Interinactivity: 01.27.2011 – Ready 2 Rumble

Columns, Top Story

This is yet another column about me and why everything I say is right. If you disagree with anything I say in this article, then you are wrong. And goodness, but it took some time to get through this one. I mean, I have fun doing these, but in retrospect, I should have given out less homework.

I tried to get to everything, but I also decided I’d include stuff that people have e-mailed me over the last week, which I’ll be doing from now on, and really, should have been doing this entire time. My apologies if you’ve e-mailed me and I haven’t included it, but I will from now on.

I think I got to everything, but if a response to your comment or e-mail isn’t in here, it probably overlapped with another similar question or comment. My apologies.

 

Owangotang: Punk had a HUGE year last year. He’s on top and that is not going away, he’s 100% made now.

Blair: Don’t be so sure. Ratings have not done so well under Punk’s reign at the top. What merchandise is doing with regard to Punk versus when Cena was on top, I have no idea. But, if they give Punk’s reign some time to boost ratings, and it doesn’t, it won’t continue and that’s all there is to it. Then people will argue about whether it’s Punk’s fault or WWE’s fault. I personally find Punk 100% more watchable than John Cena, but it’s the numbers that matter.

 

Owangotang: He also has never faced an antagonistic John Cena. Maybe Johnny Ace or HHH or Stephanie help Cena beat Punk or maybe Cena just uses cheating like a mo’fo to win but Punk can still say that he won when they faced off straight up. Yea, it would mean Punk is not the spotlight of WrestleMania but he is not going to be anyways. Doesn’t it seem like something the WWE would want, to find SOME way to get the belt onto The Rock, even if he forfeits it or loses it the next night?

Blair: I wouldn’t think so, because this Cena / Rock thing doesn’t really need the belt to get over. Nothing involving The Rock does.

 

Owangotang: Oh I tend to agree with your point about how so many new talents are entering WWE with the same basics due to FCW and I agree that, right now, Wade Barrett is not the most entertaining or capable guy on the roster. My point was basically a counter to “…they gave him too much, too quickly, and he floundered”. He did not flounder initially. When Barrett was harassing Cena and was booked as a threat (with Nexus backing) people HATED him. He was a good antagonist, but then after a while that heat faded. I did not see Wade get worse (or better, actually) so then what changed? It was the way WWE made him a non-threat. Cena weathered Wade’s worst and still hung around and no real consequences came of it. Of course now the guy is struggling to reestablish himself, they cut his legs out from under him.

Blair: Just because WWE put a huge storyline around the guy does not mean he didn’t flounder initially. Everyone knew that Daniel Bryan was the one who should win that first NXT, even people who had no idea who he was before that. That match with Bryan and Jericho on the very first episode was a thing of beauty – Jericho helped Bryan looked like a million bucks, and his program with The Miz was really hot – it’s one of the only things of value that Miz has ever really done for WWE. But WWE said “so, you want Daniel Bryan to win, do you? Too bad. Here’s some other asshole you don’t care about. Look, he’s got a flower in his jacket! HOW DIFFERENT AND EXCITING!!!”

People tend to differ with opinions on that whole Nexus thing. I personally think it lost 100% of it’s steam on the second week, but regardless of what you think about it, I don’t really understand the idea that Wade did awesome during that entire thing. Even if you thought the Nexus storyline was great, Wade Barrett sounded (and sounds) like he’s talking with a mouth full of marbles. And no, since you’re going to ask, that’s not his accent, that’s just how he sounds. And his in-ring skills are fucking poor.

 

Zork: It does seem as if some phases were more successful than others, at least when it comes to producing above average wrestlers. After Angle got called up and there was the drive to get Amateur guys, we got people like Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin while not being that charismatic, they were good in ring performers who could generally have good matches, especially back when they were tagging. We also got Brock Lesnar out of that phase. Did have anything to do with these guys just being more naturally gifted in terms of learning how to wrestle and all that or more to do with the fact that these guys came from OVW instead of FCW. In fact, it seems the good to suck ratio of people that have come out developmental since WWE switched to FCW is pretty bad. I don’t understand how that is though, especially when they’ve had Ricky Steamboat down there as a trainer for a while, and now JR is paying visits to FCW.

Blair: Remember that Brock, Charlie and Shelton all had amateur backgrounds, and that helped a lot. But I highly doubt that Jim Ross would be able to tell you anything useful about how to pull off a suplex, and just because Ricky Steamboat was a great wrestler doesn’t mean he’s a fantastic trainer – maybe he’s really gifted with teaching match psychology, but isn’t great in terms of teaching guys how to do moves. Or vise-versa. Maybe it all comes naturally to Steamboat but he’s just shitty at teaching. Maybe he’s perfect at it and they just send him shitty bodybuilders.

