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Submitted by Wevv Mang on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 9:08 PM EST
Ridin' With The Bossman – A Year Without Triple H Greetings! Welcome to another edition of Ridin’ With The Bossman. The column that is being used to motivate Triple H in his recovery process. That’s right, it’s a vital tool to the well being of H. As my column is read to him, as he rehabs, it provokes H to work harder, and go that extra distance. But be careful Hunter, you don't want to overdo it and set yourself back in your rehab. On another topic, what a day of football. Bears win, Colts win, and fantastic games all around. Colts vs Bears in the Superbowl. Which is in less than two weeks. Going to be a long couple of days. But, let’s talk about some wrestling, since this is a wrestling column, and I got a week to make up. Sorry about that loyal readers. Blame the Bears and their KICK ASS SEASON AND CONSTANT WINNING! Drat you Bears! It must be a terrible burden to be so good. Sorry, back to wrestling. WWE TV – The Series Raw Recap courtesy of Chad Matthews Last week, it was pretty obvious in the first few minutes that Vince and management panicked. How so? Giant Khali was yanked from ECW to Raw. When in trouble, Vince always goes to the big guys, and well, Khali is the biggest guy they have on the roster right now. I’m sure Raw was mourning the loss of Big Show when they got the news. The show right after the PPV was one fueled by panic. H was gone, and all plans were out the window. At least where Raw was concerned, and even to a lesser extent for ECW and Smackdown. Nothing critical, but Vince was reminded that they existed once he sent out the call for a “Really, really Big Guy”. Smackdown got effected possibly long term, as plans for WM and the Rumble were shifted around. But it was Raw that got hit the hardest. A big feud was now in limbo. And that spilled over to the other angles, as I’m sure, since DX just beat the crap out of Rated RKO at the PPV, as was the plan, that DX was given a lot of time for the show, and now, the guy who has a reputation for talking a lot, was not there, and something had to fill the gaps. Not to mention, backstage rumors of Steph, the head of creative, freaking out over the injury to her husband, and more than likely, taking off with him to the hospital, and then flying to Alabama. Basically, she was out of touch, and that left Vince to call the shots. By himself, since the two people he relies most on, were not available. The results were a show that has been called the worst Raw in years. A variety of reasons have been given, from the Rosie O’Donell skits primarily. And in my opinion, it was a horrible show. Yet, the following weeks saw some improvement. A reason could be Vince not having his filtering system in place, and experiencing the show first hand. Hell, Vince was at ringside when the TNA chants broke out. That can't be good. For Vince. Let’s take a closer look at what steps WWE took and what was tweaked for the following week. Khali Raw got Khali! Without Daviari! But he’s associated with Umaga. And feuding with John Cena. Poor Cena. I’d say that just throwing a big guy, even one who has beaten the Undertaker, clean (something I got to see live). The crowd does know Khali and knows he’s not very good. Just no-selling offense doesn't work like it used to. So, for the next week, we had an attempt at a promo by Khali, and a shift from Cena to Carlito. Poor Carlito. See, Big Guys just don't have the impact they used to just for being big. There’s plenty of them out there. It’s part of the gimmick, but I think that if WWE was looking for a big gimmick, why not grab Kevin Thorne, who happens to be a big guy, and has a great gimmick. Rated RKO vs DX After NYR, Rated RKO came to the ring and basically begged for mercy from DX. Oh, they may not tried to say they beat DX but they were the ones getting their asses handed to them, as the video clips showed plenty of time, as WWE explained why H wasn’t there. In fact, I thought Randy’s promo was very similar to the one he used against H in their feud, where Randy just kissed H’s ass. The handicap match also didn't do them any favors, as two guys, and the tag champs to boot, should have overpowered HBK, since DX just beat the crap out of them. Edge did get to say that they took out H, but the announcers kept saying otherwise, all night long, and again, there were the clips, which showed H, about to lay out Randy, and