The company crowns three new Champions and Jeff Hardy may or may not have contract issues.
Opening Witty Banter
I’m absolutely exhausted from a three day/night drinking binge in my old college town. I haven’t shoveled that much alcohol into my system since the last time I went back there six months ago. What does this have to with wrestling? Absolutely nothing, but be forewarned that the column might be shorter and perhaps more awful than usual.
Let’s take some ‘E…
The News of the Week
In the old days it always seemed as if WrestleMania was traditionally the end of the WWE booking year, but in recent years it seems as if Backlash is really the end of the booking year as with the Draft in the books and the WrestleMania rematches hopefully finished, the WWE Universe starts anew with tomorrow night’s RAW. And the whole starting anew also means new Champions. And as of last night’s Backlash pay per view all three World Championships saw new Title holders. In all kinds of symmetry Randy Orton, Edge and Christian are now the three faces of the WWE brands. Edge and his two most prolific tag team partners are now the flagbearers. It was only mere months ago that we saw the brothers Hardy as two of the company’s three Champions, and now we see the “brothers†Edge and Christian in the same position. It’s hard to believe that Edge is already a nine-time World Heavyweight Champion.
It’s a good thing that the Internet actually likes Edge. Can you imagine the flaming that someone like Triple H or John Cena would get if they would have won nine World Titles in just three and a half years? At this rate Edge might eclipse Ric Flair storied “sixteen times†before Triple H gets a chance to. All those World Titles, a whole pile of Intercontinental Titles and about a baker’s dozen of tag team titles he has to be one of the most decorated Title holders in wrestling history.
As for Christian this perhaps shows that the company does indeed have a little faith in the Creepy Little Bastard. There may also be a question of whether the company has lost a little faith in Jack Swagger, as he was purposely left off of WrestleMania after a supposedly poor performance against Finlay at No Way Out. It looked as if Swagger would be the third brand’s long term Champion and be the guy to eventually retire Tommy Dreamer in June. At any rate I’m excited Christian is excited he is getting another chance in WWE and it looks as if the company was right to put Christian on ECW when everyone pretty much assumed he would immediately be inserted in the Edge-Hardy Boyz rivalry.
And aside from Edge (and an admittedly cooling down Chris Jericho) Randy Orton is the hottest villain the company has seen in years. The company is thriving with an incredible wealth of money heels with the likes of Orton, Edge and Jericho, among others, and maybe in a few years we will be able to look at this era in WWE’s time as something special. Plus with the people’s heroes of John Cena and Triple H being carried out on backboards (and Jeff Hardy perhaps being on the outs with the company) it looks as if the timing is right for new young babyfaces to maybe step up and make an impact.
Speaking of Jeffykins, word going around is that WWE is having trouble re-signing Jeff Hardy to another long-term contract. His current deal expires in 2-4 months and he isn’t really keen on signing with WWE for another long run. They have even go so far as to offer him a one year deal (which they never do these days) in hopes of keeping him around for as much as they can. On television it looked as the current booking with brother Matt would indicate he may be leaving, but then Jeff won their blowoff last night Backlash so who knews. To Jeff’s credit he did respond to the rumors on his facebook page:
“Jeffrey Itchweed Nero Hardy says that new contract signing are RUMORS, which means it may not be true, I might sign a new contract soon but the contract doesn’t expire till July, so I’ll play it day-by-day.” – Jeff’s Facebook page.
Jeff has always been more of a free spirit and has never really liked the long-term WWE contracts with the crazy travel and long trips and bodily wear-and-tear. It’s always been Matt who was the more structured Hardy brother who was considered the consummate professional. Jeff obviously just wants more freedom to do whatever it is he does (and I’m not even talking about the drug stuff that everyone else has already jumped upon. But keep in mind he is still under contract at least until July and a whole lot can and will change by that point so this whole discussion could be moot by then.
DJ Gabriel addressed rumors that us Internet nerds have been claiming he could released soon after he being separated from Alicia Fox and pretty much left for dead on ECW. This follows the messages that Shad Gaspard also posted last week from his official sources about rumors of his dismissal as well.
No but seriously has there ever been a post-Draft time period where at least a few people weren’t released? If I’m Curt Hawkins or Zack Ryder I’m not answering my cell phone.
Wrestler of the Week
Week of April 20 – 26: Christian
After a night where all three of the company’s major singles Championships in one night it makes it a little harder to decide one wrestler of the week. Edge and Randy Orton each picked up another World Title to add to their storied legacies, but for me Christian’s victory was the most significant of the three victory. Orton and Edge are absolutely red-hot right now but Christian’s ECW Title validates his decision to return to WWE after his three year stint with TNA. Rather than getting lost in the shuffle on RAW or playing second fiddle to the Edge and Hardyz feud on SmackDown, Christian now stands out and stands alone as the face of Extreme Championship Wrestling.
RAW’s On Tonight!
They claim that starting tonight the Draft will go into full effect and apparently there will be a hard and fast divide that may last a few weeks. Plus with John Cena and Triple H perhaps on the shelf for the time being and Shawn Michaels being MIA since WrestleMania who is going to step up tonight to challenge Randy Orton and his gold filled Legacy. My money is on Batista as that is actually a fairly fresh rivalry that has mountains of built-in backstory.
On Last Week’s Episode…
Norine and cover Friday Night RAW…er…I mean Friday Night SmackDown.
Marshall kicks off the Superstars era with 10 thoughts.
Innarelli and Bones look back at a very random and middling episode of ECW. Good: Evan Bourne and Burchill. Bad: Hornswoggle wrestling and beating “The Anvilette.â€
Marshall and Kirschner have last week’s RAW covered.
How They Rated
Superstars (4.16.09) – .9
SmackDown! (4.17.09) – 2.0
A.M. RAW (4.19.09) – .65
RAW (4.20.09) – 3.7
ECW (4.21.09) – 1.22
This is Boring, What Else is There to Read?
DITCH~!
In Case You Didn’t Spend the $40
PK had live Backlash coverage for Pulse. Here’s the fallout:
In the opening match Christian pinned “All-American American†Jack Swagger to win the ECW Championship.
Chris Jericho beat Ricky “The Dragon†Steamboat by submission. This was Steamboat’s first singles match in nearly fifteen years and more than likely will be Steamboat’s final match.
Kane pinned CM Punk.
Jeff Hardy beat his brother Matt Hardy in an “I Quit†match.
In a six-man tag team match where Triple H’s WWE Championship was on the line, “Legacy†– Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase beat Triple H, Batista & Shane McMahon. Orton pinned Triple H after his patented concussion kick to the head. Medics came out to cart off the unconscious Triple H as the crowd sings “Hey Hey Goodbye.â€
In the main event Edge beat John Cena in a Last Man Standing match to win his ninth World Heavyweight Championship. The end of the match saw The Big Show come out and chokeslam John Cena off part of the entrance stage. Cena, like Triple H in the previous match, was strapped to a neckbrace and carted off on a stretcher.
IP Staff Roundtable Results for WWE Backlash
Here’s the Backlash roundtable featuring Pulse’s best and brightest.
Roundtable Champion: Brad Curran 5-1 (62-37)
The rest:
Raffi Shamir: 4-2 (75-49)
Kevin Innarelli: 3-3 (7-8)
Paul Marshall: 3-3 (114-77)
Matthew Michaels: 3-3 (145-126)
Ivan Rushfield: 3-3 (3-3)
Andrew Wheeler: 3-3 (129-73)
For more relevant, interesting and exciting wrestling information from your truly, check out my gig as the Pro Wrestling Examiner over at Examiner.com.