Or, more likely, it’s that WWE is perfectly content with the quality of guys they’re getting from FCW, even if a lot of other people aren’t. In-ring product isn’t as important to WWE as it used to be, and really, why should it be? Look at the biggest money-makers that WWE has employed. Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena – I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that none of those gentlemen will go down as great in-ring workers. I’m not saying that they’re incapable of having good and entertaining matches, because they aren’t. Steve Austin’s matches against The Rock are some of my favorite matches ever, as is Hogan’s WrestleMania match against Rock. And almost everyone enjoys watching those guys have matches even though they’re not great workers, including myself. So why should WWE care? They’re not as hung-up on in-ring ability as people think.

Who knows. In-ring, I mostly prefer the guys they get from the indies or from other countries to the guys who are born and bred in that FCW territory. But that’s me.

 

Ryan Alarie: Barrett’s initial push was cut off at the knees…

Blair: … because he was doing terribly.

Ryan Alarie: … but that is pretty much the case for everyone.

Blair: … except that it isn’t. Not if they do well. See also: Shaemus.

 

Ryan Alarie: The Nexus was, like many things, a good start without an ending. If they hadn’t removed his guaranteed title shot, they could have given Barrett a run with the title where he used the Nexus to retain the title for a while. However, that has nothing to do with how he’s booked.

Blair: You’re right – it had to do with how well he was doing in his role, just like everything else. I’d agree that Nexus had a good start, and if Barrett had been delivering, there’s no question that they would have put that belt on him and done what you suggested. But the reason that they didn’t do that is the same reason they shipped him over to SmackDown and shotgunned his untalented ass down the card: Because. He. Wasn’t. Doing. Well. Putting the belt on Barrett wouldn’t have been THAT much of a stretch when he had already been the main antagonist to John Cena for several months.

 

Ryan Alarie: As a wrestler/entertainer though, he’s limited by lack of experience. He’s recieved basically the same training as most of the young guys in the ‘E who similarly suffer from the same lack of depth. He is a ‘decent’ wrestler in that, for the most part, he’s not out there botching all the time or risking hurting people. However, he isn’t spectacular or very interesting, as he needs to go beyond having an interesting accent, an interesting look, and being competent on the mike and in the ring. He may just be looking for the right character to click. It could be that he just has to be allowed to be himself, or he needs a gimmick. Blair isn’t looking at Barrett in terms of whether or not he’s pushed (as pushed well does not equate to being good or interesting …). Barrett, pushed or not, gets enough TV time to talk on the mike and wrestle to have a decent idea of how interesting he is to watch. And he’s still green. A new finisher would help, but it’s more than just having a crappy finisher. It’s a the lack of skills that make a wrestler good or great. He knows the basics, and with someone in the ring that knows what they are doing, they can pull him to a decent match. However, he’s not exceptional yet, he’s merely adequate. A lot of young guys coming out of FCW are going to be merely adequate for a while as they adjust to the big stage and get some

Blair: “Being pushed well does not equate to being good or interesting” is a perfect quote. I can’t imagine what WWE or Barrett could come up with to make the guy “click”, but hey, you never know. I do remember one half-decent outing where Bryan flipped around the ring like a maniac to make Barrett look good, and actually somewhat succeeded. But if the dude is still green after a year-and a half of being on TV, then at some point, they’re going to start looking for a return on their investment. Barrett and Shaemus are both in somewhat the same position – their initial pushes didn’t work out, they spent a year-or-so in obscurity, and now WWE is trying again with them. If the second time doesn’t work, how many more times do you think WWE is going to put them at bat, and how long do you think they’ll be allowed to continue to draw a WWE salary?

 

Owangotang: With all due respect it’s not Barrett’s fault that when Cena was “fired” the fans at house shows were subjected to Juan Cena, never mind the fact that Cena never actually left RAW. That whole angle really did Barrett no favors because once the fans saw that Cena was not going anywhere, despite losing and being fired, then Barrett was no longer a threat. He had done his worst and Cena still just stuck around like a stale fart.

Blair: Graphic.

Barrett was never booked as a threat to begin with. Nexus was booked as a threat to John Cena because there were 6 or 7 of them. And even that didn’t last long, because soon Cena just started beating the bejesus out of all of them at once anyway. If they had taken Cena off RAW for a while, you really think Barrett would have skyrocketed? I think not.

They actually pulled the trigger on that Juan Cena thing?

 

Owangotang: If the Royal Rumble ends the way you’ve just described I will be severely disappointed to the point that I tune out of WWE. Royal Rumble is sacred to me and it’s been too much bullsh*t lately, I need a solid winner.

