Trench's Pro Wrestling Report: Good Week for Pro Wrestling

* Jack Hardy's Angry
* Matt Morgan's a STUD
* SummerSlam Match-up?



I've decided to do things a little differently this week and give the report a little more structure.

Smackdown 8/1: I really liked seeing an angry Jeff Hardy. I just wish they weren't using his personal tragedies to push the storyline. I don't see the point of jobbing him out to the Mediocre Khali either. Who does that really help?

Mick Foley's promo on Edge couldn't have been more awesome. Further evidence of why Mick Foley is such a legend. If you haven't seen his greatest promos you need to find his promos as Cactus Jack from the old ECW. (You knew I had to bring that up at least once.) Anyway if we're lucky this is the opportunity that brings back the Edge that we love to hate. Again, it's too bad that this storyline has to be driven by a bad wedding angle.

TNA Impact Replay 8/2: I don't watch TNA on Thursday Nights because Burn Notice is on at the same time so I try to catch the replays on Saturday nights.

Matt Morgan is a stud. They should be building the promotion around him not to mention some of the other younger guys. I mean wouldn't you rather see Samoa Joe vs. Matt Morgan than Samoa Joe vs. Booker T? As much respect as I have for guys like Kurt Angle, Sting, and Booker T, their names aren't exactly increasing TNA's ratings. If I was Jeff Jarrett and Jim Cornette I'd be pushing the young guys to the moon.

TNA loves to do comedy and I think they do it well. Curry Man, Shark Boy, and Super Eric just crack me up. But let's not overdo it. It's a rough transition to go from Shark Boy hilarity to a pissed off Samoa Joe.

The new women's champion is boring and generic. I can't even think of her name off the top of my head. She's a decent wrestler but she doesn't grab my attention. I don't find it believable that she beat Awesome Kong twice either. I'd rather see Roxxi or ODB holding the belt.

WWE Saturday Night's Main Event: I didn't watch it for two reasons. One, I forgot it was on which should tell you how great of a job WWE did in promoting it. Two, while I think Autism is a horrible disease I also think Jenny McCarthy is a tool for spreading fear for blaming her son's Autism on vaccinations. The Autism people may want to find a better spokesperson.

Anyway from what I read SNME was lame.

RAW 8/4/08: I actually like Mike Adamle as the RAW GM. It's something new which is something that wrestling in general is lacking these days.

Santino Morella is comedy gold. TNA should take note on how to do their comedy bits.

I thought it was ridiculous how much praise Lawler and Cole were pouring on Adamle throughout the show considering Michael Cole got his head handed to him last week because of Adamle.

CM Punk vs. JBL at Summerslam? Really? Why is JBL still even on TV? He's not being booed because he's the bad guy. He's being booed because people are tired of him. At least that's what I hope they're booing him for. Jericho vs CM Punk would have been epic but I realize they'll do something with Jericho and HBK at Summerslam. Hopefully Punk will retain and they can have the Punk-Jericho match later.

News: The big story on the dirt sheet sites this week was that WWE has parted ways with Ric Flair. The buzz is that Flair was unhappy with WWE not allowing him to book outside appearances. If I was TNA I'd be offering him whatever they could. Even to have him in a non-wrestling role would be quite the coup for TNA.

All in all a pretty good week. Which means next week should suck hard.

by Trench Reynolds

Trench Pro Wrestling Report: WWE Storylines are Poor

Who Writes this Stuff?



In case you haven't noticed, I haven't written a wrestling post in a few weeks. There's a reason for that. It's become clear to me that it's one of those times in wrestling history again that I'm embarrassed to be a wrestling fan.

While it's true that a true wrestling fan's wrestler is the RAW Champion in CM Punk, he's being booked as horribly as Rey Mysterio was when he was Smackdown champion. It's only a matter of time before either Batista or John Cena is champion again.

Here's the problem: WWE is insulting the fan's intelligence. I know intelligence and wrestling fan is kind of an oxymoron, but stay with me.

I can only suspend my disbelief in wrestling so far.

Take Kane for example. His latest gimmick is carrying around a thing in a bag asking people if he's alive or dead. If that happened in relative real life, he would have been committed for his own good. I kind of feel sorry for Kane because of all the crappy storylines he's been saddled with.

