It’s a poor night of wrestling when you remember more about what angered you than what pleased you. This goes beyond pulling for certain characters because you like them, but more so bad taste and poor writing. The first segment of the show was fine, Vince was able to bridge current events like the Oscars and tie in last week’s segment, with the obvious Shawn Michaels run-in at the end. My heat is specifically concerning the use of the pregnant Stephanie McMahon drugging Shawn Michaels’ water in the latest “twist” of Shawn Michaels versus the McMahon family. Storylines and reality are often blurred in wrestling, however, how is it a good PR move to have one of the heads of WWE corporate as her TV character drug water when the company just implemented a new strict WWE drug policy? What kind of message does that send, ‘we don’t want talent to pop pills but on TV it’s perfectly okay to have a WWE corporate head heel character drug a top baby face?’ In the non-wrestling, wrestling match with Shane McMahon and Shawn Michaels, it was disturbing in itself to watch when you think of all the wrestling related deaths due to the abuse of recreational and prescription drugs. Shawn has admitted to not being a saint all his life and it also posed the question, that how could one pill hurt HBK to the point where he’s glassy eyed? Wouldn’t he have built up some tolerance that one pill wouldn’t have had him in that state so quickly? Vince McMahon doing the pin in the mock non-wrestling match with Shawn right after would have been fine, it’s what I would expect from a heel character, however they could have gotten this same result by having Shane attack Shawn with a steel chair unmercifully and less harm to the overall product would have been done.
The train wreck continued, when instead of getting us the hell out of this nightmare and into a fresh segment with people not associated with this storyline, instead we get Kenny of the Spirit Squad (I still can’t tell them apart, they are all green) versus Eugene. I couldn’t enjoy the match, instead, I was rewinding the past ten minutes in my head making me even more frustrated at the direction of the storyline.
Ironically, the follow-up match, Lita got the heel heat of the night from the Alabama crowd who were really into calling her a “hooooooooooo!” Lita looked like a cross between Trish Stratus in her Urban Style and Ashley with the Hot Topic style pants. It’s weird to have Maria and Lita as filler in the first place and there should be a much bigger deal to having Lita return into WWE Women’s competition on television than a less than hyped match. The crowd was the most memorable part of the match, with Foley doing the less than desirable save with Edge doing the obligatory ‘I accept your hardcore match at Wrestlemania!’ beat down.
John Cena and Big Show was 90% of Show working and 10% of Cena’s offense. I can only hope for the WWE Heavyweight Title change at Mania because how can they justify having John Cena beat Triple H when Cena only has 10% offense in a match? The comeback with the FU on the Big Show was convincing and got the crowd back behind Cena, but if the crowd is wavering at all for their baby face, then that’s bad news WWE. It’s strange when you are left wondering if in 2006 you’re going to remember John Cena as the WWE Champion Who Was Carried. That’s really the big difference between Triple H and John Cena, who will end up carrying and leading the match.
On a more positive note, the best thing of the whole night was the announcement that Sensational Sherri is being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame! It was nice seeing highlights of who she has worked with in her illustrious career and how much someone like her is really absent in pro wrestling today. I’ve always enjoyed her work and my hope is either Ted Dibaise or Shawn Michaels inducts her in. It’s really scary (no pun intended) when the WWE Hall of Fame looks a lot more interesting than the Wrestlemania card itself.
Also, Trish Stratus’ character has creditability again when she finally took control and had “the talk” with Mickie James about her obsessive behavior. I know I discuss this every week, but this is a strong and entertaining storyline week after week heading toward Wrestlemania. WWE has finally given fans a reason to care about the WWE’s Women’s Division with what is left of the WWE’s Women’s Division. Meanwhile, Playboy cover girl and Go Daddy wiggle extraordinaire Candice Michelle and underused Victoria punk out Torrie Wilson for not saying Candice is the sexiest cover girl on Playboy (above Torrie’s appearances). It gives everyone an excuse to earn a payday and keeps Torrie around longer than I would have predicted, but why can’t Victoria be a serious WWE Women’s contender again?
Earlier in the night, Ric Flair looked like he was winning back the WWE International Title but than not because of Shelton Benjamin’s poking the ref in the eyes was slightly throw back, but it doesn’t feel like it matters except to tease what it feels like to have Flair wear the gold again. I understand that they are trying to give Shelton more Mama Boy heel heat by working with Ric Flair and that’s fine, if Flair was able to really get the segment promo time he deserves so he can tell this story properly instead of using Flair like he’s simply filler on a two hour program.
Thanks to all those who tune into Big E Sports show at rocklandworldradio.com every Tuesday between 7-8 EST to hear hosts Erik Fenton, Dave Lagreca and I to discuss professional wrestling and whatever else is going on! Always remember, for things to change, you have to make movement. Thanks for reading and for all the feedback, feel free to contact me anytime at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
