Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - Draft Fallout, Batista 3 Hunter 0 (and what next?), You screwed Edge
Submitted by Pt2 on Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 12:01 PM EST





Welcome once again to the column that makes love in an elevator, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. I'm the columnist who makes Steve Tyler look relevant, Pt2, back once again with big hair, leather trousers and guitars shaped like snakes to talk about what we all come to see, Breasts. Or, more accurately, I'm going to talk wrestling. Now that you are suitably disappointed, I'm going to get on with it.

OK. So moving the world champion isn't such a bad idea after all. I'll admit, I was pretty sceptical at first about Cena, the biggest name on Smackdown, moving to RAW at a time when RAW easily had more star power than the Blue Brand. But I've also got to admit that things have gone pretty well since then, and while I'm not sure that the Angle/Benoit swap is a great trade for Smackdown (sure, Benoit is far more skilled, but its star power smackdown needs, not talented wrestlers), Cena moving over to RAW does open up some potentially huge matches (including a potential unification bout between the two champions), and allows for a vacancy situation on Smackdown. Lets be honest, even the most smark obsessed person out there, if they think back to the days when you were just a fan, situations surrounding vacant titles were always interesting and got you excited. (Now I'm probably going to get an e-mail or two from people giving me lines like "no, I always thought they undermined the situation.... or some other crap. That's fine champ, don't have to admit it to me, as long as you admit to yourself, you know I'm right here). With that in mind, since I'm still "just a fan" I'm going to be watching with interest and not worrying about the fact that this title doesn't have lineage linking it to Hulk Hogan and Bruno Sammartino and all that other crap.

Since I've mentioned it in the previous paragraph, lets actually look at the draft. Going one way, Cena, Kurt Angle and Carlito Caribbean Cool. Going the other, Chris Benoit, Randy Orton and Muhammed Hassan. A fair trade? A good decision? Maybe, maybe not. Only time will tell. But looking at it now, I'm not convinced that Smackdown has got what it needed to out of this draw. I'm a huge Chris Benoit fan, but as I said a little earlier, Smackdown isn't short of any talented athletes and great wrestlers, there is an abundance of them. What they need is star power, and a guaranteed draw. OK, Kurt Angle isn't Stone Cold Steve Austin, and compared to Benoit he isn't an amazing pro wrestler, but what he does have, is an uncanny ability to work with everyone, get covered with any shit and come out smelling of roses. There was a time when Benoit could have done the same thing, but he's older now, and he's won the world title that everyone wanted to see him win, and at the greatest stage of them all, Wrestlemania XX. Wrestling fans can be pretty fickle (Just ask Bret Hart in 1997, he'll tell ya), and I don't think that Benoit can do as much for Smackdown as Kurt can in the main event. But in the interest of neutrality, I guess you'd have to say he'll be able to do more with the bigger guys on Smackdown, and there are more big men that need to be made to look good..... Benoit, undoubtedly the man to do it. I just hope that they don't fall into the habit of putting him up against Eddie just because they have nothing else for them to do. These guys have been against each other so many times without a real solid build up that it'll take something a little special for these two to have a feud that could justify airtime again. I'll be honest, I know the match would be amazing if given time, with Benoits intensity and Guerrero's moves, but I doubt I'd buy a PPV to see it - it's been done to death.

Then, Smackdown lose Cena and get him replaced with Orton (And I know they were different draft picks, but don't kid yourself Orton isn't Cena's replacement and Benoit is Angle's - the order is irrelevant). This..... I do have to question the wisdom of. You take Randy Orton, a man developing well, if not that quickly, on RAW, and move him to Smackdown. More importantly though, you bring in a major heel to replace the top face. Now, unless the Undertaker is going to come back to kick Randy's ass on overtime for the next six months, Smackdown needs a replacement for Cena now, and I have to think major face will come over in the last few weeks of the draft. I'll be honest, I don't see any of the Smackdown mid carders kicking it up a level and really taking Cena's spot. Looking at this move, I think it was done more to benefit Cena than Orton or Smackdown - Orton does have fresh opponents, but Cena has bigger name opponents and can work live every week, a sure fire recipe for improvement in a wrestling ring.

Finally, Hassan moves one way and Carlito the other. Two heat getting heels. Meh, Can't say this one worries me too much. Carlito will probably end up being the bigger star, but for the time being, both brands can be happy with what they acquired here. Perhaps not the most refined workers on the planet, but for sure, two guys with a lot of heat.


So, onto other things now. Best not to dwell on it, best to see what they do with the ball when told to run. And I won't say anything about Big Show and Van Dam moving to RAW yet, until I see who they are replaced with.

Ok, so Batista is 3 and 0 over Triple H. So, if HHH is going to look like a force again, there’s going to be a little reinvention, and a little break for the multi-multiple time world champion. Face it, you can’t lose three times to a guy, come back exactly the same way and beat him. I could give you the whole “the fans would shit on it” spiel, but lets be honest, it does go completely against the way wrestling is done and is always done. You put someone over to that degree, you don’t just turn around and beat them back, because it undoes all the hard work you’ve done. So like everybody else, Hunter will need to take a little break, come back the time is right with his character tweaked ever so slightly, and he’s fresh again, ready to wear some serious gold.

But then again, Hunter isn’t everybody else. He’s not even like them. All you ever hear from anybody (except Billy “You already know my name, Outlaw boy” Gunn) is how completely obsessed with wrestling Triple H is. His work ethic and desire might stop him knowing when the right time to come back is, and he may rush into coming back too soon. I hope he doesn’t and knows what is best, because a completely fresh, rejuvenated HHH would spark some interest.

With HHH out of the picture then, what’s next for Batista? My guess is Edge at Summerslam, and you know what? Screw the “Slut” chants, screw “You screwed matt”, and screw playing the entrance video of a guy whose not even still in the company to get a reaction. Edge has proved that a man can be booed and still not be over as a heel. True, people don’t want to see him, and they want people to kick his ass, but you get the impression that more often than not they won’t pay money to see it and would rather some one kicked his ass for real backstage. I’m sure that the only reason anyone reacts during those segments is just to be nice to Kane, who lets face it, gets that many bad angles that you can’t help but be nice to the guy. Gotta wonder what kinda Karma that guy has.

So yeah, screw Edge, and even though it is the best time he’ll ever have in his career to win the title, leave it on Dave at Summerslam - IF Edge is his next opponent. If, however, they go with somebody else, then I think Summerslam could be the place for him to drop the belt, leading into a small run for the heel (or maybe Cena.... unification is a pretty sexy goal, baby) before a rematch in October or November. Looks like a pretty solid base to me. There is the question about whether Batista’s momentum can last past losing the title, but I think it can, as long as he’s chasing and the loss is only short term. What happens once he regains the title then..... I dread to think, but I’m not sure how long the kids will be wearing Batista shirts. Especially now with Cena on the flagship show.



Some work is being done over at wrestlingfanshof.co.uk, but check back in a couple of days to see who was successfully nominated - and who you get the chance to vote into the wrestling fans hall of fame, the only hall of fame designed for wrestling fans to have their say. Needless to say, you may be a little surprised at some of the names available.

That’ll just about do it for this one. I hope to have another one written up in the next few days. If you’ve got anything to say about anything I’ve said here, don’t hesitate to get in touch at takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com, and I’ll get back to you.

Until next time, so long.

Pt2.








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