The Way I C It 01.21.08: FIP Invasion?

All sorts of fun news and views this week. Smooth Moves is taking a short hiatus, so for the next few weeks you’ll be getting pure, unadulterated opinion and the odd match write-up from Japan or the Indies. That said, if you have any moves you’d like to see featured, feel free to let me know. And if anything sick is busted out or debuted, you can bet I’ll be talking about it. So without further ado…HAJIME!

The Way I C The E
I’m enjoying the Michaels-Kennedy feud immensely. Kennedy was money on the mic last Monday, even though it was pre-recorded. Surprisingly, Kennedy’s mic work throughout the feud has somewhat overshadowed Shawn’s, although the promo Shawn did backstage where he went off camera and came back to say “HBK” a second time was great. And although it got awkward at the end, I loved the “fakes skit” Kennedy did. The clean win he holds has done wonders to give this feud legs, and it’s something we don’t see enough of: the young guy going over clean. You listening, HHH? His Umaga feud, good though the matches were, would have had so much more to it if Umaga had managed to go over even once. Of course, the fact that both Michaels and Kennedy have debuted a new finisher in the course of the feud certainly hasn’t hurt. Kennedy’s Mic Check is nothing we haven’t seen a dozen times before, as the Flatliner/Downward Spiral/Inverted STO is probably second only to the O-Zone/Playmaker/Mizard of Oz/Golden Rule in terms of being used by generic rookies as a finisher. However, it suits his in-ring role of a straight-ahead, smash-mouth style perfectly, and is a lot easier to hit out of nowhere than the Kenton or Green Bay Plunge. Which reminds me: I miss Ahmed Johnson. I saw some matches of his recently on 24/7 and I was surprised at how agile he was and how impressive he looked. I didn’t remember him as being quick at all. Of course he probably half-killed the people with whom he was in the ring. Shawn’s new leglock submission is NOT an inverted figure four, as JR would have had us believe on Monday. He clearly messed it up when he first tried to put it on, as he stepped through the wrong way. It’s a move I’ve seen only once before, from the under-rated Alex Wright, but it’s clearly a figure four variant. It does give him an extra dimension, one I feel they’ve been working towards for a while, with him busting out crossfaces and ankle locks every time you turn around.

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that Shawn, who was complaining about Bret and his “Five Moves of Doom”, now has…umm…Five Moves of Doom?
Is Edge next for Punk? Moving him to SD! full-time for this feud would definitely be money, as the angle writes itself: Rated R Superstar, with his sex celebrations and so forth, against Straight-edge superstar. They could even play off the Edge-straight edge thing, cheesy as it would be. You have two great mic workers who can both go in the ring, with styles that should mesh well. And Chavo, of course, is the link between them, with Vicky asking the love of her life to help out her nephew. I don’t see it happening though, with the way Shelton is being groomed to fight Punk at Mania. I think the Edge thing will be put on a slow bowl, and will probably come to a head right AFTER Mania, where I see Edge beating Taker.

This week’s News of Meh – Highlanders jumping to SD/ECW, Kofi Kingston and everything about him, Undertaker and Big Daddy Moobs, Batista and everything about him, and the Women’s division. Whether that’s because the booking pales in comparison to TNA’s, or because the talent is inferior, I haven’t figured out yet.

WWE HD is annoying the hell out of me. The Score, who carry WWE programming in Canada, is not available in my area in HD, and I am not paying for a PPV anyway, let alone an extra $10. Unless it’s Wrestlemania, of course, and for that I will have to squeeze in two more buddies to chip in their $5 to cover the price. SHENANIGANS! Then to have to listen to Cole shilling HD all through Smackdown… All this to see Snitsky’s backne and Big Daddy V’s moobs in excruciating detail?

How could I not comment on Jeff Hardy being mentally challenged? Mattress, polystyrene, foam or whatever he landed on notwithstanding, a leap from that height with a wooden frame less than a foot either side of your target, is way past brave and almost into nuts territory. Orton sold the back drop like death and the Swanton even better, and Jeff raising his arm as they carted him out was the perfect touch to the angle: I took him out, folks, and I can still move. This is another feud that has been done well, and I won’t blame them for the ball shot “match” they had.

Don’t look now, but I think Khali is getting better in the ring. It could just be working with Finlay, but then I saw this:

He’s better than he’s shown so far. And that’s Silva from the old Oddities, for those wondering. The Vise Grip is growing on me as a finisher, much as the Samoan Spike did. I’d like to see him haul people up by the head like Crush used to do, then drop them into the Grip.