Over on Smackdown, HHH just happened to have a hidden camera in Edge's hotel room at the precise moment Edge cheated on Vickie. Not to mention the fact that the camera's quality was just as good as a regular HD TV camera. And who doesn't want to hold their wedding reception during the taping of Smackdown.

I know I harp on this every time, but this is why I still miss the original ECW. There were no weddings, no wrestlers rising from the dead into the sky, no voodoo curses making people vomit on camera. Just good fashioned mayhem and violence. Storylines were simple and revolved solely around title shots, competition, and hatred. One of the best feuds of all time if not the best was Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven and all it revolved around was the fact that they hated each other.

Nobody respected the fans more than ECW. They gave the fans what they wanted instead of telling them what they should want.

The straw that broke the camel's back was this past Friday night when the WWE went in the opposite direction and got too realistic. In a promo, MVP was cutting on Jeff Hardy: the real life tragedy of Hardy's home burning down with his dog inside was used as part of a storyline. I'm all for realism but using a wrestler's personal tragedy is taking it too far.

I turned it off at that point.

So is it too much WWE to ask for a little balance?

I'll probably still watch wrestling.

But only to tell you what's wrong with it.

by Trench Reynolds

WWE: Thumbs Up--For Now

Last week's draft got me to do something I haven't done in a long time, watch Smackdown. I was curious to see how having both champions was going to affect the B-brand. Edge and HHH gave really good promos to open Smackdown this past Friday.

SD! also seems to be trying to step up the women's division to TNA levels. While TNA's women's division starts to flounder but I digress. Anyway with the new top members of SD! I am looking forward to an Edge/HHH/Jeff Hardy storyline. If done right it could be the proverbial license to print money.

I didn't watch the Night of Champions PPV because I'm cheap and I don't have the time. However I was mildly surprised by the results. Matt Hard retained the US Championship while being moved to ECW. I'm curious to see how they handle that but not curious enough to watch ECW.

I like that they took the Intercontinental title off of Chris Jericho since he has a huge feud with Shawn Michaels going on right now. The problem is I really don't see Kofi Kingston as a suitable replacement but it's nice to see the WWE giving a push to some of the younger guys. Keeping the WWE title on HHH was a no brainer but the surprise of the night was Edge retaining the World Championship. I was so sure they were going to give the title to Batista so they could move it to RAW but for once the WWE made me look forward to Monday Night for once.

Which brings us to last night. Last night's RAW was definitely a roller coaster ride of a show which is what wrestling is supposed to be. How awesome was it that C.M. Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank title shot while Edge was on RAW for the night?

Not only did it bring the world title back to RAW but it also put the belt on one of the most underrated wrestlers on WWE TV today. Then imagine my horror when JBL was the first person to challenge Punk for the title. At that point I thought C.M Punk
had become the new Tommy Rich.

Then during the Punk/JBL match I was never more happy to see John Cena in my life. (Yep, I'm a Cena hater.) But that didn't guarantee that Punk would retain the belt. Luckily the WWE made the right decision, in my opinion, by keeping the belt on Punk. Now I'll be tuning in to see how long they let him keep it.

Thumbs up for now WWE. Just don't screw it up.

by Trench Reynolds
image: Trench Network

2008 WWE Draft Report

So, big doings on last night's RAW with the 2008 Draft. Not surprisingly, RAW got the better end of the deal. Since it's the flagship WWE show that was pretty much a given. However, the draft was a dead giveaway for what's going to happen at the Night of Champions PPV. HHH will retain the title and go to Smackdown, if he doesn't get traded back to RAW again. Edge will lose to Batista and Batista takes that title to RAW.



I'm glad they kept the Hardy's on separate brands, but Matt Hardy to ECW? He's about as extreme as wheat toast. Then again, it's still not the real ECW. And yes, I will bring that up every time--thanks for asking. I thought Umaga would have been a better fit for ECW than Matt Hardy.

Speaking of Hardys: if HHH stays on Smackdown, I hope they do a program with Jeff Hardy and HHH. Even with Jeff''s past transgressions, he's over with the crowd like crazy and deserves a chance at the title.

