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What’s the Story? - ‘Tick, Tock’

Hey there and welcome to this week’s edition of ‘What’s the Story?’; the story this week is ‘Tick, Tock’.

Ah yes, that insanity inducing noise which plagues all of our households – the tick of the clock: ‘tick, tock’. Whether you possess a good old grandfather or one of the small plastic ones which cleanly breaks in two when you drop it on the floor, you know what I’m talking about.

Many a time I have been kept awake at night by the incessant noise of this device, half-wishing that my awful neighbour would crank the volume back up on his evidently powerful hi-fi. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has suffered this everyday fate, but I know for a fact that there is one person who is, at this very moment, getting the treatment big time: Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Yes, the old grouch/genius Vince McMahon. With a matter of hours to go until Unforgiven he must be feeling the pressure. The ‘tick, tock’ of the many clocks contained within the arena must be ringing out with great resonance, each one reminding cranky Vince that the next few hours will be the longest he has ever felt, with the strike of the last minute gone telling him that it is time for one of the toughest PPVs he has ever had to oversee.

Okay, perhaps I’m being overly dramatic. But I truly believe that, with the recent crazy booking direction, spate of injuries and firings, that Vince is truly going to have make sure things run smoothly tonight. It is one of those ‘make or break’ PPVs, that WWE have to come out of strong and rescue ratings and talent, some of whom are sliding down particularly slippery slopes.

The card looks rather decent for Unforgiven, but as always, it’s all about the execution, the ‘on the feet’ thinking and the in-ring chemistry. The first scramble match will be exciting, the second will be somewhat of an instant replay – with the viewer playing a TV version of ‘spot the difference’- and the third will cause many viewers to ring the network, demanding to know why the PPV is being broadcast on a one match loop. Ah the joy of cramming identical stipulation matches into three hours.

In my opinion, the showstealer of the night will, naturally, be the one involving none other than the ‘Showstopper’ – HBK vs. Jericho. This is perhaps the only match which has followed conventional, (not to mention proven to be successful), means of slowly building up a program, with each week adding another slice to the ever expanding pie containing hate, greed and malice. Tonight’s the night when the pie explodes and whether it is metaphorically or one of the two participants actually finds a pie to smash in the other’s face, the results will be the same: a fantastic match which will be the highlight and possibly the sole memory that fans will take away from Unforgiven.

Yes, it’s all rather depressing how WWE is down in the ratings these days and how the talent pool appears to be so limited, despite being quite big. No doubt it’s a rough time for the company at the moment so each PPV, each minute of airtime counts. The diehard fans, myself included, will always be there, but with TNA seemingly on the rise, WWE needs to recruit fresh blood, and not so much to it’s talent pool.

So I know every week I write with a predominantly pessimistic view, but, of all things, optimism is on my mind at the moment. Yes, Vince needs to stay optimistic, in order to rescue his brain child from returning to a ‘Monday Night Wars-esque’ scenario. And before you ask, I’m confident he can pull it off. After all this is the man who wiped territorial wrestling off the map and replaced it with the global conglomerate we know today as WWE.

So Vince, my thoughts are with you right now, as you fret about making sure that everything is set to go according to plan. But here’s a radical thought: how about making a last minute change, from ‘Unforgiven’ to ‘Judgement Day’; revive the name of that PPV and redo it tonight. After all, in 1 hour and 48 minutes, it truly is Judgment Day.

Comments, thoughts, feedback: minunc@hotmail.com

Nikheel Gorolay

Popularity: 1% [?]

Linda’s Thoughts - Correction On One Of My Unforgiven Predictions

Some of my very astute readers pointed out a major mistake that I made in my column.  I need to make a very important correction. I totally forgot that Jericho vs. Michaels is an unsanctioned match, which means my DQ win for Jericho makes no sense at all. So let me go with Jericho for the win and NOT ON A DQ. Again I appreciate you guys for pointing this error out to me, man I feel like a total idiot.

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Linda’s Thoughts - Unforgiven Predictions

This is one time that I wish my column was about Smackdown, but today I’m giving you my predictions for Unforgiven. Let me just say that I thought Smackdown was an excellent show with very little that I didn’t like. And every show this week has gotten me more and more ready for Unforgiven. Chalk this up to another week where all three shows came off well. Hey if you missed Smackdown but recorded it make sure you watch it, I really don’t think you will be disappointed. Okay let me get right to my picks for tomorrow’s show. I want to start off with one segment that is not a match but I caught something last night watching Smackdown and well let me start with it and I’ll explain.

As I said there was very little that I didn’t like about Smackdown, but one segment that I thought was rather ridiculous was having the Undertaker describe what he’s going to do to Vickie on Sunday. And to sum up Taker’s promo? He plans to kill her. This wasn’t a good segment at all and I think not having Taker on the show would have been better than having him go into detail about what he has in store for Vickie. But, what I think is going to happen is the following, While it looks like Vickie’s days are numbered, what I see is Big Show aligning himself with Guerrero and going after Taker. Now I don’t know if this will lead to a match tomorrow night, but I do see a Big Show/Taker feud starting up. The reason I have Big Show in here is because on Smackdown he wanted to take on Kozlov and just as the match was going to start Vickie abruptly put an end to it by screaming like a banshee at Kozlov who left the ring and Big Show who eventually walked away with a look of anger, yet the look didn’t convince me that he was really pissed with Vickie. It all seemed very obvious that Big Show was just going through the motions and that on Sunday he will be on Vickie’s side and go after the Undertaker. So while Taker might have thoughts of murdering Vickie, Big Show will save her and the feud will start. And if I’m way off on this, I hope none of you will ever bring it up again. Seriously I just have a feeling that Big Show turns heel.

Divas Championship Match – Maryse vs. Michelle McCool
Hey is it me or is McCool starting to get annoying? Did you happen to see her come out on Smackdown while Maryse was going up the ramp and just stand there and smile in a creepy surgery sweet way? Giving the Women’s title to McCool I’m starting to think wasn’t a smart move and I do not see her losing tomorrow night. Hopefully this match will be short, and if it is it should come off okay. I really don’t get how Maryse got this spot, but then again nothing surprises me in the WWE, well almost nothing.
Winner: Michelle McCool

World Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase vs. Cryme Tyme
Now this one should be a good match, with some decent wrestling. While I could see Cryme Tyme winning, I still feel that DiBiase and Rhodes need to hold on to their titles for a little longer and keep this feud going with Cryme Tyme. And then have Cryme Tyme eventually beating this duo. I’m happy to see all four part of a pay per view for a change.
Winner: Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes

ECW Championship Scramble – Mark Henry vs. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay vs. Chavo vs. The Miz
This group has been awesome on ECW and I don’t see any reason why they won’t win us over tomorrow night. I think we are in for a solid match here and I’m leaning towards two guys to leave with the title. It’s between Henry and Hardy. Now I don’t care which guy wins because Henry has done a very good job as the champion, yet Matt Hardy as ECW’s champ could really bring a lot to the show. This is where I need to toss a coin that’s how unsure I am about whom to go with. Okay heads Henry, tails Hardy. And I’m going with Matt Hardy. Really I didn’t toss a coin I’m going with Hardy because I don’t see Triple H or CM Punk losing, so I am thinking one champion HAS to lose tomorrow.
Winner: Matt Hardy

Michaels vs. Chris Jericho
Do you guys remember a few weeks ago HBK said this match wasn’t about winning? Well I do and I think this match is all about Michaels beating the hell out of Jericho. I see Chris winning on a DQ thanks to Michaels just doing his own thing and not following the rules. This could be a blood bath and I’m hoping that Michaels torn triceps holds up and he finally puts Y2J in his place. I cannot wait to see this match; this is going to be HOT!
Winner: Chris Jericho

World Heavyweight Championship Scramble – CM Punk vs. JBL vs. Kane vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Batista
Yeah I’m sticking with Punk to come out on top. I would be crushed if JBL won, oh crushed. There’s a good mix of talent in here and I think this will be one of the top matches of the night. Batista has been on fire and I look for him to add a lot to this match, in fact every one involved is going to make this one good and it certainly would make Punk’s title reign look even better if he hangs on.
Winner: CM Punk

WWE Championship Scramble – Triple H vs. MVP vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. The Brain Kendrick accompanied by Ezekiel

These guys were just fantastic on Smackdown. Kendrick looked good attacking Hunter during Smackdown’s opening, and Benjamin and MVP did some nice mic work trash talking The Game and each other. And let’s not forget Jeff Hardy hitting the twist of fate on a surprised Triple H at the end of Smackdown’s Lumberjack main event with Hunter vs. Khali. What a cool way to end the show with Jeff Hardy looking down at the champion. I really am psyched for this one because I like the variety of talent You have the veterans, Triple H and Hardy along with MVP and Benjamin and then out of the blue you have THE BRIAN KENDRICK.  This will have matt work, highflying moves and interference from Ezekiel, see a little of everything. I think this match might be the main event of the show. I am looking for Triple H to retain, and maybe start something up with Jeff Hardy or MVP after tomorrow night.
Winner: Triple H

There you have it and please keep your predictions coming. I have enjoyed the ones that I have received so far. And yes I ordered the show and I will be back on Tuesday to talk about Raw and Unforgiven. Hopefully my happiness from this week will carry over to Tuesday’s column.

Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com

Popularity: 1% [?]

The Dog Pound - Scramble On…

In the illustrious words of Led Zeppelin, it’s time to (Sc)ramble on! Tomorrow night, the WWE presents Unforgiven with not one, not two, but three brand new Championship Scramble Matches. Now of course it is time for all of you to hop inside The Dog Pound as I give you my predictions for what I believe could be the best PPV so far this year.

So, we actually have a tag team match on a pay-per-view? And geez, its actually with the titles on the line? Man I don’t know what to think anymore. Seriously though, I am very happy that both teams of Rhodes/Dibiase and Cryme Tyme get a true chance to shine on a ppv card, and I think that the match for the World Tag Team Titles will kick off the show. I also really like the team of Rhodes/Dibiase and feel they should keep the titles for a few more months to truly establish themselves. I pick Rhodes and Dibiase to win and retiain the gold.

