DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – No Mercy Predictions, Kurt Angle + WWE vs TNA?
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 at 2:44 AM EST





THE WRESTLING MENU #196

Welcome one and all to the 196th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

This column is a milestone edition of sorts for me… I have successfully written & posted at least one column per week now for a whole year! That’s an achievement I never thought I would have ever reached & I am very proud to have somehow completed. I’m unsure if it was the 2 months off that I took before the streak began, or the actual vacation to North America itself that re-charged the batteries somewhat, but something must have helped me achieve this objective.

Sure, this streak of mine is nothing compared to what that crazy LOP colleague of mine named Mr.Tito did back in the day with his daily posting streak. But for the sake of sanity, I doubt that anyone will ever match that amazing feat, which should never be underestimated. No, I’m quite happy to have had something up for you all each & every Wednesday for the past year.

RVD may be Mr Monday Night, but DaveyBoy is Mr Wednesday Morning!!!

Kurt Angle may be the Wrestling Machine, but DaveyBoy is the Writing Machine!!!

And speaking of Kurt Angle, it seems as though he has been the talk of the professional wrestling industry of late. So, I suppose it is fitting & timely that the ‘Writing Machine’ discusses his movement from WWE to TNA today, as well as the moves implications for the professional wrestling industry as a whole.

On with the show…..


APPETIZERS

’No Mercy’ Predictions

BRIAN KENDRICK & PAUL LONDON vs KC JAMES & IDOL STEVENS for the WWE Tag-Team Championships: This division is not the total wreck that its counterpart on Raw is, but is still not being booked to really make the fans care. For the main part, the high-flying young faces have done a good job as champs, but the crowd reactions towards them are inconsistent & dependant on what they’re allowed to do in the ring & the relevant booking. The rookie challengers have debuted to a lukewarm reception, but I believe both men to have good potential. They shown signs of gelling as a team on occasions, but look like 2 singles wrestlers thrown together at other times. The feud just needs something more & it may come in the form of the female element with Michelle McCool & Ashley Massarro possibly both getting involved. This match could be a show-stealer if booked excitingly. Otherwise, it’s just going to be your run-of-the-mill tag match that will fade from memory at the closing bell. From a near-future perspective, it may actually be best if the titles change hands here, but it just seems a little premature the way the feud has been booked thus far. Winners: Brian Kendrick & Paul London

GREGORY HELMS vs MATT HARDY: Helms comes in as the Cruiserweight Champion here, but I don’t believe that the title is on the line. Nothing has really been mentioned about it in the lead-up & I think everyone is simply presuming that former champ Matt Hardy is now over the relevant weight limit. That does at least give the WWE a little more flexibility with regards to the result here, but I’m unsure the victor will really gain much out of it anyway. The feud has actually been decently booked in an old-school type of way. And the match itself could also be decent. I’ve mentioned before that these 2 have been unable to step up the pace of late, but they do make up for this partially by telling a good story in the ring. I just hope they go that extra step & give us something a little bit extra here. The result seems irrelevant to me, although it shouldn’t due to Helms’ character right now. The safe bet here is the heel, but I’ll go the upset & say that Hardy will emerge victorious. Winner: Matt Hardy

MONTEL VONTAVIOUS PORTER vs ???: Will it be Scotty 2 Hotty…??? Will it be Funaki…??? Will it be Tatanka….??? Or could it even be Jimmy Wang Yang…??? I’d actually prefer Yang, but the choice is pretty much irrelevant to the result as the debutant will get the victory here without a doubt. I think most of us will be simply looking at whether or not MVP is any good in the ring. I’ll give the WWE something; They have built his character up rather well. Winner: Montel Vontavious Porter

KEN KENNEDY vs THE UNDERTAKER: This appears to be the second match on the card where a SmackDown titleholder is not defending his championship. Well, I think that’s the case here as nothing has been mentioned abut the US Title being on the line in this bout. It’s definitely an interesting match-up here & reminds me a lot of the seemingly premature John Cena vs Undertaker match from the Vengeance ppv in 2003. That bout almost seemed like a test of Cena’s ability to step up against a veteran main-eventer & this could be a similar test for Mr Kennedy. I expect a storyline heavy match here with Kennedy working on a body part of ‘Taker for some time, before the phenom makes the comeback & emerges victorious. All eyes are on Kennedy’s performance here. Winner: The Undertaker

