Why CM Punk’s title reign WILL be shortlived…

After watching last night’s very poor RAW episode, it occurred to me why CM Punk will be unable to cope at the top of the company for a long time. In accordance to wrestlezone.com, after last night’s tapings it was reported that Snitsky has suffered a broken nose after Punk seriously botching the GTS. The problem is simple: CM Punk cannot lift the big guys for the GTS move. Watching back his match he is literally struggling to pick up Snitsky and i wondered how on earth he would be able to lift a bradshaw or a kane, or even a Batista at the great American Bash?

I just wanna get the PWbites thoughts on Punk as a champ in general and whether his finishing moves needs a revamp. Whatever happened to his submission combo which he used at the start of his ECW career?

Breaking News: Jimmy Wang Yang Suspended for Wellness Policy Violation

According to wrestlezone.com

in accordance with its Talent Wellness Program, WWE® has suspended James Yun (Jimmy Wang Yang) for 30 days for his first violation of the company’s policy.

What an idiot… why are superstars still risking it with such a rigorous testing policy? This is not only reckless but selfish as this will stop the push for not only him but shannon moore in the tag team division.

Will any of you guys miss jimmy wang yang for thirty days? How many more will try to beat the policy?

D-love III’s 2 cents on TNA

Ok, so if someone gave me a dollar (pound for us US readers) everytime sunday was said on this week’s impact i’d be a millionaire. TNA are obviously overcompensating for the underadvertisement of previous PPV’s to make sure everyone knows that tonight is the big one for them. To be fair the build up show and the card itself in my opinion has many pro and cons which i’d like to discuss below:

Pro’s

• I reckon the card has many  matches which are really unpredictable: I’d like to here sideshowraheem’s picks for this one because its so wide open!! I have no idea who will come out of Lethal Lockdown with the X division title and who will win the cuffed in the cage match. They have plenty of choices, and I wouldn’t mind gambling that Matt Morgan defects to team Tonko.
• The TNA tag team division’s ability to keep pushing the boundaries on move combinations: Week in, Week out chris Sabin and Alex Shelley defy the laws of physics with some of the moves they pull of. LAX are on fire at the moment with Hernadez breaching the rule of gravity!!! The rock and rave infection aren’t even that bad to bare lately. Kudos to TNA for having such a strong division even if the titles are locked up with AJ Styles and Tonko atm.
• The women having two matches on the TNA card. I cannot remember the last time this was the case. Ok so the tag team match might not be that amazing and the gimmick is horrible for the queen of the cage match but fair play to TNA for pushing their women division to the max and actually allowing their women to pull of some impressive moves.

Con’s

• Will the mathces be a cluster-fuck? Yes there are way too many stars booked to some of the matches so it’ll be ineresting to see how TNA deals with so many people inside the ring at once. Here’s to hoping they do it well.
• Russo’s gimmicks: Dear Lord please stop trying to push the boundary of match-types all the time. too far Russo.
• Video Promo’s on Impact this week: Thank god I can fastforward half of them… come on TNA you have the roster to have put on more matches for the thursday card.
• The women at the live-taping who keeps screaming: shut the hell up!!!
  

Here are my picks for TNA lockdown (doubt i’ll get many right though lol):

X Championship escape match: Sonjay Dutt Queen fo the Cage: Salinas

Cuffed in the Cage: Motorcity Machineguns Women’s Tag Match: Gail Kim and ODB

Former Partners collide: BG James Mixed Tag Match: Booker T and Sharnell

Lethal Lockdown: Team Tonko tna championship: Samoa Joe

So what does everyone else think of TNA at the moment, Lethal Lockdown and the direction of the company? DISCUSS…..

Inking the deal… ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Ok, so Raw justifiably gets over 180 comments and i can’t remember the last time we discussed ECW. “Why,” I hear some of the brainwashed followers of this programme ask? Because after wrestlemania it went back to some very basic booking and last week’s main event didn’t have much of a wow factor. Tonight on ECW there really livening things up by booking a contract singing on an hour show. As if they can justify this segment! Unless something  unbelievably awesome happens (which i doubt) all I can see is kane being jumped or chavvo being slammed on his arse again.

SO PWBites i ask you… is it worth bothering with ECW?

And if you were booking this one hour slot how would you use the time because all I know is that colin delaney would be long gone and kofi kingston and shelton benjamin would be feuding for the no1 contendor spot.

Fifteen in… 15 to go

With royal rumble not that far round the corner, the 30 man battle royal over the top rope has now filled half of its participants. Do any of the fellow PWBites see a winner in this group of fine specimens? Who is an essential wrestler to fill one of the 15 remaining coveted positions? And will any of the new WWE signings/re-signings make a shock entrance? I can honestly say that the Royal Rumble always has a bit of magic about it which gets me really hyped up for it. An what is everyones favourite royal rumble moment? I just pray for another exchange between Drew Carrey, Kane and the Honkey Tonk Man!!!

