What are the odds that The Undertaker and John Cena would both suffer pinfall losses on the same television show?

It happened last night on a Smackdown episode that featured four matches, with the perceived underdog winning each one.

The matches delivered more than just surprises, too. Two of the contests were really good – The Big Show’s win over Cena, and Primo and Carlito’s victory over John Morrison and The Miz – and while Vladimir Kozlov’s stunning upset of The Undertaker wasn’t great, it was better than I expected.

The other match, which saw Chavo Guerrero defeat U.S. champion Shelton Benjamin in a non-title match, was too short (less than three minutes) to even be judged, but anytime Guerrero wins a match nowadays, it’s news.

For two guys who are often criticized for their in-ring ability, Cena and Big Show had one heck of a main event match. As I have said several times, if you hate Cena’s character or don’t like how much he is pushed, that’s fair, but to say that the guy can’t work is just plain wrong at this point. Remember, The Great Khali’s best matches in WWE were with Cena.

Big Show has come a long way since the days when he was so out of shape and unmotivated that he was sent down to Ohio Valley Wrestling. For someone his size and age (37), he moves around the ring very well and his conditioning has significantly improved.

The Undertaker is another guy whose in-ring performances seem to be getting better with age, which is even more impressive considering that he reportedly is working through a bunch of nagging injuries. Kozlov has been regressing as of late, but his work was serviceable in this match.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Cena is just freaky strong. Sure, wrestling is a work, but to pick up a guy who weighs well over 400 pounds for the Attitude Adjustment (formerly the FU) like he did with Big Show is quite a feat. It’s not the first time Cena has done it with Big Show, and he also has delivered the move to The Great Khali. …

What makes Kozlov’s win over The Undertaker even more surprising is the fact that it was clean and came out of nowhere, with no outside interference or cheating. Suddenly, Kozlov’s match against Shawn Michaels on Raw Monday – with the winner facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25 – is a lot more interesting. I suppose it’s possible that WWE is considering a triple threat match for Mania. …

As I expected, the advertised Jeff Hardy versus Matt Hardy match did not take place, as Jeff refused to fight his brother. I don’t feel like this was a bait-and-switch because common sense dictated that this match wasn’t happening until WrestleMania. The Hardys’ verbal confrontation was good, but they didn’t knock it out of the park. Matt was called on to carry the segment, and while what he said was fine and his facial expressions were decent, there’s just something about his delivery that is lacking.

There hasn’t been any mention of Jeff’s stalker in recent weeks, so I wonder if Matt admitting that he was the one behind the incidents will be what changes Jeff’s mind about doing the match. …

There is good chemistry between Carlito and Primo and Morrison and Miz. While both teams are tag champs, Morrison and Miz are more over, and that’s why I didn’t expect Carlito and Primo to prevail. …

It appears that one of the Bella twins prefers the company of Primo and Carlito, while the other prefers Morrison and Miz. Perhaps this will lead to a twin versus twin match somewhere down the line. Hey, we’ve had just about every other kind of family feud in WWE, so why not? …

MVP sitting at ringside doing commentary during the Benjamn-Guerrero match should have made it obvious that Benjamin would lose because he was distracted. But Guerrero has been booked like such a loser recently that I figured it would somehow backfire. …

MVP is getting over to some degree as a babyface, but I am hoping that he receives a bigger push after WrestleMania. I think a series of sit-down interviews with Jim Ross that mix his character’s story line with his real-life past would help immensely in getting him to the next level. …

Highlights of WrestleMania IV and V were shown in the WrestleMania retrospective. Randy Savage, whose name has been popping up on WWE television shows recently (probably because WWE is releasing a three-disc Savage DVD in June), was the featured performer on both shows. The breakup of The Mega-Powers to set up Savage versus Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania V is one of my all-time favorite story lines. …

I’m surprised that Cena took a little jab at MyNetworkTV during his promo. Maybe Palmer Cannon or Cyrus will show up as a heel representative of the network. …

Gail Kim is being described in her videos as “strong but sexy.” Sounds right to me. She definitely has the best combination of looks and in-ring ability among current female wrestlers. …

There was one glaring flaw on an otherwise entertaining episode: No screen time for Maryse.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
        

TNA did a nice job of setting up the upcoming Kurt Angle-Sting pay-per-view match last night on Impact, thanks in large part to Jeff Jarrett.

The show was built around whether Angle and TNA world champion Sting would agree to wrestle each other at the Destination X pay-per-view on March 15. Jarrett carried the angle with his mic work, as he manipulated Angle into signing a contract to face Sting despite the protests of Main Event Mafia members Kevin Nash and Booker T.

After Angle signed the contract, he attacked Jarrett, so there will likely be another match between them, perhaps at the Lockdown pay-per-view in April. Their match at the Genesis pay-per-view last month was Match of the Year material.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Perhaps I didn’t get a good enough look at it, but was that a sling blade that Samoa Joe had pressed up against Scott Steiner’s throat? I agree that TNA needs to try to rehabilitate Joe’s character after it made him look like a whiner for so long, but isn’t threatening to slit someone’s throat taking things a little too far? What made the whole thing even more absurd was that something so extreme was never even mentioned again during the show. …

Steiner’s reaction at the end of that scene was great. He had a wide-eyed look and his voice raised an octave when he said to Lauren, “That was a knife!” …

Don West’s heel promo on Mike Tenay and subsequent walk-off came completely out of nowhere. I’m not really surprised, however, because feuding announcers are a Vince Russo staple. Personally, I think they are a waste of time. No one is going to tune in to Impact or purchase a pay-per-view to see West feud with Tenay. I’m willing to bet that West’s claims that Tenay wouldn’t speak up for him when his future as a broadcaster was discussed in meetings is based on some real-life incident – another Russo staple.

This West-Tenay exchange reminded me of the one between Tony Schiavone and Tenay in 2003 in TNA. (To watch the Schiavone-Tenay confrontation, click here. Listen to the audience reaction and check out the signs in the crowd, which appear about six minutes in. Be forewarned that there is some foul language). …

I do have to admit that West cut a good promo, but I have never been a fan of his announcing and would be happy to see someone else do color commentary. My choice would be Jim Cornette. Mick Foley did a nice job when he was on Smackdown, but I don’t think TNA brought him in to be an announcer. …

Speaking of Tenay, I cringed when he used the word “biyatch.” Someone must have told him to say that, because it is totally out of character. …

I love hearing Foley tell stories about his career, but it seems strange for him to be putting over Randy Orton as one of the best in the business on a TNA show. ...

Madison Rayne has only been around for about a week or two and she has already turned heel. It truly is amazing. …

The Kongtourage has officially imploded after less than two months as a unit, with Kong and Raisha Saed on one side and Sojournor Bolt and Rhaka Khan on the other. …

The Beer Money versus Rock and Rave Infection match was pretty good. I’m always happy to see Robert Roode and James Storm on the show. Lance Rock was pinned, so he must leave TNA. Rave has been released as well. Rock (formerly known as Lance Hoyt) moves well for a big guy and has a decent look, so I wouldn’t be surprised if WWE showed some interest. As for Rave, a return to Ring of Honor seems logical considering his wrestling style, but he reportedly didn’t leave ROH on the greatest terms two years go....

TNA’s latest attempt at comedy was to make fun of Booker’s real last name, which is Huffman. Hilarious, isn’t it? …

Speaking of Booker, he pointed to a picture of himself and Muhammad Ali and said, “That’s The Greatest. And the other guy is Muhammad Ali.” It made me laugh – not last night, but last summer when he said it the first time. …

Just wondering: Does The Front Line still exist?

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

It’s days like this that really make me feel old. I remember when Ric Flair was a cocky, young heel stirring things up in the Mid-Atlantic area. Today, “The Nature Boy” is celebrating his 60th birthday.

And to think he didn’t put a period – actually it was more like an exclamation point – on his fabulous in-ring career until a little less than a year ago. Even though he had lost a step or two by the time he entered the ring for the final time (I hope), against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV last March, the 16-time world champion still could style and profile.

As he often said during his legendary promos, “Space Mountain may be the oldest ride in the park, but it still has the longest line.”

Happy birthday, Naitch. If we know Flair the way we think we do, he will be celebrating all night long, most likely with his sequined robe on and his pants off. Woooo!

To watch a classic Ric Flair promo from 1985, click here.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

Last night’s ECW title match between Jack Swagger and Christian is a strong early candidate for best televised match of the week.

This was a pay-per-view-quality contest, which begs the question: Why wasn’t this match saved for WrestleMania 25? Hopefully, this was just the first in a series of matches between these two and they will be given a spot on the big show on April 5.

We all know how good Christian is, but I am more impressed with Swagger every time I see him. The young champion kept up with the veteran challenger every step of the way.

With his clean win last night, Swagger now holds victories over Christian, Matt Hardy and Finlay. Not bad for a guy who made his WWE debut just five months ago.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Another guy that is really impressing me is Tyson Kidd. I have no idea if the guy can cut a good promo, but if he can, look out. When Evan Bourne returns, I could see these two having an exciting program. …

When I saw Kidd’s opponent, Matt Boyce, standing in the ring, I was thinking that he must be the son of one of the Mulkey brothers. Less than a minute later, Matt Striker referred to him as the third Mulkey brother. You know what they say about great minds.

For those who aren’t familiar with Bill and Randy Mulkey, they were a pair of unathletic-looking jobbers who worked for Jim Crockett Promotions in the 1980s. They were squashed so thoroughly every time they wrestled that they gained a cult following and actually qualified for the 1987 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament, which featured some of the best teams in wrestling. ...

I can’t think of a better way to start the show than to have Alicia Fox getting her groove on in the ring. …

I’m just not into this Tommy Dreamer angle at all, but the crowd seems to be with him so I suppose it’s not the worst idea.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

Whenever I have a moment to spare – which unfortunately is becoming less and less frequent – I turn on WWE 24/7 to sample the On Demand channel’s latest offerings. One of my favorite features is the presentation of WWWF/WWF house shows from the ’70s and ’80s.

I watched a Madison Square Garden show from December 1982 a couple days ago. Here are a few observations:

The best match on the card was an Intercontinental title match between champion Pedro Morales and Magnificent Muraco, the former champion. This is back when the I-C title really meant something.

Muraco is one of my all-time favorite heels. It’s too bad the McMahons’ booking philosophy for decades was to have a babyface world champion who would hold the title for years at a time, because Muraco would have made a great heel world champ.

His Intercontinental title programs with Morales and Jimmy Snuka were classics. On this night, he and Morales battled to an exciting double disqualification. Muraco won go on to regain the title from Morales the following month at the Garden. …

The main event was a lumberjack match between WWF champion Bob Backlund and Superstar Billy Graham. I was a huge mark for Graham when he was WWWF champion in the late ’70s, but he was a shell of himself in ’82. As documented in his autobiography, Graham had a lot of personal problems at that time.

