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Guest TSMAdmin

The Week In Review

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Guest TSMAdmin

Hey everyone and finally, I’m able to welcome you all to the DEBUT of my weekend Week In Review News column. Eh, what can I say, I enjoy making Byron feel like an idiot :D

 

Now, I’m only going to say this once, so pay attention. This is NOT a regurgitation of our weekly news reviews all rolled into one…because that would just be taking up space & your time. Instead, what I will present to you are what I personally feel are the top 5 news items of the week and review WHY they are so impactful to the wrestling business. Not everything is as key as people make it seem. For example…HEADLINE: RAVEN WRITES FOR SPIDEY! Ok….Spiderman is big right now and kudos to Raven for being able to get the opportunity to write for the famous comic, but really….how does that affect the rest of the wrestling world? Will Raven all of a sudden become a hot commodity in WWE? Somehow…I doubt that one.

 

Get it? You sure? Ok. In that case, lets take us now…..to number 5!

 

5. NWA:TNA Making some Rumblings…

 

Remember the NWA? Ya know, the company that originally had the Big Gold Belt and had Ric Flair carry it for years? Well, ever since WCW cut away from them in 1993 and ECW disassociated themselves with them in ’95, they haven’t really been anything more than a fallen promotion, trying to stay alive. Seems that with former NWA Prez/Owner/whatever the fuck he was, Dennis Corraluzzo now dead, the Jarretts (Jerry & J-E-Double F) are trying to resurrect this brand as a national promotion with weekly (or is it biweekly?) PPVs and redubbed it NWA:TNA (Total Nonstop Action). While everyone has completely lambasted this idea on the ‘net, and deservedly so, it seems those boys from Tennessee have made some pretty big decisions this past week.

 

First, they’ve signed up a lot of talent that WWE doesn’t have…mostly guys who have lost their jobs for whatever reason with WWE. Jerry Lynn, former ECW World champion & solid worker, Buff Bagwell, perennial WCW tag champ and mama’s boy & last but not least, Scott Hall. That’s right…the drunk is BACK! Ya know…I don’t even think he’s going to try to stay on the wagon this time.

 

Second…they strip Dan Severn of the NWA title. The NWA board of directors (HA!) feel that a new champion should be crowned at their inaugural event. I understand the reasoning behind it because as it stands, Severn would have been a lame-duck champ going into the show and he would have lost it to whoever won the big battle royal. Oh, excuse me, did I forget to mention that?

 

The main event of the inaugural show will be a big ass battle royal and the winner is the champ. Ahh, I get flashbacks of Larry Zybysco (I will get that name right eventually) and the AWA.

 

Just so you know….thanks to good ol’ ******* CABLE~!, Dames here will provide you with a weekly PPV review :D. Yes, the word is censored…why? Dames ain’t being NO one’s BUTT buddy in the booty house.

 

Ok….so, how does this affect the wrestling business, especially if everything thinks it will fail anyway? Simple, unlike the WWA, which runs PPVs twice a month and is getting raided for their talent constantly, this promotion will be able to build storylines & feuds and be the only real competition for WWE right now. If it works for a few weeks with some decent buyrates, the Jarretts could try sparking up a deal with a network and as long as they can get a time slot…its something different.

 

They’ve already signed indy sensation Low-Ki & AJ Styles to their promotion and the more indy guys they can get, be it American Dragon, Chris Daniels, Xavier, Homocide, whoever…they’ll jump at the chance to be seen on a national basis. WWE has already said that they don’t favor the stiff style that most indy guys utilize these days and this may be NWA:TNA’s best shot, IMO, to differentiate themselves from WWE. Its not like WWE will utilize them anytime soon…

 

Speaking of those WWE won’t utilize…

 

4. Tough Enough 2 Champions – both Women?

 

The MTV reality series concluded on Thursday night to its best ratings in 2 seasons and in a shocker, both female competitors, Linda & Jackie, won the coveted WWE contracts. This, obviously, was a swerve to pretty much everyone, including the contestants, as we’ve been conditioned to expect the winner to be one girl & one guy. That was not the case…but why?

 

On the last episode of TE before its live broadcast, both male competitors gave it their all. The all around favorite, Jake, cut a decent promo on Hardcore Holly and didn’t back down when confronted in mid-promo. However, in his interview with WWE big-wig Kevin Dunn, Jake not only shot himself in the foot, he took that same gun and blew off all of his limbs by exclaiming to Dunn that he was a very slow learner and that he doesn’t grasp ideas & concepts as quick as the others. Honesty is good yes…stupidity is not.

 

There are various reasons that Kenny wouldn’t have gotten the contract, be it his affinity for partying, his lack of size, mediocre promo work and although he wowed them in the ring, I doubt WWE ever fully intended on awarding him the prize.

