-Fi. My old college roommate watched sci-fi. He was a Nerd...do Nerds watch wrestling? NO! They hate wrestlers, They were beat up by those guys in high school. I actually have no clue what Channel Smack down is on. Thats how bad things have gotten. You released a world of talent in the last few weeks...and it could come back and bite you in the ass. Fortunatly for you, I'm still a fan and watch this remedial excuse for story lines and angles...just because the monday night football games have been less than par this year.

Tuna Soup contributor to PROWRESTLINGPUNDIT.blogspot.com



And thats why you always leave a note! More on This Story...

Booker T's WWE Debut

With King Booker officially released from the WWE, I figured I'd take a look back at his first match ever in the WWE. I remember thinking that Buff Bagwell would be a huge star in the WWE. He had the look and the "attitude." Well, this match got Buff Bagwell fired, but I never understood why. The reason? I never got to see this match. A very close friend of mine from high school had just returned from being gone for a month. I asked her to be my girlfriend on this night and she said yes. I can recall making out with her on the couch in the basement of her aunt's house and sneaking glimpses at the television as WCW and Booker T made their WWE debuts...

Some interesting side notes:
Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson are the commentary team
Stacy Keibler is the ring announcer
Anderson calls this the most historic night of wrestling ever
Anderson calls Booker T the greatest WCW champion of all time
Hudson calls the WCW title the WWF title
Booker T calls this his worst match EVER!!! More on This Story...

Hornswoggle: The Luckiest Little Bastard In WWE

Life is good for the Artist Formerly Known as Little Bastard. Not since Little Beaver getting flattened like a pancake by King Kong Bundy at Wrestlemania 3 has a midget gotten this well of a push in the WWE. It's almost a rule of thumb that if you're Samoan or a midget, you've got a good place carved out for you in Pro Wrestling. Some of the more fortunate like Dink The Clown or Max Mini have their share of the spotlight in the past, and even King Cheesey and Little Boogey got their 15 seconds of fame playing second fiddle to their full size counterparts.

It seemed at first that the little guy was doomed the same fate as Finlay's little troublemaker. Hell, he didn't even get a name until about a year in. But he has certainly lived past his potential as he became the first little person to win a singles title in the WWE. Sure, the Cruiserweight Title has been one of the lowest regarded belts around, but what else was there to do with it other than give Chavo Guererro another run? No offense to Kerwin White, but having the Cruiserweight Title at this point does nothing for him, and is just shows that creative has nothing better to do with the title (and honestly, the same can be said about putting it on Rey Mysterio as well.)

With a limited division, it almost seemed logical to give Hornswoggle the Cruiserweight Title. Some argue that it devalues the title, but the win itself was an upset, and it's not like Jamie Noble was jobbed out by taking the pin from him. It hasn't been defended as actively, but with only a handful of contenders available it's best to try and stretch these things out. The one person that has benefited the most from all of this is in fact Noble. He wasn't doing much of anything before, or at least not anything that anyone's cared about. This feud, while mostly comical, has given give Mr. Noble more TV time than he has had since he debuted as Nunzio's cousin. Now that the Championship is vacated, Noble is the most logical choice to give the title to, as he is now the most over man in the Cruiserweight Division.

Now Hornswoggle is living the good life on RAW. He's involved in a major storyline with Vince McMahon thanks to Spoilers leaked onto the internet that Mr. Kennedy was going to be revealed as Mr. McMahon. Call it pure luck, but this at least guarantees job security for the immediate future. While heavily booked now, one would question what is next for him after this angle dies down? Will he be the latest superstar released because they have nothing left for him to do? Will they bring in another midget for him to feud with? Will he become the newest General Manager for one of the three brands? Only time will tell with Hornswoggle, but for right now things are certainly looking up.

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411wrestling's Fact or Fiction featuring PWP Founder Tim Haught

Welcome back to another week of 411 Fact or Fiction: Wrestling Edition! This week, two 411 NEWBIES go head to head as TG Corke and Tim Haught enter the 411 arena to do battle!

