Is Vince McMahon Killing WWE?

Lately we had a lot of reports that are anti the WWE chairman. It seems that a lot of people are currently fed up and think that he is crazy. First on the list stands the WWE creative team. People that work there are being humiliated and inside sources have said that people are afraid when they have ideas because Vince starts yelling and humiliates them in front of co-workers. The general feeling backstage is that Vince McMahon has completely lost the touch with the WWE fans and this basically means that he does not know what he is doing. People started saying that he has to step down and let Triple H take care of the wrestling side of the business as he is much more in touch with the fans and properly understands what they want.

In the past we have been told that Vince McMahon keeps yelling in the headsets of the commentators and they end up cracking. Mick Foley did declare that this was one of the reasons why he left and other commentators also had problems with what was labeled by wrestling fans as "Vince's Headphones of Death".

The latest interesting fact about Vince McMahon is the fact that he held Chris Jericho responsible for RAW's rating drops. It seems that the chairman thinks that the wrestler did not play the character right because he insulted fans too much. According to Vince, Jericho had to be a complainer and whiner but not someone that would eventually take it out on the fans. It seems that this is exactly why Jericho lost the title in front of Batista. We heard that the original WWE plans were to see Chris as the champ till the end of December. In fact, that was the one wrestling match at Cyber Sunday that people did not expect to see end like that.

I would personally love to see Vince McMahon step down!

WWE No Mercy 2008 - Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho

Now this match for the World Heavyweight Championship promised to be a great one and it sure was. In my view it was not the best match of the night as I did like Triple H vs Jeff Hardy more. On the other hand, the match was very good and it was a nice ending to the feud between these two highly entertaining wrestlers. The match at No Mercy will forever remain in history but not as the best ladder match of all time. It will stay in history as the match in which Chris Jericho lost one tooth. On one hit he did lose a tooth and got several others chipped. Yes, the blood at the end was not tricked and it was really coming out of Jericho's mouth. This match should show that wrestling is a tough business. A lot of professional wrestlers have wrestled while injured and have lost their teeth in the process. Now this match here at No Mercy was interesting and it did see the interference of Lance Cade. Shawn Michaels did deliver the Sweet Chin Music on him but after a head butt on the ladder Jericho took the title and remained the World Heavyweight Champion. Now it seems that the next high profile match for Jericho will be against Batista at Cyber Sunday and it will be interesting to see whether or not Shawn will take time off or will start a feud with Lance Cade.

Contract Updates on Top TNA Superstars

In tonight's TNA House Show in New York City, Team 3d asked the audience what company they should re-sign with? TNA or the Other Company (WWE of course)? This basically means that Team 3D re-signed with TNA as they would never pulls such a stunt unless the wrestlers would have already signed the contract.

Now talking about Christian Cage and Kevin Nash it seems there is a 50-50 chance that they would resign with TNA. The most important factor seems to be whether or not the WWE is interested in giving them contracts. It seems that Kevin Nash is wanted by the WWE to stand in as a bodyguard for Shawn Michaels, thus counteracting Lance Cade for Chris Jericho. The main problem with Nash is that he is limited when talking about wrestling and the TNA schedule is perfect for him as he can rest enough between matches. This is rarely achievable in WWE.

We all know that Christian Cage did not leave on good terms from the WWE. The good news is that this happen a while ago and time does heal all wounds. Cage is personally feeling that a move to the WWE would be better for him as he would get pushed more. On the other hand I do have a feeling that he did get an extra push in the recent weeks as given the Kurt Angle vs AJ Styles feud and the fact that Kurt is in that 4-way main event for the title and AJ Styles fought Christian Cage for the qualificiation (Cage won it) it would have made more sense for AJ Styles to be in that one.

Shawn Michaels Injured

As previously reported, it does seem that too many wrestlers are getting injured in the WWE. The latest addition to the list is, unfortunately, Shawn Michaels. It seems that he suffered a triceps tear during the RAW tapings for yesterday's show. So far the wrestler is still scheduled to face Chris Jericho in an Unsanctioned match at Unforgiven. According to the veteran, he will go on to face Jericho at the pay per view no matter the costs. Unfortunately this might not be the case if the doctors do not give the go ahead. You have to wonder about the possible implications of such a match as it is most likely that it would be quite a brutal one and no matter the result Shawn will need time off if he is suffering from a muscle tear. The match will probably go on because both Shawn and Chris did put a lot of effort in building the feud. Few people are aware of the fact that most of the creative side of the storyline was developed by the two wrestlers. The result was a good one and the end will be at Unforgiven although it might mean a forced loss for Michaels. I would personally not want Shawn to wrestle if he can not give as much as he could as it would only lead to further risks on his career, not to mention a dull match. He will just have to wait and see but I still think that there are too many injuries on the WWE roster at the moment.