Following this, I think Smackdown will give us Michelle McCool taking on Maryse for the Diva’s Championship. To be honest I have no interest in this match whatsoever and it is quite simply because Michelle McCool really annoys me. I like Maryse, and believe she has come quite a long way so far, but Michelle just doesn’t do anything for me. My question…where is Natalya? Victoria? Hell, even Maria? Oh well, I guess Michelle will win and keep the fued going for awhile and hopefully Natalya can get back into the mix fairly soon. McCool wins and retains.

Next up, I think will be the first Scramble Match, for the ECW Championship. Now keep in mind this would make it three title matches in a row, but I’ll explain why it would work in a bit. Anyway, I’ll admit Mark Henry hasn’t done TERRIBLE as champ, but that’s because he has Tony Atlas in his corner. Should be a fairly entertaining match nonetheless, and I expect Henry to retain the gold for a little while longer!

Next up, I say Raw brings us back with the Unsanctioned Match between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. Let’s face it guys, this program has been the highlight of Monday Nights, and to think its been going on essentially for seven months! I’ll admit this is a dream match for me like any time HBK snd Jericho square off. Let’s not forget also, this is Unsanctioned so ANYTHING GOES! I say HBK will pick up the win and finally get the redemption he deserves. Since he is injured though I expect him to pull that angle during/after the match so he can be written off and have time to heal. HBK wins.

Raw stays with us and we’ll get the second Scramble Match of the night. I like this match, however there seems to be just a little something missing in the hype department. Could it actually be due to Cena not being there? Call me crazy but I actually found myself wishing Cena stayed in as opposed to Mysterio. Nothing against Rey Rey, he just doesn’t do it for me as a main event guy. In the end, I say it would be a sad mistake on the WWE’s part to take the title off of Punk here. I have enjoyed his character as of late and I think he is just starting to shake that “transitional champion” tag. I also want to see Punk vs. Orton when Randy returns.

In the end, this is going to be a very solid match with all the contrasting styles. You just know there is going to be a spot in the match were Batista and Mysterio are the only two standing. Then what happens? Also, don’t count Kane out of this either. His character has been very solid as of late and I think he’s going to be a major player in this match. I’ll stand behind my pick though and say CM Punk wins again!

Now, we conclude with what I believe has been the best built-up Scramble Match of the three. Smackdown’s Scramble for the WWE Championship. I honestly cannot wait for this match. I have loved how each week, every man in the match has had the upper hand at some point and they’re all being treated as equal competitors and threats to the title. How cool was it to see The Brian Kendrick be the first to attack HHH this past Friday with no hesitation?

And..how cool was it to see Jeff Hardy be the one to stand tall over The Game at the end of the show? Hell, even Shelton Benjamin has truly shined (like Gold) in this program. I am so hyped for this match I can’t wait. In the end, I believe this will be the match of the night, and with everyone else retaining their gold, I honestly feel Triple H will be the one to drop his.

I might be shooting for the moon on this one, but I’m picking Jeff Hardy to walk out of Unforgiven as the NEW WWE Champion! He has been on fire, and I believe that now is as good a time as any to give him a shot with the gold. We see how long Punk has lasted, let’s give Jeff his time.

There ya have it, my picks for this Sunday. You have any? You know the email, hit me up peeps!

****

shadyrvd@hotmail.com

~Guests are always welcome inside The Dog Pound~

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dr. Wrestling

This week for That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It, I’ll be telling you who I think the winners will be at Unforgiven.

Before I discuss the actually card, I want to take a minute to talk about the main concept of the PPV, which is a “championship scramble” match. The rules of the match are there will be five wrestlers in the match and when a competitor gets a pin, they become the “temporary” champion. There will be a twenty minute time limit and anyone can be pinned with the “official champion being the wrestler that gets that last pin fall of the match. It’s a really interesting concept that I think could create some really good back and fourth action. The scramble matches really make Unforgiven probably the most interesting PPV in the past three or four months because with the scramble rules, it’s almost a guarantee that there will be a new champion but who? The question of if or who the new champion will be almost makes Unforgiven a “must see” PPV, which is rare for the WWE.

The WWE World tag team titles will be on the line when Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase defend against Cryme Tyme. This should be a very entertaining match because these are two really entertaining teams and they are probably the best two teams in the WWE at the moment. Cryme Tyme is pure entertainment and they do what very few wrestlers do in pro wrestling today and that’s interact with the crowd. The “money! money! yeah! yeah!” catch phrase gets the crowd involved with the show and that along with Cryme Tyme’s funny antics, it creates some entertaining television. Rhodes and Dibiase are becoming good heels and play their roles well. Rhodes has actually developed some personality as a heel and Dibiase has some good mics skills, which has really helped the team develop their heel characters. It’s tough to pick a winner here because if you take the titles from Rhodes and Dibiase it hurts their push some what but Cryme Tyme should have already had a run with the tag titles so they could use a reign as tag champions to solidify themselves as a true fixture of the tag division on Raw. I’ll pick Rhodes and Dibiase to get the win with some type of outside interference. After they lost the titles for a week, it would really halt Rhodes and Dibiase’s momentum as a team if they would lose the titles again just a month after winning them back.

The Diva’s title match will feature Michelle McCool v.s. Maryse. This probably won’t be a technical classic and from the match she had on Smackdown this past week, it seems like Maryse has zero wrestling ability so let’s hope the WWE keeps this one short. I will predict that McCool retains the title and it would seem like the WWE is building to have Natyla v.s. McCool for the title some time in the near future.

The ECW title match will feature The Miz, Finlay, Chavo Guerrero, Matt Hardy, and Mark Henry. Chavo is a former ECW champion and was probably the worst transitional champion in pro wrestling history so I doubt he will win the ECW title at Unforgiven. Chavo just doesn’t have the charisma to make the audience care about his match and his career highlight has to be win he was the tag champions with his uncle, Eddie Guerrero. The Guerreros are a legendary family in wrestling and Chavo is carrying on the name but he will probably always be in Eddie’s shadow, Finlay is currently involved in a lower mid card feud with Mike Knox so I wouldn’t expect him to win the ECW title but even though he won’t win the title, it should be noted that Finlay is a great technical wrestler. If The Miz wins the ECW title, the ratings will probably drop lower then Impact’s ratings and then ECW would be canceled so let’s all hope that The Miz doesn’t win the ECW title…Ha Ha If there’s going to be a new ECW champion, I think Matt Hardy has the best chance of it because as I mentioned in a past column, he has a cult following and has some skill in the ring so he could be at least an okay ECW champion. That being said, I have to pick Hardy to win the title because with the scramble rules it seems like there’s going to be at least one new champion so I think Hardy will be the new ECW champion at Unforgiven.

The Chris Jericho .v.s. Shawn Micheals match will be “unsanctioned” and it would seem like it will be the final match (at least for now) in the feud. The Jericho/HBK saga has gone on for nearly five months and was really useful in turning Jericho heel, which has really rejuvenated Jericho’s character after his return to the WWE fell flat in January. It’s being reported on various websites that HBK has torn his tricep and after the match at Unforgiven he will be out of action so based on that I have to pick Jericho to get the win here because it would fit with the storyline and some fans will think Jericho really did “end” HBK’s career. Although it’s unfortunate that HBK is hurt, it actually provides an opportunity for him and Jericho to write yet another chapter in this feud at a possibly bigger stage such as the Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania. That being said, this will probably be a really good match because of the months worth of build up and although Micheals is reportedly injured, I still expect both HBK and Jericho to try to have the best match possible. That being said, with HBK being injured again the predictable question that will be asked is should/will HBK retire? I have to say, I don’t think HBK will retire for a few more years because he is still a top level performer and when he retires it will probably be at a Wrestlemania.

The World Heavy Weight title match will feature the U.S. champion,Shelton Benjamin, The Brian Kendrick, Jeff Hardy, MVP, and the WWE champion, Triple H. I think it’s fairly obvious that Triple H is going to retain the title here so I’m going to discuss alittle bit about each other the challengers. Shelton Benjamin finally won the U.S. title a few months ago and he should have been given a chance to be a top star on a brand years ago. It’s cool to see him finally getting the push he deserves but since he is the U.S. champion he won’t be winning the WWE title at Unforgiven. This match could be MVP’s time to shine and he could show that he can be a legitimate main event wrestler, which could lead to a possible feud with Triple H for the WWE title at some point in the future. I’m not even a fan of MVP and I think his in ring work is average at best but his gimmick along with his character is almost tailor made for a main event spot so if he can show some skill in the main event at Unforgiven, he might get a chance in the main event on a more regular basis. I’m not sure what else can be said about Jeff Hardy because he’s had his time in the main event and after that he was suspended for sixty days and another violation would get him fired from the company so it really wouldn’t be logical for the WWE to invest more time/money into Hardy. It would seem like Hardy will stay at the level he is currently at because an upper level mid carder can let him continue to be a star as well as sell merchandise but it would probably be too risky for the WWE to give him a main event spot again. Brain Kendrick was a jobber on Raw a few months ago but now he has a new gimmick and he is in a main event match at a PPV. I have to say, the decision to give Kendrick a push is a great decision by the WWE and the promo Kendrick did on Smackdown last week proves he has the potential to be a main event star. Not right at the moment but I think in time he can become a top star if he continues to develop his new character the way he has so far. Kendrick was trained by Shawn Micheals and in some ways he could be the next generation HBK so to speak because there’s many similarities between the start of Shawn Micheals’ HBK character and the start of Kendrick’s new character. HBK had a white ring jacket and Kendrick has a white ring jacket. HBK had Desel and Kendrick has Ezekiel as a body guard. Aside from that, Kendrick has shown in the past that he can indeed be in the main event of a show and there’s a few examples of that. Kendrick was in the first ever ROH title match when he wrestled Christopher Daniels, Doug Williams, and Low Ki in a sixty minute Iron Man match. He has also toured Japan for the Zero One promotion and even though the WWE is an entirely different level, those examples prove that Kendrick has at least the in ring ability to be a major star.

