The Wrestling 5 & 1 11.06.10: Mickie vs. Cookie

Does Mickie take the cake? Or do we get caught with our hands in the Cookie jar? You make the call in the comments section below. And remember, four straight victories wins your favorite girl a spot in “The Wrestling 5&1 Hall of Bang!”

Randy Orton growing a personality? There was plenty of good on this week’s RAW. But I was most surprised with Randy Orton’s demeanor both during his opening promo and the main event tag match. He was…different. Normal, even. I think he even busted out a Batista-laugh at one point. He was down to earth, matter-of-a-fact. He didn’t…pause…as much. I’m not so sure I liked it.

Randy Orton’s face turn worked for me for one reason. It was a lot like Austin’s turn. Same guy, doing the same things. Fans were just cheering him because they wanted to, so the WWE played along. He said he was getting screwed by Cena, and the crowd boo’d, then stopped like they just realized he was talking about Cena. They didn’t play him off as a slithering “viper,” but rather a smart & crafty face. One that you could imagine hanging out with, talking to, downing a Corona (w/lime) with.

And I really liked his interaction with John Cena. I watched RAW on DVR with my wife, and I remember saying “if Cena cries, he automatically gets my #1 vote for wrestler of the week.” I’m not sure if he was trying to cry and couldn’t pull it off…but Cena hit the point where if he didn’t cry, he just looked like a bad actor. Which he apparently is. And until he picked R-Truth as his partner for the main event, Orton seemed resigned to his fate. And his attitude toward Cena made me want Cena to turn even more.

But at the end of the day, I just can’t decide if I like his new side of Randy Orton revealed on Monday’s RAW. So I’lll turn it over to you. Does smiling Randy Orton work better than The Viper? Does it change his character too much? Does it stray too far from the whole “it’s the same Randy Orton, just with different opponents” principle we saw early into his face turn? I don’t know, so You Decide!

Lost in the Barrett-Cena shuffle this week on RAW was the
sudden outburst of personality for Randy Orton.

You Decide: Does making Randy Orton more of a “normal guy” help or hurt his persona?

Earlier this week, 411Mania staffers participated the Top 5, with the topic being worst debuts. And shortly after it was over, I was kicking myself when a buddy of mine suggested this: Seven. Dustin Rhodes left the then WWF behind, and the Goldust character with it. They produced several vignettes where he was peering into windows, mostly at children. Because the character seemed too much like a pedophile (go figure), WCW decided to nix the character in favor of “The American Nightmare” Dustin Rhodes. But instead of dropping it altogether, they planned one of (too) many worked-shoot promos, where Dustin dismissed the Goldust character, the Seven character, the “Powers That Be,” and declared that he’s his own man. Of course, been back to Goldust more than once since then, as well as TNA’s ripoff Black Reign. While Dustin will always be most remembered for Goldust, hopefully we’ll all hold this as a memory as well…

BxB Hulk continues to roll in DGUSA: On November 28, 2009, Dragon Gate USA crowned it’s first ever Open the Freedom Gate Champion in BxB Hulk. Hulk was a surprising choice for this championship for multiple reasons. On the first ever DGUSA show, YAMATO defeated Hulk clean in the opening match. Hulk didn’t appear on the second card, and not much was expected out of him on the third card. Add in the fact that (at the time) Davey Richards had been touted as the best in the world by DGUSA, and was also set to be the focus of EVOLVE (founded by DGUSA Vice President & Booker Gabe Sapolsky). But Richards fell to YAMATO in his qualifying match, and it was BxB Hulk who outlasted YAMATO in the final fall of the 4-way elimination match to leave The Arena with the championship.

Since that date, BxB Hulk has remained at the top of DGUSA. He’s defeated an amazing set of opponents, including Dargon Kid, Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi & Shingo, to retain his championship. When not defending his championship, he’s been at or near the main event on nearly every show. To call BxB Hulk the face of Dragon Gate USA would be an understatement. But as 2011 approaches, we know that Hulk’s reign will pass one calendar year before his next defense. The question has started to get raised: who will be the man to take the championship from Hulk? Will it be another Dragon Gate talent? Will it be an American? When will it happen?