Dear WWE: If you’re going to make people into regular tag teams, give the team, oh I don’t know, a name and, gee let me think, maybe a tag team finisher.

The Way I C RoH
The only shock result from last weekend’s shows was Delirious, Generico and Quackenbush, or OleBahQuack, losing to Kenny King, Jason Blade and Sal Rinauro. As I mentioned in the RoH round table, Rinauro being alive still was news to me. That said, I’ve had a nagging feeling ever since Erick Stevens showed up and he FIP belt started being defended as a secondary title on RoH shows. That nagging feeling has been an impending invasion angle or merger between RoH and FIP. Let’s look at the facts:
1)RoH and FIP are both booked by Gabe Sapolsky. Gabe is a part owner of RoH and gets on well with Sal Hamaoui, who founded FIP.
2)RoH is running Orlando shows, right in FIP’s back yard, on Wrestlemania weekend. “Back in the day”, it was unheard of for one promotion to run another promotion’s territory.
3)FIP’s champion, Erick Stevens, is an RoH regular. Their tag champs have appeared a few times on RoH shows and recently picked up a HUGE win, as mentioned above. Oh, and they won the FIP belts off the Briscoes.
4)Of the names on FIP’s roster, almost every major player is an RoH regular.
5)With the success of RoH’s pay per views, they are looking to expand.

An invasion angle from FIP would do a few things. First, it would show wrestling fans that an invasion CAN be properly booked. We know RoH can do this from the amazing RoH vs CZW feud a couple of years ago. Second, it would give high-profile exposure to some FIP guys, which is never bad. Finally, it freshens up a roster that is starting to show signs of getting stale. An RoH show normally has 3 or 4 matches on it that I can’t wait to see; the last two shows have had one each.

For RoH to expand, they need a larger roster so they can intelligently book a secondary title, which currently is the FIP title. If there is no merger or invasion, that cannot continue. There are only so many good wrestlers out there, and RoH isn’t likely to go signing the latest steroid freak. FIP has a decent-sized, largely untapped base, with whom much of the roster has already worked, and who Gabe has already booked. It might be a long shot right now, but don’t rule it out.

The Way I C The T

Good news! TNA finally broke 1.2! Now if only they can consistently beat Vince’s C show. The bad news is that Russo will likely see this as an endorsement of the Shark Boy crap, the AJ is a goof in the main event crap, and the job out Samoa Joe crap.

At this point, jobbing out Samoa Joe is actually the right move: the fans have stopped caring about him. This is a fuck-up of WCW Invasion-al proportions. Joe had more buzz and was more over than anyone since AJ Styles when he was facing a heel Jarrett. Now he’s a whiny schmuck that nobody likes and who is dumb enough to get himself kicked out of a #1 Contender’s match.

We’ve seen quasi-successful pushes for Kaz, Lethal and the Machine Guns so far. Looks like Tomko and Shark Boy might be next. And how are they doing it? The way I and countless other IWC writers have suggested: having the vets put them over. Angle vs. Kaz is the perfect example of the loser getting over, yet it’s not done nearly enough. Now it’s important not to OVERuse this strategy or it loses its impact, but if you put Tomko over Abyss and Shark Boy over Senshi on his way out, you’re all set.

This week’s News of Meh: Abyss and James Mitchell, Black Reign/Dustin Rhodes, Shark Boy’s family after the first skit.

Awesome Kong – ODB should be interesting when it happens. I haven’t seen a lot of ODB, but from what I have seen, she’s only over because she shows über cleavage, drinks and uses her tits as a finisher. Kong is just, well, awesome.

If there’s one thing TNA has done well recently, it’s build feuds. Booker – Roode, MCMG – 3D, Kim – Kong and Devine – Machismo are all bubbling pretty well. The only thing is, some of them are starting to run a bit TOO long, which could end up killing the payoff to the feud when it finally happens.

The Way I C Random Stuff

I’ve just finished Bret’s autobiography. Reading about Bret’s life after Owen died, he became more and more bitter and more and more of a whiner. The Screwjob was wrong, if for no other reason than Bret’s contract expressly gave him creative control in the last 30 days. Of course, for Bret to still be crying to whoever would listen 5 or 6 years later was an over-reaction. Shawn cut a promo after the event, saying that Bret lived his gimmick and had nothing outside the ring. While that might have been a bit strong, I can say from reading the book that Bret acted as though Vince and Shawn had killed his best friend. I reiterate my suggestion to buy the book, but I’ll warn you up front: fans of Bret Hart will see him completely differently at the end of it. I know I do.