The World Heavy Weight title features CM Punk, JBL, Kane, Rey Mysterio, and Batista. It’s tough to pick a winner here because the WWE could have CM Punk retain it to make him seem like a legitimate champion or someone else could win the title to have an “odds finally catch up to Punk” type of storyline but if that’s the case who wins the title? I don’t think it will be either Kane or Rey because Rey was added last minute and the feud between them really isn’t based around the title so there’s really no reason to put the title on either of them at this point. I don’t see JBL winning the title either because he’s already had shots at the title so if he was going to win the title, he probably would have won it already when he challenged Punk last month. If CM Punk doesn’t retain the title at Unforgiven, Batista will probably be the one to win the title because he hasn’t been pinned by Punk yet but I just don”t think Batista will win the title back so I will pick Punk to retain the title. That’s just a guess because I really have no idea who could win here but either way it should be a great match.

Overall, I think Unforgiven will be a good PPV with some surprises and it should be worth the $40 it costs to watch it.

Until next week
That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It
Dr. Wrestling

If you have comments or questions e mail me drwrestlingallpro@yahoo.com

Popularity: 2% [?]

Linda’s Thoughts - A Honkey Donkey Raw WOOOO

I wish you guys could read the feedback that I have received about last night’s Raw. So far it’s all SO good. And I agree with the readers, I thought Raw absolutely rocked. And who would have thought that Randy Orton could carry the show as well as he did? I think last night was Randy’s best night ever. What a damn good show and I just can’t wait to get right into it.

I don’t even know where to begin, because as excellent as this show was it also was heartbreaking to watch Shawn Michaels get injured. I think I want to start with HBK and the injury. Of course I read the spoilers on Sunday and no one posted anything about Michaels looking hurt. And then all of a sudden, I see on one of the sites that he possibly injured his triceps and that he might need surgery. I was so upset to read that, especially when he’s in such a hot angle with Chris Jericho. And don’t get me wrong I hate to see any one get injured, whether they are top guys, mid carders or jobbers. But with John Cena out, Raw didn’t need another guy hurt and out for any length of time. I watched that injury happen over and over again on my DVR and thank God he didn’t break his neck or get a head injury to go with the arm problem.

Shawn’s fall was definitely nasty and I really feel at the end when he and Jericho had the stare down that he was not only playing is part well but also that he was showing signs of pain. But as I’m writing this I just found this on wrestling observer and it’s all good news so here you go “While it has not been made official, the word going around is that Michaels suffered a minor tear of his triceps and will not need surgery. The match Sunday appears to be a go and Michaels may not even need any time off. Tremendously good news for all involved.” And here I was all set to really get emotional and talk about what Raw without Michaels means. It’s nice that I don’t have to do that now. Now that Michaels seems to be out of the woods, let me just say that I thought the contract signing was done so well. I don’t know what I liked better, Jericho not looking at HBK when they were both seated at the table, Jericho’s mic work or Michael’s mic work. Wait I know I loved it all. These two again made this feud one of them most solid on Raw in a very long time. The interaction between Jericho and HBK was excellent and the beat down on Cade just topped things off. This was a great way to get me ready for their Unforgiven match on Sunday.

Okay since I started with the ending let’s go right to the Randy Orton show and Raw’s opening. For the very first time that I can remember Randy Orton came off like a seasoned veteran. I want to say that Raw was Orton’s show last night. What a fantastic promo he cut about how Raw isn’t as good as it was, and then he took a part every titleholder. His delivery was so much better than his usual monotone mic work that we get. He sounded like he really believed in what he was saying and I found his words to be quite true in many ways. And when CM Punk came out I don’t know about all of you but for the VERY FIRST time where Punk is concerned I felt that his title reign finally meant something. The face-to-face showdown with Orton and Punk came off very well and I think we got a little tease of what’s to come once Orton returns to the active roster. Now the rest of the segment had JBL and Kane coming out to hype the Championship Scramble match. Kane had a good line last night, one that had me laughing. It was when Kane asked JBL about the clothesline from hell, and Kane then said, that he’s been to hell and he never saw the clothesline. He delivered the line so well and did it so seriously that I couldn’t keep from laughing and looking at my husband and telling him that was a good one. Oh my poor husband what he puts up with. Kane also mentioned that he Rey would not be there because he sent Rey to hell, that comment just told me that Rey would definitely show up and he did but I will get into the Rey appearance when I talk about the Raw Battle Royale with the scramble participants. I really loved the ending with Batista coming out and spearing JBL, Kane and Punk. The guy was on a mission to clean house and show his power and that’s just what he did.

So a nice HOT beginning for a very hot show. They found a way for Charlie Haas to finally get plenty of heat. You dress him up like John Cena, have him come out to Cena’s theme, get the Cena fans all excited about a Cena appearance, and just when they see whom they think is Cena hit the ramp its Haas. WOW did that crowd turn on him. Granted I would love to see Haas used in a better way, but as I said last week at least he’s on TV. And I got a kick out of Haas impersonating Carlito last week and I enjoyed his John Cena take off as well. Now the match against Kofi Kingston was okay, but I think Kingston is losing momentum thanks to Vince.  I won’t get into my Kingston rant but I think they should give this guy a chance I really do. Before the ECW Battle Royale with their scramble participants Mike Adamle had a backstage segment with Theodore Long and Tiffany. There meeting was nothing but then Kane walked in and wanted to know why Admale put Rey Mysterio in Cena’s spot at Unforgiven. The only reason that I’m bringing this up is because a few weeks ago when Adamle confronted Kane about giving him the sack he wasn’t at all nervous about ordering Kane to relinquish the mysterious sack. But Monday night when Kane confronted Adamle, we saw Adamle look frightened. Well as frightened as he can look since he can’t act. I just thought it was odd that Monday Kane was a threat but weeks ago Adamle stood tall and showed no fear.

I happened to love the Battle Royal with the ECW group, Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry vs., The Miz vs. Finlay vs. Chavo. This match had a lot going for it and again Henry did his job very well. This was definitely a crowd pleaser and the pace and action really appealed to me and I’m looking forward to this match at Unforgiven. It was nice to see Jamie Noble get a win, and get it against William Regal. I can’t remember the last time Noble won, well it was against Palumbo months ago, but it’s been a while so this match was not only nice to watch but the Noble win was a shocker and pleasant surprise to me. Woo Candice returned and boy did she look good. Sure she might have had some ring rust but I thought the match with Candice/Mickie and Kelly Kelly vs. Katie Lea/Beth Phoenix and Jillian came off pretty damn well. It was short, but everyone in here did a good job and I really liked this match.

How funny was Santino and his Honk A Meter? This had to be one of his funniest spots to date. I couldn’t stop laughing when he was giving it to Randy Orton for insulting him and comparing his two-week title reign to Honky Tonk’s man IC title reign of 64 weeks. This was a riot and of course Marella managed to ruin Honky Tonk man’s name by calling him Honkey Donkey Man. Juvenile humor? Sure but that humor is right up my alley. I totally loved the segment and I still like watching D’Lo Brown taking on Santino. I don’t think their “feud” is really going anywhere but I liked their mini match and I don’t think I would have a problem if this became a regular feud and D’Lo got some wins every now and then. Now the whole Miz and Morrison segment with Cryme Tyme and DiBiase and Rhodes played out beautifully. I think it’s safe to say that Cryme Tyme is now being used right and watching DiBiase and Cody Rhodes attack Shad and JGT and take their titles back got me thinking and it got many of you guys thinking as well that Di Biase and Rhodes just might be part of a Randy Orton stable. Their backstage staring contest after all of this really told me that this was all done to prove to Orton that they are tough and to get is approval. Yeah I really got into all of this.

And I got into the Raw Battle Royal with Batista vs. Punk vs. Kane vs. JBL. It was as good as the ECW match. Punk looked damn good out there and we had Randy Orton the guy that really showed A LOT Monday night sitting at the announce table taking this match in. I was so thrilled with the Punk getting right into Randy’s face, and when Punk threw water at Randy I loved it. I’m telling you we got a nice start to a Punk vs. Orton title feud. Let’s just hope that creative doesn’t “F” this one up. So Kane came out the winner, but then the loser because Rey Mysterio came out and went after Kane, By the way, I thought Rey looked wonderful. His body didn’t look as jacked up as it usually does. He looked lean and really good. And just add this to the list of really good matches that we got Monday night.

And since I started with the ending you can see that I was really into this show. Now I wanted to get his column out yesterday and as you can see it was started yesterday, but unfortunately I couldn’t get it done. So I want to just add that ECW was awesome again last night. Everything clicked and I mean clicked except I do not care for Ricky Ortiz. I don’t get why the push and his look just turns me off. Oh I am such a bitch, but Super Crazy was on and looked good on that show, and the main event with Tommy Dreamer/Matt Hardy/Evan Bourne (whom I think is just fantastic) and Finlay vs. Mark Henry/The Miz/John Morrison and Chavo was off the charts. It was a terrific, exciting main event and the opening with The Miz and Morrison’s Dirt was very funny. The 60 minutes that we are getting each Tuesday is probably one of the best hours on TV. Okay I will now leave you and I will be back over the weekend with my Unforgiven predictions. Feel free to start sending yours in.

Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com

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What’s the Story? - ‘WWE: Scrambled, with Cheese on Top’

Welcome to this week’s edition of What’s the Story; this week’s story is, ‘WWE: Scrambled, with Cheese on Top’.

So you know what I’m referring to; all week I’ve been hearing and reading about the Championship Scramble at Unforgiven and oh yes it’s the triple whammy: across all three brands. Continuously heralded as the ‘unique concept’ and a match of seemingly unfathomable odds – WWE felt the need to keep repeating that it’s a five man match, therefore the odds of the champion retaining is one in 5, or 20%, as they marketed it on WWE.com.

Ok, so the concept is an exciting one and the fact that it’s being played out across all three brands makes it simple to understand, not to mention being easy to build up to. But it seems like WWE has run slightly out of steam, or rather started expelling it early.

With such a concept and with all competitors (with the exception of the Mysterio replacement) being named in one night, the USP of Unforgiven has gone by in a flash. Since the announcement, WWE has done their best to harp on this point and make sure that it’s the sole reason fans purchase the PPV. And let’s face it, it is.

