The Triple Threat 10.26.08: The 113th Edition – Crazy Vince, Kevin Nash and More

Topic # 1 Cyber Sunday is this weekend, what are your thoughts on the card?

David Martell: This is by far the hardest PPV to preview. We don’t even know the matches! Basically I am just going to give you what I think should happen. I want to see all the tag team matches that you get to choose from but I am almost positive that CM Punk and Kofi vs. Simply Priceless is going to happen. If so, it should be good. I don’t know how long its going to get but if it happens, I am guessing it will be the opener. I see Punk and Kofi winning this one. Who ever gets picked for the IC Tile match, it will most likely be Charlie Haas, or at least I hope. Santino needs to lose the belt. Going back for a second, I just realized that the U.S. Title match is a preview match on the internet. Shelton will most likely be going against R Truth. Shelton should win here. I can only pray that Even Borne gets the ECW Title shot. I know for a fact that hey would get the most votes but WWE can change that at will. I don’t think anyone really wants to see another Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry match. I think Kane and Rey will fight in a falls count anywhere match. This should be fun if it happens as long as they go everywhere. That is what the match is for so have some fun guys! Undertaker vs. Big Show should have a last man standing match. WWE has had a good string of those lately and this shouldn’t be any different. Big Show can still use his powerful punch and Undertaker can prove he can take down the giant. Sounds good to me. Stone Cold is going to win the guest ref spot for the World Title match. In all honestly, I think he would be the fairest ref. He is definitely the one everyone wants to see. Jericho should continue his reign as World Champion. He has had a great run so far he shouldn’t lose the belt now. Last but not least, I think Triple H will end up facing only Jeff Hardy for the WWE Title. Triple H should add another successful title defense here and that is that.

Alex Mattis: AHHH I can’t even give my predictions for the card because you the fans haven’t determined it yet!!! Oh glorious fan interactions. First off, as usual with this PPV don’t expect any title changes. Obviously if the fans have their way we’ll be seeing Jeff Hardy taking on Trips in the main event, Austin will be the ref for the Jeri-Batista match, and more than likely Evan Bourne will challenge Matt Hardy (which would be fabulous). As for the already announced matches, expect Big Show and Kane to reign supreme in their matches as Taker and Rey will have their day at a bigger event. R-Truth or whatever may have his biggest match since returning to the E because I feel he will be the one chosen to step up and face Shelton Benjamin. All of the available tag matches would be entertaining, but due to the star power in the match I expect the Priceless Vs. Punk-Kofi to take center stage. Should be an interesting event, and if the Honkey Tonk Man ends up facing Santino we’re talking about the “first ever internet six star match.”

Zach Brown: Well this Cyber Sunday actually looks pretty decent. However, the thing that I always hate about Cyber Sunday is that WWE lets you vote on the matches, but they always try to steer the audience on who to vote for. Plus, WWE reserves the right to pick whoever the hell they want, regardless of the votes, so what’s the point? Anyway, I’d like to see Shelton vs. MVP but R-Truth will probably win the votes since they are feuding right now. I expect Shelton to come out on top. I hope that we get to see Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne because that’s a complete no-brainer. And voting for your favorite tag team match is complete bullshit because every one of those matches should be on the card. I would much rather see Priceless vs Kofi and CM Punk or Miz and Morrison vs. Cryme Tyme instead of Triple H’s match. And that brings me to Triple H. Hmm…voting for Koslov, Jeff Hardy or a triple threat match. Do you want to see shit, other shit, or all that shit together? I just don’t care. As for Mysterio vs. Kane, as long as they have a good match, I really don’t care what the stipulation is. For Big Show vs. Taker, I really hope we get to see an “I Quit” match because we haven’t had a good one of those in a long time. And I’m really hoping that the Honky Tonk man shows up for Santino’s match. But since it sounds like he’s injured, I’ll settle for Roddy Piper. Just as long as it’s not Goldust. For Jericho vs. Batista, I’m excited for the match, but the special referee thing is just ridiculous. As much as I’d like to see Stone Cold, he has nothing to do with the storyline. I just hope that Jericho walks out with the belt. All in all, Cyber Sunday looks a lot more solid than previous years, but there are just a few things that make me mad about the booking.