Moreover, his appearance and gimmick drastically changed. The once-flamboyant Graham was now doing a horrible karate shtick. The bleached-blonde hair, tie-dye tights, jive talk and ripped physique (which he has admitted was achieved through heavy steroid use) were replaced by a clean-shaven head and black mustache, black karate pants, monotone promos and a drastically less impressive physique. …

The opening contest – one of the preliminary matches as they used to be called – pitted S.D. Jones against a fresh-faced guy who was on the smaller side named Eddie Gilbert. The two babyfaces wrestled to a 20-minute draw. Gilbert, who was 21 at the time, was a decent worker, but he was definitely charismatically challenged. It’s hard to believe just a few years later he became “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, a brash heel. …

The commentating was handled by Vince McMahon (his father, Vince Sr., was still in charge) and Gorilla Monsoon. I always liked listening to both of them. Calling a match was much different in that era. There was more focus on play-by-play and explaining the holds than there is today.

That’s not to say that there still wasn’t some entertaining banter between the announcers. There was one exchange between McMahon and Monsoon that made me chuckle.

It occurred during a women’s tag team match that pitted The Fabulous Moolah and Wendy Richter (just a year and a half later, these two would be wrestling each other live on MTV in perhaps the most famous women’s match of all time) against Princess Victoria and Elizabeth Chase.

Monsoon: Elizabeth Chase is ambidextrous.
McMahon: Yes. She goes both ways.
Monsoon: Probably.

Keep in mind that this was 26 years ago.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

A seething Triple H stormed into the arena wielding not one but two sledgehammers at the end of last night’s episode of Raw. Yet somehow Randy Orton managed to escape unscathed, and all Triple H came away with was seven years of bad luck for shattering a mirror.

The final scene, which consisted of Triple H chasing Orton around the backstage area, might have gone on a bit too long, but I thought the angle was pretty well done and was the next logical step in building to a Triple H-Orton WWE title match at WrestleMania 25.

With the event still six weeks away, the challenge for WWE’s creative team is to keep Triple H and Orton from having much physical interaction before then. If the angle is done correctly, fans will be salivating at the thought of Triple H getting his hands on Orton in Houston on April 5.

I have heard from some fans who are upset that Orton showed so much fear last night, but I have no problem with how the angle was booked. It makes perfect sense that Orton would run from a guy who is bigger than him and is coming after him with a sledgehammer because he assaulted the guy’s wife.

Plus, let’s not forget that Orton is a heel. The intent of having him hide behind lawyers and doctors and run from Triple H is to make fans want to see him gets his comeuppance. Standing his ground last night would have made him a babyface.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

The verbal confrontation between Edge and John Cena to open the show was well done. Edge was great as usual, and Cena did a nice job of injecting humor without things getting too silly. Like the Triple H-Orton program, the goal is to keep Edge and Cena physically apart before WrestleMania. Despite rumors of a Cena-Hulk Hogan match at WrestleMania, it sure looks to me like it’ll be Cena-Edge. …

Chris Jericho continues to be amazing on the microphone during his weekly war of words with wrestling legends. Rick Steamboat, Jericho’s verbal sparring partner last night, did a tremendous job as well, which surprised me because I never thought Steamboat was that great on promos. What really makes these segments work is that they are believable. The veterans (Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Steamboat) are speaking from the heart, while there also is some truth in what Jericho says. …

Smackdown general manager Vickie Guerrero is now also the interim general manager on Raw. Whoever made that decision deserves a raise. …

The Shawn Michaels-JBL match was better than their match the No Way Out pay-per-view on Feb. 15. With the win, Michaels will now face Vladimir Kozlov next week to determine who faces The Undertaker at WrestleMania. Unless there is a swerve of epic proportions, it will be Michaels-Undertaker, but the question then becomes, “What will JBL and Kozlov do at WrestleMania?” I know the answer for some of you is: “Hopefully nothing.”

I suppose WWE could do a battle royal that would include guys such as JBL and Kozlov that do not have singles matches, but I wonder if we might see JBL versus Kozlov. I have thought for a long time that JBL one day would turn babyface and battle a foreign heel ala Sgt. Slaughter versus The Iron Sheik. It’s probably not happening at this time, however, mainly because a JBL-Kozlov match could be pretty ugly. …

I enjoyed the triple threat match between CM Punk, John Morrison and The Miz that determined the first participant in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania. I especially liked the finish, which saw Punk foil Miz’s suplex attempt on Morrison by catching Morrison on his shoulders and then spinning Morrison around to knock Miz out of the ring. From there, Punk hit the GTS on Morrison for the win. …

Michael Cole mistakenly said that every Money in the Bank winner cashed in and won a championship. 2007 winner Mr. Kennedy did not. …

I have been watching wrestling too long, because I knew immediately that Triple H had another sledgehammer concealed under his jacket when he agreed to drop the first one. It didn’t really make sense that Triple H brought an extra one, though, because how did he know that Orton – who had a sledgehammer of his own – would suggest that they both put down their weapons? I guess that’s why he’s The Cerebral Assassin. ...

Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes confidently said early in the show that they would be ready if Triple H showed up. Considering what Shane McMahon was able to do against them, that was the funniest line of the night. …

Why would Vickie Guerrero think that Chavo would have any shot whatsoever against Cena? Wouldn’t it have made more sense just to have Big Show try to take out Cena? …

What were the odds that Bruno Sammartino and Randy Savage would both be referenced on the same show? Edge mentioned Sammartino in his promo, and highlights of the Savage-Steamboat match at WrestleMania III were shown during the announcement of Steamboat’s upcoming induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. …

I realize that Santino Marella is strictly a comedy act, but even so, it was ridiculous how easily he was pinned in the six-person tag match. Cole wasn’t even booked to look that weak when he and Jerry Lawler faced DiBiase and Rhodes on Raw last July. …

I’m not sure where the angle with Jamie Noble getting squashed every week is going, but it is serving a purpose. It’s called a bathroom break. All kidding aside, I was happy to read that Knoble is OK after suffering a stinger during last night's match against Mike Knox.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)
        

Here’s my take on some wrestling headlines from the past week:

ROBERT ROODE RE-SIGNS WITH TNA: Roode told The Peterborough Examiner of Ontario that he has inked a new five-year deal with TNA despite having received some interest from WWE. That’s very good news for TNA and it’s probably a wise decision by Roode. I had believed that it was just a matter of time before Roode, one of TNA’s most talented performers, ended up in WWE, but I could see him getting lost in the shuffle there. The track record for TNA stars who jump to WWE isn’t good. Chris Harris (Braden Walker) was released after a month, Monty Brown (Marcus Cor Von) wasn’t given much of a push on ECW and Ron Killings (R-Truth) is stuck in the mid-card despite connecting with the audience. Now that TNA has invested in Roode, hopefully he will receive a well-deserved singles push in the near future, perhaps even a run as TNA world champion. With many of TNA’s biggest stars well over 40, it’s time to start grooming guys such as Roode, James Storm, Matt Morgan and Jay Lethal for top spots.

VERNE GAGNE IMPLICATED IN DEATH OF FELLOW NURSING HOME RESIDENT: The former AWA owner and multi-time world champion is being investigated by police for his role in the death of a 97-year-old man at a Minnesota nursing home. The 82-year-old Gagne, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, had a physical confrontation with Helmet R. Gutmann at the facility last month that resulted in the latter suffering a broken hip. Gutmann, who was suffering from dementia, died about two and a half weeks later. As someone who has experience with immediate family members suffering from dementia and living in long-term care facilities, this one really hits home. It’s just a very sad story for both the Gutmann and Gagne families. I think it would be incredibly misguided if Gagne is charged. I would rather the police investigation focus on whether there was any negligence on the part of the facility, especially in light of the claim by Gutmann's daughter that her father and Gagne had previously clashed.

IT’S HAMMER TIME IN MCW: Former WCW wrestler Van Hammer was involved in an angle at Saturday’s Maryland Championship Wrestling show in Dundalk and will be coming out of retirement for a match against Champ Champagne at MCW’s Xtreme Measures on April 11. After Champagne won his match Saturday, he cut a promo on Hammer, a Hebron native who was in attendance at the show, saying that Hammer was washed up and comparing him to Mickey Rourke’s character in The Wrestler. Hammer came to the ring, but Champagne fled before things got physical. Also at Saturday’s show, Stevie Richards took some away from his therapy sessions with Abyss to wrestle in a tag team match. Richards had missed his scheduled appearance at MCW’s December show due to suffering a collapsed lung.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

For the first time since, well, I really can’t remember when, I had some interest in the Academy Awards. As far as pleasurable experiences go, I typically rank watching the pretentious awards show somewhere between undergoing a root canal and listening to a Christy Hemme promo.

The Oscars, however, definitely had my attention last night – well at least the final 15 minutes when the major awards were handed out. Obviously, I was curious to see if The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke went over in the Best Actor category. To my disappointment, he jobbed to Sean Penn.

I’m actually a big Penn fan, and while I did not see Milk, I have no doubt that Penn is a worthy winner. I just hope that the stuffy Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn’t hold it against Rourke because he said that he would be participating in WrestleMania 25.

Rourke’s co-star, Marisa Tomei, did not win Best Supporting Actress either. However, it was a good night for Necro Bucher, the hardcore independent wrestler who has a memorably gory scene in The Wrestler. I wasn’t watching the awards show at the time, but I read online that Butcher was acknowledged during a skit with Seth Rogan and James Franco. If I was in charge in TNA, I’d sign Necro immediately and have him work a series of weapons matches against Abyss.

But I digress.

Now that the Oscars are over, the real drama begins. It’s expected that Rourke will be in attendance at WrestleMania on April 5 in Houston, but the question remains as to what his role will be on the pay-per-view extravaganza. Speculation has ranged from him just being a spectator to accompanying Chris Jericho’s opponent to the ring to actually wrestling Jericho.

In a perfect WWE Universe, Rourke would have won the Oscar and then punctuated his acceptance speech by shouting, “Now, I’m going to WrestleMania! And if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences isn’t down with that, I’ve got two words for ya: Ram Jam!”

Then at a swanky after-party, Jericho, with a WWE cameraman in tow, crashes the gala and cuts a promo on Rourke, which leads to a pull-apart brawl. During the fracas, Jericho delivers a worked punch to Tomei, later claiming that she spit on him. To top it off, Jericho absconds with Rourke’s Oscar statuette and takes it to Raw the next night after having it melted down into a toiler paper holder.

The amount of publicity for WWE, not to mention the level outrage from the academy, would have been off the charts.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

I violated one of life’s basic principles in yesterday’s entry about Smackdown: I assumed.

Yes, I assumed that everyone knows the difference between Triple H and Stephanie McMahon’s fictional marriage and their real-life one. It’s obvious from some of the comments that have been posted, however, that not everyone does know.

That’s actually understandable, especially if you haven’t been following wrestling that long or you’ve only watched sporadically over the years. I’ll try and clear things up for everyone with this timeline:

Nov. 1999: In a STORY LINE on Raw, Triple H and Stephanie got married in a drive-through ceremony in Las Vegas.

