Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[Lean]

Same here. And I was hoping for Edge & Christian as a tag team too.

[Andrew]

Yeah, doesn't look like that reunion's going to happen. A shame, it would totally reek of awesomeness.

Ratings are in, RAW did a 3.1 which is still down but not too bad, TNA did an 0.5 on a taped show which is way down again. Taping every other show is a smart move budget wise but it's not doing much for the ratings as spoilers get out there and they've got to be contributing to the lower numbers, especially when TNA errs in its booking decisions. Obviously every show should aim to be the best it can be but the taped shows especially can't afford to come off as a throwaway, otherwise people are going to elect not to tune in after reading the spoilers.

Meanwhile, Wayne Brady is set to guest host RAW next week. I'm a fan of Wayne Brady on Whose Line, he seems like a great guy and he's unquestionably talented, not to mention his involvement in that Dave Chappelle skit was hilarious, but I can't imagine he'll boost the ratings or make a wrestling show any better. We've said it before but it bears mention once again, the gimmick has run its course and only a few guest hosts have been entertaining. A PG product doesn't need to be awful - there was good stuff in the pre-attitude era - but corny gimmicks, especially the guest host stuff, just aren't going to cut it. By all means appeal to all ages but if you're going that route, appeal to all ages! Family friendly does not (and should not) mean just for kids.

[buzzy]

Give me a skit with divas dressed as hookers and make Brady say his line and I'll be happy. Oh wait, it's PG ..

No surprise in the ratings there, a taped show verus a three our live draft show. Everybody loves drafts.

[Andrew]

It's funny, Whose Line was PG and they'd push the envelope further than WWE is prepared to with its PG skits. And Whose Line was on a channel owned by Disney to boot. I wonder if they'll backtrack on this approach if/when Linda McMahon's senate campaign is unsuccessful.

[J@3]

Wayne Brady is the most PG guy humanly imaginable. Aside from the Chapelle thing he may aswell host Play-School, ridiculously safe. At least people know who he is, unlike the random scrubs from semi-popular movies they have been pulling out lately.

[benji]

if/when Linda McMahon's senate campaign is unsuccessful.

It already is. Down 20+ points in the general, as she and Simmons have been since Dodd dropped out.

[Andrew]

Guess there's no "if" about it then. It remains to be seen if they'll drop the PG stuff when the campaign officially comes to an end though.

[Andrew]

The Second Monday Night "War" is over.

TNA Impact is moving back to its Thursday night time slot on Spike TV according to Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net. According to his report, the announcement was made earlier today in a talent meeting prior to the tapings.

On the one hand, it makes TNA looks pretty bad having to abandon Monday Nights so quickly and along with incidents like the Kong/Bubba blowup, demonstrates the chaos one has come to expect from a show run by Hogan and Bischoff based on the horror stories from the days of WCW. At the same time I'd say it's a good move though, their ratings were well below the high hopes the January 4th edition had given them with some embarrassingly low numbers.

[Christian.]

Currently watching SmackDown (7 May episode) right now and I've just seen Jack Swagger's promo (30 April 2010 episode) being interrupted by Teddy Long and introduced the babyface Big Show as the #1 contender, I can say I felt excited for SD's main event scene. It's so refreshing to see Big Show back to the main event scene and going to have a real feud again. If I am not mistaken he's only inserted to Cena/Edge feud title match last year?

[Andrew]

Yeah, somewhat awkwardly at that. Hopefully they'll book the Big Show/Swagger program in a way that continues to build Swagger, so far his title reign reminds me a little of Punk's first run with the belt.

[Christian.]

Well I think we don't have to worry about SmackDown's bookings and creative writers compared to RAW. I haven't followed Punk's first title reign.

[Andrew]

Punk's first reign a couple of years ago was fairly lacklustre, lacking convincing victories in title defenses and when he lost the title, he wasn't even involved in the match. I'd agree that there's less of a concern with Smackdown's booking compared to RAW but then they did bungle Rey's title reign a bit back in 2006, squashing him too often.

[buzzy]

Well Swagger got a clean pinfall over Orton on a PPV (as a heel!), don't recall Punk getting that in his frist reign, even as a face still.