UPDATE - 3rd September 2008

Shawn Michaels will go on with his match at Unforgiven. After tests it resulted that the wrestler is only suffering from a minor tear and he will only need a little time to recover. If the injury would have been more serious and he would have gone through with the match he would have needed a longer time frame to recover. With this in mind I sure hope Shawn Michaels will win it as it would be the normal turn of events. Even more, a brutal wrestling match would sell the fact that he would need a little time to recover and he would get out of the real injury with ease.

Summerslam - Good and Bad at the Same Time

After all the build up in the last weeks weren't you expecting a lot from WWE Summerslam? I sure did and did not really get the satisfaction I needed except in some moments. Let us think about what happened at the "Biggest Blockbuster of the Summer". Everything started with quite a good promo. I always did like the WWE wrestling promos. They are quite good and the one with the Undertaker opened a lot of possibilities. From some pictures I actually thought that the Undertaker would come back to the Ministry days, that would have been awesome but will never happen again! A lot of WWE fans want the whole Attitude Era back and more, including the masked Kane and not to mention some wanting a return of the Rock or Steve Austin. Although the last two things are possible the others are highly impossible unless with a huge bang. The WWE did have a flop with the Degeneration-X reunion and they do bring back The Brothers of Destruction once in a while but that is about all at the moment! OK! Let's get back to Summerslam 2008 because we can rant forever on such topics.

The first match of the night was a Jeff Hardy versus MVP match that was built up with less time than needed in my view. Both guys are pretty good when talking about wrestling skills but this is a feud that does need to either continue or never be mentioned again. Thumbs up on the finish of the wrestling match with the interference of Shelton Benjamin. That was quite unexpected and MVP won it due to that distraction. Given the fact that Shelton is a champion at the moment, it would be interesting to see a feud built up in these three wrestlers: Jeff Hardy, MVP and Shelton Benjamin.

Next we had the Winners Take All Match between Kofi Kingston and Mickie James versus Santino Marella and Beth Pheonix. It was kind of obvious that Santino and Beth would win it with Beth making the pin as it would only be logical. Unfortunately the match was not that entertaining and Santino does need some more ring wrestling skills. I do not know if he simply does not have wrestling moves in his arsenal or the WWE does not let him use them. On the other hand Kofi Kingston is incredibly athletic. It would be an incredible team of Kofi Kingston and The Truth Killings on Raw. Till that possibility the match was kind of short but most matches in the WWE that involve women are short. On the other hand Santino and Beth are pretty funny and I do laugh a lot when I take a look at Santino Marella. So, new champs!

We then had the Shawn Michaels retirement speech that also saw Jericho accidentaly punch HBK's wife. This storyline is quite interesting, leaving aside the eye injury storyline, which is quite stupid. On the other hand, Chris Jericho is a very good heel and he is much better than others like Randy Orton, for instance. Can't wait to see how this storyline continues!

Now the match for the ECW Championship between Mark Henry and Matt Hardy was simply a wrestling match that should not have been at a pay per view like Summerslam. The crowd loved it because of a small reunion of the Hardy Boys, probably a stunt to advertise the new Twist of Fate DVD.

Then we had the World Championship Match between CM Punk and JBL. It was obvious that CM Punk would win it and I think everyone is glad that there was no controversy when talking about wrestling in this match. CM Punk is sure to remain some time at the time due to the fact that any feud that includes him is fresh and would be original. On the other hand, at the next WWE pay per view, Unforgiven, there will be a special match that will see 5 men fight for the championship. If CM Punk wins that one he will probably hold the title for a long time.

Next the Great Khali versus Triple H for the WWE championship. The crowd was absolutely right when they were chanting "You Can't Wrestle" for Khali but hey, this is once again just business. This guy sells in a country with a lot of inhabitants like India so he needs to be involved in high angle matches. On the other hand, it would have been stupid for Khali to defeat Triple H, especially at the run he is having at the moment and the fact that he did not lose a Summerslam match in around 6 years, if I am not mistaken. A pedigree on The Great Khali and still champ, Triple H.

Now the next match was huge in terms of fans: John Cena versus Batista. A cute little storyline built on mutual respect and wanting to be the best and a match that was eagerly expected by fans. A huge mixed reaction to these two wrestlers and my pick for the match did win: Batista after a powerbomb and a Batista bomb. It is great to see that both Batista and Jena have more moves in their arsenal and I must say I really like the fact that Batista executes that Jackhammer suplex, one move I really like. I also enjoyed the Figure 4 although I will never understand why people work on the left knee and they lock on the FIgure 4 on the other leg.

