From WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: ROH, ECW, DX, RVD and Sabu, Jim Cornette, and More
By Adam Barnowski
Jul 9, 2006 - 11:59 AM
Item : I'm back in town after an extended summer vacation.
I've been laying on the beach all June, staring at the ocean, consuming moderate amounts of adult beverages...... it was as sweet as it gets.
So, did I miss anything while I was gone this month?
Just the (re)debut of WWECW, the crowning (and uncrowning) of Rob Van Dam, The Ultimate Fighter finale, a whole bunch of Ring of Honor shows, the reunion of DegenerationX (sans China, The Outlaws, and Pac), and a few big things in TNA.
Guess I better catch up.
Assessment : Let's go (back) to work....
Item : Rob Van Dam is double world champion (briefly) and apparently..... wait for it..... he smokes weed (OH MY GOD!)
Following in the footsteps of Edge, Rob proved that the RAW glass ceiling can indeed be broken (when Trips is distracted, and with a little help from an ECW springboard....but whatever). It was mad sweet to see old school R~V~D with two big gold belts strapped around his waist. Even better has been the return of the cocky, squinty eyed, stoneRVD that ECW fans fell in love with all those years ago. Van Dam, and his title reign, was breathing life into the struggling ECW brand, but then the 4-0 had to stick their nose into his car, and screw things up for all of us.
Van Dam will likely pay a small fine, and receive limited probation. Now I
understand that he got busted and, times being what they are, the E feels the
need to react, but I feel that they are overreacting to what amounts to about a 1/2 ounce of weed. Yes, Rob Van Dam smokes weed. Who the hell is surprised by this? It's been the basis of his character for close to ten years. However apparently this incident was enough to warrant immediately stripping him of both gold belts and suspending him. Even if that meant putting the ECW title on..... the Big Show.... ugh.... terrible idea.
So we now know that the WWE will turn their head from the obvious steroid and pain killer abuse that is (by all reports) rampant on their roster, but they absolutely will not tolerate their stoner world champion smoking a little bit of weed on his own time. Good to know that WWE priorities are as straight as ever.
If the WWE doesn't decide to just bury him cold, this could actually bring good things for Van Dam. The bust only plays into his character, and could actually make him more popular. He can come back in a month seeking revenge on the back stabbing Heyman (it seems the perfect time to bring back Bill Alfonso) and he has a ready made feud with CM Punk waiting in the wings.
Assessment : Good to see him on top. Bad timing on the bust, but all is not lost.......
Item : UFC - As predicted here, Mike Bisbing and Kendall Grove become Ultimate Fighters :
Okay, so I wasn't the only one to predict it, but I was happy to see the season play out as I hoped it would. It can only be good for the UFC to bring these three guys into the fold (White also gave a contract to Ed Herman, who seemed to be the favorite throughout the season). All of these guys are entertaining fighters with strong personalities. They out lasted the field of contenders, and proved that they are real fighters who want to get in the octagon and mix it up. I expect them to be big names for UFC in the future.
The UFC continues to develop a wide range of fighters, with recognizable faces, and strong personalities. The Ultimate Fighter show is infinitely entertaining, and they are learning how to use it to get guys over. The UFC is at a key point in it's history where they are starting to get very good at putting the whole package together. This helps the average fight fan (me) to relate to who the fighters are, which in turn makes the fights more interesting, which leads to bigger ratings and buy rates, which leads to more money yo.
Which is the point. Right?
Assessment : Good.
Item : ECW stinking up the sci-fi channel :
So....... yeah.
If you're surprised by this, than you just weren't paying attention. The product from the start was obviously going to be the Vince McMahon version of ECW. Vince and company have made it clear for a long time (even on their own DVD releases) that they didn't understand what made ECW unique and interesting. There was no way they were going to be able to recreate the aura of ECW. We knew that, and they knew that. So (to their credit) they smartly tried to establish it as something a little bit different.
Unfortunately these days WWE creative doesn't seem to have the ability to book even a moderately interesting wrestling program. They could hand the book to Paul Heyman whom, even with WWE restrictions, would be able to give us a good show. However it now appears that they are not going to allow The Mad Genius that level of control. Instead they are going to continue to book ECW as a third string show, thats essential purpose is to put WWE guys over former ECW talent.
Right now (for reasons that have been expounded on ad nauseam in numerous forums) this experiment has failure written all over it.
Could they still save it? - Yes
Do they have the roster and ability to put on an interesting show? - Yes
Are they going to do so? - It certainly doesn't appear so.
Assessment : Bad, turning quickly toward Ugly.
Item : UFC - Ortiz/Shamrock one more time :
This Sunday, capitalizing on the momentum they built during the Ultimate Fighter 3 season, Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock head into the octagon one more time, to shut up, and put up.
Every one who was watching the show is picking Tito in this fight...... for good reason. Tito is a modern day fighter while Ken seems to be stuck in the past (watching tapes of himself from ten years ago). The recent dissection of Royce Gracie by Matt Hughes only serves to further cement the idea that the new UFC guard will almost always beat any of the pioneers of the sport.
Times have changed, the sport has evolved, and the best fighters have evolved with it. Add this to the fact that Tito looks to be in excellent shape, while Ken seems to have taken one too many shots to the head, and you have what looks to be the making for a massacre. However, as cliched as it sounds : anything can happen in the octagon. So you never know until the fight is on.
Either way, it is a compelling fight which I will be watching, and I expect will do more big PPV numbers for the UFC. At a time when pro wrestling in America seems to be at an all time low in terms of quality and popularity, MMA and the UFC seem poised to pick up the ball and run with it. The immediate future looks a little bleak for Ken Shamrock, but it's all sunshine for Dana White and the UFC.
