Sunday, January 23, 2011

TNA: The Hardy Boys Vs. Generation Me, A Match I Want To See!

Last night, in between editing chapters of The Sound Of her MASTER'S VOICE , I noticed what seemed to be some quipping going on between Matt Hardy (MATTHARDYBRAND) and a Hardy Hater on Twitter.  The Master of Mattitude even when as far as to say that, "I guess that's why I am a multi-millionaire because of pro wrestling moron."  The line was retweeted by several of Matt's followers, including Max Buck (GenMeMax).

Since then I have been turning the idea over in my head, a match between the Hardy Boys and Generation Me.  I had though of it months ago when Taz had made the comment that, "1999 was calling and that the Hardy Boys wanted their look back", or something close to that effect during one of Generation Me's matches as he noted the simularity in their attire to the Hardys attire when they debuted on WWF Sunday Night Heat.  But my thoughs on the reality of such a match were that it was not likely as Matt Hardy was still working on WWE Smackdown at the time.

Well, now things have changed, and not only has Matt come to TNA Wrestling but he has also joined Immortal.  So the reality of a Hardys Vs. Gen Me match is now a possibility.  Although I would say that Matt and Jeff need to train together because despite their showing against Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam a couple of weeks ago it was pretty apparent that they had not been training together as a team as they had been before their return as a team on WWE Extreme Championship Wrestling as few years back.

I remember when I was my youngest son's age I was dying to see a match between The Rock & Roll Express and the Midnight Rockers.  It never happened, or so I though, as yeas later I learned that they had had a series of matches on the independent circuit before The Rockers were signed with the World Wrestling Federation.  The other match I wanted to see, and did at the NWA Great American Bash, was the Original Midnight Express vs The New Midnight Express (Coundry & Rose with Paul Heyman against Eaton & Lane with Jim Corenette - not Bart Gunn & Bob Holly).

I am glad to see Matt in TNA which is a slight ray of hope in what has become a dismal promotion playing WCW Monday Nitro rip-off.  I even went as far to tweet @ Matt that he and his brother as a team could possibly breathe some life into the turd that is TNA Wrestling as it slowly circles the bowl.  With so many combinations of people to put together and set at odds against each other, a match between the Hardy's and Generation Me is the only thing I can think of that I want to see, as the only true teams left in TNA other than them, Beer Money and The Motor City Machine Guns are already at odds over the TNA World Tag Team Championship, and it is painfully obvious that the Guns are on the slow road to breaking up over their miscommunication issues. (Hey TNA Storyline Development, Russo, Sullivan, I though tag team wrestling was relevent in TNA because it was original, so why are you stealing the story of every WWE Tag Team Championship holder who's lost the title for the past couple of years with the exception of Slater & Gabriel?)

Matt and Jeff Vs. Jeremy and Max.  Yeah, it is a match that I definately want to see.  How about you?

Master Vyle

Friday, January 21, 2011

TNA - 02-03-11 - Who Are "THEY" Now?

Well for the past two weeks we've witnessed attacks on Abyss and AJ Styles from Amazing Red's "little brother" Crimson.  The warning, although not as catchy as it was last year is that on 2-3-11 "THEY" are coming, and "THEY" are going to take out each and every single member of Immortal.

Okay, so who are "THEY" now?

Way prior to TNA Bound For Glory and 10-10-10 I nailed it right off saying that "THEY" (at that time) were already there and that "THEY" were Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, of course using the usual Hogan and Bischoff MO of doing nothing unique, innovatie or surprising.  Now, however, I find myself a little stumped when trying to guess who "THEY" might be this time around.

I am sure the first people to come to mind are nWo Wolfpac breathern Kevin Nash and Sting.  I guess if we were to go with doing nothing unique, innovative or surprising they would be a sure bet to be the new "THEY".  However, true to his reputation "silent but violent" Sting has been pretty silent.  While not too long ago Kevin Nash was again ranting and complaining because no one was calling him the "icon".  So unless TNA has been able to dig into a really big wallet I doubt we will be seeing Nash show up within the next couple of weeks.

As for the other founding members of nWo Wolfpac, Scott Hall and Shawn "X-pac" Waltman, I am going to say it is a sure bet that neither of them will be part of the new "THEY" either.  The last anyone heard from X-pac he was sniffing around, trying to appeal to the McMahons in the vain hope that they will bring back the Attitude Era to the WWE now that Linda McMahon has lost her bid for the U.S. Senate.  And old "cowboy" Scott Hall as of late is in Juggalo Championshit Wrestling, and in pursuit of in his words "The only title left in this business that means anything", the JCW Championship.  (Really?  Scott you seriously need to lay off that shit you're smoking and drinking before Nash has to pull out that suit he says he bought for your funeral a few years back.)

