The joy of writing about professional wrestling has brought us to a 4th day in a row for the Wrath of Tito. I know not many people care about this, but last month, I gave up caffeine. I was a heavy caffeine drinker, relying on it to get me through the day. I used to love Sunkist, which is one of the most loaded caffeine soda drinks you could find, and I'd throw one down before work and continue drinking it throughout the day. I also drank a lot of it during college, which kept me awake and alert throughout the day. I gave it up due to some poor sleeping habits I developed. I was lucky to feel tired at 2 am, there for a while. After quitting, actually feel tired at 10 pm, and I've been sleeping much better as of late. I don't know, I'm not much for advice, but I'd strongly recommend ditching caffeine for a while just to see if your sleeping habits will change. I now go to sleep earlier in the night, which makes me waking up earlier in the morning, leaving me lots of dangerous free time to write another column.

Let me say this to begin the wrestling rants: I admire Bill Goldberg. Why? Yesterday, I was reading around on several wrestling webpages, and I stumbled upon the reason why RAW was rewritten the day of the show. 1wrestling reported that the original plans for Bill Goldberg on RAW was to SQUASH Test in a singles match. However, Bill Goldberg, since he has some character creative power, had that changed. Goldberg then changed it to him SELLING the brutal beatdown of Triple H, and he felt that by squashing Test in a match, it wouldn't show any realism towards the events the night before. BRAVO to Bill Goldberg. To say he doesn't care about the wrestling business is somewhat absurd when you look at this case. Triple H should be loving Goldberg for making him look like a vicious heel when Goldberg wanted to sell the beatdown. It makes Goldberg just as strong in the ring when he's calling out Triple H, while bandaged up during the opening interview, than just walking through Test as if nothing happened. Let Goldberg demolish Test next week.

In the past, Goldberg would get offended if his character was to show any signs of weakness. Instead, he's acting like a team player and wanted to help build heat between himself and Triple H. They have several weeks to get over Goldberg as an unstoppable monster, and I hope the WWE locker room has a better tone towards Goldberg now than they did before. Of course, I'm sure many of them are bitching because Goldberg caused some of the show to be rewritten. That's the way the WWE thinks these days. I'm sure, however, Test appreciates Goldberg for not wanting to squash him after getting "injured" by Triple H at Summerslam. We can at least assume that much.

In my mind, this act of generosity, in the face of Goldberg getting more over lately, shows that a World Title change at Unforgiven is a must.

I'd like to spend a great deal of time discussing the SMACKDOWN roster. If I was a promoter, I couldn't ask for a better group of wrestlers than what Smackdown currently has. You have Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, two great performers who have added an amateur twist to the WWE as of late. Lesnar is also great for the awesome power moves he brings to the table, while Kurt Angle has the best personality in wrestling. Their credentials, alone, are impressive and it's somewhat unbelieveable when someone beats one of those two, one a gold medalist and another a heavyweight NCAA champion. The WWE formula should be simple for the Smackdown roster: build around these two guys.

I'm ASSUMING that's what they are doing right now. Lesnar losing ends their feud, for now, and allows for 2 wrestlers to step up to the plate. (Please note that I did NOT read the spoilers, so if my current thoughts are way off from tonight's show, then too bad!) For one, the Undertaker is going to get his "big push" again, and I bet he'll go right after the REAL Brock Lesnar. They had a good series of matches at the end of 2002, as Lesnar pushed the Undertaker to newer heights, although the Undertaker insisted he'd have Brock's number if he was younger and healthy. Then you have Kurt Angle, a face, who needs a heel to wrestle him over the World Title. That's when a man named Eddie Guerrero comes in.

Face it, Guerrero is the HOTTEST thing in professional wrestling. He's a proven draw with the Latino market, which is a market untapped on UPN. He's always reliable to perform well in the ring, especially since he's totally clean from alcohol and substances. His slimey Mexican gimmick is getting him over with the crowd, and he's a wrestler who can draw reactions both ways: as a heel and as a face. Guerrero is primed and ready, more than anybody in the whole entire WWE, to get the main event push. Think about it. Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle is total MONEY, and I guarantee that feud would help increase business. Guerrero as World Champion would be a great thing, too. Just think about when he does his dirty cheating during one of his World Title matches? Oh man, the crowd will want to kill him, and that's a drawing power that say a Honky Tonk Man or a Ric Flair once had. He's ready, so make it happen for the October Smackdown Pay Per View!