Let's get to it!

1. Batista winning the world title was a needed move.

TG Corke: FACT. With further elaboration necessary. In my opinion, Batista shouldn't have been in the main-event for Smackdown! for four billion consecutive pay-per-views. He looked like a choker time and time again, and it was getting to the stage where they could no longer justify him winning title shot after title shot against countless opponents. They swerved us with the idea of Rey vs. Khali one-on-one, which actually made me want Batista there. The reason this is Fact is because, though I wouldn't have booked Big Dave in all these matches, the fact is that he WAS booked in the match, and the way they booked him previously did require that he win this Sunday. He is no longer ‘Little Hennig' - he is a three-time World Heavyweight Champion. And, dick or not, he probably deserves it.

Tim Haught: FICTION. Was it a need move for Batista? Sure. Was it a needed move for the Smackdown brand? No f'n way. Even if the point is to transition the belt to a returning Edge, I would have rather seen Mysterio capture it, as at least he has a bit of momentum from his return. The David vs. Goliath showdown was actually more intriguing to me than the triple threat match, but I understand why they threw Leviathan in the mix. Now there isn't one in the lot of them that has any momentum on the Smackdown brand. In fact, the only guy that does is the Undertaker. I would rather have seen Taker unseat Khali and then start a long program with the returning Rated R Superstar.

Score: 0 for 1


2. TNA has done the right thing by announcing the Bound for Glory Card so early.

TG Corke : FICTION. I don't know that this is a definite Fiction. I do like that it's very different from the past few months, especially in the run-up to Slammiversary and Victory Road, where we didn't know what the final card would be FOR THE MAIN-EVENT until the last set of tapings. It's a nice change of pace. That said, this might not be the best way to start storylines. I don't know about you, but my traditional way of thinking is "Guy dislikes guy/is jealous of him >> Guys feud >> Match announced". Not "Match announced >> Do something till it happens". For that reason, I'm a little apprehensive about the possible build for this, though I'm still looking forward to the matches themselves. Except…what's with yet another reverse battle royal?

Tim Haught : FACT. I hate to be so argumentative, but seriously... TNA runs a PPV every month. We are either given something that feels like it has had no time to develop or something that we've already seen numerous times. In TNA, it appears as though guys create feuds just to have spots on the PPV. What are people even feuding over? This is how you can get bookers involved in wrestling without breaking kayfabe. The matchmakers have scheduled you together to determine who is the better man. One of you will climb the rankings, and the other will not. The tension and apprehension for the upcoming showdown has a month to build. Will it turn personal? Perhaps. This gives fans a basis for determining whether or not to purchase their pay per view far in advance. This also helps fans determine if which pay per view they will choose if they don't have the cash to throw down for both TNA and WWE. Smart fans read the spoilers and know the card in advance anyways. Why not let everyone in on what's going on?

Score: 0 for 2


3. By offering up a second straight DQ finish in a title match on PPV, WWE is sending the message to fans that they shouldn't care about the matches.

TG Corke : FICTION. WWE sent the message that we shouldn't care about those particular two matches. Look, I'm just as disappointed and enraged as a lot of you are, but think about it. Cena and Orton went to a DQ, Cena and daddy beat the shit out of Orton, and immediately afterwards a Last Man Standing match was booked for No Mercy. Argue all you want (and you should) about how ripped-off you were by a DQ in a highly-anticipated WWE Championship match, but to say WWE don't care about the matches AS A WHOLE when they've used one match to book a potentially much bigger match…that's a bit absurd. They probably should have had Orton/Cena on Raw the week after Randy booted Johnny Fabulous in the cranium, have the DQ there and lead to the Last Man Standing at Unforgiven (or not even HAVE a WWE title match at Unforgiven, build to No Mercy and allow Smackdown to take centre-stage in September). But, either way, they do care and it's heading towards something fun.