Could "THEY" be the ECW Originals/EV.2?  I tend to doubt it.  I have the feeling most of those releases the Bischoff was handing out were not there as kafaybe plot devices or story elements.  EV.2, even the heavy hitters who helped build TNA in the past such as Rhino and Raven did little to advance that fiasco of a storyline.

Barring those who should be the usual suspects I think perhaps that "THEY" will be a group new to TNA, possibly made up of relative unknowns like Crimson, and perhaps a few more recently released WWE talent such as MVP, and one hopes, Shad Gaspard.  It definately would not hurt TNA's terribly shaky credibility to acquire Low-Ki, especially considering the popularity and following he brought with him during his run on WWE NXT Season Two, and the history and controversy surrounding his asking for a release so soon after being moved to the Smackdown main roster.

Is 2-3-11 going to be a mindblowing night, or is it going to be another fart in the car from the creative team at TNA?  Based on the company's history over the past year + I am afraid that the fans are in for antother let down.

Master Vyle

Friday, January 14, 2011

Will Wade Truly Be Alone Against Big Show?

Just a little food for though on tonight's WWE Smackdown.  Last week after apparently being kicked out of Nexus Wade Barrett showed up on Smackdown and picked a fight with the world's largest athlete.  History has shown us that Barrett never acts alone, or without a plan.  In light of Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater walking away from Nexus this Monday I would say it is highly likely that the two will come to Barrett's aid on tonight's Smackdown as he takes on the Big Show?

Master Vyle

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Welcome Back Tough Enough, R.I.P. NXTurd (One Hopes)

I was talking with El Chupacabra, a wrestler on the independent circuit, about a week ago who informed me that he had applied to be on the next season of Tough Enough.  I looked at his tweet for a minute and then asked back if he meant Tough Enough or NXT.  He told me that Tough Enough was coming back, that he had seen a posting on a reality TV casting site and had filled out an application to be considered.

So I have to say I was jacked over the initial news.  After all if Tough Enough is coming back and it's going to be broadcast then there's no need for WWE to continue its production of that piece of crap known as NXT.  It was only a day later that the information El Chupacabra was giving me was confirmed, as it was announced during WWE Monday Night Raw that WWE Tough Enough was indeed coming back and it would be broadcast on the USA Network.

Since then there has been a spate of rumors as to who will be part of the new Tough Enough.  Al Snow, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock's names have all come in in connection to the revived series, many people speculating what their roles will be if any of them indeed actually appear on the show.

Rejoice, rejoice.  WWE NXT is dead!  Long live Tough Enough!

Right?

Well so far WWE has been tight lipped as to the fate of what was first hailed as "The Next Evolution In Sports Entertainment", and it somehow is still being called "An Internet Sensation", NXT.  I would think that the death of NXT and the rebirth of Tough Enough would go hand in hand.  In fact what I would love to see would be the first round of hopefuls for the new Tough Enough decimate the final contestants on NXT on its last broadcast.

So if NXT is going to be cancelled why now announcement from the company?

I see Tough Enough as a slightly more legitimate competition to award a WWE contract.  I say slightly because all you have to do is look back at the original Tough Enough to realize its track record for producing stars from non-winning talent is only slightly better than NXT's.  My first observation when I began watching NXT Season One was that guys like David Otunga, Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater would end up with contracts whether they won or not due to the fact that the company would be crazy to pass them up, and because so many Tough Enough failures had ended up with WWE contracts in the past: Christopher Nowinski, Josh Matthews, Matt Morgan, Nicholas Mitchell and Michael "The Miz" Mizanin (the reigning WWE Champion).

Of course there will be plenty of time for announcements.  The revived series is scheduled to start the night after Wrestlemania XXVII, so NXT has until April at the least.  Who will end up as trainers?  I doubt it will be a huge and big name star like the Rock or Austin or Shawn Michaels, but I would suspect that they or people on their level might put in an appearence as a special guest pretty much the same way superstars would appear on the original Tough Enough.

Until I know for sure I wait with somewhat baited breath to see if that Nexus recruiting ground WWE NXT will be tough enough.

Master Vyle

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Looking Back & What's Ahead In Wrestling

Well another year has past and 2010 has been a very different year in the world of professional wrestling.  There have been changes and new faces, some good and some bad.  It has been a year of off the charts excitement and abysmal disappointment.  For the first time in quite a few years I actually find myself hoping that 2011 is a much better year in sports entertainment.

