DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – ECW, 2008 Reader Predictions + RRumble Review
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 12:14 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #259

Welcome one and all to the 259th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Well, it seems that Australia has been in the news of late. Aussie golfer Adam Scott won a tournament after posting an 11 under score on the final day, there is a $hitload of rock bands down under for the annual Big Day Out festival & the Australian Open tennis tournament has just been completed with a new Muhammad Ali look-alike coming out of nowhere & almost winning the first Grand Slam of 2008.

Hell, it seems that even professional wrestling has even had a dose of Australia with Aussie rock act (& AC/DC sound-alikes) Airborne providing the theme song to the recently held Royal Rumble event. Actually between that & one of my favorite bands going around at present in LostProphets providing the theme song to the Jeff Hardy tribute video, I'm very happy with the WWE musically at the moment. And oh man, it's an understatement to say that I am also happy with WWE when it comes to the show they put on this past Sunday night. What a Royal Rumble it was!!!

Anyways, I better not get too ahead of myself as I have 2 other topics to write about before I get to the Rumble. But even with that said, it's on with the rumbling show.....


APPETIZERS - ECW Title

You know that feeling you get when you notice something & you think that you may have been the only one (or at least one of few) of a group of people to notice it? Well, as egotistical as it may sound, I had one of those feelings late last year when it came to something to do with wrestling. But due to the fact that I already had my column topics planned out due to annual topics such as 'Year-End Awards' & 'Yearly Predictions', I haven't been able to write about it until now.

So, as per Murphy's Law, what goes & happens this past week? I get 3 separate emails stating that the reader noticed something! Damn It, I should have just gone with it earlier as an additional topic... I will learn my lesson one day! Anyway, if you couldn't put 2 & 2 together & work out what the hell it was that I was talking about, it is the ECW Title. Just in case you are still lost, I will clarify that as the ECW Title as opposed to the ECW World Title!

There may be many that hadn't noticed it, but WWE were in fact referring to the title that Chavo Guerrero recently won off CM Punk as the "ECW World Title" for most of 2007. But some time during the last couple of months of last year, it went back to becoming just the ECW Title. I'm not exactly certain of when it did happen, but it did somewhere along the way & I am quite happy to go on dreaming that I was indeed the first person in the whole wide world to realize it some time in November or December. I suppose I have to notice these things when you have to do monthly 'Predictions' & 'Review' columns where I have to actually name the title up for grabs.

Anyway, the crux of this topic is whether or not this renaming of ECW's only specific title is an intentional downgrade by WWE. Of the 3 separate emails I received, I can assure you that the overwhelming answer to the question I just posed is a resounding "YES". Most of the comments related to the title now being basically on par with the InterContinental & United States Titles. Personally, I am not so certain, but am unsure if that I'm hoping against hope more than anything else.

From what I understand, Randy Orton & Jeff Hardy recently wrestled for the WWE Championship, which is sometimes called the WWE Title. In neither term, is the word "World" mentioned, so it is arguable that some people are reading a little bit too much into this re-titling of what still should be the 3rd most significant title on all of the WWE rosters.

While I watch the ECW weekly show & enjoy it sporadically, I'm not a die-hard or one who feels that the brand is bashed by some fans for no apparent reason. You are more likely to see me defending SmackDown than ECW any day of the week. Yet, for some reason, I feel the want to (for want of a better word) defend the brand when it comes to their main title. For some reason which I can't quite put my finger on, I do NOT want the ECW Title to become equal to the IC or US Titles. I don't want it to be up their with the WWE Championship or World HeavyWeight Title necessarily either, but I genuinely feel that it's importance should not be understated.

All of these comments come from me despite the fact that most of you will know that I am not at all happy about Chavo Guerrero being the brand's current champion. I think that says something when you really think about it. But maybe what I am trying to state in this topic full stop is that the day when one of it's brand's main titles is viewed as being on the same level as another brand's midcard title is the day when maybe that original brand needs to stop existing. And please don't misread that comment as me wanting the end of ECW... It's more a call to arms to WWE that they must raise the prestige of the ECW Title... And raise it soon... No matter what it's called!


