DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu - Backlash Review, The Draft Lottery Aftermath + DVD's
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 at 4:44 PM EST




THE WRESTLING MENU #84

Welcome one and all to the 84th edition of 'The Wrestling Menu', the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

I went 6 from 7 on my predictions for Backlash. I tend to always pick one upset & it really annoys me when I get all my predictions correct, except for the upset. I think I would prefer to get 2 unpredictable matches incorrect & predict the upset correctly, rather than this. Maybe Backlash was a little too predictable. Well, apart from the fact that Batista didn't come down & help Ric Flair in his match!!! Big Dave should be kicked out of Evolution for that. I mean, what in the hell was he doing at the time...??? Practicing helping Randy Orton from the ring!!!

Speaking of predictions... My prediction from not long after the start of Survivor - All Stars was Kathy. Unfortunately, she just got booted out. It seems that Rob currently has more power than I gave him credit for. I still can't see him winning it though. I really have no clue who will win now.

On with the show that is 'The Wrestling Menu'.....


APPETIZERS - Before They Were Superstars

I have to admit something that may lose me a lot of respect amongst all the so-called smart wrestling fans out there (I'm saying this a little tongue in cheek, folks); I actually like the 'Before They Were Superstars' DVD's. Don't get me wrong, while I have both versions in my collection, I would never go out & buy them at full price. In fact, I got both of these at half price. But I just like them as a nice change of pace. They are informative to some extent, and they are also quite motivational and/or inspirational in spots.

Way back in edition #26 of 'The Wrestling Menu', I spoke very briefly about the original 'Before They Were Superstars' DVD. I mentioned then that I enjoyed it, even though I didn't have very much to write about it. While the main portion of the DVD was enjoyable enough, I especially liked the extras. And it wasn't always for the focus of the extra itself. Chris Jericho wasn't even featured on the DVD, yet took part in a couple of hilarious putdowns. The Lita extra showed her debut as valet to Essa Rios. His opponent that night was Gillberg & it was great to see his hilarious entrance again.

On top of this, we got the DVD equivalents to rookie trading cards (although not quite as rare & valuable), with matches such as Molly Holly (aka Starla Saxton) vs Jackie, Justin 'Hawk' Bradshaw vs The Undertaker, Jeff Hardy vs Rob Van Dam, and The Smokin' Gunns defeating 'Spark Plugg' Bob Holly & The 1-2-3 Kid to win the WWE Tag-Team Championships. Throw in a few Edge, Christian & Kurt Angle segments & you have quite a good lineup.

The second installment of the 'Before They Were Superstars' collection is pretty much more of the same, but a little better balanced. The main section of the DVD stretches out from approximately 70 to 100 minutes, while the extras are cut down to under an hour this time around. I really liked the main portion of the DVD. Hardly any superstar focus was boring, while the extra 3-4 minutes per wrestler gave greater insight into their upbringing. I think my favorite spotlight was on Tazz. Especially when he was recalling his WWE debut against Kurt Angle at the 2000 Royal Rumble.

While the extras were shorter in quantity, the quality had not been reduced all that much. From Al Snow's story of training with Ole & Gene Anderson, to 1987 footage of RVD kissing Ted Dibiase's feet for $100 on WWE television, the footage is top-notch. Again, the matches were fascinating. WWF debuts of The Rockers' in 1988, Al Snow (as Avatar) in 1995 & John Cena in 2002 are all excellent collectors matches. While Chris Jericho's WCW debut against Alex Wright from 1996 is also interesting. Also shown is a match between Torrie Wilson & Tygress from Sydney-Australia, the Tazz vs Mikey Whipwreck match when ECW initially invaded Raw (& Sabu jumped from the 'RAW' sign), and Christopher Nowinski's Tough Enough audition tape.

All in all, I really think that both these DVD's are worth a watch. Especially in a family environment with people who may not be as much into professional wrestling as you & I. It shows the WWE superstars as actually what they are; Real people. While it informs without completely taking away the kayfabe of the industry. I'd recommend thinking about purchasing either of these DVD's if you ever see them discounted, or renting them to view if they are indeed available to rent.