Blair: I can’t tell if you mean that WWE has been bullshit lately, or that Royal Rumble has been bullshit lately, by which I assume you mean the last few years. If you mean the last few years, then the last 5 winners have been The Undertaker, John Cena, Randy Orton, Edge and Alberto Del Rio. I’m not a big Edge fan, but I would say that only one of those winners turned out to be a flop, and it wasn’t Edge.

Poor Alberto. More on him later.

 

Ryan Alarie: Rumble: While I think Sheamus might win, I do like the idea floated by the Aftermath crew, which is that Jericho gets number 30 and wins the Rumble without doing anything (last two people eliminate themselves while Jericho is still ‘celebrating’ outside the ring.

Blair: Jericho has never won a Royal Rumble, and I’d like to see him win one too. A Shaemus win would pretty much be the worst idea possible aside from Mark Henry unless you start floating around ideas like Hunrico winning.

 

Ryan Alarie: Miz: Not sure if they will sustain the R-Truth thing that long, but they can have them in the Rumble and in the Elimination Chamber and not have them pay things off with a real 1 on 1 match until Wrestlemania. Otherwise, they might have some sort of MitB variant to get people on the card.

Blair: Miz is going to be lost in the undercard of WrestleMania, which is where he belongs. The highest he can possibly get on the card will be if they can convince one of those Jersey Shore guys to come in and kick his ass.

 

Ryan Alarie: Henry: Assuming he’s healthy, and they want him on the card, he’d either get put up against Sheamus to give Sheamus the rub as the guy to ‘actually’ beat Henry.

Blair: Big Show “actually” beat Henry a couple months ago.

Big Boss Man, Road Dogg, D’Lo Brown, Matt Hardy, Finlay and Heath Slater have “actually” beaten Henry as well.

 

Ryan Alarie: Sheamus: See above … either going for the belt, or doing something with Henry. I would guess his thing with Barrett would be over by then.

Blair: Unfortunately, I could see Shaemus as the guy who goes for the belt against Bryan too – again, assuming Bryan holds onto it for that long. Either him or Orton. It might just be me, but Bryan’s main-event run looks to be on shaky ground. That would be fine – I really can’t see Shaemus flourishing to success in the title-match-at-WrestleMania environment, and I’m pretty sure that WWE knows that, even if they wish it weren’t the case. If Shaemus EVER made it onto a WrestleMania poster with less than 10 other guys on there, I’d be really surprised.

 

Ryan Alarie: Cody Rhodes: Weird situation. It seems like there are no IC contenders. Unless something happens during the Rumble to spark a feud, I’m going to guess they may have Golddust come back to fight his brother at WM.

Blair: Cody Rhodes bores the hell out of me. But they’re serious about him, so I’m quite sure they’ll try to have him do something high-profile.

 

Ryan Alarie: DB’s half turn: I like it. His matches are showing that he can survive in the land of giants, but even when everyone knows that wrestling is fake, there is still the whole “suspension of disbelief” thing where you get taken out of the match when say … Rey beats the Big Show. So, with someone as small as Bryan going up against Big Show and Mark Henry, you aren’t going to buy him winning legit, so his cheating (in a way that he can explain away as accident or coincidence) makes sense. The hope would be, against opponents that aren’t super heavyweights, he can be given more of chance to prove that he ‘can’ win legit, and then be a full blown heel by cheating anyway. It’s different than most of the other characters, and it’s better than looking like a chump like most MitB winners do. At least cheating (and retaining) against Big Show and Mark Henry seems more impressive than say … Jericho needing to cheat to beat Rikishi when he was undisputed champ.

Blair: WWE isn’t great at that with heels, though – they generally have them cheat to win almost every match that isn’t against Santino. I do get what you’re saying though, although I would absolutely buy Bryan winning in a real fight over Big Show OR Mark Henry. Big Show isn’t mobile and Mark Henry breaks out in a sweat every time he breathes, and Bryan’s kicks look like they can make a man shit piss and piss shit.

 

Ryan Alarie: Wade Barrett: He was elevated too quickly because he was seen as the best of a bad crop coming out of NXT. He was the one with the look, and didn’t completely embarass himself on the mike or in the ring. When they basically decided to graduate DB early into a feud with Cole and Miz that was sidelined by the whole Nexus thing, Barrett was seen as a future star. He was Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Ted’s Kid, he was Randy Orton, he was Rocky Maivia. He was a blue chipper that was guaranteed to be a big part of the future of the WWE. And so, like everyone that has come out of NXT or Tough Enough, they gave him too much too quickly, and he floundered.

Blair: He’s not one iota better now than he was back then.

