Picking Up the Slack...

The top dirtsheets stories in the past month have no doubt been the 30 day suspension of Chris Jericho and the 60 day suspension of Randy Orton. Both were for completely opposite actions. On May 24^th, at a house show (live event which is not taped for tv) in Brazil, before a match with CM Punk, Chris Jericho held a Brazilian flag, crumpled it up and kicked it. In Brazil, this is a crime. During the match the authorities went backstage and demanded that Jericho apologize or he would be arrested when he returned backstage after the match. A WWE official went out to the ring and alerted Jericho and the referee about what had happened and Jericho was forced to apologize in the middle of a match. A few days later, WWE suspended Jericho for 30 days. Some of the dirtsheets  writers have proclaimed several reasons for the suspension from the WWE did this is because they didn’t want to lose any tv deals in Brazil to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s wife Linda running for Senate in Connecticut.

                 I don’t believe Chris Jericho did anything wrong. On his days off, I don’t think he spends time catching up on the laws and ordinances of Brazil. He was just trying to get heat (fan hatred) because that is his job as a heel. I understand WWE had to make him apologize but the suspension was harsh. Chris Jericho is one of the greatest wrestlers to set foot in their ring. Even at the age of 41, he is still one of the best in the ring and on the mic. WWE needs him more then he needs the WWE. Chris takes breaks from wrestling from time to time. After 9 years in the business, he signed on with the WWE in 1999 after stints with ECW and WCW. He had successful 6 year run in the WWE which included a WWE Title reign and even a victory over The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in a 3 way match. In 2005 he chose not to re-up with the WWE and focus on other things like his bands, acting, hosting and etc. Two years later he came back and had one of the most successful runs as a heel I have ever seen and in 2010 he took another leave from the business. This past January he returned again and has been continuing to show he is one the best in the world. The WWE needs him more then he needs the WWE. I hope this doesn’t push him into not signing on when his deal expire this time. Not only did the WWE punish Y2J, but they punished the fans by not letting Jericho do his job of entertaining us.

                As for Randy Orton, there is a very different set of circumstances with him. A few weeks ago WWE announced that they suspended him for testing positive for a banned substance which is rumored to be dianabol. This was his second violation of the policy. Randy Orton is one of the top guys in the company. Before this suspension, the general consensus backstage was that he was the second largest money draw behind John Cena. I disagree because I believe CM Punk and John Cena are the biggest draws and they are neck in neck for the top spot. My opinion aside, he hurt the company and the fans by testing positive once again. He hurt his peers and the business because now he can’t have a summer feud with anyone and Smackdown was without a top guy for their house shows the past few weeks and were headlined by Sheamus. Sheamus is a hell of a wrestler but he is not a brand carrier. Smackdown house shows already have taken a decline in attendance with Randy Orton as the top guy and they had to bring CM Punk over from the Raw to even things out and to house shows to pick up the slack in the summer. There are even reports that Randy Orton doesn’t really care about his punishment and this infuriates Vince McMahon and the WWE brass so much that some in the company are calling for him to be fired. I love Randy and I don’t want to see him gone but I do agree with what some are saying. You can’t do a big angle with him because if he tests positive one more time and gets three strikes, they automatically have to fire him because that it was the policy they implemented states. I am just really disappointed because Randy Orton is one of my favorites of all-time. I was really looking forward to seeing him feud with Ziggler and Sheamus. This could’ve been a summer of epic matches and feuds but he ruined it.

                CM Punk’s workload has went up because of Randy but I am sure he is being paid quite handsomely so he is not likely to complain about this. A lot of wrestlers have reportedly been upset with the work schedule lately. In WWE, there are two different traveling groups, Raw and Smackdown. A typical Raw schedule used to go like this. House show on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and a live Raw on Monday. Smackdown was quite similar with house shows on Saturday and Sunday, Raw on Monday and a Smackdown taping on Tuesday. Now with a lot more schedules changing, wrestlers sometime appear both on Raw and Smackdown for TV. So that means some of the wrestlers are working 4-5 days a week combined with driving from city to city this makes for a tired roster and when international tours a occur they are really beat because they wrestle for 10-11 days straight. I hope this doesn’t lead to more wrestlers quitting or taking breaks but however the wrestling business is a tough one and only having one or two days off is the norm throughout the history of the company. The wrestlers know what they were getting into so they should expect it. There are legit wrestlers on the indys who work for a couple hundred bucks every weekend when you factor in all the rental car, gas and hotel money. They should consider themselves lucky that in most cases they are making good money and doing what they love to do.