just injuring himself. In other words, one side is saying that only H can stop H, constantly, while a small, weak, minority, is trying to tell you otherwise. With no proof, or evidence, other than the fact that the guy is not there, and we all know it’s because he’s injured. HBK is the lynchpin in this feud now. HBK is the guy who has the most backstage clout in the whole brand in fact. But I do think he’s limited in what he can accomplish. See, the thing of it is, Rated RKO has been getting a Rey Mysterio push. Remember that? Rey got beat down constantly, but got the occasional but of victory, but it was never quite enough. JBL got to berate, and crush Mysterio every week. Then, when the PPV came, which few people actual got to see, Mysterio would pull out a fluke victory, usually after being beaten for ten minutes straight. Much like now. Rated RKO has been beaten down constantly, gotten no tangible measure of revenge, or any chance to get heat, on the actual people they are feuding with. They got to beat up Ric Flair, and now, Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Whoop de frickin’ do. That does next to nothing. What next? They get to beat up HBK’s neighbor? Maybe kick a puppy? Seriously, their big chance to gloat, and they came out in bandages, and limping, and basically wished H a “get well soon” in a sincere fashion. A good chance H would have used the injury to insult either Edge or Orton if the roles had been reversed. Come on H fans, you know what kind of promos H does. Rated RKO needs to be made to look strong, not look weak. Something has to be done to HBK, not and not indirectly either. That’s only if the team is to stay together. Seeds have now been planted for a split. Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump I was amazed. Amazed that with such material that WWE could create such an unfunny series of skits. It bordered on slander. The sad thing is, it was done to get attention and the only one who knew they did it, was the guy who they already had a deal with. Rosie probably has no idea about them. It’s wrestling. I think it’s safe to say that Rosie is not keeping up with WWE. Trump on the other hand, does, at least now. And I get the feeling that the following weeks skit was more true than false. Trump’s people probably did tell him to stay away from Vince. I read somewhere that the plan was for the Trump and Rosie bits was to build for something for Trump possibly at the Rumble or even Mania. Well, the Trump and Rosie feud has died down, and “The Apprentice” has debuted, the Miss America pageant is being rocked by scandal. Apparently Miss Nevada likes to get loaded and take off her clothes and suck on other chicks tits. Hey, don't believe me? Here’s some pics. So, I have no idea what this feud is all about. Correction, I know what it’s about, I’m not sure what it’s for. Rumble hype? Mania hype? Saturday Night Main Even hype? It’s leading to something, but I’m not sure even WWE knows what. Wrap-Up Now, the second week AHI (After H’s Injury), saw a marked improvement in direction. The first week saw Vince sitting ringside for the match, and the fans crapped all over it. Chanting ‘TNA” and we want wrestling. The second week saw Vince acknowledge that criticism. Kind of hard to ignore the TNA chant, when it’s right behind you. WWE admitted that the skit sucked. Carlito got to say it to Vince’s face. Vince may not have been happy about it, but he let it happen. Speaking of Carlito, he would be a good addition to DX. He just got to tell off the Boss, a DX thing to do, and with H out for a long time, some one has to step in and fill the void in the group. After all, something personal should be done to HBK, if they want the angle to continue in a fashion other than just squashing Rated RKO until H gets back. I do understand that with the Rumble coming up, a beat down of HBK would not be a good thing. But it’s about time for WWE to spend some money and do a limo-destroying skit. Why not just trash HBK’s hotel room instead? Probably cost less, and who know, maybe Carlito could come to the rescue? I now they would rather stick Ric in there, but Ric has something else going one at the time, which is Kenny. Rumble Build Plenty of small, one shot angles seem to be cropping up, to build for the Rumble. Master’s vs Super Crazy, Tag Team action, and so forth. It seems to be on a week-by-week basis of who get the hotshot angle. ECW Recap courtesy of Eddie Martin With Khali gone, it does crate some time for the remaining roster to get a shot. Kelly Kelly returns. No big deal. She seems better on the mic, but that’s not saying much. Striker shows up and bores the pants off everyone. CM Punk then shows up for the save, and we got a match. Punk beats Striker after Kelly flashes him. Punk now has to cheat to win. Monty Brown He’s got some other weird name in WWE, but it’s Monty Brown. He looked impressive, and worked well with the crowd. He even got to speak after his match. Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay, in his last appearance in WWE They faced off against Sandman, who survived the cuts, but lost the match. Thorne and Arial got a nice little promo about Thorne’s Rumble appearance. Nicely done. Test vs RVD vs Lashley Test keeps trying to impress, and frankly, he’s not that bad a wrestler, but the guy just has no charisma. Much like Mark Henry, he suffers from too much negative reaction earlier in his career. But, he took some big bumps, and worked hard. He might make a comeback, but in the main event, he’s just not at credible threat levels yet. It’s too soon. Lashley and RVD was good, and RVD and Test have a surprising chemistry together. Match was laid out well, with RVD getting the big comeback to pick up the match, but it was Lashley who got the pin. Not a bad show, but still not that great. It’s been a while since I’ve seen ECW, and it doesn't seem like I’ve missed anything. I did catch part of Brad Armstrong’s previous appearances, but he wasn’t on this week. Which I think was a good thing. Armstrong sounds like JBL, and I kept wondering what JBL was doing announcing on the show. So, no Khali, which means no Daivari, and thus, no Dreamer, which I think is a good thing. Tommy may have a huge heart, and love for wrestling, but I always found him rather boring, both promo-wise and in the ring. An ability to bleed is an asset in wrestling, but unlike some reviewers and fans, blood in a match doesn't make said match get any extra star ratings from me. Not a knock against reviewers who use stars, but against the impression I get that blood makes a match seem more special than it really is. That’s a topic for another day. Smackdown Recap courtesy of Rudi Pavani Smackdown has continued it’s great streak of shows, with two exceptional matches in consecutive weeks. Smackdown seems to be moving away from sports entertainment and focusing on wrestling. Now, there were aspects of angle developments, but it was using the matches themselves, as opposed to lengthily skits, to build for the next week. In my opinion, it worked great, for more than one match. Kennedy He got to speak both weeks. Five, ten-minute promos, Kennedy can do it. He’s got the charisma and personality and ability to make it work. In comparison to H, and his ten-minute promos, Kennedy didn't bury his opponent, but put himself over, and by doing so, kept his opponent, the Undertaker, at his high station. In other words, he made himself seem like a credible threat, one worthy of going toe-to-toe with Undertaker. Great opening promos, both weeks. Matt hardy vs Joey Mercury Solid match, with Joey paying heavily on the injury, to excellent effect. Great psychology throughout the match. Hardy wins. Had a thought when Mercury came out to the MNM music. I thought it might be interesting if Mercury split from MNM over his injury. Like he wasn’t good looking enough to be in the group anymore, since they are about being beautiful people. Nitro and Melina showed up at the end of the match, so that kinda threw the idea out the window. The Miz Last week, he faced the Undertaker in a squash match. A good squash match, don't get me wrong. This week, he was bragging to Ashley and Layla about how he took Taker to the limit. Kane showed up behind him, the chicks ran off, Miz never looked back, but knew it wasn’t good and ran off. Good segment. Very well done. MVP and Regal and Taylor vs Paul London, Vito, and Brain Kendrick Vito is back on TV. Vito has also impressed me with his wrestling ability. Vito still makes me want to change the channel however. I skimmed through this match. MVP on the other hand has really come a long way. His injury is still being played up, but his mic work has gotten a lot stronger. It’s hard to boo the guy, but he still manages to turn a crowd on him. Benoit The week before was perhaps one of the best matches I’ve seen in a while. Benoit faced off against Kennedy in a classic. Just a brutal match, that was given a lot of time and used every second of it to tell