Is This Armageddon?

So it's come to this then, me writing an update about how this could be the end.

As you can tell from the lack of updates i've not been as into my wrestling as in previous months, i'm watching just as much but i've felt a lull in the quality of the content and at times my heart hasnt been in it.

That said however Smackdown is almost at the level it was a few years ago when it was the A show, and even ECW has a quality show nowadays.

RAW & WWE PPVs are letting the side down however, dull predictable and the usual suspects clogging up the TV time, Impact is a better show simply with it's unpredictability.

I've also gotten into UFC over these past 6 months, helped by the brilliant UFC Undisputed video game and of course UFC 100, the first UFC PPV i've seen from start to finish.

I'm trying to decide what works and what doesnt and if maybe having someone to bounce ideas off might give this blog a fresher feel. The internets first Wrestling Blogger Tag Team perhaps.

So this blog may live on, or I may just start up another, but until the next update....... it's the end.

Mania - Backlash before Backlash.

So Wrestlemania was a dud, after a really impressive No Way Out, WWE failed to create any interest in the prouct and the card turned out to be a one match show.

I can't believe the tag team match was left off the show so they could have 10 minutes of Kid Rock singing and strangely enough ruin the best part of the divas match, the introductions. The Gimmick Battle royal at WMX17 had the introductions and even though the match sucked it was great to see everyone back. I have no idea who was fighting who in the diva match, all i could tell was that Santino was dressed up in drag and made the whole thing even more pointless by winning it.
That followed a really good MITB match with CM Punk winning, beating my pick MVP to the briefcase, this match was a bit more gimmicky than normal, which in itself is quite an achievement, but thankfully no nasty injuries occured.

Matt Hardy beat Jeff in an entertaining extreme rules match (that was bettered in an effort on the next weeks Smackdown!) which unfortunately was cut short due to timing (!Kid Rock!).

Rey Mysterio beat JBL in a pointless angle, it wasn't a match as it was over within 21 seconds, JBL should have had a retirement stipulation in this and actually attempted to EARN his mania PPV pay off (especially as Miz, Morrison & The Colons worked their asses off and they DON'T get the PPV bonus!)
I did like the Joker look Rey was rocking, but i'm guessing a lot of Kids were a bit freaked out by it, it was cheesey but as it's mania it's allowed, still not as funny as Conan The Game.

Chris Jericho beat Piper, Snuka & Steamboat, with Ricky putting in an an excellent effort, the cameo by Mickey Rourke was milked for as much as it was worth, quite literally.

The match that should have gone on last was the Taker vs. Michaels epic, the second longest match in WrestleMania history and by god was it good. I urge people to watch it because i can't do it justice with a review!

Then after that high point the show completely nosedived, John Cena won a quite simply average triple threat (i still don't think Big Show should have been in the mix) to take the gold from Edge.

Then to follow that Triple H retained against Orton, in one of the most dissapointing endings to a Wrestlemania for years.

If i had to give it a rating out of ten, i'd have to give it a 4, only because HBK and Undertaker saved this show from being a complete wash out. Such a shame because if they had just been a bit smarter they could have had a much better show!

Anyway i left it a while to review Mania, because if i had done it the day after, it probably would have been a minus figure and unlike a lot of the other shows i had PAID for it and felt ripped off.

The Draft was a chance for WWE to kickstart 2009, but if anything it was a backward step!

Here's the superstars and there new homes, and my opinion on whether it was a good move or not;



MVP to Raw - Woo, this was a great move and finally a chance for MVP to hit the big time, i expect a world title match in the next 12 months.

Big show to Raw - Oh dear, as mainly a raw viewer i see this as a bad move, i'd rather he stay on smackdown so i did'nt have to see his awfulness. He's got fat again and looks de-motivated, seems like ages ago since his match against Mayweather!!

Melina to Smackdown - With this move i was hoping that both womens titles would be on the same show but that would prove not to be the case. i actually will miss Melina because she's improved so much since she's debuted.

Matt Hardy to Raw - A bad move for Matt because he wont get as much screen or mic time and will probably end up in a crappy feud with Big Show.

HHH to Raw - He's back, oh dear! Mr Invincible will stay on top for quite some time, especially as he's now been outed as a McMahon.

CM Punk to Smackdown - this was a massive let down for me, as i won't see him as much over on Smackdown and he's constantly had the best matches on Raw, i expect a feud with Y2J on Smackdown.

Miz to Raw - As soon as The Colons won the tag team unification match i knew the MnM partnership was doomed, but i didnt expect it to be 2 weeks later, the least talented of the duo is entertaining but i don't think he'll do as well as Morrison if he was drafted too.

Kane to Smackdown - He's been on every brand and fought everyone, there really isnt much you can do to keep him fresh, i think another gimmick makeover is needed. Remask him.

