DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – Supplemental Draft + Night Of Champions Review Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 12:15 AM EST
THE WRESTLING MENU #274
Welcome one and all to the 274th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.
Wow… Where did those 6 months go? Before we know it, we will be buying Christmas presents once more. It seems that time flies when you are having fun. Although I’ve always thought that the phrase should be “time flies when you haven’t got enough time in the day to do everything”. I’m obviously still very busy at work and will be for the next couple of weeks. Because of that, I have got way behind on replying to emails of late, so if you have sent one & yet to receive a reply, please be patient as I will eventually get there.
Today’s column will see me discuss the 8,463 roster movements of the WWE Supplemental Draft, while also reviewing the recent ‘Night Of Champions’ pay-per-view.
On with the show…..
SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT THOUGHTS
As reported exclusively in my column last week, the coin toss came up tails and that meant a Supplemental Draft did indeed take place during the week over on wwe.com. If you are yet to read my thoughts on the 11 main moves which were made on Raw 9 days ago, you may still do so by clicking on the following link: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2008/articles/1214368227.php
APPETIZERS - ECW Drafts:
MARK HENRY: I have no issue with this roster change. Henry seems to move from feud to feud without garnering major crowd interest anyway, so he may as well do that on ECW. I must admit that he has occasionally stepped up throughout his 12 year WWE tenure and when he has, I have been surprised. So actually giving him an extended run at the top of a brand such as ECW could prove to all what his real worth is, while possibly motivating the big gorilla to lift on a more consistent basis. Of course, WWE may not be thinking so deeply on this move and it could all be due to the incident with Michael Hayes.
FINLAY & HORNSWOGGLE: In my Draft Predictions column 2 weeks ago, I predicted these 2 would end up on the Raw brand. And don’t be surprised if they do end up there in 6 months or so with Raw & ECW set to start traveling together soon. For the time being though, a move to ECW is just fine in my opinion. While not all feuds had been exhausted for a face Finlay on SmackDown, it wouldn’t have been long until these 2 began to get stale on the Friday night brand. Finlay’s style fits ECW well enough and he could even be tested in a top role (maybe even as champion) on Tuesday nights.
SUPER CRAZY: This move should have been made last year. Until a few readers emailed me suggesting such a move, I had genuinely forgotten that he was still a WWE employee! And the strange thing is that not only does he fit ECW like a glove, but he actually could be more than useful there. I am already looking forward to a match against someone like John Morrison.
ENTREE - Raw Drafts:
JAMIE NOBLE: This move makes pretty much zero sense to me. I hope WWE has some kind of plan for Noble, because I am not at all confident that his wrestling style will be taken advantage of by the Raw bookers. In fact, I wonder if there is something else that is the reasoning behind this switch. Noble has apparently played a decent role behind the scenes in WWE over the past year or so and that may have played a role somehow. Otherwise, this switch gets a thumbs down from me.
DEUCE: I am a fan of Deuce. I think he can be more than useful to WWE simply by being able to pull off a character. In the ring, he isn’t anything special, but he isn’t too bad and there is the potential for him to improve. I personally feel that he may have been split a little too early from his tag-team partner Domino, but it wasn’t a shock to anyone. Neither was this switching of brands and it could work out either way for him. If creative over on Raw just let him settle into the undercard, then he will be jobbing & forgotten about in no time. Character change or not, if time is put into Deuce, then I am quietly confident that he can be a more than handy WWE employee for years to come. This move could be ‘make or break’ for Deuce.
CHUCK PALUMBO: I predicted a move to ECW for Palumbo and feel it still would have been the best route to go as it would have motivated him to attempt to become a potential future main-eventer. I know that ‘Chuck Palumbo’ and ‘main-eventer’ are not words that usually go together in the same sentence, but he has impressed me of late on SmackDown. His new power style has worked well and could have gone down a treat on Tuesday Nights. He won’t necessarily be downgraded on Raw, but I can’t see him taking much of a step up either.
MATT STRYKER: Stryker can still play a useful role with his segments on occasions, so moving him around the brands isn’t such a bad idea. Wrestling-wise, I simply cannot see him getting over a great deal on any brand, so it’s simply a matter of where his “Stryker’s Class” segment fits best at any given time. Is it on Raw? I’m not sure it is with Jericho’s “Highlight Reel” more than doing the job on Monday nights. SmackDown may have been the better fit here.
LAYLA EL: There are rumors going around that this move could be Playboy related. It could be, but is more likely to be a balancing of heels and faces on the Raw brand. Even that is pretty irrelevant though as Layla really hasn’t improved a great deal in the ring despite appearing as if she does have the work ethic to improve. Kelly would have been the better switch here.