 

Ryan Alarie: He’s come from FCW, just like everyone else, so his moveset and his promos, are like everyone elses. People don’t come up through the territories anymore, they don’t go to Japan and Mexico for the most part. There is really just the indies or developmental. And so lots of the developmental guys are quite similar, and thus boring because of how similar they are to other developmental guys.

Blair: Let’s remember that out of ALL the guys they’ve ever pulled from FCW, the only one’s that have made it – TRULY made it, are John Cena, Randy Orton, and Batista. So the deck is pretty stacked against Barrett being the next one in that lineage. I suppose you COULD make a case for Brock Lesnar, but he also had an amateur background. Maybe you’ll be able to say the same thing about Cody Rhodes, who sucks, in a few years too.

 

Ryan Alarie: They’ve gone through a few ‘phases’ of trying to get guys from different areas. After Angle, they wanted more guys from amateur wrestling. After Del Rio, they went for more luchadores.

Blair: You mean “two”, right? “Two” luchadores.

 

Ryan Alarie: After Punk, it seems they are at least trying with some more Indy Darlings. But, for the most part, the domination of the ‘E has made it so that there isn’t a great system for creating interesting wrestlers anymore. The path to ‘E used to be varied, and each person would bring with them a different set of skills and experiences. Now, they all have to go through FCW.

Blair: There are still plenty of independents out there, actually I would bet money that there’s more now than there were a decade ago. And once they’re ready to graduate from indies, they can try ROH or DGUSA to really mature as a wrestler before they go to WWE.

 

Owangotang: I know Velvet is rockin’ the bolt-ons but man she’s foxy. Can she actually wrestle?

Blair: No.

 

Owangotang: Also that is the most attractive Angelina Love picture I’ve ever seen. I’m kidding, I’m sure she is lovely and can have make fascinating conversation about many topics of the day.

Blair: Like the dangers of allowing ghosts to give you rohypnol.

Actually, I would legit watch a storyline where Angelina gives speeches to high schools or women’s groups about the dangers of allowing ghosts to drug you. That would be awesome.

 

Owangotang: Who will win the Royal Rumble? Sheamus, leading to Sheamus/Bryan at WM for the World Title and Sheamus gets his career’s biggest WM moment to date.

Blair: Another one? Damn it all. If Shaemus actually wins, looking at the comments on here are going to be really annoying for me.

So yeah, do you really think this “WrestleMania moment”, if it happens, will lead to big things for Shaemus? Do you think it’s one of the ways to elevate him to this “cornerstone” status that he’s apparently so destined for? Do you really see him getting a huge reaction for beating Bryan and winning the belt?

 

Owangotang: Don’t forget that Sheamus lost to HHH at WM two years ago and last year he was not even on the televised card, I’m sure WWE feels that he needs a positive Wrestlemania moment. Hell, Miz MAIN-EVENTED Wrestlemania last year so this does not seem like a stretch.

Blair: You do have a point here, but you also kind of made MY point. So they’re going to give this Shaemus guy another chance to try and earn some money for WWE. Do you really think that just because Shaemus is a good guy now that he’s going to have some huge moment at WrestleMania that will launch his career? Do you really think this WrestleMania will be talked about on a Shaemus DVD a few years from now, where you have Jim Ross saying “this was the night Shaemus became a made man in sports entertainment”?

 

Owangotang: Who will be in the World Title matches at Wrestlemania? Sheamus/Bryan as noted above, as well as C.M. Punk vs. John Cena…and then later John Cena vs. the Rock. Hear me out on this because I think it’s brilliant (which means it’s sh*t but just listen); Cena promised last year that he would be champion at Wrestlemania when he faced the Rock. It has not been mentioned recently but it could be brought back up as soon as post-Rumble. Assuming Sheamus wins the Royal Rumble and challenges Bryan that means the Elimination Chamber could be for the WWE title shot. Somehow Zack Ryder gets put into the EC match and ends up with Cena as the last two remaining competitors. Ryder hits his finisher, nearly pins Cena…and Cena snaps. He brutalizes Ryder well past the point needed to pin him, with something like 5 AA’s and the STFU. Cena then goes to WM as an antagonist (is this acceptable in place of heel?) to Punk’s protagonist. Cena wins with antagonist tactics, then later in the night proceeds to lose the belt to the Rock. WWE gets to showcase Rock as champ for just one night and the hype on the whole thing leading into WM would be off the charts.

Blair: I don’t see how WWE can come up with 5 Arn Anderson’s.

Also, why would they put the title on a guy who shows up to 6 shows per year and wrestles once? Rock is the most over guy in WWE without the belt.