TNA Wrestling:  It has been a very blah year for TNA.  The promotion started on a high note with the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff.  I myself along with a great many people felt that their association with the company would take it to the next level and place the promotion on the same level of WCW in it's glory days, and a return to the Monday Night Wars which made both WCW and the WWF agressive and innovative in their plans to compete with one another.

Well TNA was certainly taken to the level of WCW.  That is WCW in its decline.  It now is a combination of endless WCW Monday Nitro nWo style promos for Immortal, and WCW Thunder grade matches.

For those unaware TNA for the most part rose from the ashes of WCW, built upon both personalities and behind the scenes workers who were not snatched up by the WWF when it acquired WCW's assets in 2000.  Put together by the Jarrets it ran its intiail shows from the Asylum in Tennesse and later Universal Studios in Florida.  For several years it had attained the level of WCW's intital flagship show WCW Main Event, and even featured entrance tunnels on either side of the ring, one for faces and one for heels in much the same design WCW had used for its program.  TNA also incorporated the use of a six-sided Lucha Libre style ring, which most fans and even the promotion saw as an innovation.

Enter Hogan and Bischoff.  Gone on week two was the six-sided ring, forever eliminating one of TNA's signature matches, Six-Sides of Steel.  For the most part TNA had been pushing young and undiscovered talent, but on the first Impact of 2010 the promotion was instantly besieged by a slew of established stars from WWE and ECW which has continued throughout 2010.  From the middle of the year on not only had TNA become predictible, but at many points it became too predictible.  From the moment Abyss first mentioned "They" and 10-10-10 I already knew that "They" were Hogan and Bischoff.

The main saving grace so far has been the fact that Jeff Hardy turned heel and became the TNA World Heavyweight Champion.  Although he has now held the title longer than all his WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship reigns combined, and the unfortunate other side of the coin, is that nothing really fantastic has been done with this development.  Jeff needs a manager, because he can't cut a good promo, especially if he has to do it on the spot as opposed to the edited promos shown on the big screen.  Jeff's inability to speak off the cuff makes him an ineffective villian, which makes his feuds with Rob Van Dam, Matt Mogan and Mr. Anderson seem pretty dull, as the apparent faces are the ones doing all the talking.  I know Jim Mitchell is pretty much doing nothing at the moment, and since Jeff is now the Anti-Christ of Professional Wrestling then the Sinister Minister would make a great voice for him.

TNA Wrestling was a hot and innovative, home grown, promotion until the beginning of 2010, and since then it has steadily went downhill.  Without the six-sided ring and an overproliferation of established stars, many of the "veterns" of TNA have been left out in the cold to promote storylines in the hopes of gaining ratings that have yet to materialize.  TNA's other unique quality, the fact that there was a great deal of actual women's wrestling was quickly undermined by the Hogan-Bischoff regime, and I would rather they not have female competitors if their only goal is to clone the WWE Divas division.

On top of this Eric Bischoff himself displayed a lack of faith in the promotion in a recent interview saying (And I Quote), "TNA comparatively is a Kool-Aid stand compared to Coca-Cola in terms of its (WWE's) resources and infrastructure."

Recently on Twitter Bischoff revealed that he and his family had spent a day chasing geese across two states.  Unable to resist I asked if those geese had names like Ratings, Talent and Storyline Development.

In another side note TNA's  TNA IMPACT! follow up show, the boring and lame, TNA Reaction was canceled by Spike TV due to poor ratings.  The main reason anyone watched that boring crap anyway was to see the results of the IMPACT! main event.

The Death Of ECW and The Rise Of NXT:  In 2010 Linda McMahon ran for the United States Senate.  In preperation with this, over the period of the past few years, the WWE made an effort to clean up its image, because although she no longer worked for the company it was a given (and judging from the ads from her opponets a correct assumption) that her links to WWE would come into question.  This in my opinion lead to the final eradication of WWE Extreme Championship Wrestling, because let's face it a hardcore promotion that is not allowed to be hardcore or show more adult content is useless.  So now I know what Captain Kirk meant on the old episode of Star Trek when he stated that it had been hard to watch Abraham Lincoln die again.  Watching the demise of ECW for a second time (the third if you count the WWF Invasion storyline) was pretty disheartening, especially when the ECW Championship changed hands in the last match.  I still can't figure out why WWE storyline development would want to portray Ezekiel Jackson as ECW Champion without it having a relevant purpose, and thus far is has not.

