Thanks for the Fish

Okay I actually missed a whole bunch of category nominees - Best wwe.com exclusive * Cryme Tyme's "Word Up!" * The Miz & John Morrison present "The Dirt Sheet" * "Santino’s Casa" * "Outthink the Fink" The Dirtsheet wins easily. Though I could certainly do without the fart jokes, but they're playing to their ultimate audience of one (and Vince loves his fart jokes). Breakout star of the year * Kofi Kingston * Vladimir Kozlov * Evan Bourne * Ted DiBiase This is interesting. Dibiase doesn't have a chance, but outside of him, I could see any of the other three getting it. Koslov is main eventing/challenging for World Title, Kofi was hot as hell in ECW feuding with Benjamin, though the move to Raw derailed him to a large extent, he did win the IC and tag title. Evan Bourne was an instant hit, standing out even when he debuted as Matt Sydal. Best Musical performance * R-Truth's entrance (SmackDown, Sept. 15) * Santino rapping to Akon (Raw, Nov. 17) * Edge singing “Heaven” to Vickie (SmackDown, Feb. 15) * The Miz & John Morrison Rap ("The Dirt Sheet," Aug. 29) R-Truth will probably get it. Though I could see Santino piling up the Slammies because he could probably do most with them given his character. Of course not getting any would work for him as well. No Jillian? Maybe she'll crash the segment. Announce team of the year * Jerry Lawler & Michael Cole * Jim Ross & Tazz * Matt Striker & Todd Grisham WWE announcing sucks right now. Specifically the PBP announcers. JR is solid, if unspectacular, Cole is simply horrid and Grisham is just there. The ECW crew gets the nod for Striker alone. He'll be ruined once Vince starts paying any attention to the brand though. Best impersonation * Charlie Haas as "Haas" Hogan (Raw, Oct. 13) * Charlie Haas as "CHL" (Raw, Sept. 8) * Charlie Haas as "The Glamahaas" (Raw, Oct. 27) * Charlie Haas as Mr. Perfect (Raw, Sept. 22) Glamahaas. I actually hated the Mr. Perfect segment, Haas Hogan would probably be my second choice. I could see Haas Hogan winning because the wwe might want to take shots as Hogan as things between the wwe and Hogan seem to be heating up a bit.

I think the face paint helps Hardy. Gives his character a little more edge to it; certain darkness. Nobody uses face paint in the wwe anymore, so it's something different. He sweats like crazy though, so it looks like shit right soon in the match.

I believe it's only an hour show because it's airing on NBC.

Second week in a row without a Kizarny vignette? That doesn't bode well for the Carnival Freak...

I was really high on Helms before his injury, but he looks like shit now. That back tattoo was a terrible mistake.

I think that's all of the categories now.

Steve "Mofo" Bradley was talked up as WWE's version of RVD back during RVD's heyday in ECW. "Who's your Daddy" Steve Bradley was another nickname he used IIRC...

But why borrow Murdoch's? There has to be a story there. Is there a wrestling lockerroom rule that says the boys get to pick your replacement ring gear if you lose/forget yours or something. Same thing with Umaga wearing Ortons - they're vastly different sizes - it's like it's a rib of some sorts. Maybe it's just having fun oat house shows or something, or they lost a bet or something.

R-Truth is also there as he's seen in new pics up at wwe.com. Edit- JBL and Big Show are there as well.

A couple more nomination lists - Both are pretty interesting and could go a number of ways. The only OMG Moment nominee that I don't think has a chance is Edge/Undertaker. I think the couple of the year will be either Santino/Beth or Edge/Vicki and I think both could "run with it" in future storylines.

Or The Undertaker.

$700K x 26 weeks is $18.2M - that's close to their $20M goal with one decision that will have little negative bearing on it's product.

The last 4-5 shows.

Swagger seems to have something in his mouth - I know he had a slight lisp before, but now it's rather pronounced. Does he have braces or something? Could they be trying to correct his lisp with some sort of mouth gear? And Swaggers smile is supposed to be forced - he's the All-American American, and yet a heel. I do think he could really use a old timey manager type. Like Heenan, Cornette or Hart from back in the day... Ortiz just looks like a guy playing what he thinks a wrestler should be (if that makes any sense). He has the big hair, big tattoo and the strutting and antics, but it just looks phony - like he's trying to hard to be "that guy". He doesn't have nearly the charisma he thinks he has - he's probably been told that he's the funny, charismatic guy by his mother his whole life that he believes it to be the case. A heel turn could work for him though. But that brings me to my next point - Swagger can bring it in the ring, Ortiz is limited there as well.

