If you haven’t already read it elsewhere, Jonathan Coachman was introduced as JBL’s replacement at the Smackdown/ECW tapings in Richmond, Va., last night.

This decision is mind-boggling. Whatever it is that WWE sees in Coachman as an announcer, I sure don’t see it.

Coachman did a fine job conducting backstage interviews during the early part of this decade, and he showed some personality when interacting with The Rock in several memorable segments. However, every attempt to transition him into a spot at the announce table has failed.

At one point, he was being groomed to replace Jim Ross as the lead announcer on Raw. Then, after a heel turn, Coachman sat alongside Joey Styles (who had replaced Ross) and color commentator Jerry Lawler as part of a three-man announcing crew on Raw. Both stints were panned by fans and wrestling journalists.

Now, instead of bringing in a former wrestler or wrestling personality with charisma and a gift of gab, WWE turns to Coachman — again.

I could think of a dozen people off the top of my head who would be better choices. In fact, I wrote about them last week. The funny thing is that I was going to put Coachman on the list as a joke, but I opted to make Funaki my humorous pick. Come to think of it, even Funaki would be more entertaining than “Coach.”

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

For many of us in the pro wrestling community, 2007 was a year to forget. Despite the well-documented tragic and disturbing events of the past year, however, there were a number of outstanding performances. Here are my selections for the best of 2007 in eight categories. I welcome your comments and encourage you to send along your picks. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year.

WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: JOHN CENA

Due to a torn pectoral muscle, Cena didn’t wrestle a single match after Oct. 1, but he already had this award sewn up by that point. Cena, who won the WWE title in September 2006, held the championship for over a year before surrendering it because of the injury. His reign was the sixth-longest in the company’s 44-year history. Cena was a polarizing figure, but he always elicited a passionate reaction from fans and was the undisputed face of the company. Possessing an abundance of charisma, sensational microphone skills and a tireless work ethic, Cena sold more merchandise, tickets and pay-per-views than anyone. He was especially popular with kids and women. His in-ring ability often was criticized, but even though he wasn’t a great technician, he rarely had a bad match and always rose to the occasion when headlining a pay-per-view. Cena didn’t just have good matches with top workers such as Shawn Michaels, Edge and Randy Orton, either. He also put on a good show with the likes of The Great Khali (which is quite a feat), Bobby Lashley and Umaga.

MATCH OF THE YEAR: SHAWN MICHAELS VS. JOHN CENA (Raw, April 23, London)

Throughout his storied career, Michaels has carried average and below-average workers to great matches, but on this night, Cena more than held up his end. Three weeks after the two had an outstanding match at WrestleMania 23, Michaels and WWE champion Cena topped themselves with a classic that went nearly an hour. The non-title match, which included mat wrestling, fast-paced action and some brawling, started off slowly and gradually built to an exciting finish. The story of the match was that Cena was in command most of the way, but he couldn’t finish off Michaels. After Michaels slipped out of Cena’s attempt at an FU, he hit Sweet Chin Music (for the second time in the match) and covered the champion for the pinfall. This match proved that Michaels, who was three months shy of his 42nd birthday at the time, still is among the best workers in the business, and Cena is far better than he is given credit for.

FEUD OF THE YEAR: BATISTA VS. THE UNDERTAKER

The top two babyfaces on Smackdown brought out the best in each other during their fantastic five-match series. It began at WrestleMania 23 on April 1, when The Undertaker defeated Batista to win the world heavyweight title and improve his record at WWE’s signature event to 15-0. In addition to Undertaker adding to his legend with the win, Batista gained credibility in defeat with his stellar performance. The two big men also did what many believed was impossible – they stole the show on a card that featured a terrific WWE title match between John Cena and Shawn Michaels and an exciting Money in the Bank ladder match. In a rematch four weeks later at Backlash, Undertaker and Batista battled to a draw in a hard-hitting Last Man Standing match. Then, on the May 11 episode of Smackdown, Undertaker – working with a torn biceps – wrestled Batista to another draw in a steel cage match. Moments after the bout was over, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and won the title from Undertaker, who subsequently underwent surgery to repair his injury and was out of action for four months. He resumed his rivalry with Batista at Cyber Sunday in October. This time, Batista – who once again was the champion – scored the clean pin. In a bloody Hell in a Cell match the following month at Survivor Series, Batista again retained the title, this time due to outside interference by Edge. Because of the controversial ending, nothing was truly settled, and we could very well see additional chapters in this classic feud.

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR: TEAM 3-D

In what wasn’t a great year for tag teams, the former Dudley Boyz distinguished themselves and rejuvenated their careers. Team 3-D spent the first half of the year in a hot feud with LAX, but they really hit their stride when they turned heel during a program with Rick and Scott Steiner. Along the way, Brother Ray and Brother Devon added the NWA/TNA world tag-team titles to their impressive resume. In July, they wrestled Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe in the main event of the Victory Road pay-per-view. Toward the latter part of the year, Team 3-D began an exciting feud with the best young tag-team in wrestling, the Motor City Machine Guns.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR: GAIL KIM

With her distinctive look and high-flying style, Kim is anything but a cookie-cutter “knockout” or “diva.” She spent most of the year wrestling in mixed tag-team matches and working as a valet to various wrestlers, but she finally got her chance to shine when TNA created a women’s division. At the Bound For Glory pay-per-view in October, Kim won a gauntlet match to become the first TNA women’s champion. Her subsequent feud with No.1 contender Awesome Kong has become one of the highlights of TNA broadcasts. With Kim, Kong and ODB leading the way, TNA has the edge over WWE when it comes to women’s wrestling. It’s puzzling why WWE ever let Kim go a few years ago.