The HBK/Y2J angle went pretty much the way I thought it should. However, they need to make Shawn Michaels' 'injuries' more traumatic to really have impact. When HBK hit his face on the table, it made him look like the most fragile man in the world. If you want to see how to really make an impact with a fake eye injury, look up how Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman did it back in the original ECW. At least they let the heel (Jericho) go out on top. That's how you get the fans to keep coming back.

They'll pay to see the villain get his comeuppance.



Who is more boring on the mic, Randy 'Sominex' Orton or 'Talentless' Ted DiBiase Jr.?

Then, a pretty solid show turned into another typical WWE crapfest with the set collapsing on Vince McMahon. The last time they did an angle like this was right before Chris Benoit killed his family. You'd think they'd stay away from angles like this, just because of the history.

Anyway, I personally would like to see the angles revolve around the
wrestling--and not the soap opera.

by Trench Reynolds
images: Trench Network

WWE: Great Giveaway, One Great Storyline; Rest is Forgettable

Trench's Pro Wrestling Report



I was going to do this post after TNA Impact and Smackdown, but let's face it: RAW is the only show worth watching these days. Which shows you the sad state of pro wrestling on TV today.

But speaking of Smackdown, you would think that Vince Mcmahon would want to do his Million Dollar whatever-he's-calling-it on Smackdown after it moves from CW to MyTV in the fall. He's going to need a lot more eyes on Smackdown once it makes the move. Hell, maybe he will come on in the fall. Vince isn't that stupid.

If he was, he'd have gone broke a long time ago.

As far as TNA goes, I really think they should focus more on the in-ring product than the soap opera antics of the Angle family. And I love TNA because I always root for the underdog. But they need to really differentiate themselves from the WWE, rather than trying to emulate them.
\
The one great thing TNA has going for it is its women's division--or as they call them 'The Knockouts'. TNA's women are actually some great and entertaining wrestlers--unlike the WWE's former stripper division.

As far as ECW goes, I refuse to even watch it until they change the name. Yes, I'm an old ECW fanboy and I will not piss on the grave of that once-greatest wrestling promotion.

Getting back to RAW ratings. Last week's Million Dollar giveaway's ratings were actually down from the previous week. Maybe the buzz will have raised the ratings this week, but that remains to be seen.



I did register again for the giveaway, but I was not one of the two North Carolina winners last night. And what was up with Vince making the callers bark like a
dog or sing the National Anthem? I'm beginning to think that after every show, Vince has two fans fight to death for his own amusement in his own private arena. The winner gets to kiss Vince's bare ass. Anyway, I digress.

The only storyline really worth watching was the Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels bit. It started off a little better than it ended last week, with Michaels being blinded by the broken glass of the TV. Ric Flair coming out to defend Michaels, I thought was brilliant.

However, it all went downhill from there.

When Flair challenged Jericho to meet him in the parking lot, I expected an old fashioned beatdown of Ric Flair. That would have put so much heat on Jericho that people would watch in droves to see Jericho get his ass beat by Michaels--eventually.

But no; instead, we were treated to HHH sticking his ubiquitous proboscis into the
situation, and Lance Cade (who?) of all people, coming to Jericho's aid. I can kind of see him as the Cowboy Bob Orton to Jericho's Roddy Piper, but other than that, Cade bores me. If done right, the Y2J/HBK feud could reach epic status like Dreamer vs. Raven or the Freebirds vs. the Von Erichs.

But so far: it's not even Jeff Jarrett vs. Chyna.

by Trench Reynolds

Want more Trench--this time for crime? For Trench's weekly crime round-up and a list of Trench crime blogs, check out: Trench Reynolds: DBKP This Week in Crime, May 25-June 15

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WWE: RAW Giveaway Gimmick More Exciting than Action in the Ring

Trench's Pro Wrestling Report



[NOTE:DBKP's Trench Reynolds usually labors in the fields of crime. With this post, he begins a labor of love: reporting on the drama that is pro wrestling.]


My name is Trench Reynolds and I blog about cr...
No, wait. That's a different day.

My name is Trench Reynolds and I've been a professional wrestling fan since 1982. I first started watching wrestling when I caught a rare TV match of Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs. The Magnificent Don Muraco and I've been hooked ever since.