Topic # 2 The Main Event Mafia was introduced this past week on Impact. What are your thoughts on this new faction?

David Martell: I am actually intrigued by the Main Event Mafia. Although the name of the faction is terrible, the idea behind it is entertaining. When you have a faction consisting of Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Sting and Booker T you cant really go wrong. I have always liked feuds when the Veterans want respect from the younger guys. There is only one thing wrong with this feud. The MEM are saying that the young guys are trying to take over but we all know these veterans are the ones who took over TNA. This could end up being a great way to put over all the younger guys. I even like how Booker T told Christian that if he loses, he will have to join the MEM without any questions asked. This is obviously setting up something big for the future and I am hoping for a war games! This will be interesting in the coming weeks, now I just hope TNA gives us some more wrestling!

Alex Mattis: Ugh, the WCW-ness of TNA continues to grow. Why don’t we just call the younger guys “The New Blood” and Kidman can come in and be their leader. I have enjoyed Sting’s promos about how the younger guys have no respect and such, I could live with him and Nash working an angle like that but throwing more of the ex-E/WCW guys into the mix just makes it lame. We see enough of these stars on yesterday, and now you’re starting to put them over your homegrown talent? TNA you make so much sense it’s crazy.

Zach Brown: As much as I didn’t like the name at first, I like this idea for a stable. It’s funny because they’re basically calling it what it is. But I like the whole “older wrestlers vs younger wrestlers” thing. It definitely works in TNA because that mirrors the actual company to an extent. It’s almost like someone in TNA sat back and said “Let’s put what happens in the locker room on TV! The ex WCW/WWE guys against the homegrown talent that’s trying to break through the glass ceiling!” What a crazy idea. But this could be really good because the younger guys might actually become bigger stars. It’s times like these that I wish Christopher Daniels would stop doing Curryman, and come back as the Fallen Angel, because he could be a main event guy if he could just get another singles run. And this would be a great opportunity for that. Anyway, I’m excited for this idea, as long as the main event guys don’t completely dominate every one of the younger guys.

Topic # 3 Vince has now decided to only call his product entertainment instead of sports entertainment and his wrestlers only entertainers. How do you feel about this situation?

David Martell: Vince has gone crazy. It almost feels like he’s trying to take the wrestling out of wrestling. What’s the point of calling them entertainers instead of wrestlers. If you want to make it look at least some what legitimate, then you should continue using the term wrestlers. If sports entertainment wasn’t bad enough, now its JUST entertainment. I guess this wont bother me to much because I doubt they are going to point this out but what’s wrong with using the term wrestling? This is mainly just a pet peeve for me. Out off all these changes, the dumbest one has the be the WWE Universe. When wrestlers say that it just doesn’t fit. What is wrong with the word fans. Everyone in sports and entertainment calls the people watching or listening, fans. Vince, get it together, it doesn’t make any difference at all.

Alex Mattis: Just further degrading professional wrestling and turning it into Vince’s morbid brand of “entertainment.” I know Vince runs everything within the E but it really surprises me that no one within the company has the nerve to say “do you realize what you’re doing?” This doesn’t bother me too bad, as I haven’t had faith in Vince or the E for years, but it’s still ridiculous to see this kind of shit happen.

Zach Brown: Every time Vince does this, it’s completely ridiculous. “Sports Entertainment” was terrible enough. Just call it what it is! Wrestling! It’s just wrestling! And I can understand calling wrestlers “Superstars.” That was fine with me for the most part. But now they’re “entertainers!?” What a terrible idea. I understand that Vince tries as hard as he can to make the product more mainstream. But he always risks alienating his loyal audience, and not doing that is something that’s equally important IMHO. People that watch wrestling want to hear it called “wrestling” and so on. People that don’t want to watch wrestling just don’t want to watch it. So calling something a different name, isn’t going to change things. It’s just going to annoy people.