MAIN

2008 Reader Predictions

Ladies & gentlemen, I can only presume that my yearly predictions column is indeed one of my most popular for the year as I got officially swamped by emails with readers wanting to add their own predictions for me to read & possibly print here in this very edition of 'The Wrestling Menu'. Let me tell you that the response was overwhelming & for that reason, if you do not see your name below, I can assure you that you are not the only one who missed out.

I was going to try to keep the reader predictions down to 20. Then I realized I had to lift that number to 25. And then finally even that wasn't a high enough number. So I have decided to go with what I have deemed with 30 of the best. And what I have done to avoid double-ups is simply list the person whose email I saw first if more than 1 person sent in the same prediction. And I can assure you that there were indeed a few double-ups. Or in the case of RVD returning or Jeff Hardy winning a World Title, those figures went into double figures.

So without further adieu, I present to you the 30 best reader predictions for the year of 2008... The name in brackets at the end of the prediction is the name of the person that sent it in & they are in the order that I received them in. Thanks to all who contributed:

- RVD will return to WWE and probably win the IC belt at some point, while Jeff Hardy wows everybody so much with his work lately that he gets in the title match at WrestleMania in a triple threat match and wins the WWE title. (Jason B)

- Shane Helms will return as The Hurricane and score an upset win over a top superstar (most likely Edge or Ken Kennedy), leading to a short feud after which he will be sent to ECW. (Ian G)

- Randy Orton holds the WWE Title up until a Summerslam/Survivor Series feud with John Cena, while Kane will win the ECW title. (Mark D)

- Ron Killings will be put on the SmackDown roster and will win the US title, while Abyss will also sign with WWE. In an attempt to fill these gaps, Randy Savage will be signed by TNA and get in some form of program with Jay Lethal. (Brett S)

- William Regal will not last the year as Raw’s General Manager. (Aaron P)

- The log jam of young talent in TNA and WWE will force some major names into retirement: Namely HBK, Kevin Nash and maybe The Dudleys. (Glenn S)

- A Santino vs Carlito feud over Maria will result in her turning on both and making the move to SmackDown, while Hornswoggle will be revealed NOT to be Vince’s Son after Finlay blackmailed Mr McMahon with something Vince doesn’t want coming out. (Stratusfied RKO fan)

- The Crusierweight title will remain defunct. (Klaus)

- Matt and Jeff Hardy will feud for the Intercontinental belt. (Chocolate Basil)

- A second title will be introduced on ECW, (possibly the cruiserweight title) to increase ratings and to add competition for those not in the ECW Title scene. (James M)

- The Hardy's will both hold singles titles at the same time. (Jonny G)

- HBK will have a serious run as a fully fledged heel before the year is over and feud with a face HHH and Stephanie McMahon. (Tim B)

- This years Royal Rumble winner will NOT win their title match at Wrestlemania. (Tigger7)

- Kofi Kingston will compete in a feud for the United States title against MVP. (Tom J)

- Along with New Year’s Revolution, WWE will drop another PPV (if not 2) so we have more than a 2 week gap in between PPV's. (Luke B)

- At some point in the year, Dixie Carter will offer the "get out of contract free card" again. Awesome Kong, having been courted by WWE due to the popularity of the Knockouts, will sign with WWE . (Newt C)

- Ric Flair will be retired at Backlash by a heel-turned Batista. (Floyd H)

- Ax and Smash will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame along with Flair! The Demolition theme song will then be released and take its rightful place as the number one download on ITUNES! (Kenneth N)

- Triple H will win the WWE championship at Wrestlemania 24 and hold on to the title for the rest of the year, or at least until Survivor Series. (Joe C)

- WWE will cross-promote SummerSlam with the American Gladiators; Three of the Gladiators will wrestle at the event including Wolf and Justice. (Ed M)

- A new faction of 3-4ish wrestlers will be formed (possibly a British one or an Evolution type group with Flair as the mouthpiece). (Mark T)

- The Paul Burchill incest storyline will be shut down by the fans. Baffled by this, the WWE will release him. He will then go to ROH and become champion in 2009 as The Ripper. (Steven L)

- TNA will make another “good business move” by signing OJ Simpson and subsequently giving him an X division title run. (WWE4JMP)

- Hornswaggle will go the way of the rest of the "juniors" and be gone from the company by year's end. (Zastrow)

- Umaga will learn to speak English (Geoff M)

