First let me take this time and apologize to those who were expecting a new "Eyes of a Monkey" this weekend. Real life kind of got in the way. Translation: back to school time is right around the corner and we spent much of the weekend taking my oldest out to get some new clothes and supplies. I'll make it up to you, or not who knows. That's part of the fun, consider it my little gift to you. The gift of suspense.
Sunday August 23rd, 2009
So as of this typing SummerSlam has officially started and as should be obvious by my typing here, I didn't get the event. There are a combination of factors as to why I didn't feel the need to purchase it, but the bottom line is that I didn't think the price tag was fitting of the card. That's not to say there isn't some serious potential, it's just that 40 bucks is a little steep.
I'm not here to state the obvious though, I'm actually here to back up a claim I made yesterday. Or maybe contradict it, it's a little unclear at this point. You see yesterday in my predictions I made two assumptions. Number one, that John Cena and Randy Orton will headline SummerSlam. My primary argument for this is as well as my second assumption, is that I feel that Cena will take home the gold, and history dictates that SummerSlam loves to send the crowd home happy. Want proof? Of course you do.
SummerSlam 1988, the first year of the event. The main event featured the ultimate wrestling "face" Hulk Hogan teaming up with Randy Savage to form the Mega Powers. Their opponents on this night would be The Megabucks, Ted Dibiase and Andre the Giant. When the smoke had cleared the Megapowers walked away with the win, giving the faces a 1-0 lead in the SummerSlam main event.
SummerSlam 1989, I guess there was something about Hogan and Savage in tag team bouts at SummerSlam as the two were at it again. This time on opposite sides as Hogan and his partner Brutus Beefcake would take on Randy Savage and Zeus. It was meant to be a cross promotion for the movie "No Holds Barred" and much like the film, Hogan pulled out the victory. Faces lead 2-0.
SummerSlam 1990 would be the first to feature a standard singles bout as the main event. It would bring the Ultimate Warrior, a few months removed from his victory over Hogan at Wrestlemania facing a man whom he had feuded with over the Intercontinental title the year prior, Rick Rude. At the end of the day, Warrior walked out the champion and gave the faces a 3-0 lead.
SummerSlam 1991 had us getting back to the roots with yet another tag team main event. Though the twist was the fact that it was a handicap match between Hogan and Warrior versus Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, and General Adnan. Unfortunately, with the exception of the Hart/Perfect match, this bout didn't really have very high standards to live up to since the card was pretty weak all around. That didn't stop another Hogan win and yet another victory for the good guys. Faces lead 4-0.
SummerSlam 1992, a bit of a tricky situation here as the main event of Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith featured two faces. Be that as it may, Davey Boy was obviously the more over of the two being in his home country and his win gave the faces a 5-0 lead. This would also mark a significant moment in time as the Intercontinental title match actually got higher billing than the World title match. Doubt you'll see that again anytime soon.
SummerSlam 1993, I hate seeing bullshit finishes at pay-per-views much less a main event. I figure you pay the money for the bout, you deserve to see a clear cut winner. Well SummerSlam 93 would feature Yokozuna defend his belt against Lex Luger. While Luger did win, it was by count out, which meant he didn't walk out with the gold. Still, that's a 6-0 face lead at this point.
SummerSlam 1994 featured a main event where the same man would fight himself. The Undertaker vs The Undertaker would main event the 94 event. One was a heel Undertaker (Brian Lee) led by Ted Dibiase while the other was the Undertaker we all love led by Paul Bearer. Pretty standard match that mainly served to bring the real Undertaker back to t.v. Therefore, face Taker wins and the faces take a commanding 7-0 lead.
SummerSlam 1995 had one of the worst SummerSlam main events ever. Maybe it was just because I was a huge Diesel fan, and he said he'd jacknife King Mabel, and didn't even attempt to. Or maybe it was because the match ended out of nowhere and was super short. Either way, thanks to Diesel...faces lead 8-0.
