The 411 Wrestling Hot or Not 9.25.11: Hulk Hogan, Mark Henry, Smackdown, FCW and more

Hello and welcome to the 411 Wrestling Hot or Not! My name is Seán Reid, and at times I love wrestling. I love the in ring action, the over the top characters and the drama it brings. But I hate when they get things wrong. I hate when egos ruin the product, when guys don’t bring it in the ring and when they make me scream “Who is booking this crap?!?”

Some serious contenders in the comment section last week for both title, but there were two that stood head and shoulders above the rest. Let’s look at this week’s:

Posted By: Dr. Wiki (Guest) on September 18, 2011 at 10:34 AM”

Dr. Wiki was responding to a guy who said I focused too much on TNA and the indie scene last week. The fact is this column isn’t exclusive to WWE and is not biased to one company over the other. If TNA performs better than the WWE then why shy away from it? So for simply “getting it” you are my Broski of the Week Dr. Wiki!

“To the guy that wrote this column:
have some freaking respect for Flair and Sting! You expected a train wreck eh? Well that’s you and the IWC crybabies like you. In your opinion That match shouldn’t have been a main event for a weekly show. Newsflash for you: even as zombies both Sting and Flair coul draw more than almost anybody else in TNA and that match served to launch a feud between Hogan and Sting at Bound For Glory! Hogan and Sting! Even as dying corpses the two would draw more than Bobby Roode even though Bobby is a really good wrestler. Do you REALLY think a really good wrestler is automatically a better draw than the biggest draw in the history of the business (Hogan)? Roode should say thanks to Hogan and Sting if he will make new fans at Bound For Glory when he will wrestle for the gold ve Kurt Angle, another established and already big name in wrestling. The casual people have always been the key, not the pure wrestling fans. Austin and Hogan, or the Rock, or the NWO, or Flair, have been able to capture the interest of people not so obsessed to wrestling. With their charisma, their antics. We’re talking about a scripted-fake form of entertainment with moronic fans that sometimes, when their fave wrestler is involved, cry like babies withour her mum if their heroes don’t get to win clean the title in the main event of the biggest PPV of the year. Wake up, without the Flairs and the Stings, the guys that have drawn millions, the business wouldn’t even exist. Have some respect for two legends, the match didn’t suck, it was a slow old school bout but the two legends deserve better words for everything they’ve given. In Japan matches like that are attractions that draw a huge sense of respect and the devotion of so many fans. And the match had MUCH MORE HEAT than your usual TNA or WWE weekly main event. Usually TNA main events on Impact are just a way to progress storylines and often are very short and with interferences. This kind of match with legends done once in a while is a good thing for the long time fans that can see at least one more time some of their fave wrestlers, shows the new stars how charismatic those icons can be and usually they even draw decent numbers.

Posted By: Max (Guest) on September 18, 2011 at 06:19 PM”

OK, where do I start? I have all the respect in the world for Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Sting. These were guys I grew up watching and who have been involved in easily some of my favourite matches. It is this level of respect that makes me not want them to wrestle today. My points are not about if they can draw anymore, it’s about holding their image and keeping it strong. But by having them go out and wrestle when they are that limited, it does nothing for their reputation. I work with a guy who is 21 and has only begun watching wrestling about three years ago. He is a complete mark and will argue with me until the cows come home that Kozlov is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He is, essentially, the modern wrestling fan. And he thinks Ric, Sting and Hogan are awful wrestlers. He has not seen any of their older stuff and has no intention of doing so. Call that ignorant if you wish, but this is the mindset of most of today’s wrestling audience. And that annoys me. These guys are ruining their reputation and I don’t want to see that. Your post had some interesting points, but with your attitude and assumptions you have earned the title of Troll of the Week.

1) Hugh Jackman Kicks Ass: The guest host of Raw concept returned this week, and it displayed what happens when you get someone to fill the role that is actually excited to do it. Jackman didn’t come off as someone who just wanted to sell a film, he looked like he was having a brilliant time. Not only that, but his appearance on Raw got the WWE a lot of media attention, especially his angle with Dolph Ziggler. If the WWE keep their guest hosts limited to once every few weeks, ensure that the host is not only a fan but someone who can deliver in the role and is socially relevant enough to generate media attention, then more fans would praise the idea rather than moan about it. But the highlight of Jackson’s appearance wasn’t him punching Dolph Ziggler. No, rather it came from this week’s episode of Z! True Long Story. Plus Ryder’s tribute to Jackson is brilliant. Just watch!