But I'm not looking forward to the Show/Swagger encounter. Either Big Show's gonna win it, or, and more likely, Show's gonna crush him and Swagger gets out with some kind of heelish tactic ..

[Andrew]

The latter wouldn't be so bad, cowardly and/or openly cheating heel champions are staples of the business. To be most effective though I believe it has to be done in a way that shows that the heel can win legitimately but prefers to take the shortcut rather than fight with honour, etc. So long as they don't look too weak or incompetent, it works.

[JaoSming]

this Justin.tv stream has been showing stuff from 1998, it just played the King of the Ring 98 hell in a cell match...first time I've actually watched it from beginning to end, and all I can say is just.....fuck.

with that said, been watching this the past few days and saw some headbangers and new age outlaws/Foley&Funk stuff and I really really really miss these days.

Maybe it's why I've been able to enjoy TNA as much as I have.

http://www.justin.tv/lwhdtv26#r=7DHqRbA~

[JaoSming]

and i'm "officially" not watching Raw anymore

the guest hosts were bad enough, but making Vickie Guerrero the GM again, shudder, I can't stand her

it's not a heat thing, she could be a great heel, it's more that I can't stand her voice, or mannerisms. I'm done with it.

Now lets see if I can stand TNA at all on Thursday

[Andrew]

I'd still say it's the lesser of two evils...though if they're going to the Vickie/Edge well again, it's not by much.

[JaoSming]

via wrestlezone

It was just announced on Raw tonight that the new permanent General Manager of Raw is Vickie Guerrero. The guest host concept on Raw is NOT coming to an end, however, and there still will be guest hosts, however it was explained on Raw that the guest hosts will have no authority on the show.

[Andrew]

I guess that's better than what they have been doing...slightly, sort of. Makes the guest hosts even more pointless though, are they just going to come on, plug something and get beaten up by Randy Orton? I'm already bored of that.

[buzzy]

Wow, Hall and Nash new TNA Tag champs. I didn't see the show but, .. why? Why?

[Andrew]

Wow, Hall and Nash new TNA Tag champs. I didn't see the show but, .. why? Why?

Hogan and Bischoff are running the show. 'Nuff said.

[JaoSming]

same reason Swagger is champ

the tag team champ Morgan got his ass kicked by Samoa Joe, they cashed in their briefcase Nash won ~2 months ago for tag titles match and pinned Morgan.

[koberulz]

Ha! I called that in January.

Can someone please explain the point of the Vickie Guerrero angle on RAW? Permanent GM for an hour and a half? What the fuck?

[Andrew]

same reason Swagger is champ

I can see why WWE wants to elevate the younger guys with main eventers nearing the end of their career or working banged up and possibly needing some time off in the near future. Promoting the idea of a somewhat unpredictable atmosphere where anything can happen isn't a bad approach in theory either, as it beats having the same people trade the belt back and forth. However, it's a poorly executed idea when the belts are placed on people without properly building them first, then booking them to look weak when they do get the title.

Can someone please explain the point of the Vickie Guerrero angle on RAW? Permanent GM for an hour and a half? What the fuck?

Yeah, that was incredibly pointless.

[koberulz]

And then they strip McIntyre of the title only to Retcon the entire thing two weeks later simply to shove Vicki Guerrero down our throats even more than they already were. Oh, and so that Teddy Long can be put on some sort of probation. I haven't watched wrestling since my TV died in mid January, when John Cena was champion, Long was on probation, and McIntyre was beating random people up. What'd I miss? Apparently, nothing. Other than Beth Phoenix becoming just the second woman ever to compete in the Royal Rumble, only to lose the women's title after accidentally running into Michelle McCool's head.

Then, Teddy Long, so upset about having to strip Kofi Kingston of the title, does the logical thing and gives Kingston a title shot. Only we don't live in that universe, so we have to watch McIntyre-Show instead.

I look forward to the Mysterio-Punk matchup they've been hyping all night that's never going to happen. It's the week before the PPV ffs.

I'll doubtless be back in a few hours to complain about how godawful iMPACT! was. Can't we get one decent wrestling show anymore?

EDIT: Okay, so Mysterio-Punk did happen. Good news for all those that were going to order the PPV for that match. What happened to the mask Rey put on backstage on his way to the ring? It wasn't there when he came out.