WWE did this to themselves. There is
no one else to blame but WWE. They need to take a
strong look in the mirror and recognize the mistake
that they have made since the brand extension started.
What I am talking about is going to take place (took
place) on this weeks edition of Friday Night Smackdown.
For the handful of you who do not know, Smackdown,
which airs every Friday is taped on Tuesdays of that
week. This past Tuesday at the Smackdown taping,
Smackdown World Champion Batista was
scheduled to face Edge in a street fight. In real
life, Edge is suffering from an injury and they needed
to write him out of storylines for a few weeks while
he recovered. So many “smart” wrestling
fans speculated that they were going to have Batista
“injure” Edge for the time being. That
wasn’t what WWE had in mind. Instead they decided
to do an angle where Edge lead the RAW stars onto
Smackdown in an “invasion” of sorts. Unfortunately
real life had other plans. RAW Tag Team champions,
Big Show and Kane came out and hit Batista with their
finishing move, the double chokeslam. In the process
of taking that more, Batista tore his latissimus dorsi,
a muscle on the upper back that connects under each
arm. He was in serious pain and the scheduled dark
match between Batista and Randy Orton ended up being
a two minute squash with Batista winning. After the
match, Batista was helped to the back by WWE officials
and trainers and was in serious pain backstage.
Now while I am not a doctor, I do know
that the latissimus dorsi is one of the biggest muscles
in the human body. A good scenario for WWE is that
if it is a minor tear, Batista could be out for about
three months to heal ala Ben Sheets of the Milwaukee
Brewers. Sheets suffered a minor tear and it took
him two months to rehab. No surgery required. Problem
is, Sheets injury was MINOR. A major tear could cause
WWE some serious damage. According to sources, Batista’s
latissimus dorsi muscle apparently rolled up inside
his body. Not much different than Triple H’s
quad injury which kept him out of action for a little
more than a year. What makes matters worse, Batista’s
(who is no spring chicken at age 38) injury is one
that is not only painful, but requires more rehab
than a quad muscle and is in a more difficult spot
to perform surgery on since they have to unroll the
muscle. So a year off for this type of injury is being
generous. WWE released a statement saying Batista
suffered an injury and was visiting with Sports Medicine
Guru Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham Alabama. Andrews
is the GOD of surgery and if anyone can cut off a
month or two from his recovery time, he can. That
being said, Big Dave is still going to miss significant
time.
This is where the trouble lies. WWE
has drilled it into our heads that Smackdown is the
B show. Hell, even Michael Cole and Tazz mentioned
it on yesterday’s edition of Byte
This.
Add that to the fact that they have
done absolutely nothing to elevate anyone on the Smackdown
roster other than the recent push of Ken Kennedy,
WWE is lacking a BIG NAME player to represent Smackdown.
Let’s face facts, WWE is not going to get solidly
behind Eddie Guerrero or Chris Benoit as Smackdown
champion. Will they place them in the transitional
role? Probably. Long term fix like they were planning
with Batista? No. JBL? Been there, done that. Kennedy?
Too much, too soon. Randy Orton? It is a possibility.
However pushing Orton may not be the answer. While
he has the potential to be super huge, WWE should
have stuck while the iron was hot. When he first won
the title, he should have been continued to be pushed
as a heel and he would be “THE STAR” that
they are now lacking. Instead, they rushed his face
turn, stumbled with him in a face position and then
backed out of his title run. He staggered so much
as a face that they removed him from the Wrestlemania
main event slot with HHH and stuck Batista in his
spot. So at least they recovered and ended up making
a new star out of Batista but they got sidetracked
on Orton. Orton has done wonders in re-establishing
his heel persona, but a title run isn’t a good
idea yet in my book.
Bottom line is, WWE has to hit the reset
button. The pressure is on them. While their RAW ratings
spiked (no pun intended) with their return to USA,
they have since dropped due to tasteless angles, lack
of vision for future angles and poor writing, booking
and skits. Smackdown, well they are the B show. Plain
and simple. UFC is making some noise, TNA is going
to make huge noise once they get some more viewers.
TNA isn’t white hot right now but they sure
as hell aren’t lukewarm either. They are at
a decent pace to make some waves. Maybe this time
next year, we will be taking about TNA being a huge,
multi million dollar company. Who knows?
What I do know is that WWE needs to
end the brand extension. That is my big idea. Will
some lower guys on the roster lose jobs? Probably.
But a main event roster that consists of HHH, Kurt
Angle, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Batista (when he
is recovered from injury), Randy Orton, The Undertaker,
Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, JBL, Kane and sometimes
Rey Mysterio and you got yourself a solid main event
line up. One that rivaled that of the Attitude era
in possibilities of fueds for whoever is on top. Solid
match ups and feuds that can fill a pay per view.
Not to mention an undercard that can feature the likes
of Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, Booker T, Mr. Kennedy,
& Chris Masters. WWE can finally get some action
back. They can recapture the magic. Then, only then
will the “Power be back”
Matt Aponte considers himself a Quasi-Celebrity
due to the fact he moonlights as an independent wrestler/manager
in the North East of the United States. His home fed,
Pro
Wrestling is based in NY, however he does float
around in some smaller New Jersey feds. Matt also
writes columns - if you want to call what he does
writing - for the leading Independent Wrestling News
site on the planet, the
Declaration of Independents as well as being the
“diamond in the rough” for the funniest
wrestling parody site on the internet,Gumgod.com
If you happen to live in the borough of the Bronx,
home of the best professional baseball team ever assembled,
you can watch Matt on his very own low budget public
access show called "Matt TV" on Bronxnet
Channel 68.
Matt, the self-proclaimed king of self-promotion and
whoring out things for his own benefit, plans on bringing
a new and unique style that he likes to call laziness
to World Wrestling Insanity and resting on his laurels
is something he loves to do. Matt hopes that this
infectious writing style and laid back attitude rubs
off on the rest of the World Wrestling Insanity staff.
Read Matt's blog at AYM’s
INSANITY
E-Mail Matt at:
Matt@WorldWrestlingInsanity.com
