DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu - Vengeance Predictions + $1 Million Tough Enough
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 6:34 AM EST
THE WRESTLING MENU #181
Welcome one and all to the 181st edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.
Apologies to those expecting my comments & opinions on the first ECW show, but it was literally impossible for me to give them this week… And the same goes for next week as well. It seems that the Australian cable carrier that shows WWE programming hasn’t come to an agreement with them as yet.
What fooled me was that I remember reading something a few weeks back that stated that the ECW show would fulfill the remainder of contracts to air Velocity in all international markets! So now, not only do us Aussies not get ECW, but we miss out on Velocity (which is a show I actually didn’t mind watching) as well. Ripped off! And I wouldn’t mind betting it’s the WWE (remember what the first ‘W’ stands for) playing hard-ball & suggesting to international carriers that ECW is a better product & thus needs to be paid for. LOL… Let’s see; Sandman vs Zombie or MexiCools vs London & Kendrick? That’s a tough one!
Oh well, on with the show.....
'$1 Million Tough Enough' DVD Review
APPETIZERS
Competition Summary
I didn’t want to call this the main portion of the DVD (due to confusion with the ‘Main’ portion of my column), nor call it the documentary portion of the DVD (as this can hardly be classified as a documentary). It is basically a 60 minute summary from the beginning to the end of the competition & pretty much all that we saw on various episodes of SmackDown during late 2004.
We first see clips of the tryouts held at Venice Beach. Personally, I wanted to see more, as I felt this was one of the more entertaining portions of the contest. Different things are highlighted though, such as the bicep & pectoral injury suffered (while doing bench presses) by Brain Dahnovich. Dahnovich was eventually cut due to the injury, but ended up scoring a WWE developmental deal! I can’t say I have heard of him since.
Following the 8 finalists being chosen, we too briefly see ex-naval officer John Meyer quitting. He just didn’t want to put his body through the physical punishment required to become a professional wrestler. We then begin to individually look at the 7 remaining contestants. Nick Mitchell, Dan Rodimer & Justice Smith are up first, but we get sidetracked by a vertical leap bet that Smith & Rodimer lose. Some cross-dressing ensues!
We then move to October 2004 where the contestants get to have their first appearance on SmackDown. After being kicked out of the locker-room by The Big Show, they get to talk smack to him on the mic. That’s before being body-slammed by him though! We continue our look at each finalist with Mike Mizanin & Chris Nawrocki, before their next SmackDown appearance. This time, the contestants had to put up with shuttle runs, push-ups, a pasta eating contest, a squatting contest & then a match with Kurt Angle! Nawrocki won the squatting contest, but got pinned & a broken rib for his trouble. Daniel Puder stepped up afterwards & (in a rather controversial little match) attempted to get Kurt in a keylock before getting pinned.
Next up we have the remaining 2 contestants highlighted; Daniel Puder & Ryan Reeves. On November-11, our first elimination took place on SmackDown as Nick Mitchell was cut. The reward for those remaining was getting to kiss Mae Young! The next week, Chris Nawrocki gets cut & the remaining 5 have to get by the Basham Brothers to capture a flag in the corner turnbuckle. None of them succeed! The following week, Dan Rodimer shockingly gets eliminated. The remaining 4 have an arm-wrestling tournament which Puder wins.
On the next episode of SmackDown, each of the remaining 4 gets a chance to say who they would eliminate. It seems that Puder is the popular (or should that be unpopular) choice. But as it turns out, Ryan Reeves was cut. The remaining 3 get to dress as women & hit on Hardcore Holly! Apparently Justice Smith was the worst as a woman & he gets cut the next week. Puder subsequently wins a useless jousting contest before the 2 remaining men (Puder & Mizanin) head to pay-per-view.
At Armageddon 2004, Daniel Puder defeats Mike Mizanin in a Dixie Dogfight, which was basically a standard 3 round boxing match. Miz actually made it mildly entertaining, but it was pretty much ppv filler. The next Thursday on SmackDown , the inevitable happens & Daniel Puder was officially crowned the Tough Enough Champion of 2004 & received a $1 million contract as his reward!
I must say, that this competition summary moved along at such a pace, that it seemed to make the whole contest quite entertaining. Very well edited into 60 minutes, although I would have preferred to see more of the entertaining Venice Beach tryouts. Hell, even Marty Wright (aka The BoogeyMan) is only shown (very briefly) once.
ENTREE - Extras
There are numerous extras on this DVD & they are broken down into 4 sections. The first section is ACTIVITIES, which takes the 10 segments from SmackDown & 1 from the Armageddon ppv that were part of the competition summary, but show them in full. I will briefly detail all extras here, with each of the 4 sections being separated by sub-headings:
ACTIVITIES
- Big Show Body-Slam: Dan Rodimer’s cockiness goes over well here. 10 minutes in length.