 

Owangotang: What do you see the following people doing at WM? Miz – No idea. He went from WWE champ to feuding with Alex Riley in a few months last year. Who the hell knows what they have planned for him.

Blair: Two words. Jersey. Shore.

 

Owangotang: Mark Henry – fighting Brodus Clay.

Blair: On the pre-pre-show.

 

Owangotang: What do I think of the Daniel Bryan half turn? I like Bryan acting antagonistically, but the best part is the slow burn on this. Not all turns should be slow but this one is working well, reminds me of when Punk first went antagonistic in WWE.

Blair: I agree.

 

Owangotang: What could Ring of Honor possibly do to bring more viewers to it’s TV show? 1. Fine ladies.

Blair: Terrible idea. Women don’t draw.

 

Owangotang: 2. Paul Heyman involved at the highest booking level.

Blair: Over-rated idea.

 

Owangotang: 3. A very slow burn feud between what the company considers it’s top protagonist and antagonist, like no contact whatsoever in the ring for at least a year.

Blair: The problem is that they’ve already done that, which is sort of why I’m having a hard time getting into Ring Of Honor right now. Davey Richards is a great wrestler, but he’s somewhat boring and bland to watch. To do what you’re suggesting means using big enough names that I’m not even sure they can come up with.

 

Owangotang: Finally 4. Advertise. I consider myself plugged-in but I have no idea where to find ROH on TV.

Blair: Well, that last one isn’t really their fault, because it’s likely you CAN’T find it on your TV. It’s syndicated.

 

Owangotang: Why is Wade Barrett such a terrible wrestler and a boring person to watch? I disagree and think he is a capable wrestler, but I will admit he can be boring. I still think he is a natural antagonist though and the WWE will have him wrestling for a World title at WM in 2013. He’s their future, I remain convinced.

Blair: So you legitimately think that Wade Barrett is WWE’s future. Who’s his protagonist going to be? Shaemus? You think that WWE is going to main-event a WrestleMania with fucking Shaemus and Wade Barrett?

Does this scenario involve a WWE plane crashing, killing most of the roster?

 

Owangotang: So y’all need a TNA recapper?

Blair: YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES!

 

Anonymous: Looking back on last year’s Rumble, they should have simply went with Santino winning. Would have created more shock value and intrigue than Alberto ever could muster.

Blair: What is with people taking terrible ideas and then inventing ways to make them worse?

 

Zork: Actually, yes that’s true. Looking back though, how does one guy drop the ball TWICE, in one year? Talk about underwhelming.

Blair: For anyone who says I always think I’m right, or whatever, here’s an example of how that’s not the case. I actually think I may have been wrong about Alberto Del Rio. That guy had some great matches with CM Punk, Christian, and John Morrison last year. The issue is not that he’s not talented. The issue is the character they’ve given him – they said to him “we’re thinking Mexican JBL”. They even gave him the towel and the cars, for crying out loud.

But yeah, the booking and the execution of his title runs and everything that went along with it was terrible. I’m not denying that. I’m just saying I think the guy is a lot better than his recent booking indicates, and I wouldn’t say that about a lot of guys on WWE’s roster. My opinion.

 

 

Zork: I appreciate you picking my comment out and featuring me, thanks! As for my comment, I was just being realistic. I don’t think they’d use RVD in a main event capacity that much unless it was to help get a heel champion over, be in tag matches and close out Raws. I’m fine with that, it’d be kinda nice to see him again. Because if they’re in TNA, they’re dead to me.

Blair: Every time you say that, Dixie Carter gets another grey hair.

 

Zork: Who is going to win the Royal Rumble: I honestly don’t know. It’s been a bit hard for me to pick someone lately just because in the past few years, it seems like they just randomly pick a guy don’t really think that far ahead…shocking I know. Plus with Rumble Winners becoming complete busts lately like Alberto Del Rio and all, I guess I was so underwhelmed by last years Rumble I couldn’t bring myself to pick a guy this year. Now? I’m thinking Chris Jericho. Why? No real reason, the idea of him winning and going on to face CM Punk at Mania sounds cool.

Blair: I covered this earlier, but other than last year, the only winners they’ve had over the last 5 years and beyond that were pretty much mainstay main-event guys. Yes, last year was disappointing. But they can’t all be gems.

 

Zork: Who is going to be in the World Title Matches at WM: I guess I’m thinking Jericho and Punk for the WWE Title. As for the World Heavyweight Title…uhhh…I hope it isn’t Big Show and Mark Henry or something. Does that count? This will make me seem like a stupid optimist but I’d like to think Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan would be pretty cool to see.