MAIN - Backlash Review

For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key that explains what the final PPV Rating means:

<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F]
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: Armageddon '03)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Royal Rumble '04 & No Way Out '04)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: SummerSlam '03)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: WrsetleMania 20)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: WrestleMania 19)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: SummerSlam '02)
80+ : Make sure that the video or dvd is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

SHELTON BENJAMIN defeated RIC FLAIR: I'm unsure if this was the correct choice as opener. I would have gone with the Jericho match to really get the crowd hot right from the beginning. I had the feeling the crowd didn't know who to cheer in this bout. But having said that, I personally liked most of this match. I thought that the characters would play well off of each other, and they did. Benjamin continued to impress me, while I liked some of the attention to detail in this good psychological bout. A good example was Shelton's failed attempt to block Flair's 2nd figure-four leglock. This 10 minute match needed another 3-4 minutes though, and the finish was way too anti-climactic. Benjamin needs an established finisher to progress. Have I asked where the hell was Batista as yet in this column!?!?!? Match Rating...7

JONATHAN COACHMAN defeated TAJIRI: Ummm, am I allowed to say that I didn't mind this 6 minute match...??? Well, I've just stated that I liked the 'Before They Were Superstars' DVD, so I may as well continue digging my own grave!!! Now I wasn't expecting much from this bout, so I'm probably taking that too much into account. But I really think that this was a pleasant surprise. The crowd were very quiet, but they may have been in shock at the decent quality of Coach's wrestling skills. Coach dominated too much of the match for my liking, but the main criticism of this bout doesn't stand up, in my opinion. It's that Tajiri had to sell for Coach's weak offense. That's not entirely true. Tajiri had to sell his own mistake. He was selling the injury to his leg that was caused when Coach ducked & Tajiri kicked the ringpost. In a short match such as this, it's realistic that an injury such as that can have such a dramatic effect. The interference finish was extremely predictable (even if Cade being the person wasn't). And finally, Coach deserves massive props for taking that wicked kick to the back of the head, while tied to the tree of woe. Match Rating...6

CHRIS JERICHO defeated CHRISTIAN & TRISH STRATUS in a Handicap Match: Entertaining match from both a wrestling & entertainment perspective. Jericho & Christian undoubtedly work well together, while Trish was thrown in for some humor & variety. Funnily enough, the humor didn't do anything for me, yet I'm glad that Trish was a performer in this match. The reason for this is because there appeared to be way too many spots that were similar to their WrestleMania 20 singles match. I won't be too critical of the bout because of this, but I do think that it signalled that this feud may not have too many more places to go. NOTE: I have yet to see their Raw opener as at the time of posting this column. Match Rating...7

VICTORIA defeated LITA to Retain the WWE Women's Title: Now this was an interesting experiment; Attempting to have a technical 7 minute wrestling match involving Lita!!! This may sound contradictory, but it sort of did & didn't work. It resulted in an extremely deliberately paced match. This worked well in some sequences, but just came off as if it was a match in slow motion for most set pieces. I think the WWE sort of had the right idea with the experiment, but just got a little too ambitious. Especially seeing as though Lita was involved. However, I really don't mind it when the women wrestlers try something different. They should be commended for doing so. Interesting is the word I keep coming back to with regards to this match. Match Rating...5

RANDY ORTON defeated 'CACTUS JACK' MICK FOLEY in a Falls Count Anywhere, No Holds Barred Match: Not quite Foley vs Triple H from January 2000, but still a more than satisfactory hardcore match. Many of the spots were a little too telegraphed & not natural or unpredictable enough to make this an instant classic, but that's being a little too picky. Foley did carry the bout to a certain extent, but Orton's performance shouldn't be under-estimated... especially at his age!!! There was definitely enough action during this 23 minutes to not disappoint anyone. My match of the night (if only just). Match Rating...8

THE HURRICANE & ROSEY defeated LA RESISTANCE: How do you rate a match when the camera is hardly on the combatants!?!?!? This was simply a 5 minute filler bout to (a) cool the crowd down after the streetfight & (b) give Eugene more comedy time. As for the actual bout, it did indeed have some brief moments of spark. But it was predominantly a short & messy match. But how could we fully tell, as the camera was on Eugene for most of the time. Oh that's right, it did go back to the match just in time to see a botched 'Eye Of The Hurricane' finish!!! Match Rating...4

EDGE defeated KANE: Extremely ho-hum & predictable 7 minute match. Nothing too awful, but nothing was done to make this bout anything more than mediocre. That's a little disappointing in my opinion, as further intensity couldn't have been that hard to throw into the feud & match. As for Edge's return; He has a good couple of months worth of ring-rust to get rid of before he is to be given a quality feud. That cast on his arm will hinder, rather than help!!! Match Rating...5