SummerSlam 1996 would bring one of the biggest monster heels from New Japan and WCW to WWF. Very underrated match here between Vader and HBK. Want to take a stab at who won? Yep, faces lead 9-0.
SummerSlam 1997, another screwy match and this was almost a win for a heel but Bret wasn't a heel yet. He did have heat with HBK (face) but HBK actually became a heel shortly after, and Bret was more of a tweener at the time. Still I guess technically it was a loss for the face. Faces lead 9-1.
SummerSlam 1998, Stone Cold was over like rover and went down the highway to hell to face the Undertaker. A stunner later, and Austin had retained his belt and put the faces back on track 10-1.
SummerSlam 1999, a triple threat featuring two faces and a heel. Steve Austin versus Mankind versus Triple H. I remember watching the card live and knowing for sure it would come down to either Austin or Hunter winning, boy was I wrong. Foley picks up a huge win and gives the fans another reason to cheer. 11-1 face lead.
SummerSlam 2000 featured another triple threat main event in a year in which pay-per-views were dominated by multi-man matches. The Rock was the face champion, Kurt Angle was the newcomer on a roll and Triple H was the man looking for revenge against the man whom he felt was hitting on his woman. When all was said and done, the differences between Angle and Hunter were too much of a distraction and the Rock picked up the win for the faces, giving them the 12-1 lead.
SummerSlam 2001 would feature an odd main event, as WWF gave a former WCW wrestler; Booker T, a chance to headline SummerSlam. It would also mark the first time the WCW belt would headline the ppv. Too bad Booker T was a heel, because that led to a win by the Rock giving the good guys a 13-1 lead.
SummerSlam 2002 would be another strange one to call. On the surface The Rock was face and Brock was heel. However, with Rock getting ready to leave to film another movie he was pretty hated by the crowd and very openly booed. Brock, the heel was actually cheered as if he was the face. So while the heel may have won the match, he was clearly the guy the fans wanted to win that night. Heels win by a technicality but faces lead 13-2.
SummerSlam 2003 would mark the first back to back wins for heels as Triple H would retain in an elimination chamber bout against Goldberg, HBK, Orton, Nash, and Jericho. Faces lead 13-3.
SummerSlam 2004 would be similar to 2002 in more ways than one. Once again we had a young man (Orton) looking to become the youngest world champion ever. At the same time even when the heel Orton won the match, he was cheered as a face by a good portion of the crowd and even became a face the next night. With the heel win, the margin was narrowed to a 13-4 face lead.
SummerSlam 2005 featured the ultimate icon showdown between Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan. In one of the dumbest booking moves (makes no sense to have a one time appearance wrestler go over a full time wrestler) Hogan went over the heel for one event HBK. On the bright side the win got the faces back on track.
SummerSlam 2006, interesting to note that this match featured John Cena vs Edge. In a very shocking move, Edge would go over Cena in his own hometown to give again close the gap to 14-5.
SummerSlam 2007 would feature the same main event that I'm predicting for 2009; Orton vs Cena. Statistics came back to haunt Orton though as Cena got the win for the faces and also prevented himself from losing back to back SummerSlam main events. Faces take the lead 15-5.
SummerSlam 2008 would feature the Undertaker destroying Edge in a classic HIAC bout to give the faces the 16-5 edge (pun intended).
So looking at the stat line, it would seem on the surface that a Cena win in the main event is a safe bet with faces winning 16 out of 21 times. However, as you look closer the things that stick out to me are:
1.) Cena has lost a main event at SummerSlam as a face before, which just goes to show that he's not a sure thing pick.
2.) Orton has won a main event at SummerSlam as a heel before, which means it's not a sure thing that he'll lose.
3.) Furthermore, Cena has beaten Orton in a SummerSlam main event before. So does that mean Cena has the advantage since he's done it before, or does it mean that Orton is now due the win? Even though I stand firm in my prediction of Cena, perhaps it's not as clear cut as I once thought.
