Wrestling
Putting The “Sport” Back In Sports Entertainment
by Josh on Mar.01, 2010, under WWE, Wrestling
Growing up I watched a lot of wrestling. Over the past ten years or so I’d drift in and out of it, watching for several weeks in a row and then not, mostly because the product was not consistent. Clearly, different people watch wrestling for different reasons. Some watch for a certain wrestler, others love the amazing high-risk moves, and people like me enjoy a good story mixed with good performances.
Rest In Peace ECW
by Rich on Feb.17, 2010, under WWE, Wrestling

ECW broadcast it’s last show tonight, and while I was saddened at the end of an era for extreme wrestling, I was glad to see it end. ECW was the antithesis of WWE and WCW. ECW gave us some very memorable and historic moments - such as invading WWF the first time, Shane Douglas tossing the NWA belt in the trash, The Mass Transit incident and many others. ECW also introduced many of the iconic and legendary superstars of today. Superstars like Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Tazz, Mike Awesome, Raven, Sandman, Sabu and of course The “Whole Fuckin’ Show” Rob Van Dam. But after ECW went under, many of these superstars went to the remaining 2 promotions. Some flourished and others didn’t get far enough to make significant impact. However, their matches and memories lived on as the various promotions heard that iconic chant “E-C-Dub, E-C-Dub,E-C-Dub” in every arena- keeping ECW alive amongst fans.
The summer of 2005 saw a resurgence of ECW, thanks in part to WWE creating the One Night Stand PPV, which besides bringing nostalgia to fans showed WWE that ECW was still alive but with a faint pulse. WWE saw dollar signs and in June of 2006 decided to hold another One Night Stand, but this time, it would lead to the rebirth of ECW on the SciFi channel. Former ECW owner Paul Heyman was put in charge of this new/old upstart brand and with that WWE’s version of ECW was born. Coming off the his victory over John Cena at One Night Stand 2, it was a no brainer that The “Whole Dam Show” Rob Van Dam would be the re-launched brands’ Champion. Alas, the magic of One Night Stand slowly faded and WWECW became more and more prevalent with each passing week. Slowly but surely ECW Originals quit or were released, and the memories and superstars of old were replaced with young WWE newcomers that needed a place to hone their craft. This was by many considered the end, but to me this paved the way for a new generation of wrestlers such as Monty Brown, Elijah Burke, Evan Bourne, CM Punk, Zack Ryder and Ezekiel Jackson that would carry the flag of ECW in it’s final days with Tommy Dreamer still there as the last soldier fighting the good fight. Tommy Dreamer recently left the WWE and while he did say his goodbyes, the fans knew that Tommy couldn’t carry this torch any further.
To me, ECW should have ended with Tommy Dreamer winning the belt one last time and retiring with the belt to put a happy ending on this legendary brand. But sadly that was wishful thinking. ECW ended with it’s last champion Christian being defeated by Ezekiel Jackson in an “extreme rules” match leaving Ezekiel as your last ECW champion. I believe ECW died the day Tommy Dreamer left the WWE and what ended tonight was just another WWE brand.
Shed no tears for ECW wrestling fans, because the memories we have can never be taken away. You can change the logo, the style and the wrestlers, but at the end of the day there was and will always be one ECW. The ECW that was owned by Paul Heyman and had wrestlers like Dreamer, Sandman, Funk, Cactus Jack, New Jack, Raven, Sabu and many others bleeding and wrestling for our entertainment.
Rest In Peace ECW.
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Armchair Booker: TNA
by Rich on Feb.04, 2010, under TNA, Wrestling
When TNA first started, I knew they were a special organization. They had a unique and innovative product that introduced us to guys like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, CM Punk, Abyss, Beer Money, Triple X, Amazing Red and countless other bright young talents. Over time TNA evolved from a niche company to an established brand. They went from weekly PPV’s to TNA Impact on Spike TV and have been growing ever since. Over the course of this growth, we have seen some great veteran talent come through TNA’s doors. Superstars like Raven, Sabu, D-Lo Brown, Kid Kash, Christian Cage and of course, their best acquisition was Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle. Most of these veterans came in and helped the organization as well as helped make stars out of TNA’s young talent.
Recently though, something happened that has made TNA standout to a larger audience - that being the involvement of Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff. While I appreciated the fact that Hogan was involved in growing a new promotion and even adding some mainstream media exposure to the brand, I was concerned about the appearances of some less than desirable wrestlers that would jeopardize the growth of TNA’s home grown talent. Hogan succeeded in bringing in some new blood, but, mixed in with the old were Hogan flunkies and older wrestlers that frankly have no place in the promotion. Over the last few weeks, TNA has become a mish mosh of 1990 WWE Attitude Era + WCW/NWO, which has turned me off from the product a bit. Now, often times I hear wrestlers say that “marks” know nothing about the business and should stop trying to know everything. Sadly in some cases they have a point. Nonetheless, I wanted to take the chance to do a little armchair booking and give my own take on how I’d change TNA. Enjoy.
- Keep Hogan as an on-air, non-wrestling talent but keep the TV time minimal.
- Eric Bischoff is best suited to work behind the scenes and help grow the product without hogging the spotlight.
- Kevin Nash should be involved with Hogan in a GM-type role.
- Mick Foley should work backstage with the talent and help them improve. His TV appearances should be few and far between.
- Ric Flair should continue with AJ Styles as I see that partnership having potential.