NON-WRESTLER OF THE YEAR (awarded to the best manager/authority figure): JIM CORNETTE

One of wrestling’s greatest managers of the ’80s and ’90s brought his sharp tongue, quick wit and flamboyant personality to his role as the figurehead of TNA management. With the heel authority figure having become a cliché, Cornette instead portrayed a high-strung babyface simultaneously trying to maintain order in chaotic scenarios and appease his corporate bosses. Cornette’s performances almost always hit the mark, even when saddled with the unenviable task of being the person who has to make sense out of some of TNA’s nonsensical story lines.

MOST IMPROVED WRESTLER OF THE YEAR: MVP

When Montel Vontavious Porter finally made his in-ring debut in October 2006 after a two-month buildup, “wrestling’s hottest free agent” seemed destined to be a bust. His in-ring work was nothing special and the MVP character wasn’t getting over with the crowd. When he began a program with Chris Benoit early in 2007, however, he noticeably stepped up his game. MVP faced then-U.S. champion Benoit on three straight pay-per-views, culminating with MVP winning the title at Judgment Day in May. Keeping up with Benoit in the ring – and defeating him – gave MVP credibility. From there, he took part in a highly entertaining story line with Matt Hardy in which the two feuded over the U.S. title while forming an odd couple tandem and winning the tag-team belts. Exceptional on the microphone and solid in the ring, MVP has become one of the best acts on Smackdown and a character the fans truly love to hate. Look for big things from MVP in 2008, perhaps even a world title reign.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR (awarded to the wrestler who made the biggest impact in his or her national debut): SANTINO MARELLA

Like MVP, Marella initially did not get over with fans after a splashy debut. WWE tried to create an instant babyface star when Marella, portraying a fan seated at ringside during a Raw broadcast from Milan, Italy in April, got in the ring against then-Intercontinental champion Umaga and defeated him for the title (thanks to a big assist from Bobby Lashley). After Umaga regained the title from Marella in a squash match in July, Marella began a heel turn. As a heel, the formerly bland Marella morphed into one of the most entertaining characters in WWE. His segments with Maria, Ron Simmons, Steve Austin, Chris Jericho and others were nothing short of hilarious. Although Marella has been used strictly as comic relief, he gets great heel heat and could be in line for a bigger push in 2008.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

Some thoughts on last night’s TNA Impact:

The best reason to watch TNA continues to be Christian Cage, but his babyface turn – if indeed that’s what this is supposed to be – continues to suffer from bad booking.

Doing a slow, gradual turn is fine in some instances, but once Kurt Angle and his henchmen jumped Cage and laid him out – which happened three weeks ago – then Cage should have become a full-fledged babyface. The way the show is being written, it’s hard to tell whether Cage is supposed to be a good guy or a bad guy. The only reason I know that he’s still a heel is because it says “heel” next to his name on the TNA script for next week’s show that was leaked on the Internet.

It’s OK for Cage to be a lone wolf, and he doesn’t have to suddenly become soft-spoken and humble and shake hands with all the other babyfaces, but this story line would be more effective if the fans were cheering Cage and jeering Angle rather than jeering both of them. If anything, Cage’s promo on last night’s show seemed to turn A.J. Styles babyface.

History has shown the fans aren’t usually emotionally invested in matches between two wrestlers that they love to hate. It’s Basic Booking 101. The most successful angles pit a clearly defined good guy against a clearly defined bad guy. If someone watched Impact for the first time last night, they wouldn’t know who was good and who was bad. Oh well, at least next week viewers can follow along with the script to help fill in the blanks. …

Comedy definitely has a place in wrestling, but TNA goes a little overboard. Angle, Christian and Styles all have good comedic timing, but there’s too much funny business in their angle, and funny business won’t sell pay-per-views. …

Jim Cornette and Brother Ray had an outstanding verbal confrontation in Cornette’s office. They are two of the best at delivering intense promos. The segment would have been perfect had it ended when Team 3-D tried to get physical and Matt Morgan stepped in. Of course, after Team 3-D left, Cornette and Morgan started arguing, which ruined it. Cornette and Morgan haven’t been allies long enough for viewers to care that they aren’t getting along. Wrestling is all about conflict, but if no one gets along, it has a numbing effect. …

In another Cornette-Morgan vignette, Morgan received a letter from “corporate” praising him for the booking of all the gimmick matches on last week’s show. It was also noted that the show did a good rating (by TNA standards). I guess that’s Vince Russo’s way of thumbing his nose at all the critics. Perhaps Russo should wait until the show cracks a 1.5 rating – you know, what WWE’s “C” show does – before he starts patting himself on the back. …

At the end of that segment, a sloppy-looking fan in jeans and a T-shirt walked in and propped his feet up on Cornette’s desk. Oh, sorry, that was Samoa Joe. He’s still disgruntled. Yawn. …

Speaking of wrestlers’ attire, the tights that Styles wore during the tag-team match between him and Tomko against The Motor City Machine Guns looked too similar to what the Guns were wearing. It’s not that big of a deal, but little things like that don’t happen in WWE. …

I love the ODB character – and so do the fans at the Impact Zone. She needs to be turned babyface sooner than later. …

So, Booker T. asked Cage to be his partner against Angle and Robert Roode. Didn’t Booker tell Cage two weeks ago that he would never team with him? That makes Booker either a liar or a flip-flopper, neither of which is a babyface quality. …

The Dustin Rhodes/Black Reign split personality story line is just plan ludicrous.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

I hope everyone had a great holiday and got all the wrestling-related gifts that they wanted. I usually receive several wrestling books and DVDs as Christmas presents, but this year I only asked for – and received, thanks to my wife – one wrestling item. It was The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak and Triumph DVD.

Right after we finished watching It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas night – that Mr. Potter was a fantastic heel, by the way – and the rest of my family went to bed, I popped in Disc 1 of the three-disc set. I spent the next several hours enthralled by Michaels’ very bumpy journey from young fan to iconic figure. I began watching Disc 2 last night.

Having read Michaels’ autobiography and watched earlier Michaels DVDs, I’m quite familiar with his story, but the presentation and fresh interviews make this compilation a worthy companion to the previously released material.

