Hitting Below The Beltway 9.30.07: Battle of the Brands

Raw :

Champion: John Cena

Top Contenders: Randy Orton, Triple H, Mr. Kennedy, Shawn Michaels?, Chris Jericho?

With his title reign now over a year and his feud with Randy Orton nearing its culmination it likely won’t be long before John Cena loses the title. While a lot of people are jumping for joy over the possibility of a title change on Raw John Cena has been a very good champion. He’s consistently put on good to great matches with Edge, Shawn Michaels, Bobby Lashley, Umaga, King Booker, Mick Foley, Randy Orton and even the Great Khali. He’s been a very credible champion and I’ve found him entertaining.

While I’m not saying good riddance to John Cena as champion lets just say all good things must come to an end. The most obvious choice to be the next champ on Raw is Randy Orton. Orton is as hot right now as he’s been in a long time. This is the first time I’ve really been excited about him since before his terribly booked title win and face turn. Unfortunately, I think his next title run will have the same fate as his first one: a quick loss to Triple H. I was incredibly excited for Trips’ return at Summerslam, but that excitement has gone away real fast. I was hoping to see a return to the old badass Triple H, but all we’ve gotten is a lot of really bad cock jokes and the burials of a lot of good wrestlers. I’m really not excited to see HHH win the belt back just so he can look even more dominant than he already does and make even more people look like garbage.

The wild cards in the hunt for the WWE Title are Mr. Kennedy, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. I actually find a fair amount of Hornswaggle’s segments funny it would be a whole lot more worthwhile to see Kennedy come back as the true bastard son of Mr. McMahon. Putting Kennedy in a big-time program like that could finally push him into the upper-tier of superstars where he belongs. The guy cuts great promos and has solid matches. A feud between him and Cena, Michaels or HHH(assuming he doesn’t just annihilate Kennedy) could be amazing. Hopefully, when he gets back from suspension Kennedy will actually win some matches and get that big push he deserves.

All the news lately has suggested that HBK isn’t in any rush to make his way back to an active schedule. He’s enjoying his time with his family and he certainly deserves it, but Raw could really use him right now. His feud with Cena is best WWE’s had this year with the possible exception of Hardy/MVP (If you told me a year ago I’d be considering a feud over the US Title featuring MVP would be the best thing on WWE TV I’d have laughed in your face, but it’s true. It’s damn true). Even in his mid-40’s Shawn is probably the best worker in WWE. He’s got a natural feud with Randy Orton after being put out of action by the legend killer. He always had great matches with Triple H. He’d be an excellent babyface to play off of the punkass Kennedy. And then there’s the man he faced at Wrestlemania XIX, Chris Jericho.

The videos for Jericho’s return on Raw and ECW(at least I hope that’s what they were) is the most exciting thing I’ve seen on WWE in a long time. Admittedly, I am a huge Jerichoholic, but I don’t think anyone can deny that his return would be a great thing for Raw. Just like his boyhood idol HBK, Jericho could have a great feud with anyone on the Raw roster. His return could really be the breath of fresh air Raw needs right now. I really hope the trailers aren’t just a tease, I’ve been let down by the promise of a 5’11” blonde with a great sense of humor way too many times before.

Results : Grading Raw’s title scene is a matter looking at what Raw has now and what it could have soon. Cena, Orton and Triple H are all legit superstars, but the program they’re in is very predictable. It’s been clear for while now that Cena will drop the belt to Orton so he can drop the belt to Triple H. While the Cena-Orton feud has been very good thus far, I’m not looking forward to what will follow it. If Kennedy, Michaels and Jericho return and enter the title scene then to quote J.R. “things are about to pick up”. That would be one of the best top line of wrestlers we’ve seen in a long time. And those six guys could put on the best elimination chamber match we’ve seen since the original.

WWE Title scene grade currently : B-

WWE Title scene grade with Kennedy, Michaels and Jericho : A+

Smackdown!

Champion: Batista

Top Contenders: The Great Khali, Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, Mark Henry, Kane and shortly Edge

I’m not going to claim that the Great Khali was a great champion or a half-way decent wrestler having him as champion wasn’t as bad as most people made it out to be. Obviously the guy is no Bryan Danielson when it comes to workrate, but he actually had a pretty good title run. I wanted to see who could actually take down the giant and not in a “who will finally beat the Honky Tonk Man” kind of way.

Now we have Batista back in the top spot on Smackdown! I haven’t been too into Big Dave for a while now. Much like Randy Orton, Batista peaked at the end of his run with Evolution as the really cool heel who you want to see kill Triple H. His face turn hasn’t been nearly as ill-fated as Orton’s but my excitement for him has definitely cooled off. He’s been pretty in his role as the Metrosexual Monster who plays by the rules. The guy needs some more edge (not the wrestler, though a feud between the two is eminent and should be good). Batista is better as a bad ass tweener, not the white bread babyface we’ve seen lately.

Even if he did bring a few extra pounds back with him the return of Rey Mysterio is cause for celebration. The guy is an exciting wrestler plain and simple. His matches have always brought fun and excitement to Smackdown! Its odd how I’ll watch guys do a million flips and high flying moves in TNA and ROH, but I still get excited when Rey does his spots. May be its because I’m not used to seeing them in WWE but Rey definitely has a great presence. Despite how much I like Rey and enjoy watching him perform I don’t think he belongs in the Heavyweight Title scene. He does a great job playing the babyface in big man vs. little man matches, but ultimately it’s had to believe him being able to hang in the same division as giants like the Great Khali, the Undertaker and Mark Henry. At this point Rey has kind of out grown the Cruiserweight Title, but he’d be great addition to the US Title picture. A title chase featuring Mysterio, MVP, Hardy and Finlay would make for plenty of great matches and good TV. They’re all good excellent workers who are way over and could mesh well together. And Rey could realistically compete with those guys without making them look bad for selling his offense or doing the job for him.

