DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu - NYR Review, WM21 Feedback + Why Batista Is NOT Ready Yet
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, January 12, 2005 at 4:13 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #114

Welcome one and all to the 114th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

It seems to be normal for me these days, so once more, I have changed the plans a little for this column. I received so much negative feedback concerning a match I had booked on my WrestleMania 21 card (the main-event, no less) that I just couldn't ignore it. Because of this, my 2005 predictions will be posted next Wednesday.

On with what will undoubtedly be a controversial & discussion-raising column.....


APPETIZERS

WrestleMania 21 Feedback

Firstly, can I once again begin by thanking all of those readers who chose to read my column #113 over the past week. My last 2 columns have averaged over 6,000 hits. That's extremely flattering. By the way, I have not yet replied to everyone, but I can promise all emails have been viewed, and I will reply sometime in the next couple of days. If you are yet to view last week's column, you may do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2005/articles/1104908950.php

I'll just briefly go over some of the main points of feedback to my WrestleMania 21 card, then I will present some of my readers' ideas as to what matches could take place. This all excludes the main event for the World HeavyWeight Title, which I will tackle in the 'Main' section of today's column.

Apart from the main event, the main point of contention with my card was probably the re-using of the 2 fatal fourway tag-team title matches from WrestleMania 20. Many readers stated that this not only was recycling what was clearly a failed idea, but it did worse in wasting potential main-event talents such as Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Batista, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio. While I cannot disagree too much with that argument, I suppose this was my way of trying to reinvigorate a division that is so important to the WWE. Another thing I forgot to mention last week, is that both tag matches would be given more importance in the build-up & about 20 minutes of match duration on the night. To back up my point, I saw nothing special put forward by any readers with regards to what the tag title matches could be.

My cruiserweight opener between Kidman vs London was pretty popular, as was another feud which is yet to be capitalized on; Kidman vs Chavo. Although, many readers felt that the WWE would go the safe option & have another battle royal, or 8 man elimination match. One interesting idea came from Andrew Ebling who stated that if Funaki was to somehow hold onto the title until April, a great opponent could be the returning Taka Michinoku.

Opinions on my US title match were ok. However, it was pretty much split in half with those that still believe John Cena should be at that level, against those (such as myself) who believe Cena will be challenging for the WWE Championship in 2 months time. Even still, readers agreed that a Booker T vs Carlito Caribbean Cool feud would be good. Moving to the related WWE Championship match, the most popular option from readers was a singles match between JBL & John Cena. While those that had Cena out of the WWE Championship picture, had some sort of multi man match with JBL defending against the likes of 'Taker, Angle, The Big Show, and even Brock Lesnar.

Quite a few people liked my idea of squaring Edge off against the Rock, as a way of keeping Edge busy & pushing him to title shots come midyear. While those that didn't have Lesnar or The Big Show involved in SmackDown's main event agreed that a singles match between the two would be good. People also liked my intergender bout with Kane & Lita against Snitsky & Trish. Ditto for the Raw vs SmackDown match of Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels.

While most people liked the idea of having an InterContinental Title bout between Shelton Benjamin & Muhammad Hassan, some felt the rumored Hassan vs Foley bout would not allow it to happen. Of course, many readers also felt a Foley vs Flair match would be great as well. The obvious disagreement with my booking there is that Foley should be involved in a match, rather than be a special referee for the main event. I will back up my argument a little later in the 'Main' section.

I thought I'd just throw up some other interesting ideas sent to me via email.

- Ironman134 thought a Brock Lesnar vs The Rock rematch would be a good idea.

- Andrew Ebling (in addition to the Taka vs Funaki bout) put forward Raw vs SmackDown matches such as Kurt Angle vs Muhammad Hassan & a 2 fall match between Benoit/Jericho vs La Resistance vs RVD/Mysterio vs Los Guerreros, where if a tag-team won the opposite brand's title, they would have to switch brands.

- Paul Fahy thought the face vs face route was the way to go, with singles matches such as Eddie Guerrero vs Booker T & Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho.