Monday August 24th, 2009
I guess I did moderately well on the prediction calling 5/8 of the bouts but I called all aspects of the Orton/Cena bout wrong, though I still believe Cena is capturing the belt at Breaking Point without a doubt. That being said, though I didn't see the ppv I'll give my thoughts on the outcomes.
MVP vs Jack Swagger While I don't have anything against MVP winning, I just don't see where the win takes him. With the midcard title being held by a face and the main event scene being dominated by Cena, HHH, and HBK there just isn't much room for growth. While I hope for the best for him, I can't see the win leading to much. Even if hypothetically he was being groomed for another US title run, it seems that Miz is next in line there.
Christian vs William Regal I didn't like it when Benoit did it to Orlando Jordan and I didn't like it here. Plus aren't they pushing Regal? How does jobbing in 8 seconds help get you over?
DX vs Legacy Went down exactly how I figured, DX gets the win but still makes Legacy look strong in the process.
Mysterio vs Ziggler Dolph has really won me over with what I've seen from him and I do think singles gold is in his future, just not yet. I could even see him capturing the belt as soon as Smackdown, but time will tell.
Cryme Tyme vs Jerishow Like MVP/Swagger, it's not that I mind Jericho and Big Show winning at all. The problem I have is what is next? Who exactly are the two faces they feud with for the belts? I suppose the feud could continue or maybe a DX feud could go down. Then again, do we really want to push four of our top singles guys into the tag division? At this time I got to put money on continuing the feud with Cryme Tyme with the eventual ending that I called for SummerSlam going down.
Kane vs Khali The right guy won, and that's all there really is to say.
Orton vs Cena Nice to see this feud continue and I guess Orton avenges his loss from 07 at SummerSlam. The restarts were a bit much but it'll be interesting to see if the "fan", aka Brett Dibiase works his way into Legacy.
Punk vs Hardy Sounded like a great match, and nice to see another heel victory close out the show. Not only that, but yet again Punk and Hardy get to headline a pay-per-view. Also set us up with an upcoming Punk/Undertaker feud would could give Punk a major rub if done properly. Even if he jobs the belt to the Undertaker, to look strong enough to go toe to toe with the "deadman" will still make Punk look good.
All in all SummerSlam sounded pretty solid, and I might even have to look into checking it out once it hits DVD shelves.
Before I go today I also want to touch on the other major storyline from yesterday, and that being that the American Dragon "Bryan Danielson" has officially signed with the WWE.
At the moment, I'm not sure how I feel. Obviously I'm happy for him, as making it to the WWE is the ultimate goal of any Indy wrestler. Hopefully he'll have more success than Colt Cobana and get a chance to shine properly. Then again, back when Punk was jobbing to Hardcore Holly on ECW few would have predicted him to be a 3-time World Champ by now.
Ideally he will go to FCW for a bit before reporting to ECW. Let him build up his WWE fanbase by appearing on ECW and once he's established move him over to Smackdown.
Danielson has quite the task in front of him at the moment, for years he's been called the best Indy guy in the world and now he has to prove it to the WWE fans. Then again if there is anybody that is up to it.....
Tuesday August 25th, 2009
First off let me start by saying that for those of you who are unaware, "The Rise and Fall of WCW" DVD came out today and I encourage all the WCW fans to go out and pick it up. While I haven't watched the match portions yet I have seen most of the matches and they did a pretty solid job representing the different time periods. They also did a pretty good job with the documentary portion, giving it just under two hours. One of the better WWE releases, and they seem to be on a role lately. That's all I say for now since I have future plans to talk about WCW.
For now, I'll get to the typical Tuesday musings that I do; and that's focus on Raw. Last night was a mixed bag for me, as it did feature a few good matches in the six diva tag bout, the MVP/Henry vs Jerishow, and even the main event. Then again that was really the main thing we got.
