The Wrath of Tito - RAW review, Draft picks, HBK book, ECW, Hardy, more
Submitted by Mr. Tito on Tuesday, June 28, 2005 at 3:46 PM EST
Welcome, one and all, to the Wrath of Tito, the most feared wrestling column for the past 6+ years. To keep the insane amounts of e-mail that I'm getting lately about LordsofPain.net being down yesterday, I'll give you the scoop. The domain name of LordsofPain.net came up the other day and there was some minor billing confusion between the website's owner, Calvin Martin, and the domain registry. However, at the instant the webpage was down, Calvin cleared up the confusion (had an expired credit card still listed as payment) and the webpage was back up in a matter of hours (domain stuff takes a few hours to 24 hours to process). There you have it, the true story of the brief absence of LordsofPain.net. Kudos to Calvin as always for busting his hump to keep this page and LoPForums.com up, as well as quick maintenance on any webpage problem. As I've said many times in the past, he's the best webmaster around.
-I did NOT catch Vengeance, though I'll definitely try to watch it when the DVD comes out or if I get a hold of a tape. I do find it amazing that many insiders are suggesting that HHH was trying to pop a big buyrate on Vengeance to maybe top or match the ECW Pay Per View. We'll see on that one, HHH, for the WWE has been only drawing in the ballpark of 150,000-300,000 for their smaller PPV's and ECW reportedly did around 600,000 or so. I would love to see HBK vs. Kurt Angle 2. I missed the show because I attended a local independent wrestling show, which I'll talk more about later.
-The BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK is that the draft is officially over... Both brands were actually taping both of their shows last night, given that members of both Smackdown and RAW are going to tour Asia. For RAW, they definitely raped Smackdown's roster by gaining their top face and WWE champion John Cena, their best all around wrestler in Kurt Angle, a wrestler who may be huge in the future in Carlito Caribbean Cool and someone I think is far more advanced than Hassan, the guy who actually turned his career around by going to Smackdown in the Big Show, and then Rob Van Dam, a man who has bad luck being on the same show as Triple H. RAW definitely won the draft, and this may have happened anyway, since the WWE writers FAVOR RAW over Smackdown, thanks to Mr. Conflict of Interest, HHH. I'm guessing John Cena would have ended up on RAW, anyway, given how much UPN's standards and practices might have handcuffed his raps.
I believe that this process has ultimately hurt the World Title situation, though... You don't just trade a brand's champion and then have Smackdown create a new championship. In addition, what a credibility problem when one of the participants in the 6 way match was drafted to RAW! Not only is Smackdown losing credibility through lost wrestlers, but their title situation means shit right now. Not that Smackdown has much credibility in the first place, given the sorry booking that show has because the WWE writers clearly favor the RAW brand. Now, for good reason, as UPN moved Smackdown to Fridays and the UPN deal will definitely expire in September of 2006! Meanwhile, the WWE is gearing up to load RAW up for their USA Networks switch.
Oh, but I have to talk about Smackdown, and I'll protect Smackdown readers by putting spoilers in black text. One guarantee of MY columns is that they are spoiler free. The first 3 picks were inferior to RAW's. I love Chris Benoit, in a "he's my favorite wrestler" kind of way. The one thing I'll never knock Triple H for is the respect he commands for Benoit. HHH put him over twice in 2004 and even lost to him during the Goldrush tournament. I got to see Benoit win the World Title and have a significant reign from Wrestlemania 20 to Summerslam. Yeah, it sucks that Randy Orton stopped it, only for Orton to lose it back to HHH a mere 2 or 3 weeks later on RAW. Because of the greatness given to Benoit in 2004, I won't get up in arms over what the WWE does with him. I think his move to Smackdown was a good one, especially with Angle moving to RAW. Benoit is someone who can work with and put over younger wrestlers, in addition to always bringing you a watchable match. It's a good move... don't know about the other 2.