a great story. Kennedy won, but both men came out as winners. Chavo got involved at the end, and that led to this week’s match. Benoit vs Chavo Another great match. Chavo has all the tools to be a main eventer. Both men laid out some great spots, Chavo by placing objects around the ring to suplex Benoit onto is just one example. Top notch match, and can't gush over it enough. Great ending too, as Chavo was locked into the Sharp Shooter and reaching for a chair, and just as he got his hands on it, the pain from the hold forced him to tap out. Sweet. Deuce and Domino A new tag team. 1950’s greasers. With a hot chick who bounces a lot. That might be the best part about this team. They just showed up, so, I’m going to try and cut them some slack, until I can see what they can do. As for the gimmick, eh. Could be worse. Could be better, but it could be a lot worse. They beat some jobbers, and that’s that. Kane vs Miz Kane squashes Miz. Not a bad squash, but a good one. Miz got some offense in. However, Miz needs to get some strength back. The guy has something, and I think the Smackdown team is working to bring it out, and having some success. Miz could be a great character in the coming year. The Vickie Guerrero Angle You know, WWE more than likely doesn't know what the secret is. Oh, I’m sure they have a list. But that list is probably very long and contains things from Just Wrong (Chavo impregnated Vickie) to Reality based (Eddie left Vickie broke) to Just Plain Nuts (They saved Eddie’s brain and now it’s in Chavo). Something tells me whatever it is; it’s not going to be flattering to the memory of Eddie. But, like I said, the final decision on the angle more than likely has not been made yet. Kennedy vs Undertaker A match to determine whether Undertaker can be added to the title match at the Rumble. A pretty solid match. I’ve been enjoying the feud between Taker and Kennedy. It’s been very well laid out, both in the ring and in sports entertainment. The ending was Kennedy attacked Batista at ringside, causing Dave to charge the ring and get Taker DQ’D. A nice ending, which keeps the feud alive, and more importantly, interesting. Taker is the big dog of Smackdown. No doubt about it. Matches are made to cater to him, and props to Taker for not putting a heavy thumb on this one. It’s been well balanced, and Taker has done his job. I’d also like to comment on one other aspect of the show. The announcing. Since the start of the year, JBL has calmed down and turned into a great announcer. He no longer is focused on getting himself over, but is concentrating on the angles. And it’s working out great. JBL and Cole are a good team. I enjoy their bickering, since it’s not the focus of the broadcast, but erupts spontaneously, and is on the level of two fans arguing about the content of the show. I don't know what prompted the change, but kudos to JBL for getting better and perhaps, becoming one of the best. Two very different shows Raw and Smackdown. One is getting praised, finally, and the other is sinking slowly. Time for some OAW. Over-Analyzing Wrestling Today’s Topic: Raw vs Smackdown The two biggest differences I can see between the shows is the way they lay out angles. Smackdown uses the matches, and is focused more on wrestling than on skits. Events in matches are used to build for the next show, which results in a match, Raw uses skits, and matches, but the events in the matches usually result in a skit, or a promo, not a match. Smackdown is an old school type of show. Raw is, well, I’m not sure what to call it. Like a Saturday Night Main Event, where the wrestling is used as filler between skits, and is too heavily laden with sports entertainment to really count for anything. Spot oriented might be the term, but the spots are not wrestling moves, but planned bits, like a ref bump, to become promo fodder. The result to me appears to be that Smackdown feuds follow a natural progression, while Raw hotshots from week to week. Smackdown also keeps track of their feuds, and are more recognizable. Raw has about four that I can think of, off the top of my head. Nitro and Hardy, DX and Rated RKO, Kenny and Flair, and Umaga and Cena. For a two-hour show, that focuses on skits and promos, that’s not good. And when a new, or returning feud needs a recap from 4 to six weeks ago to set up a single match, well, there may be a reason that the feud was forgotten. But all of that could change now. Smackdown seems to have escaped the notice of the creative team