2) Hogan Loves Kayfabe: Before I go into this point, I should warn you that this point has spoilers for Impact. So the story was that Hulk Hogan would be calling it a day and hanging up his boots. TNA and Hogan were doing everything in their power to try make fans believe that this was the real deal. While some of us remained cynical about the whole thing, a lot of casual fans actually bought the whole thing. So when Hogan came out to give his goodbye speech on Impact, those fans were stunned to see Sting come out and reveal a video of Hogan and Eric Bischoff laughing about how the whole thing was just a plan to sell more merch. The heat on Hogan afterwards was reported to be completely off the charts and did brilliant things to get him over as a heel and to get his ass kicked. I have to admit, I am a sucker for when wrestlers carry on kayfabe, because it creates great moments like this. So bravo to Hogan for setting this whole thing up so well, showcasing that when he is doing things right, he is still an absolute master at his craft.

3) Rhett Titus!!!: This week the All Night Express beat The Briscoe Brothers in an absolutely brutal Ladder War to become the number one contenders for the ROH World Tag Team Titles. I think the most amazing thing from this result is the rise of Rhett Titus. I remember when he emerged from the ROH Wrestling School with his Elton John glasses and updating of a classic heel gimmick. To be honest, while I liked him, I never thought he would amount to anything. Out of so many others who came out of the school, I thought there were those with a lot more potential than Titus. But here I am eating my words, and I’m happy to do so. Titus has become one of the best things in ROH, and he has evolved into a great wrestler. His teaming with Kenny King has done amazing things for Titus, and this match is his crowning achievement so far. It can be difficult to make through to the upper card of a roster when you have a gimmick like Rhett’s, but he has surpassed this and made it his own. This is just like guys like Undertaker or Mankind who have over the top gimmicks, but they have made them believable. I’m not saying Titus will be as big as these guys, but he has ensured that he is now viewed as a high quality wrestler.

4) Mark Henry Wins: A part of me doubted that the WWE would pull the trigger on this, but Mark Henry has won the World Heavyweight Championship. Some people are complaining that this is simply a thank you from the company to Henry for being loyal to the company for 15 years. To those people I ask: have you been watching him over the past summer? Henry has had the run of his career and has looked like an absolute monster. The fact that it took 15 years for him to discover this is shocking, but I’m overjoyed that he has. Henry is a huge breath of fresh air to the main event scene on Smackdown and is a break from the norm. I predict that he will hold onto the belt until the end of the year after completely destroying the Smackdown roster, only for Sheamus to be the man that stops him and take back the gold. Hey, call me biased, but I think Sheamus is someone that belongs in the main event scene permanently.

5) Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose III: Florida Championship Wrestling has presented some great showcases of wrestling this year, but the rubber match between Seth Rollins (Former ROH Champion Tyler Black) and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) was one of the best matches of this year. In fact, I would go out on a limb and state that it was the best match this year not pitching Punk against Cena or Orton versus Christian. You have to watch this match. It has me very excited for the day that these two find their way onto the main roster, and hopefully they won’t have their opportunity wasted by the WWE.

Jordan Devlin: Devlin recently returned from a tour with Japanese company Zero 1, and the change in him is astounding. Competing under the name Frank David, he once again displayed the strong talent that is coming out of Irelands Fight Factory Pro Wrestling. The group is producing easily the best wrestlers in Europe that deserve bookings across the globe. I watched Devlin live at Poetry Slam two weeks ago, and he has become a great high flyer. He reminds me of a young AJ Styles, and he is destined for great things. So check out the following clips of this weeks ‘European You Need to Know’:

Dublin City Rumble: I doubt many of you in the States were aware of this, but earlier this year some of wrestling’s biggest names took part in a Royal Rumble in Dublin’s Temple Bar. Hulk Hogan, Mick Foley, Bret Hart and many others took part in this huge event, which you can view here:

