I DVR'd Raw tonight because of the Football game, (I'm a huge Pats fan) and when I re-watched it I decided to fast forward through the less than exciting parts. Long story short, it took me about a half hour to watch. The hi-lite of the show was the twenty seconds where Orton and Edge beat up Triple H before he kicked both of their asses. Actually, that's not true, my favorite part was the Carlito/Torrie Wilson angle, maybe they'll actually follow through with it, but it's doubtful.
Recently I'd been thinking that I wouldn't mind them bringing back the old squash matches from the old days of saturday mornings, and I guess WWE had been thinking the same thing. Charlie Haas and Viscera? Are they really a tag team? Cryme Tyme squashed them quickly enough.
My biggest gripe is with the stupid angle involving Ric Flair. I don't mind the old-timers, but they need to know their role as guys that come out periodically and get a pop because of who they were. I can think of so many better ways to use Flair, he could form a stable so he doesn;t need to kill himself in the ring but they can use his name and history to elevate other people, but instead he keeps bringing out other old guys for a squash match against the deflated Spirit Squad.
Anyway, I know there wasn't much to this post, but I think it reflected the show very well, I just hope that they can come up with some new angles and philosophies so that things pick up soon.
-SEF
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Impact and Smackdown thoughts
First off, TNA Impact.
I have to admit that I'm pretty excited about the way things are going in TNA right now. They definitely have enough star power to be considered a top level promotion. I didn;t see the PPV this past weekend, but the recap made it seem "big time." As for this week's Impact here are my main thoughts:
-I've been a consitent fan of Christian for a couple years now and he could definitely have a good match with Sting. That match would be a great secondary match behind a Samoa Joe vs. Angle main event, I might even consider buying the PPV. BTW, Sting gave a short but sweet response after Christian's promo that made me feel like they understand Sting's limitations.
-LAX and The Naturals both looked really good, and the fact that TNA has such a deep Tag Team division is a huge selling point to me. It's been along time since anyone has pushed tag teams so well. I really didn't like the angle that played out between Shane Douglas and The Naturals, but at least they're trying something.
-The other two good things I have to say about the show are the Angle-Joe feud is the most exciting thing in wrestling right now. And the Jarrett taking time off situation should be great for everyone involved. I realize that it has a lot to do with personal issues in his real life, but his absence and return will refresh his character and will allow him to make some changes to his act.
-The worst part of the show was this ridiculous reverse battle royal, then regular battle royal followed by a singles match. The singles match was good, and I had nothing bad to say about any of the wrestlers' performance in the two battle royal type matches, but this is just another situation where they try so hard to come up with an original and unique style of match that they make up something that is totally ridiculous.
All in all still representative of how exciting TNA is right now.
Onto the train wreck that is Smackdown
-I can't help but feel like WWE knows that there is very little worth watching on Samckdown so they keep bringing in Cena and Big Show and Paul Heyman to give the fans a reason to care.
-Batista has fallen so fast in the past two years, partially due to his limitations and injuries but it has to be partly due Smackdown's mishandling.
-A month ago Bobby Lashley was in a PPV main event, now he's in a crappy tag match with Tatanka? Way to de-rail him as well.
-Just when we thought we were out with the exploitation of Eddie Guerrero's death, they pull us back in. I can't see any way Benoit's involvement with Chavo and Vicky will be a good thing, couldn;t they have a feud between Benoit and Chavo without Vicky>? The macthes should be pretty good, but the promos will be awful.
-The third biggest angle going on right now is Helms-Hardy, this is a bad sign, still much better than the fourth biggest being Miz vs. Layla. Hardy to me is still almost worthless, he doesn;t have the look and he sounds like an idiot when cutting a promo. His in-ring performance is good, but not great and I feel like Helms has been carrying him.
-As far the Miz vs. Layla thing goes, it's a nice excuse to have all the sexy ladies two weeks in a row, but even the quality of the eye candy is down. It was just over a year ago that Christy Hemme and Stacy Keibler were the signature Divas.