Goodbye Cruiserweight Title… is this a sad farewell?

Over the last couple of weeks, cruiserweights are being pushed to a higher plane. Chavvo Guerrero randomly attacks the ECW champion. Jamie Noble achieves some pretty impressive victories over chuck Palumbo. Super Crazy now exceeds the weight limit for that bracket. The likes of Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore are jobbing to tag-teams each week, whilst Londrick in the tag team department have been demoted to Heat, with Cody Rhodes and Bob Holly holding the title in a very talented division. What has happened to the very important title to Smackdown’s roster in previous years? Smackdown itself has lost a lot of its cruiserweight legends to Raw/ Hornswoggle has killed a fantastic title which has had a lot of historical figures hold the prestigious belt: The likes of Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Juventud, Ultimo Dragon… the list is endless. But is Smackdown missing this title? It seems that the cruiserweights are able to hold their own in the mid-card and there doesn’t seem to be enough of them to hold their own belt and weekly storyline: the likes of the Mexicools, kid Kash and Billy Kidman are long gone, leading to the end of fast paced high flying action.So I ask the PWBites do we want to see the return of the cruiserweight title: does the ECW title offer better entertainment? And has the improvement in women’s wrestling of late lead to little need for the miniature guys?Discuss….

The WWE’s winning formula???

Ok, last night, was by far one of the most anticipated returns to the WWE; Raw is jericho. Raw in my eyes was a solid show after a predicatable survivor series, except for the annoyance from any dentist nightmares, snitsky. The Hornswoggle saga continues with finlay assisting the 4ft 4 munchkin and could have the mnakings of a good feud with Shane O Mac, who made a surprise appearance on survivor series. So now once again, we are “blessed” (cough, cough) with the return of another show from ECW, but could things be different this week around?

Last week, Morrison and the Miz became the hosts of the tag-team titles, leaving a vast amount of booking possibilities and questions to be answered. Will the Miz and Morrison host a long title reign, now that MVP and Hardy have used their rematch clause and our once again (in the story-line of the year) feuding? Furthermore, who will now be the number one contender for CM Punk’s title? Could we see a member from the smackdown or RAW roster feuding with Punk, someone of the calibre of Kane or even see Carlito jump ship to ECW to create some freshness in a character who’s staleness was exemplified jobbing to hornswoggle.

And smackdown, with the return of edge, has been revitalised in the top order of the roster: no longer will we see mark henry draining the crowd’s atmosphere: instead we’ll see the return of the cutting edge, by far the best heel the WWE has provided in a long while.

So I ask the PWB audience, can the WWE return to a higher standard? Is this the end of frustrating booking and shows, which we have suffered with so far this wrestling year? And what does Mcmahon have in store for armageddon? Personally I can see these next four weeks being really succesful, so i hope i don’t jinx a strong selection opportunity for the company.
Your thoughts….

ps can everyone please check out www.myspace.com/twistedwings if they love rock music. My brother’s band are looking at picking up pace in the UK, any international fans would be amazing!!

In Master Pieces

Chris Masters obviously pushed the ‘roid rage issue to the limit. After being announced earlier in the week, Chris Masters (Chris Mordetzky) was banned for the second time for 60 days. Now WWE.com have announced his release as a wrestler. Could this have anything to do with the CNN broadcast which is due to air tonight: Has Vince being forced by the media to take a stronger stance?
Nonetheless, I doubt Chris Master’s character will be missed: every since the master lock was broken by Lashley there was no real point in his existance: stuck in stale feuds on smackdown. Personally, I say good riddance!!!!

Survior Series 2007: 20 years without a 20 year celebration?

In recent years Survivor Series has offered some interesting classic 5 man-tag elimination matches: we’ve seen Ric Flair lead out a hall of fame army; DX versus rated RKO and friends, team smackdown versus team raw; giants such as the Big Show, Nathan Jones, The A-train take on the not so large giants of Bradshaw, Bob Holly and John Cena (though i still wouldn’t want to bump into them down a dark alley). Now, with two weeks to go till Survivor Series, I cannot for the life of me see the angle for the classic match, the symbol of a truely legendary and historic filled PPV. There are no stables, there is no heat between large contingents of people. So has the rapid PPV shedule crippled the grass roots of an important calendar date to the wrestling year. The only angle I can see is a very quickly assembled feud between the extremists and smackdown, which doesn’t make any sense with two weeks to spare.

So PWBites with only two weeks away from the 20th anniversary of survivor series, what really does the WWE have in store for us? Will the PPV be worth obtaining on the basis of undetaker’s hell in a cell battle with Batista? If you were the WWE bookers how would you salavaged this issue within the limited time frame on offer?

Has Survivor series, one of the key components of the WWE, been over-looked and/or downgraded in status?