1) Two Week Build: I really don’t think I need to elaborate on the sheer stupidity of this. There is a two week gap between Night of Champions and Hell in a Cell. Both of these PPVs cost $44.99. When your target audience is children then what on earth are you thinking? In a time when disposable income is scarce, what parent is going to shell out almost $100 in such a short amount of time for their children? Then for the storylines, how can you convince people to actually buy the PPV in such a short amount of time? The WWE is banking on the concept of the Hell in a Cell to sell itself, but in a PG era that simply doesn’t work. I would be stunned if Hell in a Cell sold well. No doubt when the PPV numbers come out, the WWE will blame everything under the sun for the low buys. From Mark Henry as champion, CM Punk in the main event and some other sporting event. Everything will get the blame, except for the two week gap. Thank God we here in Ireland get them for free, because I think my girlfriend would kill me when the TV bill comes to the house!

2) That Ending: A lot has been said about the ending to HHH vs. CM Punk. I thought there were positives and negatives to it, but the negatives were too big and simply ruined a very entertaining contest. I thought HHH really helped make Punk the strongest he has ever been. He had to give him three pedigrees before he could put him away, not even John Cena in a Wrestlemania match gets to make a statement like that. My problem lies with R Truth and The Miz running out. I always have a problem with overbooking an angle. TNA piss me off when they do it and I would be a hypocrite if I turned a blind eye to the WWE when they do it. Over the past few weeks, both men spoke out about how big of a problem they had with HHH, yet they helped him win the match? Surely if they didn’t want him to be COO they would have done their best to have Punk win. And this confusion was apparent to both men, because they attacked both HHH and CM Punk! Not only that, but R Truth tried to get CM Punk to pin HHH, then tried to get HHH to pin CM Punk. Who thought about this angle? Because I hope they got an ear full after the PPV. The interference should have started and ended with Kevin Nash, instead of having this over booked mess. At least that wouldn’t have taken away from a great match.

3) Un Doble Problema: We are a few weeks into the Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara storyline and I’m already tired of it. This should have been something exciting that joined CM Punk’s crusade for change and Daniel Bryan’s return at Summerslam that used internet stories to build a feud. But instead, we are getting “point offs” between Hunico and Místico. I get it, both men are trying to say that they are the real Sin Cara, but they have done nothing new since this begun. Instead they are just doing Hulk Hogan “youuuu” tributes at each other and it’s painfully dull. I hope something happens next week, because if it doesn’t then someone may as well just hand Místico his pink slip.

And just before my deadline, Daniel Bryan let everyone know his feelings on the whole thing! Check out the video
and let me know what you think in the comment section.

4) Smackdown Fails: God it was painful to watch Smackdown this week. Every week I hyped up Smackdown, as it got better and better. But this week’s show was, for want of a better word, shit. The best match of the night was Mark Henry and Christian and that was just about watchable. The whole show just seemed rushed and was presented as a huge after thought to a high quality Raw. Since HHH announced Smackdown’s wrestlers were to appear on Raw as a promotion for the brand, I wondered why? I mean, by having Smackdown’s best guys wrestle on Raw, why should I bother to watch Smackdown? I got to see everyone wrestle already, so why should I do it again? Surely it would make more sense to have a single Smackdown guy come onto Raw to promote the brand, or have a Raw guy go onto the blue brand. Let’s say, for example, you have CM Punk appear on Raw, and he wants to bring his change across the whole WWE, so this week on Smackdown he will have a match with Daniel Bryan. He then goes on to say that he is doing this so the fans will see how talented those who are being overlooked by the powers to be truly are. Boom, there I have a reason to watch that week’s Smackdown. It would certainly help interest in the show, and prevent hiccups like this weeks show.

5) Superstars Cancelled: The WWE has decided to cancel showing Superstars in the United States, clearly showing that the writing is on the wall for the show. We still receive it in Ireland, and it is always a great highlight of my wrestling week. The wrestlers know that they can get away with a lot more on the show, and it often results in some high quality matches. I suppose we should have seen this coming when Chris Masters was released from the company. It’s such a huge shame, because it means that more guys will probably lose their contracts before the year is out, and it gives guys less opportunities to learn how to work for TV and get a live crowd behind you.

That’s me for this week, if you have any stories that you feel should make it into next week’s list then fire me an email or leave a comment below. Take it easy and I’ll see you next week!