The Wednesday Wire: 3.21.12: Back From A Quick Break

It’s been two weeks since you’ve had the pleasure of enjoying 411’s biggest mid-week attraction, the Wednesday Wire! It was nice to not have to do any writing for a week (with no column and vacation from school & work) but I was beginning to miss it, so here we are, back again. The push to WrestleMania is about to hit Miami, which means it’s time to put forth an even better effort than usual. I’m refreshed and hopefully you’ve been looking forward to my return. Let’s get down to the news and reviews and thoughts on all of the professional wrestling that you can handle.

I was watching some videos on the new WWE.com, which is the best the site has ever been, and it’s a shame that they decided that Cole needs to be a character within the show instead of a straight commentator. The guy was great when Tazz was around (Cole & Tazz are the best modern commentary team as far as I’m concerned) and was really good at what he was commissioned to do. He did very well in the role of the play-by-play guy in an anti play-by-play world. Maybe one day he’ll go back to being the happy-go-lucky guy who’s just happy to be there and doing his best to call matches. I certainly hope so. I am very tired of the bickering commentary, and I’m sure most everybody else is as well.

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Candy Bottocks is on Team Bring It “I keep reading that Cena “owned/owns” Rock, but can someone actually give me a good argument for this?

Seriously, for everyone above the age of 12, Cena is hurting the build and the match with all his crap. Building the match would seem the more important matter instead of flaming Dwayne Johnson all the time, right? Bless Rock for at least trying.”

Rock is constantly “flaming” Cena as well. The only difference is that Cena is the one being proactive about it on Twitter, which is WWE’s new thing. He’s actually continuing to be a perfect company man by taking the feud to Twitter and provoking Rocky there on a regular basis. When it comes to the television side, Cena is acting much more serious than Dwayne is, and most importantly, he gets to the point and gets out of there. As has been noted, Cena has spent 2 minutes in the ring and been more effective than Rock has been with 20. Either they’re telling him to tone it down big time or Rocky just doesn’t have it after being gone for so long, because he’s not nearly as good as he once was when he has the mic in his hand.

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Guest#8344 replies to Candy Bottocks “Wrong. It’s the rock thats bringing down the build for the match, everything he says makes it look like a boring joke, you get nothing from him that makes it seem like dwayne cares about the match. Everything from cena elevates this fued…it makes us question who is actually going to win in front of a florida crowd, stop being a mark for just a second and see the facts.”

There’s not a thing wrong with being a mark, but that aside, you’re pretty much right. Out of curiosity, though, by saying that we’re questioning “who is going to win in front of a Florida crowd”, are you referencing crowd reaction as far as who will be cheered and who will be booed? If so, I think it’s pretty clear that Cena doesn’t have a shot at being the face on April 1. What remains to be seen is whether or not he’s going to be booed like Rocky was at WM x-8 against Hogan or if Cena’s usual vocal crowd will be loud enough to show some support.

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Guest#6780 sounds off on ROH’s 10th Ann’y “Wow, talk about overrating a PPV! I was honestly not to impressed with the ROH show until the final match(which was excellent). Most of the new faces were bland and unintersting(looking at you Bennet & Ciampi), and the fact that they had too many matches on a card with a nearly 40 minute main event, cut the running time on several matches. Here’s an idea ROH: a 5 or 6 match card with a good 30 minutes for each of the matches.”

Bennett is a guy that people are generally either going to like or hate, and the ones who hate him are more likely to ignore him than anything else. I happen to like him. He doesn’t fit into the mold of the usual ROH guy (which is why a lot of people have wanted him out since day one) but he can keep up enough to put on very good matches with the right opponents. If you’ve only seen his match with Homicide, you don’t have enough to go by. His first match with Jay Lethal for the TV Title was really good and while Lethal is fantastic, Bennett played his part perfectly. Ciampa also works a slower style than the usual ROH performer, but he’s got a great look and great intensity. In my eyes, his matches come off as methodical as opposed to slow, which can occasionally be the case for Bennett.

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Guest#6271 disagrees with my MOTY declaration “There were three matches on the 10th Ann show that was better than the main event.

Not to mention, that match wasnt crisp at all. If nothing else, the guys in that match are pretty clean in how they work, but this match had several sloppy moves that were just executed horribly.”