Tim Haught : FICTION. The DQ finish is building to something greater than the Unforgiven showdown between Orton and Cena. As I said earlier, if WWE plans on taking their top draw and having a no-finish, they should at least give fans something else worthwhile on the show. I'm sure they thought they were going to with the Batista title win and the Undertaker return. Booking wise, this makes about as much sense as possible. Orton kicked Daddy Cena's head clean off. Cena never got his revenge in a very personal feud. What are they going to do? Have Orton just beat him for the title? That would be pointless. Marks were waiting for Orton to get his, and they still are. Smarts are waiting for Orton to take the title from Cena. This Last Man Standing Match has something for everyone. I like that WWE is thinking long term, rather than booking for the short-term reward. This feud still has legs, and they should get all the money out of it that they can. If anything, the DQ finish should make fans care about the matches more. It's not about high spots and chair shots, it's about telling a story. When it's all said and done, Orton and Cena will have given you something you will remember.

Score: 1 for 3



---SWITCH~!---



4. Kurt Angle vs. Sting is the biggest match TNA can offer for Bound for Glory.

Tim Haught : FACT. Without looking outside of their current roster, Angle/Sting is the biggest thing TNA can offer at the moment. It's sad that despite these men's individual accomplishments, this has no big match feel whatsoever. It is simply another TNA main event at another TNA pay per view. The storyline that got Sting here was sloppily thrown together, and it can be argued that is not even the most logical contender to the title considering Black Machismo's recent clean victory over Angle. Still, Sting's value is greater than anyone else on the roster, and that includes Samoa Joe. While many fans would love to see Joe finally paid off with a World Title at Bound For Glory, he is simply out of position at the moment. TNA might have missed the boat on this guy the same way they did with Monty Brown.

TG Corke : FACT. I would take it a step further than that and say Sting IS the logical choice. Look, I love Jay Lethal and all (I think my first column proved that), but I don't want him anywhere near the main event. He doesn't need it, he's already the X-Division champion. Sting is probably the only guy on the roster who not only deserves the shot but needs it as well. What else was he going to do? Feud with Cage again so Joe could have another bite of the cherry? Feud with Joe so we got face/face in the upper-card and heel-heel in the main event? Put him in Monsters Ball with Joe and Cage and have Jarrett against Angle instead? No, the choice was a simple one as far as I‘m concerned. A year after his title win that turned out to be one of the worst transition jobs in any World Heavyweight Championship's history, Sting gets the honor once more in a match many of us have been longing to see for a while. Now, we can forget those two minutes they had on Impact! that ended in a No-Decision and enjoy our true contest.

Score: 2 for 4


5. WWE Unforgiven was the worst PPV of 2007.

Tim Haught : FACT. With fans currently debating whether or not it is the worst wrestling pay per view ever, Unforgiven is at this point in our calendar year the worst of 2007. Quite remarkable considering how many main events have had either Khali or Batista in them. Now, TNA has offered some particularly crappy shows of their own this year, but I still give the nod to this one because of expectations. Unforgiven 2007 was incredibly predictable. Despite the fact that WWE was able to throw together a relatively impressive card despite the recent Wellness-related suspensions, they failed to deliver. The stipulation in the Carlito/Triple H match has effectively ensured Carlito's midcard for life status. Batista and Mysterio's championship stock was relatively worthless going into this PPV, and having Batista take the title does nothing to make him a credible champion after his string of losses leading into this match. The Orton/Cena showdown is what sold this show, and fans were ripped off by the DQ ending. I am not trying to argue that DQ's should never occur on pay per view. The problem with Unforgiven was that WWE had nothing else to offer anywhere on the card to make up for this decision. That makes for a disappointment to smart fans and marks alike.