The Shawn Michaels Story not only chronicles the in-ring career of one of the best – perhaps the best – all-around performers in wrestling history, but it also documents his amazing transformation from a hot-headed, hard-living prima donna to a man of faith who seems totally at peace with himself. It’s apparent that the “Heartbreak Kid” easily could have ended up on the long list of wrestlers who died young had he taken a different path when he was at a crossroads in his life.

Some of Michaels’ most famous matches are not included in this set because they are on prior Michaels DVDs, but there still is a good selection of bouts. There’s one from 1985 in which a 19-year-old Michaels (billed as Sean Michaels from Georgia) gets squashed in 1 minute, 20 seconds by Billy Jack Haynes on a World Class Championship Wrestling broadcast. Even though he was an inexperienced enhancement guy, Michaels looked like he had a clue in the ring and even did a back-flip off the ropes.

There are several Rockers matches as well, including a classic against Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson and the infamous tag-team title match with the Hart Foundation in which the title changed hands but the switch was never acknowledged.

Not surprisingly, Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan – two wrestlers that Michaels has had problems with – don’t come off looking good. And when the subject of Michaels’ historic ladder match with Razor Ramon at WrestleMania X was brought up, there was a line that was attributed to Ric Flair about Michaels having a great match with a ladder and there just happened to be another guy in the ring.

I didn’t have a problem with that comment or how Hart and Hogan were depicted. There are two sides to every story, and this is Michaels’ side. Overall, I thought the DVD presented a fair and mostly accurate portrayal of Michaels, warts and all.

As for the extras, the most interesting are the segments that deal with Michaels’ involvement in his church and his real-life fistfight with then-tag-team partner Marty Jannetty.

If you’re even a casual Michaels fan, I highly recommend The Shawn Michaels Story. It’s an inspirational story that seems destined for a happy ending. And in pro wrestling, we can never have too many of them.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

I conducted a telephone interview with John Bradshaw Layfield on Dec. 14 to discuss WWE’s fifth annual Tribute to the Troops broadcast on Christmas Eve (9 p.m., USA Network).

In addition to talking about the special tribute show that was taped earlier this month in Iraq, Layfield also briefly discussed politics and his wrestling career.

When asked about a possible return to the ring, Layfield downplayed it because it would have spoiled the surprise of him interfering in the Randy Orton-Chris Jericho WWE title match on Dec. 16 at the Armageddon pay-per-view, and his announcement that he was joining the Raw active roster the following night.

You have been given credit for getting the ball rolling on the Tribute to the Troops shows. How did it come about?

I was over there one summer right after the invasion of Iraq. It was a miserably hot summer, as all of them are over there. It was 137 degrees one day. I was sitting there talking to Ron Simmons and I thought, “This would be great if we could come over here at Christmas and do something like the Bob Hope-type USO Christmas Special. So when we got back, I approached Mr. [Vince] McMahon and [WWE executive producer] Kevin Dunn and told them what I thought would be a good idea and what I thought we could do, and they took it from there. Within a few weeks, the thing was done and we’ve been going over there ever since. This is our fifth year to be going over there.

Have you ever had any trepidation about traveling to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan during a war? Have you had any scary moments?

Yeah, we’ve had a couple. We had one this year. We were landing in Tarmiya, and we didn’t know it was a hot zone we were landing in. We thought we were landing in a secured base and we weren’t. We were landing in an unsecured area and actually had to get through town to get to where the small secured area was. When we landed, there were Iraqis everywhere – on rooftops all around us. And there were dead dogs everywhere. When they get too close to the base they have to be shot because most of them are rabid, and they’re more akin to hyenas in Australia than they are to dogs here in the states. It just looked like something out of Apocalypse Now. As we looked at this, we’re realizing that we’re landing in a hot zone. And we get off the chopper and they’re telling us to “get in single file, move along, hurry, keep your head down,” and bombs are going off everywhere. They’re our bombs – smoke bombs. They’re shielding us just in case there’s a sniper in the area that wants to shoot us. As we’re running through all this, we’ve got to run through a barbed wire maze to get into the little secured area that they have inside of a building. Ron Simmons turns around to me in that James Earl Jones voice and says, “You know, I’d have mailed them an autograph.” That alleviated the moment. When you’re like that you pretty much understand that you don’t have control of your own situation.

Are there servicemen that you’ve met on these tours and kept in touch with?

Yeah, in fact I got an e-mail yesterday from a soldier. Quite a few still keep in contact with me. He told me that his wife is expecting their second baby. He’s headed back to Iraq. And I’ve actually seen some soldiers and, unfortunately, ran into them later at Walter Reed there in D.C. and found out that they had lost a leg or lost an arm. That’s really saddening any time, but when you’ve met them it really makes it personal to you.

For those of us who will never be in the Middle East with the troops, what insight can you give us about them that we won’t get from the news?

The main thing is the morale of these guys. It is just phenomenal. I’ve been over there when they’ve gotten their leaves extended; I was there right as they captured [Saddam] Hussein. I was there when they actually killed Uday and Qusay [Hussein]. So I’ve been there during a variety of emotions for these troops. These guys get shot up; they want to go right back to battle. These guys are soldiers. It’s got nothing to do with politics. It’s got nothing to do with any of their agendas. They are doing what they are told and they believe in what they are doing as soldiers. It’s just a phenomenally honorable existence that these guys have.

You mentioned politics, which I know is a subject that you are interested in. You wouldn’t be the first wrestler to run for public office. Have you ever considered it?

Oh sure, I’ve considered it. I would only do it if I could make a difference. That’s not some altruistic belief, but that’s the truth. I look at these politicians now, and I’ll tell you what, if Bush and Kerry are the two best politicians we have to run for president, we’re screwed. I just don’t think our best are in politics. I think these guys are inept. I think they’re wasting our money, they’re wasting our time, and I’m not sure I would be any different to be a part of that. Not that I would have the agenda these guys have, which is basically that they don’t want to work for a living, but I just don’t think I can make a difference. I think I’m better served being in the free markets, because I believe the free markets will get us off foreign oil, the free markets will encourage trade. I just have a very dim view of politicians in general.