It was mostly Adam Cole that had issues, but I attribute that to the amount of pressure he was under. He has the least “big match” experience and he was booked to get the pin, which just added more pressure. As long as he can relax and gain some composure thanks to more exposure in main event level matches, he’ll be fine. I haven’t watched the match itself a second time yet, but I will as soon as I get some free time to do so. I definitely see the argument about it not being completely crisp, but the action was balls-to-the-wall and I had a great time watching it as it happened. Out of curiosity, what were the three matches that were better?

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From Bootney Lee Farnsworth: “I didn’t even know he and Brian Kendrick were friends.”

Some dude named Streak Thoughts has some thoughts “At SOME point surely someone has to end the streak to get a push.

1) If HBK helps HHH win then it devalues the rub HHH gets in the process. HHH doesn’t need the rub either which is why the match making seems poor IMO.”

Marsico: There’s no rub to be had for Triple H. He’s arguably stronger than ‘Taker as a character/wrestler, and he’s over to the point where no win or loss can help or hurt him. The point isn’t a rub, the point is giving the casual fans something to see and make some money. There’s more money to be made with the “End of an Era” match with two huge stars than there is with using WrestleMania to elevate a guy who would be better served with a series of strong performances than with a win that could end up being forgotten.

“2) If HBK costs HHH the win as HHH is looking like he’s about to win, then it merely devalues the rub some guy may get NEXT year when they end the streak.The only argument to have HHH in this match over a young guy who appears every week and could benefit from the push is that it’s Mania and the match quality is the most important thing.”

Marsico: I think you’re putting too much thought into it. For one, a huge star like Triple H coming that close to beating Undertaker, whether he wins, loses or gets screwed isn’t going to hurt ‘Taker’s WrestleMania streak legitimacy. Plus if he gets screwed that means they’ve have to have ANOTHER match next year, so that won’t happen. Secondly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a “next year” for The Undertaker at WrestleMania. I know every year we speculate that this time it’s really over, but a match inside Hell in a Cell being biled as “End of an Era” sounds pretty final.

“Put Ziggler in there though… The match would be better because Ziggler would bump like a hero for Taker. The match would be different. Have more pace. Be seven shades of awesome. Ziggler has proved he’s legit. No, he doesn’t have HHH’s history to back it up – but he has enough. His match quality, professionalism, look, age… give him the match… give him the win – this year or at a second attempt next year… it helps build the career of a young guy who has IT – who can wrestle with anyone, is showing signs of a marked improvement on the mic, and has a great look.”

Marsico: As I said above, and this is especially true for a guy like TZZM, a sustained push would be much better for his career than a win on one night. At this point the streak is better served as a “could it happen?” between two established stars than as a tool to help a young guy (whether he’s on the cusp or not) get over. It’s less of a risk to take and there are much better ways to make a star than to have him win a one-off special attraction match.

“HHH losing or winning versus Taker doesn’t make as much sense. Especially if he loses via HBK interference. That’s just costing Taker his clean win, and costing the young guy who does eventually end the streak as it’ll devalue it, to simply pander to HHH’s ego.”

Marsico: Nobody will ever beat him at WrestleMania, especially not a young guy. Randy Orton, and to a much lesser extent, Edge, were the last chances to see that happen. The time for that is over. Now it’s about putting ‘Taker in there with an established star to make as much money as possible. On top of that, if more people order ‘Mania for Triple H v. Undertaker that means more eyes on the wrestlers like Daniel Bryan, Sheamus and the rest. That’s the best way for those guys to get a WrestleMania rub from The Undertaker.

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After the Oklahoma Athletic Commission banned pro wrestling, MMA and the like, people assumed that WWE’s October show set for Oklahoma City was off. The OAC’s director Joe Miller says that the issue will be cleared up in time for the WWE show. I originally intended to be snarky, but I lost interest.

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Out of absolutely nowhere, it appears that the man formerly known as A-Train is on his way back to WWE, and according to some he’s in for a big push. I always liked the guy, and after a ton of time in Japan he’s likely to be even better than he was when he left. Granted he’s some 10 years older, but I don’t think that would play much of a factor. The rumor is that he’ll be back after WrestleMania to start a program with John Cena. For his part, A-Train (currently Giant Bernard over in New Japan) is denying that he’s even been contacted by anybody in the States, let alone signed.