KOFI KINGSTON: No, I don’t like this move at all. Kofi hasn’t been around long enough to justify this move and while he can indeed do with the increased exposure, pushing him immediately to an InterContinental Title win is force-feeding a face to the fans and you know what happens when that occurs (EG: The Rock & John Cena). I also can’t see him getting used properly on Raw due to his wrestling style. I think this rookie clearly has potential and feel that the best way to maximize it would be to bring him along slowly. With this switch to Monday nights, I get the feeling that Kofi is going to have to learn to swim with the big boys fairly quickly, or else he will sink.
MAIN - SmackDown Drafts:
TREVOR MURDOCH: Presuming that WWE is full steam ahead with Lance Cade’s push and committed to continuing it for months on end, then it only makes sense for Murdoch to be moved. Reports suggest that SmackDown’s Michael Hayes has always wanted Murdoch back on the show he books, so don’t be too surprised to see Murdoch get a push of his own. Let’s just hope that is not too high up the card! One reader suggested a comedy teaming with Jimmy Wang Yang. Yee-hah!
BIG DADDY V: Pretty much a direct swap for Mark Henry. In fact, see my comments for Henry, except for the bit about being anywhere near the top of the SmackDown card. I can see the former Viscera possibly feuding with Khali if the Giant Indian turns face shortly.
D.H SMITH: Does this move put pay to the rumored 2nd generation stable over on Raw…??? It may very well do so as Smith looked to be a certainty for such a stable if it was going to exist. Initially, I would have thought a move to SmackDown would be a positive for the Canadian Bulldog, but now it appears to be a negative. Even if he wasn’t to play a role in the Dibiase/Rhodes teaming, surely he could have been a face opponent for them down the track as the storyline would have written itself.
BRIAN KENDRICK: This move does not bode well for either Kendrick or his now former tag-team partner Paul London. The fact that WWE didn’t even pull the trigger on a break-up angle between these 2 before the draft pretty much says it all. I have always thought that London has the greater potential of the 2, but unfortunately he is also the one who seems to fall foul of WWE management. These 2 guys are talented, but it is really difficult to see them getting out of the undercard now unless either of them has support from someone in creative.
MARIA: This move may freshen Maria up as she had indeed been getting a little stale over on Raw, but I’m unsure it really solves the face/heel issue on SmackDown. Ashley or Candace may have been the better bet to move as they are arguably more capable in the ring to provide some back-up for Michelle McCool. Then again, this is all dependent on how seriously WWE treats the SmackDown Divas Title anyway.
SHELTON BENJAMIN: I think that most people were pleased when Shelton moved to ECW last year. Not only was it going to be an opportunity to see him wrestle his exciting style on a weekly basis, but it was also hoped to have provided Benjamin with an opportunity to prove his worth near the top of a card. Well color me unimpressed as the move pretty much turned out a bomb when disregarding the decent strike rate of quality matches he wrestled in. The fact that he practically got nowhere near the ECW Title is definitely worrying for mine and there is only 1 reason I can see for a move to SmackDown; Some kind of involvement with or against MVP.
CARLITO: The move that everyone wanted has indeed occurred. It’s a logical one too as I think everyone knows that Carlito has near main-event potential. Will he grasp this opportunity? Who knows, but there was no point letting him flounder any longer over on Raw. His first run on SmackDown was decent, so maybe the decision-makers over there will reinvigorate this talented Puerto Rican.