Blair: Not really. I don’t really see another great option for Bryan, so I think Randy Orton is as big a name Bryan is going to get, assuming he makes it that far. Anything involving Mark Henry in that scenario is guaranteed to be no fun. Ditto with Big Show, unless he’s willing to almost kill himself again by doing some more top rope elbows.

 

Zork: What do you see the following people doing at WrestleMania: The Miz, Mark Henry, Shaemus, and Cody Rhodes: I see Miz being in an undercard match against R-Truth or something, maybe with a stipulation…I feel like we’re in for the long haul on that one.

Blair: I fell asleep reading that.

 

Zork: Mark Henry…uhhh…resting? I know he’s injured, I know he probably feels like he’s got some momentum now but he’s hurt. Shouldn’t he be resting?

Blair: Mark Henry has spent over half his career either resting or healing, so if that momentum that he “feels like he’s got” is actually real, then I completely understand him wanting to get all he can out of it.

 

Zork: Sheamus would be in some kind of Triple Threat or Fatal Four Way or a Battle Royal, just to have something to do I’d think, it’s pretty clear nobody has anything for him to do…he’s fighting his greatest nemesis in Jinder Mahal, wow.

Blair: So that’s the piss break match then?

 

Zork: What do you think about the Daniel Bryan half turn?: I like it. I know a lot of people on the internet are butthurt and want Daniel Bryan to be the super face and “Defy the odds” all the time but this is different and unexpected actually. At least he has something to do now and is the focus of one of the main storylines. I don’t like that he’s stuck facing Big Show but there really isn’t anybody else on that show with enough credibility to help move this story forward in WWE’s eyes. This is an improvement though from barely seeing Daniel Bryan at all though, isn’t it?

Blair: Yes.

 

CB: How long until Jeff Hardy disgraces himself and TNA yet again, and how long will it take after that until he’s back in main events? I think Jeff will be fine, actually.

Blair: CB, you know better than this. Go to your room and read Zork’s answer.

Zork: How long until Jeff Hardy disgraces himself and TNA yet again, and how long will it take after that until he’s back in main events?: Give him 1 to 3 months to get back on the wagon, then after he’s “punished” give that another 1 to 3 months and we’ll be back at square one. This guy’s been “clean” before. That’s funny.

 

Zork: Why is Wade Barrett such a terrible wrestler and boring person to watch?: He’s a pretty bad wrestler, I’ll agree with that. He’s got a really limited moveset and doesn’t seem to be capable of having a match of about 20 minutes length, that tells me he’s either green as hell or he just sucks. I do however think he’s a pretty good talker, I’ve thought some of his promos were pretty good. That’s probably what’s going to be his saving grace, and it has been reported that management likes Wade Barrett’s talking skills so…we’re probably stuck with him for a while.

Blair: Next someone is going to tell me that Wade Barrett is going to win the Royal Rumble.

 

Chris Sanders: Who is going to win the Royal Rumble? before Jericho came back in the picture, my initial thoughts were that it was gonna be Sheamus…not really for any particular reason. but jericho just seams like the obvious pick at this point.

Blair: Agree.

 

Chris Sanders: Who is going to be in the World Title matches for WrestleMania? punk vs jericho and mark henry vs Orton (I still don’t see WWE keeping the belt on Bryan that long)

Blair: Good God, I hope you’re not right about this. Orton you sort of have to accept because he’s a main guy in the company, and I wouldn’t be that surprised if Bryan didn’t last this long, but Mark Fucking Henry? On the WrestleMania poster? Haven’t I suffered enough? Haven’t you people pretending that Mark Henry is anything above terrible been pretending for long enough? All I want is for you to be freed.

 

Chris Sanders: What do you see the following people doing at WrestleMania: The Miz, Mark Henry, Shaemus, and Cody Rhodes. Cody will probably face off against Goldust and as for the rest, I envision some sort of abomination tag team much like last year’s random face team vs the corre.

Blair: Now this, (the abomination tag match) I could see happening, and is easily the best suggestion yet for how to use most of these guys. Or, just don’t put them on the show at all. It worked with Shaemus last year.

 

Chris Sanders: What do you think about the Daniel Bryan half-turn? its confusing to say the least and I don’t know if its going so slow because WWE wants to take their time with it or if they are making it up week by week. my guess is the latter since the title was thrown on Bryan because of an unexpected injury to Henry.

Blair: It’s funny that people keep saying that. Obviously they intended to put the belt on Bryan, because he had the damn briefcase.

 

Chris Sanders: How long until Jeff Hardy disgraces himself and TNA yet again, and how long will it take after that until he’s back in main events? i’ll put my money on 6 months and return about 3 months after he finishes whatever legal punishment he gets (this is assuming TNA won’t just give up on him and let him go, which i think is more likely)

Blair: TNA doesn’t give up on anyone. They employed Orlando Jordan for a year, and still employ Shannon Moore.

