Thoughts on this week's WWE television

Well as far as the very long 3 hour Raw goes, it was 3 hours and it very long. There we go. The main event of the show was a segment. It happens occasionally. But for the segment to be the signing of a contract? Seems a bit anticlimactic to me. 1 of 2 guys will be fighting CM Punk at the PPV, it ends up being the big bald one, he signs, then hits Punk with his finisher and it's over. 

As far as Ryback goes, there have been many pushed wrestlers in the past who squashed people to make them look good. I wonder how they play this one. With plenty of comparisons to Goldberg already being made and a match with Goldberg being teased [possibly at Wrestlemania], this guy might have actually get an undefeated record until that time. Meaning what? He is going to beat Punk and win the title. If so, I can't see his match with Mr Goldberg being a title match, so perhaps he won't win the title. He might win by DQ or count out, if Punk runs away. Or he might not even fight Goldberg. If that is the case, I could see him winning the title.

Smackdown seems to be getting increasingly less important. A lot of the guys who wrestle on there also wrestle on Raw. Last Smackdown we had the commentators discussing the previous Raw show and then previewing the following Raw. We also had a video clip of the contract signing from Raw. Remember when the angle was that Raw and Smackdown are 2 separate brands competing with each other? Obviously not anymore. Not only do wrestlers wrestle on both shows but Smackdown hypes up it's former competition, Raw. 

Smackdown itself was okay. Sheamus v Big Show is not really exciting me much but hey, not much in wrestling is these days. By the way, if Big Show is the big bad man, why did he clap Sheamus on Smackdown and then knock out the guy who tried to attack him? Surely if Ziggler had won the title from Sheamus by cashing in his Money in the Bank, Show would just face him. Oh and Theodore Long's gimmick has now annoyed me for, what is it now? 8 years I think.

Overall I would say this week's WWE shows were pretty bland. Then again the WWE is pretty bland and has been for the past few years now anyway, so really, you should not be expecting much, should you? I mean you get the occasional decent PPV or Raw show but don't you just find yourself waiting for Wrestlemania more and more every year?

The sloppy blonde

Trish

Yes I know she is a brunette now. Who cares?

Yep this one is about Trish. I might do one about the other sloppy, Sid Vicious, later. Trish is possibly the most overrated women's wrestler I have ever seen on television. I don't dislike her, she seems like a nice girl [and very attractive] but she does not deserve to be a 7x Women's champion, not with those mat skills. Let me repeat that, Trish has won the the title 7 times!!!! That is more than any female wrestler in the WWE. Is that fair? Not when you look at some of the women who have wrestled there.

Let's look back at how she started. She was originally hired by the WWE because they liked a fitness tape she did. She was hired [like many diva's in the WWE] as eye candy. Her on screen debut involved being a manager, then later.... being a manager again, untill she advanced to a story line with the boss himself, Vincent Kennedy McMahon. She played his slutty girl on the side. A few months after that she vanished from television. I don't know if she asked to learn to wrestle or whether she was told to learn, but after about half a year she returned. She didn't just return, she returned to win the vacated Women's title for the first time in her career, at Survivor Series.

Trish went on to dominate the women's division for the next few years and win the title many more times. Problem is, I still don't remember a Trish match I thought was good. I don't even remember a Trish match I thought was decent. Her moves were sloppy and even her big move, the Stratusphere [her finisher, a bulldog bouncing off the ropes] looked kind of crappy. There is no doubt that this girl got to where she was because she was probably one of the most uniquely attractive women that ever worked in that company. If there was a beauty title, she would deservedly be a record title holder, but not as a wrestler. 

Where are they now? Spanky time

Brian Kendrick

This guy was on our television screens for a number of years. Where is he now? I'll tell you in a second. Let's remember how his career looked. I do remember enjoying a few segments with Kendrick. He was never anything more than a comedy character in the WWE. If I'm not mistaken, shortly after his WWE debut, he was a singing telegram boy for the Heyman and the Big Show [getting a Last Ride for his trouble in convincing The Undertaker that the Big Show was sorry for attacking him]. He later had to try and impress Stephanie McMahon in a number of hard to watch skits, to earn himself a contract. His best time in the WWE, was teaming with Paul London, but that did not last very long and he was soon to be released. After that he went to NWA TNA [as it was called back in 2004] then returned to the WWE again, then left and went to TNA again [the less said about his time there though, the better]. 