2000 or 2001: Triple H and Stephanie began dating in REAL LIFE.

Feb. 2002: In a STORY LINE on Raw, Triple H and Stephanie split up after he learned that she had lied about being pregnant.

Oct. 2003: Triple H and Stephanie, who were divorced in the STORY LINE, got married in REAL LIFE.

Feb. 2009: For the first time since Triple H and Stephanie’s REAL LIFE wedding, it was fully acknowledged in the STORY LINE that they are married.

See, it all makes perfect sense.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

After a few years of winking at the audience, WWE finally acknowledged on one of its episodic shows what every wrestling fan already knew – that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are married.

Triple H spilled the beans during a sit-down interview with Jim Ross last night on Smackdown. It was a necessary plot device to put a fresh spin on yet another Triple H-Randy Orton feud.

Thankfully, Ross and Tazz did not feign surprise at the revelation, because that would have undermined their credibility. This is just one of those instances in which wrestling fans are not supposed to think too much, because if we did, some past story lines involving Triple H wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

As far as the interview itself, I think Triple H’s acting skills left a lot to be desired. His intensity came off forced, just as it did at the end of Raw last Monday after Orton hit Stephanie with an RKO. It’s not that Triple H’s dramatic performance was awful, it just wasn’t in the same league as some of the stuff we have seen recently in WWE from Orton, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, JBL and others.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Despite the non-finish, Jeff Hardy and Edge had a very good TV main event. You knew either Matt Hardy or John Cena – or both – would interfere. It turned out to just be Matt, who challenged his brother to a match on next week’s show after he laid him out. There’s no way these two are going to wrestle each other before WrestleMania. …

I’m glad that Smackdown general manager Vickie Guerrero made it clear that it’s not up to Michaels and JBL to decide who gets a shot at The Undertaker and his 16-0 record at WrestleMania. Her choice to face “The Dead Man” is Vladimir Kozlov, who is still undefeated in singles competition (house shows don’t count). I had thought for a while that it was going to be Undertaker-Kozlov at WrestleMania, but that was before Kozlov’s poor showing in the Smackdown elimination chamber match last Sunday. There’s no way WWE is going to trust Kozlov to work in such a high profile match after seeing that. …

John Morrison and The Miz’s Valentine’s Day date with The Bella Twins was good for a few laughs. Morrison, sitting at the table with his jacket open and his bare chest exposed, was a lot funnier here than in any of the Dirt Sheet segments that have been on TV. Carlito and Primo, who ended up accidentally hitting the Bellas in their faces with pies, have been made to look like such goobers that it almost seems as if they are turning heel. …

It was great to see Maryse back in the ring. It was even better to see Gail Kim back on TV, even though it was just a brief vignette. …

Hopefully, this isn’t a bad sign for Kim. The last two wrestlers to be introduced on Smackdown via vignettes were Kizarny and Hade Vansen. Kizarny, who made a cameo last night, became an afterthought after his first match, and Vansen (who portrayed an unnamed dark character) was released after just one vignette. …

Ross had the line of the night during Umaga’s squash win over the recently released Scotty Goldman, who had been the host of a Web series on wwe.com: “Mr. dot.com may get the delete button pushed on him tonight.”

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

Sorry about getting this up much later than expected. Life is a little crazy right now.

Thursday’s episode of Impact was a perfect example of why I am so frustrated with TNA.

I’m always in favor of thinking outside the box, so I definitely think TNA was onto something by building the show around an empty arena match between Kurt Angle and Sting. But despite the unique nature of the match and outstanding efforts by the two veterans, the gaps in logic in the story line and the asinine writing and general silliness throughout the show were just too much to overcome.

No matter how much talent or star power is on TNA’s roster, the company is never going to realize its full potential until the glaring booking problems are addressed.

While I’m sure Vince Russo and the powers that be in TNA are doing cartwheels over the company-record 1.3 rating for the episode, I wouldn’t get too excited. The Angle-Sting empty arena match obviously enticed more people to watch, but what those additional viewers saw was a show worthy of several chapters in the next WrestleCrap book.

Let’s begin with the Angle-Sting match. These guys went from being tight to wanting to kill each other within a matter of weeks, and I still don’t know exactly why there is so much hatred between them. That kind of intensity should be reserved for highly personal programs such as Angle-Jeff Jarrett or Shawn Michaels-Chris Jericho.

I haven’t really understood the motivation for Sting’s character since the inception of the Main Event Mafia-Frontline story line. The original premise was that Sting was upset because he felt the younger guys didn’t show the veterans the proper respect. For some reason, Sting believed that the best way to teach them about respect was to join the Main Event Mafia, the type of thuggish heel faction that Sting had battled his entire career. The MEM showed no respect to their fellow wrestlers, authority figures or fans, yet Sting embraced them, all the while acting like a babyface.

After a few months of harmony within the MEM, Angle decided out of nowhere that he had a problem with Sting, and the next thing you know they are brawling in an empty arena match. After several minutes of Angle and Sting going at each other with incredible ferocity, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner showed up and got between them, and then security also helped restore order. All of those people entering the building pretty much defeated the entire purpose of the match.

Anyway, Nash yelled at Angle and Sting to shake hands, and, inexplicably, Sting extended his hand. So Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles are disrespectful (whatever that means) and need to be taught a lesson, but Angle is easily forgiven for attempting to main him. Sure, that makes sense. Angle wasn’t having any of that handshaking business, however, and he spit right in Sting’s face, making Sting look foolish and touching off a pull-apart brawl.

As I said earlier, Angle and Sting were very good in their roles, but the motivation for their characters just isn’t believable. All that intensity means nothing if there isn’t a logical reason for it.

Other thoughts on the show:

TNA does deserve credit for making the empty arena match seem like a big deal. Showing the fans and wrestlers filing out of the building and later cutting away to shots of raucous fans gathered outside the Impact Zone were nice touches. …

Perhaps because the Angle-Sting stuff was so over-the-top intense, the TNA writers felt the need to inject humor into just about everything else, even when it was totally inappropriate to the tone of the scene. For example, when Rhino was cutting a serious and believable promo about the injuries that could occur in an empty arena match, Brother Ray interrupted and made a crack about once tearing an ab while doing crunches.

Then the conversation turned to strip clubs and Devon’s penchant for overweight women. It seemed like something I should be watching as an outtake on DVD extras rather than a scene that actually made it on the air. All too often I get the impression that the writers and some of the talent use the show strictly as a vehicle to entertain themselves.

And that brings me to Booker T. I have always liked Booker, but he is in danger of becoming a total cartoon. When he was King Booker in WWE, he showed the ability to go back and forth between comedic heel and serious heel depending on the situation. Now everything is a joke with him, which would be fine if he were a mid-card comedy act, but he isn’t. The verbal confrontation between him and Angle on Thursday made me cringe, as Angle was intense and serious while Booker came off as a caricature. …

The point was made a couple times during the show that the only way the MEM was going to be taken down was if it was taken down from within. Wasn’t the whole MEM-Frontline program originally designed to elevate young talent? …

The street fight between The Motor City Machine Guns and Lethal Consequences was a fun match. The back bump that Jay Lethal took after going over the top rope onto a ladder couldn’t have felt good. …

The tag match between Beer Money and Eric Young and Petey Williams also was good. The stipulation was that if Young or Williams was pinned, that person would have to leave TNA. Since it was reported last week that Williams had been released, it was no surprise that he did the job. He broke down after the match as he received a standing ovation from the crowd. It was a classy move by TNA to give Williams a sendoff on TV rather than just wishing him well in his future endeavors on its Web site. …

Is TNA even going to bother trying to get Matt Morgan over as a main-eventer? Booking him on the losing end of a random six-man tag match is mind-boggling. …

Speaking of mind-boggling, it appears that Shannon Spruill is actually going to continue doing the Sarah Palin impersonator gimmick instead of performing as Daffney. By the way, did anyone notice the guy in the front row copping a feel on her? Earlier in the show, Taylor Wilde groped “The Gov” as well. Must be the pantsuits. …

I didn’t think anything could be worse than all those Palin/Beautiful People skits, but the Abyss/Dr. Stevie segments are coming close. …

I still can’t get over the fact that there is dissension already in the Kongtourage and that Sojourner Bolt might be turning babyface. The heel group has only been together for a month, and this would be Bolt’s second turn in three months. That’s absurd even by Russo’s standards. …

As if there weren’t enough things on the show to make you embarrassed to be watching it, TNA treated us to some nice footage of animals having sex.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

Maryland Championship Wrestling is doing a ticket giveaway for Ring Posts readers for its show tomorrow night at The New Green Room in Dundalk. The first five people to send an e-mail to mcwjoe@marylandwrestling.com will receive a pair of tickets to the event.

The show is headlined by a steel cage match between MCW champion Christian York and Ruckus for the title.

The action is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. For more information, go to marylandwrestling.com.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

With the final remnants of Shea Stadium having been demolished Wednesday, I figured it was an appropriate time to look back on pro wrestling’s connection with the storied stadium in Flushing, N.Y.

Before there was such a thing as WrestleMania, there was Showdown at Shea. Back when WWE was a Northeastern promotion known as the WWWF (and later the WWF), the company held three historic supercards at Shea Stadium, in 1972, 1976 and 1980.

Obviously, there was no pay-per-view or Internet in those days, so the place where most fans (including me) found out about the Shea events was in wrestling magazines.

The 1980 show was headlined by one of the most famous matches in the pre-WrestleMania era – Bruno Sammartino versus Larry Zbyszko in a steel cage. I was 12 when the Bruno-Zbyszko feud began and it remains one of my favorite rivalries to this day. That feud left such an impression on me that when I attended a Mets game at Shea in the early 1990s, I looked out onto the field and thought: “That’s where Bruno and Zbyszko wrestled in a cage.”

On the undercard of that event in 1980, Andre The Giant defeated a cocky, young heel named Hulk Hogan. In typical Hogan fashion, he claimed in his autobiography that his match against Andre was the reason for the big gate, but anyone who followed wrestling at that time knows how ridiculous that statement is.

The crowd (reported as being more than 36,000) came to see Bruno gets his revenge on former protégé Zbyszko. In fact, as it relates to wrestling at the stadium, Shea was the house that Bruno built. “The Living Legend” wrestled in the main event on all three of the stadium supercards.

In 1972, he and WWWF champion Pedro Morales wrestled to a draw that lasted more than an hour in what was billed as “The Match of The Century.” I believe it was the first babyface vs. babyface world title match in the company, and I don’t think there was another one until 1990 when Hogan faced The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI.

The 1976 show was the most unique of the Shea events. The top match inside the stadium was a WWWF title bout between Sammartino and Stan Hansen. Sammartino had legitimately suffered a broken neck in a match against Hansen, and this was a much-anticipated grudge match.