 

CB: Who is going to win the Royal Rumble? Chris Jericho, and I love the idea someone had where Jericho draws #30 and before he lifts a finger the last two remaining entrants eliminate each other, and then Y2J simply celebrates and leaves.

Blair: I also like this idea.

 

CB: Who is going to be in the World Title matches for WrestleMania? Jericho vs. Punk for the WWE title. Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan for the Big Gold Belt.

Blair: I kind of ruined the responses to CB by already putting other similar comments first. I will fix this next week, by responding to the comments on a “first come, first serve” basis.

 

 

CB: What could Ring Of Honor possibly do to start bringing more viewers to it’s TV show? Get on more TV stations in NY.

Blair: How is it that no one else suggested this? Good idea.

 

CB: Why is Wade Barrett such a terrible wrestler and boring person to watch? Disagree, Wade is fine, love that jacket too. I just want him to get a better finishing move.

Blair: Getting a better finishing move is just going to cause people to say that he’s “improving”. I don’t think any of us want that.

 

Mike Gojira: I think it has to be said that, with Randy Orton injured, and Mark Henry injured, and Christian injured, and even SPOILER ALERT Big Show possibly injured (back injury following Smackdown taping), the company needs to start pushing their younger talent on Smackdown. Let’s face it: the only reason Daniel Bryan is champion now is because they don’t trust Big Show with the belt. If they didn’t trust Show to bring in the ratings as champ, then why was he in an extended program with Henry? To keep Orton out of the title picture. Why are they keeping Sheamus in a holding pattern? To make him a break-out star by Wrestlemania, I assume. In the meantime, we have no top face on the B-Show because the WWE seems unwilling to take a chance on anyone fresh, even with half the damn roster injured.

Blair: They’d obviously planned on Bryan being champion for a while, because again, HE. HAD. THE. BRIEFCASE. Briefcase cash-ins have led to title wins 100% of the time. What is with the resistance to this concept?! Just because someone who isn’t in WWE reported that management was happy with Henry’s title run, which produced no gains, it must be the gospel truth? And even if it was, then what, you thought they we’re just gonna keep the belt on Henry forever or have the Big Show feud last until the end of time?

 

Mike Gojira: That’s why my SmackDown recaps have turned into work instead of fun.

Blair: I don’t see how SmackDown has been any fun since 2002, but yeah, I don’t know how you sit through that every week. As tough as it was to do Impact for me, at least it wasn’t boring. I tried to sit through a couple SmackDowns and just couldn’t make it. The Daniel Bryan story, whatever you think of Bryan, is at least a bit intriguing because you don’t know where thy’re going with it, right? Does that make it a bit more interesting for you, or no?

 

CB: They can fix that Mike, by putting the newly unshackled Kofi Kingston into a baby face slot on SmackDown, and a few other tweaks like that.

Blair: Now, this is a good idea. People have ALWAYS loved Kofi Kingston. I know that WWE hates him for some reason, but whatever you think of him, Kofi has gotten some of the best reactions on the show for YEARS now. Yes, I know he didn’t sell an RKO properly ONCE, but hasn’t the guy done his time? Obviously this Air Bourne thing is bullshit for several reasons, so just let him leave it in the dust already.

 

Cristo: Who is going to win the Royal Rumble? Prob Randy Orton :yawn:

Blair: Again? Balls.

 

Cristo: Who is going to be in the World Title matches for WrestleMania? Orton v Henry, Rock v Cena :Yawn:

Blair: Yawn for Orton / Henry maybe, but why have people been hating on this whole Rock / Cena thing? I wouldn’t have done it the way they did it, but at least the match itself will probably be fun… won’t it?

 

Cristo: What do you see the following people doing at WrestleMania: The Miz, Mark Henry, Shaemus, and Cody Rhodes? I don’t really care about any of these.

Blair: My people. Thank you Cristo. I was hoping at least one person would say that.

 

Cristo: Why is Wade Barrett such a terrible wrestler and boring person to watch? I’m english and even I don’t care about this guy, apparently he’s really good friends with Andi Peters which is pretty damn handy for 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Blair: Seriously? Using that as his gimmick would be way more entertaining than anything he’s done over his entire WWE career.

 

Comment Received Via E-mail
Bebito: 
Greetings Blair. I’m Bebito Thank you. It’s just nice to have someone writing in the wrestling section that I look forward to reading. Ever week. Which is amazing for me. It’s always entertaining. Heck, bring even more of your friends to write for the site. It’ll at least entertain one person. As for my homework, I’ve submitted it below:

Blair: Dawwwwwww.

