In just a short time, TNA will return to Pay-Per-View and the main event poses a view questions, one in which I brought up yesterday. It has already been confirmed that Kurt will indeed compete at the event and I can't argue with that decision at all. I mean I do think Kurt deserves to be punished but not necessarily at the cost of scrapping your advertised main event if you can help it. Instead the questions I pose lie more with the result of the main event because in the back of my head I can't shake the feeling that the outcome will go down a certain way, one in which as I stated above brings up two issues.
I see Kurt winning first and foremost, which brings up the issue of punishment not being handed down by TNA. I mean regardless of what you think he means to your product that fact of the matter his not only does he need help, but Kurt is also dragging your name through the mud as a lot of mainstream media outlets have already picked up the story. So allowing Kurt to retain the belt tonight delivers the message that it doesn't matter what you do, TNA will turn a blind eye to your actions. It also delivers the message that perhaps they don't want Angle to get better, which ultimately is the only thing that can makes things better.
The other aspect I want to bring up relates more to the wrestling product itself. The way I see things going down not only has Angle retaining but retaining due to help of Matt Morgan. As much as I try and not compare TNA to old WCW, the booking of the Main Event Mafia just screams late NWO booking. What better way to "swerve" the people than to repeat the process they did with Joe and have Morgan swerve the fans before taking out Sting and letting Angle gain the win. It almost seems painfully obvious with the way the focus of the end of Impact was on Morgan wanting the title and not willing to help them win following weeks of rejection from the Mafia. In the end though it'll just be a cheap ploy, and Morgan will give into the temptation of being a Mafia member rather than being a champion.
Not only do I have issue with the irrational logic that storyline presents but it also throws Morgan right back into a feud with Sting....again. It also takes away some of the momentum behind Morgan's push as all of the fresh main eventers he could have feuded with will be in the stable that he joined. It's simply a not the ideal situation and in fact that only positive thing that could come out of it would be if Sting puts over Morgan to give him the rub. Then again, if this does become the next feud do we really want Sting's final feud (assuming it lasts more than a month) to be with Morgan? Then again who else will he feud with on the way out.
This is one of those times where I hope I'm way off base, and I'll be more than happy to come here tomorrow and type up a quasi apology to TNA for suggesting that their booking is predictable. That isn't up to me though, the ball is in their court. Do the right thing, and prove you aren't what so many people claim you are.
Monday August 17th, 2009
Well TNA, I suppose I owe you an apology for not going for the obvious Morgan "double swerve" and for that I'm sorry. However I can't help but notice that TNA refused to pull the trigger and take the belt off of Angle. Look, I get it you can't just piss away an angle you put so much time and build into right? You can't just suspend the leader of your hottest stable and number one heel. Then again why not? Hell you could have even gone with this setup:
Morgan wins the belt, with help from the other members of the Mafia. Angle is "crushed" by the betrayal and goes into hiding. This can explain his disappearance while he's gone. The MEM's logic can be simple, they felt that Angle was spiraling out of control (a play on real events) and that they needed a more stable person with the belt. They choose Morgan, someone who can carry the MEM torch long after the other members have hung up the tights. It also sets up an Angle face run when he returns from his personal troubles, which the TNA audience will be clamoring for.
Not only that, but with Hernandez carrying around that briefcase now we would have the perfect setup for a good old fashioned big man match.
If nothing else, you could have gone with the safe bet and had Sting capture the title though I loathe that idea but at least he's an established guy. Instead we are left we a troubled man that regardless of whether or not the abuse story is true, still broke the law and still has some serious issues that need to be addressed.
Maybe this whole manner will be settled at the Impact taping or maybe they are hoping Lashley will come in and be their savior. Or just maybe, Angle will remain champion with no major fallout from his actions.
The only thing for sure at this point, is that somewhere Jeff Jarrett has a big smile on his face.
Tuesday August 18th, 2009
Yes it is Tuesday, and for those of you who have made it a habit to dwell around these parts, you should know that I'm going to talk about Raw today. Simply put, Raw was good last night. Was it fantastic? No. Did it involve any five-star classic bouts? No. What it did do, was be consistent. While their may not have been one thing in particular that tore the roof off the building, almost every segment delivered.
I know there are still people out there that will be quick to say "bullshit, Raw sucked." As I brought up a week or so ago though, those of you who constantly say "Raw sucks" week in and week out, what is it that you really want? Now I'm not talking about the guy who likes the show some weeks and hates it others, that's to be expected. Different things appeal to different audiences. What I want to address is the guy or girl who don't even watch the show anymore they just read the results or maybe just one segment and spouts off something like "it's just not as good as it used to be."