Booker T boned- ECW thrown a bone

At a time of, in my opinion, saddening news has reached the wrestling world that booker T has officially departed with the company, another shocking post is published on the WWE homesite. According to wwe.com, it has been rumoured that several meetings have taken place between Vickie Guerrero and Armando Estrada that, if ratified, would allow SmackDown and ECW Superstars to compete on Tuesday and Friday nights. Just goes to show how poor ECW has been overall. Furthermore, this may also shed some light on the mass exodus of superstars to RAW as Smackdown will be gaining the likes of CM Punk and John Morrison, whilst also obtaining the dead weight of Matt striker, Balls Mahoney on regular occasions. Is this a wise move? What will happen to the ECW title- could you pick any future feuds for CM Punk using a Smackdown roster member? This news has somewhat intrigued me and maybe wonder about the potential opportunities or flaws this may create
Are the fellow PWB-ites backing this move? Or condemning this as a poison being imposed on SD? Will ECW become the new Velocity?

Miz for Cyber Sunday.. or not

Just announced on wwe.com, the ECW championship is another opportunity for wrestling-holics to completely upturn the booking card for Cyber Sunday… or maybe not. This is surely a wasted vote… do i really want to see a rematch of the horrific squash on CM Punk by Big Daddy V, or flip back 3 months ago and see the same match that John Morrison produced before his suspension and similar to what was produced on ECW this week, which don’t get me wrong was solid, but repetitive of previous outings. The only way this match can be saved is a tie on the votes ( i know that will look completely botched but a triple threat match or even a fatal four way elimination match might be the only Saviour for the sinking ship that is ECW.)

Just as a side point, which show do the PWB-ites believe Chris Jericho would be most suited for? The pepper-filled superstar show of Raw, the lack-luster ECW or Smackdown? Could Jericho be the Saviour of ECW?

PPV ponder- Unforgiven, more like Unforgiveable

After watching a rerun of unforgiven (thank goodness i didn’t have to pay $40 dollars unlike some of the PWBites on this site), I was utterly disappointed. Cena Vs Orton was fastforwarded, Mark Henry falling to the floor, doing his fatboy splashes and bearhugging the undertaker was hardly entertaining and Deuce and Domino are just horrific wrestlers, with the move capability of an electrecuted clownfish. And then I looked at the talent absent from the PPV: ths smackdown roster is packing some talent being completely wasted- Ric Flair, Finlay, Kane, Chuck Palumbo and a decent crusierweight fight. In a similar vein Raw did not include the likes of shelton benjamin and the up and comign cody rhodes. This made me think:
Has the death of Single Branded PPV’s hurt the wrestling product more than it has advanced it?

the WWE have been regurgitating PPV’s faster than it took Cena to DQ himself last night. Could a more moderate pace, with less title shots completeing the card be helpful in promoting feuds to a higher level? On the paper it seems great to see the titles defended all the time, but the repition is grating on my viewing needs (another Cena orton match where Cnea miraculously wins, a guranteed rematch for deuce and domino at no mercy etc)
Would you like to seem the return of Raw presents, or was ECW’s December to Dismember enough to make anyones stomach turn?

• was it the lack fo gimmick matches that let Unforgiven down?
• Would Single branded PPV’S resolve anything?
• Discuss…

The death of ECW…. tonight?

Ok, so for weeks, possibly months, I’ve given up on ECW. But after flicking onto the WWE homepage today, the poll asks “Which ECW Superstar will win the Fatal Four Way Match tonight on ECW on Sci Fi?” I am somewhat worried that after Punk lost at summerslam Big Daddy V could win this match, AKA career suicide for the show! The other wrestlers are just horrible prospects as no1 contendors- could you imagine the Miz with his “big” knee and neckbreaker obliterating John Morrison? What has happened to Marcus Cor Von? the current voting is as follows, but who would you vote for:

Big Daddy V
28.38 %
Boogeyman
22.32 %
CM Punk
40.84 %
The Miz
8.44 %

D-love III’s Nostalgia Corner: Umaga, the IC title and the return of a respectable champ?

After watching last weeks heat, our television screens were once again gifted by quite possibly one of the greatest intercontinental title matches between the “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith and Bret “Hit Man” Hart. The match had everything: a powerful story-line driving the euphoric atmosphere behind the match. The Bulldog had the home advantage at Wembley stadium and the added drama continued through the fact that Davey Boy Smith’s wife, Diana Smith, was also Bret’ sister, resulting in the wrestler’s being rivals and also at the same time brother-in-laws. The match was peppered with both near falls and finishing moves, creating suspense between who could and would walk out as the IC champ. After watching Bret shake Bulldog’s hand at the end it reminded me of how great the IC title used to be. Hell we had all been pissed at the fact that some unknown wrestler, Santino Marella, had tainted the legacy of a worthy and commendable title, purely to boost TV ratings in Italy, but now could there be light at the end of the tunnel for the return of great champs?