I'm not sure if the whole Mayweather thing being late was legit or not, but even if so I find it hard to believe that you have nothing you can put together to fill time. That opening sequence was just painfully bad, and what made it worse was the fact that it stretched over one fourth of the broadcast. Think about that for a second, an opening talk segment was the longest segment on the entire show.
It's like ever since the success of the old "This is your life" segment with the Rock and Mankind did so great in the ratings, they've tried numerous times to make similar segments and in essence capture lightening in a bottle for a second time. The problem is, the original segment that they are cheaply imitating wasn't even that good to begin with. So when you make lesser quality knockoffs, you start to really scrape the bottom of the barrel. That's not a knock to Hunter or Shawn because honestly nobody could have made that segment entertaining.
The Diva's six way tag was ok, nothing groundbreaking but good nonetheless. However, the issue with that match is it just seems that WWE are literally throwing ideas against a wall as it pertains to the next challenger to Mickie James' belt. They've gone from Beth Phoenix to Gail Kim to now apparently Alicia Fox.
I will admit to being pleasantly surprised by the MVP/Henry vs Jerishow bout but that also probably had a lot to do with Henry's small amount of involvement. Would have been better to see the duo have a chance to grow together as a team rather than thrown together, I do think a tag team is best for Henry. It's obvious the guy isn't the best wrestler in the world and putting him with another guy may help hide some of his flaws.
Chavo vs Hornswoggle is so played out I don't even wish to comment on it. Which is the downside, while impending Chavo/Bourne matches may be solid I think Chavo's credability is way too shot for it to matter at this point.
Miz vs Santino, see above. I love Santino I really do, but he'll never be taken seriously as a wrestler due to the comedy stuff. Shame too, because I think he has potential to balance both. My point, what does a win over Santino accomplish for the Miz?
The main event was decent, though I'm not too big on Vince pinning the World champion even if it was due to John Cena's interference. I mean why exactly wasn't Cena in the match in Vince's place? Icon or not, that was just a case of self-indulgence on his birthday for Vince.
All in all a pretty mediocre show in terms of overall quality. The little wrestling that we got was decent, but that beginning segment just set the wrong tone for the entire show.
Well that's all I got for today.
Wednesday August 26th, 2009
Have you ever been embarrassed to tell someone you are a wrestling fan? It's something that I've never really understood. Yet I've heart countless of my peers mention it before, that they were afraid to mention their passion for wrestling to others. I ask why?
I use to catch shit back in the day and people who stop by on wrestling nights still might give me a little bit of shit, but I've never been shy of sharing my passion for this hobby. On a side note, watching wrestling with non-fans who make stupid comments every five seconds is one of the most annoying things in the world. That in itself is a whole different discussion for another time.
I will admit there have been times where the product made me shake my head and find it hard to justify being a fan. Off the top of my head, Mae Young giving birth to a hand and the Katie Vick storyline. You can also add in about 90% of last days WCW.
Even after such times though, I always find myself still tuning in. I guess I've yet to reach that point where the product disgusts me to the point of no return. In that aspect I suppose I just look at is as what it is, a unique form of entertainment and certain things appeal to separate people.
Before I completely lose my point here in my half awake stupor (work was killer), I still can't perceive why someone would treat something they care about it in such a way. It's almost as if they are ashamed, and don't want people to know what they do in the comfort of their home. Maybe even ordering their wrestling DVDs under an assumed name, or perhaps even carrying them in a thick brown bag like some sort of pornography.
Nobody wants to chance the backlash of mockery that would befall them by admitting they are a fan of wrestling. "Wrestling? Nah, I don't touch the stuff. That stuff is gay."
I guess they do have a point, since it appears as if the fans live in the closet.
Sorry GLAAD, Vince saying "gay" on Raw made me think it was ok.
Thursday August 27th, 2009
Ten Things TNA Needs to do to Improve the Product
Yep I may not be the most qualified but it never stopped me before. So in no particular, let's get this thing rolling.