Thats all I feel like commenting on about Smackdown. I'll post again soon.
-SEF
-
I have to admit that I'm pretty excited about the way things are going in TNA right now. They definitely have enough star power to be considered a top level promotion. I didn;t see the PPV this past weekend, but the recap made it seem "big time." As for this week's Impact here are my main thoughts:
-I've been a consitent fan of Christian for a couple years now and he could definitely have a good match with Sting. That match would be a great secondary match behind a Samoa Joe vs. Angle main event, I might even consider buying the PPV. BTW, Sting gave a short but sweet response after Christian's promo that made me feel like they understand Sting's limitations.
-LAX and The Naturals both looked really good, and the fact that TNA has such a deep Tag Team division is a huge selling point to me. It's been along time since anyone has pushed tag teams so well. I really didn't like the angle that played out between Shane Douglas and The Naturals, but at least they're trying something.
-The other two good things I have to say about the show are the Angle-Joe feud is the most exciting thing in wrestling right now. And the Jarrett taking time off situation should be great for everyone involved. I realize that it has a lot to do with personal issues in his real life, but his absence and return will refresh his character and will allow him to make some changes to his act.
-The worst part of the show was this ridiculous reverse battle royal, then regular battle royal followed by a singles match. The singles match was good, and I had nothing bad to say about any of the wrestlers' performance in the two battle royal type matches, but this is just another situation where they try so hard to come up with an original and unique style of match that they make up something that is totally ridiculous.
All in all still representative of how exciting TNA is right now.
Onto the train wreck that is Smackdown
-I can't help but feel like WWE knows that there is very little worth watching on Samckdown so they keep bringing in Cena and Big Show and Paul Heyman to give the fans a reason to care.
-Batista has fallen so fast in the past two years, partially due to his limitations and injuries but it has to be partly due Smackdown's mishandling.
-A month ago Bobby Lashley was in a PPV main event, now he's in a crappy tag match with Tatanka? Way to de-rail him as well.
-Just when we thought we were out with the exploitation of Eddie Guerrero's death, they pull us back in. I can't see any way Benoit's involvement with Chavo and Vicky will be a good thing, couldn;t they have a feud between Benoit and Chavo without Vicky>? The macthes should be pretty good, but the promos will be awful.
-The third biggest angle going on right now is Helms-Hardy, this is a bad sign, still much better than the fourth biggest being Miz vs. Layla. Hardy to me is still almost worthless, he doesn;t have the look and he sounds like an idiot when cutting a promo. His in-ring performance is good, but not great and I feel like Helms has been carrying him.
-As far the Miz vs. Layla thing goes, it's a nice excuse to have all the sexy ladies two weeks in a row, but even the quality of the eye candy is down. It was just over a year ago that Christy Hemme and Stacy Keibler were the signature Divas.
Thats all I feel like commenting on about Smackdown. I'll post again soon.
-SEF
-
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Early thoughts after monday and tuesdays shows
After watching Raw and ECW this week just thought I'd throw out my thoughts.
Before I go on I wanted to make it clear that I'm a huge fan of the Pro Wrestling Torch website. Basically I view this as the NY Times of wrestling websites, and while I often disagree with their opinions, I find it to be very accurate and reliable. So if you want to know what's what in pro wrestling, especially behind the scenes, go to their website www.pwtorch.com I'd also recommend the VIP subscription. If you want to get the full story with commentaries and good histories, not to mention a cut-down on the ads, it's well worth the low subscription fee.
First on Raw
K-Fed is getting more heel heat than anyone else on the show right now. While that might be a bit of hyperbole, I think you can at least make the argument. On the aforementioned PWTorch they initally poo-poo'd his appearance, but it couldn;t have worked out better, and it may help Johnny Nitro get more over.
