William Regal and the General Update - 5/20/2008

When William Regal lost to Ken Kennedy on Raw, I thought that the 2008 King of the Ring would be headed over to Smackdown to work with the Undertaker or Batista. Well, he's not. He's suspended. Smackdown could sure use another wrestler... anybody. I'd be relieved if Cody Rhodes got drafted over to the Blue Brand to work in a title program with Taker. I'd be relieved if Lance Cade got drafted over to the Blue Brand to work in a title program with Taker. I'd be relieved if the Brooklyn Brawler came out of retirement and got drafted to Smackdown to work in a title program with Taker. You get the point. I am sick of Undertaker v. Edge. I am sick of Batista v. Undertaker. I am sick of Batista v. Edge. I am sick of Undertaker v. Batista v. Edge. I am sick of everything on Smackdown... and I don't even watch Smackdown.

I'm happy to see that Vince McMahon is keeping a tough policy as far as drug and alcohol abuse is concerned. I'm very disappointed in William Regal. Of all the years I've been watching him work, I've never been as interested in him as I have been since he won the King of the Ring. This seemed as though it would be the push of his career. And he blew it. It will be interesting to see how he is brought back from his suspension just as it is interesting to see how Jeff Hardy is being utilized.

Speaking of Jeff Hardy and Umaga... they work great together. I'm sure their One Night Stand match will steal the show. I'm not watching the show though. It will be the first PPV in over a year that I'm skipping. It's a 'B' PPV and I've seen each match that has been booked so far more than 5 times. Nothing is going to happen at this PPV. I'll read the results.

The WWE goes into a lull after Wrestlemania. I think they could use some gimmick Pay Per Views after Backlash. Maybe King of the Ring should have been a PPV... and instead of 8 wrestlers - with 3 being jokes - there should have been 16 wrestlers and the entire tournament should have taken place during the PPV. If that was the case, the King of the Ring would truly have been a King of the Ring.

Honestly, how many times do I have to watch Triple H v. Randy Orton and Undertaker v. Edge and John Cena v. JBL and Jeff Hardy v. Umaga? How many times do I have to watch Santino Marella poke fun at an ex-superstar and have his ass handed to him? It's funny. I'm not saying it's unfunny. I'd just like to see Santino get a belt and work with some current wrestlers. Please, give him and Carlito the tag titles. They'd be as successful as the New Age Outlaws and funnier.

I have no control over any of this though. I'm not going to get worked up at how bland the WWE is right now. Like I said, they have a Wrestlemania Hangover right now. They have it each year. Things will pick up around Summerslam.

One last note, why did CM Punk win the Money in the Bank? He keeps losing cleanly to guys like John Morrison and The Miz. I don't understand. How am I supposed to believe that Punk can win a World title if he jobs to Johnny Nitro? Or am I supposed to believe that he covets the ECW Championship enough to use his Money in the Bank for that belt? Yeah... sorry, I don't believe that at all. CM Punk should be booked to win some matches and should be drafted to a better brand. But again... who am I? I'm not a booker, I'm just a looker.

Peace out...

Seannie Wan

ECW

I haven't written anything at all about ECW in a long long time.

I still don't have anything substantial to write about it.

CM Punk beat Chavo Guerrero in a 'Gulf of Mexico' Match. They were in water and they both had goggles and snorkles on. That, Paul Heyman, is EXTREME.

Stevie Richards is mounting a return from his injury... what? He was injured? Oh man... well, apparently he's going to be ok. Good!

Big Daddy V is not only REALLY fat, but he's getting a chance to be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship via an Elimination Chamber Match. I think he has a very good chance at not winning.

I guess that since I'm blogging about ECW, I'm going to have to blog about SmackDown. Ew... well, I do run a wrestling blog with my partner, The Kidd. He's been covering Total Nonstop Action and I've been covering World Wrestling Entertainment. In actuality, I've only been covering their RAW brand. If I expect the loyal OIW readers to take OIW seriously, I'll have to start covering ECW and SmackDown. I just don't think that there is much to cover.

My new New Year's Resolution is to cover RAW on Monday and ECW on Tuesday and Smackdown on Saturday morning. The Kidd will be covering TNA on Thursday. That's that.

By the way, at the rate RAW is free-falling in quality, TNA should be the best promotion in Professional Wrestling by Monday. Being a life-long WWE fan, however, I'll give Vince McMahon until Wrestlemania to entertain me. (Dear Vince, John Cena is NOT entertaining.)

I'm very excited for TNA Impact later tonight... especially for the train wreck that was RAW.