I've seen the glory days of The Four Horseman and the rise and fall of Hulkimania. I watched the WWF go from cartoonish to the Attitude Era. I watched every week of the Monday Night Wars.

I started watching the original ECW when the E stood for Eastern.

So I know a little bit about wrestling. I still haven't figured out where I'm going with these wrestling posts yet, but come along for the ride, won't you?

So last night was the first night of Vince McMahon's million-dollar giveaway on Monday Night Raw. I'll be honest with you: I was glued to the TV and my cell phone was always within arms reach, like a sucker. I only registered once, but I figured that would be enough. So basically, Vince McMahon's gimmick worked: he kept me--and probably millions of other fans--watching his program.

The only problem was that there wasn't much in the ring to keep me watching between giveaways.



For example, Ken Kennedy is probably the most entertaining wrestler on RAW today, but when you put him in there with plain Paul Burchill, it's a snoozefest. Burchill was more entertaining when he was a pirate, but I digress.

Then you throw the usual suspects of John Cena, JBL, and HHH, in there and I could really could've cared less. If Randy Orton had been on RAW last night, I probably would have killed myself due to boredom. The only interesting part of RAW last night was when Chris Jericho threw Shawn Michaels into the TV.

Not exactly Roddy Piper hitting Jimmy Snuka with a coconut, but not bad. I was actually surprised by that. I think it would have been more dramatic if HBK had been bleeding, but from what I understand, he doesn't like to blade all that much.

My point is: if you're going to use a ratings gimmick like giving away millions of dollars to attract eyeballs, you're going to need to do something to keep those eyeballs once they're there.

Right now, RAW is not putting that product on TV--and I don't see it improving anytime soon.

by Trench Reynolds
image: the sun; Trench Reynolds; Ultimate Wrestling Gallery

WWE's Smackdown to Change to MyNetworkTV This Fall

"Quick! Get me a referee!"

MyNetworkTV Smacks Down CW

The WWE "Smackdown" and all it's nutty good pro wrestling drama is moving to MyNetworkTV this fall.

A different network will likely make little difference to fans of the WWE's brand of pro wrestling--heavy on dramatic shifts in plotlines and good-vs-evil characters.

The network announced the move onTuesday. The two-hour program will begin airing weekly this fall.

“The momentum at MyNetworkTV continues with this major acquisition,” said MyNetworkTV President Greg Meidel. “We have demonstrated tremendous growth, and this partnership with WWE, the premier sports entertainment franchise in the world, is a perfect fit for our viewers, advertisers and affiliates.”

The change could be considered a programming coup for MyNetworkTV, which is a newer network and is struggling for visibility on a cable landscape crowded with competing channels.

The WWE's Smackdown is highly popular, especially among males in the 18-35 demographic.



According to Wikipedia, "WWE Friday Night SmackDown! is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) currently it is the only television broadcast for the SmackDown! brand."

From its launch in 1999, SmackDown! was shown on Thursday nights, but as of September 9, 2005, the show moved to Friday nights. To reflect this change, the show is now referred to as Friday Night SmackDown!. The SmackDown! brand is currently one of WWE's three brands, the other two being RAW and ECW.

Wrestling buffs will continue to see their favorites on the program, which is moving from CW to MyNetworkTV, which could be considered a coup for the newer network.

Wrestlers Edge, Rey Mysterio, Kane, Undertaker and others will continue to appear on the 9-year-old show, which previously aired on The CW.

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon added, “We are excited to add MyNetworkTV and its television affiliates to our family of global network partners. We have an unmatched record of delivering ratings success to each and every network partner we’ve worked with in our long and storied history. We fully intend to bring that same level of success to MyNetworkTV.”

We confess: we're not familiar with MyNetworkTV, but then--we don't watch TV, except for the occasional DVD movie.

But if one wants to partake of the WWE's weekly Jerry-Springer-in-a-ring shows, then a familiarization process had best be undertaken.

Immediately.

But regardless of which channel the pro wrestling conglomerate appears on this fall, one thing will remain the same.

The most useless person in the building will be the referee.

by Mondoreb
hat tip: j_a
images:
* businessinnovationsinsider
* cw58tv
Source: MyNet Lands WWE "Smackdown" for Fall



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