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WWE Films has acquired the rights to one of the most ridiculous horror movie franchises of all time. They will be releasing a new Leprechaun movie in 2013 and reports say that there will be a sequel (the 7th movie overall, I believe) later on. I think I’ve missed the last two, but I may be forcing my wife to watch the whole series with me soon. My father let my brothers and I watch the first movie when I was 11 or so. Probably not a good idea. I loved it, though.

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According to good ‘ol Jim Ross, some new developmental guys are get to be brought up after WrestleMania. Judging by recent house show reports, one could surmise that Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose will be on their way up and I would like to see Damien Sandow, who was once on the roster as Idol Stevens along with KC James as Michelle McCool’s “Teacher’s Pets” tag team, get called up as well. Speaking of KC James, do you know who retired him from WWE competition?

Click for the full picture.

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Shockingly, Matt Bloom (AKA A-Train, AKA Giant Bernard, AKA Prince Albert, AKA Albert, AKA Hip-Hop Hippopotamus) has indeed signed back on to be a part of WWE. On RAW Monday night there was a short teaser for “Lord Tensai”, which quite clearly featured the gentleman of whom we are speaking.

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It has been confirmed that Flo Rida will be appearing at WrestleMania to perform The Rock’s theme song live. Machine Gun Kelly is going to be performing John Cena’s theme. It’s not known exactly what either guy will be performing, since Rock’s song has no lyrics and Cena’s theme is self-performed. I’d love it if they used an older Rock theme and just had Flo Rida sit backstage with a live mic saying “The Rock… The Rock… The Rock says know your damn role.” Just completely underutilize him as if he were Turkey #2 on South Park.

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Shane Douglas bought a ticket to RAW this Monday night and wore a lucha mask. He then took off his button-down shirt and the mask to reveal a fat guy with a goatee and bad hair. The people immediately surrounding him started to chant ECW. One would guess that those people probably knew him. Douglas proceeded to go up the steps in the arena while trying to convince people that ECW is still alive. Most of the people looked perplexed and somewhat annoyed. I think I’m going to label this as an obvious failure.

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Warwick Davis, the star of the Leprechaun franchise that WWE has acquired the rights to, has spoken out about how he is against WWE doing a remake of the original movie. Was that the plan? Shit… I’d kinda like to see that. I would be much more interested in a shot-for-shot (somewhat) remake of the original Leprechaun movie than in another shitty sequel.

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TNA LockDown will be airing in movie theatres across the country. Here’s the list of theatres. Apparently they did the same with Bound for Glory last year. See, if they did this with WrestleMania, I would totally be on board. It would probably be tough to keep my 5-year-old boy in one spot for 4 hours though.

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It seems that CM Punk v. Chris Jericho will be playing the role of ADR v. Edge and open WrestleMania this year. Reports have said that such is the plan, and recently Jim Ross said that he would like to see the match open the show since it would ensure that the two men wouldn’t have to battle with issues of time constraints. The matches on the card make it tough to place something first, and at this point it doesn’t appear that they’re going to be adding anything else to the card. Nothing else can realistically go on first. They’re not going to put Orton out there first and Rhodes will be keeping the IC belt so that’s not a good way to start the show either. I guess they can do Bryan v. Sheamus first as long as Sheamus is scheduled to win the belt.

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FCW President Steve Keirn has stated that the report going around that WWE’s developmental camp will be shutting its doors are untrue. Both PWTorch and the Wrestling Observer have reported on the matter, with The Observer breaking the news with a report that WWE notified the Brighthouse Network down in FL that they would be cutting ties with Florida Championship effective immediately. PWTorch later added that the developmental talent would be moved up to Stamford for the time being until further plans were finalized.

Keirn’s statement might mean that, much like Ohio Valley Wrestling, while WWE will no longer be associated with the company the promotion itself will continue operating. Newer reports are saying that the only thing being canceled will be the FCW television show that airs on Brighthouse. Upon reading the news on Tuesday afternoon I became pretty upset; I am moving my family down to the Tampa Bay area in a few months and my son was very excited when I told him about the wrestling shows that we could attend down there. If FCW is gone he’s going to be disappointed.