Jericho to Smackdown - Another regretful draft, but he will main event Smackdown so it's a promotion for him.

Kozlov to ECW - The demotion has begun, at least we won't have to watch it. He won't be around for the next draft!

Maryse to Raw - by switching champions they think they can trick us into believing the womens division isnt terrible on Raw, it is horrible and Maryse is worse than Melina so this is a bad move!

Rey Mysterio to Smackdown - Back to where the kids love him, more than likely will be given a chance to main event.

Mr. Kennedy to Raw - A good move for him, but only if he gets a run with the US belt, a good feud with MVP is in the offing.

Shad Gaspar to Smackdown - Crymetyme is off to Smackdown!! Good for everyone!

Alicia Fox to Smackdown - Don't even know who this is!

Primo Colon to Raw - The Colons have landed on Raw, hopefully they'll be given decent screen time!

Mike Knox to Smackdown - Evan Bourne will be safe but Mysterio better watch out.

Ezekial Jackson to ECW - Maybe can actually wrestle on this show but has 'good luck in future endeavours' written all over him.

Nikki Bella to Raw - Apparantly she's hot so this is good?

Candice Michele to Smackdown - She should just quit now!

Zach Ryder to ECW - Demotion, never a good thing!

Chavo Guerrero to Raw - Seems to be following Vickie around, maybe will have a run as US champion at some point, but otherwise it's business as usual.

Ricky Ortiz to Smackdown - Chuck V.2 has been given the break, let's see if he can do anything with it.

Layla to Smackdown - Regals deadwood arm candy has been sent to SD. To do what we will have to wait and see.

Hornswoggle to Raw - What's the point of this? Rubbish!

DH Smith to ECW - Rebooting his career in ECW, could be a good move!

John Morrison to Smackdown - Can't wait to see him with the IC title.

Carlito Colon to Raw - Colons will be big on Raw, as long as they have some tag teams to work with!

Natalya to ECW - My favourite to be first female ECW champion!!!

Festus to Raw - Pointless!

JTG to Smackdown - Crymetyme in full effect over on SD! maybe they can nick the ratings!

Dolph Ziggler to Smackdown - Hi, I'm not watching!

The Brian Kendrick to Raw - Oh no!!! Squash matches here you come!

Charlie Haas to Smackdown - I have a feeling we may get a worlds greatest tag team reunion!

Hurricane Helms to ECW - I could see some awesome matches with Christian coming up, once Christian beats Swagger.

Brie Bella to Raw - If you have one of the Bellas you dont really need both!



With Backlash 2 weeks away and a whole host of wrestlers on new shows i dont expect it to be a very good show but i'l give my predictions once the full card is announced!

Watch this space!!

My next post should be a bit of a biggy!!

My complete rundown of Mania and why it met my expectations (it was painfully average), the complete draft picks (including wednesdays supplemental draft) and a look towards Backlash.

15 Days & Counting.

Okay WrestleMania is 2 weeks and 1 night away, unlike previous years this feels as if it's going to be an average show. There's not a single match on the card that stands out as must see, and the ones that we are looking forward to are just re-hashes of matches past (Randy v HHH, Taker v Michaels, Hardy v Hardy.)

The addition of JBL vs Rey Mysterio to the card is dissapointing, taking the strap off of Punk after giving him such a great build seems like a waste and if Rey wins that will be the 4th title change in 4 months. My bed sheets don't get changed that often!!

I think Cena v Edge would have been preferable to a 3 way involving Show, but i'm not booking, more's the pity.

The 25 women battle royal will mostly be awful, due to the fact that every active WWE diva will be involved and half of them i can't even name. Gail Kim should turn up, along with Trish & possibly Sunny. Expect a Mae Young cameo too. It's a shame this match isnt to unify the womens belts but i guess they need to get some merch-money out of that crappy butterfly belt.

Glad to hear the Hardyz will be fighting in an extreme rules match, means Jeff will jump off something tall (not land on Matt, but instead A MAT) and after a quick camera cut we'll have Jeffs hand raised in victory.

Jericho's match still hasnt been announced even though it's looking more than likely to be some sort of handicap match. It lost it's chance of being awesome some time ago! Rourke will be there, well to be honest that ship has sailed and unless he does a moonsault a lot of people are going to be left flat by this angle.

The tag unification match should be special, they should be given at least fifteen minutes and put the tag division back on the map, i personally think Miz & Morrison should get the honours as there currently the best tandem in WWE. i dont think the main titles will ever be unified again, but this gives all the tag teams out there one belt to aim for, which makes it more important than having the same teams chasing 2 sets of titles.