CHAVO GUERRERO vs REY MYSTERIO in a Falls Count Anywhere Match: Am I going nuts, or was this bout initially booked as a steel cage match? From all reports, this could be the final match of this feud in 2006 due to Mysterio requiring some form of knee surgery. Some time off could be the best thing for Rey as his batteries need a little recharging anyway. While this feud has been rather predictable from the beginning, the booking has done a decent job of still making us care. Actually, extra kudos goes to Rey here as he has done a very good job of putting over his anger towards to Chavo & Vicki. I also liked the intensity shown in their crowd brawl from SmackDown last week & it does set up this bout rather well. In fact, this is a bit of a forgotten match on this card & it would not at all surprise me to see these 2 put together something special here. Rey could very well get the win & then be attacked afterwards, but if Chavo is going to receive any sort of push in the next couple of months, he should get the pinfall by hook or by crook here. Winner: Chavo Guerrero

KING BOOKER vs BOBBY LASHLEY vs FINLAY vs BATISTA in a Fatal Fourway Match for the World HeavyWeight Title: I have had many emails over the past week regarding Lashley gaining a title shot not much longer than a year after debuting. I have no problems with it as long as he doesn’t emerge the World Champion this early in his career. I firmly believe in up & comers being tested in big ppv matches & King Booker is a very good champion to be getting tested against. Furthermore, I don’t think that was entirely the reason why this bout was changed at the last moment. I think it was either (a) because the 2 singles matches weren’t big enough to sell the ppv, (b) the WWE have changed their mind on who they want as champion, or (c) a combination of both those reasons. I think that reason (a) is the most likely because the blame/responsibility if the buyrates come in lower than expected would have been placed solely on Booker & Lashley. While the fourway is a better selling match however, the lateness of the change is ridiculous & won’t reach many of it’s target audience in time.

Lashley has been very impressive of late & I really thought he learnt a lot during his feud with the veteran Finlay. While his style may not mesh as much with Booker, the King is a veteran himself & should be able to adapt successfully. The Fatal Fourway stipulation should improve the quality of the match, as it will allow the 2 well-built faces to take turns in hitting power moves, while not putting as much pressure on Booker to ensure he gets a great match out of the 2nd year WWE Superstar. The WWE can save face for the late notice of this match change by booking it to get the fans live in attendance on the edge of their seat. If they can do that, this should be good because I really feel the match’s quality is dependant on crowd involvement. I have already given my opinion on why I think this match was changed, so therefore….. Winner: King Booker

Ok, so there we have the 2006 version of ‘No Mercy’. I can’t say that I’m all that excited about the card & I really can see this event being a rather forgettable one. But there is enough intrigue about some of the match-ups to interest me. I just hope that those relevant bouts are not booked safely & do not lead to nothing in the following weeks on SmackDown. I can see a 7th match being added to the card & if that is the case, it is likely to involve Mike Mizanin, Sylvester Terkay, Sylvan or Vito. Chances are that one of those men will defeat a jobber, although Miz vs Vito or Sylvan vs Vito wouldn’t be so clear-cut. From an entertainment perspective, Miz vs Vito is the way too go for mine, with Mizanin continuing his undefeated streak.


MAIN – Kurt Angle to TNA

I am not the first columnist to comment on the current situation with Kurt Angle & I definitely won’t be the last. But no matter which way you look at this, his move from the WWE to TNA sure has brought a lot of fan conjecture to the professional wrestling industry. Usually that is a positive thing & I don’t see why it’s not in this case as well. But no matter from which perspective you view these happenings from, I think it’s fair to say that close to all of us were surprised with Kurt signing on the dotted line with TNA.

No-one (writing on the internet) should really claim that they know exactly what went down between the WWE & Kurt Angle. And I definitely am not going to do so. There are obviously one or two extraordinary factors that we don’t fully know about, but the only clue that we were given to that was 2 slightly contradictory reports as to Kurt Angle’s demeanor & thoughts of his WWE release.

If you recall, initial reports suggested he was practically fine with the decision & would aim for a WWE return in the near future. The same report suggested that the WWE would welcome him with open arms when the time was right. Yet, these were followed by rumors that he was actually angry & acted unprofessionally. I’m not sure what we can read into that, but the fact that they were simply reports in the first place means we should take them with a grain of salt anyway. I know that I am not taking everything that is posted on the WWE website (or sms alerts) as 100% fact.