The main event was the one that people really wanted to see and I do not think anyone would disagree with this. Edge versus the Undertaker, Hell in a Cell. Crazy Edge versus The Undertaker was a really intense Hell in a Cell wrestling match. What can I say? You have to see the match and I hope you did! Both wrestlers have stepped up high gears here and we saw The Undertaker executing the Last Ride, the Chokeslam, the Tombstone Piledriver, the ConChairTone, Edge's Spear, we saw three spears from Edge, camera hits, ladders, tables, chairs, stair steps and even Edge put through the ring and "burnt alive" by the Undertaker. There were so many near falls and I do think that Edge will be going on a break now. He was put into a lot of intense matches lately and I am quite surprised of the show these two professional wrestlers created. Both of them will surely be in the WWE Hall of Fame.

My View on WWE Judgement Day 2008

Well, Judgement Day 2008 was not really that impressive on the whole and I have not been impressed by most things. First off we had a JBL vs John Cena match, one that started very slow. JBL started working on Cena's shoulder, Cena missing a flying move from the turnbuckle and basically a big domination on the part of JBL. Then, when John Cena seemed to be out of it we saw the F U and everything was over. Quite a long and boring match, definitely one that should not have been the first one in the pay per view. Then we got to see a match for the tag team titles between John Morrison and The Miz and the team of the ECW Champion Kane and CM Punk. We did see some nice moves by CM Punk, a Chokeslam by Kane on The Miz on the outside and then John Morrison with a finisher on Punk for the win. Again, not a special math whatsoever.

Then we got to see the match between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. Now this match did live up to the hype and it has quite an interesting storyline around it, with HBK faking injury to win against Batista. The entire match was action packed and I must say that it was totally enjoyable. Every wrestler pulled out their signature moves and Shawn Michaels won the match with a roll up as Jericho was going for the Walls of Jericho. Thumbs up for this match!

We also saw the women's title defended by Mickie James in what was quite a decent match but not as special as the matches we get to see more and more often in TNA. Now Mickie did put in great moves and Beth Phoenix did lift both of the opponents (Melina and Mickie James) on just one shoulder, showing a lot of strength although the end was a simple jumping DDT on Melina. Not a great match but one that was better than many women's wrestling matches I saw in the WWE.

Now the next match was the one I was waiting for as the Undertaker faced Edge for the vacated World Heavyweight Championship title. I must say that this storyline was great and still is great, probably the best one that I have seen in a while with the WWE. I am still disgusted by the fact that Vickie Guerrero is playing the role of Edge's girlfriend but still, this does sit well with the entire storyline. The match was great between the two wrestlers and the end saw the Undertaker win via count out. Then we got to see a twist in the story as there was no pin or submission so Vickie Guerrero stated that the title is still vacant. Then there was a tombstone on Edge just as The Undertaker was pissed. Can't wait to see how this rivalry continues.

Next we saw an unexpected match with MVP issuing a challenge and Matt Hardy accepting it on behalf of Jeff Hardy. Cute little match that was won with the Whisper in the Wind by Hardy although MVP kind of dominated most of the match.

The main event was Triple H versus Randy Orton for the WWE title. The match was pretty good but nothing really special. You had the feeling of hate between the wrestlers and that is always nice. Triple H did a figure 4 leg lock and then some chair shots. Not a great match although it is good to continue the feud, which will lead towards a Last Man Standing match at One Night Stand. That match should be more interesting. On the whole, it was not as special as I had hoped. The Undertaker's match and Jericho's were enjoyable but the rest were kind of boring in my view.

4 Days Till WWE Judgement Day

4 Days till Judgement Day and we have quite an interesting wrestling matches card setup although not that much to my personal liking. We will get to see a steel cage match between Triple H and Randy Orton for the WWE championship and the World Heavyweight Championship will be defended by The Undertaker against Edge. Now the women's championship will be won or lost in a triple threat match between Beth Phoenix, Mickie James and Melina. The stupid (in my personal view) rivalry between JBL and John Cena will be handled in a regular match. We will also see a match for the Intercontinental Championship between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels and then the last match that is announced is for the WWE Tag Team Championship between the raining champions, The Miz & John Morrison and ECW Champion Kane and CM Punk. I do not really know why but I think TNA Sacrifice will end up being better than Judgement Day.