After the announcement, each subsequent show has been promoting Unforgiven, as expected (and perfectly acceptable), along with a flurry of clumsy, almost impromptu matches.

Maybe it’s just me, but on both Raw and SmackDown, the matches haven’t had any real spark. The Batista-Kane match was slightly odd; apparently Batista wanted to exact revenge on Kane for what he had done to Rey Mysterio, but the result was just a series of chair shots and honestly, Batista doesn’t do high emotion that well. He’s much happier hiding behind his huge frame and relaxing in his set babyface role. Kane’s promo earlier on in the show was frankly quite impressive – another example of the underutilised talent in WWE and how some of the veterans still have plenty to give, even if they lack slightly on the physical side.

On the SmackDown side, an amalgamation of debuts, rematches and giants made up the card. The debut of R-Truth (Ron Killings) apparently didn’t go as planned – he was meant to dominate throughout the match, rather than sell Dykstra’s moves before coming up for the win, but ‘miscommunication’ backstage dispelled this – and the debut of Brie Bella was fairly short and sweet. New talent is always good, but what about the current talent pool which is so wide and varied that each show could feature something fresh and compelling.

WWE seem to hire and fire on a whim, perhaps not adopting the correct train of thought as to what is best for the sports entertainment market, or their main market: the fans. Of course it’s a known fact that Vince has his tantrums and bouts of nastiness, where he does something rather awful for his own amusement and no one can tell him otherwise.

But he has hit the nail on the head with the Championship Scramble – everything in WWE is completely scrambled at present: Cena is out, so a gaping hole needs to be filled; the constant mentioning of the ‘uniqueness’ of the match steamrollers the hell out of what makes it, well, ‘unique’ and the Undertaker is gunning for Vickie, (who by the way has way too much screen time devoted to her), with no Edge in sight, making things a hell of a lot less entertaining.

And that ‘cheese on top’ I mentioned earlier? Well that that would be the Raw GM, Mike Adamle. The guy is completely clueless when it comes to talking, which makes him supremely clueless, as that’s all his job entails. I find it quite disrespectful that he is allowed to read from a clipboard when he should have taken the time and effort to learn his lines like all the other on air talent do. And the fact that WWE is telling him to get ready for the ring makes me cringe -  as bad as he is, putting him in a ring will only make things worse. In a nutshell, his delivery lacks emphasis and passion and his reliance on the script at hand limits his rhetoric ability, which I’m willing to believe in, once he shows it.

Unforgiven will be a fairly sub standard PPV: three Championship Scramble matches are too much of a good thing; it’s almost as if WWE has become slightly lazy, not bothering to come up with three different types of matches. But hey, as always, I could be wrong. Maybe this is some radical new creative direction that no one can possibly comprehend, or predict. Either way, things are pretty lacklustre at the moment and for the first time in a while, attention needs to be given to all three shows.

Here’s looking forward to WWE programming after Unforgiven, when hopefully things will come together.

Comments, thoughts, feedback: minunc@hotmail.com

Nikheel Gorolay

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The Rant Of The Week: Fire Jarrett

Greetings conversationalists all across the fruited plain it is I your personal Harvester of Sorrow the one and only Phantom Lord and this is the ever important and all mighty Rant Of The Week. No one can ever accuse me of not having a sense of self worth and high value. As always I am coming to you from my bunker in the urban slum that is Brooklyn, New York and it’s been an interesting week to say the least. TNA finds new ways to agitate the hell out of me and pretty much all of their viewing audience (well at least those of us who don’t buy into Jarrett’s bullshit) I have a lot to get to this week.

First off the bat was the WWE doing some mid summer cleaning as they released a bunch of people. Some you saw coming…others you were shocked by.

The people who got “Future Endeavored” include

Stevie Richards
The Highlanders (Robbie & Rory)
Colin Delaney
Cherry
Referee Wes Anderson

Last week they also released the following people

Braden Walker (Chris Harris)
Nunzio (Little Guido)
James Curtis
Shannon Moore
Domino (OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH)
And Big Daddy V (Mabel/Viscera)

On youtube there is a hilarious “Best of Braden Walker” dvd trailer. It’s a shame about Chris Harris, but many figure it was his own fault. You finally make it to the WWE and you show up in the worst possible shape. As we know the WWE are not fond of anyone with beer guts. I remember reading years ago about how Gangrel’s push was killed dead simply because his shirt rose up showing his gut on a ppv. But even with that in mind, it wasn’t all Harris’s fault. First off they named him Braden Walker.

Is there anyone in the world named Braden? It’s like naming a boy Sue.

The ones that really shocked me were the releases of Stevie Richards and Cherry. Stevie has come back from so much and he can be the perfect sympathetic good guy. ECW is desperate for anyone with any kind of name to them and they go and release a guy who has been there since the start. How Tommy Dreamer has managed to dodge the bullet for so long is amazing if Stevie and Little Guido got canned.

I suppose Stevie will have a good run on the Indies should he choose to. As it is, there are people clamoring for him to go to Ring of Honor. There was also a mention on the DVDVR board about a hope and dream of the BWO reuniting for the CHIKARA Trios tournament next year. There’s also a petition going around that someone created in the hopes of getting TNA to sign Stevie. Normally I am against TNA bringing in WWE cast offs, but that’s only if they have nothing to offer (Kip James comes to mind). I think if TNA did sign Stevie it would be great because he deserves a chance to shine.

Of course the most natural hope would be a reunion between Raven and Stevie. I don’t know where that could happen, but it would be fun to watch if it did.

As for Cherry, I think I am in mourning. Ok well I’m not taking it that badly but still it annoys the hell out of me when they let go of someone who is unique and not shall we say from a certain mold. Cherry had a pretty unique gimmick along with Deuce and Domino down in OVW, but when they got called up it was extremely watered down. All of her that really was left unchanged was her being timid and scared at times. She never spoke for over a year and finally when they decided to turn her face and it just was the most retarded angle to say the least. Cherry’s “brother” and “boyfriend” dump her for one of the above mentioned bottle blondes (though I actually like Maryse…it took them 2 years to do something with her). I mean it made no sense though but as we know a lot of things in the WWE make no sense and this one was dropped pretty quickly and Deuce and Domino ended up breaking up and they ultimately got sent to different shows (though Domino just got canned as mentioned above).

Apparently now Cherry is taking bookings under the name of Cherry Pie. God bless her and I hope she has a ton of success doing that.

But as for the WWE…damn you…DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL.

Right now I’m finding it really hard to continue doing this column at least at the level I’ve been doing it at for the last six years or so (God I feel old). Between the column on LOP and the ones on this fine website I must have over 150 columns buried in my archive. I figure if I wanted to go all Scott Keith I’d have enough for maybe two or three books. But between the WWE and TNA my passion for wanting to watch wrestling is dwindling with each passing week. Yes there is still some great stuff like Glammerella on RAW and Vladimir Kozlov on Smackdown. There is enough to keep my attention so it’s not all bad. But over all it’s like I really don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this is what we see is the best they have to offer.

For now I will continue to slug away because someone has to be a voice for the common fan.

I have been planning on doing a huge piece on TNA because lets face it, there are a million things wrong with TNA and I could do a column on every single last one of them. I’ve been watching TNA from their start and they had so much promise to fill the void left by WCW and ECW. What they have managed to do in those six years sense is cause nothing but fans to wonder if TNA ever plans on really becoming a success. There is a huge core of fans out there that WWE does not have and TNA really has no excuse not to be going after them. All TNA is doing is just trying to cipher off fans from the WWE and as we’ve seen according to the ratings and buyrates it’s not working.

TNA is run by Jeff Jarrett and basically he is trying to recreate WCW from the year 2000. The big angle they are building is basically going to be New Blood vs. Millionaires club. Now normally an angle like this would work, but not the way they are building it up. Basically what it’s really building to is a match between Jeff Jarrett and Sting. Nothing to get over anyone involved, it’s just a way for Jarrett to fluff his ego and his own sense of self worth. I’ve always said TNA’s biggest problem is they booking their shows like they are still a company in Nashville. Jarrett’s superman act might have worked for Jerry Lawler in Memphis in the 80’s, but for 2008 it just sad to watch (which by the way I am convinced that’s all his doing…emulating Lawler).

It’s not that I hate Jeff Jarrett the wrestler. As a wrestler he’s pretty damn good and more then capable of putting on good matches. His only problem is he has this delusion that he and he alone is TNA’s top draw and EVERYTHING has to revolve around him. For the last couple of years since I really started taking TNA to task I’ve raised this point over and over and over and after this week I think I’ve finally reached my breaking point with TNA.

The basis of the current old vs. new angle in TNA is that Sting’s bat has been used to attack Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles. Also at the last PPV, Sting returned and he laid out AJ on the ramp after his match with Kurt Angle. Sting finally broke his silence on Impact and he gave a some what rambling (perhaps if it were 15 or 20 years ago a coke fueled) promo about why he did what he did. Basically the younger generation of stars can not be trusted with taking the company into the future because they have no respect for those who came before them.

Ok that right there is good enough for an angle. Through out the history of wrestling the most heated angles have always been between the legend who demands respect and the upstart youngster who wants to put said legend out to pasture. The greatest one was Bruno Samartino vs. Larry Zybysko which ended with a huge steel cage match in Shea Stadium in front of over 30,000 people where Bruno kicked the shit out of the youngster and beat the respect into him.

TNA could easily do this with say Sting and AJ Styles since that’s where they are obviously building to. The one problem is with Vince Russo molding this angle it will make no sense as all ready evident by Sting’s rambling promo. See Russo has always wanted things to be like a shoot. Up is down…left is right…black is white. Everything is gray so to speak. It can’t simply be a heel taking on a face. There has to be something else to it and as we know that just confuses the hell out of everything. Nothing can ever be simple when Russo is involved.