DESSERT
’Night Of Champions’ 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: One Night Stand ’08) 65-69: Good event that was worth the money. [B] (EG: Backlash '08) 70-74: Very good. [B+] (EG: Judgment Day '08) 75-79: Make sure you add this ppv to your video or dvd collection. [A] (EG: Royal Rumble '08) 80+: Make sure that the video or DVD is locked in a safe & cannot be erased. Memorable. [A+]
JOHN MORRISON & THE MIZ defeated FINLAY & HORNSWOGGLE to Retain the WWE Tag-Team Championships: Despite all 4 competitors being ECW roster members, SmackDown commentators J.R & Foley do the honors for some reason! Finlay & Morrison kick things off before the champs target Hornswoggle only to fall foul of some crowd-popping offense from the Irishmen. Constant double-teaming by the heels eventually see them isolate Finlay, but the little fella tags himself in & hits multiple Rey Mysterio-like moves to have the crowd in raptures. Finlay later has his own flurry off of a hot tag & hits the Celtic Cross, but as Hornswoggle sets up the tadpole splash, he is thrown hard off the top-rope for the decisive pinfall at the 9 minute mark. Entertaining opener which was structured well to reach its duration with very little dead time. The concentration was effectively on including as many offensive spurts from the faces as possible, even if the amount of offense that Hornswoggle got was a little too unrealistic for my liking. Match Rating... 7
MATT HARDY defeated CHAVO GUERRERO to Retain the United States Title: Standard back & forth mat-wrestling kicked things off before Chavo lands a chop block & proceeds to target Matt's left knee for minutes on end. Any offense by Hardy is rare, brief & simple between Chavo's submission holds. The face finally does get a 2 count with a Side Effect out of nowhere and then gets the same result with a DDT. But Chavo counters a Twist of Fate attempt into a half crab, before looking to hit the 3 Amigos suplexes. However, the 3rd Amigo (arguably Martin Short) is nicely countered into the Twist of Fate for the pinfall victory to the champ after 10 minutes. As expected, this took a while to get going, but was fairly strong once the 2 hit their strides. It probably required a couple more minutes to fully realize its potential, but considering the match storyline of Matt's knee, it understandably ended when it did. Match Rating... 7
MARK HENRY defeated THE BIG SHOW & KANE in a Triple-Threat Match to Win the ECW Title: Kane is the aggressor at the opening bell taking on both opponents successfully & even removing Henry from the ring. Soon after, TBS throws Kane over the top-rope and due to Henry's prolonged stalling to attack him, it appears as if The Big Red Machine is genuinely injured. This results in minutes of end of standard big man brawling between the 2 challengers in the ring, even if TBS body-slamming Henry is always impressive. Kane thankfully returns to action (looking fine) & assists Show in delivering a double choke-slam to remove Henry from the action. The 2 giants then go at it with TBS getting 2 counts with a choke-slam & back suplex. The champ returns fire with a superplex, but an opportunistic Henry scores the pinfall with a splash at the 8 minute mark to take the ECW Title back to ECW. Standard big man match where any advantages from the triple-threat stipulation were negated by the apparent injury to Kane. To their credit, they worked decently around it so this wasn't awful, but it wasn't very good either. Match Rating... 6
TED DIBIASE & CODY RHODES defeated HARDCORE HOLLY & CODY RHODES to Win the World Tag-Team Titles: Dibiase gets on the mic before the bell & states that his partner will arrive shortly, predictably resulting in Rhodes quickly turning on Holly & landing a DDT. He then tags in Dibiase who locks on the Million Dollar Dream into a leg-sweep for the quick title change after 2 minutes. The very predictable heel turn for Rhodes was only handled decently here and I can't pass this storyline bout due to the fact that more imagination & impact could have been used to make the new tag-team title reign begin with a bang. Match Rating... 4.5
KOFI KINGSTON defeated CHRIS JERICHO to Win the InterContinental Title: Following some effective heel mic work by Jericho, Kingston surprisingly emerges as his impromptu opponent. After an even beginning, Kofi impressively takes to the air to involve the crowd & shock the IC Champ. But Y2J kicks out of a top-rope cross-body & then stems the tide by dumping the challenger over the top-rope. Minutes on end of surprisingly mundane Jericho offense isn't helped by the fact that the live crowd clearly prefers a HBK run-in over a Kofi comeback. The latter occurs and Kingston even gets a few close near-falls, but just as Y2J looks set to end the match with his Walls of Jericho, HBK does make a run-in.