 

What does this mean? Well, it could mean one of two things. WWE is going to build up their womens division or… it could mean the tag team of Jack & Shit. With Nidia (Tough Enough 1 winner) still in the “minors” and never gotten a match on WWE TV, Linda & Jackie could either do the same, or all 3 women may join the division soon. I’m sure that Nidia definitely feels pressure now to make it onto TV because if these 2 new girls make it before she does, there’s something wrong with her development.

 

With Trish holding the womens title & the only real competition she has now with Jazz injured is Molly Holly & Stacy Keibler (who isn’t exactly a wrestler). These 3 girls could definitely provide another spark in the division is used correctly.

 

Sad thing about this whole situation in my book is that both Kenny & Jake, if awarded the contract, could have had a great chance of getting over with the WWE crowd. Maven’s out 2 months with a broken leg and who else to take his TV time than the male winner? That could always lead to a money match when Maven returns. Somehow I doubt the females will ever get a similar break…no pun intended.

 

3. Austin sets the record straight…the rumors ARE true.

 

Ever since the nWo (fuck you Microsoft Word) came to WWE, rumors were rampant about Austin’s attitude toward the product, especially after sitting home the week after Wrestlemania because he was “unhappy with the direction of the company”. Apparently, some key storylines, especially the split, were affected by his unwillingness to cooperate. Since then however, he’s returned and has demanded a program with Eddie Guerrero, so he can have a good program. Gee, I guess he doesn’t want to work with Big Show anymore huh?

 

Well, on Byte This this past Thursday, WWE’s internet broadcast, Austin pretty much unloaded his feelings onto Kevin Kelly and Tom Pritchard. He pretty much said that creatively, the writing sucks and he’s not happy with it, but doesn’t want to leave the company.

 

Ok, pretty much anyone who has a brain should understand why he’s unhappy after watching Raw for the past few weeks. But what does it mean? The last time someone spoke against WWE about its creativity, that person left the company a few weeks later, Mick Foley. Although I seriously doubt Austin and WWE will part ways, I’m pretty sure that WWE & Vince aren’t happy that he spoke against them in such a public forum. We’ll see where Austin’s path goes from here as he’s feuding with now former IC champ Eddie Guerrero & seemingly, a returning Chris Benoit. Could these fueds be the thing that revitalize and motivate Stone Cold? I sure hope so because we already know what Benoit/Austin is like (*****) and I can just imagine Eddie/Austin.

 

2. Chris Benoit....is BACK! But...where does he go?

 

Usually, a high profile return is pretty damn newsworthy alone. But when you factor in the Split and the fact that he’s seemingly feuding with a Raw star (Austin, duh, I just talked about that) while being the “exclusive property” of Smackdown, it makes things a little more interesting.

 

It seems everyone, including your mothers (and mine) are screaming TRADE!! Benoit to Raw for who? Everyone seems to have their own answers and they are all viable ones, but the only thing that really matters is evening out Smackdown, which is talent-wise superior to Raw in many people’s eyes, including the workers. Will there be a trade at all or will WWE construct some other way of getting Benoit on Raw? With Dawn Marie making her WWE debut as a “paralegal”, one rumor is that she’s going to get Vince to sign some documents transferring Beniot to Raw using her trademark intellect. Damn that sarcasm. My ex gave it to me. Anyway, I’m all for it storyline wise, because once you do a trade once, WWE will just use the trade loophole to put anyone where ever they want and be split for all intents and purposes will be rendered useless.

 

Once again, the main question here is...why is Chris Beniot coming back so damn important? First off, he’s one of the top workers in the world and will increase the quality of wrestling through the roof for whatever show he ends up on. Given the high profile fued that he was thrust upon his return, it seems that he may just get the opportunity to pick up where he left off, literally and get elevated.

 

It remains to be seen whether or not he’ll still be a great worker or be the equivalent of a quad tearing, INTENSE~! individual. I hope that its the former because we really need it right now.

 

1. The Split finally splits the writers up!

 

When the Split (I refuse to say Brand Extension because they aren’t extending shit) first occurred, the creative team for WWE remained intact for both shows. Earlier this week, the writing teams have been divided into 2 groups, with Brian Gewertz heading up Raw and Paul Heyman writing up Smackdown. They both report to Stephanie McMahon & of course, Vince.

 

While this should have happened months ago, I’m glad its actually happening. Hopefully, this will allow both shows to have a different feel to them because right now, they feel pretty much identical.

 

Its pretty funny that Heyman is writing Smackdown and not Raw because some feel that he would push his former ECW talent and Brock.

 

Gewertz has written a lot of Edge & Christian’s material as well as The Rock’s. He was also the one who wrote most of the HHH-Angle-Steph love triangle.

 

It seems both of these writers are going to be concentrating on a majority of wrestlers they haven’t deal with before. This will help them be more creative and hopefully the shows should improve with new guys being elevated. Who knows...maybe this split might finally be worth something.

 

 

Well, this has been your first news Week in Review. Like it, hate it...let me know at [email protected]

 

“The Dames” Damian Gonzalez

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