The Undertaker is back on Smackdown! after yet another leave of absence. Taker is probably due for one last title run after his most recent was cut short by injury. I go back and forth on how I feel about the Undertaker on a regular basis. As a little kid I was in awe of the Undertaker and loved his whole gimmick. At 23 though, I find his act pretty played out and cartoonish. I definitely wrestling being pushed as a sport rather than dealing with elements of the supernatural. One has to suspend disbelief to watch wrestling, but the stuff Undertaker does goes too far. There’s a difference between believing Rey Mysterio could beat an Olympic gold medalist and believing in the undead shooting lightning bolts out of their hands. Still, Taker is still wildly popular and can put on good matches when on special occasions with the right opponent. The Deadman deserves one last title run before finally losing at Wrestlemania and passing on the title to a new star.

I’m including Mark Henry in this column since he is technically a title contender, but I hope he never gets his hands on the belt and fortunately I don’t think he will. Like Khali, Henry isn’t quite as bad as everyone thinks he is, but he isn’t terrible. His matches aren’t good, but he’s doing a nice job playing a monster right now. I’d be happy with him on the mid-card destroying jobbers and putting guys like Matt Hardy over.

Kane does deserve a mention here since he is part of the title scene, even though at this point it pretty obvious he’s not going to get the belt. Kane has always been a good big man and depending on his booking, an interesting character. But he’s clearly not in WWE’s plans for the Heavyweight championship. The guy has lost a lot more big matches than he’s won the past few years. And with his “brother”, the Undertaker”, around Kane seems sort of superfluous. Kane deserves better than only getting a single title reign that lasted one day, but the way his career is going lately, that’s all he’s going to get.

Edge’s return is something to look forward to on Smackdown! His matches aren’t that remarkable, but there are few guys who are more entertaining as characters or on the mic. He’s a truly tremendous prick heel. He does a great job of making you want to see him get his ass kicked, even though you enjoy him and think he’s cool; that’s the mark of a great heel today. The best thing for Smackdown! right now would be for Edge to return and take the title and feuding with Batista or the Undertaker. Either feud would be hot, particularly with the Undertaker, and would be a definite upgrade for Smackdown’s main event scene.

Results: Smackdown! has a very solid main event scene going right now. Batista is a good champ; even though he’d be better with more of a bad ass attitude he’s still popular and the face of Smackdown!. Khali may not be an IWC workrate darling but he’s beast and the fans hate him. Mysterio, Kane and the Undertaker all have their flaws, but they’re each a nice addition to the main event scene. Hopefully, Edge will come back and win the belt soon so we can get a classic babyface chasing the heel for the title program between him and either Batista or the Undertaker.

World Heavyweight Scene Grade : B+

ECW:

Champion: CM Punk

Top Contenders: John Morrison, Elijah Burke, Big Daddy V, Kevin Thorn, Tommy Dreamer and Stevie Richards.

So I’m being generous putting Thorn, Dreamer and Richards as title contenders, but they have all been in the #1 contenders tournament on ECW recently. While I don’t buy any of them as having real shot at winning the title, I like that nearly everyone on the ECW roster is a borderline title contender. It shows how thin their roster is, but it’s the best thing they could do in their situation with only 12 wrestlers, 1 title and a one hour time slot. They don’t have any true superstars, but they’ve got a lot of very good guys.

I’m as big of a CM Punk mark as anyone and I’m happy to see him holding the ECW title. It would have been better if he could have won it on PPV, but it’s still nice to see him at the top. One problem that whoever holds the belt in ECW is going to have is the way the title is portrayed in comparison to the WWE Title and the World Heavyweight Title. WWE can talk up the prestige of the ECW Title all they want, but it makes the belt look weak when they’ve got ECW Title matches curtain jerking Summerslam.

For all the reports I’ve seen recently it looks like Punk is going to lose the title back to John Morrison once her returns. Morrison is a solid wrestler, but his promos bore me to tears. I just start zoning out when he launches into his five minute lost strings of clichés. As long as he keeps his promos on the shorter side Morrison is doing a nice job with his character. He’s got a lot of charisma as he’s good at playing the cocky, self-absorbed heel.

In Morrison’s absence Elijah Burke has stepped up as the heel in ECW’s title scene. Burke is someone who could be a big time star. He’s got every tool you’d look for in a main eventer: athleticism, workrate, charisma, size, look and promo skills. For the past few months Burke’s role has been playing CM Punk’s personal jobber, but he could come back from that pretty easily by winning a few big matches. I really hope Burke sticks around the title scene in ECW even though Morrison is coming back and Big Daddy V is getting a push.

ECW has actually done a nice job with Big Daddy V’s push. The guy will never put on any 5 star classics, but he’s a decent wrestler for his side and they’ve gotten him over as a monster, which is a big accomplishment after he’d been booked as the World’s Largest Love Machine/World’s Largest Jobber on Raw for the past year or so. Pairing him with Striker was a good move as it gives him a good mouthpiece who will make people hate him even more. He seems like a legitimate threat to CM Punk and anybody else who makes the mistake of getting in his way.

Results: ECW may not have any true superstars, but they’re doing the best they can with what they have. In Punk, Morrison, Burke and Big Daddy V they have a solid foursome contending for the title. While those guys are all better suited for feuding over the Intercontinental or US Titles, they’re making things interesting on Thursday nights.

ECW Title Scene Grade : B-