The actual main event of the night, however, took place in Tokyo and was shown at the stadium via closed circuit television. It was the infamous shoot match between Muhammad Ali and Japanese great Antonio Inoki. Also on that card at Shea, Andre The Giant faced Chuck Wepner in a boxer vs. wrestler match. Let’s just say that Wepner did not fare as well against Andre as Floyd Mayweather did against The Big Show last year at WrestleMania.

To watch promos for the 1980 Shea Stadium show by Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino and Larry Zbyszko, click here.

Note: I will post my thoughts on last night’s episode of TNA Impact later today. I hardly know where to start.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

The Internet was buzzing yesterday with reports of Hulk Hogan possibly appearing at WrestleMania 25 to face either John Cena or Chris Jericho.

I have no idea whether there is any truth to these rumors, although I suppose it’s possible that WWE would want to bring Hogan back for the 25th WrestleMania. Personally, I don’t want it to happen.

Hulkamania died for me last year when taped conversations between Hogan and his son Nick while the latter was serving time for felony reckless driving were made public. Hogan made insensitive comments about the young man who was critically injured and also talked about helping his son broker a deal for a reality show that would chronicle Nick trying to get his life in order after serving his sentence.

Even if I could get past all that, I still wouldn’t be all that excited to see the 55-year-old Hogan limp around the ring and go toe-to-toe with superstars who are in their prime.

I would much rather see Cena face Edge for the world heavyweight title, which is the direction I thought WWE was going in. If Hogan does indeed return to wrestle Cena at WrestleMania, the speculation is that Edge would defend the title against The Big Show.

Hogan-Jericho actually makes more sense than Hogan-Cena given Jericho’s current angle in which he runs down WWE Hall of Famers. Perhaps Hogan is a Plan B if the deal with Mickey Rourke wrestling Jericho has fallen through. If Rourke isn’t getting in the ring, I would much rather see Jericho face Steve Austin than Hogan.

This is the third straight year that there has been talk of Hogan being at WrestleMania. Nothing came to fruition the past two years.

When Vince McMahon and Donald Trump did their angle two years ago, the word was that Hogan would represent Trump and that either The Big Show, The Great Khali or Shane McMahon would represent Vince. It ended up being Bobby Lashley and Umaga.

When Hogan came back for the Raw 15th Anniversary special in December 2007, he had a brief physical confrontation with Khali and then said, “Never say never. Oh yeah!” That sparked rumors of a Hogan-Khali or Hogan-Randy Savage match at WrestleMania XXIV.

Hogan also has been talking for several years about wanting to face Austin at WrestleMania, but Austin has repeatedly said that he has no interest.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (67)
        

So, what did we learn by watching Raw last night? Let’s review:

• It looks like it’ll be Edge versus John Cena for the world heavyweight title, and Triple H versus Randy Orton for the WWE title at WrestleMania 25

• The winner of a match next week between Shawn Michaels and JBL will face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25. Hmmm. That’s a tough one to call. It’s either going to be Mr. WrestleMania or a guy who hasn’t won a pay-per-view match since July.

• Triple H and Stephanie McMahon seem to be involved in a relationship of some sort

• Shane McMahon has superhuman recuperative powers in addition to being a supreme fighting machine

Overall, I thought the show was a good first step in setting up some of the top matches for WrestleMania.

The big angle was the one involving Orton, Triple H and Shane and Stephanie McMahon that closed the show. After Orton punted Shane in the head following their unsanctioned street fight (more on that in a moment), Stephanie came down to attend to her fallen brother. When she confronted Orton, he gave her an RKO. Suddenly, a seething Triple H ran into the ring as Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes took off.

Even though Triple H and Orton have wrestled each other numerous times over the years (including on four pay-per-views in a row last year), the story line of Triple H trying to avenge his family puts a fresh spin on the encounter. Plus, Orton is an even bigger star now than he was the last time he wrestled Triple H.

Now, about that street fight. Just when you thought the booking of the Orton-Shane McMahon feud couldn’t get any more ridiculous, it did.

After being taken to a hospital Sunday night because he was going in and out of consciousness following his match with Orton at the No Way Out pay-per-view, Shane appeared to be perfectly fine last night. In fact, he was standing toe to toe with Orton and even getting the best of him. Luckily for the battered Orton, DiBiase and Rhodes came out to save him before Shane O’Mac could finish him off. That prompted Jerry Lawler to say that “no one man can fight three.” I don’t think he’s been paying attention.

Miraculously, this time there actually was strength in numbers, and that gave Orton the opening to kick Shane in the head. It was the right ending, but the path they took to get there couldn’t have been more wrong.

After getting beaten up on more than one occasion by a non-wrestler, Orton doesn’t seem like he should even be in the same ring with a 13-time world champion. The good news is that WWE still has six weeks to rectify that.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Raw got off to a good start with an appearance by new world heavyweight champion Edge and Smackdown general manager Vickie Guerrero, who announced that the WWE board of directors has upheld Edge’s title win at No Way Out. Guerrero explained that she was the highest-ranking official in the building Sunday night after Raw GM Stephanie McMahon left early, so she had the authority to put Edge in the match. It’s a little flimsy, but I can deal with it.

Cena came out to a strong ovation and he and Edge had a good verbal confrontation that started out humorous and then turned serious. Like Triple H and Orton, Edge and Cena have faced each other plenty of times, but it’s been more than two years since their last program. And like Orton, Edge is a bigger star now. …

The Chris Jericho-Roddy Piper segment was awesome. Piper’s deliberate, emotional promo was his best work in years, and Jericho continues to be a heat magnet. It’s starting to look like there will be a WWE Hall of Famer confronting Jericho every week. I can’t wait until it’s “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s turn. Of course, that might just be wishful thinking. ...

I thought Triple H’s snarl and all the shaking and huffing and puffing he was doing in the final segment was a little over the top. I swear I thought his head was going to explode. He should take a lesson from his wife when it comes to enraged facial expressions. Nothing will ever top the fiendish look on her face after Triple H dumped her and Pedigreed her father during their wedding vow renewal ceremony six years ago. …

Just wondering: Who gave Michaels and JBL the authority to book a match between them to determine who faces The Undertaker at WrestleMania? Since Undertaker is on Smackdown, doesn’t Guerrero have to sign off on that? …

JBL walked out to the ring with a black eye. Insert your own Joey Styles joke. …

Why was Jamie Noble appearing on Raw? Oh well, at least he was only on for about a minute.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (53)
        

I didn’t agree with some of the booking decisions at last night’s No Way Out pay-per-view, but I will say this much: WWE is anything but predictable heading into WrestleMania 25, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Three weeks ago, I listed six matches that I thought would take place at WrestleMania on April 5. It looks like I’ll be wrong on at least half of them.

I said in my review of No Way Out this morning that I would withhold final judgment on last night’s moves until watching Raw tonight. Obviously, Edge winning the world heavyweight title last night complicates things, as Smackdown now has two world champs and Raw has none.

Hopefully, the creative team will come up with a plausible explanation as to why Edge was allowed to insert himself in the Raw elimination chamber match. As one reader pointed out, what is the point of having qualifying matches to get into the chamber if someone can just attack one of the participants and take his spot? I know the idea is to get heat (the right kind) on Edge for being the ultimate opportunist, but if the angle defies logic, then the heat (wrong kind) is on the bookers.

Here’s my idea as to how this could play out: No one stopped Edge from competing in the match last night because Raw general manager Stephanie McMahon had left the building to go to the hospital with her brother Shane. Tonight, Stephanie tells Smackdown general manager Vickie Guerrero that she will allow the title change to stand on one condition – that Vickie agrees to let Triple H jump to Raw (thus revealing that Stephanie and Triple H are married) in exchange for John Cena moving to Smackdown to challenge Edge for the title that Cena should never have lost.

So here’s a post-No Way Out look at what the WrestleMania card might look like:

WWE title: Triple H vs. Randy Orton
World heavyweight title: Edge vs. John Cena
Chris Jericho in a match involving any or all of the following: Steve Austin, Mickey Rourke, Ric Flair
The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels
Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy
ECW title: Jack Swagger vs. Christian
Money in the Bank ladder match: Shelton Benjamin, Evan Bourne, Mr. Kennedy, Kofi Kingston, MVP, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and R-Truth
Also: A women’s match, some comedy with Santino Marella and possibly a battle royal involving guys such as The Big Show, JBL, Kane, Vladimir Kozlov, Mike Knox, John Morrison, The Miz, etc.

Note: A lot of you have been predicting an Undertaker-Michaels match, but I had a feeling that WWE was going to hold that off until next year’s WrestleMania (which has been rumored to possibly be Michaels’ final WrestleMania match). It now seems very likely that I was wrong.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

There is a fine line in wrestling between an “Oh my God, I never saw that coming!” moment and an “Oh, God, that doesn’t make any sense” moment.

I was experiencing the latter at the end of last night’s No Way Out pay-per-view, as Edge, one of Smackdown’s top stars, entered and won the Raw elimination chamber match to become world heavyweight champion.

Obviously, WWE is trying to shake things up and create a buzz, but when a swerve defies logic – as this one seemingly does – it can be counterproductive. I’ll withhold final judgment until I see what happens tonight on Raw.

Here’s the way things appear for now: With Triple H having won the WWE title in the Smackdown elimination chamber, that means Smackdown now has two world champions and Raw has none.

I’m not sure what these world titles are even supposed to represent anymore. And what is the point of having drafts and separate brands when the talent basically can appear on any show whenever they want?

I also think WWE needs to slow down a little. I know the days of guys holding titles for five years at a time are gone (as they should be in this era), but WWE’s two world titles are changing hands at a ridiculous rate. The WWE title has now changed on four consecutive pay-per-views, and there have been five world heavyweight title switches since September.

Overall, this pay-per-view was a mixed bag for me. Here is a match-by-match look at the show:

Triple H won the WWE title in the elimination chamber: This was by far the best match of the night, even with an underwhelming performance by Vladimir Kozlov. I couldn’t believe WWE opened with what should have been the main event, but it made sense later when Edge crashed the Raw elimination chamber match. The first surprise of the show occurred just three minutes into the match when Jeff Hardy eliminated Edge win an inside cradle. The look of shock on Edge’s face was tremendous. It eventually came down to Triple H and The Undertaker. The two superstars had an exciting back-and-forth battle over the final eight minutes, including a fantastic near fall when Undertaker hit a Tombstone Piledriver and Triple H got his foot on the rope a fraction of a second before the referee hit the mat a third time. After Undertaker kicked out of a pin attempt after receiving a Pedigree, he went for the Last Ride, but Triple H slipped out and hit another Pedigree for the win. That makes Triple H a 13-time world champion, but who’s counting (besides Triple H)?