- Avron from South Africa thought some of the lesser known SmackDown talents should be pushed with matches such as Kidman vs Chavo, London vs Mysterio, Doug Basham vs Danny Basham, and The Rock vs Carlito Caribbean Cool.

- Matt Crooks sent me an excellent & detailed email which even included how to build up to the big card. Interesting matches on his final card were 'Taker vs Angle, Flair vs Foley, The Rock vs Batista, HBK & Jericho vs Edge & Christian in a tag-team ladder match & a Raw vs SmackDown 6 man match with Benoit, Benjamin & Kane vs Eddie, Booker T & The Big Show.

- Loyal reader CrossfaceChad has always been big on a battle of the movie-stars, with The Rock vs Triple H. That would open the door for a Batista vs Randy Orton singles match & a Benjamin vs Snitsky InterContinental Title bout.

- While another loyal reader, Jason Fitzgerald, believes WWE legends 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin & Hulk Hogan will be used in matches against John Cena & Ric Flair respectively. He is also one of quite a few who believe a Benjamin vs Batista InterContinental Title bout will set both of them up for a huge 2005, with main-event action taking place later in the year.

- Carl Renda would like to see an Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar rematch.

- Christopher Shafer wants to see a battle of the former tag-team partners, Shelton Benjamin vs Charlie Haas, for the InterContinental or United States Title.

- Finally, C49PJM wants Rey Mysterio vs Daniel Puder for the United States Title, Cena vs Heidenreich in the midcard, and JBL vs RVD for the WWE Championship.


MAIN

Why Batista Is Not Ready To Main Event WM21

I actually tossed & turned over writing on this topic. But I soon realized that the probable fact that less than 25% of WWE fans reading this will agree with me, is no real reason to keep my opinion from being posted. So I simply asked myself whether I am 100% certain of the opinion I'm about to write on, and the answer was a resounding yes. My opinion is that Batista is not ready to main event WrestleMania 21 in a little under 3 months time.

Many emails I received pertaining to my WrestleMania 21 card posted last week, simply stated that Orton was not over enough to main event WrestleMania & the facts were pretty clear that Batista was. For the time being, I will leave Orton out of the equation & concentrate solely on Big Dave. There are 3 things I can't argue with at the moment: (1) Batista is extremely over with the fans, (2) He has been booked tremendously over the past 2 months or so, and (3) he improved considerably both in & out of the ring throughout 2004.

But those 3 facts do not necessarily equal a WrestleMania main event. The main thing that my opinion is based on is Batista's in-ring work. While it has improved significantly of late (I almost gave him the award for most improved wrestler of 2004), it is still not up to the level that is needed to main event a pay-per-view singles match. It's close, but it's not quite there yet. Make it WrestleMania & I'm certain that his wrestling skills are not sufficient, with only 3 months to go.

To me, a WrestleMania main event (and I believe that the World HeavyWeight Title match should be the main event this year) almost practically has to last at least 20 minutes. I'd almost say 25+ minutes, but that might be exaggerating a little. Does anyone seriously think that Batista can keep us entertained for that long on the biggest stage of them all? Well, he probably could, if there were 3 minutes of staring, 4 minutes of time-wasting, 5 minutes of outside interference, etc, etc, etc...

In fact, the closest that Batista has gone to 20 minutes in a singles match was at Vengeance in July of 2004 (only 6 months ago). His opponent that night was Chris Jericho, who had come off an excellent series of matches against Christian, proving that he was still right up there in carrying talent who were below him quality-wise. But what transpired against Batista was a "slow & boring resthold-fest". I was very kind on that occasion & awarded the bout a rating of 5 out of 10. Furthermore, it's arguable that Jericho is better at carrying someone like Batista than Triple H would be. I'd probably disagree with that, but only marginally.

I know what most are thinking right now; But Davey, what about that excellent match against Benoit from 10 days ago? Firstly, I agree that it was indeed an excellent match. But one of the reasons was because it was relatively short. I do not have the duration of match on records, but I do remember that it was the only one of the 3 main events that was not interrupted by a commercial. That tells me enough. Plus, it was Benoit... I reckon Chris could carry me to a half-decent match!!!