The classic days of Raw huh? So what you are wanting is the days of Yokozuna squashing Koko B. Ware? Or maybe Shawn Michaels fighting the futuristic Max Moon? Perhaps you simply miss Stone Cold bathing everyone in beer and delivering stunners week in and week out.
The point is, as fans we sit here and bitch about wanting more wrestling yet when we get more wrestling all we do is bitch about the "good old days." Well news flash, the so called "good old days" were stuffed to the brim with segments over wrestling. I'm not saying those weren't good times, because they were. What I am saying, is that often we are so blinded for our want to have the same feeling we had growing up, that we fail to see that things aren't really that different.
Last night we got treated to a good US title bout between Kofi Kingston and Carlito, a surprisingly good match between The Miz and Evan Bourne, a match that served as a preview for the upcoming MVP/Jack Swagger SummerSlam bout, a good women's match between the top two faces of the division, and a main event that didn't feature a crappy countout or disqualification finish.
You want new faces and a chance for the next generation to shine? Well it doesn't get much better than that. Then for those who assumed that DX would eat up half the show with their antics, they were treated to a beatdown at the hands of the second generation stars of "Priceless".
In fact that only segment I honestly didn't care for was the Chavo/Hornswoggle bit for the sheer fact that it's insanely played out. All in all you couldn't ask for much of a better show.
Wednesday August 19th, 2009
The internet in terms of wrestling is a tricky beast. On one hand without it fans from all over the world wouldn't get the chance to interact quite the way that they do, and hell I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing right now. At the same time though our views wouldn't be quite as slanted "knowing" the backstage happenings.
Then again the internet allows people to perhaps look into aspects of wrestling that would have been overlooked by them prior. For instance without the internet I would have missed some of the better ECW days, and I wouldn't even know of ROH's existence at the moment.
It also allows people to read and catch up on parts of the wrestling history that they missed due to not watching at the time. Though this does sometimes pose a problem as one of my biggest pet peeves is people who browse the history of certain matches yet never actually view them, and still try to form an opinion. The same can be said for certain time periods. For instance, someone who never watched a bit of wrestling from 1992 yet call SummerSlam of that year one of the best cards of all time, without even viewing it.
Beside the "smarter than you" attitude some develop towards the history thanks to the internet, some of us fall into the category of convenience and choose to read spoilers and results without watching the shows. Much like the people listed above, these people try and form opinions of a wrestling show based on results alone. Case in point, I don't have access to Smackdown at the moment and thus it would be silly for me to comment on the show itself.
Furthermore, you also get people who read the supposed headlines and think we know about the behind the scenes actions involved with the business. Fact of the matter is, every news rumor you read is simply a spin story. 90% of the time the rumor is based on a misinterpretation, an exaggeration, or maybe even just complete imagination all together.
What I'm trying to say in this rant is simple: the internet can be a solid tool for wrestling fans and a great means of furthering your wrestling horizons and maybe even learn about some of the history you may have missed. Just don't buy into the other crap that comes along with it. Sure it may be fun to read rumors just like it's funny to laugh at Bat Boy in the Weekly World News, but to become so far removed from reality that we start believing in the existence of "Bat Boy" only leaves us looking foolish in the end.
Thursday August 20th, 2009
Ugh, crazy day of work my fellow readers so I apologize in advance for what will more than likely be a brief edition.
So unfortunately I missed ECW this past Tuesday and apparently they have set William Regal up with a new stable. As some of you may or may not remember, not so long ago I had a go at talking about the small amount of stables in today's product. While I'm not the biggest supporters of Zeke and Kozlov, I do think Kozlov has actually shown some improvement in the past months. Zeke, I'm still on the fence about for the sheer fact that I haven't had the chance to see a lot of his in ring work.
On the plus side though, Kozlov has needed a mouthpiece since day one so putting him with Regal will do nothing but make his character better. Not only that, but Regal is a criminally underrated wrestler at times and putting him with two guys you are trying to push can do nothing but help them in every department.
Another thing I like about this, is the fact that you've just surrounded Regal with two monsters which upgrades his standing on the roster immediately. From a character standpoint, he now has two behemoths backing him and I see him really running over top a good portion of the ECW roster.
The only downside to this equation is the fact that I'm not a big fan of abbreviated title reigns but at the same time really would like to see Regal capture a title and get to be the main guy on a show. Obviously something has to give seeing as Christian hasn't had the belt back very long, and Regal is the current #1 contender.