Currently he is wrestling in Japan. I always feel he will be more appreciated in Japan and in the indy feds. We'll see where he goes from here on in but I can't see him returning to mainstream television any time soon [unless of course it is in some type of non wrestling relate role].

Punk lashes out

So as you might know Mr CM Punk hit a fan after Raw over a week ago. This was not part of any story line [though it would not be surprising if WWE did try to turn it in to one].  Now who is to blame for this? Something goes wrong, someone is responsible, right? Well I assume so, unless you just say, 'ah it just went wrong, not a thing could be done, it happens, nobody is to blame.' 

The answer, to me, is very obvious, it was the WWE's fault. They messed this up, right? They did not have security covering that area. Then again it could be security's fault. Were they meant to be there? It could be that they were in the wrong place. Was it Punk's fault? Could he have reacted differently? More maturely? After all, he hit the wrong person anyway. I am not going to play judge and jury here, but what I can say is, some head's went flying. The main writer was fired after the Raw show. Was he responsible for security? I'm not sure now. What is going on? What are the standards? There were probably other heads that went flying. It would not surprise me if some of the security guys job's went flying too. After all, it was their fault alone according to Vince. Of course 'oh great' Vince is innocent. Since he can't fire himself, he goes for those who work for him. If he was alone in this company, nothing would ever go wrong!! If he had no backstage guys, no cameramen, no writers, no production people, no wrestlers etc then it would all go perfectly, wouldn't it.

What is a shame, is that the WWE never seems to care about it's fans. Why did they not apologize to the fan who got hit by Punk for putting on his sunglasses at the wrong. Let us not forget a pyro that previously injured a number of fans at Wrestlemania 24 and other events where fans got hurt. WWE you need to start caring about the people who basically give you money.

Overrated wrestler of the week

Kane

Another wrestler that I feel is vastly overrated is the Big Red Machine Kane. It's not that I don't appreciate his gimmick, because I really do, but that's the problem. That is just about the only thing I appreciate about him, his gimmick. Honestly think back in your head to a match involving Kane that you think was great, and it was great thanks to Kane. I know I can't. Any time he is in a match it just sort of plods along. He doesn't do anything amazing or extraordinary. They try to put over his great strength, but even that is not particularly impressive, at least not when compared to guys like Brock Lesnar and yes, even Batista. I have seen him lift guys above his head and unless it was Spike Dudley or someone of a similar weight class, he seemed to have problems on many occasions.

Some might say I am being harsh but trust me, look closely at his matches, they are not that great. His move set consists mainly of right and lefts, then a hard uppercut where he slaps his own chest to omit a sound as if he just thumbed his opponent. He occasionally lifts an opponent above his head or hits a few power moves, but that just does not seem to impress fans anymore, now that he has been doing it over and over again for years. He is one of those wrestlers that was interesting to watch at first, but once his gimmick got stale he had nothing to offer in the ring. The only time he is remotely interesting is when he is in some twisted story line, usually involving fire or death. He's not an awful wrestler [like Batista] but definitely overrated.    

Vince's usual bull

Without wanting to look like I am stating the obvious [okay I probably am], Vince's bullshit is beyond words these days, yet I have still found some to describe it. To think that he still has the nerve to stand in the middle of the ring and talk about how he listens to fans everywhere, every tout, every tweet, is laughable. If he paid attention to tweets he would know how incredibly unpopular he is. This type of speech might work on the kids that the product is currently being aimed at [having gone to a PG rating] or the casual wrestling fan who occasionally watches a show but is generally not too interested in it, but I sincerely hope it won't fool the regular viewer who can see past this bullshit. 

