Mixed Bag

Lots to talk about this week, and I'll even throw in a requested "Remember When..." as well, so let's get 'er goin!

The WWE is as buzz-worthy as it's ever been these days, for good, bad, and simply interesting reasons.

If you don't know that the Rock has returned to the WWE by now, well then this is probably your very first time reading my blog... But yes, the Rock is "back" in the WWE now, and unfortunately, these days I am forced to put "back" in quotations. Reason being that he was nowhere to be found a few days ago on Monday Night RAW. Now I know that the millions (and millions) of the Rock's fans heard him loud and clear when he said "I give you my word; I am never, EVER going away," myself included. The way he spoke about his return, made it sound like he was finished with Hollywood, and returning to his roots, but apparently this is not the case.

Last I'd heard, the Rock still has no intentions of wrestling another match, and the WWE is currently trying to talk him into doing one more at SummerSlam against John Cena. Sigh... So much for all of my fantasy matches. But this leaves me with one burning question: If the Rock isn't coming back full-time, then what in "the bluuuuest of blue hells" did he mean??? I get the unfortunate feeling that perhaps he was so high on the reception of his return, that he said something he (probably) now regrets.

Either way, we have an amaaaaazing-looking WrestleMania weekend to look forward to! The Rock as the host for the evening - John Cena vs. The Miz - Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio - CM Punk vs. Randy Orton - HBK inducted into the Hall of Fame...

And the latest development, Triple H vs. The Undertaker!! What a moment this past Monday night, as 2/21/11 was upon us, and The Undertaker made his 13th (real stat) return the WWE. Just as a side note, LOVED Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave" as a theme song for Taker... As he made his slow and painful way down to the ring, and as some of us were saying "Zzzzzzz... Same old," that familiar Motorhead riff boomed throughout the arena, and here comes The Game!! Great moment in WWE, and very nice to see that both veterans aren't so self-absorbed as to not be willing to SHARE a return, in order to make a great moment for the fans.

Personally, I think Taker and Triple H could tear the house down at Mania. Triple H can still go, Taker can still go once a year... I think it'll be an awesome showdown between two future Hall of Famers. But I will tell you this right now, if Triple H wants to really impress people, and not have smarks worldwide hate his guts for all of eternity, he WILL put Taker over. I've said it for years, that if anyone is EVER going to break Taker's Mania streak, it is going to be a young prospect that the WWE would need to have an insane amount of trust and belief in. To have Triple H end Takers streak, at this point in his (Triple H's) career, would truly be tragic. The question is: Does Taker have another Mania left in him to be able to give that enormous honour to someone who truly deserves it?

There's still a lot of room left on the WrestleMania card, and I think the WWE would be stupid not to have Evan Bourne perhaps compete in his return match against the WWE's latest talent acquisition: Mistico!! Mistico, who will be known as Sin Cara in the WWE, has successfully been brought to the WWE from EMLL in Mexico, and this guy is a truly phenomenal wrestler. The WWE had their eyes on him a few years ago, and I think it's a shame they didn't bring him in when he was even younger than he is now (28). It would have been nice to give him that extra time to really cement his legacy in the WWE, but also because Rey Mysterio would have been younger! At this point, I'm not even sure if I'm interested in seeing a Mistico vs. Mysterio match, Rey's knees are too bunged up (Fubar reference...). But Mistico vs. Bourne? All I can say is next topic, I'm ruining my Macbook with all this drool...


Welcome, Sin Cara, to the WWE! Looking forward to plenty of great matches.



Hey remember when Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero went at it for five damn months?? Some of the greatest wrestling that's ever been aired. It all started at Wrestlemania 21 on April 3, 2005, in a singles match between the two, which remains one of my favorite matches of all time. It was the very first match of the night, and talk about setting the bar high.

Oh the ups and downs we endured with this feud, most notably Eddie declaring that HE was actually the father of Rey's little boy, Dominick. That storyline would culminate in one of the best ladder matches of all time, and also one of the most ridiculously named matches of all time. Picture this on the marquee: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio in a 'Custody of Dominick Ladder Match'! It was just so ironic to have such a gimmicky-named match be such a barn burner.