TG Corke : FICTION. But it wasn't exactly great, was it? I agree with most of what my esteemed colleague says here - it was a second consecutive poor effort from WWE which is somewhat unforgivable, the wrestling was average-at-best and little seemed to matter, especially with the DQ in the Cena/Orton match (though I stand by my earlier ‘Fiction' regarding WWE affecting our attitudes towards pay-per-view matches). However, the show was made worth watching, not value for money but worth watching, for Batista finally getting the belt back and Undertaker's return match, which I really didn't think was that bad. Most importantly, both of these things were considered a massive deal by WWE and the fans in attendance seemed to agree. Also, Triple H vs. Carlito was better than I expected, though I expected to be in tears watching it so that's not saying much.

No, the worst for me so far was WWE Summerslam. This was an event that promised so much and delivered so little. No titles changed hands that night, which nobody really expected and left a bad taste in some peoples' mouths CO*mine*UGH - although this in itself wouldn't be bad if it wasn't revealed to be due to creative's inability to come up with decent finishes for the main-events. We also had Triple H and Rey Mysterio returning on the same night to huge fanfare but very mild intake, again disappointing at best and disastrous at worst. The only highlights were an impromptu Stone Cold skit straight out of…Saturday Night's Main Event a couple of weeks before, and Orton vs. Cena (which was admittedly awesome). But, overall, Summerslam was worse than Unforgiven, in my opinion anyway. Also, bear in mind this was BEFORE any of the suspensions, so they don't have that to fall back on.

Score: 2 for 5


6. The Reverse Battle Royal at Bound for Glory will live up to it's predecessor and be the worst match of 2007.

Tim Haught : FICTION. Is the idea contrived and ridiculous? Of course. Is it TNA's worst idea? By no means. Are Battle Royal's supposed to be a showcase of fantastic work rate? Most certainly not. Am I personally a fan of Battle Royal's? Oh hell yes. My main gripe with this one is, it's likely to be a vehicle to get Samoa Joe back into the World Title picture, and quite frankly, we've been there and done that, and it's just not interesting anymore. Rather than clamoring for his eventual victory, I just quit caring. As far as being the worst match of 2007, I will say this. The Fight For Your Right match is likely to be an abomination if you are rating it on a scale of four-star classics. However, it has the potential to at least be a bit intriguing and entertaining, and that is much more than I can say for many matches I have watched this year.

TG Corke : FICTION. I will say immediately that this match should NOT be happening. It can only end badly, I'm sorry to sound so negative but the idea's already a bad one in theory and has proven to be similarly atrocious in practice. Having said that, they've tried it once and it was about as bad as it could get. I doubt even TNA will fail to improve on that showing. Knowing what they're getting into, I'm sure many of the athletes will have an easier time putting on a decent show. TNA make lots of mistakes, but they have to be confident this concept can work if they're willing to try it again on (what they consider) their biggest show of the year. Whether the buoyancy is justified is a matter that will only be settled once the dust has cleared, but for now…it SURELY can't be as bad as Ace Steele in a wig fighting a Rosie O'Donnell look-a-like on Raw to build a hair-versus-hair contest between Vince McMahon and Donald Trump, can it? I highly doubt it, and that's the crux of why I've deemed this Fiction.

Score: 3 for 6


These two finish 3 for 6! Join us next week for more Fact or Fiction!

More on This Story...

A Suitable WWE Alternative: The McMahon Plan to Put TNA Out of Business

CM Punk is a World Heavyweight Champion. Regardless of what brand he is a champion of or the circumstances surrounding his win, at the end of the day CM Punk has a World Heavyweight Title around his waist.

Is that enough to satiate the ever-critical Internet Wrestling Community? Likely not.

Is it enough to get more fans watching the ECW brand? Probably still likely not.

Much like Samoa Joe, CM Punk lost the payoff match that would have made his title reign significant. Due to a wellness policy suspension, he is afforded the luxury of keeping the belt warm for the impending return of John Morrison. This makes him a glorified Ronnie Garvin in the annals of wrestling history.

Punk's title win came at a TV taping, and was spoiled on WWE.com before it aired on the poorly rated ECW on Sci-Fi.

