There's his NEW banner! All hail the Walrus!
It was nice of my WB station down here at Athens to push Smackdown from being on at 10 pm to 12 pm. And you know why it was pushed back? The WB station actually thought of playing their regular shows for once, instead of showing Smackdown. Like I really need to see one of WB's crappy shows or two before I get my Smackdown.
For those who are wondering, I've been pretty satisfied with the overall booking of WCW and the WWF. IT'S ABOUT TIME... excuse me. It seems that the midcard or undercard has been prepared or booked better, thus making a stronger product overall. I just have my resentment towards those darn main eventers, who love the spotlight enough to fight for it.
On to the PDC.
Wow, an opening match for once on Smackdown. We were treated to yet another rematch between the Hardys and the Dudleys, which was a good match up by all accounts. Christian basically did the same thing he did on RAW to cost the Dudleys the titles, and it's VERY likely that we'll see another Tables, Ladders, and Chairs OH MY! match. Why? Because the WWF doesn't have any other creative ideas for the teams. Not that I'm complaining.
Next, we get Val Venis vs. Chris Jericho. Decent match I suppose, but Val's stock has certainly dropped ever since he totally dropped the Porn Star gimmick. Sure, it was falling during that time, but it has really bottomed out with the RTC. What I mean is that by having Bull Buchanan, Goodfather, and Steven Richards helping you to cheat doesn't quite help. But I guess the WWF was just confused on what to do with Val, as they were with other wrestlers when the Million Dollar Corporation was formed in the mid 1990s.
Lots of backstage "sports entertainment" last night. Joy, joy, joy!
I liked the Chris Benoit vs. the Radicalz match. First fall was a good one, as Perry Saturn never looked better in his 1 year WWF career. Oh my, speaking of Perry "the Walrus" Saturn........
There's his NEW banner! All hail the Walrus!
Anyway, the Walrus was carried quite well with Chris Benoit. Then, Dean Malenko came in,and oddly enough, they worked a bad match. That doesn't happen, but the high paced battle with Walrus, I mean Saturn, must have tired out Benoit. Then, Eddie got the cheap win at the end. Good segment, although the crowd totally died during the Benoit-Malenko part. What I don't understand is that the WWF will probably do Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit on RAW, as reported by Blake and Wrestling Observer live, and I question why? Why can't you just save that for Wrestlemania? What's even worse is that the WWF might book a Radical 4-way match. How ridiculous and lazy can you get with booking these days? One on one matches thrive, while 4 ways are total clusterfucks.
The Vince McMahon-Linda McMahon-Trish Stratus segment was totally tasteless. FINGER OF SHAME to Vince McMahon for being so sick minded.
Test and Kurt Angle, who during last month, got no respect as champions, worked a good match last night. Non title, right? I wonder who Angle will wrestle for Wrestlemania? I'm thinking that smart booking would put him against Chris Jericho, if you are going to depush him from the main event. Rumor says that Jericho might fight Regal, so who could he fight? Oh wait, I guessed it: Kane. Anybody care to bet against me?
Oh joy, William Regal wins a ridiculous match to become Commissioner. Well, I guess you can just totally waste Al Snow, since he had another 4 years to get "over".
Looks like the blueprints of Triple H vs. Undertaker were laid out for Wrestlemania. You know, I'm going to praise the WWF on this feud. Undertaker's best days are far behind him, but this feud is new, fresh, and never attempted before! The real intrigue for me will be how much Triple H can carry the Undertaker to a good match. I liked how the Undertaker said that Triple H NEVER beat him. Good stuff, and I praise this Sports entertainment. I wonder if HBK will like to oversee this match or feud, since he and the Undertaker had a nasty feud in 1997/early 1998.
Do you know what cracks me up? The WWF keeps trying to push Rikishi/Haku as this super badass team, but yet the Rock can just defeat them. That strikes me as funny. Oh by the way, the Rock threw 26 right hands during this whole match. After the final right hand, he would bounce off the ropes a few times, but it always had him on the receiving end of Rikishi or Haku. Rock also did around 5 clotheslines during the match. Yes, he has the best charisma, super stardom, and mic skills of anyone, but a lot of things get overlooked about the Rock.
Not a bad show, with peaks and valleys. I didn't like the main event, nor did I like the Vince-Trish-Linda segment. But hey, you can't win them all. At least Kurt Angle came out as a winner during this show, which is oddly rare these days. B for this show, if you can dig that.
The WWF just seems eery without Jerry Lawler now. I don't know if it's the blame to the lower RAW ratings or not, but a lot of people loved RAW for Jerry Lawler. It's the truth. Now, I'm getting a lot of emails about this whole Kat firing/Lawler quitting situation being a "work". Uh huh, that's why the Kat and Lawler have been telling fans to send mail to WWF bookers/personnel, writing commentaries basically trashing the WWF, and just totally alienating themselves from the WWF product at all chances. Yeah, I'll put this Lawler work on the same shelf as the Bret Hart work, Shawn Michaels work, the Vince McMahon owns ECW theory, and many more.
Oh wow, after debuting at #2 on the Billboard charts, the WWF the Music Volume 5 has dropped 7 places to become #9 on the charts. Sure, it's still a good place on the chart, but the WWF was totally anticipating a great chance of becoming #1. Didn't Ross say 50/50 or something? I honestly don't think the CD is even worthy of #2 or #9, as you could remember from my CD review. WWF will probably blame the Tazz theme for the drop. (har har)
Hey, WCW made a nice mistake in dropping the good talent of Crowbar. So will the WWF pick him up? Probably not. Why? Not only for the fact that the WWF is tight on their talent roster, but for the fact that the WWF already tried to make Crowbar into a superstar. Only back then, around in 1997-1998, he was known as Devon Storm, no relation to Lance. He was a glorified jobber, who was pushed to win several times, but to no avail. So the WWF knows him quite well, and with Crowbar being a mainstay of the bad times of WCW, it's highly unlikely that the WWF will pick him up. That's a shame too, but there's nothing we can do about it.