I’ve been a fan of wrestling since I was 5. As a result, I’ve owned virtually every U.S wrestling game ever released, and played most of the others, with the exception of the Xbox titles. In all those games, I have never felt like a match in which I was involved could have stood up well on TV. I’m currently playing through Smackdown vs Raw 2008, and one of the early angles involves a contract to star in the latest WWE Films flop release. Through the twists and turns, then angle culminates in a Fatal 4-way Ladder Match at Vengeance. Now despite the fact that a match involving 3 midcard acts and one Legend (I won’t ruin more of the storyline to tell you who) goes on last, after Cena-Undertaker, I found my pulse racing as the new “Empty the gauge to grab the prize” meter got lower and lower, and I’m rolling around on the outside, body parts all in the red, following a superplex from the top of the ladder to the outside from one of the other competitors. The last-second saves, the big spots (they’ve really improved the Situational Grapples too) and the fact that every one of the 4 guys in the match were bleeding and totally in the red at the end of the match all made it exciting as hell. Of course, the fact that the finish involved me toppling the ladder, throwing two opponents outside, then hitting the Fisherman’s DDT on the other one before emptying the last dregs of the gauge and winning the contract, could have contributed to my enjoyment of the match. If only there was a way to save match replays…

The Way U C Me

dude, whatever, the “Climax” used by the InterCourse Bazookas in 2000-2002 was the greatest tag finisher of all time,a sitout canterbury slam with a diamond cutter combo BANG!

Posted By: The Truck (Guest) on January 14, 2008 at 03:45 PM

I presume by Canterbury Slam you mean a face-first power bomb? I’ve seen this combination before, and it is very nasty. Sorry it wasn’t included, and if I’d remembered it I would likely have included it. However, I’ve never heard of the InterCourse Bazookas, and neither has Online World of Wrestling. Care to enlighten me?

Veg-o-matic: Used by The Midnight Express. It’s a bearhug/diving legdrop combo.

Posted By: Rick (Guest) on January 15, 2008 at 03:57 AM

Oh yes of course, I remember now. I think they even called it that when Bodacious Bart and Bombastic Bob were using it. Or was it Bodacious Bob and Bombastic Bart? Either way, having seen the shape Bart Gunn was in at the 15th anniversary Raw, I’d pay to see a reunion. Too bad Cornette is in Orlando…

I’ve always liked the Stungun/Cutter combination personally. As for the Ode to the Bulldogs, I think it can be found in the Generation Next/Ebassy cage wars match.

Posted By: Travis (Guest) on January 15, 2008 at 06:41 AM

The Stungun/Cutter is almost the same as the face-fist power bomb/Cutter mentioned above. I think I have the cage match you mentioned, somewhere. I really should watch some of my old ROH DVDs again. I’m still trying to watch Man Up…

IIRC, AMW also used the bearhug/legdrop combo. Nasty looking move when hit right. I seem to recall some indy team using a powerbomb/top rope crossbody combo. Anyone else seen that, or am I just imagining things?

Posted By: Hypnos (Guest) on January 15, 2008 at 09:10 AM

I have a pretty good recollection of AMW using it too. Now there’s a team that I miss, and one that would have been nice to see again. It’s a pretty hard move to execute because it requires decent abdominal strength on behalf of the victim, in order to prevent his neck from being broken on impact. As for the powerbomb/crossbody, it’s ringing a bell. Possibly Daniels and Sydal used it? Readers?

There was 2 other double team moves I saw at a ROH I went to back in 2005. It was two of the Special K guys (Izzy and Deranged) it was a Code red/ Blockbuster combination and the other was double Brainbuster variation where one of them transitioned the drop into a steiner screwdriver type move.

Posted By: Rashid (Guest) on January 17, 2008 at 08:51 PM

I was never a fan of any of the guys in Special K, mainly because I saw them as spot monkeys. But these two both sound very, VERY nice.

That’s game, set and match boys and girls. Join me next week for a look at joshi puroresu. After doing Smooth moves and seeing how many awesome moves were invented in women’s wrestling in Japan, I absolutely HAVE to do a full column on it. Who knows, I might even have a co-host. So, until next week…

Lansdellicious – Out. SURIMATE!