Played the new Legends Of WrestleMania (bought it because i got Mania 1 & 2 on DVD free with it) and apart from the fact its terribly easy, it still has that WWE quality about it. It looks good, sometimes it seems fun and it's got all the licenses but somethings missing (This is very much the FIFA of wrestling games, it looks great, feels real but just isnt as good as PRO EVO!)

I'm not saying that TNA Impact is better, i'm just waiting for a decent wrestling game where you can actually use a bit of psychology in a match, rather than just constantly pummel someone in the head with a chair (until it disappears) hit them with a finisher and win.

Going to watch a bit of The Rock DVD....... then play some Pro Evo........

Sholy Hit. Sorry About That.

Well i guess it was bound to happen at some point, i kinda did a 'ZAH' and gave up on blogging about wrestling, it was'nt that there was nothing to blog about, not even that i seem to have an addiction to twittering since the new year. The problem was i just did'nt have anything to say.

Nothing.

That's all changed now, because it's almost THAT time of year again, Yes Grandaddy Mania is ready for his yearly visit and i can't wait.

Well i can wait actually, this years Mania has had practically ZERO build, there are still ZERO confirmed matches at this point and we are just over a month away. My prediction that this years show is going to be worse than last years is getting closer by the day.

What doesnt help is that the product has been watered down further to help keep those PG ratings and get over with the Kids. The same kids who can't afford to buy PPVs or shit loads of merch and every single wrestling figure and the £500 replica belts, but hey the kids can still buy WWE kids magazine right? well they can as long as there American. Tough luck UK kids you'll just have to read non kayfabe fare like Powerslam or FSM. Or Both. I'd say buy WWE magazine but again you can't afford 2 magazines a month at £4.50 a piece.

Anyway i seem to have lost focus again. I've returned here tonight to give my FIRST Wrestlemania predictions. As there is currently no card, i think that mine is a pretty safe bet (and just like WWE for the last few months i would'nt be making any ORIGINAL booking scenarios, just for that added hint of authenticity.)

So here we go........ did i just steal that? well until the great one returns i'm having it.

Wrestlemania 25 "The One With Zero Build" or "25th Anniversary"

1. Tag Team Title Unification Match: Winner Takes All: Miz & Morrison vs. The Colons
2. Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Kane, MVP, Benjamin, Punk, Henry, Finlay, JBL & Koslov.
3. ECW Title: Jack Swagger(c) vs. Christian.
4. Falls Count Anywhere: Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy.
5. 3 vs 1 Handicap Match: Chris Jericho vs. Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, Mickey Rourke with Ric Flair.
6. Hall Of Famers Introduced.
7. World Title Match: Edge(c) vs. Big Show vs. John Cena.
8. Womens Title vs Divas Title Unification Match: Winnter Takes All: Melina vs. Marysse.
9. No DQ For The WWE Title: Triple H(c) vs. Randy Orton w/Legacy.
10. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker.

And for those who don't want to know the results..... look away now (Oh how i miss that, back when sports media was simple and naive)

1. Miz & Morrison win the belts and unify the tag divisions, giving us just one tag belt to chase on all three brands.
   
2. MVP will win money in the bank, i really wanted to go with Punker but i think MVP is where the money is (pun!!)
3. Christian won't win the ECW title, due to interference from an unknown masked wrestler.
4. Jeff Hardy wins. Yay.
5. The legends win, the reason this was a handicap match was because Jericho said he could beat all the legends because they were SOOO past it. Limits Rourkes involvement and we can still get some Ric interference in the manager role. Still wouldnt make it last more than 5 minutes though.
6. Hall of famers wave!!
7. Edge retains by pinning Big Show. he looks a lot like that masked wrestler.
8. Who really cares, i think Melina should retain but as i dont watch Smackdown it would be good to banish womens matches to friday nights.
9. HHH. He's not doing the job this time. Remember that Booker Match. wonder if Randy will get any offence in?
10. OOOOH. I reckon The Deadman will win. but i really hope WWE is brave enough to let Shawn win this. both of them will probably be in there last main event and both will be hall of famers.
    
11. Now last year i was begging for Punk to cash in his money in the bank, defeat Taker and take the belt but it didnt happen. I'd love for Mania to end with the money in the bank being cashed in. maybe even feed another victim to Taker.
    

Now obviously as matches are made i'm going to come back and tinker with my ideas, the one match i hope to see this year is for a four way TLC match between Edge, Matt Hardy, Christian & Jeff Hardy for the WWE Title. I think what i've set in motion in my prediction could see a culmination of the 2 feuds merging at Summerslam.

But Batista will be back by then and Vince will probably go for Cena vs Batista 2. And i won't be watching.

Until next time............peace....................out.



Just had a thought. Not got Mr Kennedy, Santino Marella or Rey Mysterio on my card.
hell they can have an Intercontinental Title No.1 Contender match on the pre-show.