Mickie James right now is operating on an island, she's the only woman in WWE who has the whole package. She can do the backstage angles well and cut promos, as well as perform in the ring. And she's sexy to boot. The rest of the women on Raw right now can;t keep up either in the ring or on the mic.
One thing WWE seems to be doing a lot of is throwing matches together without enough thought and rushing angles that could benefit from slowly developing over time. Two examples are whatever they have planned for Jeff Hardy and Carlito and more importantly putting the two Triple H vs. Orton matches the last two weeks. The latter being a blown main even for a PPV when they could just have some backstage conflicts that could climax in a tag match at the next PPV.
I'm happy to see that one of the Spirit Squad will finally be breaking off, but it looks like they're already mishandling it, and they've made the SS look so lame as of late that any mishandling could kill them all and soon they'll be hanging out at the bottom with Rob Conway.
Final comment, I'm worried about Ric Flair continually bringing out his legends as his backers, if this leads to a match, god help us all.
Onto ECW
Great idea putting RVD on the mic at the beginning of the show, he's awful and it reminds me exactly why he can't be a true top star for a company.
The most disappointing thing of the show for me was tonight was the first time I've ever seen CM Punk in action. I'd heard many great things about him, but to me he looked awful, not only was his match lame, but he looked out of shape and seemed to lack charisma.
On the subject of "out of shape" Mike Knox and Big Show both look out of shape. In knox' case as with CM Punk, I think different ring attire could help out a lot. Something that could mask the fact that they aren;'t close to having six pack abs would make them seem more credible as wrestlers. As for Big Show, WWE should give him a weight clause in his contract and maybe give him some time off so he could look slimmer and more mobile, not to mention just be a healthier person, carrying that kind of weight has to take a toll on his overall health.
Best part of the show for me was Test vs. Bob Holly. I could see either of them being given a main event push on Smackdown and helping that show greatly. I think the only thing holding either of them back is their history. Sometimes when you see someone lose so many times, as is the case with Holly, it's just impossible to re-eatablish him as a badass.
Thats all I got for now, I set my DVR to record TNA impact as well as Smackdown, so I'll be able to comment on those shows. Also maybe just a rant about how easy it could be for Raw to create new stars.
Until then, I'll be marking out.
-SEF
Before I go on I wanted to make it clear that I'm a huge fan of the Pro Wrestling Torch website. Basically I view this as the NY Times of wrestling websites, and while I often disagree with their opinions, I find it to be very accurate and reliable. So if you want to know what's what in pro wrestling, especially behind the scenes, go to their website www.pwtorch.com I'd also recommend the VIP subscription. If you want to get the full story with commentaries and good histories, not to mention a cut-down on the ads, it's well worth the low subscription fee.
First on Raw
K-Fed is getting more heel heat than anyone else on the show right now. While that might be a bit of hyperbole, I think you can at least make the argument. On the aforementioned PWTorch they initally poo-poo'd his appearance, but it couldn;t have worked out better, and it may help Johnny Nitro get more over.
Mickie James right now is operating on an island, she's the only woman in WWE who has the whole package. She can do the backstage angles well and cut promos, as well as perform in the ring. And she's sexy to boot. The rest of the women on Raw right now can;t keep up either in the ring or on the mic.
One thing WWE seems to be doing a lot of is throwing matches together without enough thought and rushing angles that could benefit from slowly developing over time. Two examples are whatever they have planned for Jeff Hardy and Carlito and more importantly putting the two Triple H vs. Orton matches the last two weeks. The latter being a blown main even for a PPV when they could just have some backstage conflicts that could climax in a tag match at the next PPV.
I'm happy to see that one of the Spirit Squad will finally be breaking off, but it looks like they're already mishandling it, and they've made the SS look so lame as of late that any mishandling could kill them all and soon they'll be hanging out at the bottom with Rob Conway.
Final comment, I'm worried about Ric Flair continually bringing out his legends as his backers, if this leads to a match, god help us all.