- Kurt Angle Invitational: It’s interesting to note that Puder clearly should have been the winner of the squatting contest, but the referee was told through his ear-piece to eliminate him. I don’t get the point as Puder ended up going one on one with Angle anyway. 15 minutes in length.
- Torrie Wilson Sex Test: A rather monotonous 12 minutes.
- Bashams Capture The Flag: A competitive 9 minutes.
- Why Should You Vote For Me: Mizanin goes over fairly well in this 3 minute segment.
- Arm Wrestling Contest: A mediocre 4 minute contest.
- Who Would You Vote Off: Boring & monotonous. 3 minutes in length.
- Dress Like Women: Too much cross-dressing on this DVD, but the pick-up lines on Hardcore Holly were amusing. 9 minutes in length.
- Joust: 2 minutes of uselessness.
- Dixie Dogfight: Boxing contest of 3 one minute rounds. Terrible on ppv, but decently entertaining as part of this package. Mizanin’s unorthodox offense helps the entertainment factor, but doesn’t help him get the result. 10 minutes in length
- Winner: 2 minute announcement of Puder taking home the WWE contract.
AUDITION TAPES
All are about 60-90 seconds in length & shot on home video cameras.
- Brian Dahnovich: Effective 3 Faces of Dahnovich type sketch.
- John Meyer: Angry call out of the World Champion.
- Nick Mitchell: Annoyingly shows off his body & strange moves. He does have a fair vertical leap though.
- Chris Nawrocki: Sings a song entitled “Jobber”.
- Ryan Reeves: A strange impassioned plea. I think he lodged his tape late.
- Dan Rodimer: Concentrates on his strength & shows him at the gym.
ELIMINATION INTERVIEWS
- Ryan Reeves: Just over a minute in length, Reeves vows to be back & details his rib injury.
- Justice Smith: Justice & his zero charisma tells us that it was a lack of votes that saw him eliminated. The man is a genius!
- Mike Mizanin: The Miz is pretty level-headed after his loss & crosses his fingers that the WWE will pick him up in the future.
MISCELLANEOUS
- Justice Smith: Emotional 4 minute sit-down interview where Justice tells a story about his cousin getting murdered when he took a bullet for him! Real & emotional Justice Smith is a lot better than the uncharismatic Justice Smith we got to know.
- Ryan Reeves’ Hair Mishap: 1 minute sit-down interview about Ryan trying to dye his hair silver for the contest, but it didn’t quite work, hence his wearing of a beanie.
- Puder’s 3 Words: Puder talking about his “Snap, Crackle & Pop” catchphrase & how he broke a few opponent’s bones in high school wrestling.
- Puder the Brown-Noser: Mizanin telling a couple of stories about how Puder sucked up to head trainer Al Snow.
- Al Snow’s Legacy: Al telling us about how he loves training “his kids” & how they are his legacy.
- Al Snow on Reeves’ Eating: Al describes Reeves’ appetite & how much energy he put into eating. 4 minutes in length.
- Bloopers: Assorted hotch-potch of clips including this, that & the other. 2 minutes in length.
- Miz Cribs: 4 minute segment of Mizanin taking us through his Santa Monica apartment.
- ‘Byte This’ With Puder & Miz: Both men are on the phone & state why they believe they should win the contest. Back & forth semi-serious trash-talking that is a little similar to a boxing press-conference/weigh-in. 6 minutes in length.
- Nick Cuts Himself: Mock self-elimination that just isn’t funny. Fortunately, Mitchell also tells a story of a rib on Al Snow & Bill Demott.
- Rodimer Practical Jokes: Weekly update of Dan’s practical jokes on others, as well as those played on him. He comes out on the losing end & even misses 2 flights because of them. 5 minutes in length.
- The Miz Gets Arrested: Mike tells the story of how he bumped a girl, which somehow resulted in his arrest. Of course, it was all a rib played by Snow & DeMott, but Miz was never quite sure. 3 minutes in length.
- Ryan Reeves Not Liking Puder: Reeves is quite serious here in this 2 minute sit-down interview. He claims Puder was solely in the competition for himself, was disrespectful & was constantly on his cell-phone.
MAIN
Easter Eggs & Conclusion
EASTER EGGS
- On Page-1 of the ‘Extras’, highlight ‘Joust’ & press ‘left’ twice to see a short grab of Justice Smith saying how both he & Nick Mitchell got cut when they brought their families to SmackDown.
- On the ‘Chapters’ page, highlight ‘Justice Eliminated’ & press ‘right’ twice to see Al Snow ensuring that Justice Smith completes 6 push-ups that he owes him, even after he has been eliminated!