As much hate as we rightfully give Vince Russo, in the end he is only a messenger. Jeff Jarrett is the one putting all of this stuff together. Russo just has the unfortunate task of turning it all into a two hour show each week. But together they are a lethal combination and add into that Dutch Mantel and Jarrett’s other lackeys and toadies and its no wonder at its best Impact is confusing and at its worst it’s a train wreck.

Now as many of you know, I am a fan of Kevin Nash. I don’t care what people say I’ll take a Nash match over many others. I found this news blurb somewhat funny because it essentially proves my point about TNA’s booking.

Kevin Nash has once again butted heads with the creative team at the iMPACT! tapings this week. Nash was upset about the outcome of his match with Kurt Angle and was displeased with some of the backstage segments. He eventually agreed to lose the match. His ego has started to lose respect from within the company. “He needs to go,” said one TNA office worker. “It’s getting out of hand.”

Credit to ProWrestling.net

There was also a great interview with Nash in The Baltimore Sun by Kevin Eck where Nash talked about why he walked out of the Impact tapings a couple of weeks ago. This puts the above news blurb into perspective.

Nash also addressed reports that he walked out on the TNA Impact tapings last month in Orlando giving some more insight as to what went down. Here is what Nash had to say:

“I have a clause in my contract that states that when it comes to physicality, that I have the right to veto with creative anything that I don’t feel is safe, that is warranted or anything else. We had 10 guys and a battle royal is a cluster anyway. To give everyone a weapon and give me a pipe and then the only way I can be eliminated is to go over the top rope. As I was sitting and thinking about it, well the first thing I have to do is go over the top rope and make sure the pipe doesn’t leave my hand and hit a fan. Then I have to make sure that I don’t impale myself on it. And thirdly, I have to make sure I don’t land on it.

And then I found out I was being eliminated during a commercial break. So I said how about this. Since I have been around the business a long time the only time you eliminated someone during a commercial break is because of time problems or time constraints. I said if you take two of us out and make it an eight man, everybody can be eliminated on TV and I can eliminate myself before the match and we won’t have any problems because it wasn’t in the storyline. To me the storyline would be that Joe and I would go back and back, clean house, I would step over and shake his hand and Joe would win. That would have furthered the storyline in my estimation…if I was booking.
But it didn’t end that way and I talked to Jeff. Jeff said we wanted to have as many names as we could; we were trying to get you out early to protect you because we were bringing in guys with weapons. I understood this point and said, there was a pre-tape I was supposed to do later on that day so I said Jeff, do you want me to do the pre-tape? Jeff said no man that was cool and I said do you mind if I go home? He said no man, we shook hands and I left. Halfway on the way home my phone blew up with all these texts that said “get back here” and I said, no (smiling), I am on the other side of Orlando and I am not going all the way back. I am not swimming back up stream. My boots were in the trunk and I am done.

I find it funny that if this is true that people with in the TNA office are saying Nash has an ego. Well no shit he has an ego. He was only part of the biggest drawing group in the history of wrestling. If I were part of the N.W.O I’d have a huge ego as well and it would be well deserved. To Nash’s credit unlike others in his position he seems willing to want to put over the next generation of stars. For the most part the slow build between Joe and Nash has been one of the few things TNA has more or less done right (even if they always make Joe look like a whiney little bitch). So when TNA did this clusteruck of a weapons battle royal a couple weeks ago, Nash’s idea made perfect sense considering the nature of the match which made none what so ever.

I think when it comes down to it; Jarrett hates it when anyone tells him his booking is crap. It’s been documented all ready that Jarrett tells people to go take a walk if they confront him on the illogical nature of the layout of the show. Yeah the Nash walkout was blown out of proportion, but I guarantee only Kevin Nash could get away with doing this because if it were anyone else they would be jobbed out as we speak.

Now as for this match, it ended with Kurt Angle nearly being decapitated and bleeding to death (ok well it wasn’t that bad, but it sure was scary to watch) and it seems TNA would rather just gimmick everything then try to just put together a decent wrestling show.

After seeing the last month or so of matches Kurt Angle has been in, I’ve come to the conclusion that TNA wants Kurt Angle to die in the ring. The guy has a neck that is held together by chicken wire and screws. How he’s not a human pez dispenser I don’t know. But what I do know is they’ve had him in these weapons matches, then a last man standing match, an Olympic style match (that ended with him taking a guitar shot and being split open again) and finally another ladder match which ended with another guitar shot. Why they keep putting a guy who is so injury prone into matches like this is beyond me. Why they even have these matches to begin with is also another question I just can’t figure out.

TNA has such a great roster and there really is no need for all the bullshit they do. People keep wondering what can be done to fix TNA. Some people have this crazy notion that if TNA hired Paul Heyman he could stop the bleeding and fix everything. Well Paul is smart enough to not get onto a sinking ship. As long as Jeff Jarrett is in charge of things it does not matter WHO is writing the shows. Ultimately as the writer you are at the behest of the producer and since Jarrett is in charge what he says goes.

If you want change that’s all you have to do. Remove Jarrett from a position of power with in the company. Then and only then will TNA maybe have a chance to start over fresh. Bare in mind though, just because I think Jarrett should be removed from power doesn’t mean I think they should get rid of him as a wrestler. Like I said I like Jeff Jarrett the wrestler. Of course if he can’t put himself over he’d probably quit anyway. But with Jarrett making his grand return since he is a pillar of the wrestling business and the savior of TNA(watch the video they did on Jarrett on this weeks Impact if you don’t believe me) don’t expect that to happen any time soon. All I know is I’m just counting down the days till Jarrett/Joe is announced and Jeff takes the TNA title once again because as we know the first 780 days of his title reigns were such huge successes for them.

Before I do go, I want to know why in the hell is Kip James still employed by TNA. What redeeming value do they possibly see in him? They have him as a fifth wheel for The Beautiful People as their new stylist (well we all know Billy has no problem with the feminine touch). But seeing him come out of the tunnel in his Shawn Michaels banana hammock shorts and cut off tee tied around the naval I couldn’t help but think Billy missed out on the Gay Pride parade in the Village here in New York so he was making up for it. No offense to any gay or lesbian readers out there, but who in their right mind backstage at TNA sees a 43 year old man looking like this and says he looks perfectly fine for television.

Of course it could be worse. He could still be wearing Torrie Wilson’s old tights. But hey remember kids, he’s a MEGASTAR because ten years ago he happened to get lucky and was able to ride off the coat tails of others.

On that note I am done for this week. It took me longer then I expected to put this column together, but with TNA it’s not like they are exactly the most inspiring subject matter.

I also would like to send out my condolences to the family of Walter “Killer” Kowalski. Killer Kowalski passed away yesterday at the age of 81 after a lengthy hospital stay that included a massive heart attack a couple weeks ago. All I can say is I hope he is in a better place and part of that great wrestling event in the sky.

Until next time take care and remember someone has to give you this information and it DAMN well has got to be me.

You can click here to send me any and all feedback at phantomlordnyc@yahoo.com or leave me some feedback in my Live Journal at phantomlord-lop.livejournal.com

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The Dog Pound - Fire In The Hole

Okay, I have been talking for a couple weeks now with a friend of mine at our work (yeah Jake here’s your shout out) and we have been discussing the current state of WWE programming, and what it may be lacking. Now, hear me out, although the programs have been fairly good as of late (Punk as champ, Edge/Taker, Jeff Hardy being taken seriously, etc) there seems to be a definite lack of something.

Is it just me, or do the rest of you feel the same? Now, we all know that the “Attitude Era” is no more yet it seems as though the WWE is constantly trying to relive that time. Every now and then they throw us something that makes us say, hey that would’ve fit perfectly in the Attitude Era. Back then we had Austin & Rock, these days the WWE gives us Cena & Batista. This is of course the evolution of business and in reality is genius in the same sense.

I still can’t help but feel though, that despite the WWE’s constant tries, something is missing. This is what I mentioned to my friend. Part of the problem I feel is the new “family friendly” direction. The WWE has become so concerened with maintaining a “softer” image, they have lost some of that edge that made them THE prmotion to watch.

Recently I was able to sit and watch the biogrpahical dvd of Brian Pillman. That’s right the Loose Cannon! I couldn’t help but think afterwards that a chcarcter like his is exactly what the WWE could use. A character in which the lines between real and scripted are blurred, making even the smartest fans begin to ask questions.

Brian Pillman I feel, was one of the most underrated stars in wrestling and it was quite a shame that his life and career ended when it did. What made Pillman so intriguing is not only his charisma, but also the fact that no one really knew what was real and what was character. He truly took the image of the loose cannon and made it something special. I believe that these days, with fans as smart as they are and the insider information we’re granted too, a character like this would work.

There is no more pulling the wool over our eyes. Yes we can suspend our disbelief for a time being but at the end of the day, fans have an idea of what is real and scripted within the business. To have a character realize this and bring this to the forefront of fans minds, will create the illusion of ’shooting’ as opposed to ‘works.’

At one point I thought the WWE was going in this direction with Edge, when his Rated-R gimmick was first taking off. His Cutting Edge segment had that half-work, half-shoot feel. It appears to have since been redesigned and gone in its current direction. I also know that former WWE star Cliff “Domino” Compton had an idea to freshen his chaarcter that leaned in this direction. Domino of course has since been released.

That would be my question to the WWE. Why release a man without at least trying an idea? Of course his new idea came frsh off the heels of the WWE announcing that all their programming was going to the PG rating. This signaled the death of Domino. I say, do away with the PG rating and at least up it too PG-13. This would give guys a chance to push the envelope a bit more, but not go too far. I mean, that is exactly why the Muhammad Hassan character was kicked off Smackdown, it was too controvertial. So, instead of moving him back to Raw, they dropped the character altogether.

The WWE needs a guy to push that envelope. A guy that almost contradicts the Cena’s and Batista’s. An intellectual spitfire like a Brian Pillman. The WWE needs a guy to strike that match, to get people’s blood going again, be it with cheers or boo’s. So, WWE, I say strike that match and take that chance. If ratings continue to go down then scrap it and try another angle, but if ratings improve…than I say….Fire In The Hole!!