The WWECW experiment has been an interesting one to say the least. Beginning with Rob Van Dam's title run, the brand has experienced nothing but issues. It's hard to determine what WWE's actual plans were for the brand, as additions of RVD, Kurt Angle, and the Big Show imply that they expected the brand to draw on it's own.

All three of those aforementioned wrestlers are gone. Bobby Lashley took the ball, but when he ran with it, he often ended up on the Raw brand. Lashley was removed from ECW and stripped of the World title, but fans kept hope with the announcement that Chris Benoit would be putting on fantastic matches with young athletic workers. We obviously all know how that turned out.

Outside of Morrison and Punk, the supporting cast of ECW wrestlers is a veritable who's who of wrestling jobbers as ECW originals Balls Mahoney, Nunzio, and Tommy Dreamer haven't won a match in recent memory. Wrestlers receiving half-pushes like Stevie Richards, Kevin Thorn, The Miz, and Big Daddy V are hardly anything to get excited about.

This leads to the ECW World Heavyweight title having a feeling of being more on par with Raw's Intercontinental title or Smackdown's United States title.

TNA on the other hand has somehow been able to keep the big belt feel around their World Heavyweight Title. Kurt Angle, Sting, Christian Cage, Samoa Joe and others have all been built to be legit title contenders.

Despite the fact that the logic of having Kurt Angle lose clean to Jay Lethal to return and defeat Abyss is seriously flawed, the belt itself only moderately suffers. The main argument of most wrestling fans would be that Lethal should now be considered the number one contender. I agree, but would rather personally not see Angle squash Black Machismo to get his heat back.

Still, TNA has it's own fatal flaw. TNA's purpose in the wrestling game is to provide an alternative to the WWE. When I started watching wrestling in 1989, the NWA/WCW provided a suitable alternative with a different and often superior in-ring product.

Years later, when WCW acquired Hulk Hogan and other former WWE stars and looked, sounded, and felt more like their competitor, Extreme Championship Wrestling stepped up and truly did something unique in the world of wrestling, blending world class grapplers, unique high flyers, and hardcore wrestling.

Since the original ECW folded, many have come and tried to rekindle the magic. XPW and CZW have appealed to a specific type of fan, but they have been unable to capture the imaginations of America the way ECW did. One might suggest that they're overboard tactics and sort of lower class, if not dirty, feel has a lot to do with their lack of mainstream marketability. If ECW was comparable to edgy magazine Playboy, XPW and CZW are BSDM specialty mags.

Undoubtedly, pro wrestling fans have been looking for something new and different. For some fans, this is found in Ring of Honor. To make another analogy, if WWE were beer, ECW is WWE Lite, and TNA is WWE Ultra Lite. Ring of Honor is Natty Light. Cheaper, but at least it tastes a bit different. Fans are looking for a Miller to compete with their Bud, and have been since the dissolution of WCW and the original ECW years ago.

With TNA shoving VKM, Black Reign, Rhino, Team 3D, and various other WWE rejects down the collective throats of their fans, it has appeared at times that they might get rid of the X Division entirely. Obviously the TNA brass doesn't understand what brought them to the dance.

So why doesn't a millionaire-wrestling mogul like Vince McMahon understand that there is a demographic he is not reaching? After all, there is a great deal more money to be made.

Jim Ross has recently stated in his Barbeque Blog that "ECW is still a work in progress and the final form it eventually takes could be termed as ‘still to be determined.' I am not a major fan of a weekly hardcore or extreme rules match because they cease being special if one sees them every week and these matches increase the odds of a wrestlers getting injured. With the overall lack of quality depth available, injuries should be avoided when they can."

While many fans cannot accept this, I am perfectly fine with it. I grew tired of WWE style hardcore matches, and I detested watching bums attempt to recreate and outdo them on the Indy circuit. I don't want anyone to get seriously injured for my dollar. That is not why I am a wrestling fan.

