An ongoing "thing" is born

I try to be polite when talking about the form of entertainment I oh, so enjoy. Since the mid-90s, these performers have given me countless hours (really, I don't want to count them) of entertainment, and I appreciate that. I really do.

But sometimes as I watch, something so ridiculous, so bone-headed, so just 'WTF' happens that I have to scratch my head and question the thought process that allowed it to happen. Fortunately for me, I have found what will throw up a flag anytime I comment on such a moment:

Shame on you if you don't know who this guy is. If you see him pop up, you know that I've seen something that I think is, for lack of a better term, flipping loopy.

Championship scramble - bit of a mess?

The owner of this blog, myself and several others make it something of a habit to get the WWE PPVs every month (only when there's a twofer in a month will we skip one), so it is quite likely that we will be sitting down for Unforgiven in about a week and a half. Looking towards that, it's probably best that I start getting excited about the newfangled 'Championship Scramble' matches. Apparently WWE has so much confidence in them, it's giving us three of them - one for each brand's title. Now I may be wrong, but it seems like the novelty may have worn thin by the time we get to the third match (likely the one for CM Punk's World Heavyweight title).

The Championship Scramble - an 'Adamle Original' from Raw GM Mike Adamle - is a 20 minute, five man match in which two participants begin with a new one entering the ring every five minutes. Any time a pinfall or submission is scored, that person becomes something of an unofficial, interim champion (pretty much 'it') until another is scored. When the 20 minutes are up, the person who is 'it' becomes the champion. And no, that will not inflate any of the title histories. WWE has gone out of their way to make sure everyone knows that only the winner will be officially champion.

So when Adamle announced the match, he gave the opponents for CM Punk, and it read like a usual suspects list: John Cena, Batista, Kane and JBL. Nothing really new there - the Raw upper card and usual contenders. Then, John Cena went down with an injury and the spot became the return match for Rey Mysterio - who is off-camera in the makings of a feud with Kane. The change has put Batista in something of a spot as he becomes the only person who does not have an ongoing feud (though they've used his past friendship with Mysterio to build some tension between him and Kane). The original would have had JBL vs. Punk, Cena vs. Batista, and Kane with the tension of a returning Mysterio. Personally, I would have given Chris Jericho the open spot and had Batista vs. Kane with Jericho having the tension of Shawn Michaels, taking the feud into No Mercy. But who am I to second guess?

So with Raw's big match set, Smackdown quickly announced that they too would have a Championship Scramble. Once the qualifying matches were done, Triple H's opponents were set as Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, MVP and The Brian Kendrick. To me, this is the more exciting match as you have younger talent with flashier styles. It's also exciting to see the likes of Benjamin and Kendrick in a title match. Both have been shining for quite some time and this is really a chance for them to show that they belong in the next level. Of course, much to my chagrin, this setup pretty much assures that Triple H will leave still champion. I'm not by any means a Triple H hater - on the contrary, I think he's one of the best (if not the best) talents in the company -but can you really see any of the others taking the title at this point? And no, I don't think Jeff Hardy has proved himself again yet - missing WrestleMania because of a drug suspension is going to take a while.

Finally, last night ECW announced that they too would have a Scramble, and this time it seemed like they just drew names out of a hat for the shot at Mark Henry. Matt Hardy was a given, of course, but the other three were the Miz, Chavo Guerrero and Finlay. The Miz I'm fine with - he's really come a long way since in his eight month tag title reign, but it seems like a crime to not include his partner John Morrison, who is the stronger talent of the two. Chavo Guerrero has been embroiled in a Smackdown storyline for months and seems out of place compared to the man he beat to get in - Tommy Dreamer - who would have a better reason to go after Mark Henry, aside from the ECW Championship. As for Finlay, he's been feuding with Mike Knox - a feud that I hope wasn't ended when Finlay got into this match. If I had to pick anyone from the roster to fill Finlay's spot, I'd say toss in one of the new talents - Evan Bourne or Ricky Ortiz - or someone the fans can get behind like Super Crazy.

So of the three matches, the one that's balanced and exciting is also predictable, and the others just aren't getting my interest going. Will they be good? I hope so. I'm cutting in a part of the PPV cost, after all.

Another Seven Bite the Dust

WWE has released six more names as of yesterday.

Shannon Moore and Domino were on my list. Nunzio should have been, but I forgot about him.

Braden Walker used to be "Wildcat" Chris Harris in TNA. Aside from Monty Brown, Harris was the only "home grown" TNA star to jump ship to WWE. After signing his contract back in January, he was invisible for six months until popping up in ECW. He was released after just two televised matches.

James Curtis was a jobber in ECW, but back when he was KC James he was one of Michelle McCool's "Teacher's Pets" along with Idol Stevens. After that tag team went nowhere, he went back to OVW. He eventually found his way to ECW, where he never won a match.

The story going around was that Big Daddy V was sent home and told to lose some weight. Apparently, WWE saw being a 900+ lb. bucket of jiggly man goo in suspenders as not healthy. I'm guessing the efforts to trim up didn't go so well. Along with Trevor Murdoch, he was a wasted draft pick as he got released before even making an appearance on the show he was drafted to.