I don't know about Randy Orton. Ignoring anything I've said about him in the past, he's injury prone. He's out with another injury and probably stopped him from defeating Undertaker at Wrestlemania 21, that much is for certain. He's only 24 and he's been out for months at a time with 2 bad injuries. That spells doom for his future, already. But the WWE seems to still insist that he's a marquee name. He's NOT. The attention he ever had was being a member of Evolution and feuding with the crowd favorite, Mick Foley. At age 24 (probably 25 now), he hasn't backed up the pedigree that the WWE has given to him as a 3rd generation wrestler or the push he's given by his real life friend, Triple H. He was just fine as Intercontinental champion and second banana in Evolution. He could have learned so much more from being in that position. Instead, they pushed him too early. Foolish! Orton has a lot of rebuilding in his career to achieve, in addition to maybe staying healthy for a significant period of time. Who will give you titles or big wins if you can't stay healthy?
Then, we have Mohammad Hassan. He has the persona down, even though you can just tell he's spouting off rehearsed lines by WWE writers. Just working the match is his main problem, for Daivari seems to be a better in-ring technician than Hassan. The WWE should tap it's best resource for working a match as a heel: Ric Flair. Ric Flair cheated his ass off against Kurt Angle last night and it showed you how someone at the age of, what, 58, can possibly beat a former Olympic wrestler and a guy still in his prime (especially lately, Jesus!). These incoming heels need to learn from the very best, and the WWE actually owns the very best in Ric Flair. Someone needs to teach the younger heels how to piss off the crowd by just the little things in the ring, which I believe Hassan lacks. Hassan cuts his promo and then goes into the ring by just performing basic wrestling moves with no emotion behind them. As a heel, you gotta do something to the face opponent that makes the crowd want to jump out of their seats and kill you! Whether it's raking the eyes, using the ropes for leverage on submission holds, or using your manager for cheats. In addition, you gotta get the referee into the match and make him constantly check you for cheats while the heel shakes his head, as if he's not cheating. Very simple stuff that Hassan, Orton, and many younger heels lack. This is fundamental stuff that the guys before 1990 knew about and had tires slashed from their cars, acid thrown on them, and batteries thrown at them for. People pay top dollar to see a heel get his ass kicked, and if an anti-American Arabian American could piss off the fans more while he's wrestling, you'd have that top dollar drawing heel.
And now, the other 2 draft picks... *SPOILER ALERT* (Highlight text to read my thoughts) The spoilers are out already about the next 2 draft picks, thanks to RAW and Smackdown being taped last night in Anaheim. I bet those Anaheim fans were exhausted after 4+ hours of wrestling shows. Not that it sucks, but that's a long night and your voicebox can only take so much shouting. I know, for I attended a RAW taping for 5 shows in 1996. Anyway, the 2 picks are in and they are actually GOOD ones for Smackdown. Imagine that. Christian was one and Batista was the other. Christian is a guy who is ready to take the ball and run with it. The WWE let him cut promos again and he was drawing some major heat (or cheers) for his words. With that, it gave Christian some extra confidence and his wrestling has been top notch lately. This guy is ready to take the next step and it's a matter of the Smackdown faithful, JBL and Undertaker running the show, giving the guy a chance. Afterall, Christian has been with the WWE since 1998, so I guess he's a deserving veteran? Yeah, we didn't really get to see John Cena vs. Christian in a one on one encounter? Maybe keep building slowly to it until Wrestlemania 22? Breaking off Christian to avoid Christian vs. Cena does give the Draft credibility, for anything can happen with the draft.
Just as anything can happen with Batista going to Smackdown AND his World Title. Just as Smackdown was about to create a new title, Batista arrives. I'm betting that Triple H will miss that big gold belt around his waist? This is a good pick-up for Smackdown, for Batista was getting dragged in the mud after wrestling HHH for 3 consecutive Pay Per Views. He'd never avoid HHH if he was still on RAW and champion. Now, John Cena will become HHH's bitch. I'm guessing Batista will immediately feud with JBL, and that should be a good feud. Afterall, they did have some words just before Wrestlemania 21 after Batista won the Royal Rumble. I know a lot of people were gearing up for Cena vs. Batista. Seems like everyone wanted to see match ups with Cena? Maybe at Wrestlemania as well? Besides Wrestlemania, keep in mind that we have 3 more combined brand shows before Wrestlemania: Summerslam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble. Why can't inter-brand matches happen there?