Wrestlemania 24 - 2008 Facts

Wrestlemania 24 does seem to shape up as a huge wrestling event. It is currently the grand stage of all wrestling events around the world. Wrestlemania 24 will happen on March 30 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, with a seated capacity of 70,000 places. At the moment we have around 100 people that are working 16 hours daily in order to build the Wresltemania set and this will also bring in the largest pyrotechnics display in the history of professional wrestling. To make it even more special, we will see a new steel roof that is being constructed above the ring in order to protect all wrestlers (and hopefully spectators) from rain. This steel roof will also be the set used to hang lights and even a massive video board. We will also see a new wrestling structure built on the North End of the stadium and this is where the entrance ramp will be set up for the wrestler's entrance. WWE wants to end building the entire structure by March 29 in order to make rehearsals for the various technical parts of the show.

What is interesting is that after the show will be over we will need to wait for around 4 days until the entire structure will be pulled down. Then the WWE will immediately start planning for Wrestlemania 25 and various cities are interested in hosting the wrestling show in the future. Orlando is already pushing to host it in around 2012 again and Phoenix wants to host Wrestlemania in 2010. Wrestlemania 25 will be held in Houston, Texas.

The matches for Wrestlemania 24 are also going to be quite interesting. We have a triple threat match for the WWE Championship that features John Cena, Triple H and the current WWE Champion, Randy Orton. Then the undefeated at Wrestlemania Undertaker takes on the Rated R Superstar Edge for the World Heavyweight title. The entertainment match of Floyd "Money" Mayweather vs. Big Show (this should be interesting). A Career Threatening Match for Ric Flair as he takes on Shawn Michaels. The Smackdown vs Raw match will see Batista taking on Umaga. We also have a Belfast Brawl match between Finlay and JBL (I sincerely hope Finlay will win it - he is hard working and should get a win at Wrestlemania). There will also be a match that I will not be watching: BunnyMania Lumberjack Match featuring Candice & Maria vs. The Glamazon & Melina. We also have the Money in the Bank match of course, one that is so far filled with controversy due to Jeff Hardy's suspension. I don't think we will see Jeff in it and we will probably have to see a Money in the Bank Match at Wrestlemania 24 that features: John Morrison, CM Punk, Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, MVP, Chris Jericho (the man that won the Intercontinental title from Hardy and qualified for the match by defeating the same Jeff Hardy) and Mr. Kennedy. Two champs (US and Intercontinental) are put in this Money in the Bank - it should be a huge match.

Royal Rumble 2008 Winner - John Cena

I must say that it has been a while since I saw a WWE pay per view that would make me happy. The Royal Rumble 2008 did and not because of the matches but because of the Royal Rumble itself. It was a pretty good Rumble, with a tremendous amount of stars and wrestlers that did make a name for themselves in the industry. I must say the Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper moment was interesting although not really spectacle in terms of wrestling. Then number 29, this is where it all started to be really interesting. Triple H comes out and I thought we were going to see a Triple H vs Batista as the final two, although The Undertaker is one of my favorites and I would have loved to see him win it again. Then, number 30, a little suspense and John Cena's entrance theme starts. I was like WTF? Everybody was expecting a John Cena appearance and him to be back in action at Wrestlemania. I mean the guy had a big injury and to be back in action so fast would be a tremendous achievement. I got over the moment and thought that he was going to get out quickly, just making an appearance. Well, it was not like that and the final three men were John Cena, Batista and Triple H. Triple H eliminated Batista and then John Cena eliminated Triple H. So the 2008 Royal Rumble winner is John Cena.

Now love him or hate him, it is true that John Cena is not that much of a wrestler but his intensity and capacity do make a show and make the fans get on their feet is respectable. This guy is a great entertainer and we saw that at the Royal Rumble as well. So John Cena is back in action from a torn pectoral muscle injury and he will headline Wrestlemania against a champion of his choosing. One thing that I think I noticed was that the crowd kind of wanted Triple H to win it and it did seem that he had a lot more crowd heat behind him. But on the other hand, it's the show that counts! John Cena will probably go for Edge or Randy Orton for the title, as ECW is too small for him. I do think he should be on RAW and go against Edge but, then again, Randy Orton should lose his title in my view, not a great champion, not that entertaining for me. We will have to see what happens next. But here we have it, John Cena, the surprise of the year so far for the WWE, the 2008 Royal Rumble Winner.

PS: We also saw some other interesting matches, Randy Orton defeated Jeff Hardy (As expected), JBL defeated Chris Jericho by disqualification (not really expected but Chris Jericho took it to another level - the future might be a no DQ at Wrestlemania), Edge defeats Rey Mysterio (as expected but after Vickie Guerrero got in the way and not the Edgeheads as we thought) and Ric Flair defeated MVP (As expected). Oh, did I mention John Cena won the Royal Rumble?