10.) X-Division? What do you mean X-Division? When TNA started the X-Division carried the company. Even when they went to Spike at first they still managed to push the guys at first, but the division has simply fallen apart. For a while there I was willing to accept the change if it meant that guys like Daniels, Styles, and Joe would move into the main card, and who could argue about the great pairing of the Motor City Machine Guns. All the moves did realistically though was strip it's most popular division of it's top stars while more or less using the above names as enhancement talent for other upper tier guys. They seem to be trying to regain some of the glory by throwing Daniels and Joe back into the mix as well as adding in guys like Homicide and Suicide(<--- seems like they should form a tag team called "Death FTW")and even bringing back the Amazing Red (even if he's not that Amazing anymore). Will it breathe new life into the division? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
09.) Sports Entertainment Should Be Entertaining Don't take this the wrong way TNA, but 90% of your roster simply aren't entertaining in a non-wrestling capacity. That's fine though, that's what I used to love about TNA. They would shut up and wrestle. Now they try so hard to have a show chock full of entertainment to compete with the WWE, that they are oblivious to the fact that they come as a B-movie. Case in point, AJ Styles is great in the ring but put a microphone in his hand and you might as well have a segment with Abyss and ODB are cooking laxative brownies for JB. The end result is always shit. (Worst set up for a joke ever, but I'm leaving it.)
08.) Fire Russo I know the guy catches a bunch of crap and for all I know some of his ideas are some of the better ones BUT too bad. The guy has always had a way of overbooking and over complicating things, and his big claim to fame had more to do with the stars than it did him. If anything they should only keep him around as a business model for what not to do? "Oh, you say we should have 3 false finishes and end the match with a double heel swerve right before the lights go out and Buff Bagwell attacks Mike Tenay? I got a better idea, how about we just let Hernandez win clean."
07.) Announce the Signing of a New Announcer The Taz transition for Don West works for me but Mike Tenay still is the same boring ass announcer as he was calling the Lucha matches in WCW. Who would I sign? Hell I don't know, but can you really get any worse?
06.) Grow a Set of Balls The knockouts get fired over trivial shit yet Angle is running around like Britney Spears and he goes unpunished. That is of course assuming that Dixie doesn't have some crazy ass 10 inch strapon called "creative control" that she fucks people who screw up with. Either way, Dixie needs to do something before it's too late. We all know what the next logical step for Kurt is....yep, he's going to forget to wear under and flash his cock to some unsuspecting photographer. The "balls" are in your court Dixie.
05.) Silence the Mafia How did this angle make it this far. In their prime I was a huge Nash and Steiner fan, hell I still love Nash even if his window is all but shut. Steiner is so worn from so many factors that it's almost painful to watch him wrestle sometimes. Then they throw in Booker T with the catch being that he must add like a complete moron, and front the thing up with Killer Kurt. Nevermind the ignorant additions of Joe and Taz. I guess the main thing that bugs me about these guys is that instead of actually using some established guys to get over your "stars of the future" you instead bury them and throw all the gold on the Mafia. Now you are stuck on a situation where absolutely nobody appears to be a credible threat to the Mafia....except for Lashley. Yep, pushing a part time wrestler to the moon makes perfect sense.
Sometimes it's best to leave the audience desiring more, and for now I'm going to do just that. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the conclusion of the list.
Friday August 28th, 2009
04.) Elevate, Elevate, Elevate. Yes, this is sort of a rehash of the above but it needs repeating. In order to thrive as a company you must not just cater to the present but also the future. While your current crop of main event guys may be serving you fine at the moment, the truth is those guys aren't getting any younger. Youth is definitely something TNA is not short on, they just need to make sure to push these guys to the top. What if a guy like Alex Shelly is right on the cusp of breaking out, yet you never let him reach his full potential. Do you really want to have to reflect on the superstar that got away? Remember how Austin Aries fared in TNA? Talk about wasted talent.