So what can the WWE do to reinvigorate the ECW brand and provide the alternative that TNA is failing to be, essentially shutting them out of the market entirely?

Well, the first step is to get a deal for ECW to move to a different network. ECW is handcuffed by their Sci-Fi affiliation, as characters like The Boogeyman and Kevin Thorn must be there to grab any type of crossover audience from the network itself.

If ECW could score a deal with FSN, FX, or another network with a more general theme and a larger audience, it would benefit them greatly. I personally am unable to watch ECW on the television in my room, because we only get digital cable on one TV in the household.

The second move would be straight to Thursday nights to compete directly with Total Nonstop Action Impact! What is a bigger slap in the face than to send your third and lesser brand into direct competition with your rival? Writers and wrestlers would both be expected to step up their performance.

The next step is to introduce a Women's Championship to Smackdown. This will undoubtedly be the most controversial point. However, Victoria is on the brand, and she is undoubtedly the most talented wrestling diva in the company. She would like to see a belt there, and I would like to be her unconditional love slave. Therefore, what Victoria wants, Victoria gets.

Plus, this opens up the option of taking the Cruiserweight title off of Smackdown and moving it to ECW. Along with the title, any wrestler from any brand who is considered a cruiserweight should be moved as well. This would place Daivari, Santino Marella, Super Crazy, Funaki, Chavo Guerrero, Shannon Moore, and Jamie Noble all on the ECW brand.

Cruiserweight title matches would be contested under a highflying, hard-hitting cruiserweight style. One huge difference between WWE and TNA is TNA lets their X Division separate itself from the rest of the program, while WWE essentially has smaller guys working a heavyweight style for a cruiserweight title.

Other wrestlers who might be considered for movement to the ECW brand depending on their storyline involvement on their respective brands would be the Hardyz, Rey Mysterio, and Kenny Dykstra. These men would be ECW World Title contenders.

The ECW World Heavyweight title would only be contested under extreme rules, which can mean as much or as little as the performers involved want it to mean. There was a great difference between Jerry Lynn/RVD matches and Tommy Dreamer/Raven matches in the old ECW. Still, it gives wrestlers the option of pushing the envelope in matches where it would be worthwhile to do so, i.e. World Heavyweight title matches.

Now that pay-per-views are tri-branded again, the ECW brand would actually be set apart and provide one or two unique and exciting matches for each.

All members of the ECW roster should wrestle with a hardcore mentality. This does not necessarily mean Extreme Rules. Kurt Angle's intensity upon joining the ECW brand, and Big Show's attempt to work a different style and use a new move set while in ECW were fantastic examples of what I mean. Hardcore doesn't necessarily mean going through a table. It's about wrestlers pushing themselves to the limit.

It's likely that a reworked ECW could destroy TNA's market share, as WWE would provide a suitable alternative themselves. If done correctly and given a more legit feel, it may also attract some of the ever-growing MMA audience.

Without a doubt, it would increase ratings, increase merchandise sales, and give fans a reason to once again chant ECW, ECW, ECW!

More on This Story...

A Mixed Message

What defines a wrestling superstar?

In my earliest days as a wrestling fan, I idolized Sting and Hulk Hogan. There's no denying that these are two larger than life personalities with larger than life bodies. Does an impressive physique equal superstar potential? Not necessarily, but don't tell Vince McMahon that.

I've always thought that anyone with the right talent and/or charisma, pushed properly, can be a huge star. Look at Dusty Rhodes, Mick Foley or even Rey Mysterio. Note that I said the right talent and/or charisma. This doesn't mean every fat dude or luchador can be a superstar.

This brings me back to my original point. Now, the WWE is saying they don't want their superstars on any illegal substances, yet they still want their talent to look like bodybuilders. Plus, new talent has to pass a drug test to get signed. That's tough. Who are they going to sign? Isn't this the same company that depushed a returning Chris Masters after suspending him for being on steroids?

I can't understand wanting their wrestlers to look like athletes. Elijah Burke looks like an athlete.