For many years it has been glaringly obvious that Vince does not care one bit about what fans think. If he did care what fans thought, he would not have done half the stuff that he has done. Any decision he makes, any win or loss, any story line direction, any gimmick, any show name, any finisher name, any intro theme, any logo design, any DVD release, any magazine release, any arena choice, any celebrity appearance, etc is purely for the purpose of making money. If you know, fantastic, but I am writing this just in case someone still had any doubt. He does what's best for business!!!! Why did The Rock and hop straight in to the Wrestlemania main event after being out for 8 years? It was best for business of course. Why is Cena still a face? It was best for business. Why do well known old decrepit wrestlers keep on making a return to the ring? Best for business. There are many more examples of decision based on business. I could write you a whole list [if you'd like one, email me]. While I understand that wrestling is a scripted show with scripted story lines and is not to be taken seriously, I do not like implications from the owner [who is currently playing a face, meaning that he should tell the truth] that he cares about what the fans think. Statements like the one he made on Raw recently will lead some of the younger audience to start thinking that the WWE does care about them and what they think. Folks it does not. It really does not!!!! It's a shame, since wrestling is nothing without its fans [ever watched a show with a quiet audience, not quite the same is is?], yet it uses them to make money and does not give 2 cans of monkey crap what they think [to quote The Rock or say something that sounds like a line he might have said during the attitude era]. Just have a look on the WWE website. It cleary states that any email sent in with any suggestions for story lines will be immiediately deleted. Your opinion does not matter to them. The WWE does not care what you think or what ideas you might have.

Now if, on the odd occasions, Vince does do something that the fans wanted, like bring in ECW for a few years or bring back DX, it's not because he cares about the fans and takes action to make sure they get what they want. It's that he can see it is so popular and in demand that it could get his company huge ratings and lots of merchandise sales. Let this be known and I hope I make myself loud and clear, do not ever believe that the WWE is some charitable caring organization who's main aim is to make its fans happy. It's not. 

Hulka[ego]mania sex tape

So it seems that some time in the past The Hulkster did a sex tape BROTHER!!!! Here's the part I don't get, WHY???? Honestly why film yourself getting down and dirty, particularly when you're famous? Stuff like this is leaked out all the time? I suppose his ego meant he just had to see himself in the thick of the action. Watching himself in a wrestling ring was not enough. He wanted to see how big his strudel looks on camera.

Hogan's ex wife Linda said she was not surprised by the issue and called the debacle twisted. Yeah it's twisted alright. It seems this vitamin eating, prayer saying, standing up for the rights of other men, American hero, is nothing more than a money grabbing dirty perverted man who refuses to get off our television screens. Shame on him! I had heard that he was cheating on his now ex wife before [hence she was not surprised] but how many more times is he going to be caught with his pants down [literally]. 

What is even more of a mystery is why he is now being offered an open cheque book sum by the gawker, the site that released footage of the tape. I'm sorry, I might just be very confused right now, but if they already have the footage then why pay him for the rights to release it? Ah unless they fear that they could be sewed so heavily they would have to declare themselves bankrupt. I wonder if Hogan would take this open offer? If he does, it shows he would stoop even lower than he is currently at. Plus, if it is an open offer, then knowing him and his greed for money, he's very likely to write in more than gawker have in their bank, but it was their decision to make it an open cheque book. Bad move. 

Hulkamaniacs, it's time to take off your bandanas, pull off your fake beards and moustaches, pack your bags, leave the Hogan hill of admiration and go home. This wrestling icon has plummeted lower than was ever thought possible.   

Overrated wrestler of the week

Batista

Jim Cornette described him as a guy with no talent, just a decent look. He said that with Batista it was either push him to the main event or forget it. I honestly do not remember a Batista match that I liked. If there was one, it was probably thanks to the guy he was wrestling, not thanks to him. No way did he earn his shot in the main event. He debuted as Reverend D-Von's collection box man, and that was no less than the level he deserved to stay at for his entire wrestling career. To be honest though, he should not have had a career in wrestling business anyway.

Here is a clip from Kayfabe commentaries [who's interviewer I cannot stand] with Jim Cornette's thoughts on Dave.