In place of ECW came WWE NXT, "The next evolution if sports entertainment."  (Whatever) I had my doubts, even planned on not watching NXT at all because I thought it was going to be a straight reality show like Tough Enough.  However I did start watching it from the first night when I saw that the format had actual wrestling, and learned that all the contestents worked for FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling).  I loved the concept and though it was great, although I was at issue with the emimination of Daniel Bryan and Michael Tarver.

However, then the other shoe dropped.  With the arrival of Nexus, all eight NXT Season One contestants, on RAW the week after the finale, and their hiring a few weeks later proved that the NXT competition was nothing but a joke, and a further slap in the fact of WWE's diehard ECW fans.  Three competitors from NXT Season Two are now a part of the Raw roster.  Kaval, the winner of NXT Season Two requested, and was given, his release from WWE within a matter of months of his first Smackdown appearance.  NXT Season Three was an all Diva competition, and I don't even know who won, nor do I think anyone else on earth cares.  The show was such a lame duck that it was moved from SyFy to WWE.com to give SyFy the room to begin running Smackdown, from Season Three on.  The current Season Four feature Byron Saxton as a contestant.  Hey wait, wasn't Byron Saxton a color commentator on WWE ECW?

WWE Monday Night RAW & WWE Smackdown: It was a fairly exciting year on WWE's two flagship shows, especially during the first part of they year.  However after Wrestemania things began to go a little bit down hill.  When Nexus arrived on the scene it harkened back to the arrival of the nWo in WCW, and when they initallly attcked John Cena this summer I came out of my seat I was so excited.  Unfortunately the storyline went  from exciting to slightly dull.  There were dozens on missed opprotunities by storyline development to build Nexus and make them more fierce and fearsome than they have turned out to be.  I think Cena should have willinglly remained in Nexus and helped Wade Barrett become WWE Champion.  A heel turn for Cena would have given the character some life and rivited the audience to their TVs instead of relying on everyone to watch RAW out of habit.  With CM Punk joining Nexus as apparently their new leader last week one can only hope that Nexus has a larger and more sensable role in 2011.

RAW itself had some great hits, Sheamus's feuds with Randy Orton, Triple H and John Morrison.  The crowining of the Miz as WWE Champion.  I had initially thought that the Miz as champion was a terrible idea, but looking at what he has done with it in the little time he has held the title I now agree with this move by WWE.  Despite all the heirs apparent like Shawn Michaels, Triple H and AJ Styles it is the Miz who actually has that "Flair Factor".  TNA should take note that this is how a true heel and villian champion should speak.

There have also been some huge misses on RAW.  The break up of the Heart Dynasty and Tyson Kidd as a heel.  The anonymous general manager is an irritation instead of an innovation, and this story needs to close real soon.  Michael Cole as a heel announcer.  WHAT?  WHY?

Perhaps one of the worst mistakes as of late was putting the WWE Tag Team Championship on Santino Morella and Kozlov.  One can only hope that the Unified Tag Team title curse remains, because thus far every team that has held the championship has broken up shortly after loosing it with the exception of Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel.

Smackdown brought us Alberto Del Rio, who is probably the greatest Mexican heel since Eddie Gurerro.  His whole introduction, driving to the ramp and his own announcer, is total heel gold.  The feuds between Kane with Rey Mysterio, the Undertaker and Edge have made the show worth watching.  It has also been great to see Edge going back old school in his taunting of Kane with a kidnapped Paul Bearer, and one hopes that his being joined by Christian at the Slammy special is more than just a tease that they will be reuniting as a team.

However, despite winning Bragging Rights for the second year in a row, Smackdown has had its share of gaffs and misses.  Probably the biggest it the overturn of talent on Smackdown: Matt Hardy, MVP, Shad Gaspard and Kaval to name a few.  Currently there are only eight real superstars on the roster, and the show is in need of a more permanent Nexus presence.  I had held out the hope that Smackdown would eventually pick up Samoa Joe in 2011, but unfortunately Joe decided to resign with TNA.

The Future: For TNA the future looks pretty bleak.  Without a return to its signature style and a return to promoting the stars who made the company, such as AJ Styles, Jay Lethal and Samoa Joe, I believe it is going to be going even further down hill.  It also looks a little shaky for WWE Smackdown with the depletion of it roster.  Smackdown needs to increase the size of its talent rather than its broadcast team.  For WWE RAW the future looks fairly bright, especially after the final RAW of 2010.  CM Punk can hopefully take Nexus to the level which it needs to go to.  The feud between Miz and Morrison has been a long time coming, and with the WWE Championship at stake it could be the first real feud of the 21st Century.  Only time is going to tell, so keep on watching.



Master Vyle