I get that ecw is a developmental for the most part, however my point with "no competition" is that wwe should send some of their midcarders there to expand the roster - guys like Haas, D'Lo Brown, Goldust, Noble, Burchill, Jimmy Yang, Braddock, and Goldman.

Gabriel and Alicia Foxx did the Thriller routine for his pre-match dance last night. So much for looking forward to that - I guess it loses something because the wwe can't afford the music rights. Gabriel needs to move up the food chain from squash matches - Does he fight Dreamer next? Other than that the only two other faces are Finlay and Matt Hardy. I still think Finlay vs Gabriel would be a decent enough feud, involving Foxx and Hornswoggle of course. Maybe bring over D'Lo Brown to give him something to do.

Sort of like when the New Age Outlaws were teamed up. The total was greater than the sum of the individual parts - it's this idea that I don't think Vince and Co grasp when it comes to tag wrestling. Vince sees it completely as a balance sheet issue - why pay two wrestlers to fill a time slot than could be easily filled by one. To fill a quarter hour timeslot with a tag team match means you need four wrestlers, however to fill it with a singles match means you only need two. Beer Money is shit. LAX was hot as hell with Konnan, but they've faded since he left. The best team in TNA is Motor City Machine Guns, but they won't blade, so they'll never get the push to the top. I would have named The Briscoes if I was going to pimp a ROH team - I don't think Steenerico would work well anywhere other than ROH.

A couple more nominee lists were released - I think HBK vs Flair should be a shoo-in from the list of nominees, however with Flair out of the company it could be up-for-grabs. Beth should win as well, but I could see Mickie as the Wwe seems to want to push her. I'd love to see McCool win so everybody could claim Undertaker forced it.

An expended roster would be a good start. Let's look at their roster - Bam Neely - bland and where is he? Boogeyman - pfft Chavo - played out and where is he? DJ Gabriel - jury is out, could be solid. Evan Bourne - Injured, but was being poached by Raw Finlay - Sucks with Hornswoggle and cheating to win every match Gavin Spears - bland as hell and only worked two matches Jack Swagger - I really like him, but has no competition John Morrison - Works all three brands, no tag teams on ECW to face Mark Henry - Bad Ass, but needs a bigger roster. Matt Hardy - I never really liked the guy, but admit he is a top guy here Ricky Ortiz - forced charisma, can't work worth a damn The Miz - works all three brands, no tag competition on ECW Tommy Dreamer - offers nothing anymore That's it - their whole roster. 14 wrestlers, though with Bam, Chavo, Boogeyman, Bourne and Spears MIA, it's closer to an active roster of NINE. Not very compelling to say the least.

I was digging Rikishi until he started doing the stink face - it was just silly to appeal to VKM's sense of humor, and that basically became all he was. When he first debuted I thought he was going to be a destroyer - I remember he did like three finishers during the match, the jumping sitdown piledriver, the Bonzai Drop and another that slips my mind.

ECW has been shit basically ever since they started getting taped before Raw. Did they switch writers with that move? At least some of the talent was shared in their direction this week. Why am I supposed to care about Swagger against Ortiz and another DJ Gabriel squash? They all should have midcard vets to work with and it's not like the wwe doesn't have a lot of those doing nothing right now.

Miz and Morrison will not re remembered as anything as a tag team because they didn't have anybody to feud with. It's a crying shame the wwe doesn't push tag wrestling. They don't even give out team names anymore because it hurts the identity of the individual wrestlers - it's Miz and Morrison, Jesse and Festus, Hawkins and Ryder, Primo and Carlito, Rhodes and Dibiase, Cade and Murdoch, Deuce and Domino, London and Kendrick...

Wwe is over in Iraq filming the Troops show. Wwe.com travel photo's show Miz, Morrison, Kelly Kelly, Eve, Cena, Bastista, Alicia Foxx, Jericho, Shad and JTG, Jeff Hardy, Lilian Garcia, Mickey James and Maria. I guess it's a good bet we'll be seeing Cryme Tyme vs Miz and Morrison on the show. I assume there is more wrestlers overthere, but I just couldn't see them in the pics is all. Joey Styles is heading over for his first time as well. I don't know why Alicia is going really other than as AA T & A. Wwe also brought the TitanTron for the first time (probably could travel with it as they have the HD screens now Stateside).

To push the new "History of the IC Title" DVD. I do agree it is rather silly considering they give away IC title shots like candy.

What about making an uncharacteristic save. Face is getting beat down and out numbered and all of a sudden Morrison starts kicking ass and taking names. Of course he'd have to explain it the next week in what would be the most important promo of his career. What about making the save for Melina? Regal and Layla could be doing a number on her (or Santino and Beth, but Santino isn't a threat), and the one time Johnny Nitro comes to make the save for his fellow MNM alumnus.