- On the ‘Chapters’ page, highlight ‘Al Snows Birthday’ & press ‘left’ twice to see Dan Rodimer getting a cake in his face courtesy of Al Snow.
CONCLUSION
What can I say? This one-discer was never going to be a big seller & there’s nothing on here that makes me recommend anyone to go out & purchase it. Fortunately, I was able to rent it for $4 & it wasn’t too much of a time-waster for that price.
The competition summary portion of the DVD was well edited & moves along swiftly enough, while some of the extras are ok & others are boring. If anything, the duplication of the activities is a bit too much of a filler in my opinion.
The interesting aspect of this DVD is that it made me look at some of the individuals a little differently than when the contest was actually taking place. Mizanin comes off very well, while the tidal wave of opinion concerning Puder is too strong to ignore. Meanwhile, Mitchell comes off more annoying than I thought he was, meaning he is absolutely perfect for The Spirit Squad.
Overall, this is an ok DVD to watch if you are given it as a present, but I couldn’t really recommend anyone spending money on it unless you were a huge fan of the contest.
DESSERT
'Vengeance' Predictions
SHELTON BANJAMIN vs CARLITO vs JOHNNY NITRO in a Triple-Threat Match for the InterContinental Title: I’ll go with this as the opener because I feel that the WWE are keen on making Carlito a regular curtain-jerker. Plus, his entrance theme always gets that opening pop that the WWE love to have at the beginning of their pay-per-views. I don’t mind this match-up. This is despite it being rushed a little too much due to a combination of all the ECW hype, plus Nitro only recently moving to Raw. But they couldn’t have yet another Shelton vs Carlito match for the title, so the triple-threat provides variety. This should be pretty good actually & I will be really interested to see how Nitro fits in with his more athletic opponents. He has passed every test thus far, so I think he can come out of this looking good. I do hope these guys are given time, but don’t go all out too soon. The pacing needs to be very careful here, as does the booking to ensure that one guy isn’t always catching a breather on the outside. With a heel being the champ & 2 heels in the match, that says to me we are transitioning feuds, so look for Carlito to emerge victorious & go one on one with Nitro at a later date. Winner: Carlito
UMAGA vs EUGENE: Could the Sandman’s Singapore Cane shots to Eugene’s head unleash Nick Dinsmore? Quite a few people have emailed me suggesting this. And at the very least, his segment with Rob Conway must suggest some sort of direction for the Eugene character. It won’t be defeating the Samoan Bulldozer here though. Poor Eugene is going to get squashed… But at least it could be for future character progression purposes. This will be short & let’s just hope that Umaga is more impressive than some of his previous squashes. Winner: Umaga
KURT ANGLE vs RANDY ORTON: Interesting booking here. I was initially surprised at this rematch being announced, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. This is especially the case when one realizes how much of a home field advantage there was at ‘One Night Stand’ for the ECW wrestlers. This is the away leg (for Kurt) so to speak. Plus, despite varying feedback to my review of the match, the previous ppv bout almost seemed as if it was a prelude to something. It got off to an extremely methodical start & then came home like a racehorse needing more distance. So I’m actually expecting something very good quality-wise here. I’m talking an 8 out of 10 or above! As for the result, Randy is still getting punished & Kurt needs to be made to look strong, no matter whose home field it is. Winner: Kurt Angle
MICK FOLEY vs RIC FLAIR in a Best of 3 Falls Match: An obvious feud, yet it came from nowhere. This is yet another bout/feud which has been hindered by the ECW hype. With all the history between these 2 men, this feud could have been built up to be something huge. As it turns out, it looks like it may be a match that just comes & goes… Probably because this event is emanating from Flair’s hometown of Charlotte. The bout will be interesting in that I am not too certain if they will purely play it for entertainment, or actually attempt to put on a damn fine technical wrestling match. I suppose the ‘best of 3 falls’ stipulation allows them to try to do both. It’s actually a risky thing to try at this stage of these 2 wrestlers’ careers, but could fuel a greater pace than a single fall bout would otherwise not successfully do. I’m not expecting anything superb out of this, but it wouldn’t totally shock me if they pulled something out of the bag. As for the result, I’ll go with the hometown (nature) boy. Winner: Ric Flair
KANE vs (MASKED) KANE: Believe it or not, I’m neither here nor there on this feud at the moment. I’m willing to give it some time. The man under the mask is most probably going to end up being someone out of Kane’s past & turn into generic big man #436. But we shouldn’t judge until we see the guy in the ring. In a way, playing mind games with Kane by dressing the way he used to be, makes storyline sense in a psychotic kind of way. As long as it eventually leads to him unmasking & taking on his own persona. Hard to judge how good or bad this bout will be, but I think we can expect a rather standard big man match. Let’s just hope these 2 can put in the intensity that will be required to make this bout at least partially successful. As for the result, the new guy almost has to win… Unless he loses & then sets the building on fire! Winner: (Masked) Kane
