Hey Eck, this may be a little off topic, but did I see a picture of you on Gillberg's academy facebook page from when you wrestled the MCW show?

Love the blog. It's a shame that neither Christian nor Hardy ever really got the pushes they deserved in WWE, while their former partners have both succeeded. Not that I think Edge didn't deserve his, but I always thought Matt was the more talented Hardy, but I guess the E didn't agree...

RESPONSE FROM KE: Yep, that's me.

"First Rhodes verbally humiliated Hardy by insulting his physical appearance, and then he beat him clean. …"

More than just the grooming jokes, didn't Hardy look fat and out of shape, or was it just me?

It's funny you say all that about the "magical powers" tug-of-war between 'Taker and Kane, since I've recently been rewatching some Youtube clips from late '90's RAW. I've been watching pro wrestling since 1991 (I was about 7), so I've seen pretty much the entirety of Undertaker's career in the company. I'll admit I don't watch Smackdown nearly as much now as I used to, but I can't really believe they're going down that road with the storyline. One of the strengths of the Undertaker's second go-round as the "Deadman" has been that they've eased up on the effects and powers, making it more of a cool visual thing about sending a message instead of a legit "powers thing". I do remember being really into all that when I was a young kid, but back then wrestling was still in its kayfabe/cartoon era, and I think wrestling has changed too much to really get away with that. That Ministry of Darkness stuff in the late '90's is the last time I can remember the Undertaker's "powers" being a major and legit part of the storyline. And it was as ridiculous, frustrating and ineffective then as it is on looking back at those shows now. That ineffectiveness of the Ministry Undertaker was one of the bigger reasons the Deadman character itself took a hiatus (re: American Bad-Ass character). The irony in that is that everyone hated the American Bad-Ass persona (or at least I and my friends did) and marked out (of their minds) so heavily when the "Deadman" came back against Kane @ WM XX. But at that time and since then, the effects/powers have held a purpose: either to show everyone including an opponent that 'Taker is coming back, or that he wants to kick (fill-in-the-blank's) ass. We love the music, the darkness, the fog, the entrance and the lights thing...and even a few lightning bolts here and there...but to try and pass more than that off as legit "powers" in this day and age - almost 15 years after kayfabe ended - just reeks of staleness and desperation. I hope for 'Taker's sake and the WWE's sake this feud ends @ Night of Champions, because otherwise, they risk frustrating fans and lessening one of their living legends before the end of his career.

Bring back Big Evil!! When he was a super heel, going round kicking everyone's ass and involved in hardcore matches, which hides his increasingly limited movement.

Some of his best matches in the past 10 years were in that guise. Watch his match against Jeff Hardy or his stint as the Hardcore champ to see some classic Big Evil.

As the Phenom, it is just embarassing now. For someone that is a living legend, he really should be involved in getting himself more interesting storylines and feuds. The Kane-Hocus Pocus-back from the dead gimmick is beyond stale.

I dont know if I should admit this, but I'm finding the main event angle between Undertaker and Kane oddly compleling. Kane to me is a very interesting promo guy, and I like his whole"crazy killer obsessed with his brother and spiritual nonsense" gimmick. I think it somehow works. Plus, its obvious that Taker is on his last legs. In general i think Smackdown is crying out for some strong babyfaces. Swagger, Kane, Del Rio, Punk, Rhodes, Ziggler, McCintyre... verses Taker, Rey, Kofi,Show, Christian, MVP and Matt Hardy. After looing at that list maybe I should change my point to the fact that Smackdown needs some compelling and strong babyfaces. Maybe Morrison from RAW?

Forget Kane, I say bring back Isaac Yankem, DDS!!!

Oh wait, my bad. Same guy.

"On the bright side, at least with the Kane-Undertaker story line at the forefront, the science fiction geeks won’t be able to say that Smackdown doesn’t belong on the SyFy Channel after the show moves to the network next month."

Actually, "magic" still isn't exactly "sci-fi"....

Since apparently my original comment never made it through I'll say it again:

Big Show and the SES was only 2 on 1.

Nice to see Punks going to be working alone again seemingly.

Everyone loved the American Badass (me and my friends anyway). It was a great reinvention of a character that captured the zeitgeist of the time. Riding to the ring on a Harley, dropping soupbones on opponents, and overall being the baddest dog in the yard. Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'.

When is SD going to move stations? 2nd time in 3 weeks it didn't air in South Florida DTV market...and thats usually on saturdays.
I hope Del Rio is on raw again this week. He's like a suave Eddie G!!

WWE has decided to suck. And I do mean "decided". Sucking this badly has to be a conscious decision.

Who knows, maybe after Taker beats Kane and gets the belt back he can cut a promo telling him that it wasn't the "powers" that made Taker great and what he is. It was all the dedication and hard work and support from the WWE Universe.

Maybe that could be a good reason why Taker has looked like he is about to cry in the ring when he stares down Kane when he'd usually look like he is going to kill the person he is staring down. That he can't believe his own brother is not giving him any credit for what he's accomplished and is essentially saying Taker only made it because he had all of these "powers."

Now, I doubt they will really go that route, but that is what I would do.

As far as Taker being able to sit up after taking tons of punishment isn't really all that "hocus-pocus." To me that is nothing different than Hogan's pumping up after being beaten up and punched in the head, or John Cena coming back for a second wind after being beaten up...or any other wrestler for that matter in the recent era. The heel usually gets the upper hand only to be outdone by the face who somehow manages to find a way to win through the adversity. It gets stale.

BTW, hated that Jericho lost to Morrison. What a bunch of crap. If Jericho was to lose to somebody, couldn't it have been to somebody better than that?