Random Notes and Random Thoughts On A Random Thanksgiving Eve 11/23/07

Biggest news to report: Shelton Benjamin has been switched from Raw to the ECW roster. I don't think this bodes well for Charlie Haas. However, I think this is great for Shelton Benjamin. He is one of the top five wrestlers on the Raw brand and he gets buried so much he is seen but once a month on television. It's sad that a guy with that much talent gets such little television time. Part of the problem is that he had been paired with Haas again. I'm not knocking Haas, but this is clearly a case of Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty.

Benjamin can make a big impact on ECW. He is deserving of a belt and he held the Intercontinental Title for a fairly long period of time. He should be thrown into the ECW Championship mix and I think he would work a great program with CM Punk. I'm excited to tune into ECW on Tuesdays and see how Shelton fits.

TNA news: Tomko has had emergency surgery on a torn muscle. There is no word yet on how long he will be out of action. TNA can clean up this mess by teaming Christian with Styles and having the two drop the Tag Belts to the Steiners or - even better - Team 3D. This could push a Christian Cage - AJ Styles feud and a Team 3D - Motor City Machine Guns feud for the Tag Belts. I like Tomko, but this is not a horrible situation... except for Tomko... and I guess Prince Albert (A-Train) whom he shares the New Japan Tag Titles with (disclaimer: it may not be Albert that he shares the title with and it may not be New Japan that he wrestles for and he may already have lost that title... I guess I should have done some more research : - ( ).

I'm very curious to see how the Chris Jericho/Randy Orton program will be booked. I'm very curious to see how Edge is booked. I'm most curious to see if Triple H will book himself in a heel turn which, in my opinion, would then push Jeff Hardy to the top face - I guess only behind Jericho - on Raw.

Matt Hardy has had surgery on his appendix and will be out for 8 to 10 weeks. Jeez... more bad luck for the WWE. Matt Hardy is probably the hardest worker on Smackdown... if not the WWE. It works that they could play his absence as a knee injury courtesy of MVP. I guess MVP v. Matt Hardy for the U.S. Title at Wrestlemania 24?

I've actually been brainstorming a possible card for Wrestlemania... What do you think?...

Triple H v. Jeff Hardy for the WWE Championship - Triple H has won the belt from Randy Orton due to Chris Jericho's help and turned heel on Jeff Hardy who has won the Royal Rumble.

Edge v. The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship - Edge has won the World Title from Batista.

Chris Jericho (should he still be around) v. Randy Orton in some kind of special stipulation match... should the feud last this long...

Shawn Michaels v. Ken Kennedy should they still be feuding. I think this should be a great program. I hope Michaels lays down for Kennedy.

Ric Flair v. Ricky Steamboat - this is going to be Flair's last match and who better - besides I guess Sting - to work with in his farewell match. This is also dependent upon Steamboat's ability to work a match... a good match.

Batista v. Umaga v. Snitsky v. John Morrison v. the Miz v. Finlay in the Money in the Bank Match - this is because I have no idea how else to book these guys.

MVP v. Matt Hardy for the U.S. Championship - this feud can be booked longer and built better with Matt Hardy's injury.

Who am I missing? What do you think? I'm sure The Kidd will have something to say. I'll give some more thought and do a re-post.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our loyal readers!!!

Peace Out
- Seannie Wan

Couple of Quickies...

Rumors have been circulating that CM Punk had bashed both ECW and the ECW Championship during a radio interview. Rumors have also circulated that CM Punk would be booked to drop his title because of these comments. These are untrue rumors.

This is the actual quote by CM Punk: "I've got a decent spot, I'm at all the pay-per-views defending my title but I do feel that ECW is a little bit of the redheaded stepchild of WWE. But that's not all negative, either. I actually embrace that."

No big deal. He's right too. CM Punk is too smart and too hungry and too respectful to say anything damaging or demeaning about World Wrestling Entertainment. He has such a bright future with the company and he is well aware of it.

Also, Joannie Laurner... or whatever the hell her name is... has officially changed her name to Chyna and upon exiting the court at which her name was legally changed she challenged Vince McMahon to a fight... a REAL fight. I believe after that she went home and smoked crack.

Apparently, TNA tried to create some mysterious messages - much like the 'save_us' videos but more like a puzzle that the internet browser visiting TNAWRESTLING.COM can solve - on their website presenting clues on Sting's mystery partner at 'Genesis.' Lame...

I'm going to purchase Bret Hart's new book... and Chris Jericho's new book... but not Dave Batista's new book... although I may buy Greg Batista's new book... I'm still unsure about that one.