wrestling / Columns
The Happy-Go-Sucky Wrestling Report 10.31.07: Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, ROH Champ Hurt, Y2J, & More
Happy Halloween everyone. This year, I decided to go as a geeky radio dj/wrestling writer. It’s a really scary costume, let me tell ya.
By the way, just as a warning, there are some potential spoilers for TNA in here, so by all means, if you don’t want to know, just scroll on past. Simple as that.
Anyway, two things have not happened that I expected to happen this week. One, I expected to know that I’m the new boss of my radio station. But I don’t know that yet. And two….
News: Jericho did not make his return at Cyber Sunday or on Raw the following Monday.
Happy: I kind of like the hype and the fact that the WWE is using this to their advantage. Their ratings are on their way up despite a lackluster Cyber Sunday pay-per-view, and that is likely because of the Jericho buzz. Why stop what’s working? I mean, given the Raw product has been below par as of late, people are still tuning in and that’s because you are promoting the show well. The WWE continues to give us a slight reason to tune in on Mondays and that’s keeping this thing going.
Go Sucky: Unfortunately, most of the WWE’s fans are starting to get irritated. This tremendous hype is starting to get old and I, for one, am actually starting to lose interest in whatever it is that they’re doing. I’ll admit, I watch Raw while I’m at work. When I heard the matrix promo play, I stopped what I was doing and looked up. When I realized this had nothing to do with anything and was just more hype, I cursed and went back to doing my job. If any of you are sharing this same mindset, this could in fact hurt Raw next week and the weeks after. You can only tease us so much before we say screw this and find something else. True that when these same fans hear about Jericho’s return they will tune in the following Monday in droves, but the actual return itself could become anticlimactic if the WWE doesn’t quit dragging this through the mud.
News: Stone Cold will be at next week’s Raw in Los Angeles.
Happy: It’s always a treat when Stone Cold makes it on WWE TV. The Santino Marella angle is absolutely classic right now. This guy is truly making a name for himself as one of the best heels in the WWE. The stuff this guy is doing reminds me a lot of some of the stuff you used to see from Edge, Stone Cold, The Rock, and Chris Jericho in regards to promo work. Having Stone Cold appear on Raw will boost Raw’s ratings a bit and give Santino the push that getting Stunned by Stone Cold gives to a young wrestler. I look forward to the dialogue between the two and this will probably be the only great moment on Raw next week.
Go Sucky: Is anyone else tired of seeing this? Stone Cold comes out, beats the hell out of someone, drinks some beer and leaves? Yes it’s great to hear Stone Cold on the mic, see him in the ring and re-live the glory days of wrestling. But it’s just so stale. And all this to do one of two things, or maybe both. 1) To promote the Condemned on DVD which apparently is doing awful or 2) Give Santino the “Humiliation Push”. One way or the other, it’s all been done before.
News: Booker T and Scott Hall were backstage at TNA’s Impact tapings on Tuesday.
Happy: Many fans are expecting Booker T to be Sting’s tag team partner at Genesis. I fully expect it to be Scott Hall though. Think about that for a minute. Kurt Angle & Kevin Nash vs. Sting & Scott Hall. Nash and Hall tagged in and screw both Kurt AND Sting and re-form The Outsiders. I think that would be one of the more fun moments in TNA history. Given Scott Hall can keep himself clean this time around, having Nash and Hall on any TV is going to be great for TNA. As for Booker T, I’d love to see him come in and take on some of the guys like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and so on. He’s one of my favorite wrestlers, and hopefully, the King Booker gimmick will end and we’ll be able to see some spin-a-roonies again!
Go Sucky: C’est la vie. Once again, time after time, TNA hires yet another 40+ WWE reject who just won’t accept the fact that it’s time to hang up the boots. Two more guys like this means two more TNA original guys lose their ring time. Who was the last new young guy to debut for TNA anyway? Jimmy Rave? Yeah and where is he on our TV’s right now. That’s right, he’s not.
News: Kurt Angle won the TNA World Title on Impact.
Happy: Talk about a shocker! I’m interested in seeing what happens next week in regards to TNA’s ratings. I’d like to see how many people tune in when they hear that the TNA World Title actually changed hands on free TV. I loved the shock and the fact that TNA used the rest of the hour to “investigate” the incident. I think in the end, that kept TNA’s rating at the 1.0 that it ended up being. Without it, I think TNA may have saw a big dip in it’s ratings this week.
Go Sucky: Everytime Sting gets the title, it’s like they can’t wait to take it off of him. Last year when Sting beat Jeff Jarrett at Bound for Glory, he had the title for like a year before he dropped it to Christian Cage (I think.) Sting didn’t even get a week with this one! I think in the end that really hurts Sting’s credibility in TNA as a champion. Not only that, but I see a disturbing similarity between Kurt Angle and the TNA title and Triple H with the WWE Title.
News: Junior Fatu (Rikishi) was not at the TNA Impact tapings and is likely done with the company. Fatu had already been asking for more money.
