Extreme Rules Outlook – Seems Somewhat Bland

This year’s One Night Stand, which has been preposterously renamed to “Extreme Rules,” seems to feature a bunch of matches with extra stipulations under the cover of an “Extreme” labeling (although nothing was worse than renaming John Cena’s “FU” to the “Attitude Adjustment”).

The matches include WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Batista in a steel cage, Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho in a no holds barred match, World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match, Miss Wrestlemania Santina Marella vs. Vickie Guererro in a hog pen match, John Cena vs. Big Show in a submission match, CM Punk vs. Umaga in a Samoan strap match, and ECW Champion Christian vs. Jack Swagger, vs. Tommy Dreamer in a triple threat hardcore rules match.

Of all these matches, only no holds barred and the hardcore triple threat are truly extreme. I think in honor of Tommy Dreamer the latter ought to be the main event of the night. I doubt it will be though. I also am not too happy with the send-off for Dreamer being a triple threat. Let the guy go toe-to-toe with one man for his final bout. If you want to create real drama, have it be against another good guy… Christian (like Ric Flair’s final match against Shawn Michaels).

If you want to get old ECW fans interested (because I doubt they’ll truly ever be won over), don’t cop out of going over the edge with a bunch of rare matchup stipulations being held under an old ECW card. Oh well.

Make things Interesting – Have CM Punk Lose after Cashing in Money in The Bank

Looks like the Pepsi logo tattoo laden CM Punk, aka Money in the Punk, is so eager to live up to his name one more year by becoming champion like a punk. Last year, Punk capitalized on Batista’s beat down of Edge on the opening segment of an episode of Monday Night RAW the night after a Pay-Per-View which saw Edge cheat like a mother heffer just to beat him. At the time, World Heavyweight Champion Edge was “incapacitated.” Then out came the biggest Punk of all… CM Punk, cashing his Money In The Bank, administering a GTS, and scoring the pin fall to become one of the lightest Heavyweight Champions in recent WWE history. What a crock, and what a punk.

 

This past Friday on Smackdown, CM Punk was looking to cash in his briefcase again. The night’s matchup card already had Punk facing Edge in an exhibition contest in the main event. Punk then made a stipulation where if he won the match, he was going to instantly cash in his Money In The Bank, hit a GTS, and then pin that punk (not himself). However, shortly after CM Punk got Edge to go to sleep, Umaga came in and pummeled him before the referee cold ring the bell to start the match.

 

Here’s the thing. I don’t mind it too often when wrestlers slime their way into title opportunities and reigns. In fact, I think it’s quite hilarious. However, when the man being dubbed the Straight Edge Superstar keeps doing it, I just don’t see how it helps his reputation. CM Punk is a pretty big fan favorite, but when he keeps weaseling his way into titles like this, I feel his character loses respect. Because of this, I hope that when he finally does cash in his opportunity that he screws it up. I hope whoever he attempts to pin counters his GTS with their own finisher, and lays him out cold for a quick pin. And no matter what anyone thinks, that probably will happen eventually to one of the Money In The Bank winners just to keep things unpredictable. I just hope it happens to CM Punk.

Thoughts on This Year’s WWE Draft

Last night on Monday Night RAW the WWE “shook things up” as they’ve been calling it by holding a draft wherein any random wrestler can end up being drafted between the three brands of RAW, Smackdown and ECW (in order of significance of course). Even though the draft is a complete crock where you almost always see big names come back to RAW like Batista and Rey Mysterio did last year, and chump jobbers like Vladimir Koslov (ECW’s only draft pick) go to the land of extreme, it is still interesting.

I thought it was a great idea to get Jericho and Mysterio over to Smackdown now that Triple H is back on RAW because of one simple great reason; every championship contender on Smackdown now actually looks like they matchup. In fact, the only guy that doesn’t match up other than the other true superstars (Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, CM Punk, Edge, and perhaps a few others) is Kane who also was drafted from RAW to Smackdown. None of those guys would be much more than transitional champions as long as Triple H were around. Plus, Kane is a bum and can be used to create some awesome “David vs. Goliath” type matches. And honestly, let’s not get started on Great Khali. He could be thrown in to stir some ratings, but no title for him. I also think that the moves make way for guys like Shelton Benjamin and R Truth.

