Wrestling Rumblings #93
October 15, 2010
By: Jose Marrero of Wrestleview.com
I have a smorgasbord of thoughts and opinions this week so we are going to dance and jump all around as I go back to the old school format of “Wrestling Rumblings” and give you a bit of everything. No fancy intros let’s just get into it.
1. CM Punk gets traded back to Raw.
I really have no problem with this. CM Punk sort of ran his course on Smackdown and with the way things are on that show he really seems at times lost in the shuffle. I liked the way he came onto Raw and instantly made his presence felt and I am pretty confident in saying that it won’t be long before he is feuding for that United States title. While many fans feel that may be a step down for him, keep in mind the main event scene on Smackdown is pretty full right now with heels and a lengthy program with Daniel “Bryan Danielson” Bryan might be the best thing for him and that TV show right now. Don’t be too surprised if WWE works on that program before the year is up.
2. TNA finally gives us “They.”
Was anyone really surprised at the revelation of “They”? It was the same building after all as the infamous Hulk Hogan heel turn in 1996, TNA was promising to change the business forever and the Twitter stuff with Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and others sure looked like a work. Not to mention the fact that TNA was mentioning Hulk Hogan’s hospital situations three weeks before TMZ did. I’m very disappointed with all involved that someone in TNA thinks that the solution to fixing TNA is turning their biggest babyface heel and aligning him with 2 non wrestlers (Hogan and Bischoff) and 1 wrestler that has worn out his welcome over the years (Jeff Jarrett) and a guy that was acting mentally retarded not all that long ago (Abyss). As much as fans complain about the idea of this being another NWO like angle it’s this more than anything else that bothers me. The Main Event Mafia was the beginnings of another NWO like angle and I thought when it first debuted it had much potential. Of course I was giving TNA creative too much credit and it crashed and burned like everything else but I still think it could have been successful. I think Nexus has the potential to be an NWO like angle and I think most fans that are still on board with that hope that it is. The biggest problem with this is that Hulk Hogan has once again made himself the focal point of the promotion. Think he hasn’t? Then why is this faction called “Team Hogan”? Couldn’t they have come up with something else?
Jeff Hardy is not a heel and could in fact wind up a convict very soon so it is not smart to anchor your company to him. As I said before Hogan and Bischoff are non wrestlers at this point even though this whole angle seems more about them than anyone else and well Abyss and Jeff Jarrett are pretty much just there. The Main Event Mafia angle was boatloads more interesting in this when it debuted and we got about a year out of it. I am very curious to see just how much juice TNA can squeeze out of “Team Hogan”.
3. The “World’s Greatest Tag Team “Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas are coming back to Ring of Honor to appear on ROH on HDNet.
I’m very shocked and pleased that this was able to happen. While I wasn’t jumping up and down screaming “Match of the Year” like some others were when WGTT were last in ROH I did think that they could be an exciting act there and while I still don’t expect many more appearances as I think Benjamin is using this as leverage to go to TNA it is still refreshing to at least having Shelton and Charlie in the promotion a couple of more times as I don’t expect the HD Net tapings to be there last go round with ROH.
4. WWE releases Jamie Keyes from the company after her elimination from NXT.
I was kind of surprised when I heard this. Not to say that Keyes is a great worker or anything because she isn’t but she definitely had a unique look to her and I thought for sure that WWE would want to keep her around. Of course the rumor floating about is that Keyes asked for her release and if that is the truth than I guess it wasn’t worth keeping her around.
5. WSU announces iPPV deal with their first airing November 6th.
Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I started with DOIwrestling.com and as such have ties to WSU owner Sean “The Mic” McCaffrey. I remember when WSU first started when it wasn’t even a women’s promotion but a men’s promotion with a different owner and Sean made the suggestion of a women’s company and most people close to it at the time, myself included laughed at the suggestion. Well look at who is laughing now. WSU has come a long way since those days and I’ll be there live in attendance on November 6th at the ACE arena in Union City, New Jersey as I imagine many others will be as well in seeing WSU take that next step. I’ve gone on record more than once saying I am not a big fan of women’s wrestling and I am not going to backtrack on that just because Sean is my friend. However I am going to give him every chance in the world to convert me and hopefully many of you will as well. For those of you that are on the fence about the product there is a special $5 DVD sale going on at DOIWrestling.com where you can sample some of the WSU product before deciding if it is right for you. I highly recommend checking that out. It should also be mentioned here that I plan on interviewing Sean this weekend to talk about the show and other things this weekend and should have that interview up for everyone on the VIP section. Sean is a straight shooter and I am sure he has a lot to say not just regarding his promotion but independent and mainstream wrestling as well and I am promising it will be an entertaining listen.
I’m going to keep it a bit short this week and wrap it up here but of course I have to give you all something to do. This Saturday UFC will be holding UFC 120 for free on SPIKE TV and well if you’re a fan of MMA you can’t go wrong with this. Of course not everyone reading this is a fan of MMA and for those of you who do read “Outside Interference” my VIP blog you will recall my reading list stating two books which I should have in my possession by the time you are reading this and will have begun reading and those are Brock Lesnar: Making of a Hard-core Legend and WWE: Rumble Road Untold Stories from Outside the Ring. I expect those to be entertaining reads and if I am entertained by them I am sure you will be as well.
Of course you can always email me at wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com about the column or with questions regarding other matters in wrestling. As long as you’re respectful I guarantee you a response. Anyway that’s it for this week, next time out I will try to do better and until then I am out.