- Christopher Daniels needs to be in the main event scene and even hold the title at some point.
- Samoa Joe should be in the title picture often, as his matches with AJ & Daniels are without-a-doubt classics.
- Pope D’Angelo Dinero is ready for the main event - let’s move him up a few pegs.
- There should be a TV Title to free up space in the X-Division.
- Build your X-Division around Amazing Red, Homicide, Doug Williams, Syxx Pac (If he’s going to stay clean) and Suicide.
- I would not have released Petey Williams.
- Maintain the serious edge in the Knockout’s division. Avoid going into WWE territory with gimmick matches.
- No Scott Hall – Huge fan but he adds nothing to the product.
- Raven needs to be in TNA for his great mic work and also for those extreme matches with Abyss & Rhino.
- Don’t lose sight of your Tag Division and make the best in the world. That means no Nasty Boys!!!
- Why is Orlando Jordan there? Boot him.
- Sign Rob Van Dam to add some spice to the X-Division and World Title scene.
- Establish a working relationship with foreign promotions and showcase their talent against TNA talent. Great way to learn things
- Keep the 6-sided ring to differentiate yourselves from the competition.
- Create a developmental program to help current talent improve and younger talent become better.
- Macho Man should manage Jay Lethal. Makes for a compelling storyline but it needs to have a solid payoff to elevate Jay.
If I continue this post will be way too long. Nonetheless, these things are but small steps toward making TNA a legit threat to WWE.
What do you folks think?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Arm Chair Booker: WWE
by Rich on Jan.26, 2010, under WWE, Wrestling
Too often I complain about the things I dislike in professional wrestling, but instead of ranting and raving about these things, I decided to write about how I would fix some things. Some of you may agree or disagree with my scenarios and are welcome to comment.
Welcome to the first column of The Armchair Booker!
Let’s start with the number one WWE show:
RAW
- Do away with the guest hosting and either introduce a GM or some authority figure to run the show.
- John Cena-Needs a heel turn to freshen up his character. Bring back the freestyles and street swag. Fans will enjoy the turn I’m sure. I would have also aligned him with Cryme Tyme for a solid faction.
- Bret Hart– Should have had the Hart Dynasty with him when he appeared on Raw and align DX with Vince. Would have elevated The Hart Dynasty and taken advantage of existing beef between Bret,HBK & HHH.
- Bring in the other Dibiase brother and make a Tag Team in Legacy. That way you could have the Dibiase brothers for the tag belts, Cody for IC/US title, and Orton for the World Title. I’d call the Dibiase brothers Money Inc. as an homage to their dad.
- Reunite the Colon Boithers, Carlito & Primo, since solo they are struggling.
- Elevate Evan Bourne into a stronger mid-card feud with Swagger and MVP as your core guys.
- No more Hornswoggle!
- Would make Santino a legit threat and capitalize on his popularity by putting him in the IC/US title hunt as well.
Smackdown
- Create a stable with Finlay,Drew McIntyre and Sheamus. Have a veteran work with both of these young talents and also create a tag team as well.
- Push Edge as your number one heel.
- Continue building CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society.
- Move Khali to an enforcer role and limit his ring work.
- Build you Women’s Division around Beth Phoenix.
- Make Dolph Ziggler, John Morrison and Matt Hardy your main mid-card guys for the US title, but elevate them into the main event often. This will allow you to both gauge crowd response and inject new blood into the main event scene.
- Chris Jericho & Rey Mysterio need to feud at the main event level.
- Keep and Kane & The Undertaker together and have them be the center of your Tag Team Division.
ECW
- Bring back the Hardcore Matches.
- Introduce a TV Title to give the mid-card guys a title to feud over.
- Shelton Benjamin needs some sort of mouth piece that can help him get over as a heel. I’d go with him, Zeke and Regal.
- Koslov needs to work on not looking so robotic in the ring.
- Align Baretta & Croft with Zack Ryder.
- Christian needs to leave ECW in the Draft. Bring in a new veteran to carry the brand.
- I would move Charlie Haas to ECW.
- Continue pushing Yoshi Tatsu.
- Use ECW to build new talent and keep calling up new roster members to keep the brand fresh.
This is just a sampling of how I’d change things. I am sure many of you will have thoughts and suggestions of your own. Feel free to share them.
My Take On: WWE Heroes
by Rich on Jan.25, 2010, under WWE, Wrestling
As much as I love wrestling and their spin-off products, there are times that you really need to go “What The Fuck”!!!! My dear readers - this is one of those times. WWE has decided to launch a series of comic books entitled “WWE Heroes” which centers around the WWE roster and their adventures. The backstory for the series centers around an age-old feud between “The Shadow King” and “The King Of Kings” (which probably means HHH and The Undertaker or something along those lines).
While I appreciate creativity and innovation, WWE Heroes to me is just another WWE attempt to cash in on a new medium. Not to be a total douche but are any comic fans really reading this? Do they even care?
I admire what WWE is trying to do but I feel that they are spreading themselves thin with so many projects. Between films and comics and poor attempts at mainstreaming (Raw guest hosts I am looking at you), WWE is providing varied products but none are particularly innovative or engaging. I think that the most successful thing that they have done thus far in terms of new projects was the flick “See No Evil” and while it was original, at least used a genuine scary lead character in the form of Kane.
I really would like WWE to reach that pinnacle of popularity, but with all these hokey attempts at mainstreaming they are taking three steps back instead of moving forward. That’s my take! What’s yours?
