Take up thy wrestling boots and walk - A little light reading
Submitted by Pt2 on Friday, February 8, 2008 at 11:34 AM EST





Welcome to the column that knows who Scott Hall is but doesn’t know why he’s here, Take up thy wrestling boots and walk. I’m the punk that can’t even get into the building, Pt2, back once again to discuss the light from Elysium fields which on this earth represents itself in the hallowed form of professional wrestling.

Congratulations are in order, for the New York Giants. I had a blast watching the Superbowl, and thought that their defence made it one hell of a game to watch. Eli Manning silenced a few of his detractors with that performance, and David Tyree must have made an absolute hero of himself. Congratulations also to David Bentley, who impressed in his first start for the England football team in the 2-1 victory over Switzerland on Wednesday night, and also to Fabio Capello for getting off to a winning start. Anyway, onto the wrestling.

Well; it’s official. Bobby Lashley is gone from the WWE. Upon hearing the news, there was a huge outpouring of grief on the internet, calling for the heads of the people that had driven the former ECW Champion out of the company.

Or rather, the reaction to the news was really more significant by its absence. I mean, I was never the biggest fan of his (beyond a ‘they are pushing him so he must have potential in an un-crazy Ahmed Johnson kind of way’), but the reaction he always got and his uber push led me to believe there would be some backlash towards his leaving the company – hell, John Cena isn’t the most popular man in the world (more on Cena to come later), but if he were to leave you know that you wouldn’t be able to get away from it on the ‘net. But Lashley, who earlier in the year seemed to be getting a large, and much more stable, babyface reaction than Cena got nothing.

I was actually a bit perplexed. I went looking for answers. The truth is, everyone seemed to think much the same way I did. That he was OK, and that he had potential, but much of the reason for his popularity was the massive push that he had gotten. In any wrestler his age with his amateur background – especially with that size – there is always going to be a hell of a lot of potential, but despite his early connection with the fans (who let’s not forget, also got behind Ahmed when he was pushed in exactly the same way), the fact that he hasn’t shown us a tremendous amount in-ring combined with what can only be described as dolphin-shit microphone ability seems to leave people unconcerned with his departure.

A lot of people are speculating as to the reason for his departure; whether it was his decision or Vince’s, and what the motives were. I tend to lean more towards Lashley making the call, but think that in all probability Vince isn’t going to lose any sleep over it. Kurt Angle has said that he expects Lashley to be the next Ex-WWE guy to join TNA, and if he is right, Lashley will have to go a long way towards living up to the potential that the McMahon’s saw in him before they have any doubts about letting him go.

Apparently, he is going to live up to the ‘Black Lesnar’ moniker, as he is now training for a career in MMA. I can’t help thinking that, just as Lesnar was the better professional wrestler, he will prove to be the better in the UFC, despite his early loss to Frank Mir the other night. Fair play to Lesnar for taking on such a talented fighter in his first UFC contest; even in defeat that was pretty ballsy. But this isn’t an MMA column, so I’ll move back to wrestling now.

All this actually leads me to think that they have failed twice with these monster pushes over the past few years. Lesnar became the number one guy and bailed after two years, giving the finger to the fans and the McMahon’s at Wrestlemania XX. A year later, Lashley gets the call up from OVW, and is pushed throughout 2006 as something of a monster, reaching the finals of the KOTR, winning the US title, and the ECW title within that year. He also takes a big Wrestlemania match early in 2007. However, he is gone early in 2008, before he can return from a prolonged injury.
You have got to wonder if the WWE are ever going to go down this route again, and if they are, who is going to play the role this time. Brock left them in the lurch, and they’ve always seemed a bit lost since then; but with Cena, Orton and Edge all much more established than they were in 2004, and MVP and Kennedy slowly beginning to establish themselves, I can’t help but wonder whether Vince will get his big man hard on again sometime soon, and give someone else what I affectionately like to call the ‘Goldberg treatment’.

Even bigger news has got to be that Smackdown! will by the end of the year, be gone from the CW, one way or another. You’ve got to figure that someone will pick up the show, what with wrestling, even in its reduced popularity, still being one of the more popular shows/sports/whatever in the US. It is kind of hard to say too much more at this early stage, but change always spells news, as you never know how things are going to work out.

But anyway, back to the onscreen product. The company threw one of their best surprises in recent memory at us when they had Cena make his (what we all thought was an) early return at the Royal Rumble. His entering number thirty and winning it was the last thing we expected in the wrestling world, and even as someone that isn’t a Cena fan (though I have to clarify, I wouldn’t class myself as a hater anymore either), it was pretty cool.