I’m updating this as the day goes on, so I apologize if the continuing nature of this story comes across looking weird. The latest update on the story comes directly from Triple H through WWE.com. Triple H states:

” WWE’s developmental system is being revamped, not shut down. If anything, it’s going to get bigger and better than ever. WWE Developmental cultivates the future talent of WWE. By no means is it going to get smaller or shut down.”

Here’s the thing… he didn’t say a thing about FCW. It seems like he was pretty sure to just mention WWE’s developmental system, and he said that there will be an announcement coming after WrestleMania. I think he’s just doing the management-y thing here and telling everybody that the plane isn’t about to crash, meanwhile the fuel tank is almost fully empty. To me this sounds like FCW will indeed be shutting down in the coming weeks and they will be moving developmental up north, just as the dirt sheets (that HHH was sure to get in a shot at) reported.

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Rob Van Dam will be appearing for TNA this weekend. He’s scheduled to face Robbie E on the upcoming house shows in the Northeast. Think that’s some sort of rib based on RVD’s early ring name Robby V? Holy crap! I know what they’re doing! RVD is coming back to TNA to join a fist-pumping heel stable!

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WWE has officially issued a press release announcing that Flo Rida and Machine Gun Kelly will be performing at WrestleMania. On Monday night Flo Rida tweeted that he would be performing two songs, which is now confirmed. The announcement states that Flo Rida will be doing “Good Feeling” and “Wild Ones” while MGK will be on stage with his hit “Invincible”. I like both tracks by Flo Rida, but the Machine Gun Kelly one sucks. Oh, and am I remembering things wrong? Didn’t WWE use “Good Feeling” as the Survivor Series theme song? What is it with WrestleMania getting recycled theme songs and not having one song to really base the show on? A lot of people remember WM x-Seven fondly thanks to the fantastic Rock/Austin promo video that used that year’s theme “My Way” by Limp Bizkit.

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Ring of Honor has announced a new match for night 2 of their ShowDown in the Sun double header on WrestleMania weekend. In a continuation of the CHIKARA/ROH conflict, Fire Ant will head down to Florida to battle TJ Perkins in what promises to be fast, high-flying and probably just all around awesome.

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“You’re full of shit, and that’s exactly what I’m gonna beat outta you.”

The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and Triple H
Awkwardness in the ring

I don’t know what the deal is, but a lot of the time these guys have spent in the ring talking has been pretty uninspired. Undertaker especially seems very tired and only moderately interested in the whole thing, which has stifled the crowd on a number of occasions and has made some of the segments feel somewhat awkward. Shawn looked like he was asleep as Triple H and Undertaker stared each other down with the ref for their match standing in the background and Triple H’s delivery sounded very forced. Triple H has actually been the strongest part of the feud, but on RAW this week he went out there and said nothing. He said it in a loud and unconvincing voice, almost as if he wasn’t convinced that anything he was saying even mattered. It ended up closing RAW on a bit of a downer, which also wasn’t helped by Shawn looking confused as to whether or not the cameras were done rolling. I did like his smirk at Triple H right after The Phenom told The Game that The Showstopper was better, but then both guys just kinda… stood there.

Something else I’ve also wanted to mention for a while; does it feel weird and at least a little bit wrong that for the past 8 or so years Shawn has been played off as Triple H’s lacky? I remember back when Shawn was THE MAN and Triple H was the goofy guy that lagged behind. It’s so odd to see their roles switched as they have over the better part of the past decade since Shawn’s return.

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John Cena, Mark Henry and The Rock
The Rock Bottom heard ’round the…

How exactly was The Rock proving a point by coming out after Cena’s match, nailing his finishing move on an already beaten-down Mark Henry (though it did look awesome), slapping his chest at Cena and walking away? Was that supposed to come off as Rock telling Cena that he could lift the big man too? Was it supposed to be one-upsmanship? I don’t really get what they were going for. All that actually transpired was Rock taking advantage of a guy that Cena had already disposed of. Badass or not (it kinda was), it didn’t really prove a point. The Cena/Henry match was also better than expected.