CHRIS BENOIT defeated TRIPLE H & SHAWN MICHAELS in a Triple Threat Match to Retain the World HeavyWeight Title: The obvious dangers with having a rematch on 2 consecutive pay-per-views is that (a) the matches may be too similar & (b) the sequel may not live up to the original. I believe the WWE did a good job in combatting the former danger by making this more a technical match, as compared to the more spotty WrestleMania 20 bout. But I don't think the actual quality of this match could compare. I've said many times that triple-threat matches have inherent problems, and it was never more evident than here. It was clear right from the beginning that this should have been a singles match. Triple H received a nothing crowd reaction for the majority of the bout, as the focus was clearly on HBK & Benoit. It took a clever Earl Hebner appearance to even fully get the crowd involved to the extent they should have been in the first place!!!. I'm focusing too much on the negatives though, as in isolation this was still a very enjoyable & well-performed match. Thirty minutes was a fitting duration, but I have to admit that at times, I thought the match dragged a little. A tough match to rate. Match Rating...8

PPV RATING (50/80) = 63

Looking at the key, I have basically given 'Baklash' a 'C+' grade & said that it was 'worth a watch'. While I think that's about correct, I think my ratings system may have been a little too tough in this case. I think it was a little better than a C+ grade. In fact, if you take out the tag-team match that was only included at the last minute, the ppv rates a 'B'. So fast-forward over Eugene running the ropes & the ppv will appear a lot better!!! I thought the event was very even across the whole card & there was only the one failure of a match. While neither of the main events even remotely got near a 10 out of 10 rating, they were both sufficient & did their jobs well enough. I think that the 2004 installment of Backlash is definitely worth a watch & possibly the best Backlash pay-per-view ever.


DESSERT

The Draft Lottery Aftermath

I think that at the conclusion of my last 3 columns, I have mentioned that I may voice my opinion on the aftermath of the draft lottery. I continuously did not, because I really think that both the Raw & SmackDown rosters have yet to settle down after the lottery picks & trades. Firstly, on the draft lottery itself, I commend the WWE for achieving their objective. And that is sufficiently mixing up the rosters without doing anything too over the top & basically starting all over again. I really liked the 6 picks each idea & the 2 or 3 trades that happened afterwards.

So the idea was good, but was it carried out well...??? That is, were the correct wrestlers picked & traded between shows in order to improve both Raw & SmackDown...??? The answer to this is an almost unanimous "no" among internet wrestling fans. To further continue writing my surprising minority opinions in this column (this is the 3rd one in one column), I'm going to answer "yes". Now let me clarify this by saying that I did prefer watching SmackDown before the draft lottery, and now I do indeed prefer watching Raw. But let's look at the situation a little more closely than that... Has that been as a direct result of the lottery picks & trades made? I don't think so.

Let me be a little heartless & remove those wrestlers who were picked & traded, that will have minimal impact on their new roster in the long-term. On the Raw side, we have Nidia, Rhyno, Tajiri, Paul Heyman, A-Train & Chuck Palumbo. Some of those are harsh, but they are my opinion. On the SmackDown side, we have Rico, Jackie & Spike Dudley. I'm serious folks, and if you look at that, you would say that SmackDown got the better deal.

So who does that leave us with that should theoretically make an impact for both rosters. For Raw, it's only Edge & Shelton Benjamin. Both these guys will be important midcard competitors throughout 2004, and possibly go on to main event for the brand next year & beyond. But on SmackDown, we have (arguably) The Dudley Boyz, Mark Jindrak, Teddy Long, Rene Dupree, Rob Van Dam & Booker T. Ok, now some are going to say "DaveyBoy, you've gone mad. Where's the impact there...??? SmackDown needed main eventers & there's none there". That's a valid point... to some extent. But I sort of disagree, because I haven't necessarily written off Booker T & RVD as main-eventers. Yes, they both had unsuccessful main-event runs last year. But both were derailed by Triple H. Triple H is not on SmackDown & the competitors here are different. Both these guys can be pushed as main eventers, and should be by the time Survivor Series rolls around.

Furthermore, SmackDown got a nice balance of complementing superstars that will help the roster in 2005 & beyond. Obviously, The Dudleys are more a short-term fix, but I think Jindrak (with Long) & Dupree are going to sufficiently improve to allow the likes of John Cena to join the main event scene. Furthermore, Shelton Benjamin's trade also allows Charlie Haas to become a significant player as well. Think back to 3 or 4 months ago... It was just so hard to split who was better out of Haas & Benjamin. The only difference now is that Shelton is getting pushed effectively, while Charlie looks like he has to wait a little while longer.