- Jeff Hardy will become WWE Champion. He will do it by winning MITB. The only reason Hardy won't become World Champion this year is if he doesn't cash in his contract until 2009. (Andrew E)

- Jeff Hardy's push will continue as he engages in a face vs face feud with Shawn Michaels. (Richard G)

- Chris Jericho will be moved to Smackdown where he will wrestle for, but not win, the World Title. While Jeff & Matt Hardy will headline a PPV as a tag team. (Jason F)

- Layla will be released despite vastly improving in the ring (a la Christy Hemme). (Mel)

- London & Kendrick will abandon WWE, tired of being treated like jobbers to HHH and middle/low-card talent and will be on TNA, being treated like Mega-Undercard Wrestlers jobbing to the returning Double-J. (Camilo)


DESSERT

Royal Rumble Review

For those that cannot recall my previous PPV review columns, this is the key that explains what the final PPV Rating means:

<50: Ask for a refund for not only your money, but also your time. [F] (Armageddon '04)
50-54: Mediocre & disappointing. [D] (EG: No Way Out '07)
55-59: Average. [C] (EG: Vengeance ‘07)
60-64: Worth A Watch. [C+] (EG: No Mercy ‘07)
65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: Armageddon ‘07)
70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: Great American Bash '07)
75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: Backlash '07)
80+: Make sure that the video or DVD is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]

RIC FLAIR defeated MVP in a Career Threatening Match: Flair does some nostalgic mic work before the bout, but is rudely cut off by MVP's entrance theme. A good, if fairly standard, beginning is thankfully constantly in motion and sufficiently back & forth, while also involving the crowd very well. Just prior to the 5 minute mark, controversy occurs as referee Charles Robinson completes a 3 count on Flair, but cancels the decision when he realizes that The Nature Boy had his foot on a rope. Following some more back & forth stuff that sees Flair get some 2 counts with roll-up variations, the face veteran reverses a playmaker attempt into the figure 4 leglock for the quick submission victory at the 8 minute mark.

Nice & solid opener that had a pretty good feel to it, but ended a little too prematurely for my liking. Both men initially did very well to get the MSG crowd involved in the bout, but I didn't think this was then capitalized on sufficiently in the latter half of the match. I felt it was a little bit of an opportunity lost in fact as it could have got MVP even more heel heat than he already has & at the same time got all fans further involved in the Flair retirement storyline that has spluttered along since it began. Overall though, this was a solid opener. Match Rating…7

JBL defeated CHRIS JERICHO by Disqualification: An intense stare-down kicks things off as both men successfully play off the personal storyline in both their facial expressions & actions. Jericho has success counter-punching initially, but the momentum sways to the heel when JBL hangs Y2J up on the top-rope by his previously injured throat & then begins to target it. Jericho then gets busted open when he is thrown into the ring-post & this sees the heel's bullseye move up 5 or 6 inches. Jericho is able to put together an exciting flurry of offense, but when the action heads to ringside, he lets his emotions get the better of him & is DQ'ed at the 9 minute mark as he strikes JBL with a chair to the head.

The aftermath sees a severely bloodied Jericho gain some revenge by hanging JBL by a cable much to the live crowd's pleasure. It was quite a picture actually, but I can't say it added too much to the actual match. The bout was pretty much as expected in every way to be honest. It wasn't a let-down as such, but didn't exactly add to prior expectations either. I suppose that's fair enough considering this was JBL's first bout back & the first in what is likely to be a series of matches. A botched bulldog probably didn’t help matters here. Match Rating…6.5

EDGE defeated REY MYSTERIO to Retain the World HeavyWeight Title: Edge has Vicki, Ryder & Hawkins at ringside, as we finally learn of our surprise crowd reaction of the night (an MSG constant it seems) as Edge gets a fair amount of cheers, while Rey hears some boos. I'm sure someone out there will give me some lame reason as to why this occurred & I'd rather you saved both our time by not bothering! The Edgeheads get sent to the back early on as Rey heads to the air to counter Edge's early offense. Edge soon finds his target though as he takes out Mysterio's knee & then targets it for a few minutes. The action stalls a little at this stage, but Rey thankfully puts together some consecutive one-legged offense for many 2 counts. It's all very good action to be honest, but loses a bit of impact due to the silly (& almost childish) crowd reactions.