Note: on the next paragraph, I'm messing with those who don't want to see spoilers! Keep that in mind!!!!!
*END SPOILER* Overall, I would suggest RAW won the Draft, especially in comparisons of the first 2 picks alone. You could debate on the next 3 picks of each brand on their significance or whatnot. Carlito and Hassan are somewhat interchangeable, though I'm a fan of Carlito more than I am of Hassan at this point in time. The last 2 picks, well, I'd suggest that Smackdown did quite well, though Big Show and RVD are great pick-ups. RAW is very stacked now, though I fear many up and coming wrestlers might get shut down from elevation, like your Shelton Benjamins, maybe Carlito, Christians, and I still feel that Smackdown is getting screwed by not getting compensated for losing their WWE title. RAW has both the World Title and WWE title, while Smackdown has to create another belt. That's a joke. Meanwhile, while Batista remains on RAW, he'll still be in HHH's shadow. But I'm betting HHH is frothing at the mouth to merge the World Title and the WWE title (which has both the old WCW and WWE titles merged), while Smackdown has to invent their own paper title.
-Bring back Matt Hardy? I don't think so... Matt should enjoy the freedom he now has with his wrestling career. He should look at the glass ceilings of both the RAW and Smackdown roster and look at the poor opportunities to elevate your name. Yes, the WWE has a more guaranteed salary coming your way. I don't deny that fact. However, I'm sure Hardy has saved his money well from his WWE days and is getting good independent opportunities. Former WWE stars can make a good living in any territory, but he can still probably command a good salary from TNA or Ring of Honor because Hardy is still young and capable of wrestling a good match. In addition, going back to the WWE to feud with Edge would paint Hardy as such a hypocrite for the stuff he's said. And finally, the "box office draw" of Hardy vs. Edge has long gone. Since the WWE stepped up and put Edge and Lita together, the chants have died down and the heat has turned into heel heat for Edge only, not sympathy for Matt Hardy. While I'll understand if Hardy goes to the WWE for guaranteed salary purposes, I would suggest that his pride would take a major hit by doing so. Enjoy the freedom, Matt, and maybe in time, return to the WWE. See what's out there and maybe use your popularity and ability to help another fed rise to the occasion.
-Man, will these ECW wrestlers to WWE rumors please stop? If I have to hear about "Sabu meeting with WWE" again, I'll puke. I'll say it ONE MORE TIME: unless the WWE is making an ECW brand that actually has a television deal, then yes, ECW wrestlers would get hired. However, I don't see the benefits of hiring guys who can only work the ECW style of match and would look bad working the more tame WWE style. Seriously, take the daredevil stuff away from Sabu, it's NOT Sabu. Now, if the WWE were serious about getting Sabu, a great idea would be tag him up with Rob Van Dam to spice up the tag division on RAW. Then again, a popular midcard act takes away from the main event act. Can't have that! I'd like to see the tag team of Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten come in, as well as Roadkill/Doring, but it's wishful thinking. I liked those guys 5+ years ago, but that was in ECW. I still doubt that any of them would get signed. If I were to sign an ECW guy, I'd bring back Rhyno. He still has the ability and I think he's learned his lesson from destroying a vase in his hotel room at Wrestlemania 21.
-Good to see that Shawn Michaels has a book coming out. I honestly hope he comes clean about his career during the 1990's. Not that I personally want to hear all of the dirt, but it's something that could benefit those who read the book. The use of substances can be wreckless for a high profile career, and people can learn from his book. In addition, people could learn how to rehab themselves and turn their life around, as Michaels has done. The guy is clean as a whistle, married to a beautiful lady, and has 2 kids to boot. His WWE career has been fantastic ever since returning to the full time schedule, and that's after everyone thought he was forever done. I can't wait to read it!