I have decided to not write about the new NXT in this blog post but within the next couple of weeks I plan on writing a blog exclusively about NXT with a review of the new show’s first episode.

Funny Wrestling Moments

I will have the blog about the Chris Jericho and Randy Orton suspensions on Saturday. I will also look into the new new NXT. For today, I have decided to take it a little light and put some of my favorite funny wrestling videos up for the 5 people who read my blog to see.....

Chris Jericho vs. A Very Stupid Old Man

Your Mama Sucks

I'm from Winnipeg you idiot

You're a Stupid Man!

You're a Stupid Man Pt. 2

Just Read It!

CM Punk says You're a Whore!

CM Punk is Not Holding a Mircophone

I Gotta Dumb Myself Down

Chuck Taylor Scares Kids Pt.1

Chuck Taylor Scares Kids Pt.2

Chuck Taylor Scares Kids Pt.3

Chuck Taylor is my Hero

CM Punk Pays Tribute to His Boss

Michael Cole Returns to NXT

Anal Bleeding

Michael Cole Marks Out for The Miz

If you made it to the end, you are one step closer to being a loser, just like me...

Summer Slump.....

         It has been over a month since I wrote a blog and in the past month WWE has been pretty terrible in that time. The stagnant product has been unwatchable and the lack of a legit feud and slapped together storylines has been very detrimental to the WWE. The ratings are down, and many people argue that baseball and playoff basketball are the reasons why but I disagree. I am a believer that if you give the people a good reason to tune in, they will. The rating for the Memorial Day Monday Night Raw did a 2.7 rating, the lowest since September of last year. In case you didn’t catch it, this means Raw had better ratings when they were going against Monday Night Football in October –December then what they have currently.

        In my opinion the storylines are the major reason for all of this. Usually at this time of the wrestling year there are three major feuds, the personal feud (usually revolves around John Cena) storyline and the two world title storylines. The personal feud right now is John Cena taking on the Big Show at the next pay-per view No Way Out. The feud started when the then “fired” Big Show cost Cena his match against the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and General Manager of both Raw and Smackdown John Laurinaitis (I love saying his whole job title just like he does) at the previous pay per view Over The Limit. If Cena would’ve won Big Johnny would’ve been terminated from his position as General Manager to the delight of fans everywhere since he is the heel authority figure. This all sounds good on paper but there are a few problems with this. Big Show is well past his prime and in most people eyes including my own, he is not a main eventer anymore. His constant heel and face turns over the last few years have really hurt his character. He isn’t very good in the ring either but that’s to be expected when someone is 40 years old, over 7 feet tall and weighs 450 lbs. Also we have seen Cena feud with the Big Show a few times already. Why again?

The original plan was for Tensai to feud with Cena at the moment the brass threw Big Show in his place because according to the dirtsheets (wrestling news sites) the brass are very disappointed with the way Tensai’s lack of getting over with the fans. I have a problem with this. I know he is not getting much of a reaction from the fans but I don’t understand how they can tell all of this in the 2 months since he debuted. You have to give a guy some time and a chance to succeed. It doesn’t look like Tensai will get his chance soon since John Cena beat him in less than ten minutes last Monday. As angry as it makes me, I think very soon, Tensai will either be legitimately “future endeavored” or be forced to go back to old gimmick from the attitude era as A-Train (a hairy comedy wrestler) which will have to be demoralizing for a guy who left a good wrestling career in Japan to come back to the WWE.

CM Punk is currently feuding with Daniel Bryan and Kane. A Triple Threat Match for the WWE Title is scheduled for No Way Out. Daniel Bryan’s Ex-Girlfriend AJ is also playing a small part in this by hanging out at ringside with CM Punk gear on. I actually like this feud because I love all three of these guys. It can’t get much better with Punk as the babyface, Kane as the tweener (someone who is not babyface or heel) and Bryan as the heel. This is probably the only interesting thing going on in WWE at the moment even though AJ will probably help someone at No Way Out. There are so many directions in which this can go. AJ can help Bryan out and possibly rekindle her relationship with him or she can cost him the match as payback and Punk regains the title or she can even help Kane and start a weird demonic couple storyline with him. However, even though I like this little feud I am not sure everyone approves. In real life, Punk and Bryan are friends. They both were on the independent circuit, building a name for themselves. They both were Ring of Honor World Champion. (ROH has been the premier indy wrestling company for almost 10 years). They both got WWE deals and in 2011, they both won a championship title. (Punk won the WWE title in July and Bryan won the World Heavyweight Title in December). Hell, now they are both vegans too. With that being said in most people’s eyes, this isn’t a feud you build for a pay per views like Over The Limit and No Way Out, this is a feud you build for Wrestlemania. However, even though I can see why people think this, I would be willing to bet Punk and Bryan will at least battle at Mania 2-3 times in the next few years and it will be great because the guys are two of the best to ever do it.