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The Miz, Sheamus and King Kong Bundy
Shameful thing, Miz lost his head

So is The Miz getting a spot on Team Johnny or not? It really is a damn shame that he is going from defending the WWE Title, successfully (only the second heel to ever do that), at WrestleMania last year to having to scrounge his way up to maybe get on the card. I wouldn’t be shocked if he ended up being left off the team at this point. Miz’ reference to King Kong Bundy dating back to 1986 and 1987 likely went over the heads of a ton of the audience, but I thought it was awesome. It would be funny if Big Johnny put Miz in a match on RAW next week with Hornswoggle and a bunch of other midgets (preferably dressed as Little Tokyo, Haiti Kid and the like) and told him he would get to be on the team if he could beat them. I honestly wouldn’t mind this angle being the impetus of a Miz face turn. I don’t remember who the GM was at the time, but I think it was Teddy Long who was in charge of SmackDown when Miz made his debut as the “host” of the show. They could play up the idea of Long giving The Miz his first shot by letting him be on Tv and eventually letting him get in the ring as a reason for The Miz to turn his back on his evil ways. I wouldn’t mind them setting up the match as 6-on-5 with Long’s team at a disadvantage (or a mystery team member, either way) and then having Miz make a surprise entrance at ‘Mania to round out Team Teddy. He could either explain it in a quick promo before the match or come out while the match is in progress and shock everybody by helping Team Teddy (hopefully to a good pop) and then explain it the next night on RAW.

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CM Punk, Chris Jericho and Punk’s Sister
A whole other level

I didn’t see all of this coming. Punk and Jericho going back and forth proclaiming themselves to be the best in the world seemed to be the overall basis of the feud, and then suddenly Jericho calls out Punk for his father’s alcoholism. He follows that up with a masterful fake apology and proclaiming that Punk’s sister has drug problems. Jericho is claiming that since CM Punk has a family history of substance abuse it is inevitable that Punk will eventually succumb to the pull of the addiction. Jericho is the first guy to draw real emotion out of Punk since his career revival (so to speak) in June of 2011. Punk has stayed cool in the face of just about everything, but Jericho has been able to cross a border that Punk was not ready to defend. I think that the way this story is going it pretty much sets in stone that Punk will be holding onto the belt at WrestleMania. With one more RAW to go before the biggest show of the year, what do they have in store for their last interaction before their title match?

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I haven’t seen the show yet (yeah, bitch at me again if you want, I’m busy) but I would like to comment on a few things.

James Storm v. Bully Ray ended up opening the show and being two minutes long. I read that Storm has an ankle injury, so is that the reason this went the way it did? I’ve also been meaning to bring this up for a few weeeks… the match Ray and Storm had on TV a few weeks back was really good. Ray spent the whole match working the holy hell out of Storm’s ankle, even to the point of ripping off his boot and having Storm wrestle a portion of the match with one boot and half a sock on. Tazz and Tenay spent a good while talking about how this would likely take away the Last Call superkick, and then BAM, superkick out of nowhere and the win. It essentially felt like they wasted all of that leg work for nothing and it bugs me when that happens.

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They aired a damn inspiring promo announcing the return of the Motor City Machine Guns, which is really exciting to me. Joe/Magnus v. MCMG could lead to a great set of matches.

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I take it we’re going to have to see Morgan v. Crimson again? I get that it was inevitable that they were going to split, but both men are much better off in a tag team so as to mask their limitations. A match with these two against smaller guys like the Machine Guns could be really good. Why can’t teams just stick together so they can have a truly viable tag division?

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Hey, Devon is back. Unlike Bully Ray he hasn’t reinvented himself, but the crowd seems to love him and the guy has always been dependable and reliable. I’m looking forward to seeing what he will do now that the feud with The Pope is over.

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Are we going to find out what’s up with Kaz, Daniels and Styles soon? Will Anderson stay face?

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I’m greatly anticipating checking out the Angle/Hardy match. All reports say it was quite good. Rematch in a cage? I’m for it.

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The angle that closed the show seems pretty hot. Roode is absolutely on fire, and his tension with Dixie from a couple months back when he spat in her face was great, but what happened on PPV sounded better. What’s the deal about the finish of the match though? Sting hit the Scorpion Death Drop but his his head on the chair and cost himself the match? Really? Please tell me that’s not what happened.

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That’s going to be all for this week. Check out all of the other great stuff here on 411Wrestling!

– Randle’s Experience
– Cook’s Corner
– Dimitri’s Hidden Highlights
– Bazar’s Contentious Ten
– Renkin’s Going Broadway

Thanks for reading, thanks for enjoying and come back next week for more.

Next week: More!

– Nicholas A. Marsico