In what is then an excellent extended finishing sequence, Rey appears to have the match won with a top-rope splash, but the referee is pulled out of the ring by GM Vicki. Distracted, Rey narrowly avoids a spear & sets up the 619, which is basically blocked by a selfless Vicki. Rey, in trying to subsequently hit a top-rope springboard maneuver, is met with a huge spear by the champ, for the pinfall victory at the 13 minute mark. Wow... That final 3 minutes or so just goes to prove what these 2 are capable of & I would love to see it again some day soon... But this time with a crowd that is behind the charging face. Rey sold the knee injury well enough during the bout, although it didn't play out well enough due to the overall length of the bout which could have been 3-5 minutes longer at least. Overall, this was a very good match with an absolutely super ending. Match Rating…8

MARIA / ASHLEY / SANTINO Segment: This lasted approximately 7 or so minutes, so deserves to get included in the overall PPV Rating. The segment actually begins as Maria's "Kiss-Cam", but is turned into something more when Ashley comes out & asks Maria if she wanted to pose nude for Playboy. Of course, Santino showed up & deflected the conversation into that of one involving New York's sports teams & their lack of success last year. As per usual, Marella was absolute gold on the mic & he somehow added something fresh to the well-worn technique used here. It's all a shame that it had to end with Big Dick Johnson flaunting the New England Patriots record this season & not much else! A more than sufficient time-filer, even though in retrospect it definitely could have been better used to extend some of the singles matches. Segment Rating…6

RANDY ORTON defeated JEFF HARDY to Retain the WWE Championship: Following some mat-based action to begin the bout, Jeff hits Orton with one hell of a baseball slide before diving over the top-rope on to the champ. This leads to Orton threatening to walk out & he uses this as a distraction to hit a nice drop-kick to a springboarding Jeff. Following a suplex at ringside, Randy gets a 2 count before stomping away at his opponent back in the ring. Jeff then misses all but the ringpost with an attempted spear, as the heel champ locks on a headlock variation for a minute or 2. Hardy eventually manages to break free & a Whisper In The Wing gets a close 2 count. Looking to take it up a further notch, Jeff hits a top-rope moonsault to the floor, which almost takes out both men. When they finally do get back into the ring, Jeff sets up the Twist Of Fate, but Orton counters it into the ever-dangerous RKO for the pinfall victory at the 14 minute mark.

Gee, this is a tough bout to rate in so many ways. While that finish was very nicely executed & booked, it is a little difficult not to feel that it was premature & out of nowhere. Yet those last 3 words of "out of nowhere" are exactly what the RKO finisher is meant to signify, hence the mixed feelings. Up until that point in time, the bout had been very well structured, but more for that of a 20 minute bout. Furthermore, what I especially liked about the match (& maybe why some will feel I have over-rated it) was the impact of even the simplest moves. I thought it was excellent, especially in the first half of the match when the 2 couldn't rely on high spots. Another positive was Orton's job at gaining heel heat & ensuring the crowd was right behind Jeff in his quest to become WWE Champion. Basically, I liked all of the little touches contained within the bout & I thought that it was a very good match overall, even if it wasn't the classic it looked like it was heading towards at one stage. Match Rating…8

ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH Won By JOHN CENA: Michael Buffer does the pre-match announcing & I don’t know about everyone else, but when he wraps up his usual spiel, I always begin mouthing Hollywood Hulk Hogan’s “Voodoo Chile” theme! And I would have originally thought that there was more of a chance of hearing that than Undertaker’s “Graveyard Symphony” as the dead man was announced as the #1 entrant! As soon as it did happen though, I did expect HBK to be #2 due to last year’s finish. The 2 veterans battled it out entertainingly until poor Santino entered at #3 to receive Sweet Chin Music & almost instant elimination. Next up, The Great Khali also didn’t last 90 seconds. The match then settles down for a little while as the ring begins to fill, but it’s not for long as Batista enters early at #8 to increase the intensity factor even more! 9th entrant Hornswoggle heads straight for under the ring, as the likes of CM Punk & Umaga join the 3 big names already in the ring as first half entrants.

