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.

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.

Jeff Hardy Supplants the Big Show on Friday Night Smackdown in Non-Title Action

On last Friday Night Smackdown, it appeared that a feud might be brewing between Jeff Hardy and Big Show. The kind of feud that starts off with the champion, Hardy, losing a few times to the Big Show, but inevitably ends with Jeff Hardy retaining his title to further build up the drama of the moment when he actually does.

 

But to my surprise, Smackdown did things a little different this time. They had Hardy actually beat the Big Show. Although the victory wasn’t without question as Hardy won by count-out, it still makes things fairly interesting for the next few episodes of Smackdown as we still do not know who will be Hardy’s opponent for the Royal Rumble.

 

Another interesting tidbit is the fact that there may be three Divas matches at the Rumble. First, there is the obvious Monday Night Raw, Women’s Championship match that may take place. Second, Maryse just beat Michelle McCool on Friday night to become Divas Champion, so she too could be defending her title at the Royal Rumble. Third, in the match that Maryse won, Maria was the guest referee, and Michelle McCool decided to take out her frustrations of losing on Maria.

 

So the WWE is attempting to create a somewhat “gripping” women’s feud, and surprisingly, this one isn’t all that bad. And I mean, that’s pretty cool but then again not really. Don’t get me wrong. The Divas are really hot and they are truly great eye-candy, but most of the time as soon as one their matches begins, the “God please let this end” woes ensue. Tune in to see what the hell unfolds!

 

Vladimir Koslov Needs to Lose!

I am getting very tired of Vladimir Koslov not getting the chance to finish up a match on Smackdown, and even at the Pay-Per View last week, Armageddon. It seems like every time he faces off against a big player, Undertaker, Triple H, Jeff Hardy, etc… he doesn’t get to finish a match.

There are better ways to bring up new talent in pro wrestling than having a guy constantly win or remain undefeated by countless disqualifications. If his undefeated record keeps staying alive, then by the time the bookers decide he’s ready to lose, he’s going to go under like guys like Umaga and Great Khali, where they only get title matches that feature more than two contestants, and they’re in it solely for “Oohs” and “Ahs” because of the caricature nature of their persona or gimmick.

Plenty of guys have made names for themselves without having to start their careers with long winning streaks. John Cena lost his first match, and lost a few title matches before he got into the limelight. Guys like Triple H and Edge weren’t in the running for Supercards until years later in their careers. And the latest example of this is Jeff Hardy.

All of these stone faced characters that are being brought up as early unbreakables fall hard after their first losses and they then become closer and closer to becoming full-time jobbers as they steadily lose their luster.

Two Hardys and a Hardass!

How about those three champions in the WWE! On ECW we have Matt Hardy holding the ECW Championship. This guy had been jobbing pretty hard perhaps a year, and then some, or so ago on Smackdown before MVP made his debut and they began their feud and Tag Team Championship reign. The enigmatic Jeff Hardy gained his first main title by winning the WWE Championship this past Sunday at Armageddon with his lights-out performance. And then we have the ultimate hardass… John Cena. And I don’t mean hardass in the sense that he’s a jerk. If anything, Cena is one of the prime examples of a face player… and he has the World Heavyweight Championship. I’m talking about an unbreakable good guy hardass.

 

Speaking of faces, all three of these guys are face characters for the WWE. I just think it’s a little different and interesting to see them all with the titles of the brand they wrestle for. For guys like the Hardys, this type of success was a long time coming. The Hardy boys were constantly subjected to drawing “Oohs” and “Ahhs” from the crowds purely on wrestling ability, and both had a history of coming up short as singles competitors whenever they weren’t tagging it up.

 

However, in that time that Matt Hardy began to rise on Smackdown in the time of the MVP feud, the Smackdown brand did a decent job of giving him some mic time so that the fans could get a feel for the personality of the guy who had always played second fiddle to his brother Jeff.