****

shadyrvd@hotmail.com

~Guests are always welcome inside the Dog Pound~

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RIP Walter “Killer” Kowalski

Sadly, another legendary wrestler and trainer is gone as Killer Kowalski has passed away from what is being reported as a massive heart attack that put him in a coma for the past three weeks. He was 81 years old and has left a legacy behind that wrestling fans will not soon forget because very smiliar to other legendary trainers,Kowalski’s impact on the sport will be evident for years to come considering he’s trained many of today’s stars. He was born in Canada in 1926 and would begin what would become a thirty year in ring career in 1947. During his three decades as an in ring competitor, he would wrestle in Canada, the NWA, the AWA, and the WWWF. Killer Kowalski would earn a reputation as a ruthless wrestler in 1952 during a match in Monteral against Yukon Eric when he dropped a knee that ripped off Yukon’s ear. In reality, the incident was an accident that was caused by Yukon’s callifolwer ear but this was during a time when the secrets of wrestling were guarded so as a result Kowalski was known as the wrestler that tried to rip off his opponets ears during matches. Using the Iron Claw finishing move, Kowalski would become a top star in the WWWF in the 1960s and 1970s where he would feud with WWWF champion, Bruno Sammartino. Aside from his famous matches with Bruno, Kowalski would win the WWWF tag titles with Big John Studd in 1976 when the duo were known as The Exicutionors.

After his retirement from the ring in 1977, Kowalski opened a wrestling school in Boston, Massachetts and the school is still exist today. Kowalski’s school is famous for training many stars and those stars have gone on to make an impact in almost every notable promotion in pro wrestling. Former ECW stars, Perry Saturn and John Kronus were trained at the school. Current WWE champion, Triple H and his former manager, Chyna were trained by Kowalski. TNA star, Kaz trained at the famous school and A-Train, who is currently a star in Japan was also trained there. Everyone from WWE legend, Big John Studd to young wrestler, Kenny Dykstra were trained by Kowalski. Besides his training school, Kowalski made T.V. appearances including being the guest of David Letterman on “The Late Show” in 1982 and he is also a member of the WWE Hall Of Fame.

Killer Kowalski is a true legend and one of the pioneers of pro wrestling. His 60+ years of contributions to the indutry are and should be respected by all wrestling fans. He was one of the early wrestling villians and one of the original “mad men” of pro wrestling that paved the way for future heels. I would like to offer my sincere condolences to Kowalski’s friends and family.

RIP Walter “Killer” Kowalski

If you have comments or questions e mail me drwrestlingallpro@yahoo.com

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Dr. Wrestling:Foley to TNA?

This week for That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It, I’ll be telling you what I think of Mick Foley possibly going to TNA after his WWE contract expires next week.

First of all, it should be noted that all “reports” of Foley signing with TNA should be considered strictly rumors at this point because we all know that internet reports, especially when it comes to wrestling aren’t always accurate. I had read just a few days ago that Mick Foley has indeed agreed to sign with TNA but as I said, everything should be considered just speculation at this point. There’s a few different aspects of this situation to consider here and each aspect could have a different effect on Foley’s run in TNA. Before all of TNA’s die hard, smart mark “this is awesome” fans claim that TNA will become a competitive alternate to the WWE because Foley is signed with TNA, they need to realize that it won’t. As has been proven time and time again with TNA, one big name signing will NOT turn the company around and it seems like TNA has had the “when we sign wrestler X it will put TNA on the map” but despite those signings TNA still has a 1.0 rating, which is what they have had since they debuted on Spike TV a few years ago. When Christain signed with TNA, Dixie Carter and TNA pushed him as being the “savoir” so to speak for an other wise lack luster product but still nearly three years later, TNA is still struggling with the same booking mishaps. Sting was given $500,000 and a limited schedule in hopes of bringing TNA better buy rates but instead TNA has “prostituted” Sting’s name vaule and star power to the point that it really doesn’t make that much of a difference when he actually appears. That being said, I’m not sure what TNA is trying to do with Sting because he has randomly “returned” to TNA with no real purpose more times then anyone can count and the current storyline Sting is involved in makes no sense at all, which seems to be a trademark of Vince Russo’s creative “skills” or lack thereof. TNA’s next choice to save the company came in late 2006 with the shocking signing of Kurt Angle, who left the WWE just six weeks prior and this would seem like a valuable acquisition for TNA but TNA made major mistake before Angle had ever entered the Impact zone. They announced Angle’s signing with the company at the end of a PPV but Angle didn’t actually have a match until over a month later and at TNA’s premiere PPV of the year, Bound For Glory Angle was a special guest ref, which had him be more of a background figure then a featured star. Angle not appearing live at the announcement of his signing and him not wrestling at Bound For Glory were TNA’s mistakes. Kurt made a mistake himself when he didn’t just retire from wrestling after leaving the WWE because as I’ve said many times in the past, Angle’s run in TNA has in many respects tarnished his legacy. Don’t get me wrong here, I’ve been a fan of Kurt Angle since before he debuted in the WWE but the statements he’s made in interviews, the lame storyline with Karen Angle, and the injuries he had since joining TNA makes Angle look like a wrestler past his prime trying to hang onto the glory instead of the accomplished champion he is. I apologize for rambling but the point is, TNA doesn’t have the best track record when signing former WWE stars. How will this effect Mick Foley if he chooses to sign with TNA?

In the past, Foley has been accused of making short returns to the ring for no other reason then a fast pay day, which is okay in my book because Foley is one of my all time favorites so I don’t mind seeing the hardcore legend back in the ring but even I have to say that most of the time when Foley returns to the ring it’s obvious that he is just there to job in an attempt to push a younger star, which in some ways can make Foley seem like he is only trying to collect a payday based on his past legacy instead of trying to add to it. A match with Carlito at Taboo Tuesday a few years ago would be an example of this as it seemed like Foley was no where near prepared to be in the ring. The mad scientist, Paul Heyman once called Foley a prostitute in an interview because of how Foley would return to the ring just for a pay day and in some ways he may be right. The combination of Foley’s tendency to return just for money instead of adding to his legacy and TNA’s willingness to exploit star power without a meaningful storyline could be damaging to Foley’s career in terms of how it’s viewed in pro wrestling history. Don’t get me wrong here, I don’t blame Foley at all for wanting to make a buck but when he returns for no real reason other then a pay check, it does in many ways make him look like a has been. He was in a four way match for the WWE title last year but we all know he wasn’t going to win it because he was not wrestling full time so why have him in the match? What did he add to the match other then “hey Mick Foley is in the match?” If Foley would go to TNA, he would have to make a mark there in order to truly justify him signing with the company but would he be willing to take the risk in the ring to do so? The reason I ask this question is because you have to wonder at this point in he career, does Foley want to be wrestling with barbed wire, thumb tacks, and chair for a considerably smaller audience? One thing is for sure, as great and as legendary as Foley is, he won’t turn TNA around. In fact, one star isn’t going to turn ANY company around and pro wrestling history has proved that it takes many different things to make a company successful. Now, the question is will Foley actually sign with TNA?

I’d say it’s definitely possible but I’m not sure if it will actually happen. Just as a guess I will say Foley probably will sign with TNA. Foley has already said in an interview that he is indeed leaving the WWE after his contract expires on September 1st and it’s been reported that Foley was unhappy with Vince Mcmahon’s criticism of his commentary in his head set during Smackdown tapings. That could be enough motivation for Foley to “jump ship” and sign with TNA in spite of Mcmahon. Foley signing with TNA could be his way of showing McMahon that he could go elsewhere and be treated like the legend that he is or Foley might not want to burn a bridge with the WWE and remain loyal to the company by not signing with TNA.

Until next week
That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It
Dr. Wrestling

If you have comments or questions e mail me drwrestlingallpro@yahoo.com

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Linda’s Thoughts - A Much Improved Raw

I’m a day late with my column, but I want to talk about Raw, John Cena’s injury, and Mike Adamle. I have to say that Monday’s Raw was quite an improvement from last week’s show. At least this week’s show made more sense, unlike last week when things were just thrown together. There was one match, that kind of pissed me off and I’ll start with that match. Other than that one segment everything else was good. Wow that’s nice to say for a change. So let me start with the negative, and then on to the rest of the show, Cena and Mr. No Personality Adamle.

Just when I thought that Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes were getting ready to start up with Cryme Tyme.  WWE pushed the clock back to a few weeks ago, and had these two guys face Jerry Lawler and Hacksaw Duggan ONCE AGAIN. Why? I kind of thought that we got the message a few months ago that this young tag team was anti “OLD” and at the time it worked fine. But why get that going again?  It’s obvious that Cryme Tyme will be feuding with them, well the feud has started already, so I guess because there really is no tag team division on Raw this was all the creative team could come up with. I had absolutely no interest in watching this match, but there was a highlight for me during this segment and that was Cryme Tyme finally getting some mic work and antagonizing DiBiase and Rhodes. I thought Shad and JGT did a cool job on the mic and they made this segment passable. Oh and add the debut of Primo Colon vs. Charlie Haas as another negative. But I didn’t really dislike this; only because, I thought Haas had Carlito down perfectly and since I’m a Haas fan it is always nice to see him on Raw. But, the Wilkes-Barre fans didn’t seem to care about Primo or Haas so this was more or less a bomb.

So there were just two segments that did nothing for the show, but everything else came off very entertaining. I want to give major props to JBL for upping his game in his match against World Champion CM Punk. This was a 5 star opening match. I don’t remember JBL ever coming off so well in a match, and this one really showcased Punk in such a favorable way. I absolutely loved this match and it really did set the tone for a good show. The next match was Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix. This was another match that came off well. I remember two years ago when ECW debuted Kelly couldn’t keep a beat when she was stripping. Even when she danced with Expose, I wouldn’t exactly say she moved well, but man has she improved in the ring. I would much rather see her wrestle than Maria. I never disliked Beth Phoenix, but I was not a fan of hers, however since the Santino/Phoenix pairing I think its fair to say that now I am a Glamarella fan. I couldn’t get over the nose injury that Beth got from one of Kelly’s move and when Santino’s help caused Phoenix a loss, I loved the ending when Beth took Santino out. Oh we know who wears the pants in that relationship.