And so the story of Haas & Benjamin leads to my main point. The respective quality of both shows currently has little to do with who was picked & traded 3 or 4 weeks ago. It's got to do with the writing & booking. Raw is simply being better booked right now. In fact, some of the SmackDown angles are bordering on terrible. Yes, most matches on the first couple of weeks of SmackDown after the draft lottery were pretty bad. But I excused that because of the need to showcase the newer talents at the expense of a quality overall show. But if you have a close look at last week's SmackDown, you will see that all the matches were sufficient. Chavo vs Cena, Big Show vs Eddie, Booker T vs RVD were all good. While Jindrak vs Spike & Rico vs Haas were kept short & achieved their purpose. Man I love Jindrak's standing dropkick!!!

So where is it going wrong on SmackDown DaveyBoy...??? I repeat again, it's the booking & writing. Let's have a look at the 3 main feuds going into next month's Judgment Day. RVD vs Booker T will be good. It also makes sense. But I wouldn't have gone with it because I think it makes the other 2 feuds bring down the overall quality of the show. I despise the whole idea of an Eddie Guerrero vs Bradshaw feud & main event match at this point in time. Sure, this new character of Bradshaw might be a good one. But how about giving him some time to settle into it with a midcard feud. No, let's put the world on his shoulders immediately. Plus, his segments on television are just getting repetitive & boring already. The gimmick was fine for Ted Dibiase on WWF Superstars, but it's now 2004 & boring us with 10 minutes worth in prime time just doesn't cut it these days. JBL has even brought Eddie down to his level, as his opening promo last week may have been the worst I have ever seen Eddie deliver.

The other feud is Cena vs Dupree. While I do believe that both these guys will be future stars & a feud between the two would be good, I don't think this is the correct time for it. With the so-called lack of main event talent on SmackDown, Cena must be groomed for one of those positions as soon as practically possible. While I disagree that this feud will in anyway hurt Cena, I do think that it may hurt the SmackDown brand in the medium term.

The way I would have booked the 3 main feuds immediately after the draft lottery was Eddie vs Booker, Cena vs Bradshaw & RVD vs Dupree. Eddie & Booker would result in some excellent matches, while immediately establishing Booker as a main eventer. Cena vs Bradshaw not only gives Cena a little more status than a feud with Dupree would, but it also gives JBL more time to get into his gimmick. It would also help the unpredictability aspect, as JBL could very well become US champ, but I'd hope the WWE will not make him WWE champion. JBL could have easily gone the Kurt Angle route & spoken his diatribes against hip-hop culture, rather than Mexican immigrants. The other feud of RVD vs Dupree is more a complimentary feud. But it could easily be written, would give Dupree a push (just as much as feuding with Cena would), and makes sense because they are both from Raw.

Anyway, I may have gotten a little off the point there. My point is that the draft lottery & SmackDown's fall is more coincidental than one might think. Against popular belief, SmackDown does have the ingredients. It just doesn't seem to have the correct chef doing the cooking. Maybe there is some truth to the rumor that the WWE wants Raw to be their showcase. And maybe there was a hint of this at WrestleMania 20 when Raw was seemingly made to look better. And in all this, I haven't mentioned the word 'cruiserweight' once. I said in my WrestleMania review that the cruiserweight challenge should have been the re-ignition for that division. Unfortunately, that mess of a match just proved how much the WWE does not care for the division. Now wouldn't Rey Mysterio vs Paul London vs Chavo Guerrero vs Akio in a four corners match be a handy little 4th match on the card for a single brand ppv!!!


Ok, that's it for edition #84 of 'The Wrestling Menu'. Feel free to give me your opinion on any of the 3 topics which I have discussed today. Or alternately on any of the 3 surprising opinions I had. Maybe someone agrees with me that the 'Before They Were Superstars' DVD's are good. Or maybe someone else liked the Coach vs Tajiri match. Does anyone agree that SmackDown's problems were not caused by the draft lottery? As per usual, I will reply to all feedback. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com

Next Wednesday in 'The Wrestling Menu', I will have another installment of my 'Oz Perspective' series, but this time it will come with a twist. Along with that, I may throw in some feedback concerning the way the 2 rosters have settled down following the draft lottery. And who knows what else I will chuck into the melting pot. Look out for the column same Wednesday time & same LOP channel next week. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.












*NEW GALLERY* BRAND NEW Pregnancy Photos of a BIG Stephanie McMahon!

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