In a nice little touch of importance for the ECW brand, Morrison, The Miz & Punk take center-stage for a few minutes during the middle stages of the bout, but the potential addition of Shelton Benjamin to the mix doesn’t even last a minute as Sweet Chin Music ends yet another stay. 2 legends in Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka & ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper enter as surprise entrants #18 & 19 to reignite their feud (minus coconut). They don’t last long though as Kane emerges next to eliminate both. The ring soon becomes super crowded as Foley, Carlito, Kennedy, Big Daddy V & Mark Henry enter in spots 21-25. But in the meantime, The Undertaker & HBK are eliminated, the latter by arch-rival Mr.Kennedy. Chavo then enters at #26 (presumably so that he can challenge himself if he wins), before Finlay emerges early to save Hornswoggle from a BDV & Henry sandwich!

Triple H then enters to a huge pop at #29 & it only gets louder after a few eliminations. But then, with many of us racking our brains as to who is left to be entrant #30, WWE pull off a huge surprise as “My Time Is Now” plays to introduce John Cena! The shock is so successful that it actually takes the usual MSG “know-it-alls” a good minute to start booing! Following Cena making a few eliminations, Batista reminds us of his presence by making a few of his own to leave these huge superstars as the final 3. Some nice byplay between them & the crowd precedes some good 3 way action where a supposedly predictable Rumble suddenly becomes very unpredictable. Batista is first to be eliminated, leaving Triple H & Cena to go head to head. Thankfully, they do so with good back & forth action for quite a few minutes on end, with the result in question right up until Cena dumps H over the top-rope for the victory!

What is the plural of WOW? Because that is how I want to describe this Royal Rumble match! In fact, I’m going to call it this early into the year; This will be the Match of 2008! Right up there with the fantastic & infamous 1992 Rumble won by Ric Flair, this match practically had it all. I really liked the way the big names were spread across entrants #1 through #30 and if there ever was a quiet patch entry-wise, things would be taking place in the ring to make up for it. Big names such as Michaels & Batista were impressive, but as were ECW wrestlers such as Morrison & Punk. Then there was the absolutely terrific (& most likely to be overlooked) performance of The Undertaker who not only lasted over half an hour, but was hardly stagnant & very offensive for the entire time (possibly due to a HBK nose injury). And then, of course, there was that surprise entrant at the end. Huge kudos to WWE for keeping that quiet & making us all look forward to what will occur next on the ‘Road To WrestleMania’. A tremendously enjoyable Rumble that made me think back a little to when I used to watch wrestling in my teenage years! Match Rating…9.5

PPV RATING (45/60) = 75

Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2008 version of ‘The Royal Rumble’ an 'A' grade & said ‘Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection’. Folks, there aren't too many events put on nowadays that I rate this highly so we should be thankful when we get them. Like last year's Royal Rumble event, this show had a very solid undercard that stood well on it's own, even if it's full potential wasn't quite met due to the structure of the card as a whole. But where this year's ppv totally outclassed last year's (& those of the past decade) was the fantastic Royal Rumble match. As I said in my comments earlier, it would have to be something special that takes place in the next 335 days to unseat this as the match of the year. As it lasted about an hour, it almost makes the event as a whole worth watching. But far from being a one-trick pony, this show had 2 very good title matches and a decent undercard to boot. Bottom line: Add this to your DVD collection if you haven't got it recorded somehow already. Thoroughly recommended for those who have yet to see it!


Ok, that's #259 done & dusted. I hope you all enjoyed it. Man, just writing about the fantastic Royal Rumble & jotting down some predictions for the year to come has me right into the WWE product at present. Anyway, whether you feel the same or not, if you would like to share your thoughts on the ECW Title situation or the Royal Rumble ppv, please do not hesitate to 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=159

I may or may not take my first week off of 2008 next Wednesday. I still haven't made up my mind to be honest & it could depend on the quality of happenings on WWE programming over the next week or so. One of the reasons I want to take a week off is to actually view 1 of 2 Christmas presents that I got. It has been more than a month now since I got my hands on both the 'Ladder Match' & 'Shawn Michaels' DVD sets & do you think I have had a chance to watch even one minute of either of them? Maybe a week off from writing will give me such an opportunity so that I can subsequently let you know what I thought of them. Whichever week it is, 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.


Want to know what my Album of 2007 was? Simply click on the following link & then head to the ‘MUSIC’ section to look for my review: http://www.feeltheword.net/magazine/


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2008

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