The Open the Freedom Gate Championship, produced by Wildcat Belts

Gabe Sapolsky is in a great position here, as he’s seen an influx of new main event talent (Austin Aries, Homicide) in increase in the profile of Jimmy Jacobs, and the push of Jon Moxley. He’s also got a stacked roster of Dragon Gate superstars at his disposal, including a recent promise that more DG wrestlers will be coming over for DGUSA events in 2011. The sky is the limit in terms of challengers for Hulk, as well as a method for determining the challenger. Japanese promotions don’t defend their top belt on every show, so there is plenty of time for the new champion to emerge. Hulk could continue to take on all challengers, providing some entertaining matches. I think we’ll see at least one more successful title defense before the belt is moved, as Hulk has yet to defend against an American challenger. We could also see a tournament or qualifying match–some form of competition or individual match to see who gets to challenge BxB Hulk next.

As I said in this week’s Buy or Sell, my personal choice is Austin Aries. In Aries recent DGUSA debut, he touted himself as “The Man of Honor,” a stark contrast from his recent role in Ring of Honor. He also seems to be stepping his game back up to the level it was in 2006, arguably his best year of in ring performances. Aries can cut great promos, and has the goods to back it up against nearly any opponent. From a fantasy booking perspective, I would have Aries lose as Hulk’s first American challenger in January, then have Aries pick-up the win in a 4-way between Hulk’s recent challengers in the Spring, giving him another shot at the title. It’s that shot, likely over the summer, where I would put the belt on Aries.

That’s right, Dragon Gate USA gets coverage in the 5&1 this week!

You Decide: BxB Hulk has been on a great roll as the Open the Freedom Gate Champion. Who do you see taking it from him?

Five Things You Didn’t Know About…The Miz

1. The Miz was a big man on campus at Normandy High School in Parma, Ohio, playing basketball, running cross country, doing student government and editing the yearbook.

2. He dropped out of college–studying business at Miami (OH)–to be on Real World 10: Back to New York in 2001. This is where his “The Miz” character first appeared.

3. The Miz has made more reality show appearances (12) than any other professional wrestler: Real World 10, Real World/Road Rules Challenge (5 times: Battle of the Seasons, The Gauntlet, The Inferno, Battle of the Sexes 2, & The Inferno 2), Battle of the Network Reality Stars, Fear Factor (x2), Identity, Ghost Hunters Live, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, and Destroy Build Destroy.

4. The Miz finished second in 2004’s Tough Enough presented on Smackdown, losing to Daniel Puder.

5. Thanks to his reality TV career, The Miz has dated reality show girls Trishelle Cannatella, Kendal Sheppard, and Tara McDaniel.

The Miz’s past…Trishelle Cannatella, Kendal Sheppard & Tara McDaniel…awesome?

Survival of the Fittest matches announced: Last week, ROH completed announcing all of the qualifying matches for the 2010 Survival of the Fittest tournament. If you’re not familiar with the event, there are six qualifying matches with the winners advancing to the six-man elimination match in the main event. Past SOTF winners include Bryan Danielson (WWE’s Daniel Bryan, of course), Roderick Strong, Delirious, Chris Hero, and Tyler Black. Of those five, three went on to win the ROH World Championship (including the current champ in Roddy), Hero has had multiple tag team title reigns (and most assume he’ll hold the World Championship one day), and Delirious is now the head booker of the promotion. Needless to say, the outcome of this event is usually a great indicator of a future booking line for the company.