Edge won the world heavyweight title in the elimination chamber: The main reason I was looking forward to this one was to see how Kofi Kingston would fare in the biggest match of his career. I knew he wasn’t going to win the title, but I thought there was a good chance that he would come out of it a bigger star. So much for that. Kingston never even got in the match, as Edge suddenly appeared and knocked him out with a chair before he could enter the ring. Edge then took Kingston’s spot in the chamber. Why was this allowed? Hopefully, we’ll find out tonight. Perhaps Raw general manager Stephanie McMahon leaving the show early to accompany her brother to the hospital has something to do with it. Edge getting in the match was a shocker, but the way it went down made it obvious from the start that he would end up winning. When John Cena was the third man eliminated, any remaining doubt was erased (he was pinned by Edge after taking Chris Jericho’s Codebreaker, Rey Mysterio’s 619 and Edge’s spear). So while all those near falls in the final minutes between Edge and Mysterio were well-executed, there was little drama because I knew there was no way that Mysterio was winning the title.

Randy Orton defeated Shane McMahon in a No Holds Barred match: Both men put forth a lot of effort, but I didn’t care at all for how the match was laid out. McMahon got in way too much offense and came off looking tougher than most of the roster. Orton bled hard-way after McMahon clobbered him in the head with a TV monitor. With Orton getting killed out there, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes came out to attack McMahon, but he single-handedly took them both out. You can’t make this stuff up. Eventually, Orton gained the upper hand, but he just couldn’t put the never-say-die Shane O’Mac away. McMahon even kicked out after being suplexed off the top rope through a table. Amazingly, McMahon went back on the offensive after that. He grabbed a chair and used it to batter Orton, who was begging for mercy. As McMahon prepared to finish off Orton with a punt to the head, Orton hit an RKO out of nowhere for the win. It was announced later that McMahon had been taken to the hospital, but Orton should have won the match much more decisively.

Shawn Michaels defeated JBL in an All or Nothing match: For a hot angle that had been built up for months and featured some great promos, this was anti-climactic. The match told a good story, but it was below the standards of a Shawn Michaels pay-per-view match. JBL was on offense most of the way, but Michaels got fired up and rallied for the win after his wife, Rebecca, who was seated at ringside, slapped JBL for taunting her.

ECW champion Jack Swagger defeated Finlay: This wasn’t as good as their two TV matches. The crowd was dead (in part because it followed the intense Smackdown chamber and Orton-McMahon matches) and there appeared to be some miscommunication between Swagger and Finlay. The story here was that Hornswoggle kept inadvertently getting in the way, which ultimately cost Finlay the match.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (54)
        

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

WWE title elimination chamber match (Champion Edge, The Big Show, Jeff Hardy, Vladimir Kozlov, Triple H, The Undertaker): The card for WrestleMania 25 will likely begin to take shape based on what happens in this match. I’ve become convinced that Triple H will win the title tonight and face Randy Orton at WrestleMania, as it will finally be acknowledged that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are married. I also could see Edge-Big Show and Undertaker-Kozlov match-ups taking place at WrestleMania. As for Hardy, his elimination will probably be due to interference from his brother, Matt.

World heavyweight title elimination chamber match (Champion John Cena, Chris Jericho, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Mike Knox, Rey Mysterio): There’s little doubt that Cena will retain the title. With Jericho doing an angle with Mickey Rourke and/or Ric Flair at WrestleMania, he’s not winning the belt, and the other four guys have no shot whatsoever. It will be interesting to see how long Kingston and Knox last in the match.

Shane McMahon vs. Randy Orton in a No Holds Barred match: This figures to be a wild one, with McMahon likely to do some crazy spots. Hopefully, McMahon won’t blow up quickly like he did a few weeks ago on Raw. Orton is going to win, and hopefully it will be decisive. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do an angle in which Orton injures McMahon. There remains the possibility that Stephanie McMahon could show up and turn on her brother. A few weeks ago, that’s where I thought things were headed, but I don’t think so anymore.

JBL vs. Shawn Michaels in an All or Nothing match: I figured a match with this kind of stipulation – Michaels either gets all the money owed to him and is released from his contract, or he continues working for JBL and loses the rights to his name and likeness – would take place at WrestleMania and be the climax to their feud, so I’m surprised to see it on this show. After months of buildup, it still seems like Michaels and JBL should face each other at WrestleMania, but maybe that is no longer the case. This is a wild guess: Michaels wins and John Cena somehow gets involved, leading to a three-way for the title at WrestleMania between Cena, Michaels and JBL.

ECW champion Jack Swagger vs. Finlay: Swagger has a program with Christian waiting for him, so he’ll get the win.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

Two weeks after one of the worst weeks of televised wrestling in recent memory, I think we just completed a pretty good one. Last night’s episode of Smackdown capped a week in which all four prime time shows were entertaining for the most part.

The highlight of Smackdown was a fatal four-way match between four of the six participants in tomorrow’s elimination chamber match for the WWE title at the No Way Out pay-per-view: The Undertaker, Triple H, The Big Show and Vladimir Kozlov.

Had it gone on about 10 minutes longer and had a decisive finish, the strong TV main event would have been on the level of a good pay-per-view main event. Everyone –even Vladimir Kozlov – came off as a legitimate threat to win the title.

The most exciting part of the match was when The Undertaker and Triple H briefly squared off. The two superstars have wrestled each other before – including at WrestleMania in 2001 – but enough time has passed that it still has a dream match quality to it.

The four-way built to an exciting conclusion that saw everyone hitting their finishers before Edge ran in and speared Big Show to result in a no-contest. The final image of the show was of Edge triumphantly holding up his championship belt while the four competitors were laid out on the mat. A scene like that usually means that the champion isn’t walking out of the pay-per-view with the title.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Big Show continues to have “tweener” status. He cut a good babyface promo on Edge to open the show, and then wrestled as a heel in the main event. We should have a better idea of where he stands after No Way Out. …

There was a moment during the Big Show-Edge verbal exchange when Big Show and Vickie Guerrero exchanged awkward glances. The inference was that the two may have had an affair while Edge was “in hell.” Yikes. …

I’m not sure whether or not I liked Jeff Hardy’s first promo since his brother turned on him and cost him the WWE title three weeks ago. For such an emotional angle, it came off like just another wrestling promo (except for the cheesy mood music playing in the background). Jeff basically said that what Matt did was “messed up” and that he was moving on. Jeff made no mention of whether Matt may have been responsible for the recent attacks on him outside the ring.

Instead of Jeff doing the promo before a live crowd, I would have made it a taped backstage sit-down interview with Jim Ross. I also would have had Jeff act more distraught over Matt’s betrayal, but I suppose it’s Jeff personality to, as he said, look forward and not dwell on the past. Hopefully, the intensity will pick up after Matt’s inevitable next attack on Jeff. …

All four guys had good performances during John Morrison and The Miz’s win over Carlito and Primo. When the stipulation was announced that the winner would go on a Valentine’s Day date with the Bella Twins, you knew Morrison and Miz were winning. I expect we'll see some video footage of the big double date on next week’s show. Anyone remember Trish Stratus’ date with Viscera from a few years ago? Comedic gold. …

I was a little surprised that R-Truth pinned Ezekiel. I don’t recall the big man being pinned on TV before. I would have bet anything that The Brian Kendrick was going to factor into the finish. …

I thought the Michelle McCool-Maria match was decent. McCool is a natural heel and looked good on offense, while the improving Maria did a nice job of selling.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

The on-again, off-again plans for WWE to release a Randy Savage DVD apparently are back on again, which is great news for fans of the “Macho Man” such as I. Jim Ross wrote in his blog yesterday that Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection will be released June 9.

Reportedly, WWE chairman Vince McMahon nixed plans in the past for a Savage DVD and has consistently been cold toward any acknowledgment of Savage. McMahon and Savage did have a falling out years ago, but McMahon has a history of mending fences and doing business with people that he has had issues with in the past. He even reached out to longtime nemesis Bruno Sammartino at one point, but not Savage.

Perhaps a sign that McMahon was having a change of heart was the fact the Savage was one of several wrestlers featured on the front of the recently released Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event DVD.

It will be interesting to see if Savage participates in the making of Macho Madness. Hopefully, this is a first step to Savage one day taking his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame.

In my opinion, Savage was one of the best all-around performers of the past 25 years. I thought he should have gotten a run as a heel champion in 1986, but the WWF was on fire at the time with Hulk Hogan on top and I suppose there was no need to rock the boat.

Hogan and Savage forming The Mega-Powers and eventually breaking up after Savage turned on Hogan for having "lust in eyes for Elizabeth" was one of my favorite WWE story lines. I also loved the angle in which he and real-life wife Elizabeth got married at SummerSlam, and a snake – courtesy of Jake “The Snake” Roberts” – popped out of a wedding present. Also in that story line, Roberts’ cobra bit Savage on the arm on WWF’s syndicated TV show.

As an aside, Savage is the first pro wrestler that I ever interviewed. It was for a story in The Sun in 1994.

On his blog, Ross said that the match selection process for the DVD was still ongoing. Here are some off the top of my head that I would include:

• Intercontinental title match vs. Rick Steamboat (WrestleMania III, 1987)
• Finals of WWF title tournament vs. Ted DiBiase (WrestleMania IV, 1988)
• WWF title match vs. Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania V, 1989)
• Retirement match vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania VII, 1991)
• WWF title match vs. Ric Flair (WrestleMania VIII), 1992
• Madison Square Garden debut vs. Rick McGraw (1985)
• Vs. The Dynamite Kid (Wrestling Classic, 1985)
• Intercontinental title match vs. The Honky Tonk Man (Saturday Night’s Main Event, 1987)
• Vs. Bret Hart (Saturday Night’s Main Event, 1987)
• Tag team match with Hulk Hogan vs. The Twin Towers (Savage’s heel turn on The Main Event, 1989)
• Vs. Jake Roberts (Tuesday in Texas, 1991)
• Vs. Diamond Dallas Page (either their match at Spring Stampede or The Great American Bash, 1997)

Note: Savage had some good matches against Jerry Lawler in Memphis in 1983, but, unfortunately, WWE does not own the tape library.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

It seems a little too soon to have two members of The Main Event Mafia feuding with each other – the heel faction has only been together for four months – but I still enjoyed the Sting-Kurt Angle story line last night on Impact.

I especially liked the interaction between them during the final segment. Angle demanded that Sting lay down so he can pin him for the TNA world title, but Sting pushed Angle’s buttons to the point of Angle not being able to go through with it.

Angle projects intensity as well as anyone in the business, so it was no surprise that he really shined during his confrontations with Sting (they also had one at the top of the show). What did surprise me – although it probably shouldn’t have at this point – was that Sting was every bit as good as Angle last night. Promos were not Sting’s strong suit when he was in his prime, but he has been doing stellar work in TNA as of late.