Another thing I liked was the switch between the middle titles; Rey Mysterio takes his Intercontinental Title to Smackdown, and MVP takes his US Championship to RAW as he was drafted from Smackdown last night. In all truth, I think that US title is the sweetest looking belt of all the WWE and will look much better on RAW than on Smackdown. Finally, you got that chip off the big chin block Vladimir Koslov over on Sci-Fi where he can scrap it up a few matches and make others like Christian, Jack Swagger, and Finlay look good. I wouldn’t mind seeing Koslov go at it with Tommy Dreamer either.

All in all, I think it was a decent draft, and there weren’t really many head scratchers. Pretty good job WWE.

Thoughts on Wrestlemania 25

I have to say that after spending $54.99 or whatever it was on Wrestlemania that I was not too impressed. None of the matches seemed to have much luster, and some seemed to end a bit quickly as well. All in all, just like the last few years have been, it was a little disappointing at times.

 

One match that really seems to have lost its edge is the Money In The Bank Ladder Match. I think watching seven guys try to get a brief case at the top of ladder in the middle of the ring gets old after a while, even if it only happens once a year. However, it is especially repetitive when once again there are a handful of contestants who we absolutely know will not win the match.

 

Another match that left a sour taste in my mouth was the match between the two Hardy’s. First of all, I was not completely enthralled by the storyline leading into the matchup. I feel that it was too sudden and too forced upon us viewers. That alone just made the match unadmirable, and with Matt Hardy winning it did not offer any closure to the brotherly-hate saga like an event of Wrestlemania’s caliber should.

 

But the biggest let down of all was the second main event which was for the WWE Title, and also respect, between Triple H and Randy Orton. Now I’ll give the match some credit because H and Orton did show their “dislike” for one-another by punching the crap out of each other when one man had the other down and nearly getting disqualified each time, but because of its length, and unpunctual ending, I have to give that one a thumb down.

 

I wonder what everyone else thinks.

Money in the Bank Just got a Whole lot More Predictable

If you take a quick look at the contestants for this year’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match at Wrestlemania then that’s all you’ll need. The entrants are CM Punk, last year’s winner, Mark Henry, Kane, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, and Christian Cage. Time to round out the “definitely-nots,” the “maybes,” and the one “should be.”

 

The first and easiest definitely not would have to be Mark Henry. I don’t know how a 400+ pound fat man is going to climb a ladder whose steps might just break under his weight. And to be purely analytical, there is just no luster in The World’s Strongest Man’s game anymore.

 

Number two would have to be Kane. He is nothing more than a freak show like the Great Khali, where at best, they have one, maybe two championship reigns in the early-goings of their careers when their limited array of wrestling moves and ugly mugs still have some selling power.

 

A “middle maybe” could be MVP since it’s been a while since he’s won, and that would be a huge surprise. He hasn’t been able to draw much attention on Smackdown like the WWE intended, but perhaps a Money In The Bank victory might be a last ditch effort for the people booking his matches.

 

The “maybes” are Shelton Benjamin, CM Punk, and Kofi Kingston. Since Shelton’s move to Smackdown he has beaten Matt Hardy for the US Title and held it for about three quarters of a year. What’s even more is that he has notably been bulking up and expanding his arsenal of wrestling moves with a little extra mic time to boot. He could be a superstar that the WWE is grooming, and with his increased size, he would be a more believable WWE or World Heavyweight Champion at this point in his career.