The field of twelve is typical of ROH, with several top contenders, some mid-carders, new talent, and a student level wrestler thrown in to round out the field. And it turns out to be a great field. All six qualifying matches have been announced. They are:
– ROH World Tag Team Champion Chris Hero vs. ROH World TV Champion Eddie Edwards
– Kenny King vs. El Generico
– Kevin Steen vs. Kyle O’Reilly
– Colt Cabana vs. Rhett Titus
– Steve Corino vs. Adam Cole
– ROH World Tag Team Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Grizzly Redwood

Sure, ROH could have gotten creative and gone with Hero-Castagnoli, Cabana-Generico, King-Titus, Steen-Corino, Steen-Generico or even Cole-O’Reilly. But those are obvious booking devices that actually show a lack of creativity. I love the match selection they went with. Hero-Edwards & King-Generico are top notch matches, the main events of the qualifying round, and both are really hard to predict. All four men appear to be a huge part of ROH’s future plans. O’Reilly, Titus & Cole are facing established veterans on Steen, Cabana & Corino, respectively, and I could see one of them possibly scoring the upset. It would help any of them: O’Reilly is a Davey Richards trainee that the ROH fan-base is very high on, but Steen is on a tear. Titus has the most exposure of the three youngsters in these matches, and is helped least by a win. Cole going over Corino would be huge for the kid, And jump start his ROH career. Add in the fact that Steen is working through injuries and Corino is late into his career and I could see O’Reilly & Cole going over just to keep their opposition from working multiple matches on the show. Hell, you could see Steen & Corino somehow eliminate themselves, as they have an ROH World Tag Team Championship Match the next night (at the mistakenly named “Night of the Champions”).

With only a few short weeks until the event, I’ll go ahead predict a final match of Eddie Edwards vs. Kenny King vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Colt Cabana vs. Steve Corino vs. Claudio Castagnoli as I think Steen & Generico will somehow cost each other a win in their qualifying matches. From that group, I’ll make a stab in the dark and say that Kenny King gets the breakout SOTF win. Also of interest are the five talents announced for the undercard (Roderick Strong, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, Jay & Mark Briscoe). Interesting fact: each one of these five guys have appeared in at least one SOTF final match.

Twitter made a little wrestling news again this week, when Dixie Carter felt it necessary to publically endorse Linda McMahon’s senate run, and Chris Jericho felt it necessary to smack her down…

Dixie Carter (TNADixie): Good luck today to Linda McMahon. I think she’d be a great senator. Get out and vote!!!

Followed by Chris Jericho’s retweet & response…

Chris Jericho (IAmJericho): -shameless pandering

If it were a dance off, we’d be chanting “You Got Served!” at Dixie. Or as the kids would say: pwned!

And for some bonus Twitter, we visit our good buddy Kevin Steen (killsteenkill):
Ladies and gentlemen…and people who are both (no discriminating), please visit the brand new http://www.steenwrestling.com

Speaking of Twitter, follow 411Mania on Twitter (because I want Ashish to like me…)
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Nowinski in support of TNA concussion storyline: Christopher Nowinski, the former Chris Harvard and now renown expert on concussion research, recently spoke out about the current TNA storyline involving a concussion for Mr. Anderson. It’s an angle that I wasn’t happy with, until I read Nowinski’s comments:

“I was extremely pleased to see the concussion storyline as it was executed on TNA. I think it was a positive portrayal of the issue, and it was great to see Matt Morgan treated as the babyface for his concern about the consequences of returning to the ring so soon after a concussion. Matt Morgan has been an energetic support of the Sports Legacy Institute and this issue, and I was proud to see him able to reach millions with this message. However, I must note that I’m not happy the storyline was generated by a chair shot to the back the head of Ken Anderson, another SLI supporter, but I was told it was not scripted that way. I hope TNA notes the cause and effect of that hit and puts more in place (training, fines, etc.) to prevent future use of the chair in that manner and keep top talents in the ring.”

Nowinski brings up a great point, one about exposure. Matt Morgan has been vocal publically about he effects of concussions, so if this is the angle we’re going with, then Morgan is your guy. Make the most of it, Matt. Show the world (all 8,000 of them who will be watching at home.). Hopefully Tenay & Taz will use this match to tell the backstory of Nowinski, Anderson & Morgan, and the issues that happened in their feud. They could even bring Nowinski in for a brief appearance to address the impact of a concussion, and the steps that Anderson has to endure to get fully cleared to return. TNA has a great chance to turn a negative into a positive, and I’ll be interested to see if they do just that. Not interested enough to actually order Turning Point, but interested enough to read the results right here on…411Mania! (cheap pop!)