Assessment : Good, better than anything on Raw, Smackdown, ECW, or Impact.
Item : RoH - "Milestone Series" is a phenomenal collection :
I've been catching up on my RoH dvds over the past week, and I am here to tell you that the hype is true. The Milestone Collection is an excellent
string of dvds that highlight Ring of Honor wrestling at it's very best.
Best in the World followed by the midwest triple shot (filmed during
WrestleMania weekend) featuring the Dragon's Gate Invasion, Supercard of Honor, and Better than Our Best is a simply phenomenal collection of pro wrestling shows. The Dragon's Gate guys put on a series of matches that have to be seen to be believed, and the rest of the RoH roster kicked it up a notch to match. All the shows feature a number of excellent matches and angles. The great RoH/CZW war continues, and Commissioner Jim Cornette delivers on his promise to wake up the tag team division as The Briscoes, Generation Next, KENTA & Marufuji, Blood Generation, Sydal & Styles, Do Fixer, and The Embassy (Jimmy Rave & Alex Shelly - who is at his all time best) are all featured in excellent tag team matches that are an absolute pleasure to watch.
I've said it before and I'll say it again and again. If your tired of covering
your eyes and shaking your head at the wrestling that you see on TV, then turn off the WWE and turn on to Ring of Honor : The best wrestling in America..... period. You will no be disappointed, and you might just fall in love with the sport of professional wrestling once again.
Assessment : Every one of these dvds is Good, and the Milestone Series rolls on with the recent releases of The 100th Show and both nights of The Weekend of Champions. Check them out for yourself at www.ROHwrestling.com.
Item : RAW - DX makes their "long awaited" return, while Copeland captures gold again :
I'm not exactly sure why we needed to see this DX crap again. The early DX stuff was borderline embarrassing and annoying TEN YEARS AGO. What saved them, and got them over, then was that the whole thing was also interesting and unique..... at the time. The problem is that it's not interesting or unique now, which just leaves boring and annoying. I guess when you can't come up with any new ideas, all you can do is dig into the past for old shit.
Micheals and Helmsley have been prancing around like idiots on RAW, taking a show that was already occasionally silly and somewhat juvenile (Puppies!) in a perpetually juvenile direction, that has no end in site. For the past few weeks we've seen more male ass on RAW than you'll see at an all male revue. They're dropping shit from the sky, making inside cracks about Stephanie's baby, repeating all of their old material (which I'm sure they find totally hysterical) and all in all putting wrestling fans to sleep in drones.
"More dick and fart jokes from two 40(ish) year old men...... up next!"
I believe that RAW has actually gotten worse over the past month, and I really wasn't sure that was possible.
On a positive note, they did return the gold strap to the waist of Adam "Edge" Copeland. This is a good move to be sure. Edge has been the one bright lights on the roster for a very long time now. He deserves to be rewarded, and it's about time they moved the spotlight off of the parade of endless crap that is everything else on the show, and onto him.
Unfortunately, despite his status as world champion and top heel, the spotlight has strangely not moved to him. Yes, he's the champion, but like other champions before him, he finds that even though he continues to put on the best matches on RAW every week, that spotlight is still firmly cemented on Triple H's naked ass.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. It shocks me to no end that people continue to tune into this show every week.
Assessment : Good to see guys like Van Dam and Edge holding the belt, but all is all : "RAW is UGLY"
Item : TNA - Jim Cornette joins the TNA gang.... promptly gives Jarrett the belt.... looks to be heading toward the crowning of King Joe :
Continuing in their habit of picking up on Gabe Saploski's ideas, TNA has brought in Jim Cornette in the classic Commissioner role. This is a role that is overused in modern pro wrestling. However almost no one plays it with as much energy and vigor as the Louisville Lip. He's perfect for the role. He has been doing a bang up job in RoH, and we can only hope that his presence will inspire the TNA gang to up their game a few notches.
A couple of interesting things have transpired since Jim showed up in Orlando :
ONE - He finally disbanded the long dead Team Canada gimmick. Thank God. Now find something interesting for Scott D'Amore to do.
TWO - He gave the disputed NWA Heavyweight Title back to Jeff Jarrett. A terrible move that caused a cascade of trash to be hurled into the ring.
Seriously, no one wants to see Jarrett as champion..... NO ONE! (well okay, one person) However, it was time to move the gold off of Christian Cage. Who is finally poised for that heel turn that he desperately needs.
And this all leads to ......
THREE - Cornette announced a number one contenders match that features Samoa Joe as one of the participants. I believe that Sting, Christian Cage, and Scott Steiner are also in the match, but it doesn't matter. Clearly that match goes to Joe, and then clearly he rolls down Jeff Jarrett to capture the NWA Heavyweight Title in the best move that TNA has ever made.
So yes, Jarrett is champion again, but he's only keeping that belt warm for Joe. Add Styles & Daniels as the tag champs, Christian ready to turn heel on Sting, Low-ki.... er... Senshi as the X division champ, and the future of TNA is finally starting to brighten up for real.
I believe that TNA is about to turn a very important corner. Where they go from here remains to be seen, but it's an exciting time to be a TNA fan.
Assessment : Temporarily bad, but could get very good, very soon.
Item : Radio Free Insanity this week features Earl Hebner
I hope James took the precaution of making him promise "on his children lives" not to screw him. Hopefully he's got some t-shirts to pass out!
Assessment : Radio free Insanity..... Always good baby!
Questions, comments, threats or bribes to abarnowski@comcast.net
Later yo.
~ ajb.....ajb.....ajb.....ajb.....ajb.....
© Copyright by WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
WorldWrestlingInsanity.com is not
affiliated with any wrestling promotion.
|