Please don't take what I am writing the wrong way. I am a huge fan of Batista. I think he is travelling excellently right now & will be a major player for many years to come in the WWE. But he is not ready to main-event WrestleMania 21 this April. In fact, let me put it this way; He is as ready to main-event WrestleMania as Randy Orton was ready to win the World HeavyWeight Title at SummerSlam last year. Please remember that Orton was on a little roll at the time & his face turn did get off to a decent start. But the subsequent shoving down our throats of that turn quickly ruined what was to be only a month long title reign. I, for one, hope the WWE don't make the same mistake twice with Batista. Because negating the better push for big Dave, is his inferior in-ring skills.

That's not even mentioning his lack of experience in the ring. While Orton can be a little resthold happy at times, Batista has an uncanny knack of falling through the middle rope to the outside during almost every one of his already short matches. Plus, if we look at the Elimination Chamber match, 5 of the 6 men bladed. Batista didn't. Could it be because he isn't experienced enough to? Don't get me wrong, blading doesn't necessarily count as an in-ring skill, but it may show lack of experience. And going back to match duration, is it possible that this is why Batista won the Raw contest to be let out of his chamber last?

Another indirect factor in keeping Batista from ripping Triple H apart so soon is the Evolution stable. It has undoubtedly been the greatest success of the Raw brand over the past year or so. With no addition replacing Orton last August, Batista's departure may see the end of the group for good. Yes, we could see 1 or 2 wrestlers added hastily, but we know that would never be the same. I still believe Maven should have been added while the WWE had the opportunity, but I won't go on & on about that once more.

Getting back to the feedback, some people agreed with me on my opinions, but also believed that Orton was not skilled enough to main-event WrestleMania opposite Triple H. So their compromise would be a triple threat match between the three. While this would undoubtedly solve the problem of Batista not being able to last the distance so to speak, it brings out a further problem; Is Triple H good enough to carry these 2 relative newcomers to a successful triple threat bout. These 3-ways are a difficult balancing act & need a lot of skill & attention. I doubt Triple H could do it, but it would at least be interesting to see.

A further point brought up in feedback is "we've seen triple H vs Orton so many times before". But we haven't. Just because we've seen 1 pay-per-view match between them & a recent Raw bout, doesn't mean that the WWE have over-used the match-up. What a joke that argument is. Even if there have been 1 or 2 other bouts I'm forgetting, it's still not an over-used match-up. However, after this past episode of Raw, we learn that we do get to see this bout again, this time at the Royal Rumble. Well, I obviously disagree strongly with this booking, and I would say that this suggests that we may be getting either Triple H vs Batista or Triple H vs Batista vs Randy Orton at WrestleMania 21.

However, and of course it's only my opinion, I still like my plan better. Keep the WrestleMania main event as Triple H vs Randy Orton, but add something to it. Something that would force fans to anticipate watching the match. To me, that's the 'No Holds Barred' stipulation & the addition of the 'Hardcore Legend' Mick Foley as the special guest referee. Just imagine Foley being named ref 3 weeks before the event. The next week on Raw, for one reason or another, he lays into Triple H with a barbed-wire baseball bat. Orton is all smug the following week thinking that the face Foley will favor the face Orton, when Foley does the same to Orton reminding him of their match at Backlash. The history is there, the tradition is there, the excitement would be there... Don't tell me you wouldn't love to see it.


DESSERT

New Years Revolution 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] (Armageddon '04)
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: Taboo Tuesday '04)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Royal Rumble '04 & No Way Out '04)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: Vengeance '04)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: Survivor Series '04)
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+]

WILLIAM REGAL & EUGENE defeated CHRISTIAN & TYSON TOMKO to Retain the World Tag-Team Titles: Decent tag match to open up with. Nothing too bad at all, but a little too much going through the motions for my liking. Christian & Tomko teamed well & look as though they may have long-term potential as a team. More than sufficient 12 minute bout, although the ending was obviously disappointing. Knee injury or no knee injury, a cheap roll-up finish where Tomko seemed to get a shoulder up before the 3 count was a bad way to end. Finally, this may sound horrible, but I can't believe that Eugene injured himself on what looked to be a simple dropkick. Match Rating...6