You Decide: Does Christopher Nowinski’s support of the TNA concussion storyline change your opinion on that storyline?

“Mickie defeats all divas except Velvet Sky, who I hope she never wrestles since we all would see how bad Velvel really is in the ring (Mickie = best wrestler since Trish/Lita, Velvet = better than Lacey Von Erich but thats about it) love Velvet, but i wish she didnt have to wrestle anyone but me ;o)”
~IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT U THINK!

This one gets in solely on the basis of the guest name. Good job. Way better than Paul Roma & Dennis Stamp.

“Are you really changing the order of the Hall, that’s like retconning a comic- weak sauce man, weak sauce”
~theTruck

Oh no! I changed the order! Poor theTruck! Whatever will he do? He’ll have to remember that Maryse was the first inductee! Or just not worry about it! There’s an idea! Oh my God! I am such a bastard! I’ve ruined the integrity of The Hall of Bang!

If I could be serious for a minute… I did indeed change the order of the HoB. And when #3 gets inducted, she’ll get a chance to move up as well. Shocking development, I know. In other news, I think Alex Riley is hilarious. Seriously, he does the little things really well.

“I think that Hogan, Bischoff, and Hogan have been showing that they fundamentally don’t understand what brought them success in the Attitude Era.”
~Guest#3540

Not sure if that second Hogan is Brooke or Nick. It’s okay, we all make mistakes (myself included). But your point is still a great one. Hogan & Bischoff don’t understand what brought them success in the Attitude Era, because they think they accomplished it all on their own.

“I think they’re going to have to pull the Summerslam 1997 incident with Bret Hart v. Undertaker with Shawn Michaels as ref, where accidentally cost Undertaker the title. Barret will cause Cena will hit the boiling point at some time during the match, which will allow Barrett to get he pin on Orton (i.e. Cena will try to hit Barrett with a chair, miss and Orton will be the unintended target, instead). It’ll happen, watch.”
~Johnny Polo

“Barrett wins the title at Survivor Series, relieving Cena of his Nexus duties…and also allowing Cena to beat the holy hell out of Barrett, leading to The Miz cashing in and leaving Survivor Series with the belt…mark my words”
~landon618

Both are great ideas. I like the latter just a little bit better because it adds another shade of gray. Is Cena the face here? Is he the heel? How do the fans respond, when they boo’d him for his actions while under the Nexus? I’m all for a Cena heel turn out of this angle, and option 2 lends itself to that. And Johnny Polo is an awesome handle, by the way.

“The Two: I don’t really care about this topic, even though using the father of the murderer is just a low thing to do for Linda’s opponent. Even though the WWE should not have let him use those drugs, he was the person who killed his wife and son, not the WWE. I just don’t really care about this stuff but I hope Linda loses.”
~Still Guest #8287

My thoughts exactly. For fully agreeing with me, I’ll post this, too.

“&1: She is attractive, I just hope she has the wrestling ability and charisma of Eddie and not Vickie. Again, if you go with a non wrestling chick for the &1 model of the week, use CANDICE SWAENPOEL!”
~Still Guest #8287

Okay…here you go. SHUT UP ALREADY!

(I expect a thank you.)

“Brock’s popularity in UFC has a direct correlation to his popularity in WWE. I know WWE and UFC are PPV competitors, but I would think allowing Brock to occasionally tap back into the WWE fanbase would be better for UFC in the long run, so why wouldn’t Dana let him come back for one match? I’m sure WWE realizes that they would only see a one-time spike in buyrates and that UFC will ultimately be the long-term beneficiary of Brock’s popularity, which speaks to WWE’s desperation.”
~Ronnie

Interesting take on the WWE/UFC relationship in terms of Brock. The WWE helped the UFC promote Brock’s first fight, and it’s likely that they could both benefit from a Brock WM match. But would either party be willing to admit that the other can help them? That I doubt.

“Mickie James. How could that dog Velvet Sky have beat her? Gail Kim is better looking than Sky but neither are better than Mickie.”
~Guest#4770

The Rock: Velvet Sky is a dog. Is that what you…think?