I'm confused why they won't let the talent get over based on their own merits. Look at the two biggest stars of the past ten years: Steve Austin and The Rock. These two guys got over almost on accident. Why not let some natural progressions happen? The only talent I've seen them let get over on their own is CM Punk. They've changed Cena so much since they've made him a top guy. Why not let some of these guys bring their own personality to the table and see what happens? More on This Story...

PWP Founder Tim Haught Hired By 411Mania.com

On September 1, 2006, I opened this blog with a scathing article that I felt needed to be written about Bret "Hitman" Hart. On September 8, 2007, one year and one week later, I received confirmation from Larry Csonka of 411mania.com that I am their newest staff member.



411mania is a pop-culture website covering movies, television, music, pro-wrestling, politics, sports, video games, MMA, and more. The site dates back to August of 1996 and is independently owned by founder Ashish Pabari.

The site houses a large online forum community with over 10,000 registered members. As of June 2006, 411mania claimed four million unique visitors and nearly 20 million impressions per month.

411mania started as 411wrestling slightly prior to the boom in pro-wrestling interest during the late 1990s. 411wrestling shifted their core focus in 2002 from pro-wrestling only, adding sections for video games and action figures. 411wrestling continued to expand out of the pro-wrestling area and by 2003 had established sections in movies, music, television, video games, action figures, comics, politics, and pro-wrestling. The site also re-launched in 2003 as 411mania.

Pro wrestling remains 411mania's main focus, followed by movies, games, and music.

Notable past readers include WWE wrestler Matt Hardy, who, in 2004, responded to a column by 'Asteroid Boy', in which the author claimed that Hardy's career had suffered due to his relationship with Lita. Writing on his site www.wwemattitude.com, Hardy denigrated Asteroid Boy's column. Hardy's response was removed within 24 hours by WWE. Hardy most recently praised a positive 411 article by Daniel Wilcox on his official MySpace page, in his blog entry titled "The QUEST to be the BEST begins now!"

411mania.com has been mentioned in several mainstream media outlets, including most recently in The Boston Globe, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune, and the Toronto Star.

Screenshots of 411mania.com's forums and news pages have been seen on CNN, most recently regarding the death of WWE wrestler, Chris Benoit, and his wife and son.

I want to assure all of our PWP readers and staff that this does not mean the end of Pro Wrestling Pundit. I still have big dreams for where I want to steer this vehicle.

I am honored to have an opportunity to be on the 411 staff, and I hope I can do the best for both audiences.

More on This Story...

Well, that's retarded...

Believe it or not, Eugene being released from the WWE may just have been the best thing to happen to his career. Why, you say? Well were was his career prior to this? When was the last time Eugene challenged for a singles title? When was the last time he got a PPV Payday? It's sad because Nick Dinsmore was one of the most talented prospects to come out of OVW. Chris Benoit went down to work a match with him, and after Dinsmore held his own and then some with the Rabid Wolverine, Benoit told Danny Davis he was every bit as good as he said he was. The sky was the limit for him, and he eventually got called up for the opportunity of a lifetime…

As Uncle Eric's retarded nephew…

I questioned the logic of this first. In all fairness, this seemed like a logical choice in the beginning. It was something different. It was something fun. It was something the kids could enjoy just as much as adults. But once the new car scent wore off, what else was there to do with him? He couldn't be a main event player or a serious singles champion under this gimmick. He was cursed with the gimmick of a simpleton with no way out. Many had been in this rough of a spot before and survived, but for him there was no going back. He was stuck with "The Eugene Curse."

What's funny is CM Punk almost suffered the same fate under the "Eugene Curse," as he was slated to debut with a gimmick where he was a deaf wrestler. Had this happened, he most likely would not be your ECW Champion today . He'd be pretty hot for about a month or two, then go from jobbing on heat to getting an honorable mention on WWE.com wishing him the best in his future endeavors.