Happy: Give me a break! If you thought you were going to get the same money in TNA you used to get from the WWE your head is fatter than your ass. If you don’t want to be here for the sake of wrestling and working in the business you love, then see ya! You won’t find a better deal than what you had in TNA outside of the WWE, which has no interest in you. Plus, that’s one less WWE reject that is out of the way which will hopefully open the door for a younger TNA talent to get some time in the ring.
Go Sucky: I think I’m one of the few who actually likes Rikishi. It’s entertaining to watch the big man dance and funny to see your favorite heel to get the Stinkface. I also liked that he had been working with Samoa Joe. I thought it was a great idea for both men. But like I said before, if you are in this for the money, you’re in the wrong place. TNA is still forming its roots and needs the time, and money, to get off the ground still.
News: ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness is out with a left torn bicep and will miss action until the “Final Battle” weekend in December.
Happy: Luckily, he won’t have to give up the belt just yet. According to Gabe Sapolsky, the doctors said Nigel should be able to recover with plenty of rest. When it comes time for the “Final Battle” weekend, doctors will re-evaluate him, and if Nigel is still unable to compete, then a decision will be made about the title. So on behalf of myself and for the hopes that ROH is giving wrestling fans, here’s wishing Nigel McGuiness a speedy recovery!
Go Sucky: This couldn’t come at a worse time for ROH. ROH is reaching new highs with its popularity. Many, including myself, continue to get more and more interested in ROH’s product. Now, with interest at a very high level, you lose your ROH Champion for awhile going into a couple big shows in New York City and Philadelphia. I’m a big fan of Nigel McGuiness, but I’d rather see ROH represented by a healthy World Champion at every card rather than tell everyone the Champ is hurt and will not be performing.
Boy oh boy I must have said all the right things because I had a lot of Steve-mail this week! Where do I begin…
Why, why, WHY must Christian Cage be referred to as a “WWE reject”?
Two years ago, he made the decision to NOT re-sign with the WWE and made the jump to TNA as a result. The WWE didn’t fire him, they didn’t choose to let his contract run out; they wanted him to STAY. So how in the world can he be a reject? I’m so sick of seeing this all over wrestling columns. He was unhappy with his lack of direction as well as burned out with the constant go that is the WWE and decided himself that it was time to move on. In fact he was leaving regardless of TNA’s interest in him.
When Chris Jericho made the decision to go to the WWF, nobody called him a WCW reject. So why is Christian so much different?
Granted, TNA will take anybody who has WWE on their resume, and granted, they do push them more than/over their homegrown talent. Take it up with the bookers and the powers that be, and stop hating on Christian and the others. It is not their fault.
-Nikki
I use the term “reject” lightly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Christian. I loved the idea that he was going to TNA because Christian basically led the way to other WWE talent that was being underused to get a main event push. See Rhino.
Unfortunately, Christian now finds himself buried in the midcard while guys like Kurt Angle and Sting, who came in after Christian’s initial run.
As for being a “reject”, Christian was what Jeff Hardy is now. He’s a guy who had many fans and many smaller title reigns, but was never going to be given the big title. Cage got a push for awhile, and the WWE decided to pull the plug on it, and that’s when he left. Cage was destined for the midcards in the WWE and he made the right move to TNA, but he was in fact a rejected idea by the WWE.
Now, if Christian was to return to the WWE, it may be a different story for him. His absence on WWE TV would make him more valuable as a “returning star” and he might actually get the push.
Now for a Teddy Hart sympathizer.
I really hate to be that guy who says, “You’ve never been in a wrestling locker room, you don’t know what it’s like. I’m a washed up old never-was, I know stuff. I was on the road and saw a bunch of things you writer guys don’t know, blah, blah, blah…”, but I’m afraid, for this one instance, I’m going to have to be “that guy”. To say the wrestling business clings to a vestigial and even barbaric code of honor would be a prodigious understatement. When entering or exiting a room, one must shake hands with everyone in that room. Not only that, but you have to make sure you do it in the “right order”. I saw guys get buried for for not adhering to this protocol on more than one occasion. This is just one example, there are thousands more. Here is my point, I applaud Teddy Hart for not obeying this archaic bullshit. Guys like Hart, who have the pedigree and talent to change things rarely do. The Rock turned a blind eye to the situation, and Orton uses it as an excuse to behave like the world’s biggest tool and a total piece of shit. When you hear about guys like Hart, Sabu, and Senshi being backstage problems, this is what is meant. True “locker room cancers” like Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Umaga, and Randy Orton are given huge pushes and title runs. As for Hart’s break neck style, are there really fewer injuries now than during the time of prolific TLC and HitC matches? Batista, Undertaker, HHH, HBK, Edge, Helms, Lashley, and Cena have all been seriously injured in the past year, so how can you blame the extreme style? The fact is that this is WCW all over again. Batista, HHH, UT, and the rest of the main event know they cannot compete with the Y2J’s, RVD’s, and Hardy’s of the world. Either that, or in the case of guys like Edge and HBK, they would rather take it easy so they can prolong their careers. That is the real reason why WWE moved away from that style. They wonder why they lost all the casual fans. It is because only a very marginalized section of work rate geeks care to see a triple threat between Malenko, Regal, and Finlay. The vast majority of the audience find these guys painfully boring. Until McMahon stops treating his audience like idiot marks who are only there so that he can trick them and tell them what to like, the business will never flourish. Teddy Hart rules!