And finally, famous referee Nick Patrick got the sack as well. I have no idea why, but I can't say as I remember seeing him on television recently.

Just a Thought...

One champion (CM Punk) and five challengers (JBL, Batista, Cena, Kane, Jericho).

If it weren't for the fact that they've already had two of them this year, I'd say we've got the makings of an Elimination Chamber on our hands.

Better judgment says they won't go for it, but you never know.

UPDATE: On second thought, I just learned that there's going to be a Hell In A Cell match at Summerslam. Given that both structures would have to hang over the ring, it's logistically impossible for both to happen on the same night.

Brian Kendrick's New Fashion Statement

Hell yes. Look at that sweet jacket. You know you want one just like it.

Lack of veterans may hurt DiBiase and Rhodes

I probably wasn't the only one who saw Cody Rhodes' betrayal of Hardcore Holly coming, but thus far it seems to have been the spark he needed to start shining. He and Ted DiBiase (the new one) are custom made for the roles they now have: cocky sons of well-established and successful veterans of yesteryear ready to make their impact, but not really interested in putting the build-up work in. That's a great angle for them.

But there's a problem here. For the "cut in the pecking order line" upstart gimmick to work, you need some established "paid their dues" veterans to offend, and hopefully ones that can afford a loss or two to build the new talent, yet with enough push to make it matter. Hardcore Holly was the perfect choice to start this thing, and if he comes back to take his revenge, you've got the start of something good. Unfortunately, past Holly, the Raw brand (and the entire WWE, for that matter) is lacking on mid-carders with any momentum that could challenge.

The Raw veterans that could believably feud (and lose) to Rhodes and Holly consist of Holly, Val Venis, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and William Regal. Val Venis has lacked any kind of push since his days as Chief Morley back during the Bischoff administration, Hacksaw Jim Duggan is a nostalgic gimmick machine and William Regal is out on drug-suspension and might end up on a different show when he returns (remember, he was fired from Raw by Mr. Kennedy who is now on Smackdown). None of these have any clout to push Rhodes and DiBiase up a level. The other veterans, like Chris Jericho, JBL, Shawn Michaels and Kane are too high up on the card to have a feud with the two in such a way - and are already involved in their own feuds.

Stretching out to the entire roster, candidates for such a feud would include Smackdown's Big Daddy V and Funaki and ECW's Chavo Guerrero, Finlay, Mark Henry, Nunzio and Stevie Richards, Super Crazy and Tommy Dreamer. In that list, the only ones freed up for such a push would be Super Crazy and Nunzio, and if you beat either of them, so what? Everyone else does too.

Perhaps Rhodes and DiBiase will continue their push, but unless someone comes along that can help elevate them, they'll start to fizzle and end up on Heat with no one but Hacksaw and Pez Whatley tributes to beat.

Wait, there is no Heat anymore?

Bret Hart hates writers, loves self

Bret Hart was a victim of wrestling - there is no doubt about that. Having been unceremoniously booted from the WWF, to losing his brother to a tragic in-ring accident, to having his storied career ended by a boot to the face by the likes of Goldberg (I really need to go into the symbolism there), to finally being released by WCW, a company that was wasting money on the likes of Norman Smiley and Brian Knobbs - Bret Hart had good reason to be bitter. But if time heals all wounds, someone obviously forgot to tell Bret, because bitter is all he seems to be these days.

I can't say I often catch what Bret Hart says or writes, but this first came to my attention when he refused to show up at WrestleMania XXII with the other Hall of Fame inductees of 2006. It obviously was what the fans wanted - and eight years after the infamous Montreal Incident, surely one more appearance couldn't have hurt anything. But no, it was not to be. Eventually (about a day later) I forgot about it and moved on.

Today, I caught wind of Hart's induction speech into a Hall of Fame (doesn't say which one) in which he lashes out at a wrestling book writer and decides to take his ball and go home when the writer refuses to leave. Really - he did that.

I loved Bret Hart in his heyday. I could watch his matches all day. Unfortunately, since his departure from the industry, he has seemed to become a mound of self-pity - and that's a real shame. Instead of doing his all to help improve the industry he gave so much for (and in turn, trying to prevent repeats of all the ills that occurred to him) he sits and grumbles. Now, perhaps I'm wrong and I have this way off-base...but that's what it seems to me.

Of course, Bret's comments are completely off-base, they're just badly aimed. If you're going to complain about outsiders writing about wrestling, then don't target the one's who spend great amounts of time researching to produce a well-thought out book. Aim more for the "news sites" who spread rumors, gossip, speculate and complain without a shred of presented evidence - all the meanwhile thinking of themselves as "experts". If that doesn't work for you, hit up the bloggers (like the two here) who have nothing better to do than occasionally share thoughts on something that is obviously enjoyable enough to write about.

But pick better battles, Bret. All you look like now is a pouting has-been - and that's not what you deserve at all.