 

Similarly, Jeff began to voice himself up when he returned to the WWE on Monday Night RAW. He came out and had a plenty of title matches, held the Intercontinental Championship a few times, had big battles with the likes of Umaga, and once again, had been coming up short in championship opportunities. The only difference in his second stint has been the sense that his time would eventually come to be a brand champ.

 

Then we have Cena. I already did my story on “The Champ.” (See ‘John Cena… A Man to Be’). He looks like he’ll be hanging onto his belt for quite a while. But with the recent heightened frequency of titles changing hands on RAW and Smackdown, perhaps neither of the three is a lock to hold onto their belts for an extended period of time. Either way, all three reigns have the potential to be very exciting.

WWE Seems to Only Sell its Title Matches

What’s up with the WWE these days? I remember a time when almost every match and storyline was worth watching or following respectively. This was a time where Pay-Per Views didn’t have to lean on having nearly every match be a title match, and start mixing brands. Nowadays you have the RAW title holder, Smackdown title holder, ECW title holder, and whatever Womens/Divas champion all defending their belts on the same night at almost every Pay-Per View.

There are good aspects of this and bad. The bad is that it has to suggest that separate Pay-Per Views for each brand (RAW, Smackdown, ECW) were not enough to draw TV purchases. But the good is that those matches sucked besides the title matches were starting to be all that anyone really cared about. I mean, when you had one Pay-Per view that was just Smackdown feuds, the only stuff that really mattered was a U.S. Title match, the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship (now on RAW), and perhaps one pretty good grudge match like Undertaker and Great Khali. Other than that, every other match would be a bunch of filler for the most part. Stuff that the kids will enjoy.

However, now with the Supercards having mostly title matches or actually intriguing grudge matches, the Pay-Per Views really have become more purchase-worthy. But don’t put some new marketing changes past the WWE anytime soon. For any of those who have been watching lately, I’m sure you’ve noticed the blatant exposure that Monday Night Raw has been trying to create for their Intercontinental Title with their 8-man tournament for the title against William Regal.

All in all, any real wrestling fan will not let this stop them from at least keeping up with the goings-on of their beloved program. The WWE may seem to be in a rut (especially when Vince McMahon has to give away millions of his own money to fans) but in truth, nobody gets more down and dirty than Pro Wrestling at its finest, and for those of you who already watch, you know what I’m talking about!

Three Full Hours of Monday Night Raw for Your Sports Entertainment Enjoyment

The three hour special of RAW looks like it will be pretty good. They’ve got three Pay-Per View worthy matchups and a three hour time slot for the WWE Universe’s enjoyment. But if you ask me, the most entertaining stuff will be whatever gimmicks and comedic skits they come up with because I have a strong feeling that the three top-flight bouts, Cena vs. Edge, Batista vs. Triple H, and Chris Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy won’t end in “one-two-threes” or tap outs.

 

First up, we have John Cena vs. Edge in a champion against champion match. Chris Jericho will most likely have already had his match against Jeff Hardy as well as Batista and Randy Orton. I am more than certain they all will interfere in this match as all six fighters have in one way or another between themselves at Armageddon.

 

 I can see it now. Cena and Edge duking it out in what so far will have been an entertaining struggle. Then comes Jericho who faces Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship at Armageddon, and Orton, who faces Batista for no reason at Armageddon, interfering by beating up Cena. After that it’ll be Batista taking out Orton who he faces at Armageddon, and then Triple H and Jeff Hardy running to the ring and messing with Edge, who they both face in a Triple Threat.

 

Even so, the show should not be missed as most three hour RAW specials are usually high quality.

WWE Championship to be Defended in a Triple Threat Match at Armageddon

The Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship that has been booked by the WWE board of directors for this coming Armageddon was so blatantly fixed up that… it should come as no surprise. When Triple H was attempting to pin his opponent, Shelton Benjamin, in the third of last Friday night’s installment of Smackdown’s Beat The Clock matches, it was plainly obvious that the referee was looking up at the clock. Now a match that should have been a one-on-one battle between Jeff Hardy and new WWE Champion Edge is a Triple Threat between the former two and Triple H.