Onto ECW
Great idea putting RVD on the mic at the beginning of the show, he's awful and it reminds me exactly why he can't be a true top star for a company.
The most disappointing thing of the show for me was tonight was the first time I've ever seen CM Punk in action. I'd heard many great things about him, but to me he looked awful, not only was his match lame, but he looked out of shape and seemed to lack charisma.
On the subject of "out of shape" Mike Knox and Big Show both look out of shape. In knox' case as with CM Punk, I think different ring attire could help out a lot. Something that could mask the fact that they aren;'t close to having six pack abs would make them seem more credible as wrestlers. As for Big Show, WWE should give him a weight clause in his contract and maybe give him some time off so he could look slimmer and more mobile, not to mention just be a healthier person, carrying that kind of weight has to take a toll on his overall health.
Best part of the show for me was Test vs. Bob Holly. I could see either of them being given a main event push on Smackdown and helping that show greatly. I think the only thing holding either of them back is their history. Sometimes when you see someone lose so many times, as is the case with Holly, it's just impossible to re-eatablish him as a badass.
Thats all I got for now, I set my DVR to record TNA impact as well as Smackdown, so I'll be able to comment on those shows. Also maybe just a rant about how easy it could be for Raw to create new stars.
Until then, I'll be marking out.
-SEF
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Genesis
I love the title genesis for this post, I always thought that if I started my own promotion the first Pay-Per-View would be called Genesis. I guess the first thing I should post on here is what my general plan is for this blog. I'm gonna be commenting on wrestling, plain and simple. Right now there are only two promotions that I follow, WWE and TNA. While I've certainly heard of others I don't really have the desire to seek them out and more importantly I only get my wrestling off of cable TV. I don;t believe in ordering the Pay-Per-Views. Every now and then I consider it but the price just doesn;t seem worth it because as I've mentioned in my profile, I'm not as much a fan of the matches as I am a fan of the angles. To that end I guess my full introduction should include my likes and dislikes.
The things I enjoy about the current wrestling product are all what most people would consider sports entertainment aspects. I enjoy the big entrances with the video and theme music and such, to me good theme music has always been a key to drama. I first became a fan in the 80s and I still can remember the words to not only "Real American" but also the Demolition theme. And the best dramatic moment in wrestling is still when someone's music plays just before they run in for the save. We can all remember times when Stone Colds music started playing, you'd hear the glass shattering and the crowd would go completely nuts. My personal favorites were Ultimate Warrior's run-in at Wrestlemania 8 and a Ricky The Dragon Steamboat run-in on Saturday Night's Main Event.
Another thing I'm a huge fan of is the Ladies on the show. From Miss Elizabeth to Tammy Sytch, up through Stacy Keibler, having a hot woman on the program adds to the show. I don;t think that one needs too much explanation but I will add that I could care less whether or not they wrestle, there are pros and cons to that. Pro: it gives them more time on my TV. Con: the moves being performed in slow motion helps show how ridulously planned out the whole "sport" is. It would be like if David Blaine tried to show some poor magician all his secrets then that guy went on a tour performing all his tricks but giving away the illusion.
I'm also a fan of big wrestlers. Call me a "mark" or whatever, but to me if I'm watching a show and some guy who I wouldn;t be afraid to fight in a bar is beating some guy down who I'd be afraid to look at in a bar, that just strikes me as ridiculous. I'll be the first to admit that I'm in the minority on this one, but I don;t get Rey Mysterio at all. I don;t understand his popularity, to me he looks like a little kid, and it's fun sometimes to see him get in a good shot on a much larger oppponent and then run away but in the long run he should be in the little mans division and their matches should open shows, not be a main event.