If nothing else it's nice to see Regal finally getting another chance to shine following his depushing after his drug suspension. I've said it a ton of times but Regal was one hell of a television champion in his early WCW days, and even had a solid IC run in his WWE days. Point being give the guy a chance to shine with a bigger belt, he really has earned it.
Friday August 21th, 2009
A little something different today, then again I guess if I strive to change things up on a daily basis it becomes a bit redundant to state the obvious. Anyway, today marks the end of an era (at least for now) for a fellow main page columnist. Mr. Shinobi is stepping down due to circumstances that will not allow him to have the time needed to write columns. While lately me and Joey have had a bit of conflicting schedules and thus haven't chatted as much lately, I still consider him to be one of my better friends from the MP.
Plus I've always felt connected in my writing to Joey for the simple fact that we won consecutive COTMs and were also called up in consecutive months as well. Joey is one of those guys that is a pure technician with his writing. Almost every column I've ever read by Joey has made me say "I could never pull that off." While I am certainly content with my more off the wall stuff, I've always been envious of his straight forward approach and his ability to make the reader's journey from point A to point B; worth the trip.
While it always sucks to see good writers walk away, it sucks a little bit more when you feel that they've yet to accomplish their best work. It would be hypocritical of me to want anything more though, as I've taken a few hiatuses in my time as well.
In closing, yes I understand this is just a hobby for us and all of us on the main page have very different approaches. The one common denominator though is for one reason or another we all decide to take time out of our everyday life to write about wrestling.
Joey, it's a shame to see you go but I expect you'll be back somewhere down the line. In the meantime all I can do is to not only thank you for the help (more than you know sometimes) and thanks for remaining honest with your work. Some people would be content with keeping their spot and putting out half ass columns, but you decided to give the opportunity to someone else.
For my reader's not named Joey, things will be back to normal tomorrow.
Saturday August 22nd, 2009
With SummerSlam around the corner I thought I'd give some thoughts on the card.
Kane vs The Great Khali I hate to come off as an asshole, but I really have next to no interest in this match. There first feud a few years ago really wasn't very good, and I can't see a good match happening here. I'm going to predict Kane for the sheer fact that he needs the win and Khali got the nod last time.
MVP vs Jack Swagger Both of these guys need a win here but what you have to think about is which victor creates the biggest benefit. While MVP is over and could use a big win, where does it take him? With Cena, HHH, and HBK all as the top faces his stock has already fallen a bit. Swagger on the other hand could use the win to help get over as a top heel on Raw, which with some many faces it's needed badly. Swagger wins.
Christian vs William Regal I really want Regal to win and think he's in for a big push (as mentioned before) but I don't think this will be his night. I'm thinking it'll be more of a case of a DQ win to continue the feud, but Christian
Rey Mysterio vs Dolph Ziggler This is a wildcard for me. I so badly want to say that Ziggler is taking the belt home, but I also see that I'm predicting victory for a lot of heels and just can't see it. Though I won't be surprised if I'm wrong I'm going to officially call Mysterio the winner. Dolph really could use the belt, but I think Mysterio will hang on a little longer.
Jerishow vs Cryme Tyme Logically it would seem that Jericho and Big Show will win this one but who exactly is the face tag team they'll fight next? I think it's more logically to think that Jericho and Big Show were simply help get the tag belts over. Cryme Tyme gets the win here, more than likely due to a Jericho/Big Show miscue. Shad and JTG will go on to feud with the Hart Dynasty while Jericho and Big Show will feud with each other.
DX vs Legacy Hopefully this feud gets more than the one match treatment as Ted and Cody could really use the rub. At the same time, there is no way that HBK loses on his first night back in the ring. We'll see what the aftermath holds for these four but DX gets the victory.
CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy Hell of a feud and a nice slow burn to Punk's heel turn. While I don't agree with the logic of all of these short World title reigns, I think there is no way Punk doesn't do some serious damage to Jeff to really get over. I wouldn't even be surprised to see some sort of injury angle. Either way, Punk wins
Orton vs Cena Orton has been the top heel for awhile and Cena has been sitting patiently to the side, now any longer though. This feud won't end at SummerSlam but Cena is taking the belt here. Conveniently enough, isn't there a PPV coming up that the main matches are "submission" bouts? Also doesn't Cena use a submission finisher? Thought so.
Kind of curious how things play out, since I have a lot of heels winning and all of Legacy losing. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Orton held on to Breaking Point but I think it makes more sense for Cena to win at a major PPV.
As always I am the Monkey, and you've just seen the world through my eyes.
Send all feedback to monkeyweasel9821@yahoo.com and be sure to check back for the daily updates to this column.