With that in mind, are you backing anyone for president in ’08?

You know, I’m not. I’m having a hard time choosing. I’m not a big believer – and it’s not because they’re Democrats – in Hillary and Obama. I think people really liked Bill Clinton. They’d like to see him get elected, but Hillary’s just a different animal. Mr. Obama – there’s no experience there to really measure what he can do, and I don’t like some of his anti-business stances. I just don’t think the Democrats have really offered a very good ticket. And people are so against President Bush right now – they want a change – that if the Democrats had put up anybody that was decent, they’d win this thing in a landslide. I’m just not sure. I think Giuliani did a good job with security, and I think Mitt Romney has done a great job with private business. I just don’t know enough about either one of those two candidates, nor even John McCain, to be able to endorse one of them. I like Bill Richardson on the Democratic side, and if I had to choose, I think I like John McCain on the Republican side.

Let’s switch gears to wrestling. Have you given any thought to coming back as a wrestler, even if it was for just one match at WrestleMania?

Sure, I’ve considered it. I’m feeling better. My back is not bothering me. I retired because I had to, not because I wanted to. The temptation to get back in the ring is very much there. It’s not that I was a great wrestler or anything like that, but I’m not coming back just to come back and do something. I don’t want to come back and people say, “Who’s the old fat guy?” I’m not interested in doing that. I talked to Stone Cold [Steve Austin] about this a lot, and it’s the same reason he hasn’t [come back] – it’s because he’s not sure that he can come back for more than one match and be the Stone Cold of old. Not to compare myself to Stone Cold in any way, but I feel the same way. If I thought I could come back and do it correctly and do more than one match and make it worth people watching it, then I would, and I’m not sure I can.

I always thought that the JBL character could have had a big run as a babyface if there was a strong foreign heel to go against, much like Sgt. Slaughter and the Iron Sheik in 1984. Was that ever talked about?

You’re exactly right. It was discussed a bunch. A lot of people thought I had that run in me left. Once my heel run got over with, I think the plan was to do something similar to that, that there was going to be a run as a babyface at the end of my career once you had some foreign threat. Unfortunately, it never materialized because my health gave out on me and I had to retire.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

Now that JBL has officially left his job as color commentator on Smackdown to return to the ring on Raw, the question remains as to who will fill his seat next to play-by-play man Michael Cole.

There are two schools of thought out there. One is that Tazz, who has filled in recently when JBL left his post, will return to Smackdown and WWE will find a new ECW analyst. The other is that Tazz will stay put on ECW and WWE will find a new color commentator for Smackdown. Personally, I’m hoping for the latter, as I think Tazz is better-suited for ECW.

WWE hasn’t let on who is in the running to replace JBL, but I came up with a list of a dozen candidates – some realistic, some not – off the top of my head.

For starters, the company has three of the best talkers of all time working behind the scenes in Michael Hayes, Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson.

Hayes is probably the best of the bunch. The former leader of the Freebirds is no stranger to doing commentary, and he still has the gift of gab, as he proved recently in an interview segment with MVP. As Smackdown’s head writer, however, he might not be able to juggle two roles.

Rhodes, who is a member of the ECW creative team, faces a similar conflict. “The American Dream” probably isn’t a good fit anyway. When Rhodes did color commentary in WCW, he wasn’t all that good, which was surprising because he was magic on the microphone when cutting promos.

Anderson, a producer (agent) for WWE, was known for cutting soft-spoken yet intense promos. He would probably be very good, although he might not have enough sizzle for Vince McMahon’s liking.

Here’s some other candidates (in alphabetical order):

Mick Foley: Another one of the all-time great talkers, Foley would be tremendous. He’s witty, he can be intense when the situation calls for it and he has credibility with the audience. I’m guessing that Foley has no desire to be on the road 52 weeks a year, however.

Funaki: Well, he does claim to be Smackdown’s No. 1 announcer. That should at least get him an interview, right? Biggest drawback is that he doesn’t speak English very well – but, hey, that never stopped Pat Patterson.

Paul Heyman: The former ECW boss has done a good job as a color commentator in the past, but he reportedly has too many powerful enemies in the company for WWE to bring him back anytime in the foreseeable future. He probably wouldn’t be interested in returning, either.

Mark Madden: The former WCW announcer was in the news recently when it was reported that ESPN ordered him to tone down his controversial antics on his Pittsburgh sports talk show or risk being fired. If WWE had any interest in Madden, it would have hired him long ago.

Diamond Dallas Page: His dreams of movie stardom haven’t materialized, so he would likely welcome a return to wrestling. DDP has a distinctive voice and announcing experience – he was a color commentator in WCW in the 1990s. When I asked him about returning to wrestling in an interview I conducted with him in 2003, Page said: "If Vince wants me to come back at some point, I will. The first time I tried out in WWE it was for Jesse Ventura's spot as a color commentator after he had left in 1990. Of course, at the time I was nowhere near ready for that spot, but now I sure am. [WWE executive producer] Kevin Dunn always said that my voice cuts right through the crowd.”

Matt Striker: He’s probably a longshot, but he does seem very comfortable on the microphone.

Tammy Sytch: The original WWE diva resurfaced on the Raw 15th anniversary show, and she has made it known that she wants a WWE contract. She is articulate, opinionated and a student of the business. Plus, it would be something different to have a female color commentator.

Val Venis: It might be time for WWE’s most famous jobber to think about hanging up his bath towel and trying something new. Like Page, Venis has a distinctive voice, and he’s also intelligent and well-spoken.