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next week when Sting and Angle meet in an empty arena match. I’m also curious as to where things are going with the three other MEM members. Kevin Nash, Booker T. and Scott Steiner all seemed to back Angle, but Sting told Angle that all of them see him for what he really is. Sting is going to end up looking pretty foolish if they do turn on him as I suspect.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Except for a horrible skit with Abyss talking to his therapist Dr. Stevie (played by Stevie Richards, although his face wasn’t shown), it was a good episode. …

Speaking of Abyss, someone (perhaps Jeff Jarrett or Dixie Carter) needs to save him from himself and ban unprotected chair shots to the head. There is absolutely nothing to gain by them, but there certainly is a lot to lose. …

In an odd coincidence, right after Abyss was whacked on the skull with a chair a couple times, there was a commercial for some cowboy reality show in which one of the contestants was glassy-eyed and confused after suffering a concussion. …

I’ve never understood why Angle is billed as a 12-time world champion. By my count, he’s up to eight. …

Mick Foley telling war stories should make for some entertaining segments. …

It was weird how Foley brought up The Wrestler out of nowhere during an interview with Jeremy Borash. He said the movie “kind of makes you think, doesn’t it?” I’m a little surprised that TNA would reference the movie since Mickey Rourke is expected to be at WrestleMania in some capacity. …

Scott Steiner showed flashes of the Scott Steiner of old during his win over the recently released Petey Williams, as he executed a Frankensteiner off the top rope and a Samoan Drop off the top rope in the headdress on a pole match. TNA sure does get a lot of use out of that pole. …

The Motor City Machine Guns versus Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed was easily the best match on the show. I noticed during TMCMG entrance that the vocals were missing from their music. That’s at least a step in the right direction. …

I liked the women’s Royal Rumble-style match that determined TNA women’s champion Awesome Kong’s next challenger. Sojourner Bolt winning was a surprise. Is she doing a babyface turn already? …

I’m sure some people probably hated it, but I thought ODB’s Angle with Brutus Magnus was hilarious.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

My colleagues at baltimoresun.com who run the Caption Call blog -- which encourages readers to write clever captions for humorous photos -- alerted me that today's shot is of The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke.

If you're feeling creative, you can check out the photo here.

Here's mine: "This is what you get if you cross Jake Roberts with Brian Kendrick."

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

I want to follow-up on the Q&A with John Cena that was posted yesterday, specifically his comments about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

Some wrestling Web sites have put up a link to the interview with headlines such as “John Cena bashes The Rock.” Obviously that headline is designed to entice readers and drive traffic to those sites – which in turns helps my traffic, and I appreciate that. However, I completely disagree that Cena was “bashing” Johnson. Webster’s defines the word “bash” as “attacking or abusing, as with words or blows.”

I don’t think Cena was attacking Johnson when he said that Johnson contradicted himself by saying he loved the wrestling business and then leaving for Hollywood. I asked Cena a question and he responded with what he believes to be the truth.

The only thing that I thought was a bit harsh was when Cena equated Johnson leaving WWE to “an athlete saying, ‘Hey, I don’t do drugs,’ and then getting busted for drugs.” But we shouldn’t overlook that Cena also said: “The truth is that Dwayne Johnson is a great actor and I think always wanted to be an actor, and there’s nothing wrong with that. ... Dwayne’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s one of the hardest workers you’ll ever meet.”

One thing I do want to clarify is that the question I asked him wasn’t about whether he thought Johnson was insincere about his love for the business, it was whether he stood by his comment to The Sun (U.K.) last year that Johnson has not given back to the business. Cena replied: “I don’t want to say that you misread it; I may have been misquoted. What I actually said, and I’ll stand true to it to this day, I don’t even care, is that here’s a guy who, when he was with the WWE, pounded his chest that he really loved the WWE, and that wasn’t the truth.”

Just for the sake of accuracy, while Cena did indeed make that point in his interview with the British tabloid, he also was quoted as saying: “Our fan base have so much admiration for him, he's got to respect that. He doesn't give anything back.”

Here’s my take on the whole thing: I have interviewed Johnson a couple times since he left WWE and he has always spoken well of his time in wrestling. As far as Johnson giving back (which Cena defined in the U.K. Sun interview as just making an occasional cameo appearance on big shows), he did do a taped promo for Raw in 2007 and also appeared at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony last year (which took place a month after Cena’s comments). The funny thing is that reportedly some wrestlers thought that Johnson stayed on the stage too long at the ceremony. During his monologue, Johnson said: “I not only grew up in this business, but I love this business.” I believe him.

I also believe that Cena loves the business so much that he truly can’t imagine leaving it to pursue another career, even a more lucrative one. Then again, and I mean no disrespect to Cena, it’s probably unlikely that he would ever get the opportunities in Hollywood that Johnson has.

***

Also in yesterday’s Q&A, Cena made reference to him and Randy Orton being “just two average guys among some very gifted performers” in Ohio Valley Wrestling between 2000 and 2002. In case anyone was wondering, some of the wrestlers in OVW during that period were Brock Lesnar, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore, Charlie Haas and Rob Conway.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

John Cena’s second movie, 12 Rounds, opens March 27. I spoke with the WWE world heavyweight champion over the phone last week about his acting career, and I slipped in a few wrestling questions, too.

Was acting in a movie easier for you the second time around after having done The Marine?

It was certainly easier, but I don’t think it had everything to do with the experience from The Marine. We really just had a very, very good crew. Mark Gordon’s production company – he produced Speed, Saving Private Ryan – really stepped in there with Fox to make sure this thing kind of knocked itself out of the park. And Renny Harlin was such a great asset as a director. He’s the guy, whether it had been my first movie or my hundredth movie, that made it very, very easy. He’s a great guy to be around that certainly has an agenda. I’m a beast who runs on schedule because we travel so many days a year, and he was just spot-on, man. He was overly ambitious and he really delivered.

For those who may not have seen the clips on TV, what is the basic plot?

The long and short of the movie is that I start off as a beat cop and I make the bust of my life by accident. I take down pretty much the world’s greatest bad guy. In the process, the girl that he loves gets run over by a truck, so he vows to get revenge on me. He breaks out of prison a year later as I’m finally finding some substance to my life and totally ruins it. He blows up my house, takes my wife to be and challenges me to 12 rounds of survival, the reason being that he is like a game theory addict. He really has a plan for everything, and that night that I arrested him, it wasn’t part of the plan and he never banked on that. So he wants in his mind to know if I’m lucky or actually good. If I survive the 12 rounds, then I was actually that good.

I know that you had an acting coach on the set with you when you did The Marine. Do you have one for this movie as well?

Absolutely. I tell people this is like having my second match, and by the time I had my second match I needed a lot of coaching. I had a coach in pre-production and I had a bunch of great coaches on set. Brian White is a fantastic actor. He plays my partner and my best friend in the movie, and I learned so very much from him. Steve Harris is another guy that I learned so much from, another fantastic actor. The whole cast met me with open arms to try to make the film as good as can be.

Do you do many of your own stunts?

Yeah. Man, I just got to learn to put the stunt guys in every once in a while. Getting beat up on the movie set is wearing on me. What we do [in WWE] is live as it happens. There’s no cut, take three or take four. I couldn’t imagine having to do a match over like eight times. It takes its toll on you when you know you have a stunt day and the whole day is going to be you getting beat up. You go home pretty sore that day.

Both of your movies have been action movies. Do you have any interest in doing something different, such as a comedy?

I do have that interest; I just think it’s not time yet. It’s very similar to our business. You have to establish identity with the audience before you can really spread your wings and open up. I certainly got that in me. I hopefully will have some small chances to showcase that, but I think as far as the silver screen stuff goes, I’m going to stick with the action at this time. I just don’t think two movies is enough.

Ted DiBiase Jr. is starring in the direct-to-DVD sequel to The Marine. Did you talk with him at all or give him any advice before he began filming?

I really think he has a lot of potential to be a success and another person to kind of transcend the wrestling business into the movie business. He’s a very hard worker, learns very, very quickly and understands exactly what this opportunity is. That’s the one thing I really tried to hit home with him. I said, “Listen, they’re choosing you for a reason. The Marine did extremely well on DVD, so when The Marine 2 comes out, just because of the franchise, the DVD will sell, so you’re already involved with something that will be successful. If you do a good job, that’s a great way for you to make a name for yourself on to bigger and better things.” So I think he totally understood that. I certainly didn’t give him much advice about acting because he went through the same kind of torture chamber I did – meeting with an acting coach all the time and really trying to do his best. I just really hit home about how great the opportunity was for him.

What you do in WWE is scripted, but you also do live TV, which means you have to think on your feet and ad-lib. Did you have the freedom to do any ad-libbing in the movie?

That’s the difference, and that’s been the biggest thing for me to adjust to, because I’m one of the biggest ad-libbers there is. I certainly don’t like planning anything, just because my audience is a live audience. You can’t really force-feed them. What I’ve learned is that what they enjoy most is when it’s unpredictable, so I just go out there and do my thing. You can’t really ad-lib a lot in a movie, because there is a story. It’s such a huge production involved. It’s not just one guy and another guy, or a tag team match with four guys. You have everybody, from people in production and lighting. If you move in the wrong direction, you’re in the wrong light, which messes up the shot. That’s a different challenge that separates movies from sports entertainment.

Did you get a chance to see The Wrestler, and if so, what are your thoughts?

I did. I thought Mickey Rourke’s performance was awesome. What a great depiction of a guy who made a couple bad decisions and just really can’t get any focus on anything else but the thing that he loves the most.

Since we’re on the subject of movies: About a year ago, there were quotes from you in The Sun (U.K.) in which you were critical of The Rock for not giving back to the business after he made it in Hollywood. Do you still feel that way? Did the two of you talk about the article in The Sun at all when he was at the Hall of Fame ceremony last year?

No. I don’t want to say that you misread it; I may have been misquoted. What I actually said, and I’ll stand true to it to this day, I don’t even care, is that here’s a guy who, when he was with the WWE, pounded his chest that he really loved the WWE, and that wasn’t the truth. The truth is that Dwayne Johnson is a great actor and I think always wanted to be an actor, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s like an athlete saying, “Hey, I don’t do drugs,” and then getting busted for drugs. It’s not the truth. I mean here’s a guy who said he was WWE through and through, and then the first chance to take a road to a different career path, he took it. There’s nothing wrong with that. Dwayne’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s one of the hardest workers you’ll ever meet, and he certainly is a great actor. The roadblock that I have, because I certainly am in love with this business and I don’t see myself leaving it any time, is when someone says that and then leaves, it cheapens our business. If he’s going to say that, then back your word. That’s the only beef that I have and that’s what I told the people at The U.K. Sun. It just cheapens that phrase: “Oh, I love this business.” So then next time I come up and say I love this business, well, the guy before me who said that left. That doesn’t look good for me or our business.

Randy Orton has been on an incredible roll as of late. I know that you and Randy came up together. Did the two of you ever sit around in Ohio Valley Wrestling and say, “One day, we’ll be headlining WrestleMania?”