 

Speaking of champions, CM Punk, who won the brief case last year could have a chance to repeat. Eventually, someone will have to win this event twice which is a gimmick that the WWE likes to use to create history (i.e. Stone Cold wining three Royal Rumbles, and Undertaker’s 16-0 record at Wrestlemania). Punk would not be a bad choice for this page in wrestling history, even if his title reign as champion was used as a tool to bring back a title to Monday Night RAW.

 

As for Kingston, he is a showman and people like him. But perhaps as time goes on, he’ll be nothing more than that and a consistent Intercontinental Title holder.

 

Now for mister “should be”… Christian Cage. Even though he has only been back for around two months, he is easily the biggest superstar of all those in this contest. If the WWE wants to continue to make this match intriguing, he probably should win. But the main reason he is the favorite is that most likely the WWE made an agreement with him that he would become a champion within the first year of his contract.

 

And that’s a lot more than he’s had for a good while on TNA!

Predictions for John Cena’s Opponent at the 2009 Royal Rumble

After the December 22nd edition of Monday Night Raw, the pool of possible opponents to challenge for John Cena’s World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble dwindled down to four. Shawn Michaels Super Kicked Kane in the face and got the pin. Then JBL was about to be 619’ed before his newest “employee” Shawn Michaels pulled him out of the ring and slapped him in the face to get JBL the win by having his opponent Rey Mysterio disqualified for interference. Then the douche bag, Randy Orton advanced by default because apparently his punt on Batista on the last Raw was too much for him to handle. After that, Chris Jericho advanced by way of a mid-air Code Breaker on CM Punk.

Now the four winners will meet next week on Monday Night Raw in a Fatal Four Way match where the winner will face John Cena at the Rumble. Of the possible four, you have to eliminate first and foremost, Shawn Michaels. He has been relegated to the role of puppet to JBL, and will be forced by his new master to do everything in his power to help JBL win. The next man out is Chris Jericho. He has already had the opportunity to beat Cena in the last two Pay-Per Views, Armageddon and Survivor Series. The WWE Universe does not want to be subjected to the obvious outcome of a Jericho loss again.

Finally, we have two men left. JBL and Randy Orton. This is so tough to call. First of all, the Randy Orton and Cena feud was never able to come to fruition as Cena suffered his first of two pure injuries prior to last year’s No Mercy, where he was set to face Orton in a Last Man Standing Match. However, Orton wouldn’t be a bad pick to win the Rumble for that same reason so that he could face Cena at WrestleMania (Truth be told, I think Batista will win it).

JBL on the other hand is a good option because we know he’s not going to win the Rumble, and he would obviously lose to Cena if they fought because there is no way the bookers would let Cena put JBL over. At least not yet. Furthermore, the Royal Rumble is the king of all WWE Pay-Per Views where the title-holders retain their belts.

So for me, I am going to say that the big-talking New Yorker from Texas will be coming out victorious on next week’s edition of Monday Night Raw. Then after that it will be some showman trash talking mic skills being spewed from JBL’s mouth on John Cena for almost an entire month as the Royal Rumble won’t take place until January 25th, where he will eventually, and undoubtedly, lose.

CM Punk-Enough!

It looks like the “Straight Edge Superstar,” none other than CM Punk has received some really good press from the inhabitants of his hometown, Chicago Illinois. He was selected to fill the role of Grand Marshall for the Thanksgiving Day Parade this past Thursday. What does this mean for all WWE superstars and punks alike? Some much-needed positive and family-oriented press that has been hard to come by for the WWE in recent years.

 

With the countless and mounting deaths of professional wrestlers and most infamously, that of Chris Benoit’s suicide shortly after killing his wife and child, the WWE could use some Holiday lovin.

 

I think it is great that superstars may be beginning to be recognized for traits other than massive steroid use and “tasteless” entertainment. Guys like CM Punk are what the WWE needs. The crowd loves him, and so far, he truly is a straight edged superstar. So kudos to him for bringing a bright spot to the WWE.

 

Who knows? Maybe even fellow Chicago native and now president-elect Barack Obama will also have something nice to say about Mr. Punk as well.