Jesse Ventura: OK, I admit that this is just wishful thinking, but he might be craving a return to the spotlight. And he did reportedly have some sort of meeting with Vince McMahon back in June. Would “The Body” actually come back to work for WWE? As the late Gorilla Monsoon, Ventura’s former broadcast partner, used to say: “Highly unlikely.”

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                    

A stream-of-consciousness look at last night’s TNA Impact:

Eric Young hosted a Christmas party for the TNA roster. Since several of the party guests also were wrestling on the show, it’s fortunate that Young lives only a few minutes away from the studio in Orlando – just like the Angles, who hosted the Thanksgiving festivities last month. …

Hey, look, it’s Luke from the Sheepherders/Bushwhackers! Wonder if the tag team’s former flag bearer, Johnny Ace, will show up. Probably not, but if he does, TNA shouldn’t let him get near Robert Roode. …

The double entendre dialogue scripted for Angelina Love and Velvet Sky sounded as if it was written by a 12-year-old. Vince Russo sure looks a lot older. …

When Brother Ray started doing his obnoxious Santa Claus bit, it immediately reminded me of the creepy Santa in A Christmas Story. Ray later left little doubt that he was channeling that character when he used the “you’ll shoot your eye out” line. …

Having midgets impersonate wrestling stars as a way to get heat has gotten old. However, Brother Ray was so funny in his interaction with the miniature Jay Lethal and Motor City Machine Guns that it was kind of entertaining. …

This has to be irony: As Team 3-D, both dressed in Santa suits, did their comedy segment with the three midget imposters, the camera cut to someone in the crowd holding up a sign that said “TNA: We are wrestling.” …

The double entendre scripted for Kevin Nash made the stuff with Love and Sky seem clever. …

Seriously, TNA needs to get a clue and knock off the unprotected chair shots to the head like the one Awesome Kong took from Gail Kim. …

I’m just not buying Samoa Joe as a guy constantly whining about his contract. Unless he is turning heel, this makes no sense. However, a feud between Joe and Matt Morgan would be intriguing. …

Rellik finally won a match, but it was over Shark Boy in a tag-team match, so I don’t think that really counts as a win. …

TNA really is overdoing it with the thumb tacks, broken glass and barbed wire. It seems like there are matches involving these elements every week on TV. Save it for pay-per-view – and don’t do it on every one. It’s pretty obvious that fans are becoming numb to it, which is unfortunate for the workers who are mutilating themselves. …

I’ve said repeatedly that the Angles have been overexposed and that it was a bad thing. However, last night, Karen Angle was overexposed – and it was a good thing. I really wanted to see more of her, although if we saw any more, the show wouldn’t have been allowed to air. I can’t believe Jeremy Borash didn’t do his bug-eyed deal when she walked in. …

A.J. Styles proved once again that he is phenomenal when – in one fluid motion – he did a moonsault off a ladder and hit an inverted DDT on Kaz. These guys had a pay-per-view quality ladder match. However, in a hard-hitting, intense match such as that, something more meaningful than having the loser put on a reindeer suit should have been at stake. …

Overall impression of the show: It wasn’t nearly as funny as the Thanksgiving episode, although I'm sure there are worse ways to spend two hours.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

I don’t often write about the Tuesday ECW show because, quite frankly, it usually is pretty uneventful. Last night’s episode, however, was an exception.

The highlight of the show was the non-title bout pitting WWE tag-team champions John Morrison and The Miz against Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore. It pains me to admit that I enjoyed a match involving The Miz, but it’s true. All four guys worked hard and hit some dazzling moves, and while Miz is the weakest worker of the bunch, he more than held up his end.

The finish saw Yang hit a sensational moonsault on Miz for the pin, presumably setting up Yang and Moore for a title shot.

Speaking of Yang, I’ve been a fan of his work since his WCW days and I’m glad to see him having some success. More on him later.

The other intriguing match last night was between U.S. champion MVP and ECW champion CM Punk. The two champs had a good wrestling match that ended with MVP getting disqualified.

The real story, however, was that Chavo Guerrero returned and attacked Punk after the match. If Guerrero is making the jump from Smackdown, that’s a good pickup for ECW. The ECW title picture suddenly looks a whole lot better with Shelton Benjamin and Guerrero in it. Perhaps WWE has had second thoughts about a Punk-Big Daddy V program.

Benjamin, by the way, showed a lot of fire in picking up a squash victory. Changing brands and bleaching his hair seems to have done wonders for Benjamin’s confidence.

Back to Yang. When I first met Yang (James Yun) in 2000 after I became editor of WCW Magazine, I was surprised to hear him speak in a slight Southern drawl. At the time, he was a member of the Jung Dragons (who were billed as hailing from Japan) and never spoke on camera. He would go on to play a Japanese character in TNA and WWE as well before the latter gave him a gimmick makeover. The fact is that Yang is half-Korean, half-Caucasian and grew up in Georgia. The character he is playing now is much closer to his real personality than any of his previous ones.

In WCW, he was teaming with Kaz Hayashi, who spoke limited English. Yang told me that he served as Hayashi’s unofficial translator. I asked Yang if he spoke Japanese, and he said no, but he and Hayashi somehow managed to understand each other. At one point, Leia Meow, playing a dominatrix character, was managing the Dragons. I used to kid Yang that he had the best gimmick in the company – playing Meow’s submissive slave.

The thing that I really liked about him – besides the fact that he bought me lunch a couple times at New York Pizza Exchange in Atlanta – is that he grew up a big wrestling fan like the rest of us.

When he was in high school, Yang had a friend who lived down the street from Diamond Dallas Page and then-WCW boss Eric Bischoff. One Halloween, Yang, dressed as Sting, and some friends (also masquerading as WCW wrestlers) went trick-or-treating to Page’s and Bischoff’s houses. When Kimberly Page answered the door and saw the boys in costume, she called DDP over, and he invited them in and posed for pictures with them. Yang told DDP he wanted to be a pro wrestler, and Page encouraged him to follow his dream. A few years later, Yang and Page were co-workers.