Guest #4770: Ye–

Who brought it this week? YOU brought it this week! Two awesome write-ups appeared in the comments section of last week’s edition, and they were within a short amount of time from each other. Give both a read…

“Greg De Marco is such a great name and you have been given the “prime” column because of the Vs. aspect.
Do not disappoint because you could be as big as Hyatte at some point.

Mickie James and that ass please.

The whole thing about TNA, and wrestling in general, is that no one is thinking things through. They are all caught in the trap of trying to secure ratings, which were never important until WCW started winning in the 90’s. Up until then, angles were well thought out (for the most part, although early 90’s WCW was horrible) and worked backwards. As in the WrestleMania main event was planned and then they worked backwards to make it seem exciting. That’s how you had twists and turns that no one saw coming. In this day and age, with the internet and everyone wanting to get themselves over (I’m talking the fans and wrestlers) there are truly no surprises anymore.
Wrestling will die if it doesn’t reinvent itself and UFC is primed to take it’s place (and it’s already happening).
There has to be reality to wrestling. There has to be back story. Throwing crap at the wall has killed what wrestling was as companies are trying to get ratings points instead of actually making sense. Wrestling is over analyzed to the point that it can never live up to the expectations because we have seen Jeff Hardy fly off of 20 ft ladders and their has to be some cooperation among the wrestlers for safety sake.

Until these people decide that they need to become more real, and that the titles are the focus, wanting the fame and fortune they bring instead of stupid storylines like Immortal, and Nexus the ratings will decrease.
Entertain us without insulting us. And for the IWC, just back off. Stop analyzing every thing to the nth degree because it takes away from the suspense of belief. You will never be satisfied because you are the problem.
There are no more “surprises” to have because there are no fresh ideas being presented. The last original idea was the Four Horsemen. Everything else has just been some sort of spin off of that angle. Even ECW was about rebellion against the establishment, ala the Horsemen.

Get new ideas, pull in realism like UFC and have guys that hate each other because of greed. Then you will get people to buy in to what you are doing.

But what do I know, I just clicked for boobs.”
~Guest#5322

“Mickie James… but there should only be one in the HOB… and it’s Velvet.

I think that there should be a movement from fans to take back wrestling…

Not to the Attitude Era, that was just shock value designed to get ratings, which worked but also led to some of the dumbest things ever seen on screen.

It has been romanticized to the point that no one wants to remember the stupidity of most of it. But I will say the best part was Austin vs. McMahon. The Ministry was Dungeon of Doom levels of stupid, HHH marrying Steph was laughable. DX was ok when we had the Outlaws, X-Pac, HHH & Chyna. But most of it was drivel.
WCW had the nWo but no plan.

You know what was great? WCCW Von Erich’s vs. Freebirds. Southwest Championship Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic, Mid-south. There were elements of reality that made it believable and heels that were actually hated. Your best babyface is only as strong as your best heel. There is no development to characters nowadays at all. Sure, the little that is there seems good, but compared to the territory days, it is really weak. The ability of a wrestler to move from one area to another and develop his character and ability can’t be overlooked. By the time people like Savage hit the big time, they were seasoned and believable.

FCW (and OVW before it), aren’t serving the same needs because they are being taught only the WWE way. And we’ve been conditioned to think that holds are boring. But think about the Anderson’s in the 80’s. They would work a body part and make it believable–that is lost when you have a spot that should be a match ender becomes a transition move. A DDT is now just another move, but Jake Roberts made it devastating. Flair working the legs to set up the Figure Four, Magnum TA wearing down an opponent for the belly to belly, Tully Blanchard’s slingshot suplex was amazing and I am surprised no one uses it to this day.

With moves like a flip pile driver and things of that ilk, you should have them be used sparingly and the person that takes the move should be out for an extended period. Much like UFC put’s guys on medical suspensions… I’m not saying take a guy out for 180 days, but a month, two? And when there is an injury the person is taken completely off of tv and forgotten until they come back for the Royal Rumble or whatever. The Orton updates a few years back were the perfect way to keep someone in the spotlight while nursing an injury.