Ironically enough, I essentially was doing the Eugene gimmick in Pro Wrestling Xpress about 6 months before Eugene showed up on WWE TV. Because I wasn't wrestling on a National stage, it just made me look like a copycat. But the difference was I was acting goofy, picking fights with wet floor signs, and carrying around a Bob The Builder backpack because I took too many chairshots and got a concussion every show. I simply stopped taking so many shots to the head and returned to normal. With Mr Dinsmore, it was genetics.

Sure, the Eugene character has filled us with some unforgettable moments over the years. Who could forget WWE Musical Chairs during his brief tenure as General Manager of RAW? Plus, without him we never would have learned that Matt Stryker loves poop.

Luckily for him, the sky is once again the limit. He's a talented performer with name value. He can make a pretty decent living just working the Indies. I just hope that he's smart about it…

What he should do...

- Get involved in the NWA Title Picture. Since the NWA broke away from TNA, they've gotten their hands on two of the biggest named Independent Contractors in Bryan Danielson and Brent Albright to try to get their World Title some credibility. While I'm sure Adam Pearce is talented and worthy of being the NWA's Top Titleholder (although I'm not familiar with his work at all) I don't think he's exactly the household name you want to be promoting as your World Champion. The NWA World Title needs recognizable names to go along with it. Mr. Dinsmore could be one of them.

- Open up a training school. Why the hell not? He was responsible for training so many of the OVW names that went on to the WWE. While some of them may no longer be employed, he's still responsible for training some talented workers.

Here is what he should not do...

- Sign with TNA. Even if they are getting a second hour for Impact, their roster is already overcrowded with former WWE names who have lashed out against their former employer and burned their bridges. The sad part is though, that half of them pretty much recreated their old WWE gimmicks (Team 3D, Platinumdust or whatever he is called) and it just seems like a cheap parody. The last thing we need is a 2nd rate Eugene gimmick. Then again he could join the other half that shoot on their old gimmicks and try to be themselves. This wouldn't be so bad, but he's just going to get lost in the TNA shuffle.

- Work for Ring of Honor… or any other promotion that runs in the Philly area. Those fans are brutal and will completely boo him out of the building. Remember Jeff Hardy's ROH run? Probably not, and there's a reason why.

Regardless of what happens, Nick Dinsmore is out of gimmick purgatory and has a chance to re-establish himself as a legitimate wrestler. Who knows, maybe we'll see him get resigned in the future and become the major player that he was destined to be…

Or he could go back to being Eugene, showing us all what a retard he truly is... More on This Story...

WWE Sends a Message

The WWE has suspended 10 wrestlers for violating their Wellness Policy, according to a headline on the WWE.com Website. The story says they will name the athletes after November 1.

According to TheStar.com the following athletes are suspended:

Randy Orton
Charles Haas, Jr.
Adam "Edge" Copeland
Robert "Booker T" Huffman
Shane Helms
Mike Bucci
Anthony Carelli
John "Johnny Nitro" Hennigan
Darren "William Regal" Matthews
Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Anderson
Chavo Guerrero

If this list is the actual list, Monday Night Raw brand is in trouble. They have been setting up a substantial feud between the Champion, John Cena and Randy Orton, and this could make those plans completely crumble. Will Triple H move directly into the title chase?

Raws woes will continue, as Booker T is also on the list. He is one of the top heels and one of the few reasons to tune in each week.

A few questions come to mind after seeing this list. One has to wonder why William Regal is juicing...? He has never had a bodybuilder physique, and lately has been filling the commissioner role. Edge is on the shelf already, due to injury - is he getting ready to return? Is he using to speed up the recovery?

Although this will dim the show with these suspensions, it is something that has to take place right now. The years of abuse of these drugs will wear down on their bodies and their lives will be shortened.

Yes, the WWE is sending a message. This will not be tolerated any longer. One can only hope that the legitimacy of the tests stay firm and that "major players" in the organization are not skipped over just because of their position and their tenure with the company.

-NAPALM- More on This Story...