Topic # 4 It looks likes Foley might once again play some kind of commissioner role. Your thoughts?

David Martell: After Impact, it seems like he is obviously going to play some kind of boss role. When he did this in the WWE, it was funny and entertaining but the fact of the matter is, it has already been done. This isn’t shaking up wrestling forever, it is just rehashing something that has already happened. Don’t get me wrong, I love Foley. He has done a lot of great things for this business but this isn’t one of them. I am sure it will be funny for a little while, but it wont take long for this idea to get stale. I guess this is a better role for him then actually wrestling. So I will commend this idea if only for that reason. I guess I have to wait and see what happens.

Alex Mattis: HOLY SHIT!!! This truly shook the foundation of wrestling… or not. I’m glad this is happening though cause I always wondered what it would be like to see Mick Foley as a commissioner of a wrestling company… oh wait lemme’ go back to 2000, ok there it is. All kidding aside, this is really, really lame, even for TNA. What are they going to have him do? I would assume that it will mirror what he did in the E, unless the pull the swerve of the millennium and put him with the Main Event Mafia!!!! That’s actually so predictable; I’m going to call it now.

Zach Brown: Well I’m glad that Foley is taking a role in TNA that suits him, which is anything outside of the ring. He works perfectly in any sort of General Manager or authority figure role, so I’m glad this happened. If only he could replace Don West on commentary, things would be a lot better off in TNA. I’m just tired of being concerned about whether or not Don West has taken a breath in the last 50 sentences of commentary if you know what I mean. But that’s besides the point. Foley shouldn’t have been anywhere near the actual wrestling part of TNA, so now that he’s definitely not doing that, I’m kind of relieved. But I’m completely stumped about why he chose to do this in TNA over staying in WWE.

Topic # 5 What title belt would you like to bring back?

David Martell: If I could bring back any title belt, it would have to be the WWE Title that Chris Jericho held when he was undisputed champion, the one that Stone Cold and the Rock always fought for, the one that has all that attitude era prestige. I cant get over how bad the spinner belt looks. I have no idea why Triple H continues to wear it. As long as it is in that form, it will always seem like Cena’s belt. The old belt, even though its not big and flashy, has a lot of prestige and if I am not mistaken, it was Triple H’s first World Title. I just think this would make a lot of sense and it would make who ever the WWE Champion is at the time actually look like a champion.

Alex Mattis: If I could bring back one title it would without a doubt be the Million $ Title. None of these poser “legends” title bullshit, the real deal. When the Million $ strap was used right it really worked well with different characters. When Austin got it, it really helped him at that time. I always thought Ted should have stuck around and put that belt on the future heel stars. Having that belt represent a ridiculous level of cockiness and really gave the crowd more of a reason to dislike the title holder. I’ve always told people that I believe that Randy Orton was meant to be a Million $ Champion and the fact that it never happened is a shame.

Zach Brown: Well the first thing I thought of was to bring back the classic WWE Title with the eagle. The current title is just so horrendous. Cena isn’t champ anymore, and we still have to look at that hideous thing. But this question is hard because there are so many discontinued titles that I’m glad are discontinued because I never cared about them. For example, the Cruiserweight Title. Towards the end of it’s run, that belt was just there to make Chavo feel more important. But I guess if I had to pick one, the actual championship that I want to see return is the Hardcore Championship. Even though I’m mostly past the phase where I want to see Hardcore matches regularly, I do like to see them every once in a while. To my memory, Edge vs. Mick Foley was the last really good Hardcore match in WWE. If they brought this one back, I think fans could definitely get behind it again. People love a good Hardcore match, and this belt would definitely revive that feeling. I’m betting that Vince wants to move away from the image of Hardcore wrestling, but I can always hope that this belt will make a comeback.

Superstar Highlight

Kevin Nash

Our thoughts on Kevin Nash.

