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Submitted by Wevv Mang on Monday, May 21, 2007 at 11:11 PM EST
Ridin’ With The Bossman – Judgment Day, Free Agent MVP’s, and RWTB TV Greetings! Welcome to another edition of Ridin’ With The Bossman! The only column that freely admits to Mark Henry markdom. Wait! Come back! I have a lot of wrestling to talk about! Come on, you know you want to know what a guy who supports Mark Henry is thinking. I mean really, I get asked it all the time. “Mark Henry? What are you thinking?” Or is it “What are you smoking?” I’m not sure. Whatever, pick one, and let’s move on. But first things first. We got a PPV to review. Judgment Day Full recap can be found here, courtesy of Jason - http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2007/articles/1179722994.php Raw Full recap can be found here, courtesy of Donny Anderson ECW Full recap info can be found here, courtesy of Jason Smackdown Full Recap info can be found here – courtesy of Rudi Pavani Backlash. Judgment Day. The two were as different as well, night and Day. Backlash was a great show, that wasn’t expected to be. Judgment Day was built off of Backlash, and the end result was in my opinion, meh. It was a rather boring PPV. The build for the matches was done as if by route. With so many injuries occurring in such a short period of time, plans were changed. A lot. Undertaker is out. Kennedy is out. HBK was reported injured days before the show. Talent was released. The talent pool got very shallow in a short period of time. However, the last second planning was pretty good. Edge became champion, jumped to Smackdown. Booker T, still out, Rey Mysterio, still out, H, still out, at least on TV. Behind the scenes, well, I’ll leave that up to you. Optimism soared. At least mine did. Edge is more than worthy as a champion, and the potential match-ups on Smackdown were gold. Edge has charisma, can speak, and would give a very weak Smackdown a much-needed boost. There’s a lot of up and coming talent that could benefit from working with Edge. MVP, Miz, yes Miz, are just a few. Undertaker, for the five months or so he worked, was fantastic. It’s amazing what can happen when you show up for work, ready to work. Great matches, great segments, and by golly, the brand got better as a whole, which I will attribute to Undertaker’s role as locker room leader. But when the Dead Man went down, that left a hole in the leadership ranks. Raw, on the other hand, seemed to take a bigger dip. Angles that had been red-hot going into Wrestlemania, and then kept strong through Backlash, finally fizzled out. HBK and Cena, been there, done that. One good match, and then Khali entered the scene. Khali is a monster, and has been protected like few others have. But is he a champion? The element of doubt, that Cena might actually loose to Khali was not the same as when he faced HBK. This time around, I would say it was “Oh good grief, WWE is finally going to give Khali the belt”. HBK, for reasons know only to H, Steph, Gerwitz, and Vince, decided to job out the new champion Edge. The excuse given was that it was like the old days, and tradition states that you job on your way out. That logic completely ignored the fact that on Sunday, Edge was still in the “territory”, appearing alongside HBK, Cena, Orton, and others from Raw, since it was a joint show. There’s another old tradition that maybe those folks should look into. That tradition is that if a wrestler is going to go down with an injury, he should do the job to cover his absence from TV. I know they’re familiar with it, as it’s still used to this day, like with Rey Mysterio and Chavo. And Batista and Mark Henry. Oh wait, that hasn't happened yet. But I suppose that most of my griping about Edge should have been silenced after Edge won against Batista, and actually held onto the title. That match was a big question mark. Now, however, the question mark has shrunk in size. It’s still there. It still remains to be seen how Edge is going to do on Smackdown. It’s early in his title run. Yep, there’s still a lot of questions hanging over wrestling at the moment. The biggest being what is WWE going to do now that HBK is supposedly out until Survivor Series? WWE has gone through the roster and made cuts. A new Divas Search is on the horizon. While I usually am a big supporter of the Divas Search, I highly doubt that this Search is going to fill the void left by HBK. I was unimpressed with last year’s contest. Thankfully, Layla won, and she does have talent, but not the training. The way she is currently being used is not bad, but could be better. Firing Ariel was a bad move, and keeping Kelly worse. So, bottom line, I’m not looking for great things to come out of the Divas Search. But, with the talent diminished, another question did pop into my head. Is there a Free Agent that WWE could hire that would make a difference? What key free agents are out there? MVP’s Of the Free Agent Market I know that there are plenty of free agents out there, and I know I forgot a few. But these were the ones that popped into my mind, as I made up a list. 1) Jericho Jericho is at the top of the list. Since his departure from WWE, Jericho has been keeping busy, trying his hand at many things. Unfortunately, his success has not been that great. He was eliminated first from the show Celebrity Duets. Ouch. His XM radio show Rock Of Jericho was cancelled. His movie career was basically appearing in Android Apocalypse with Joey Lawrence, which came out in 2006. He was hired to be the co-host of a TV show, E-Baum’s world, however the pilot was not picked up. Despite the lack of success, one thing should be clear. Jericho continues to try and expand his horizons, and he continues to gain experience in all forms of media. He has worked the net, with a teaser ad for TNA appearing on his website. He is currently touring the country, with his own meet and greet. He's written a book, “A Lion’s Tale”. He still has his own band, Fozzy. Indeed, Jericho is a media machine, and in today’s wrestling, that’s worth a lot. Today’s performers need to be more than just good wrestlers. They need personality, and media savy. Jericho has that in spades. In the nearly two years since he’s been on a broadcast wrestling show, Jericho still has fans hoping for his return. In all his time on WWE, Jericho appeared on nearly every single show, and I think it’s was every show, but I may have missed one or two. Jericho never suffered a career threatening injury, even though he worked a very physical style. From a locker room reputation standpoint, Jericho did not seem to be the source of any issues, at least that I can recall. The biggest drawback to hiring Jericho would seem to me to be his desire to continue to work his side projects. However, that is a double-edged sword. With WWE backing and exposure, Jericho could succeed tremendously, possibly even achieving a Rock-like career. He has the drive to achieve it. The good part is that through Jericho’s success, WWE can benefit as well. The bigger a start Jericho becomes, the bigger exposure Jericho can draw to WWE. If he did achieve this success, would Jericho stick out his contract? I think he would. Should he get time to pursue his side projects? Yes indeed. Jericho has a mind for media, and how to use it. That experience is valuable, as he may be able to come up with something that the company he works for overlooked. His independent experience in the field is quite an asset. 