The boys also met Bischoff that night. After Bischoff agreed to get a picture taken with Yang, the teenager grabbed him by the hair as if he were about to give him a Scorpion Deathdrop. Yang showed me the photo and we ran it in an issue of WCW Magazine.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

Some thoughts on last night’s Raw:

Let me start by saying that I enjoy watching Vince McMahon as a performer. I find his exaggerated facial expressions, mannerisms and over-the-top acting to be entertaining. But while last night’s performance by the WWE chairman made me laugh, it also had a been-there, done-that feel.

After being humiliated on the Raw 15th anniversary show last week, McMahon became even more distraught when the fans laughed at him last night. He seemed to be having a nervous breakdown right in the ring. To ramp up the humor, Triple H then came out to further embarrass his real-life father-in-law.

As I said, McMahon is priceless in these types of segments, but he has already done the crazy act on a few occasions, including six months ago when WWE began the “Who killed Vince?” angle that was scrapped in the wake of the Chris Benoit tragedy. I wouldn’t have taken the Mr. McMahon character in this direction again so soon after having just seen it. …

There were a lot of positives about last night’s show. Here’s one of them: no Hornswoggle!

There were some really good promos, as well. Ric Flair was effective in making his retirement angle something that fans can have an emotional investment in. That emotion is the key to whether this angle gets over the way it should. I know that it’s probably not happening, but I really think the payoff to this story line should be Flair facing Edge for the world heavyweight title at WrestleMania 24. That would be more compelling than Edge-Undertaker and Flair versus whomever. …

Chris Jericho and JBL also were strong on the microphone in their verbal duel. This is a fresh match-up and it’s one I’m looking forward to seeing – and hearing. …

Raw wasn’t all talk, however. The main event, which saw Jeff Hardy and Shawn Michaels defeat Randy Orton and Mr. Kennedy, was exciting. Hardy pinned Orton after hitting the Swanton to build for their title match at Royal Rumble next month. I was surprised that there was no interaction between Hardy and Triple H the day after their match at Armageddon. …

I think Santino Marella and Carlito are going to be an entertaining tag team, although it seemed like a seed was planted for Carlito to turn babyface down the road. …

Not to be sexist, but wasn’t Melina a little overdressed for the Santa’s Little Helpers match?

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

Last night’s WWE pay-per-view featured matches that ranged from decent to very good, and the booking was on the mark for the most part.

Here’s a match-by-match look at the show:

Edge defeated world heavyweight champion Batista and The Undertaker to win the title: As predicted, Edge regained the championship, Batista took the pinfall loss and the build is on for an Edge-Undertaker program. The only question I had going in was, “By what underhanded means will Edge win?” WWE came up with a good one – the old imposter gimmick. During the match, there were actually three “Edges” out there. Something similar happend to Undertaker at Survivor Series 2000, when a Kurt Angle imposter came out from under the ring. It also brought back memories of WCW’s Halloween Havoc in 1990 when Barry Windham impersonated Sting during a Sting-Sid Vicious title match.

Chris Jericho def. WWE champion Randy Orton by disqualification: Having JBL attack Jericho just as it seemed that Orton was about to tap out in The Walls of Jericho was a good way for Orton to retain the title without Jericho having to get pinned in his first pay-per-view match since his return. This will lead to a Jericho-JBL program (they had already shot an angle between them at the Tribute to the Troops show that was taped in Iraq earlier this month), which will be entertaining just for the promos alone.

Jeff Hardy defeated Triple H: The match told a good story, as Triple H delivered a hard slap to Hardy early in order to get him to be aggressive. After that, Hardy got fired up and later returned the slap. I think that Hardy winning to set up a title match against Orton at Royal Rumble was the right call, but I would have tweaked the finish and the post-match reaction. Instead of Hardy slipping out of The Pedigree and turning it into a pin out of nowhere, I would have had Hardy take advantage of an injury or even bend the rules a little to get the victory. By doing so, Hardy would have proved to Triple H that he does have the killer instinct, which would have fit perfectly with the story line. Also, I didn’t care for Triple H’s smirk after he lost. To me, that conveyed that he was laughing it off as a fluke. Triple H’s character is all about being the champion, so he should have been livid that he lost his chance for a title shot. If Triple H had gotten angry and then grudgingly shook Hardy’s hand, it would have given Hardy’s big win a little more punch.

Shawn Michaels defeated Mr. Kennedy: Another match that had good psychology. This was booked exactly as it should have been. Kennedy was portrayed as a legitimate threat to a top star, but in the end, the savvy veteran found a way to win. I’m sure a number of fans think that Michaels should have put Kennedy over, but Michaels is too valuable to be losing back-to-back high-profile matches (he lost clean to Orton last month at Survivor Series). For Kennedy, losing to Michaels after he more than held his own and nearly won is definitely not a step backward.

Rey Mysterio defeated U.S. champion MVP by countout: This was a good opener that some will say was marred by a bad finish. I didn’t have a problem, however, with MVP choosing to lose by countout instead of getting back in the ring to fight. Walking away to save his title is what one would expect of the character, and it likely keeps the program between the two going.

Big Daddy V and Mark Henry defeated CM Punk and Kane: I didn’t have real high expectations for this match, but it wasn’t bad. The finish was well done, as Punk came off the top rope and BDV caught him on his shoulders and hit a Samoan Drop. With the ECW champion getting pinned, I suppose there’s going to be a Punk-BDV title match before we get to Punk-Shelton Benjamin.

Finlay defeated The Great Khali: This match also was better than I thought it would be, and it was the only result that really surprised me. It’s one thing for Khali to lose to John Cena, Batista and The Undertaker, but getting pinned by Finlay shows that his push is done. So much for my idea to keep Khali strong for a match against Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 24.