 

Although the match may provide for plenty of excitement, the outcome is inevitable that Edge, with his new bearded look, will remain champion.

 

In recent years, the WWE has seemed to love the idea of setting up a Triple Threat match following a new champion’s reign with the new champion defending his title. Anyone should see that Edge is not going to relinquish his belt just yet and he’ll probably win in a manner befitting one of his nicknames other than “Rated R Superstar” with that being “Ultimate Opportunist.”

 

So, basically, either Hardy or Triple H will look like they’re about to score a big pinfall, Edge spears the attempted “pinner,” and Edge covers the wounded contestant for the pin. Once again, this matchup should be of no surprise to anyone who watches the WWE, as it has been booked solely for the intentions of building up a notorious heel character in Edge.

WWE Championship to be Defended at Survivor Series November 23rd

Well, it finally happened. Triple H will officially be defending his title against the upstart “Moscow Mauler” Vladimir Koslov on Sunday November 23^rd at Survivor Series. I for one am very happy with this decision by whoever it is that books the matches on Smackdown. I wasn’t going to be pleased with some triple threat, guaranteed victory for Triple H involving Koslov and Jeff Hardy.

 

I think this should be a great match. I expect some well thought out and tediously calculated choreography to be displayed in the ring between Triple H and Koslov. Everyone knows what Triple H can do; spine busters galore, pedigrees, and he can slug it out too. And although I’m not a big fan of the Koslov finishing move (the head butt) I must say that the more I watch him, the more versatile his repertoire of moves becomes. He can mat wrestle, place wrestlers in submission holds, pull of some impressive counters, and of course some tough and devastating tosses.

 

The only thing that has hurt Koslov thus far is his undefeated streak. I would not be the only one to agree that the guys who come out on a tear from their inception into Pro Wrestling tend to fall off hard when they suffer their first loss. There is a big difference between losing to a veteran jobber your first time and a perennial Super Card Main Event player like Triple H.

 

Look what happened to Umaga after he suffered his first two losses to John Cena, both of which were title matches. Where did he go after that? He has since become nothing more than an “Oohs” and “Ahhs” drawer from the crowd (perhaps his “goo-goo, gaga” big baby ranting hasn’t helped him much either). Plus, the only time he gets a title match is when it involve at least two other participants, and mainly in Chamber matches and other stipulations of that nature.

 

The one thing I will give Koslov is that his character doesn’t seem to be too stale. I mean, don’t get me wrong, his accent and premature English speaking skills could use some work. But the “on a mission” MO of his character and the fact that when he enters the ring, although he has proven cocky at times, still keeps an honest look on his face like he knows anything is possible and that he could potentially lose a match when he gets in the ring, especially when pitted against the non-jobbers, Undertaker and more “formidable” opponents like the Great Khali, intrigues me about him.

 

Triple H should pick up the victory, but it does very slightly appear like Koslov may have a chance. Either way, Triple H will do what he does, and we should get to see more of what Boris… eh hem, Vladimir Koslov can do.

WWE Championship on the Line at Cyber Sunday

At Cyber Sunday we’ll be treated to a title match where HHH will defend his belt against Jeff Hardy, Vladimir Koslov, or the two of them at once. Either one of them alone, or both for that matter at the same time, is going to be a handful for HHH.

Jeff Hardy brought HHH to the brink of defeat at No Mercy, while Koslov is a wrestler that neither HHH nor Jeff Hardy know all that well. The upper hand would look to be Koslov’s when looked at in this light.

 

However, I would still say it’s too early for the WWE and Smackdown brand to give the title to Koslov or Jeff Hardy, and HHH is going to win. I just see him losing it in a long, hard-fought singles match against another face wrestler in the future.

As for who HHH is going to wrestle and who fans are going to vote for, I’d have to say everyone’s going to pick the Triple Threat match. It usually allows for a lot of excitement, but the title rarely changes hands whenever there are more than two wrestlers in the ring.