It was odd to see the reaction though. Everyone went crazy for a minute, and then following that, if he had 60% of the crowd on his side, I’ll be damned. As soon as the swerve was over, it was business as usual on the night, with Cena taking a fair amount of heat along with his pops. The company, however, don’t seem to want to go business as usual with the Wrestlemania build up, and I’m not sure that what they are doing is such a great thing.

Orton and Cena had been going at it for a while. They had time to build up their feud, and it was simmering pretty nicely, before John got injured. Allowing that to grow for another two months meant that by keeping them apart in February, it could have hit fever pitch, resulting in one of the most hyped Wrestlemania main events in recent history. Since they both made their debuts, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, we have been talking about the time that these two would headline Wrestlemania together. It has been on all of our lips since then, and by just holding off for an extra month, the company could have cashed in as people tuned in to see Cena finally regain his championship against Orton at Wrestlemania.

But instead, they are having the match in February. The winner of the elimination chamber match at that event will face John Cena (because the odds of Orton winning must be astronomical) at ‘Mania, and I don’t think anyone at this point is looking beyond HHH winning it. Looking at the other contenders, who can actually have a match with John Cena worthy of headlining Wrestlemania?

I think you can pretty much rule out Jericho and JBL, because their plane tickets to, hotel rooms in and probably even their finish for Orlando are already booked. Jeff Hardy has come on leaps and bounds, but he is certainly not ready to main event Wrestlemania, and only the most fervent Hardy mark would argue otherwise. He’ll play a part in the Chamber match, and his stock will continue to rise, and if his mic work continues to improve he might be in with a shot come the end of the year, but he ain’t taking on Cena on March 30th. At the risk of jinxing myself, you can take that one to the bank.

Umaga? I am trying my hardest to force myself to believe it, but I just can’t. In fact, I’m not sure anyone doing the ‘wild Samoan’ gimmick will ever headline Wrestlemania. It’s a useful character to have on the roster, but at Wrestlemania you either need an overwhelming babyface that people want to see end the chase and capture the gold, or you need a genuinely unpredictable match. Umaga satisfies neither of those criteria.

That leaves you with the D-X members, Shawn Michaels and HHH, and pretty much guarantees a repeat of the main event of either of the last two Wrestlemania events. Since Shawn got it last year, and HHH is younger, currently in ‘HUNTER SMASH!’ mode, and had the symbolic stare down with Cena in front of the Wrestlemania sign at the Rumble, I’m throwing my lot down with him and saying that it’ll be him.

Before anyone mentions HHH’s political leanings as another reason it’ll be him and not his fellow D-X member, let me remind you that the other guy there is SHAWN MICHAELS. Forgetting for a minute the fact that these two are real life friends, if Shawn wanted it that badly, his political manoeuvring his famous enough that he could give it just as good a shot as HHH. Besides, he seems to want to be involved in Flair’s final match.

I’ve got to say that in a match between HHH and Cena, purely to keep people guessing and distance it from the last WM ME between the two, you’ve got to leave Hunter as a face. If he turns heel before then, no one is going to think he has any real chance of winning (barring a huge swerve) and I reckon the buy rate would suffer as a consequence. On top of that, Hunter and Cena are going to get mixed reactions as it is. Cena won’t get more than 60% of the crowd because outside of MA, he never does. HHH, even as a heel, will get his cheers, because he always does, so as I see it you may as well leave them as they are for this one, and if you want to continue the program down the line, have HHH turn in a more interesting fashion later on – allow it to develop, rather than trying to jam it in when they is only 7 weeks left until Wrestlemania.

One thing is for certain; the RAW rating is sinking, not only from week to week, but also from hour to hour. People are so far unconvinced by the whole deal that has followed the Rumble, so unless they want an embarrassingly low buy-rate for the granddaddy of them all, they had better not make too many more mistakes.

No Way Out itself is only nine days away, and with the climax of Orton and Cena, two elimination chamber matches, and two other world championship matches announced for the night, it looks like it will be worth the money. I know I’ll be an interested observer. We are on the road again, and this’ll be the biggest night before the dance.

With that, it’s time to bring this one to an end. I can be reached at takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com, if you have any feedback. Until next time, take care.

Pt2










***DIRECT LINK*** Photos of BATISTA With His HOT NEW GIRLFRIEND!

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