-Speaking of books, I like the idea of the WWE creating a fictional story of Kane. They are avoiding breaking character on the guy and keeping his gimmick alive through a book. Good for them. The real question will be if the Katie Vick stuff would be in the book. I'd love to read about Kane driving drunk and then screwing the girl he killed in that accident with schlong he can't even get up! *sarcasm*
-I'm pumped for Hogan Knows Best, the Vh1 reality show featuring the life of Hulk Hogan and his family (yes, his hot wife and daughter!). Like Surreal Life 4 that featured Chyna, I hope to put a report in this very column. I'm actually more pumped for Celebrity Fit Club 2 on Vh1. Seriously, did Vh1 know what they were getting when they put GARY BUSEY on that show? Of course, that's why he's on there... but still, Busey is a maniac and it's not an act. If you want classic Busey, watch D.C. Cab, a film that also features Mr. T, Bill Maher, Paul Rodriguez, and many other younger names at the time. The scene on the traintracks puts me in tears from laughing, every time! Oh, and you can't forget the Venus Club... Oh shit, off topic! I'm still surprised that no ex-wrestlers, besides Chyna, have been on Surreal Life. The last 2 casts have actually been somewhat stacked with significant hasbeens or newer celebrities. Surreal Life 5 is a joke with the weak names it has. You'd figure that some crazy professional wrestler who is NOT in the WWE would join the show (Macho Man would be PERFECT, for example).
-On Sunday, I caught a live independent wrestling show from Black Diamond Wrestling at Martins Ferry, OH. The attendance was down from the previous events, thanks in part to the extreme heat keeping people inside and from Vengeance being on the same night. No matter. The guys from BDW, indy wrestlers from the tri-state area (PA, OH, and WV) busted their humps to put on a great, all around show. One of the best shows I've seen from that promotion and it's a shame more people weren't there to see it. Good opener with Zach Practor Jr. vs. the "Omega" Aaron Draven. Those two have wrestled before and work great together. Practor is a great heel who works like a heel well, as I described above. He does the little things to piss any crowd off. The next match was Kid Cupid and Jake Garrett (also known as "Jake and the Fat Man"!) against the team of Sexual Harrassment (Erik Xtasee and Troy Lords). Jake/Cupid are quite over with the crowd and Xtasee/Lords had great mic skills before the match. Entertaining midcard bout.
Nikita Allanov vs. Chris Taylor was up next. Good one on one match. Allanov is a badass and he just has that tough look that a heel hailing from Russia should have. Taylor's got a great moveset, and these two fought back and forth. Next, it was Tri-Chi Fraternity (Hammer and QB Blitzz) vs. the Premiere Players (Daron Smythe and Dash Bennett). Solid tag match, as all 4 of these guys can easily go anywhere in pro wrestling. All of them have the look and ability, in my opinion. I really liked Shiima Xion vs. Virus. Those two have wrestled many times in other instances, like locally with XWF Inc., and this was their best encounter yet. Nice chain wrestling at the beginning and both guys didn't seem to stop moving throughout the match. Well done!
I'd have to give "match of the night" honors to Jason Thunder/Jason Gory vs. Jason Cage/Justin Idol. I'm surrounded by Jasons! Just a battle of a tag match, with all 4 guys taking lots of high risk moves. Hell, even the referee (taking off his ref shirt to reveal a Superman shirt) took a high risk when everyone was jumping on each other on the outside. Then, each team had a valet and they got into a catfight, which played off their confrontation from the last event. An all around entertaining bout which would have really fired up a larger crowd. The main event was Devin Devine vs. the Unknown. Devine got on the mic and cut a killer promo. Just one of the best promos I've heard in a while, for he ripped the city, BDW, the wrestlers, and the fans. He had a good match with Unknown, who is a great performer himself. In conclusion, it was one of the best indy shows I've seen and it's a shame more weren't in attendance for this, as was previous events. I'm dead serious when I say that other top promotions should take a look at some of the talent this promotion boasts, too. OH, WV, and PA has a host of great indy wrestlers that any promoter should want to tap into.
RAW is TITO
Why is the Coach on commentary? Though Ross needs a kick in the ass and Lawler is stale, having 3 in the booth made it seem like an announcing clusterfuck.