-Shady Wright
Actually Shady, I have been in the locker rooms. I have my contacts and my sources that I keep in contact with that inform me of what goes on behind the scenes. And I find it funny that you would say that to me when I have serious doubt you’ve been there yourself when you call guys like Shawn Michaels and Sabu as locker room cancers. Let me guess, you read that somewhere.
So it’s good to see that you support immaturity. You like someone because he won’t shake hands and be respectful. Where is the talent in that? What good does that do the wresting business. Oh wow, he’s so dreamy because he’s such a rebel. I’m sorry but being a rebel becomes immature when you pass the age of 14.
As for comparing injuries between now and the day of the TLC and Hell in a Cell days, maybe there aren’t as many injuries, but the injuries are not as serious. The TLC and Hell in a Cell match have the potential to really hurt someone, or worse. Today’s matches, not so much. Today’s problem is a matter of conditioning and training. Teddy Hart couldn’t even finish training for a WWE ring and has failed his training several times now. And he continues his break neck style wrestling. He would be a liability to not only himself, but to whoever he was in the ring with and anyone within a 20 foot range.
The WWE and wrestling in general just don’t need that kind of publicity right now.
Stephen Straka chimes in with comments about the Happy Go Picky Poll of the week from 2 weeks ago.
With regards to Shawn Michaels getting another title run, I voted yes but it was more looking at the Raw title picture than anything. Right now we have Orton, Triple H and HBK. Kenendy could get pushed but every time he has been so far he’s done something stupid to screw things up so he shouldn’t be counted on (yet). Jericho is coming back which is nice. Lashley’s back sometime after December but until he gets a manager and becomes a “hurr I’m huge but I can still legitimately wrestle” kind of guy (like a black Lesnar, hopefully with less attitude) he should not be the face of the brand. After Lashley is back, that’s it until Cena returns after WrestleMania, assuming they don’t switch guys between brands. So there’s Orton, Trips, HBK and Jericho with Kennedy and Lashley hopefully staying in the upper-midcard for now. Given that there’s 5 or 6 months until WrestleMania, I wouldn’t mind HBK get a brief transitional run to keep things relatively fresh before Trips inevitably beats Orton for the title at Mania.
As big a HBK fan as I am, I don’t think putting the title on him is the right thing to do. If HBK has another run as champion but then hands it back to Orton, it just doesn’t make sense. Especially if you’re just going to put Orton and Triple H in a feud at the end of it all. I fully expect to see the WWE use Wrestlemania to make a new superstar for it’s Raw brand so I’d expect to see Kennedy in the main event in some way or form.
Lynx from the Land Down Under is next!
Was just reading through your column, and you said that WWE would be better off bringing Jericho back on Raw cause it costs US$40 per Pay Per View. Just checking some prices and you guys are getting seriously ripped off. Here in Australia, we get WWE PPVs for AU$29.95 (US$27.27, though WM is more) and $24.95 (US$22.72) through 2 PayTV providers, and a bit more through the other although still less than what you guys pay. Granted the PPVs are shown at about 11am here on Mondays, it still seems excessive the ammount you guys pay.
Lynx Raven Raide
Wow, that’s really interesting. I guess the WWE values getting more international buy rates than allowing its target audience the ability to afford it’s pay per views.
Finally, Jason chimes in next with a comment about last week’s Happy Go Picky Poll Of The Week!
Although we all know that Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V isn’t the greatest wrestler in the world, making him champ wouldn’t be all that bad. Right now they have him set up to be this unstoppable force (like the Big Show). All of his matches have ended in DQ because it is kinda hard to make people believe that a 220 pound CM punk could beat a 500 pound monster. I think it would be great up until the ECW PPV in December.
Thanks,
Jason
Thanks Jason. Just to correct you, there will be no ECW PPV in December. They have scrapped the December to Dismember PPV, and can you blame them? Look at last year’s catastrophe. It pretty much cost Paul Heyman is job.
As for Big Daddy V, I actually support all the Yes’s. I know Big Daddy V is hard to look at and he’s not a very good wrestler, but he makes for interesting storylines. Look at guys like Andre The Giant, King Kong Bundy and of course The Big Show. These guys got over on their size. When guys beat them cleanly, they got over big time. I think it would help the ECW tremendously to have a huge heel ECW champion like Big Daddy V then let guys like C.M. Punk chase after him for the title.
That also leads us to the results of last week’s Happy Go Picky Poll of the week!
749 of you voted on the poll “Would you like to see Big Daddy V as ECW Champion?” 553 of you (74%) said No, which is shocking. I thought there would be a bigger support to have ECW supported by a monster like Big Daddy V, but apparently you guys are just turned off by his giant man boobs.
That leads us to this week’s Happy Go Picky Poll Of The Week!
That’s it! I’m out of here. Happy Halloween everyone! Until next week…
May Your Life Be Happy or Go Sucky.