If I was to state my opinion on why Kurt Angle was released from his WWE contract, it would be a combination of factors. Firstly, he had a pain-killer problem. The WWE simply didn’t want another Eddie Guerrero on their hands & confronted him about rectifying this problem. Leading on from this is the arguable fact that Angle is now extremely injury prone for one reason or another. I know we have many nightmare stories about wrestling promotions firing employees while injured, but I don’t believe that this could have been the sole reason here. Kurt Angle was too good of a performer to do that to.

Secondly, there had been various reports throughout this year that Kurt was unhappy with the way he was being used. As per usual, I took these with a grain of salt. But in retrospect, there probably was some truth to these reports. Whether it was his move back to SmackDown, his title loss to Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania 22, his tweener competitor type of character or his eventual move to the ECW brand, Angle may have spoken out about one or more of these to the displeasure of management.

With the exception of the move to ECW (& I can see why the WWE took that risk), I had no major problems with the way the WWE booked Kurt Angle during 2006. The problem may actually go back a little further, as I have no qualms with any complaints that he did have in late 2005 during his disappointingly booked feud with WWE Champion John Cena. He had every reason to be upset at that, but how he reacted would also come into play. The reason for this is that there have also been (here is that word again) reports that when Angle gets angry, he really gets angry. Maybe he went over the top at one stage or another & the WWE couldn’t ignore it.

The final factor that could have come into play, and could very well be the most under-rated of reasons, is Kurt Angle’s apparent want to branch out into something else. He has flirted with returning to the Olympics in the past & the WWE were apparently meant to be rather flexible in letting him do this. But any mention of UFC (or any similar MMA promotion) wouldn’t have been met with the same satisfaction by the WWE, as these promotions are seen to be competition to some extent or another.

So, in my opinion, a combination of some or all of those reasons is what resulted in the WWE releasing Kurt Angle. But they predominantly wanted him to get his head & body right. Sure, I can’t explain why he was released, as opposed to sent home without pay, but there may have been some contractual issues at play that we don’t know about & probably wouldn’t understand even if we knew of them. Whether all this is the truth or not is almost irrelevant in my opinion, because I believe that Angle was not indeed right (at least his body wasn’t anyway). So for everyone’s good (his, the fans & the WWE’s), I wanted him to take a year or so off & then come back to the WWE with his batteries recharged.

Alas, this is not what has occurred as Kurt Angle has now signed a contract with TNA Wrestling. In a rather interesting & over-the-top press release, Angle was quoted as saying that he is now home, TNA has saved his career & it will be the most-watched wrestling promotion soon. This has angered some WWE fans & even strong fans of Kurt himself. I wouldn’t say that I am personally angered, but I am surprised at the ferocity & competitiveness of the statement. I will talk more about it in the ‘Dessert’ section of today’s column, but I really doubt it was wise to do this. And it’s really irrelevant as to whether it was a quote from Kurt or a TNA beat-up, as both parties should have been privy to it before release.

The bottom line: Kurt Angle is now an employee of Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling. He will be missed as a roster member of the WWE, but people move on & we can only hope that this results in (a) Kurt Angle being a healthier & happier wrestler as a result of the move, and (b) the professional wrestling industry emerging better and/or stronger from the move. And I do stress the order of those 2 wishes, because if Kurt really is as much of a physical & mental wreck as rumored, then he must be forced to consider the consequences of his future actions. And those consequences are the many professional wrestlers that have left us way too early in the past!


DESSERT – WWE vs TNA?

One thing that Kurt Angle’s move to TNA has done is reignited the talk of genuine competition between the top 2 wrestling promotions in North America (if not the world). By signing Kurt Angle & following it up with a rather competitive sounding press release, has TNA opened the floodgates of a genuine war with the WWE? While the answer is “yes” on the surface, I’m not so sure myself. But whether that was TNA’s intention or not, I’m not so sure that being this aggressive is the best way to go about things.

I do realize that to get anywhere in business, ruthlessness plays a huge part. I also realize that Vince McMahon & the WWE are not foolish enough to let TNA sneak up on them in the battle for ratings, advertising & dollars in general. But TNA are taking a fair risk with a man who is arguably injury prone & has personal problems to deal with. Please don’t read this comment as I disagree with his signing (although it’s rather swift timing baffles me a little). That is far from the truth. But what I am trying to get at is would the positive publicity, reaction & interest been any less if Angle was signed a little further down the track & with a simple press release? Some will argue that the answer to this question is “yes”, but I personally doubt it.