Bebito: Who is going to win the Royal Rumble? Chris Jericho. Why? Because I love Chris Jericho. And it’d be awesome. Awesome mostly because, again, I love Jericho thus I want it to happen so I’ll come up with any sort of slightly plausible scenario to placate myself. For instance, I’ve read a couple of places on the intrawebs how they’d get a Jericho “win” to work and, sure whatever, I want him to win so let’s go with it. There’s the idea of him coming out as one of the highest numbered entrants, celebrating with the fans for so long that there’s only person left in the ring, and then finally enters the Rumble as the last person by proxy eliminating whoever was left (let’s say it’s Goldberg). Of course the fact that we’re even talking about this possibility means it won’t happen. Which is fine. As long as Jericho wins. Because I care about fake sports and that makes me happy inside.

Blair: Well, you can’t really argue with that logic, can you? See, that’s the thing. Bebito wants Chris Jericho to win because he likes Chris Jericho. That’s something that makes sense. If you want Mark Henry to win because you like Mark Henry, that makes sense too. But there’s a big difference between comments like this and comments like “Mark Henry should win the Royal Rumble because he’s awesome and has paid his dues and gets the biggest crowd reactions and has improved so much and management is pleased with his work and IT FACTOR.”

 

Bebito: Who is going to be in the World Title matches for WrestleMania? Since Jericho wins the Rumble guaranteed (don’t question it, I said GUARANTEED) have CMPunk retain the title until Mania and we get the rumored Chris Jericho vs CMPunk wet dream match that I and 96.4% of the intraweb want to see. It’s for the right to use the “Best in the World” title! And it’s for… the actual Title. Yes.

Blair: Yes.

Bebito: As for the other match? Um. I don’t actually care really. So let’s make it Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler vs… Kofi Kingston? Yeah him, that’ll do. No build. No reason. Announce the match the Smackdown before Wrestlemania, I don’t care. I just want to see a good match and everyone else kinda sucks. So BOOK IT.

Blair: The best would be if they had the entire SmackDown before WrestleMania just be Teddy Long and a few other suits debating who should get the match. And just before the credits, Teddy Long can be all “Playas, I just realized that everyone we have is horrible except for these 3. I guess that makes it easy, don’t it? HOLLA HOLLA!”

 

Bebito With The Comment Of The Week: What do you see the following people doing at WrestleMania – The Miz: Selling Popcorn. Mark Henry: Eating popcorn. Shaemus and Cody Rhodes: Jobbing to Brock Lesnar? Umm. The real answer is I don’t care.

Blair: PLEASE DON’T GO! PLEASE DON’T GO! PLEASE DON’T GO!

 

Bebito: What do you think about the Daniel Bryan half-turn? I like it! Before I only wanted to see Daniel wrestle and that was about it. Now when he picks up a microphone, I no longer cringe! So BOOK IT. Wait… does that make any sense?

Blair: SAUCE IT!

 

Bebito: How long until Jeff Hardy disgraces himself and TNA yet again, and how long will it take after that until he’s back in main events? Tomorrow? Did it already happen? I don’t know. I won’t ever know because I’ll never watch TNA.

Blair: What if Chris Jericho went to TNA?

 

Bebito: What could Ring Of Honor possibly do to start bringing more viewers to it’s TV show? Get bought by the WWE. BOOK IT.

Blair: WWE has no idea how to book for the audience that ROH goes for.

 

Bebito: Why is Wade Barrett such a terrible wrestler and boring person to watch? Because he turned on his NXT mentor Chris Jericho. See what happens? Chris Jericho’s first official match back should be squashing Wade Barrett with the arrogant cover in a 2 minute match. Because that would be awesome. Because I care about fake sports and that makes me happy inside.

Blair: BOOK IT!

Needless to say, I enjoyed that e-mail.

 

Well, that should about do it for this week. Thanks for the comments! Again, next week I’ll be answering them in the order they’re posted.

Have fun watching The Royal Rumble this weekend, I know I will. For how bad I think wrestling shows are in general these days, one thing that never really disappoints me is The Royal Rumble. Even if Del Rio did win with a whimper last year, I still enjoyed the match as a whole, and that was one of the weaker Rumbles in history. The concept of the Royal Rumble is such that even if it’s done badly, and even if most of the guys in it are terrible, it still ends up being one of the more entertaining matches all year long.

This has been “Interinactivity”. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

I’ll be in my trailer.

 

BD writes about professional wrestling on Inside Pulse until he has to stop because he's about to have a stroke. Any “errors” that are made on his part are, of course, intentional and represent an artistic choice. He acts as a kind of fly paper for the emotionally disturbed.