The hottest segment on the show was again with Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. But this time the segment belonged to HBK. This was his baby, and last week Jericho had the spotlight on him. I loved the way Michaels played this out. You could just see the anger and emotion coming out of him because of the “fractured jaw” his wife Rebecca received from Jericho. I thought Michaels actions along with his words just made this feud even better and I look forward to the Michaels/Jericho unsanctioned match at Unforgiven. This was a fantastic segment. As I have been saying Jericho and Michaels have made Raw so much better because of the way this angle is going. It’s the best thing on Raw and it has been for quite a while.

Now I liked the Santino vs. Kofi Kingston match, but I have to be honest with you, I am sick of seeing Kingston losing each week. I really feel this guy could be a fan favorite, he’s kind of there now, but having him lose isn’t going to do much for his character. Again the ending was funny because you had Phoenix interfering, which gave Santino the win, and then after the match she kissed Santino and then he grabbed her and kissed her. I don’t know how long this storyline will continue to be fun to watch, but so far it’s working and I can’t wait to see more with this lovely couple.  And then we go the main event with Batista vs. Kane. This was a good match, and what I liked about it was that they both seemed so focus, which made this match come off with so much importance. I liked how Kane kept going after Batista’s leg, and when the match ended Batista gave it right back to Kane, by hitting Kane’s leg with chair shot after chair shot. This was a great way to end a decent show.

Now with John Cena out for about three months we now have Rey Mysterio taking his place in the Championship Scramble match at Unforgiven. I am a little surprised because as one of my readers pointed out to me, it was Jericho who beat Punk last week why not give that opening to him? But of course we know that Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels will be a big money maker for Unforgiven so there was no way Y2J was going to get in there. With Mysterio now in that match, I think it’s going to turn out fine and let’s face it Rey gives 110 percent all the time. Now as far as Cena goes, if you haven’t gone to WWE.com go there there’s a lot of news stories up about him. Things turned out very well for Cena, which is great news, and he will be back according to WWE in three months, right in time for the Survivor Series. So along with John Cena, Vince McMahon must have breathed a sigh of relief that his top guy won’t miss too much time.

Finally I want to say, let’s get rid of Mike Adamle as the GM. He is brining nothing to his role and frankly I don’t get his character at all. When he comes out and talks I take it that his days are numbered and that they are just waiting to replace him. As I said he’s adding nothing at all to Raw and I just don’t get why Vince hired him in the first place. I know William Regal is in the doghouse because of his suspension, but I would like to see him back as the GM. At least he made the shows a hell of a lot more interesting to watch. Okay I will leave you with the two rumors, one about a WWE star, and the other is about someone going to TNA from WWE. One of the main sites posted that Mr. Kennedy will be having shoulder surgery on Friday, and will miss at least 6 months. This poor guy cannot catch a break, and I hope he can make a nice comeback once he’s cleared to wrestle. And the last rumor is that Mick Foley is going to TNA. Well if he is good for him. That’s about all I can say on that subject. I will return over the weekend with my Smackdown and ECW thoughts. I’ll give you a hint; I will have nothing but NICE things to say about one of the shows. Gee I wonder which one that could be? The website forum TheWrestlingAsylum.com has recently just re-opened after some severe technical difficulties. If you’ve ever wanted to join an online community and be part of a wrestling forum, now’s the time to jump in. TWA is an acclaimed wrestling forum that has some of the best wrestling discussions out there in addition to many interactive features such as our matches of the week, wrestling pool, et cetera. Currently, TWA is holding an interactive feature where members will vote on their favorite wrestlers of all time and in the end, TWA will count down the top 100. People who participate in this contest will receive a free DVD-R of some famous matches of the top 10 or 20 wrestlers on the list. In addition to all of this, TWA also has a very active Off Topic section of the site for random discussion, movies, music, graphics, and of course, TWA has an ever-growing multimedia section on all wrestling and all other media as well. TheWrestlingAsylum.com is just waiting for you to make its mark on it, so why not join up today.

Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com

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The Dog Pound - Could It Be?

Let me tell all of you I have been meaning to write this column since Saturday, but due to lack of time I was forced to push it back. However, let me just say this, I think Unforgiven has the potential to be the best pay-per-view of the WWE fiscal year thus far. Keep in mind the key word there is potential.

What am I talking about? I am talking about the two very powerful “Championship Scramble” matches scheduled to take place. I am very intrigued as to how the WWE will pull it off, and what their plans are when all is said and done. Now I know the concept has been done before with the Hardcore Title, but I think it could (and will) work very nicely with the two biggest prizes in the company.

Let’s start with the World Heavyweight Title on Raw. Now, I will be one of many fans who say that CM Punks’ reign hasn’t been booked all that well. The fact remains that he is STILL champion! The fact that this Championship Scramble is taking place leads me to believe in a number of reasons. One, the WWE still feels that Punk cannot draw well enough on his own to main event a ppv. Two, the WWE feels they have exhausted all options for Punk/JBL in one on one competition, so they needed a reason to get the other top guys involved.

I am happy for the most part with the participants in the match. I do have one question though; Chris Jericho beat Punk cleanly last week on Raw, why is he not in the match? Yet, Kane is? Now I know for storyline purposes and his fued with HBK, Jericho can’t really be committed to the match right now. However, do not be surprised if the WWE pulls a swerve and has Jericho beat Punk for the title right on Raw sometime before Unforgiven! I know I might just be dreaming there.

In all seriousness, I think this match is very solid, and I hope in all that is sacred within the WWE that Punk walks out of Unforgiven, still World Heavyweight Champion. Now is not the time for Punk to lose, especially after having just “proven” himself against JBL not one month ago. Let the straight edge man carry it a bit longer and perhaps when Randy Orton returns drop it back to him.

Now, on to the Smackdown Scramble for the WWE Championship. I absolutely LOVE how Smackdown shaped their match for the ppv. For one, they didn’t just announce the competitors like Raw, they had actual qualifying matches (something they should do more often). Two, if you look at the line-up, with the exception of perhaps Jeff Hardy (and of course Triple H), it’s all up and coming mid-card talent.

This is EXACTLY what the WWE needs to do more often. You have the United States Champion Shelton Benjamin who has had more pushes scrapped for him than anyone else besides perhaps Mr. Kennedy. You have MVP, who has floundered in the mid to upper-mid ranks (also like Kennedy) for sometime now; and you have The Brian Kendrick who has quickly become the new hot heel of Smackdown.

Adding Jeff Hardy to that mix is only right. He has been flirting with the title for quite awhile now, and this is the door he could use to take it. Hardy adds a bit of that extreme and unpredictable element to the match that the others may lack a bit.

I am most excited about The Brian Kendrick being in this match though; I mean who would have thouught the WWE these days would put a guy like Kendrick in this match? I have enjoyed how Kendrick has taken this new found freedom of tv time to really show the WWE fans what he can do, both in the ring and character-wise. Anyone who has seen him in his RoH days knows he has the talent, now it appears that the WWE has finally recognized it as well.

Imagine with me, if The Brian Kendrick walked out of Unforgiven as the new WWE Champion. Now pause for a moment and think, how awesome would that be. A move like that may just dull anyone’s notions of Vince being only about the big guys (which I myself have been guilty of saying). May I also point out that Kendrick has a lot of the same traits as a guy in his younger days had and his name is Shawn Michaels.

Michaels had the flamboyant pretty-boy look, like Kendrick now, albeit less dancing. Michaels had a bodyguard (Diesel), Kendrick does too. Michaels is not that big, neither is Kendrick. All these similarities makes me think that perhaps the WWE could surprise us all. The only thing holding it back would be, where do you go once its done?

That is why I would not be surprised if the WWE pulls that swerve and takes the title off Triple H, and the man walking out of Unforgiven as Champion is Jeff Hardy. Hardy is the guy that I believe is ready to finally take that next step. He would be a very shocking surprise for the fans, but also very reliable from a business standpoint as well. He sells a lot of merchandise already, where as a guy like Kendrick is still “coming into his character.”

I don’t know about all of you, but I am very excited as to which direction the WWE will go. Maybe both titles stay put, but I say if one has to switch, give Punk a bit more time, and elevate a guy like Hardy at the same time.

What do you think? Could it be?

****

shadyrvd@hotmail.com

~Guests are always welcome inside the Dog Pound~

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Linda’s Thoughts - ECW And Smackdown

I thought ECW and Smackdown were much better shows then the live Raw that I attended. And it took only one EXCELLENT match to make ECW more enjoyable than Raw and I can’t wait to talk about that main event. As far as Smackdown goes, the show wasn’t as excellent as it’s been, BUT it was still a very good show, and I’m being selfish here, but I feel so gypped that Raw was the worst of the week. So let me get right to ECW’s main event and then on to a decent Smackdown minus their top star.

I said that ECW was a better show than Raw and that’s because they gave us the main event, which should have been the match that we paid for at Summer Slam. I got a kick out of the ad that we would get a rematch from Summer Slam with Mark Henry defending his title against Matt Hardy. How could they even consider that 20-second atrocity last Sunday a match? And more importantly why didn’t they give us Tuesday’s phenomenal match at the pay per view? I wish I had the answers to those questions, but what it all of this boils down too is that Hardy and Henry put on a 5 star match. And for all the crap that I have given Henry in the past he proved to me and I think to the majority of his critics that he’s more than capable of performing in the ring. This one floored me, not in a million years did I ever dream that Henry was good enough to work like that. And then you have the outstanding Matt Hardy as his opponent and ECW ended on a hell of a positive note. Now I really enjoyed The Miz, John Morrison, and Chavo Guerrero (with Bam Neely) vs. Evan Bourne, Super Crazy, and Tommy Dreamer, and I liked the segment with Finlay and Mike Knox, but nothing topped the HOT main event, and that match really put ECW over Tuesday night.