WWE women’s champion Beth Phoenix defeated Mickie James: No surprise here, other than James actually got in a little more offense than I expected.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

Predictions for tonight’s WWE pay-per-view:

World heavyweight champion Batista vs. Edge vs. The Undertaker: WWE is obviously building toward a one-on-one feud between Edge and The Undertaker. Therefore, I expect Edge to emerge with the title, Batista to do the job and Undertaker to come out looking like the uncrowned champion.

WWE champion Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho: I’ve been a Jericho mark for years but it just doesn’t feel like the right time to put the belt on him. Look for Jericho to get a lot of near falls before Orton eventually prevails.

Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H: This is the biggest match of Hardy’s career. He is more over than he has ever been, and a win here surely would catapult him into WWE’s top tier. The conventional thinking, however, is that Triple H wins and then defeats Orton for the title at Royal Rumble. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but I’m going the other way. I think Hardy will win, but it will be in a way that makes Triple H look strong in defeat.

Mr. Kennedy vs. Shawn Michaels: I know that a lot of wrestling fans and pundits think that Kennedy should go over here, but I disagree. It’s true that a win over Michaels is an effective tool in elevating a wrestler to the next level, but if Michaels loses frequently, then defeating him doesn’t mean as much. Michaels losing to Orton at Survivor Series last month was the right thing to do. Having him lose on consecutive pay-per-views is not. I expect Kennedy to come very close, but for Michaels to pull out the victory. I also could see a non-conclusive finish and a rematch at Royal Rumble.

U.S. champion MVP vs. Rey Mysterio: I can’t see MVP losing the title before Matt Hardy comes back. It’s possible that Mysterio could win the match but not the title, but I think it makes more sense for MVP to win.

CM Punk and Kane vs. Big Daddy V and Mark Henry: All I can say about this match is that I can’t wait until the Punk-Shelton Benjamin program begins. I’ll go with Punk and Kane.

Finlay vs. The Great Khali: If there is the slightest chance of a Hulk Hogan-Khali match at WrestleMania 24, then Khali has to be kept strong. I think Khali will go after Hornswoggle, prompting Finlay to attack Khali with the shillelagh and get disqualified.

WWE women’s champion Beth Phoenix vs. Mickie James: Phoenix wins clean, as this match is just filling time until Candice Michelle returns and challenges for the title.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Speculation about what the top matches might be at WrestleMania usually begins shortly after the previous WrestleMania is over. Because of injuries, however, it’s become increasingly hard to predict. For example, it was reported a while back that John Cena vs. Batista was one of the proposed main events for WrestleMania 24 next March, but then Cena suffered a torn pectoral muscle.

Then, the rumor was Triple H against Randy Orton, and Edge versus The Undertaker. Recently, The Wrestling Observer reported that the new plan was for Triple H to face Batista.

Putting all of the rumors aside, I decided to come up with what I think would be the best card for WrestleMania 24, which takes place on March 30 at The Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Keep in mind that this isn’t what I think will happen, it’s what I would like to see happen:

WWE champion Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. Batista

World champion Edge vs. Ric Flair

The Undertaker vs. JBL

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (30-minute Iron Man match):

Bobby Lashley vs. Mr. Kennedy

U.S. champion MVP vs. Matt Hardy

ECW champion C.M. Punk vs. Shelton Benjamin

Money in the bank ladder match – Jeff Hardy vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Finlay vs. Kane vs. Umaga vs. Carlito vs. Elijah Burke vs. John Morrison

Hulk Hogan and DH Smith vs. The Great Khali and Santino Marella

WWE women’s champion Beth Phoenix vs. Candice Michelle

In order to explain how I put together the lineup, this is how I would book the main story lines in WWE from this point forward.

At Armageddon, Orton retains the WWE title against Jericho, and Jeff Hardy defeats Triple H to earn a title shot when he takes advantage of outside interference by a heel (let’s say Snitsky, who will then work a TV feud with Triple H). Hardy doesn’t turn heel, and later tells Triple H that he knows he would have done the same thing if he had the opportunity, which gains Triple H’s respect. In the world title match, The Undertaker has Edge incapacitated and Batista pinned, but the referee is knocked out. That allows Edge time to recover, take out Undertaker with a chair and then spear Batista to win the title.

At Royal Rumble on Jan. 27, Hardy dominates Orton, but the champion manages to cheat his way to a hard-fought victory. In a world title match between Edge and Undertaker, Edge intentionally gets himself disqualified in order to retain the title. The Royal Rumble match comes down to Triple H and Batista, and they both go over the top rope and hit the floor at the exact same time. A one-on-one match between them is signed for No Way Out on Feb.17.

At No Way Out, Orton manages to slip past Hardy again, this time in a ladder match. Edge versus The Undertaker in a no-disqualification match ends when JBL, who is doing commentary at ringside, interferes and lays out The Undertaker, allowing Edge to score the pin. JBL later explains that he had been waiting for an opportunity to get back at Undertaker for attacking him a few months ago. He also says that as a “wrestling god,” he doesn’t want to be remembered as the guy who was forced to retire by Rey Mysterio; he wants to be immortalized as the man who ends The Undertaker’s winning streak at WrestleMania. The Triple H-Batista match ends with a double pin and two referees making simultaneous three-counts. One referee awards the bout to Triple H and the other ref declares Batista the winner, so there still is no official Rumble winner.

The following night on Raw, Triple H and Batista get into a verbal confrontation, and old wounds from the Evolution split are re-opened. At one point, Orton interrupts and ridicules his former stable mates for fighting over a title shot and who the best member of Evolution was, when he is the only member of Evolution with any gold. It is later ruled that Triple H and Batista are co-winners of the Royal Rumble, and thus both get to choose which world champion they will face at WrestleMania.