JOHN CENA vs SABU: This rematch from the WWE vs ECW special is a rather strange match-up if you ask me. I didn’t mind the bout from a couple of weeks ago, but it definitely wasn’t anything to write home about it. To me, this match-up only exists because the WWE want to get as much publicity & promotion for ECW out of John Cena as possible. RVD & Angle are already being used, while using The Big Show here (which would probably be a slightly better fit) would be too much like just another WWE match. I wouldn’t mind betting that this is kept relatively short & I think a fairly fast-paced 7-8 minute bout may be the most efficient way to find some quality here. The result will be interesting too. On the surface, Cena should emerge victorious, but I wonder if the WWE would rather continue the momentum of Sabu (especially since he didn’t actually lose to Rey at ‘One Night Stand’) & ECW. Nah, probably not… & the confrontation on Raw would suggest Cena gets the win here. Winner: John Cena
DEGENERATION X (TRIPLE H & SHAWN MICHAELS) vs THE SPIRIT SQUAD (KENNY, MIKEY, JOHNNY, NICKY & MITCH) in a Handicap Match: The band is back together finally, but I think I will give more detailed thoughts on the return of D-X next week. On the other side of the coin is The Spirit Squad & I think it’s fair to say that these 5 young men have made one hell of a splash on Raw over the past couple of months. Initially, I felt 5 was too many members for this stable & would have preferred 3. But I suppose the greater number (although Mitch is useless anyway) sort of evens out the load amongst them. This could very much help in this bout as they are against 2 seasoned professionals. The entertainment factor should be high in this bout, but I hope the booking doesn’t totally forget putting on a good quality bout. I’m almost certain that HBK & his injured knee will get isolated for the majority of the match in order to tell a story, but if The Spirit Squad can keep the tags humming along & using the variety of offensive weapons that they have, then this could be an above average bout. I suppose an unclean ending & result is a definite possibility here, but I will play it safe & say that D-X will win after their 100th crotch-chop! Who’s gonna count them for me? Winners: DeGeneration X
ROB VAN DAM vs EDGE for the WWE Championship: Quite a brave call for the WWE to go with this singles bout as a ppv main-event. I suppose they felt that they could experiment seeing as though D-X would help carry the load buyrate-wise anyway. These 2 guys have gone at it before & the results have been mixed. There is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to step up here though, as they will most probably be given the time to do so. The booking leading up to the bout has been a bit of a hotch-potch, with John Cena seemingly being more the focus than either of these 2. But overall, it’s actually a satisfying match-up in a way, because it is the most logical following Cena’s title loss. The WWE also did a good job of stringing us along with RVD winning the WWE Championship & I’m actually glad that they didn’t take the title off him a couple of Monday’s ago. But circumstances must mean that he loses that title here. The only question mark is whether or not it will be in controversial circumstances or not. Best of luck to these guys & let’s hope that at least one of them can take the next step & tear the house down here. Winner: Edge
Ok, so that’s Vengeance in a nutshell. It’s actually a rather interesting card. And on paper, it doesn’t look too bad at all. The event has really been hindered by the lack of time it had to build up most of its feuds, due to the hype required for the return for ECW. But all in all, the WWE has done a decent job, all things considered. One definite positive is that there are 8 pre-announced matches (with nothing likely to be added) & I would have to say that 7 of them (Umaga vs Eugene being the exception) have the potential to rate as high as a 7.5 out of 10. Now for the hard part; Turning the potential into a quality event on the night. Vengeance came through with the goods last year, so hopefully it can do the same in 2006.
That's #181 of 'The Wrestling Menu' in the books. Please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought of my 'Vengeance' Predictions. I'm unsure anyone will care about 'Tough Enough', but if you have any information on where some of the contestants are right now, please don't hesitate to let me know. As per usual, I will reply to everyone. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com
Or alternately, if you are an LOPForums member, you may also leave feedback by clicking on the following link: http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=4889
Next Wednesday's 'Wrestling Menu' will obviously include my 'Vengeance' Review. Let's hope it's another very good event like last years. Other than that, I'm a little unsure as to what I will write about, but I think I will at least take a look at one often overlooked reason as to why the WWE just had to reunite DeGeneration X. So look out for that 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.
DaveyBoy's Wrestling Menu. 2002-2006
Exclusive To LordsOfPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com
***DIRECT LINK*** VERY CONTROVERSIAL Shots of LETICIA CLINE on Howard Stern!! WHOA!!
- Quick Links -
[Back to LOP] [News Archives] [Results] [Columns] [Forums]
|
|