After the draft as we all know RAW screwed over the other rosters, picking out the youthful talent such as Kendrick and London, Kennedy and Lashley whilst also obtaining the more experienced veterans such as the likes of king booker. At Vengeance, John Cena beat the odds again in defeating both Booker, Orton, Foley and Lashley in the same match, reminding the roster that Cena was still number one. SO who will be the first of these superstars to drop down from the WWE championship scene to the IC title and face Umaga? I know that probably on RAW tonight Umaga’s opponent will be announced, but at the moment there is no obvious challenger as Marella has invoked his rematch clause on RAW already. Nonetheless, the return of the Game cannot do the championship scene any harm either as his reappearance made lead to the likes of Lashley and King Booker movign further afield from the championship gold and having to rival the Samoan Bulldozer for the opportunity to continue on our TV’s for a title which may become lucrative once more under Umaga. The point of this post is more one of hope, that we will see the IC title restored to its former glory? Could Umaga could be the superstar to redeem its valor? I ask the PWB audience then who they believe will be the next to take on the Samoan Spike and bring the IC title back to its prestigious perch which has been blessed by the likes of Stone Cold., Chris Jericho, Owen Hart and the Rock? With the right book(er)ing (awful pun yes) I believe the era of the IC title is about to be restored, and in my opinion the right superstar for this is king booker.
YOUR THOUGHTS PWB…

D-love III’s Nostalgia Moments: The age of the rumble ended?

I’ve wanted to write another post recently but have lacked the time thanks to exams and moving back home, but I hope to continue Nostalgia moments if the PWB network wants it!

After finding myself on Ebay a month back, I came across a bargain-price for the limited edition steel-book and box Royal Rumble 2007. Over the years I have attempted to obtain the original DVD’s and VHS’s of the royal rumble serious, only now to find an anthology of the entirety of the PPV series on sale. My Frustration crept in further after watching the rumble of 2007: was it really that great???
Afterward I watched what the PPV had to offer I placed on royal rumble 2001 and there I discovered where my disappointment stemmed from.
RR2001 offered so much more than the 2007 presentation. I found that during the shortened time length for people to come in (1min30sec rather than the traditional 2minutes) that the “action” consisted primarily of contestants trying to heave their opponent over the rope and making very little progress. Yes, the aim is to eliminate your opponents until you are the last man in the ring, but this year’s rumble lacked the entertainment value of previous years. 2001 saw the surprise entrance of Haku, the Honky-Tonk Man and even Drew Carey. Even 2002 saw the return of Mr. Perfect, but in 2007 there was no real shock. Even the obvious predication that the Hardyz would be drawn out in close tangent came true. 2007 really didn’t possess the WOW factor; Sabu being sent through the table didn’t even really make me mark out as much I have done in previous years!

Secondly RR2001 was supported by a strong under-card. The WWF intercontinental ladder match between Benoit and Jericho was inventive and impressive for its time: Kurt Versus HHH was explosive and the tag team match between Edge + Christian and the Dudley Boys opened the PPV at a fast pace, typical of an era which is remembered for its strength in the tag0team division, dominated by these guys. 2007’s under-card was a stark contrast: we see Test walk out and accept a 10-count against the ant-charismatic Lashley, a hardyz versus MNM match which seemed somewhat reserved, though is understandable considering three quarters of the men were in action later on in the rumble. Although John Cena and Umaga was impressive, Umaga running across the announcer table and crashing through the next, it didn’t compensate for the rather lack-luster mid-card. As I continued to watch through both DVD’s I wondered whether the Royal Rumble had run its course…

The highlight of royal rumble 2007 was having HBK (the icon that is Shawn Michaels) left at the end with the phenom the Undertaker: when the dead man rose as HBK flicked his body up I knew the ending would be a classic. But I had felt cheated, having sat through another 28 contestants just for this one moment, though nonetheless a historical moment. The hardcore element in this current royal rumble was however overshadowed by Raven’s efforts in filling the squared ring in 2001 with as much metal as the remains of Vince’s Limo! The introduction of an extreme angle to a Royal Rumble had been done before and, in all honesty, a lot better executed.

So I put it to the PWB readers, listeners and participants, have we seen as far as the rumble can carry us? Starting with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan winning the first-ever Royal Rumble Match by eliminating the One Man Gang in 1988 we have seen many winners including the late Vince Mcmahon. More recently the likes of the Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and Triple HHH have won that coveted slot to the road to Wrestlemania. But has the magic faded… has the concept of any man out of the thirty been eclipsed by the lack of an underdog winner like Rey? One thing is for sure, my collection value of my DVD’s has taken a heavy dent thanks to the anthology release. Cheers WWE merchandise whores!