David Martell: I have never been a huge fan of Kevin Nash but I have always liked him. He has done a lot for the business for the WWE, WCW, and TNA. I really think this guy truly cares about wrestling. I think he is one of the few guys who actually makes TNA tolerable to watch. Nash is absolutely hilarious when he wants to be. The stuff he did with the X division guys was priceless. There hasn’t been much that this guy hasn’t done. He been to Wrestlemania, he was a founding member of the N.W.O. and he has even starred in movies. He tries very hard to entertain and although he isn’t a great wrestler anymore, I don’t mind seeing him wrestler from time to time. He should know his limits by now. I hope that this new faction ,Main Event Mafia, works out for him. If anything, he is truly one of the best wrestling personalities today.

Alex Mattis: Ah the Silver Fox. Big Daddy Cool. One of the funniest mother fuckers to ever enter this business. Sure I’ve got some bitter feelings about how Nash handled himself and his booking roles while in WCW, but I can’t deny some of the great work he did as Diesel in his initial run in the E. He was and is one of the best big men the industry has ever seen. Now-a-days he’s doing his thing in TNA, I’m not sure how seriously he’s taking it but he is keeping himself in phenomenal shape. I know we’ve got a few more years of Nash in TNA and then it’s back off to the E as he has stated numerous times that the E is where he wants to wind up his career. Nash’s teaching to the younger guys could be invaluable and I expect him to have a place in the biz for a looong time.

Zach Brown: Well I have to say that when Kevin Nash was in WCW and early WWF, I was a big fan of his. During most of his career, I liked his in-ring abilities a lot. For some reason, the Jackknife Powerbomb is one of my favorite finishers of all time. It’s just such a cool move. I don’t know what it is. Maybe its just the name for it. The Jackknife…But anyway, I think I started to sour on Nash towards the end of his WWE career. Maybe I just then realized that he’s kind of slow in the ring. He’s powerful and all, but I started to get tired of him for some reason. I thought he should have retired at that point. When he joined TNA, I thought that he shouldn’t be in a ring anymore. Thankfully, he wasn’t for long. And when he started doing the backstage Paparazzi segments, I saw a side of Nash that made me think that he would be a brilliant comedian. When he kept that up, I thought Nash had really re-invented himself. I would laugh my ass off every time I heard him talk. But then Russo just HAD to insist on Kevin getting back in the ring. Nash should really take a page from Foley for once, and just be an entertaining personality outside of the ring. I really haven’t enjoyed any of Nash’s work since he’s been wrestling again in TNA. If I’m missing a match where he’s awesome lately, please let me know what it is. But all in all, I really do respect Kevin Nash a lot. I just wish that he knew when to retire from the ring.

Something to remember Kevin Nash about.

Feedback Frenzy

This is our response to your comments and feedback of last week’s column.

David Martell: I honestly do think Bret Hart was a better wrestler than HBK but I did point out that Bret whines to much. One think I wanted to talk about here is how we preview TNA PPVs. I have admitted before that I don’t watch to much TNA but we are required to preview TNA PPVs because we are a Sunday column. I am sorry if we are clueless on a lot of things that happen in TNA but it is just something we are required to do. I will try to watch TNA more often for your sake. Once again thanks for reading the column.

Zach Brown: To “Crazy8” about not understanding what I meant about Edge’s acting, just watch Edge’s eyes when he is supposed to be “freaked out” backstage. You’ll see what I mean. In response to “ooo,” I really don’t think we were absolutely hating on Shawn. I don’t like what he did during the screwjob, but that’s about it in terms of me not liking him. I like pretty much everything Shawn is doing nowadays and I think he’s a great wrestler and a great actor as well. I never bring up the “5 moves of doom” argument with any wrestler because too many people do it anyway. And about Bret, I understand the argument about Bret whining and how he should have dropped the strap. I get that. And to some extent, I think Bret could have handled things better both before and after the screwjob. But I also think that there’s really no excuse for what Vince and Shawn did. They could have done a hundred other things before they did that because what they did was just low. But thanks for all the comments. Keep writing in, and we’ll keep debating!