Great segment to start the show. Kurt Angle came out and asked the fans for Angle vs. HBK 3, but stated that won't happen to a large assortment of boos. Ha! Angle said he wanted to "beat the man" of RAW in Batista, but that drew Ric Flair out. They had a classic war of words, which saw Angle ripping HHH again (?!?) and Flair defending himself as not being just a second fiddle to HHH. Flair admitted that he's a "mark" for Angle, but said to be the man, you must beat the man. They would challenge each other to a match, but Flair insisted that he's the dirtiest player in the game. He'll gauge out your eyes, bite off your fingers, and grab your testicles. Flair actually did all of that shit later!
"DVD Extra" time, as they showed a segment from Vengeance where Christian and Jericho were arguing about losing their match with Cena. Bischoff said he'd redeem them by placing them in a match with John Cena, a 3 on 3 tag match. Since Cena was new to RAW, he might not have any friends to tag up with him. That was the theory at the time........
The first match was supposed to be Edge/Gene Snitsky vs. Kane/1st RAW Draft Pick, but Edge and Kane ran out of the arena. That left Snitsky on his own and Bischoff created a one on one match with the next draft pick which was... The Big Show. I figured he would jump, given how Hassan actually beat the Big Show last week on Smackdown. It was a big squash on the Big Show's behalf. The WWE really doesn't want to give Snitsky any opportunities to succeed, do they? After the reputation he had against Kane, at least let him mount SOME offense. Then again, Big Show is 7'+ and 500 pounds...... Later on, Kane would threaten Lita in her lockerroom that their feud is not over. Joy.
Backstage, Cena was being interviewed by Maria, but she forgot her question. The WWE's gotta push the stupidity angle further. Just watch "Nick and Jessica" reruns to see how the master, Jessica Simpson, does it. The dumber she acts, the more hot it makes her. Cena told Maria that when she remembers her question, come back. Cena's "oh my God" to the camera was priceless. Cena did say he had one friend and it was Shawn Michaels. Then, he asked Michaels if he could find a friend and HBK said he had that taken care of. The impression I got at first was the Rock, but I soon realized that "Hogan Knows Best" needs publicity. Maria returned and said she remembered her question... "who will be your tag team partner". The WWE is making her too cute or too shy with her dumb questions. While that's nice, you gotta do something that makes her HOT by being stupid.
Next, it was Chris Masters offering $14,000 to defeat the Masterlock challenge. This week, the victim was Tajiri. Tajiri had no chance and shouldn't against Master's, just based on looks. But we know how vicious the Buzzsaw can be. The segment was one of the better ones, for Masters counted Tajiri's flip off the ropes and slapped on the full nelson. Afterward, Tajiri spit the mist on Masters to set up a match for next week. One of the better Masters segments, but this guy still has a long ways to go. When can we see him wrestle a good wrestling match?
Carlito's Cabana was next and Carlito is awesome on the mic. He ripped Jericho HARD, promising to replace his interview segment and to never have Fozzy music playing. Man, Jericho's music career sure takes a lot of punishment on RAW and Jericho never gets revenge for the comments. Carlito said that after a string of great draft picks, RAW finally had a "lemon". The next draft pick, who would become the guest on the Cabana, was Rob Van Dam. Van Dam still hurt makes the "Lemon" comment that much more harsh. They argued over the ECW show, for Carlito was there as a Smackdown invader. But then Carlito finished the segment by attacking RVD's injured left leg to an amazing amount of heat. RVD, probably thanks to the ECW show and not being on TV for a while, was VERY over and Carlito reaped the benefit of it by attacking him. Great segment......
Fun match between Kurt Angle and Ric Flair. Flair cheating, as he said he would, was classic. Younger wrestlers, take note. Flair IS the master of working a match as a heel, and he wasn't even the heel for this match! Good bout, considering Angle is a very fast wrestler to work with and Kurt had to slow it down a tad to make things work well with Flair. Flair's chops were ON tonight, too. Angle's chest has to be killing him today. Very convincing sell to the Figure 4 by Angle, who looked as though he was ready to tap and had the Anaheim crowd believing it. Any younger OVW promoted to the WWE wrestlers, take note. That's how you SELL a move. These guys had the crowd in the palms of their hands and produced an entertaining match to watch. Eventually, Angle won the match and made Natch tap.