The World Heavyweight title feud has been pretty terrible however. The World Champ Sheamus was scheduled to take on Alberto Del Rio. The feud was nothing special really. I just don’t feel that these guys hate each other. It just seemed scrapped together like they just decided to put Del Rio with Sheamus just because there’s not another already maineventer heel on Smackdown and they would have to take a chance on someone new. This combined with the fact that Sheamus character has been a little stale lately with his boring irish stories on how he likes to “Fight” have led to this becoming a “filler” feud. However Del Rio suffered a concussion at the last Smackdown taping and will likely not be able to perform on Sunday. Chances are a new opponent for Sheamus will be determined tonight on Raw. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put on a good ol’ battle royal to determine who the new number one contender is. It’s a 3 Hour Raw instead of the usual 2 hours so they’re going to need something to take up time.

Speaking of 3 Hour Raws, the WWE has announced that starting on July 23^rd, the 1000^th episode of the show, they will be permanently going to three hours. I wish I could say I am happy but I am not. On one hand I am glad the wrestlers have more time to showcase their skills but WWE can barely put on a 2 hour show consistently. Going three hours every week for Raw will be tough. I hope some of the midcarders and wrestler who have been underutilized like Dolph Ziggler, The Prime Time Players, Primo/Epico, Jack Swagger, Damien Sandow, Antonio Cesaro and others get on television more often instead of just filler promos and matches with Brodus Clay, Ryback, Santino and Ryder. Speaking of Ziggler I have no idea what they are doing with him right now. It seemed like he may split from his manager and storyline girlfriend Vickie Guerrero but now he’s just in singles matches losing to Sheamus. I hope he doesn’t continue to be a “jobber for the stars”. I hope he actually becomes a main eventer soon since he is one of the best in ring performers I have ever seen. 

Darren Young and Titus O’Neill also deserve more legit tv time. They are quite hilarious, they get heat from the fans and they seem like a legit tag team. They even had one of the most hilarious moments of the year when they did the “Big Zeke ain’t got no cuts” bit. I miss the tag division when you had guys who were actually friends in real life and not just two guys put together because they don’t have a singles feud. In my opinion the tag division should consist of the Prime Time Players, The Usos, Reks and Hawkins and Primo/Epico. They’re should not be teams like Ryder and Santino and R-Truth and Kofi. Just because Ryder is from Long Island doesn’t mean he should be tagged with Santino who is “from” Italy. Same goes for Kofi and Truth. A black guy from Ghana put together with a black guy from Charlotte doesn't necessarily come off as legit.

I love the WWE but I am not sure about the whole 3 hour Raws every week. Some say it’s just a temporary thing and that when the WWE Network debuts in November they are just going to convert the extra hour into a pre-show on there. I hope it works out well and the inconsistent product goes back to how it was the first 4 months of this year but I’ll keep my expectations low for now.

               

Other Tidbits….

Heres the hilarious “Big Zeke ain’t got no cuts” promo…

Kevin Nash will be playing a supporting role as one of the male strippers in the upcoming movie Magic Mike…

Kevin Nash in the Back

Nash (Left,Back)

Remember at Edge's WWE Hall of Fame Induction when he thanked a Beth for making his life complete....well apparently Edge is now dating diva Beth Phoenix, they were spotted at game 1 of Stanley Cup Finals in Newark…Edge was romantically linked to Lita a few years back, Lita is supposedly dating CM Punk for the 2nd time...Punk and Beth Phoenix were also dating for a little while but they broke up in this past fall...how ironic

If you haven't heard yet, in other wrestling dating news, Darren Young was reportedly dating diva Tamina Snuka, Cody Rhodes is dating former announcer Eden Stiles and Daniel Bryan is dating former diva Brie Bella....I know way to much pointless information.

I will be writing another new blog Thursday about Chris Jericho and Randy Orton Suspensions, Increased Workloads for WWE Wrestlers and the New NXT…