that manages Raw and the WWE period. Hayes seems to just go with the flow, and try to keep his show going the way he wants it. Like piling on with Arn Anderson about CM Punk, and just jumping on whichever side seems to be in favor. That way, they’ll leave his show alone, and it seems to be working. Sure, we got Vito back on TV, and Boogey Man, but Smackdown seems to be able to work with it. Once a week, for a couple of minutes is no big deal, when you get a great fifteen-minute match, and or, an hour plus of solid wrestling. H is watching the shows, probably for the first time in a long time. And that will effect what gets on TV. Vince is probably more involved than he has been in a while as well. But his attention is on fixing the problems on Raw. Once he needed to make changes, he got a list, and I’m sure as he went over the names, he realized a few things. The roster cuts. Usually, they wait until after Wrestlemania to start trimming the roster, but this year, they came early. Some names make sense, like Al Snow losing his talent contract, and just becoming a trainer. Others send a signal that ECW is on borrowed time. A lot of the names cut were on ECW. Trimming talent from that brand can't be good news for ECW. Tatanka was a shocker. He was in the middle of an angle after all. The direction for ECW seems to be one of being phased out. The roster has been trimmed, and with so many developmental guys getting released, the plan of using ECW as an advanced form of OVW may no longer be an option. Sci-Fi may have plenty to say on the matter, but with internal opposition, it may just be a waiting game. The departure of Khali from ECW was not mentioned on the ECW broadcast, but I may have missed it. Granted, it’s Khali and WWE is being very careful in how they use the big guy. More to protect themselves from embarrassment than anything else. Basically the point I am trying to make is that Raw looks like it’s making an effort to change. It’s not a rapid thing, but the injury of H changed a lot of things, and now, WWE looks to be trying to make new plans. Plans based upon a revision of the old plans, and that’s causing them to re-evaluated the direction they were heading in. The biggest name on the roster is out for six months, possibly eight, and that puts H’s return past Wrestlemania. HBK has shown in the past a willingness to work with his opponents, and without H their to run the angle, it’s now in his hands. Management has to fill the void left by H, since they are scared about ratings dropping, and the competition they had ignored, in TNA, just made an unscheduled appearance on their show. Confiscating signs is one thing, having a large group chant the initials is another. A skit Vince thought was gold turned out to be a polished turd. A celebrity that Vince thought was a friend, and willing to go along with whatever he wanted seems to be saying otherwise. And Vince will listen to Trump. On this at least. Vince finally got a look at what his underlings have been doing, particularly when it comes to talent. And acted on those decisions. JBL even made a remark on Smackdown, which made it through editing, no less, about Johnny Ace. Will it be sunshine and roses for Raw? That remains to be seen. It’s now week three of AHI. The Rumble is this Sunday. The winner goes on to Wrestlemania. The list of participants has been released and the early favorite is for Undertaker to win it to face off against Batista. Smackdown has a plan. Raw now has none. But they are working on them. As always, it’s a matter of waiting and seeing what they come up with. And with that. Time to call it a day. Late one this week. But better late than never. Quick plugs and that’s a wrap. Quick Plugs! LOP Forums Sports news! E-feds! Insulting strangers! Raging Politcal Debates! Video Game Discussion! Movie Talk! Oh, and Wrestling! Plenty of Wrestling! Sign Up Today! LOP Column’s Forum Wrestling columns and discussion. The Movie Bar! Movie news and clips! The Project Home of excellent writing, a forum for intelligent discussion about todays events. Social discussions as well. For example, there’s an article up by Marm about 50 mistakes women make while having sex. You might want to check that out… The PWA Best E-Fed on the net. Period. That's all for today. Thanks For Readin' And Thanks For Ridin' Please label all feedback as "FEEDBACK". Thank you. Email mrwevv@mac.com *NEW GALLERY* The AMAZING New Karen Angle Tease Photos!
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