No. As a matter of fact, when we were in OVW, we thought we wouldn’t make it out of Kentucky. I don’t want to say we were two lost souls, but we were surrounded by talent that was one of the greatest developmental units to ever be assembled. I think WWE started the developmental system in the mid ’90s, and that class of 2000 through ’02 I think is the most successful that has ever been. We were literally just two average guys among some very gifted performers, and never once did we think we’d be headlining WrestleMania.

What do you think about Orton’s performances recently?

I’ve said this before and I said this before his – what is this, his fifth or sixth “breakout?” – that he is the best guy we’ve got. He is certainly the best performer of my generation.

Here’s a question that comes up frequently: Will your character ever turn heel again? Would you be open to doing it?

Here’s the deal with my character: I’m in a really unique place. You’ve seen me get cheered, you’ve seen me get booed. Where I’m at right now, there is no good guy or bad guy. I can just be me, with certain little adjustments to my character, I guess, that makes me a “good guy” or a “bad guy.” The people who are going to decide that are the paying customers. When they get sick and tired of me, they’re going to turn on me. And when they turn on me, I’ve openly shown in situations where I get booed that I can turn on them back.

Credit: Baltimore Sun photo of John Cena by Kenneth K. Lam / Dec. 1, 2008

Posted by Kevin Eck at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)
Categories: Q&As
        

If you don’t know that you should have watched ECW last night, now you know.

After months of speculation about Christian’s WWE return, he showed up unannounced in the middle of a promo by ECW champion Jack Swagger during the opening segment. Later in the program, he wrestled – and pinned – Swagger in a non-title match.

To say it was a shock to see Christian walk out on the stage would be an understatement. A lot of fans and most pundits believed he was going to end up being revealed as Jeff Hardy’s stalker on Smackdown. I was among those who expected him to be involved in an angle with former tag-team partner and real-life friend Edge on Smackdown.

Instead, Christian has become a member of WWE’s “C” show, which seems like a misuse of his talent on the surface, but the decision makes sense when you think about it. First and foremost, ECW needed a new top babyface to replace Matt Hardy after Hardy left for Smackdown, and Christian will fill that role quite nicely. Christian’s presence on the show will get people talking about ECW and likely boost the ratings to some degree. Plus, Christian working a program with Swagger will help give credibility to the “All-American American,” who clearly is on the fast track.

It also should be pointed out that WWE never regarded Christian as a money player during his previous stint with the company, so perhaps it was naïve to think he was going to be treated like Chris Jericho was when Jericho returned to WWE in 2007.

Being a multi-time world champion in TNA isn’t going to impress Vince McMahon. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if McMahon is making a statement that if you leave and go to TNA, don’t expect to come back and immediately be put in an angle with the top guys. In time, I’m sure Christian will be on one of the main shows and working with main eventers.

As far as Christian’s appearance last night goes, the fans seemed happy to see him, although the pop wasn’t as big as you might think. His interaction on the mic with Swagger was good but not great. The match was decent, but I don’t know that it was the wisest decision to give it away on Christian’s first night back.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

After Christian’s verbal confrontation with Swagger, Todd Grisham said that “Christian is wasting no time making an impact on ECW.” Impact – I get it. …

I bet when Christian decided to leave TNA for WWE he didn’t expect to be put on a show that some weeks has lower ratings than Impact. …

Having Tommy Dreamer lose every week is a strange way of trying to get fans to care about his title quest. I suppose the point is to establish him as an underdog who will have to dig deep to overcome the odds. …

Stop the presses: The Miz has won me over. I already have acknowledged that he has greatly improved in the ring, and now I don’t find his character nearly as annoying as I used to. He’s still not one of my favorites, but I no longer feel the urge to turn the channel whenever he is on. …

The debuting Tyson Kidd, who was accompanied to the ring by his real-life girlfriend Natalya, definitely has potential. Formerly known as TJ Wilson, the Calgary native has been close with the Hart family since he was a kid. …

No Alicia Fox on the show for the fourth straight week. Don’t make me beg.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)
        

Ric Flair has always been gold on the microphone, and Chris Jericho might be the best promo guy in the business today, so it comes as absolutely no surprise that the verbal battle between them that kicked off Raw last night was tremendous.

Jericho cut a promo on Flair that was among his best ever – and that’s really saying something. He has the ability to convey that his character truly believes everything he is saying. As Lance Storm once explained to me in an interview about the art of delivering an effective heel promo, “the key is to take something that has a basis in truth and exaggerate it.”

Flair, making his first appearance on a WWE TV show since June, more than held up his end, as he was intense without going too far over the top.

Judging by this segment, it seems as if the “Nature Boy” is not coming out of retirement to face Jericho, which is a good thing. Flair vowed to stay retired and said that he had too much respect for Shawn Michaels to wrestle again. Plus, if Flair did get back in the ring, it would prove that everything Jericho said about him last night was true.

There are several possibilities for WrestleMania 25 as it pertains to this angle. If Mickey Rourke ends up wrestling Jericho, the actor could have Flair in his corner. Of course, if Flair does return to the ring – which I still wouldn’t rule out – the roles could be reversed, with Rourke in Flair’s corner. It might be a long shot, but I also could see Steve Austin coming out of retirement to wrestle Jericho, with Flair and Rourke involved in some capacity. That’s my favorite scenario.

I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

Flair also engaged in a war of words with Jericho the last time he had a meaningful segment on Raw (I’m not counting his cameo during McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania). That one ended with Flair challenging Jericho to a street fight in the parking lot, but Triple H showed up to prevent it. Surprisingly, that confrontation wasn’t referenced last night. …

It also seemed odd not to have a backstage scene in which Flair interacted with Michaels, given their history. I would have showed the two of them greeting each other and catching up, and then have JBL interrupt them and tell Michaels that he needed to speak with him alone. Michaels, still under JBL’s control, would have had to excuse himself from his conversation with Flair and do as he was told. …

Speaking of JBL, he continues to do an awesome job on the mic in this angle. He’s right up there with Jericho and Randy Orton when it comes to promos. …

It seems that Michaels’ wife, Rebecca, might be making an appearance at Sunday’s No Way Out pay-per-view. If this was TNA, she’d take a bribe from JBL and turn on her husband. …

Even though there was a non-finish (as expected), you can’t argue with getting an Orton-Undertaker match on free TV. Unlike two weeks ago when Shane McMahon beat up Legacy, his interference here was logical and helped build his match with Orton at No Way Out. …

It was smart for WWE to keep replaying Legacy’s beat-down on Shane O’Mac from last week. I guess the thinking is that if it is shown enough times, people will forget all about Shane’s Superman act from the previous week. …

That was a fun six-man tag match between John Cena, Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston and the team of Jericho, Kane and Mike Knox. Jericho’s Codebreaker on Kingston for the finish was a little mistimed, but it didn’t look as bad on the replay. Kingston appeared to oversell it to make up for the botch, but that actually did more harm than good. …

Kingston is really starting to connect with the crowd. Hopefully, he will be booked to make a good accounting of himself in Sunday’s elimination chamber match. …

I’m curious as to what the point was of Stephanie McMahon being shown backstage speaking to someone on the phone. Could it be that it was Triple H, and WWE is finally going to acknowledge that they are married? I seriously doubt it will happen, but it could make for a good angle if WWE decided to go that route. You could have Triple H win the WWE title in the elimination chamber match Sunday, and then have Orton-Triple H for the title at WrestleMania. There is a back story, as Orton suffered a broken collarbone that last time he was in the ring with Triple H. The problem with that scenario is that it would leave Cena without a logical opponent for WrestleMania – unless, of course, Batista came back earlier than expected from his injury. …

Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes looked good in getting a decisive win over Cryme Tyme. …

When DiBiase and Rhodes jumped The Undertaker, it reminded me of how their fathers both played major roles in Undertaker’s debut at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1990. Undertaker wrestled as part of Ted DiBiase’s team, and he pinned Dusty Rhodes to eliminate “The American Dream.” Undertaker later eliminated himself when he continued to beat on Dusty outside the ring and was counted out. …

The CM Punk-William Regal Intercontinental title match was way too short. Unless one of them is injured, that was ridiculous. …

I’ve seen enough of the “Cena ’nuff” signs. It was funny a couple years ago, but it’s time for the Cena haters to get some new material. It’s about as original as putting “3:16” on a sign. …

Cena really came off looking like a star by being associated with major sports celebrities such as Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter and Reggie Bush in that Gillette promotion. Oh, and there also was some NASCAR guy there who looked as if he wasn’t even old enough to shave.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
        

When I saw the video footage last night of an altercation between Chris Jericho and some fans outside the arena after a WWE house show yesterday in Victoria, British Columbia, I initially wasn’t going to write about it because I didn’t want to make a bigger deal out of it than it really was. But now that the videos are on TMZ, YouTube and numerous wrestling Web sites, there’s no use worrying about that anymore, so I have decided to weigh in on the unfortunate incident.

For those who haven’t seen the videos or read the accounts, Jericho was attempting to leave the building in his rental vehicle when a group of fans surrounded him at a stop sign, and at least one fan was banging on the vehicle. From there, Jericho got out of the car and was shoved and reportedly was spat on. A scuffle then ensued between him and some fans, including a female who seemed to be the instigator.

There is no excusing the behavior of those fans, and I can’t say that I would have handled the situation any differently if I were in Jericho’s position. While outsiders will say this is just typical behavior of wrestling fans, most people reading this know better. The fans who crossed the line with Jericho are among the relatively small segment of fans who give us all a bad name.

I can understand fans wanting to catch a glimpse of the stars after the show, but apparently some in this group couldn’t be satisfied with a glimpse – they needed to interact with Jericho, who initially ignored them.

Because Jericho plays a heel, they heckled and cursed him. To me, that’s absolutely ridiculous in an era when everyone knows that wrestling is entertainment, but I suppose one can make the case that it goes with the territory. Blocking the path of his car, however, and a fan putting her hands on him obviously was taking it way too far. Jericho suddenly found himself in a potentially dangerous situation, with security – as Jericho angrily pointed out – that was completely worthless.

I suppose on some level Jericho should take it as a compliment that he plays his heel character so well that some fans can’t separate Chris Jericho from Chris Irvine.

This story reminds me of the time that I interviewed the legendary Terry Funk when I was at WCW about what it was like to be a big-time heel in the territorial days. He told me that he had three knives in his office that were taken from outraged fans determined to do him bodily harm. One of the weapons actually hit the target. To Funk, the knives were like trophies, evidence of a job well done. Fortunately, the incident with Jericho did not involve any weapons and no one appears to have been seriously injured.

In Funk’s prime, the curtain had not yet been pulled back on wrestling, and Funk said he remained in character whenever fans were around. But those days should be long gone.

Inside the arena, fans are encouraged to yell at and jeer the heels with all they’ve got. Outside the arena, some fans just need to grow up and get a life.

To see a YouTube video of the incident, click here. Be forewarned that there is some foul language.