Triple H speaks first, saying that he and Orton have unfinished business ever since he lost the title to Orton at No Mercy. He then, in a somewhat condescending manner, wishes Batista well in his quest to regain the title from Edge, and talks about how the two of them will rule wrestling. Batista takes offense, saying that this is the second time in their careers that Triple H has tried to send Batista to Smackdown to avoid facing him. Batista said that as much as he’d like to defeat Edge, he’d like to beat Orton and Triple H in the same night even more. On the ensuing Smackdown, a battle royal is held to determine the No. 1 contender for Edge’s title. Flair wins, and in the buildup to WrestleMania, the stipulation is that if Flair loses a match before then, he must retire and the person who beats him gets his title shot.

Most of the undercard matches are pretty self-explanatory. Assuming Lashley, Matt Hardy and Candice all have returned from their injuries, they will all be seeking revenge on the people who put them out of action.

Jericho, frustrated by his inability to defeat Orton at Armageddon and then being out of the title picture, begins a subtle heel turn. Feeling he has something to prove, he challenges Michaels to a rematch of their classic WrestleMania XIX match.

Marella will simultaneously begin a feud with DH Smith, while also running down Hogan in promos like he did with Steve Austin. Eventually, Hogan shows up to confront Marella, but The Great Khali makes the save and the two heels lay out “The Hulkster.” When Marella and Khali challenge Hogan to get a partner for match against them at WrestleMania, Smith talks about how Hogan was like a second father to him growing up (this is story line, of course) and volunteers his services. This match serves a couple purposes: It would give fans the “WrestleMania moment” of Hogan slamming Khali without having the two of them work what would likely be an ugly singles match, and it also gives a rub to Smith and Marella.

Those are my ideas. I welcome your comments and look forward to seeing how you would book WrestleMania 24.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
                    

Some thoughts on last night’s TNA Impact:

Kevin Nash got less than two minutes screen time, but he was on long enough to make suckers out of TNA management and any fan who pays to see him “perform.”

The show-long theme was that Christian Cage was searching for a tag-team partner to face Kurt Angle and Robert Roode, and when he went to recruit Nash, “Big Kev” was sound asleep in the back. When Cage woke up Nash and asked him to be his partner, Nash said that he was “too busy doing what I do best: sit around, do nothing and get paid.”

The real-life perception of Nash is exactly that, so the TNA creative team – this had to be the work of Vince Russo – was attempting to be clever for “smart” fans. However, it only makes TNA look silly for paying a guy like Nash to sit around and do nothing, and it’s an insult to the fans who are contributing to Nash’s salary.

I really don’t blame Nash, though. Obviously, his goal is to make the most money he can by doing as little as possible. It might not be admirable, but if there are wrestling companies stupid enough to accommodate him, more power to him. I’ve just never understood how Nash keeps getting those in charge of wrestling companies to drink his Kool-Aid.

Nash seemed to have the same selfish, lazy attitude in WCW. He was far from the only one, and it’s that mentality that helped ruin the company. I was there. I remember. Why don’t Russo and Jeff Jarrett? …

Cage is the best performer in TNA right now. However, his babyface turn could be booked better. The fans were jeering Christian at times during his promo – which isn’t what you want when he’s engaging in a verbal battle with Angle and Roode.

I like the fact that Christian still is cocky and self-centered – as The Rock demonstrated in the past, cool babyfaces with heel tendencies can be very entertaining – but the key is to subtly suggest to fans that Christian is worthy of their cheers. This can be accomplished through the announcers’ commentary, saying things such as, “Christian is full of himself, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind and you can’t deny his talent in the ring.” By the end of the show, the fans did seem to be with Christian, who was effectively portrayed as a man with no allies who battled courageously in a handicap match against Angle and Roode before losing. …

The more I see Roode, the more I am convinced that he has main-event heel written all over him. TNA is doing a good job of getting him in angles with the top guys. Soon, he needs to start defeating some top guys. …

Jim Mitchell was great on the microphone when he confronted Abyss, and it was good to see Judas Mesias back – I think that character has potential. However, with media stories out there suggesting concussions as a factor in the Benoit tragedy, it was stupid and irresponsible to have Abyss take that many unprotected chair shots. …

Samoa Joe cut a very strange promo in which he spewed profanities and complained about being low-balled on his contract. First, the era of the potty-mouthed wrestler is over. Second, isn’t Chris Harris already doing a complainer gimmick? Third, Joe needs to lose that hat he was wearing. …

I wasn’t all that intrigued by the Feast or Fired story line – which finally played out – but I do think that Jeremy Borash has a future as a game-show host if this wrestling thing doesn’t work out. …

Kaz really needs to improve on promos or he will never reach his full potential. …

For years, WWE, WCW and TNA tried in vain to find a pretty girl who could conduct a decent backstage interview. Finally, there appears to be one capable of doing the job – Crystal. She has a good look, speaks well, appears comfortable on camera and, most importantly, adds something to the segments without taking anything away from the wrestlers. …

On the flip side, Hermie Sadler needs to step away from the microphone. And what’s with him stealing former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly’s moniker?

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

Vince McMahon might have proclaimed himself as the biggest superstar in the history of Raw during Monday’s 15-year anniversary show, but the debate rages on. Actually, it’s pretty clear-cut who the real top star is, and it’s not the WWE chairman.

Here’s my list of the 10 biggest stars of the Raw years, followed by the top five female stars:

1.“Stone Cold” Steve Austin: Honestly, is there really any other choice? The “Texas Rattlesnake” was the central figure in WWE turning the tide and winning the wrestling war with WCW.

2. The Rock: I was always more of a Rock guy than an Austin guy, but the fact is that Rock became a bigger mainstream star, while Austin was a bigger wrestling star. Still, no pro wrestler has ever been more entertaining than “The Great One.”

3. Vince McMahon: Everyone knows that a great babyface needs a great heel to go against, and McMahon and Austin were magic together. While the Austin feud was clearly McMahon’s best on-screen work, the evil Mr. McMahon character remains an enduring part of Raw.

4. Shawn Michaels: When Raw first started, Michaels was among the best all