And we need to have managers that can talk for their men. This generation needs a Bobby The Brain Heenan or Jimmy Hart. James Mitchell was the best in a long time but was put in the Kane version 2.0 angle with Abyss.

I just want good action, doesn’t have to be Hardy flying off of ladders, but believable bouts with clear winners and losers. Sometimes you have to lose, it doesn’t hurt a guy unless he never wins. The attitudes of the “stars” is that they have to be “strong” all the time but the truth is one man has to lose. Maybe even go back to JTTS types that just are good hands but let the stars get “strong wins” (thanks Gary Hart) and allow the big match ups to take place on PPV. You want buyrates, then don’t let your PPV guys touch each other until the PPV. And build a match for more than a week.

I like that this has turned to a more serious turn then just Mickie’s ass or Gail’s hot… that’s an important part, but as Ric Flair used to say, “The marquee on the building says wrestling.” Let’s get back the pseudo sport we love.”
~Guest#4843

Compliments of my work aside (those do help get you printed!), both guests make great thoughts here. The underlying theme is simple: Back to Basics. And I don’t think these two people are wrong. I know they aren’t, because I agree with their theme and I doubt I’m the only one. The marquee does indeed still say wrestling, and it’s been the wrestling lately that has stood out in people’s mind. Fans still refer to the great 5-match series between Beer Money, Inc. and The Motor City Machine Guns in TNA, especially the 2 out of 3 falls final match. The Bragging Rights-RAW-Smackdown trio of matches between Daniel Bryan & Dolph Ziggler were heavily talked about that week, despite the Taker-Brock “confrontation” and the surprise turn of Matt Morgan in TNA. And one of my favorite RAW’s in recent memory was the episode where everyone qualified for Team RAW & Bragging Rights.

That’s one reason I actually like the current Nexus storyline. They’re using their power and numbers to collect gold. Has anyone put more importance on the WWE Championship recently than Wade Barrett? He’s willing to let John Cena walk out of Nexus just so he can wear that gold. Knowing full well that once Cena is free, he could easily go after Barrett, and The Miz is always looming in the background with that red briefcase. It all comes back to the WWE Championship.

The need for UFC influence…the apathy towards extended promos…desire for a well built competitive feud…it all lends itself to one statement: We Want Wrestling. Just go out there and wrestle because you want to win the match. Let’s pretend that the winner really does make more money than the loser, coming up to the Pay Winduh! (“If you weeeeeeeeeeeil!”) Despite it’s flaws, this is something Ring of Honor does well. Everything comes back to the action in the ring. Veterans like Steve Corino & Christopher Daniels are mentoring the young stars. And they’re both putting out great matches as well. They define what wrestling needs right now. Great in-ring action, meaningful championships & reigns, and a top contender facing a fighting champion.

And overall, I love reading the comments for my column. You all really do get involved in the discussion, and I like that. As long as you keep participating, I’ll keep posting pictures!

After a last minute change last week, your originally scheduled “&1” model makes her appearance this week. The original Go Daddy girl herself, Candace Michelle!

She did a few commercials as well…here’s one now!

Want more 411? Of course you do! I made an appearance in this week’s Buy or Sell with fellow newbie Michael Ornelas. I owned it (just kidding Ornelas). Also, check out JP Prag’s Hamilton Ave Journal for the always interesting read on the business side of…well, the business! Benjamin Waller slices it up in The Wrestling Layer Cake and there’s even a recent article in the music section about Katy Perry once wanting a breast reduction. Blasphemy!

Thank you again for reading The Wrestling 5&1. Go vote for Mickie or Cookie, vote in this week’s You Decide, leave a comment, talk some wrestling, and feel free to shoot me an e-mail at [email protected].

I hear voices cryin’! I hear Daniel Bryan!

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• 0 - 0.9 Torture
• 1 - 1.9 Extremely Horrendous
• 2 - 2.9 Very Bad
• 3 - 3.9 Bad
• 4 - 4.9 Poor
• 5 - 5.9 Not So Good
• 6 - 6.9 Average
• 7 - 7.9 Good
• 8 - 8.9 Very Good
• 9 - 9.9 Amazing
• 10 Virtually Perfect