Those are the large principles of what I enjoy, the list of what I don't enjoy is much shorter but it definitely seperates me from most big fans of Wrestling. I've never been a fan in ring performances. To me so long as the performance is adequate that's all that matters. There is such a thing as noticibly bad wrestling and while I can't remember any particular bad matches off hand, I'd guess that the match would be something like Undertaker vs. Sid Vicious. To me what makes a great match is how much you care about who wins. Hulk Hogan was huge for years and his matches were just adequate, but people ate 'em up because they really cared whether or not Hogan won. I think this comes from my background as a sports fan, the drama comes from who wins or loses as opposed to how aesthetically pleasing the game was.
The second thing I can't stand are the overly choreographed light heavyweight matches. This point isn't too different from the last one, but it's definitely the one I'm most committed to, if two little guys come on and start running around in circles and perform these triple reversals that are too obviously staged, I turn the station and check back in five or ten minutes.
Anyway, that's my introduction to my blog, if you actually read this, bully for you. I have a feeling that this may not be seen at all, but it's good practice for spouting out my opinions, and it reminds me of my days as a journalism major in college befopre I turned in a much different direction after graduation. Thank you for reading, and I hope you check back in the future.
The things I enjoy about the current wrestling product are all what most people would consider sports entertainment aspects. I enjoy the big entrances with the video and theme music and such, to me good theme music has always been a key to drama. I first became a fan in the 80s and I still can remember the words to not only "Real American" but also the Demolition theme. And the best dramatic moment in wrestling is still when someone's music plays just before they run in for the save. We can all remember times when Stone Colds music started playing, you'd hear the glass shattering and the crowd would go completely nuts. My personal favorites were Ultimate Warrior's run-in at Wrestlemania 8 and a Ricky The Dragon Steamboat run-in on Saturday Night's Main Event.
Another thing I'm a huge fan of is the Ladies on the show. From Miss Elizabeth to Tammy Sytch, up through Stacy Keibler, having a hot woman on the program adds to the show. I don;t think that one needs too much explanation but I will add that I could care less whether or not they wrestle, there are pros and cons to that. Pro: it gives them more time on my TV. Con: the moves being performed in slow motion helps show how ridulously planned out the whole "sport" is. It would be like if David Blaine tried to show some poor magician all his secrets then that guy went on a tour performing all his tricks but giving away the illusion.
I'm also a fan of big wrestlers. Call me a "mark" or whatever, but to me if I'm watching a show and some guy who I wouldn;t be afraid to fight in a bar is beating some guy down who I'd be afraid to look at in a bar, that just strikes me as ridiculous. I'll be the first to admit that I'm in the minority on this one, but I don;t get Rey Mysterio at all. I don;t understand his popularity, to me he looks like a little kid, and it's fun sometimes to see him get in a good shot on a much larger oppponent and then run away but in the long run he should be in the little mans division and their matches should open shows, not be a main event.
Those are the large principles of what I enjoy, the list of what I don't enjoy is much shorter but it definitely seperates me from most big fans of Wrestling. I've never been a fan in ring performances. To me so long as the performance is adequate that's all that matters. There is such a thing as noticibly bad wrestling and while I can't remember any particular bad matches off hand, I'd guess that the match would be something like Undertaker vs. Sid Vicious. To me what makes a great match is how much you care about who wins. Hulk Hogan was huge for years and his matches were just adequate, but people ate 'em up because they really cared whether or not Hogan won. I think this comes from my background as a sports fan, the drama comes from who wins or loses as opposed to how aesthetically pleasing the game was.
The second thing I can't stand are the overly choreographed light heavyweight matches. This point isn't too different from the last one, but it's definitely the one I'm most committed to, if two little guys come on and start running around in circles and perform these triple reversals that are too obviously staged, I turn the station and check back in five or ten minutes.
Anyway, that's my introduction to my blog, if you actually read this, bully for you. I have a feeling that this may not be seen at all, but it's good practice for spouting out my opinions, and it reminds me of my days as a journalism major in college befopre I turned in a much different direction after graduation. Thank you for reading, and I hope you check back in the future.
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