The Jamaican rookie then amazingly takes advantage with his Trouble In Paradise finisher for the shock title win after 11 minutes. Afterwards, Jericho lands a straight right to HBK who is feverishly selling his eye injury. This was a very strange bout in that the 2 never really looked comfortable with each other in between some good spots here & there. Obviously a storyline bout to some extent, I'm not entirely confident that the result was the correct one either. Pretty good still, but I think these 2 could do a lot better once they become more accustomed to each other. Match Rating... 7
MICKIE JAMES defeated KATIE-LEA to Retain the Women's Title: The challenger looks for an immediate victory with many nice roll-up variations scoring near-falls, before Mickie composes herself & realizes she is up for a battle. The action that follows is even and both the pace & impact is especially impressive. Katie then targets the champ’s arm (which genuinely could be injured) & the match falls apart a little at that stage. Mickie sets up her Implant DDT, but Katie impressively counters into a cross arm-breaker. Mickie fights through the pain though & counters a suplex into her Implant DDT finisher for the pinfall victory after 7 minutes. This was a very interesting bout and a tough one to rate as it was really tricky to tell if Mickie's injury was genuine. If it wasn't, that may have been the best sell-job ever. Otherwise though, this was intermittently very impressive at times while being drab at others. Katie definitely did enough to impress though, so it's just a matter of WWE establishing her character better now. Match Rating... 6.5
EDGE defeated BATISTA to Retain the World HeavyWeight Title: Batista predictably uses his greater strength to control the champion initially & even gets a close 2 count with a Jack-Hammer early on. Edge stems the tide by ramming the challenger's shoulder into the ring-post and then subsequently baseball slides The Animal over an announce desk. The heel obviously controls the next few minutes which includes a rather long headlock or 2. The pace screeches to a halt here & there is way too much dead time. When the 2 do work up a trot at the 12 minute mark, Batista counters a spear with a spinning slam for a 2 count & then gets the same result with a spear of his own. A Batista Bomb is then countered into an Impaler DDT for a close 2 before Batista this time counters a spear attempt with a big boot.
Subsequently going to the top-rope though is unwise as Edge hits a nice drop-kick, even if the challenger replies promptly with a spine-buster that requires Vickie Guerrero to break up the count. Edge then lays out the referee as Vicki summons Chavo down as his replacement. This earns the SmackDown GM a free flight over the top-rope courtesy of Batista, but the distraction is enough to allow Edge to strike with a title shot to the head for the 1-2-3 after 17 minutes. Not entirely dissimilar to many of the recent Edge vs Undertaker bouts, this started slowly & then got even slower before a barnstorming finish. Unfortunately that finish was also overbooked and when that is combined with the amount of dead time that was included, it is difficult to rate this highly. Match Rating... 7
TRIPLE H defeated JOHN CENA to Retain the WWE Championship: A genuine big match feel leads into this bout which the much oranger Triple H has the best of initially. Cena then has his moments in the game of one upmanship, before Hunter methodically goes to work on his opponent's back. The action is never stagnant and both men get in their fair share of offense as I amazingly do not recall a pinfall attempt in the opening 13 minutes! The momentum swings to the challenger when HHH is thrown over the top-rope & lands awkwardly at ringside hurting his knee. Cena shows his ruthless side to clinically target that injury much to the dismay of the audience. The champ consistently blocks the STF-U & then counters an F-U to hit a pedigree for a super close near-fall. The same result occurs following a Cena F-U & then the 2 get into a crowd-involving battle of fists that ends with a 5 Knuckle Shuffle.
Cena next counters another pedigree attempt & finally locks on the STF-U, but Hunter replies with a modified crossface. Not long later, The Game finishes off this terrific bout with a pedigree after 20 minutes of excellent action. This was a fantastic main-event that was involving throughout & hardly had a slow moment. Built up beautifully over the first half of the match, it was almost a shame that this didn't last longer. Some nice little selling & character touches were included throughout and the result was unpredictable right up until the very end. Clearly the match of the night & a bonafide match of the year contender! Match Rating... 9
PPV RATING (54/80) = 68
Looking at the key, I have basically given the 2008 version of ‘Night of Champions’ a 'B' grade & said that it was a ‘good event that was worth the money'. While I get the feeling that many viewers may have rated this show slightly higher in the B+ category, I am quite content with my conclusion. The reason for this is because while the event was pretty consistent, I believe that all of the matches excluding the main-event didn't really get out of 2nd gear. Edge vs Batista was disappointing for mine and none of the midcard bouts jumped out & grabbed me even if nothing was at all bad.
Another reason why some may over-rate this card was because of the background interest to many of the match-ups coming off the recent draft and with regards to the current title situations. I agree that was definitely a positive but my simplistic PPV ratings system intentionally ignores those types of factors for the most part leaving predominantly what you see in the ring. So the sum was probably greater than the parts in this case. Overall though, it was a pretty good night of action delivered by WWE.
Ok, that’s another PPV Review done & dusted. If there is anything you agreed or disagreed on with regards to my ‘Night Of Champions’ review, please don’t hesitate to email me. Ditto if you have strong thoughts one way or the other on any of the supplemental draft moves… But please keep your feedback to 2 or 3 wrestlers and not all 17. As per my comments last week & at the top of this column, I am flat chat at work, so please be patient for a reply if you email 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
Plain & simply, I need a week off. So there will be no ‘Wrestling Menu’ next Wednesday. I will return on July-16 with my predictions for ‘The Great American Bash’ and who knows what else. Whatever comes your way, 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.