  

The heat drawing gimmick

Remember that guy who used to draw a ton of heat in the WWE? In fact he drew heat from the very day he made his debut. Yep it's Muhammad Hassan. 

Funny that in real life he is actually an Italian American but that's what wrestling is about, bad acting and wacky gimmicks. Did you ever notice that he just vanished? I certainly know I did. It was so obvious that he would get an immediate reaction as soon as he debuted, quite simply, thanks to his gimmick. I was not expecting him to be placed in fueds with some of the top guys on the roster so quickly though [starting with Mick Foley]. I was also not expecting him to be disposed of just as quickly, once the fueds were over

He did manage to get a great reaction from the fans, but he was a gimmick wrestler, meaning that once he had pretty much fueded with the main guys that were available to fued with, the WWE had no use for him. He was an average wrestler and, despite his in ring promos receiving a very heated fan reaction, he was not a guy of much charisma. When he spoke, it seemed like he was trying to make sure he remembered what he had to say. Oh sure he had the right tone, but the tone was always the same. You could say it was loud and he did sound frustrated and angry, as he was supposed to, yet there was still a monotone about it every time.

His last fued was to be against the 'Deadman,' who he fought at The Great American Bash in a number 1 contender match for the World Title, that was supposed to be taking place at Summerslam. In that match [or after it] he was hit with a Last Ride on the ramp, to some concrete below [supposedly] that was under the ramp. He was then taken away by paramedics, never to be seen again. Funny how his last match in the company was a number 1 contender match for the World title. His loss was insignificant anyway since The Undertaker's victory never got him his title shot at Summerslam, like it was supposed to.

His Persian partner in crime who you probably remember, Khosrow Daivari, was kept on for a while, since they saw some potential in him to be a manager for other wrestlers. As for Hassan, well, I mean, it was fun while it lasted, it just didn't last very long. Having said that I do not remember a wrestler previously debuting and drawing so much heat in the space of 8 months, only to be released soon after. He is currently completing his degree to get in to teaching [perhaps he already has] after unsuccessfully trying to break in to the acting and screenwriting business.

About this blog

Well you've got a little 'About me' section on the right hand side. This is just a very simple explanation about my blog site. This place is just an area for me to give my thoughts on stuff that is currently happening in the world of wrestling. It is also a place for me to give my thoughts on wrestling stuff in general. I might have a post about the recent drug charge of a wrestling 'superstar' or a piece on some wrestler who was well known in the 90's. It is my blog, so I can write what I want, when I want. 

I don't make money on this blog because I get sick of adverts on other sites, so I don't have any on mine. I do not promote any products on here either, I just write about wrestling for other wrestling fans who are browsing around, have a bit of time, want to find something wrestling related on the internet and they find this. Feel free to comment, even if you disagree with me completely, i'd rather you commented. People commenting, no matter what they say, tells me that they cared enough to reply to a post of mine. This makes me want to write more. If you do comment please leave your name and where you are from at the end of your post or at least your name [or put some signature, even if you want to make the name up. It just looks better than Anonymous].

An important note. I am not a hardcore wrestling fan. By hardcore I don't mean that I dislike wrestling when it involves tables, trash cans, kitchen sinks, chairs, stop signs etc. It means I am not a 'pure wrestling' mark. I like wrestling, but I would find it hard to sit through 3 hours of straight, clean, no weapons, no interference, no run ins, story-less wrestling. For this reason I am not clued up on 'indy' shows and do not care much for what is currently going on in the independent scene. For news on that there a more websites on the internet than I can remember and I do not care to list them. If you really are stuck for and cannot find one, drop me an email and i'll give you links to a few of them [or lots of them].

Other than that, enjoy the read. I try to be interesting and not ramble on, but you might find me doing that a little if I have a lot to say on a particular topic. Once again give a reply as it lets me know that people actually read what I spend much of my time writing on here rather than just browsing my site by accident and leaving immediately. I just tell it like it is, what I think of different situations and sometimes the business generally.