03.) Continue to push the women. That's right, I'm actually praising something TNA is doing. Some people will cry bullshit and give me the tired "women can't wrestle" speech and I will have to disagree. I'm not going to sit and pretend to be the world's biggest fan of women's wrestling, but when done properly it can be a great thing. Over time though, organizations (namely WWE) shifted towards a "looks over talent" mindset that really set the division back a while. TNA is the first mainstream company (yes mainstream) that actually pushes their women at that level in this day and age. They've even created a Knockouts Tag Title. Point being, what TNA is doing with their women is obviously working in terms of viewership and hopefully it'll change the way people look at the female side of wrestling.
02.) Tone Down the Matches Trying new things is one thing but when the attempt at being innovative outweighs the quality of the delivered product, then you have a problem. Look no further than the King of the Mountain match, the concept itself could be cool but it becomes a clusterfuck due to the number of participants as well as the asinine penalty box thing. It's not just match types though it's the over booking of finishes. While I will admit they have improved lately, sometimes it seems they went to the ECW school of overbooking. We just need the lights to cut out three times during a match with multiple run ins, 4 ref bumps, and fan interference.
01.) Shake Things Up Sometimes it takes an outside eye to stand back and figure out the flaws that it's hard to see when you are so deeply invested into the product. Jeff Jarrett has been in the business for years and has way more wrestling knowledge than Dixie Carter, but it's still a business at the end of the day. Rearranging the internal structure may not be the worst idea. I'm not saying get rid of Jeff Jarrett, I'm simply saying integrate his role and Dixie's role. It may be Jeff's vision and he got them to the dance, but it's almost like they've hit a wall and have grown complacent with where they are at now. You can't always wait for opportunity to come to you, sometimes you got to just take the bull by the horns and not be afraid to take a chance. They aren't all going to pay off, and you do have to apply logic and reasoning; but it can't be denied it's time for changes.
That being said, I'm slowly working my way back into the TNA product. It's definitely seen better days, but things are starting to level back off and we are getting some solid bouts. Hopefully they'll pick up some momentum and maybe we'll be in for some changes.
Saturday August 29th, 2009
Tonight is the night for MMA fans, as two legends of the sport in Randy Couture and Antonio Nogueira will clash at UFC 102. The fight is an important one as both are coming off loses and are looking to bounce back. In Randy's case he is coming off his return to the UFC in which he lost his heavyweight championship to current champion Brock Lesnar. In Nogueira's case he is coming off a knockout loss to the man whom Lesnar just destroyed; Frank Mir.
For Randy, he is looking to prove that nobody tells him when his time is up. He is out to let everyone know that he still plans on contending and being a force to reckon with. While he didn't particularly look bad in his fight against Lesnar, he definitely didn't look like "the Natural" we've come to know and love throughout the years. Then again, Randy has always had a way of proving his naysayers wrong and he managed to win the Heavyweight championship after most thought his career was over. At the same time, there always has to be an ending.
Nogueira's loss was a bit more humbling though. Not only did he get completely out fought, he simply looked almost like an amateur against Mir. The most profound aspect of the fight, was the way in which "Nog" lost. He fell victim to a knockout via Mir's strikes, something he has never been known for. I fully expect Noguerira to be in rare form tonight.
Which brings us to a crossroads. If Randy loses tonight, I do expect it to be one of , if not the final, nail in the coffin in his career. Though if he does lose, there should be no shame whatsoever. On the other hand if Noguerira loses I don't think it will spell the end, I do however think it'll be a huge setback.
Either way you look at it the fight should be entertaining and my gut tells me to go with Noguerira on this one. I simply believe that "Nog" wasn't prepared properly for the Mir fight and he will approach the fight with Randy with increased intensity and determination.
Here's hoping for an all around night of solid fights.
As always I'm the Monkey, and you've just seen the world through my eyes.
Feel free to send all feedback to monkeyweasel9821@yahoo.com