To read WWE’s statement to TMZ, click here.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)
        

Despite standing over 7 feet tall and weighing 440 pounds, The Big Show is easy to overlook in the WWE title elimination chamber match because of all the megastars who are involved. But while Big Show may not have the star power of The Undertaker, Triple H, Jeff Hardy and Edge, he very well could end up being the key figure in the match a week from Sunday at the No Way Out pay-per-view.

Big Show has quietly become one of the more compelling characters on Smackdown because of the ambiguous nature of his character as of late. He is booked as a heel, but at times he comes off as a cool babyface for being a thorn in the side of Edge.

On last night’s episode, Big Show delivered a knockout punch to his partner Edge that led to the “Rated-R Superstar” being pinned in a tag match against The Undertaker and Triple H.

On the surface it seems as if Big Show is about to do a babyface turn, but I don’t think it’s that simple. With the odds stacked against Edge in the chamber match, my guess is that the dissension between Edge and Big Show has all been a ruse orchestrated by Smackdown general manager Vickie Guerrero, and Big Show will end up helping Edge retain his title at No Way Out.

Then again, I could be completely wrong. Either way, I’m a lot more interested in Big Show as a character than I have been in a while.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

One of the first things I said to a colleague after Matt Hardy’s heel turn was that Hurricane Helms had a beat-down in his immediate future. It’s Booking 101 that the real-life longtime friend of the Hardys confronts Matt for his attack on Jeff and then gets laid out. The goal of getting heat on Matt was achieved, but if I do have one nit-pick it’s that the brawl between Helms and Matt should have been a little stiffer. …

Matt teased again that he might be Jeff’s stalker. It will be interesting to see what happens when Jeff returns next week. …

As expected, Vladimir Kozlov won the battle royal to claim the final spot in the elimination chamber match. What, you thought it was going to come down to Scotty Goldman and Kizarny? …

I was glad to see R-Truth make it to the final two in the battle royal, but I wish he and Kozlov could have gone at it a bit longer before he was eliminated. …

The MVP-Shelton Benjamin match was decent, but obviously these guys are capable of much more when given the proper time. …

Is it just me or does it look like Michelle McCool is wearing Goldust’s wig? …

In closing, here’s one for the “I’m just saying” files:

When Benjamin said that MVP should be known as VPM for “Very Peyton Manning” because he always chokes, predictably the crowd in Indianapolis booed. Having lived through the Baltimore Colts sneaking out of town in the middle of the night, however, I cheered the shot at Manning, as I’m sure people watching in places such as New England did as well.

Referencing the local sports team to get either a babyface pop or heel heat has been a staple of pro wrestling forever, but I have never understood why it’s done on nationally televised shows. Sure, it will elicit the desired reaction from the live crowd, but the majority of the television audience will either have the opposite reaction or no reaction. All I know is that if Shawn Michaels ever shows up on a live Raw from Pittsburgh with a Hines Ward jersey on, I’ll boo HBK out of my living room.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)
        

Last night’s episode of TNA Impact was nothing to get excited about – unless of course you saw last week’s show. Compared with that historically awful episode, last night’s program was an instant classic.

It was pretty lackluster, though, for being the go-home show for Sunday’s Against All Odds pay-per-view. Then again, the lineup for Against All Odds is less than inspiring. It seems as if TNA is just treating Sunday’s show as filler until Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles return.

As is often the case with TNA pay-per-view main events, the story line for the four-way match for the TNA world title between Sting, Kurt Angle, Brother Ray and Brother Devon focuses on dissension among teammates. I’m having a difficult time getting invested in the Sting/Angle relationship, however, because it was obvious right from the start of the Main Event Mafia story line that Sting wasn’t truly a heel.

It would be a great swerve if Sting and Angle end up working together Sunday and Sting finally embraces his dark side. But I won’t hold my breath for that one.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

The only match at Against All Odds that has had a good buildup is Abyss versus Matt Morgan. Abyss cut perhaps the best promo of his career. Pounding his fists into thumbtacks and broken glass was sick and over the top, but it fits his character. An intense, bloody brawl with Abyss could really help Morgan get over. …

Kevin Nash’s condescending promo on Samoa Joe was effective in making me want to see another match between them. I know some people think that Nash totally buried Joe, but I’m going to wait and see how it all plays out before I jump to that conclusion. Now if Joe doesn’t score a decisive victory over Nash at some point, then I’ll agree that Nash was up to his old tricks. …

It’s nice to see The Beautiful People back on track, including bringing back the paper bag treatment. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens between them and “The Governor.” …

Brutus Magnus looked OK in his debut, but I’ll have to see more of him before forming a strong opinion. A Gladiator gimmick probably would have worked better about eight years ago, though. At least Stone Cold Shark Boy is back to being a jobber and The Prince Justice Brotherhood now just seems like a bad dream. …

Speaking of the PJB, I’m glad that the talented Eric Young has hung up his mask and cape and moved on. That was a nice spot last night when he hit a double Death Valley Driver on Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. ...

I enjoyed the “Rough Cuts” segments on Kiyoshi. They did a nice job of making him seem like someone to be taken seriously. Hopefully, Vince Russo won’t have him wrestling in a sake-on-a-pole match next week.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

After being heavily criticized by wrestling fans and pundits (including me) for Shane McMahon’s beat-down of Randy Orton and others last week, WWE tried to repair the damage to Orton’s character last night on Raw.

I think it succeeded for the most part. The explanation for Shane O’Mac coming off like Superman was that The Legacy purposely did not fight back because, if they had, the 20 wrestlers standing on the stage would have jumped on them. Several readers made the observation after last week’s show that Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes did not attempt to strike McMahon. I still don’t know why Kofi Kingston, who is in the elimination chamber match for the world heavyweight title at the No Way Out pay-per-view on Feb. 15, was punched out by McMahon, though.

Orton was convincing in telling his side of the story, and Legacy’s brutal attack on Shane and Stephanie McMahon backstage helped Legacy get their heat back. Orton going for the punt on Stephanie made him look like absolutely evil. If one of the McMahons is secretly working with Orton, is sure doesn’t look like it.

I still wouldn’t have scripted the McMahon-Orton confrontation last week the way it went down, especially with Orton riding a wave of momentum after kicking Vince McMahon in the head and winning the Royal Rumble. If McMahon had come into the ring wielding a steel chair (or a Singapore cane, which he used last night to fend off an attack by Legacy) or attacked Orton from behind, I would have had no problem with the angle.

As far as Orton facing Shane at No Way Out, I think it will be an entertaining match – as Shane’s matches almost always are. I expect Orton to win clean and injure Shane, as he vowed he would do.

Other thoughts on last night’s show:

It was announced that Ric Flair will make an appearance on Raw next week. I was pretty sure after last week’s show that Flair was going to be involved in some capacity in Jericho’s match at WrestleMania. Who Jericho’s opponent will be is unclear, but it looks as if his match with Rourke is off. WWE has specifically said that the actor will be in attendance at WrestleMania but “will not be participating.” I just hope that Flair is not wrestling at the event. His Hall of Fame induction, final match and sendoff were done so well last year, and I would hate to see it tainted by him not staying retired. …

The performances by JBL and Shawn Michaels continue to make their angle compelling despite the flaws in logic. The stipulation for their match at No Way Out is that JBL basically owns Michaels for the rest of his life (and beyond, according to JBL) if he wins. I think Michaels should contact a lawyer because I’m pretty sure slavery has been abolished in this country. …

One more observation on JBL-Michaels: Why would JBL think that Michaels is a “broken-down old man” who he can easily defeat when Michaels just defeated Cena and almost beat him a second time? …

With Orton, Michaels and JBL involved in singles matches, the Raw elimination chamber match does not have the star power of the Smackdown match, but I like that there are some new faces in there in Kingston and Mike Knox. The only change I would make is to have CM Punk in instead of Kane. I don’t think there is much chance of Cena losing the title, as Jericho is the only legitimate main eventer and I don’t see him getting the belt back right now. Speaking of Cena and Jericho, they had a good match, but I was surprised Jericho tapped out again to the STF. …

The Knox and Kane versus Mysterio and Kingston tag match was pretty good. Knox and Kane would make a great monster tag team. By the way, whatever happened to Kane’s obsession with Kelly Kelly? Perhaps as a way out of the Kane/Kelly Kelly story line there could be a scene in which Knox tells Kane that he is better off not getting involved with Double K. She and Knox did have a bad breakupa while back. …

Candice Michelle landed awkwardly on her neck and the back of her head during her match with Beth Phoenix. Candice sure has bad luck when wrestling “The Glamazon.” …

I have no idea why DiBiase and Rhodes were disqualified for double-teaming Cryme Tyme. Very lame finish.

NOTE: SInce we occasionally discuss the NFL here, I want to tip my hat to the Pittsburgh Steelers for winning the Super Bowl. They will always be heels to me, but there is no denying that they were the best team this season.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (47)
        

Members of Steeler Nation may not want to continue reading. This post is for Ravens fans and fellow Steelers haters around the globe.

With the second-biggest event of the year (to WrestleMania, of course) just a few hours away, I was depressed about what will likely be an easy win for Pittsburgh over the Arizona Cardinals. That means a whole year of gloating from a bunch of obnoxious, towel-waving black-and-gold-clad miscreants. I'd sooner watch repeated showings of The Best of The Great Khali DVD than have to endure that.

Then I remembered something that gave me hope. The last time a representative from Pittsburgh met a representative from Arizona with a major championship at stake, the heavy underdog from Arizona overcame insurmountable odds to pull off a monumental victory. It took place in a wrestling ring.

Like the Steelers, the Pittsburgh wrestler had a rich championship tradition and was considered nearly unbeatable, while the Arizona wrestler never had a taste of championship gold in his career.

Just as the Super Bowl is contested at a neutral site, so was this match. Although, as will most surely be the case today in Tampa with the Steelers and Cardinals, fans of the Pittsburgh wrestler vastly outnumbered fans of the Arizona wrestler.

But despite a hostile crowd and no one giving the Arizona wrestler a chance, he defeated the Pittsburgh wrestler to become the WWF champion. One wrestling magazine proclaimed it “The Upset of the Century.”

And it took place right here in Baltimore. As anyone with knowledge of wrestling history has surely figured out, I’m talking about the victory by Superstar Billy Graham – billed from Paradise Valley, Arizona – over “The Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino on April 30, 1977. Sure, Graham cheated, but it’s only cheating if you get caught, as they say in wrestling. When it comes to the Steelers, you beat them by any means necessary.

How great would it be to see “The Upset of The Century” splashed across the next issue of Sports Illustrated? Perhaps the cover shot could be a recreation of the wrestling magazine that showed Graham about to deliver a chop to Sammartino’s throat, only this time it’s Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald with a stiff arm to the goozel of Steelers safety Troy Polamalu on his way to the end zone.

I just finished watching the Graham-Sammartino match on DVD to get fired up for the game. Can history repeat itself? Dare to dream.

C’mon, Kurt Warner. Be the man of the hour, the man with the power, too sweet to be sour.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)