Introductions
Firstly there's me, I be Christian, 30 years old, English/Scottish/Dutch and got my first taste of wrestling when I was around about 5 or 6 and used to watch it on a Saturday afternoon on ITV, they used to alternate back then, 1 week it'd be American wrestling, the next it'd be the UK stuff, and it was always on right after Saint and Greavsie, which I think is possibly the only reason I ever managed to catch the show and get hooked - damn you Jimmy Greaves, Ian St. John and your witty football show, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have spent all that money and time on Wrestling related merchandise, tickets and clothing, and I probably wouldn't have spent £36 on tickets for me and a mate to go see 'Big Time American Wrestling' next year just a fortnight after I've been to TNA - My bank blames you, my parents blame you, Vince McMahon loves you, I blame you but I suppose thanks is in order as well - because if it wasn't for you I'd have never gotten to see Kamala all those years down the line, and that would have been very bad indeed.
With regards my wrestling tastes, I like it either ridiculously cheesy (Kamala, Boogeyman, Rosey as the S.H.I.T. - all genius gimmicks in my eyes), or hardcore actual wrestling, he's a little shit but I respect Michaels in the ring, Bret Hart is the hero of my childhood, Chris Benoit although the biggest arse in wrestling hell at the minute, could make a good match out of nothing, I still miss Eddie Guerrero and right now Chris Jericho could walk down to the ring, lay a big steaming Canadian poop, walk out without saying a word and I'd still cheer him.
Then there's Elaine who's 22 and Scottish and from this moment on will forever be called 'Our Lass' - she won't actually be writing in this column personally mind but rest assured she's someone I'll reference a lot. Our Lass, shares some of my opinions in wrestling but not all, she believes like I do that Chris Jericho is the second coming, that John Cena needs to turn heel as soon as wrestling-ly possible, that DX are way too old to actually be DX anymore and that if they get pushed properly The Hart Dynasty could go on to greatness.
She however I'd say at times is a more hardcore fan than I am, (she buys FSM every month), then at times I'd class her as more casual than I am, in that she's only really watched for the last couple of years ever since we got together and before then it was the early 2000's she used to watch it.
The reason I'm mentioning her, is because I'll probably refer to her at times in the column, particularly her opinion on things that've happened that may differ to mine, just be aware of one thing, comment anything bad about Matt Hardy and she'll be round your gaff with a frying pan faster than you can say V-1aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Right now on with the show.........
WWE and why they're struggling to keep me interested
If online reports are to be believed, the all-seeing Vinnie Mac has decided that Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler should both be de-pushed, Swagger you could see it starting with little things like the qualifying matches for the Battle Royal last week, he ended up in a 6-man tag match and who were his partners? Chavo Guerrero and Chris Masters - you know you're not winning when the moob-shaker's one of your tag partners.
In my eyes WWE are wrong to de-push these 2, they're both young and extremely talented, and both work great as heels, its easily said that booked right they could be huge stars in the next couple of years and easily be seen as top heels or given the right storyline they could even be stars as faces, but it seems that WWE have different ideas about who should be getting the 'new star push'.
This is what's keeping me as well though, look at the recent pushes of Sheamus, John Morrison, The Miz, Kofi Kingston and Drew Mcintyre, all of them seem to be going along fine - particularly Sheamus who's already in a PPV Main Event title match, some people would say that Sheamus has been pushed too quickly or that he's only up there because he's training buddies with HHH, but its also something different, which is what WWE's needed for a long time. Then look at times like the Match between Rey and Morrison for the IC title earlier this year, Morrison could finally be getting somewhere within WWE, and although I can't point to any specific incidents the Miz and Drew Mcintyre are both impressing me week in, week out.
Some people are possibly wondering right now why I didn't mention Kofi Kingston in that. This'll be because his most impressive moment of this year was blighted by my biggest gripe with WWE at the minute - the PG rating. A few weeks ago when Roddy Piper was guest host at MSG they had what has to be said a segment that I think made Kingston as a main-eventer, Randy Orton and Kingston fought all over the building, ending with Kofi doing his boom-drop to Orton from one of the guard rails. However that segment could have been so much better if Orton and the camera-men didn't have to do everything they could to block the fact that Orton was bleeding getting out to us viewers at home, imagine if you would that segment again, with the blood being allowed to be shown, it would've added another factor to what was already a great angle. Let the wrestlers go back to being themselves, Let them show injuries that they've received, you'll find that your product will be a lot better for it.
TNA - on the edge
If you'd have asked me a few weeks ago my thoughts on TNA they'd have been very similar to what they are now, with one big exception, I'd be 100% excited for the future of the company - however they've now signed Terry Bollea, and Bollea is only interested in one thing, that isn't TNA, its making sure that his better known name stays in the spotlight for as long as possible, that name, is Hulk Hogan.
Hearing online stories from backstage, watching some of the segments on TV, and reading about certain wrestlers leaving, hell the main feeling I get with TNA is simple - WCW oh how we haven't missed you, you've got Hogan who's got a reputation of looking out for number one and flexing his power backstage to get things his way, a lot of ex-WWE people as part of the roster, segments that quite literally are embarrassing to watch and a lot of reports of people wanting to quit (most recently 5 people wanted to quit, its reported that 2 of them were Frankie Kazarian and Homicide), the place looks like a mess.
But then look at the young and/or up-coming talent they have, to name a few: Desmond Wolfe (Nigel McGuinness), Motor City Machine Guns, Beer Money Inc, British Invasion, Amazing Red, AJ Styles, Daniels, Samoa Joe, D'Angelo Dineiro, Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed. If TNA get the mix of established stars like Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Sting, Scott Steiner, Team 3D (The Dudleyz), and if he controls himself Hulk Hogan, then they can have an amazing company on their hands, at the minute its not so great, and one of the main reasons is storylines or lack of, take for example the next paragraph.
At the last TNA PPV the main event was AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs, Daniels for the TNA World Heavyweight title – the previous PPV Daniels and Samoa Joe both lost, Daniels was on-screen friends with Styles (and off-screen they're best friends), Styles retained the title and then because of comments Styles and Daniels had off camera about the title all of a sudden Daniels is a heel – why not show us the heel turn on screen, have Daniels lay Styles out in the middle of the ring, or at least cut a promo in the ring but instead, he's just a heel one week without any decent explanation behind it.
Also look at how title matches are usually made, they're usually just announced out of nowhere, no feud, no promo's, just a match announced out of the blue, it smacks of the writers not having long term plans for anyone, and the sad thing is on screen, it looks like a small-time company not knowing what they're doing.
The other sad thing is that anyone with a bit of wrestling knowledge can probably guess some of the storylines, take this weeks Impact – Kristal faked an injury to make sure that Lashley got through to the next round of the tournament, didn't Sharmell do just that a few years ago to ensure her husband Booker T (who was a face at the time), won the US title, I'm calling it now, Lashley will turn heel, showing that he knew what Kristal was doing all the time and only wanted the belt, at which point Dixie Carter'll squeal with delight as her dream of Bobby Lashley walking out on an MMA show holding the TNA World title.
But as negative as I've been about TNA, I think they've got the potential to be a great company, they just need to make sure that they keep the good matches coming, stop with the shots at WWE and worry about their own product, and then if you're very lucky Santa will bring you another 'Monday Night War' which at the minute will probably be best for the wrestling industry as a whole.
The Finish
So there you go, first column shot out of the way, you've probably noticed that there wasn't one mention of any of the 'Divas' or 'Knockouts' – that's for another column, which'll most definitely be titled 'Alyssa Flash and why I'm going to marry her', but for now I've been your host, you've been my readers, and I've been better than you.