I keep forgetting to mention this in my other columns... Where was World's Greatest Tag Team for Summerslam? Well, they were excluded from the show, while the RAW tag champs stunk up the show. Makes sense? Of course it doesn't. But one of the rare times I catch a part of Velocity saw a Bradshaw defeating Shelton Benjamin in a singles match. Yeah, I know it's a singles match, but is wrestling the Tag Champs in singles matches on Velocity really logical, especially losing? Maybe it will lead to an APA vs. World's Greatest Tag Team match, I don't know? If so, I hope the BETTER tag team wins.

The APA is a growing problem with Smackdown. APA, Albert, Billy Gunn, Big Show, and Rikishi are all guys from 1998-2000 who are either deteriorating with injuries, have done NOTHING to improve their wrestling ability. But hey, they are WWE "veterans" and all have size, whether it's height, pounds, or both. That, in Vince's eyes, gives Vince a major hard-on and he constantly compromises his future stars just to get these guys over. The APA are still doing the same old stale drunken redneck act, and their bar room brawl was significant proof of that. Albert is only defeated by a short list of wrestlers, while nobody beats the Big Show. Rikishi has been absent lately, but his matches and dancing, very stale at that, does hog up lots of television time. But Billy Gunn, oh lord! His music, for whatever reason, gets a crowd reaction, but once he starts wrestling, the crowd always falls flat. What a waste of a perfectly good valet by giving him Torrie Wilson, too.

As I said above, I'd be loving the great talent on my roster if I was a Smackdown booker. The OVW wrestlers are working out GREAT on the Smackdown roster, as John Cena, Haas, Benjamin, and Lesnar are all working out great! All 4 wrestlers have brought a new dimension to the show. How about those WCW wrestlers? Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio are very strong as a tag team, and were getting over on their own merits, and that's despite the WWE wanting to turn Kidman heel. They can't when the crowd wants to cheer them on as a face tag team! Then you have Jamie Noble, who has the West Virginia stereotype down and CAN perform well in matches.

And then you have untapped wrestlers, who seem to get held back every week. Matt Hardy's true potential has yet to be unleashed, although his concussion could keep him out of action for a while. Sean O'Haire is just itching to break the WWE style wrestling mode and use the fucking top rope for a change to show where his real talents are. Then you have Ultimo Dragon, which Vince McMahon is already labeling a "bust". HA! Dragon wrestles 2 or 3 televised matches, and that makes him a bust? I guarantee that if you gave Dragon and Rey Mysterio just 15 minutes, they'll WOW the WWE crowds and television viewers with a match. So what if Dragon can't speak English that well. Actions speak louder than words. I mean Jesus, take your pick, Rey vs. Ultimo, Kidman vs. Ultimo, Tajiri vs. Ultimo... all matches that would pump some great life into the Cruiserweight division. Heaven forbid we push *that* division, ever.

Of course, how can I talk about Smackdown and not mention Stephanie McMahon. Now look, when she was just in her General Manager role, I liked her. She did her job well and didn't dominate the storylines. Once Vince McMahon came aboard and extended his feud with Hulk Hogan, it created another Stephanie vs. Vince feud, which is crippling Smackdown TV right now. Why? For one, Vince's presence doesn't let Stephanie do her job, just like Vince staying off RAW, for the most part, lets Austin and Bischoff try to do their jobs at General Managers. See what I'm getting at? It's fine if Vince makes his occasional appearance. As the owner of a business, I'd show up, too, to see how things are going. But to personally involve himself into feuds with his daughter while you have this GREAT Smackdown roster to use is simply ludicrous.

The current Smackdown roster is something any wrestling promoter would dream of. A nice balance of youth, innovation, veterans, size, speed, and personalities, but yet a lot of it goes to waste and Smackdown can't improve from its 3.0 to 3.5 hole. Mismanagement of talent and creative ideas hurts this show, but not as much as RAW, thankfully, giving wrestling fans at least one good show to look foward to on Thursdays.

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Take care, and thanks for reading!

Mr. Tito © 1998 - 2003 LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com