2) The Big Show The Big Show is a free agent. His contract has not been renewed, and he is currently taking time to heal up and recuperate. However, he did appear recently on Hulk Hogan’s independent show. In other words, he’s about ready to come back if the offer is right. Big Show is a known name, and his size, while no longer unique, is a known commodity. And in a company that loves giants, Big Show is the man. They know his backstage demeanor, he’s had titles and done well with them. He knows how to work against smaller, and faster guys, in fact, he knows how to work his size against just about any style thrown at him. While not a flashy wrestler, he can work the matches, and now that his health has hopefully improved, so has his speed and stamina. But the biggest appeal to Big Show from a hiring companies standpoint, is his marketability. Big Show is a big presence and with a lot of acting experience. Big Show has made plenty of appearances on TV, and cameos in movies. His sense of humor is well documented. In other words, if he wanted to, I think Big Show could be a Big Star. His departure from the WWE was mainly due to injuries, and his failure to renegotiate a return was a conflict of schedule and the chance to try and expand his horizons. If those issues could be worked out, Big Show could return to WWE, easily. 3) X-Pac Yes, X-Pac. X-Pac has been making overtures to TNA about a possible return. It was also not that long ago that WWE was looking into rehiring X-Pac. With HBK out, and H rumored to be returning this summer, the Degeneration-X moneymaking machine looks to be in jeopardy. That machine could get a boost with the rehiring of X-Pac. X-Pac has kept busy, working the short-lived WSX MTV promotion. The reluctance of TNA to snap up X-Pac seems to be based on his backstage behavior. However, with the Jeff Hardy experiment a smashing success, maybe it’s time to take another shot on X-Pac? If he truly has shaped up, and if his ring skills are up to snuff, X-Pac’s name could be a benefit to WWE. 4) Nathan Jones Nathan Jones had a brief run with WWE many years ago. The schedule got to him and he quit, after getting a free ride home to Australia. However, since that time, Nathan Jones has had a plethora of bit parts in action movies. From Troy, Jet Li’s Fearless, and even in the recent WWE movie The Condemned. Nathan Jones has become a star. Sort of. He’s able to continually get work, which is not a small task given the cutthroat nature of the acting world. Nathan Jones has size, and an impressive appearance. However, wrestling was not his strong suit. He just wasn’t that good. However, the system for training talent seems to have improved dramatically since Jones's last WWE stint, and there is a possibility that he could indeed, become a good wrestler. Maybe not great, but good enough to be a star. 5) Albert, aka Matt Bloom, aka Giant Bernard Albert is another big guy from WWE’s past. He may be remembered more for his hairy body and multiple piercing than his matches however. But his work was good, if not exceptional. Since his departure from WWE, Albert has worked the independent scene, and currently is holding steady gigs in New Japan as Giant Bernard and other promotions overseas. If you saw Albert from before, you would recognize him if he appeared again on your TV. He has the size and the skills to be a main event threat, if not a true contender. While not as big as Big Show, or Khali, he is still an impressive specimen. The factors working in his favor are that he still actively wrestles, and working the Japanese style has probably taught him a wider variety to his offense and defense, and hopefully given him a better insight into the psychology of matches. However, his mic skills may not be up to WWE standards, and once again, the grueling schedule of the WWE may not be appealing to Albert. When compiling this list, it seemed like each of these men would be willing to work for WWE if the circumstances were right. Those circumstances not being of a monetary nature, though I’m sure that would play a factor. Nathan Jones and Albert probably make comparable money to what WWE might offer them on their own, for considerably less work. Jericho would and should make big bucks, and the same goes for Big Show. But the biggest point of contention for the top two names don't seem to be money, but the issue with working all the dates. WWE does indeed have a grueling schedule. Just take a look at their touring dates, including the TV shows, and that’s a lot of traveling and a lot of wrestling. The current round of contract negotiations seems to have one topic in common, and that seems to be the desire to work a lighter schedule. There may be other factors involved, but that one seems to be becoming universal. Even after the veterans were given some slack, time, both physical and scheduled, seems to have caught up with them. But that is a topic for another day. Sorry to keep this one short, but time is running out, and I want to try and keep to my deadline of Monday. And besides, I have something else to offer. It’s episode 2 of Ridin: With The Bossman TV. This week’s story: WWE and Illegal Immigration. Enjoy!  The next episode might be a while, I have a list of topics to cover, but need to hunt down the footage. Thanks to those that left feedback and more will be coming. It’s my new thing. Quick Plugs and that’s a wrap. QUICK PLUGS! LOP Forums Sports! Political Discussions! Video Games! Wrestling! Sign up now! LOP Column's Forum The next generation of wrestling writers. The Project Creative Writing, political discourse, social topcs examined, and a forum for intelligent discussion The Movie Bar Monkey has got his mojo going! Go and check it out! Leave some comments! The Rose Reports Excellent site for political information The LPW Best E-Fed on the net. Period. That's all for today. Thanks for Readin' and thanks for Ridin' Wevv Mang Please label all feedback as "FEEDBACK". Thank you. Email: MrWevv@mac.com Stacy Keibler and Friends on the Beach Playing Volleyball!
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