The O’Really Report – An Edgeless Epiphany, A SD without Edge

Greetings Edgeheads, ‘People’, Hulkamaniacs, Chain Gangers, Freaks, and Testicles! (Sorry I had to.)   Welcome to your Weekly Wrestling Wednesday Stop for all things WWE and TNA, The O’Really Report starring your host Rhett ‘The RAD’ Davis.  In case you missed Raw, I’m sure there is a collection of thoughts, a review, and a recap laying around here somewhere… Time to do some self-promoting because it’s cool and such.

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Well since I read somewhere that Andrew Wheeler is commemorative piece on Edge later this week, I think I’ll be looking at the State of Denmark, or SmackDown, without their World Heavyweight Champion.  What better place to start with than the top?  The Heavyweight Title Scene.

In case you haven’t been paying attention to WWE in the last few months or are just being ignorant, Edge is currently the World Heavyweight Champion over on SmackDown.  Last week there was a #1 Contender’s match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Alberto Del Rio and Christian.  Alberto won thanks to a little distraction from Edge and Brodus Clay when Edge thought he was taking out Del Rio’s help.  In actuality, he just distracted Christian long enough for Del Rio to capitalize.  (which you can check out my review of the show right here) Therefore according to logic… Alberto should be the new World Heavyweight Champion.  However, handing a World Heavyweight Championship over is just crazy and doesn’t do anything to establish the receiver of the belt.  Isn’t that right Triple H and Dolph Ziggler?  What I want to happen is for the title to just be vacant until Extreme Rules and then have Christian fight Alberto del Rio for it.  Could you imagine?  A World Heavyweight Championship match with two men that have never won the ‘big’ one? (ECW Championship aside) It would be a great build up and if WWE isn’t that confident in their decision to have two Never-Beens in a match then they could throw in one of the established guys on the roster.  That leads me to my next point.

With the loss of Edge, SmackDown loses one of their only established stars left.  On the Blue Show, there are roughly four established guys.  The Undertaker is obviously the biggest name, but, with his terrible shape, I wouldn’t expect him back for a long while, after SummerSlam perhaps.  Even then, I wouldn’t expect him full-time.  Another established star is The Big Show.  Big Show is great for making powerhouses look absolutely unstoppable, (See Cena, Ezekiel Jackson, Lashley) but he can’t really make a superstar like Drew McIntyre or Cody Rhodes look good.  He just can’t take their bumps and look shaken.  It’s kind of like a fly landing on an elephant and expecting the elephant to roll on it’s back crying in anguish.  It’s just not going to happen.  The next established star could/couldn’t be Kane.  Kane is iffy to me because some of his matches are just literally terrible.  However, Kane is a big man that can take some of the smaller guys’ bumps better than Big Show.  He has a great persona that he has kept over the years (even at the HoF ceremony) and really can make a face look good.  As a face, I don’t see Kane as a utility, but as a heel he can really make guys look like Super Heroes against the Archenemy of Kane.  The next on my list is Rey Mysterio. (No ‘s.’ be proud Gojira) Rey is probably the most valuable commodity that SmackDown has when it comes to established stars.  He can take the bumps that the bigger men can’t and really can make his opponent look like a million bucks.  Cody is currently receiving the luck of the draw by having Rey select him from everyone else.  Cody is getting a strong push and he’s taken the ball and is running hard with it.  Anyways Rey can also create the ultimate heel.  Rey is so over with the audience that whenever someone abuses him the audience is instantly booing them out of the building.  The problem with Rey/Kane/Show/Taker is that their time in WWE is limited.  Rey has had knee problems for years, Kane isn’t getting any younger, Show has always had problems with his weight and his knees, and Undertaker is really standing on his last legs if WrestleMania can be taken as true.  Although the older superstars are on their way out there is a youth movement in the WWE and it seems some of the other stars are finally getting their turn to shine.

Christian is a prime example of a veteran getting his due.  Christian has been in wrestling just as long as Edge, but a side venture to TNA hardened any chances of him getting a WWE Heavyweight Title in the near future after his return.  Now that he is back and has put in his hours it may be the time to finally give Christian his first major title run.  He’s over with the audience and could very easily be a whole new Edge.  Probably the Superstar with the most upside these last few months has been Alberto Del Rio.  ADR is a fantastic heel as he knows what to do to get the audience to hate him and has taken over the SmackDown scene as top heel since Edge converted and Kane stepped down from that position.  The only other superstars on the other roster that has that smell of Main Event are Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, and Jack Swagger.  Cody is one of the hottest angles going and he could easily slide on up into the main event scene with Edge gone.  Wade has a lot of promise and I think the only thing between Wade and being a main eventer is time.  He has the mic skills, the charisma, the wrestling ability, and it a total package really.  Swagger… I’m not sure if he can make it at the top.  Really not sure.

Anyways the biggest problem that SmackDown will face with the loss of Edge is that they don’t have the Star Power to put over younger stars and hold main event feuds.  Despite this problem, the solution is coming fast in June… the Draft.  If nothing else happens then Punk or Sheamus needs to move over to SmackDown.  Sheamus would do well there because they need more established wrestlers on the show and he is as close as they could get from the Raw… unless they moved Orton.  There are plenty of guys on Raw who could develop even greater on SmackDown.  I look forward to the draft as it can totally alter the WWE for the better.

Cheap Plugs:

Well first off you need to check out Mike Gojira’s article on the relevance of the IWC as it pertains to ALL of us and it really is fantastic.

Next get up and take a look at Keynotes and Keyholds as the newly inducted member of the Pulse Team James Alsop has a great look at the ECW/WCW Invasion.

Following next is another new column called The Wrestling Stew by none other than the illustrious Brian McLoone as he has an interesting column of a healthy combination that the whole family will love.

Also don’t forget to check out Glazer’s column reviewing all of the writers here as it’s fantastic.

Oh and one last thing…

My Top 5 Memories of Edge

1)      Edge hitting the Spear in mid-air on Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania X7.

2)      Edge cashing in Money in the Bank on John Cena after the Elimination Chamber match.

3)      The Matt Hardy angle… the set-up anyways.

4)      Edge shaving Kurt’s head bald!

5)      The Edge/Foley Burning Table Spear

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments/concerns/insults in the space provided below.

And quite frankly my dear… that’s a wrap!