I have received many emails over the past week or so & there definitely seems to be a common ground to them which is great news for TNA. Most emails have been from WWE fans who only watch TNA sporadically & just can’t seem to be held as regular viewers. With Kurt Angle’s signing, these fans have simply stated that will now view TNA’s weekly television shows & monthly pay-per-view presentations with more interest & anticipation. Leading on from this is the greater chance of actually sticking with the promotion as a loyal & regular viewer.

Those emails which I received practically immediately give reason to Kurt Angle’s signing being a good thing for TNA. Impact’s ratings should be up during October for that reason alone… Even if Kurt Angle doesn’t show his face on tv. The mere mention of his name for a few weeks could be enough to garner enough interest to retain some viewers from week to week. But this is where TNA really has to step up. They must now ensure that they do not waste a minute of their programming time in order to keep the ratings high & for all other positive flow-on effects to come in. Kurt Angle may do the job short-term, but one wrestler will only keep a few fans tuned in for the medium to long term.

Now is the time to push the wrestlers that should be pushed. Now is the time to make those same wrestlers look strong & good. Now is the time to get the balance right in terms of heels & faces. Now is the time to get the pecking order for contender’s right in terms of each division. Hardly a mistake can be made. Because even if Kurt Angle turns out to be a total bust (which I highly doubt), then it is the programming over the next 1-2 months that could very well turn some casual TNA fans into loyal ones. All because these fans are tuning in to see what impact Kurt Angle has on TNA.

An example which shows how much TNA has to think things through is arguably the 4 top ranked wrestlers in TNA today; Jeff Jarrett, Sting, Samoa Joe & Kurt Angle. Presuming Kurt debuts as a face (which is most likely), it means that it is simply the heel champ fending off 3 face challengers. Boring! And the fact that it is Jarrett that is champ doubles the boring factor to many. This must all be thought through & some hard decisions have to be made. I remember when Christian Cage debuted in TNA & they did the easy thing of debuting him as a face. The result was only a semi-successful title reign followed by an anti-climactic heel turn. And now, from (unenthusiastic) memory, he is feuding with Rhino. Yippee… Yawn!

But getting back to the main gist of the topic, it is interesting that the WWE is yet to acknowledge Kurt Angle’s signing with TNA. I don’t think this necessarily means that a war of sorts has or hasn’t started. I think it is simply a matter of wait & see from the WWE. And to be honest, I don’t feel they will be rushed into anything drastic anyway. Even if TNA increases tv ratings by 50%, I can see Vince waiting a couple of months before he does anything of a significant note. The rather inconsistent, but falling, ratings of his own ECW brand should prove to him that short-term results aren’t the be all & end all.

If anything changes in the short-term in the WWE, it will be that they may limit the crap that they present to us. Some simple refinement if that makes sense. Just to ensure that they don’t give the fans further reason to switch on TNA on a more regular basis. And this can only be a good thing for us with hopefully all 3 WWE brands plus ppv events being of a slightly higher quality.

So all in all, if only because of that last point, TNA’s signing of Kurt Angle is a positive for the professional wrestling industry. But let’s not get carried away & say that a war has started between the WWE & TNA. We are a long way from that in my opinion & a lot will depend on how TNA steps up to the plate in the next few months. Yes, this could be a major step in that direction, but it should be remembered that Kurt Angle is simply one human being. He isn’t really a wrestling machine you know!


Ok, that’s another one in the books & I hope you all enjoyed it. If you would like to provide feedback on any of the 3 topics that I have discussed today, you may do so by emailing me. My e-mail address is DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. But if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217

Next Wednesday in 'The Wrestling Menu', I need a break after writing weekly for a full year! Just kidding… I’m the Writing Machine… Like I would do that to you guys. The streak will indeed continue next Wednesday with my review of the ‘No Mercy’ pay-per-view. Here’s hoping for a pleasant surprise with that event. I’ve been meaning to speak about the rumored break-up of The Spirit Squad over the past couple of weeks, so I may also tackle that topic next week. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine! Maybe I will get some interesting feedback regarding Kurt Angle that I will discuss. As per usual, my column will be posted at the same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. 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

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