Now Smackdown for the most part delivered, however with Edge out you definitely could feel something was lacking on the show. I did not like the opening with Vickie and her crew. I thought Vickie was very boring and her character took a minor hit, because whoever came up with this segment took all the nastiness out of her and just had her read an apology to Undertaker. I found this to be such a weak way to open the show. Yesterday I read that this was not what the live crowd on Tuesday saw. Originally her promo was done in the ring and she was getting major heat while she was talking. Now that I would have rather have seen, I guess creative wanted us to believe that Vickie was no longer a heel and because of what Edge did to her she was now a face. I still didn’t like the opener but thankfully as the show went on there were some pretty good things that happened. The first match was Maria defeating Natalya. And the match itself came off well, but the Maria win got to me, because I am starting to think that Natalya is not going to get much of a push. I felt this woman should have had no problem in taking Maria out and winning. So the way that Natalya is being used is not putting a smile on my face as of now.

I also wasn’t crazy about the Big Show backstage segment with Vickie. I didn’t get how it was an “over sight” that he wasn’t in the next match, the Championship Scramble qualifying mach. That explanation from Vickie was another “over sight” by that wild creative staff. This just didn’t make any sense to me. And Big Show seemed to take her answer very well, in fact too well. But Big Show made his feelings known during the battle royal to qualify for the Championship Scramble match with The Brian Kendrick vs. Curt Hawkins vs. Zach Ryder vs. Scotty Goldman, vs. Funaki vs. Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Vladimir Kozlov vs. Super Crazy vs. Armando Estrada vs. Ryan Braddock (if it wasn’t for my friend Max, I would never have guessed it was Braddock in there). I got a kick watching Big Show sitting and smiling while this was going on, and then all of a sudden Big Show came in, and started eliminating the participants. But when he eliminated Kendrick Ezekiel caught him and waited for Show to go, and then got Kendrick back in the ring and the shocker of all shockers, THE Brian Kendrick won and now will be a part of the title match at Unforgiven.

Things started improving for me with another very strong R. Truth Vignette. As I said before I just hope he doesn’t dance and do his raps. I love the very serious and down to earth side of him and next week when he makes his debut I want to see THIS R. Truth. The next Championship Scramble qualifying match with MVP vs. Festus came off very well. I was very impressed with Festus going against Taker a few months ago, and last week Festus vs. Kozlov was the best Kozlov match so far. So I wasn’t surprised at all that Festus and MVP put on such a good match. I keep waiting to see if they are going to break Jesse and Festus up and give this guy, Festus a solo career. I feel he has shown that he’s a solid wrestler and as I said along with MVP this was a very strong match. Then right after this one we got another very GOOD qualifying match with The Gold Standard, Shelton Benjamin vs. Finlay. This match had a lot going for it. These guys were given a lot of time and that really pleased me. You talk about a hard worked match, Finlay and Benjamin worked this as it they were in a pay per view. Again let Benjamin’s push continue because each week he is just looking better and better. And putting Benjamin against Finlay is a bonus, because I remember when an unknown Bobby Lashley was feuding with Finlay, Finlay MADE Lashley. That feud really put Lashley on the map. You can’t go wrong working with Hornswoggle’s dad and now I see big things happening for Mike Knox. Knox should kiss Vince’s feet, see you thought I was going to say ass for putting him in a program with Finlay. By the way Shelton won and just lot MPV and The Brian Kendrick he will now be in that title match at Unforgiven.

And the final qualifying match was Jeff Hardy vs. The Great Khali. This one had Triple H coming down and sitting with Tazz and JR. Hardy fought hard to get Khali and although Triple H was rather subdued on the mic he still added something while this was going on. I have to say that Hardy and Khali made it fun to watch and I was thrilled with the ending. After Ranjin Singh distracted the ref so Khali could put the old head vice on Hardy, Triple H got up hit Singh with a chair and just as Hunter was about to hit Singh again, Khali got in the way and took the chair shot letting Jeff Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind and get the victory. I loved the look on Triple H’s face when Hardy won. It was a look of amazement and he knew that he kind of helped Hardy get that win. Triple H then got on the mic and did a nice job putting over the Championship Scramble match and he talked how the odds were against him because anyone could get pinned and he could lose. And then out came Kenny Dykstra and he started to whine to Triple H how nobody takes him seriously and Hunter reciprocated by hitting a pedigree on him. This segment all played out well and it led to the main event.

And finally we get Vickie and La Familia in the ring and they call out Taker to apologize for all the bad things that they did to him. Taker made his way out and there was Vickie pleading for forgiveness, she was even able to get out of her wheelchair and get down on her knees begging for Taker to forgive her. Guess what? Taker wasn’t in an accepting mood and in a deep dramatic response he came up with “Look at me woman.” He then said he didn’t come out for apologies, he came for her soul. Oh very creepy, well not really, but still good. When he mentioned her soul La Familia circled Undertaker and started to attack him, but Taker was able to clean house and then he made the throat slash gesture to Vickie and the show was over.

It wasn’t a bad segment, but again I missed Edge not being there. However I still liked the show and I liked the build up for the Championship Scramble match. I’m just not sure we need two at Unforgiven. Now before I go I wanted to mention the rumor although I believe it’s true that WWE is getting Gail Kim back. I liked Kim the first time I saw her in the WWE, but obviously Vince didn’t because he killed her character immediately by giving her the women’s title the first time that she debuted. That seemed to turn the fans off right away. Plus Kim’s character was never given any depth or really anything. She was just there and when the fans didn’t take to her they turned her heel and again the fans weren’t interested. I just hope that Vince realizes that since she’s been with TNA this woman now has a nice sized fan base and I really hope that she’s given a major push and treated like a super star and not a mid carder. I’m looking forward to having her back with WWE. Okay I will return Tuesday with my thoughts on Raw and remember Raw will be on the SCI-Fi network at it’s regular time. The website forum TheWrestlingAsylum.com has recently just re-opened after some severe technical difficulties. If you’ve ever wanted to join an online community and be part of a wrestling forum, now’s the time to jump in. TWA is an acclaimed wrestling forum that has some of the best wrestling discussions out there in addition to many interactive features such as our matches of the week, wrestling pool, et cetera. Currently, TWA is holding an interactive feature where members will vote on their favorite wrestlers of all time and in the end, TWA will count down the top 100. People who participate in this contest will receive a free DVD-R of some famous matches of the top 10 or 20 wrestlers on the list. In addition to all of this, TWA also has a very active Off Topic section of the site for random discussion, movies, music, graphics, and of course, TWA has an ever-growing multimedia section on all wrestling and all other media as well. TheWrestlingAsylum.com is just waiting for you to make its mark on it, so why not join up today.

Email lindarobin3@yahoo.com

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Linda’s Thoughts - ECW and Smackdown

I thought ECW and Smackdown were much better shows then the live Raw that I attended. And it took only one EXCELLENT match to make ECW more enjoyable than Raw and I can’t wait to talk about that main event. As far as Smackdown goes, the show wasn’t as excellent as it’s been, BUT it was still a very good show, and I’m being selfish here, but I feel so gypped that Raw was the worst of the week. So let me get right to ECW’s main event and then on to a decent Smackdown minus their top star.

I said that ECW was a better show than Raw and that’s because they gave us the main event, which should have been the match that we paid for at Summer Slam. I got a kick out of the ad that we would get a rematch from Summer Slam with Mark Henry defending his title against Matt Hardy. How could they even consider that 20-second atrocity last Sunday a match? And more importantly why didn’t they give us Tuesday’s phenomenal match at the pay per view? I wish I had the answers to those questions, but what it all of this boils down too is that Hardy and Henry put on a 5 star match. And for all the crap that I have given Henry in the past he proved to me and I think to the majority of his critics that he’s more than capable of performing in the ring. This one floored me, not in a million years did I ever dream that Henry was good enough to work like that. And then you have the outstanding Matt Hardy as his opponent and ECW ended on a hell of a positive note. Now I really enjoyed The Miz, John Morrison, and Chavo Guerrero (with Bam Neely) vs. Evan Bourne, Super Crazy, and Tommy Dreamer, and I liked the segment with Finlay and Mike Knox, but nothing topped the HOT main event, and that match really put ECW over Tuesday night.

Now Smackdown for the most part delivered, however with Edge out you definitely could feel something was lacking on the show. I did not like the opening with Vickie and her crew. I thought Vickie was very boring and her character took a minor hit, because whoever came up with this segment took all the nastiness out of her and just had her read an apology to Undertaker. I found this to be such a weak way to open the show. Yesterday I read that this was not what the live crowd on Tuesday saw. Originally her promo was done in the ring and she was getting major heat while she was talking. Now that I would have rather have seen, I guess creative wanted us to believe that Vickie was no longer a heel and because of what Edge did to her she was now a face. I still didn’t like the opener but thankfully as the show went on there were some pretty good things that happened. The first match was Maria defeating Natalya. And the match itself came off well, but the Maria win got to me, because I am starting to think that Natalya is not going to get much of a push. I felt this woman should have had no problem in taking Maria out and winning. So the way that Natalya is being used is not putting a smile on my face as of now.

I also wasn’t crazy about the Big Show backstage segment with Vickie. I didn’t get how it was an “over sight” that he wasn’t in the next match, the Championship Scramble qualifying mach. That explanation from Vickie was another “over sight” by that wild creative staff. This just didn’t make any sense to me. And Big Show seemed to take her answer very well, in fact too well. But Big Show made his feelings known during the battle royal to qualify for the Championship Scramble match with The Brian Kendrick vs. Curt Hawkins vs. Zach Ryder vs. Scotty Goldman, vs. Funaki vs. Jimmy Wang Yang vs. Vladimir Kozlov vs. Super Crazy vs. Armando Estrada vs. Ryan Braddock (if it wasn’t for my friend Max, I would never have guessed it was Braddock in there). I got a kick watching Big Show sitting and smiling while this was going on, and then all of a sudden Big Show came in, and started eliminating the participants. But when he eliminated Kendrick Ezekiel caught him and waited for Show to go, and then got Kendrick back in the ring and the shocker of all shockers, THE Brian Kendrick won and now will be a part of the title match at Unforgiven.

Things started improving for me with another very strong R. Truth Vignette. As I said before I just hope he doesn’t dance and do his raps. I love the very serious and down to earth side of him and next week when he makes his debut I want to see THIS R. Truth. The next Cham