Picture courtesy of Amazon.com
Take a look at this book cover. Sure, it's a nice looking one. Those guys in the WWF can really produce some works or art. On the cover, you see guys like The Undertaker, the late Andre the Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Triple H, and Stephanie(??) on the cover. Sure, I guess they had either good Wrestlemanias, and/or have been on the cards for a long time.
The Undertaker defeated Jimmy Snuka in his very first Wrestlemania in 1991. A good 10 years ago. Undertaker has been to most of them ever since, and even winning a World Title at one. Andre the Giant wrestled in Wrestlemania 1 through 6, and appeared at Wrestlemania 7. He was a very large figure in Wrestlemania history, as being a part of the biggest match in WWF history against Hogan at Wrestlemania 3. Stone Cold Steve Austin made his Wrestlemania debut at #12, in a lovely bout with Savio Vega. Austin would go on to having famous bouts with Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and the Rock of all people! 4 Wrestlemanias, with 2 World Titles won. I'll agree with that.
Next, we have the Rock. He appeared at Wrestlemania 13 defending against the Sultan. Ugh. Next Wrestlemania, he fought Ken Shamrock, lost but was reversed. For 15, he lost the World Title to Austin. For 16, he lost to Triple H in the clusterfuck 4 way match. Wow, that's a 1-3 or a 2-2 record for the Rock. Next, we have Triple H. His first Wrestlemania was the 1996 one, where he totally jobbed to the Ultimate Warrior. At Wrestlemania 13, he fought Goldust. Wrestlemania 14, he fought the late Owen Hart. Ok, there's one significant match. Wrestlemania 15, he made a good heel turn against Kane and his buddy Xpac. Wrestlemania 16, he retained his title. Stephanie is also on the cover, as she only appeared in last year's Wrestlemania IN CHARACTER.
So what the hell is my point?!? The WWF is totally pissing on the man who helped make Wrestlemania what is. A man who I might personally not like, but a man who I understand was a big part of the WWF back in the day. That man is HULK HOGAN.
Ever hear of him WWF?! Yeah, that's the man who was in the First 9 Wrestlemanias. Hogan won the World Title there 3 Times, while retaining the World Title 2 times. He even did the amazing job for the Ultimate Warrior in 1990, almost won the Tag Titles at Wrestlemania 9, and was a big part of why wrestling fans bought your damn Pay Per Views back then. Sure, I don't like Hogan, but I'm not blind on what he did for the wrestling world. For the WWF to totally turn their backs on Hogan just because he's no longer there and was wrestling elsewhere, is just overall ridiculous!
Sure, the WWF is trying to market the book to today's crowd, so why not take Andre off the cover too? Oh wait, Andre never jumped to WCW like Hogan did. This arrogance towards Hogan must stop! The WWF must realize who the hell helped them get on the map, and Hogan was a large portion of that.
On a side note, why is Stephanie on the cover too? There are more famous managers in Wresltemania history than her. Let's see here.... Oh, I can say Bobby Heenan, Mr. Fuji, Jim Cornette, Paul Bearer, and more. In fact, there are more ladies who are more significant than Stephanie, like Miss Elizabeth, Sensational Sherri, Sable, and even Sunny. It's insulting to me to see the newer wrestlers getting the spotlight about Wrestlemania, when for the most part, they just tagged along for the ride on Wrestlemania. They didn't make it what it is today.
But today's wrestling world could give a flying fuck about tradition, especially the WWF, who seems to forget why they ever had the chance in the spotlight. And I mean what I just said, because if you've read this column for over 2 years, you'll know that I HATE Hogan and some of things he used to do in wrestling. However, I have the guts or the balls to at least recognize what an impact Hogan made on Wrestlemania, whereas the WWF doesn't.
4. Chris Benoit: Nobody can out wrestle this guy, but everyone can beat him via the bookers.
3. Chris Jericho: Solid IC champion.
2. Hardy Boyz: New Champs, and retaining it on first defense. Would be #1, but the cheating by Christian stops that.
1. Kurt Angle: Still the Jackson 5's Olympic Hero.
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People are asking where my site News Orgy went or why it's currently down and out. Well, let's just say that "Big Brother" got a hold of it.
@That's it for today's column. Hehe, sorry for the long rant on the Wrestlemania book, but I felt I needed to say all of that. I'll be back tomorrow with MORE PDC THAN YOU CAN HANDLE. Actually, it's just a history. I've decided that I'm going to cover Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat tomorrow, if that's a problem with anyone. Note that it could be later in the day, though. See you tomorrow!
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Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.
A couple news places are reporting that Jim Ross is being bumped to the XFL NBC "B" announcing team, while Matt Vasgersian will move up to the "A" team with Jesse Ventura. Ross will now have the fun task of working with Dick Butkus, which should be an interesting combo. No true reason was given why Ross was bumped, but I'm assuming that the WWF and NBC have decided to make the XFL less of a WWF product.
From the promos on Smackdown last night, it appears that the Chicago Enforcers vs. Las Vegas Outlaws will probably get the "A" announcing team and most coverage.
Nothing else out there.