Shitty Diva Search segment... While I probably wouldn't turn down any of the girls if they knocked on my door, if I were single of course, none of these girls are Playboy hot. In addition, they are all sorta goofy and wouldn't make someone that would fit the mold of a wrestling show. Want something positive? Good choice of theme music with the Audioslave theme. There you go... Good to see that the WWE already trashed Viscera by placing him with the Godfather at Vengeance and ending his relationship with Lillian Garcia. Oh well.
Lame Batista interview. His scripted lines are so poorly written. Give the guy notes and let him speak from the heart. Is he really that stupid that he can't talk on his own? That's the impression that I'm getting from the WWE creative staff. This interview had "I'm jumping to Smackdown" written all over it, but we'll see if he jumps or not. I highly doubt it, given that Batista was born and bred on RAW and he's probably indentified more with RAW viewers. Some would suggest that he's one of the draws of RAW? Plus, I get the feeling that McMahon wants to slowly diminish Smackdown on purpose due to UPN's actions of the timeswitch. But again, we'll see who gets traded on Smackdown this Thursday.
Great segment backstage with Jericho/Christian/Tyson Tomko... Jericho's rip on Kevin Nash being HBK's partner was great. "Nah, Nash would pull a hamstring picking up the phone" was priceless! I bet that Nash forever regrets trashing Jericho's WCW career during late 1998/early 1999 during Nash's tenure as head booker. They hinted that it could be the Rock, but laughed it off.
The main event was fun with Christian/Jericho/Tomko vs. John Cena/Shawn Michaels/Hulk Hogan. Seriously, LOOK AT THAT FACE TEAM! Hogan was the mystery partner, even though he's not from Hollywood as HBK was hyping. But Hogan was probably just in town since he made such great films as No Holds Barred, Mr. Nanny, Santa with Muscles, 3 Ninjas 3, Suburban Commando, and Thunder in Paradise. At least his Gremlins 2 appearance was awesome.... John Cena seemed to have an extra kick in his step during this match. Being with HBK and Hogan helped to amp up Cena's confidence. If only Cena could always have that confidence in the ring instead of constantly relying on trademark moves throughout his matches. Hogan ended up pinning, who else? Tyson Tomko. Like I said, fun match and it was Surreal to see that face team of Hogan, HBK, and Cena out there. Posedown to end the show...
LAST WORD: Better show this week than the last 2 or 3. The talking segments were actually interesting and the matches at the top of the hours delivered. That pushes up the grade... Everything else, well... The Diva Search segment sucked balls this week, as it does every week. People can find beautiful women in bra and panties on certain channels or places online. Ratings numbers show that this stuff no longer draws with wrestling fans. The Big Show squash of Snitsky was lame... But the Masterlock challenge was better this week. I liked this show and was thoroughly entertained by it. [ A- ] (a minus). Replace the Diva crap with something of substance and you might have an even higher grade. Here's an idea... Let Carlito interview and trash the Diva contestants!
Mr. Tito's BLOG - Tito opinions on Non-Wrestling Stuff!
LoPForums.com - Message Boards to discuss Sports, Music, Movies, and much more!
Mr. Tito Column Archives
Black Diamond Wrestling.
XWF Inc. Wrestling
@If you want to send an e-mail to me, my mailing address is wrathoftito@yahoo.com and please put something in the title to tell me it's not spam, such as "Feedback on the Wrath of Tito" or something to that effect. Please note that my email account gets pounded with emails, whether it's readers or spam. If you receive no reply, sorry, but the majority of the emails are at least read.
Mr. Tito © 1998 - 2005 LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com
*NEW GALLERY* AMAZING!! More Uncensored Kelly Kelly Bikini Photos! Very Rare!
Quick Links - 