TRISH STRATUS defeated LITA to Win the Women's Title: Short 4 minute match which probably was shortened due to Lita's knee injury, sustained while attempting a Lou Thesz press from the apron to the outside. Started off with the proper intensity that the feud deserved, but following the injury, Trish dominated & nothing special happened at all. Match Rating...3

SHELTON BENJAMIN defeated MAVEN to Retain the InterContinental Title: Well here was some interesting booking: The first 5 minutes was Maven effectively getting heat from the hot Puerto Rico crowd. Then after Maven threatened to walk out, he immediately got rolled up for the pinfall. Maven then successfully got even more heel heat by talking Benjamin into coming back for a rematch. Believe it or not, I had no problems with the booking at this point in time. Then again, I thought I was going to be treated to a 10 minute bout after all the shenanigans. A t-bone slam later & I'm left wondering who thinks this is the way an improving wrestler (Maven) should be pushed. Match Rating...2

MUHAMMAD HASSAN defeated JERRY 'THE KING' LAWLER: Ten minutes of relatively basic & predictable action. Why the WWE didn't allow Coach to commentate during this bout is beyond me, as the match definitely lost something due to the lack of announcing. Hard to tell how good Hassan is in the ring, as the match was so methodically paced & utilized only basic holds. The bout probably deserves a ranking of 4, but I'm going to add 1 point for the old-school heel managing of Daivari on the outside. Match Rating...5

KANE defeated GENE SNITSKY: Inconsistent 12 minute bout which was pretty good for a non-gimmick big man match. More than sufficient intensity & action which was initially well booked. However, 12 minutes was obviously a little too long for a rusty Kane & a rookie who obviously must work on his fitness/stamina. The last few minutes got very sloppy & both men (but especially Snitsky) looked like they were struggling to move come the finish. Match Rating...6

TRIPLE H defeated RANDY ORTON, BATISTA, CHRIS JERICHO, CHRIS BENOIT & EDGE in an Elimination Chamber match to Win the World HeavyWeight Title: Quality main event which sufficiently delivered on all levels. Excellent intensity was added to by some very good byplay between the combatants both before, during & after the match. We started off with Benoit & Jericho, and they very much delivered with numerous crisp exchanges. The great thing about this match was that pretty much everyone comes out of it looking strong, one way or another. Being critical, there were far too many 1 on 1 contests when there were more than 3 men in the ring, while I also thought it got down to the final 3 a little too early. From there, I actually predicted the booking perfectly & therefore compliment the WWE on the final few minutes of this terrific 35 minute match. Triple H even added the 'Wedgigree' to his repertoire to finish off Orton. Even after the bout, the booking was great, as the WWE used the hoisting up on Batista's shoulders/thumbs up routine to hint at a Batista face turn. A job well done by all. Match Rating...9

PPV RATING (31/60) = 52

Looking at the key, I have basically given 'New Year's Revolution' a 'D' grade & said that it was 'mediocre & disappointing'. I think that pretty much sums it up without me having to elaborate any further. The main event most definitely delivered, but nothing else on the card exceeded my moderate expectations. It really was not all that much to ask for either. While the 2 injuries at the beginning didn't help matters, the type of booking used for the Banjamin vs Maven match pretty much sums up what the WWE thought of this card; A one match show. They have to get out of that mentality to keep casual fans for the long-term.


Ok, that's all I have for edition #114 of 'The Wrestling Menu. If you had a look at New Years Revolution, please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of my ratings for each match. Also, what do you think of my opinion on Batista not being ready to main event WrestleMania...??? I can't see anyone changing MY mind on this argument, but could I have changed yours...??? As always, I will reply to all feedback. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com

What's on the agenda for next week's 'Wrestling Menu'...??? To be honest, I initially wasn't going to write a column next Wednesday, but with the great Batista debate beating down my door today, I had no choice but to push back my 2005 predictions a further week. I may take a retrospective look at my 2004 predictions as well, just so I can show you what a bad judge I actually am. That, plus who knows what else, 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.











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