WWE Backstage - Triple H Problems

Triple H is a very popular professional wrestler and we all realize that he does have a lot of friends in the WWE. The real problem stands in the fact that a lot of the wrestlers think that Triple H is using political power in order to hold people back when he ends up thinking that they are a threat to him. According to rumors, John Cena is one of the few individuals that Triple H did not try to stop in the popularity rising factor. Hunter seems to be even less liked than before his injury.

In the past Triple H was seen as a major factor of Booker T leaving for TNA. This was because he was thinking that a competitive match with Booker could not exist because he just did matches with Jerry Lawler, who is 58 years old. Booker T was very popular backstage and he had been in talks with TNA even before SummerSlam and it is logical that his suspension immediately made him want to switch sides. Triple H also made some comments on Chris Jericho's return that were not popular among the locker-room.

Rumors also have it that the only one that actually stands up to Triple H and Shawn Michaels is Randy Orton. This kind of makes him a leader backstage although The Game can not be touched in the WWE and everybody knows that.

Wrestler of the Year 2007: John Cena

Like him or hate him, according to Pro Wrestling Illustrated the wrestler of the year 2007 is WWE's John Cena. Even if his injury is one that does keep him away from the ring a long time, it seems that he has still done enough to make it to the top of the list. In case you want to know, the one that came second is also a professional wrestler in the WWE, Edge. The best wrestler in TNA was of course Kurt Angle, but he was only fourth in the official top of 2007. Also, just in case you are wondering, John Cena is expected to make his return in the ring around Wrestlemania and if he succeeds he will probably go directly after the title, just like Chris Jericho did in his return against Randy Orton. It will be interesting to see whether the WWE will put him as a winner when he goes back for the championship or not. Also, we need to see if he will still be fit but knowing Cena's determination, he will probably be better than ever.

TNA is turning into WCW

I think everyone is noticing this and I am not the only one watching wrestling that is old enough to remember World Championship Wrestling. I mean, the main at TNA Genesis 2007 saw 3 wrestlers that were high on the ladder of popularity in WCW: Sting, Kevin Nash and Booker T. Everybody I think realized that Booker T was Sting's mistery partner so I am not going to discuss that. TNA told enough to let everybody know who he was but without actually mentioning the name Booker T. Kurt Angle is the only one that is true WWE in TNA and this says a lot. WWE managed to get Jeff Hardy but that is about it. I can not think of any other wrestler that WWE got from TNA while the other way around is much more obvious. It is enough to mention Dustin Rhodes, now transformed into Black Reign. He will probably never get inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame for this move. We also have Kurt Angle, the wrestler that is probably the best in the world one it comes to how technical he is. I mean he almost delivered a perfect 450 degrees splash on the last pay per view and that says a lot. Then Christian Cage came to TNA, another blow to WWE and at Genesis he was in a ladder match. We all know the Edge and Christian ladder matches. We see Kevin Nash, good old Diesel, looking a little old but I still think he can wrestle and this is just a gimmick.

Then we are talking about the former Dudley Boys, who doesn't remember them? The Steiner Brothers. I still remember the feuds between the Steiners and the tag team of Sting and Lex Luger. What more is there to say? We are clearly witnessing a revival of World Championship Wrestling through TNA. We even had Scott Hall in (remember the Outsiders and the New World Order). It seems like good wrestlers are leaving the WWE and coming towards TNA. The wrestlers with more experience are coming to TNA. The main event at Genesis meant that the 4 fighters held over 40 belts in their careers. Only one thing would be more of a shock than Jericho possibly appearing in TNA and that would be somebody like Shawn Michaels or the Undertaker joining TNA, although that will never happen. Too bad for Jeff Hardy though, he might be a champ now but he is more suited for the TNA style. Well, as I said before, WCW is coming back to life through TNA and I am curious what will happen next.

Chris Jericho vs Batista

OK, we are not talking about a possible dream match here in the WWE. We are talking about biographies written by these two popular wrestlers. Chris Jericho's "A Lion's Tale" is currently at number 5 on the list of best sold biographies on Amazon.com. To make things interesting, number 6 is currently occupied by Batista's "Unleashed". It is quite interesting to notice the success of these two popular wrestlers in writing their biographies. Amazon also has special offers if you decide to purchase them together. I did and I was quite surprised to find out interesting facts about Batista and the dark side of the man that is now the World Heavyweight Champion. Also, Chris Jericho is currently considered retired although by reading the book I got a feeling he will get back as the WWE years are not really portrayed that much. Both books were highly entertaining and I understood why they are so popular for readers.