I can't remember exactly how many matches the two had together, but it was a LOT, and Rey was winning every single one them. The feud ended on September 9, 2005, on Friday Night Smackdown! when the two faced off in a Steel Cage Match. Eddie would pick up his first win in the feud, Frog Splashing down on top of him for the three-count. And he would also tragically die two months later. Thanks for the great memories, Eddie!


RIP

Finally.

Finally. Finally...

Sorry, Hollywood, but he's ours again. For those of you who live under a proverbial "Professional Wrestling rock" (*cringe*), last night on Monday Night RAW, 'The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment' made a triumphant return to the WWE last night, after being gone for seven long years. 'The Great One', The Rock, shocked the world last night after showing up to Monday Night RAW, announced as the official host of WrestleMania XXVII.

Finally...

After painful deliberation and tension-building, "If ya smeeeeeelll!!" exploded into the arena, and the fans in attendance and everyone watching around the world went insane. It had been seven years since The Rock was last seen in a WWE ring, and he says that now, he's back and he's never leaving.

Finally...

WWE is must-see TV once again. The Rock is undeniably the greatest performer in the history of the business. From his untouchable mic skills and charisma, to his in-ring agility and endurance, The Rock is the total package when it comes to Pro Wrestling. It's still hard for me to get used to the idea that I not only want to watch Monday Night RAW every week, but I'm actually excited and looking forward to it. These are the moments that, when the product is at its lowest, remind you why you're a fan, and always will be. This is the payoff.

Finally...

We might possibly get rid of this PG crap. The censors could barely keep up with Rocky last night, and he's said before that if he ever comes back he is not abiding by any "family friendly" guidelines. A censored Rock is almost worse than no Rock at all. I think seeing the ratings from having him on on a regular basis will be enough to snap the big wigs out of their notion that PG was the right way to go.

Finally...

The business is in good hands. Before last night, the WWE was in a scary state. So much young talent, and only a smattering of break-out stars. The huge stars of the WWE are getting up there in age. They're burnt out mentally and physically and can't go the way that they used to. At this stage in the game, guys like Miz, MVP, Kennedy, Morrison; they should be main eventing. Two of those are gone, which is practically a damn tragedy. Miz broke through, but for the others, they're stuck in a sort of purgatory. The Rock creates superstars. I think he could really bring a couple of these young guys up HUGE, and really leave the business in a solid place before he leaves for good.

Finally...

The Rock is paying back the WWE and its fans. All these years, no one really knew if he was ever going to come back. And oh, the bitter taste in our mouths, to think that The Rock just used the fame he built in the WWE and used it to get his foot in Hollywood's door, abandoning his true home and his true fans. It just felt genuinely GOOD to see him saying (through his actions) "I didn't forget about you guys, I lived my dream in Hollywood, I loved it, but this is where I belong, and yes, I'm back."

Finally...

All the dream matches that we've been, well, dreaming about can become realities. The Rock vs. John Cena, vs. Bryan Danielson (now THAT one... has enormous potential, Rock vs. Chris Benoit were a couple of the greatest matches of all-time), vs. CM Punk, vs. John Morrison, vs. Randy Orton, vs. The Miz... I could go on forever. All matches that have never been done before, and all matches that could elevate those guys to levels they never even knew existed.

FINALLY...

The Rock has come BACK... home.

Shoot Videos

There really is nothing else out there quite like Professional Wrestling. I guess that's a major part of the allure, at least for me. Not only is it one of, if not the, most physically demanding thing you can do (keeping in mind that these guys go four days a week with no off-season, and an insane traveling schedule...), but Pro Wrestling can be one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

It's the question of what's real, what's staged, what's planned, and what's fake that really draws me in. There's something so fascinating about seeing someone get in the ring and say things that have the entire arena booing him relentlessly, and then seeing him being interviewed and coming off as the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. When really, it's the exact same thing you'd expect to see if you interviewed Anthony Hopkins. Probably a really nice guy. Probably not going to cut your face off and eat the brains out of your head.

But it goes even deeper still. More and more these day I'm seeing young wrestlers show up on YouTube giving candid interviews, and acting completely out of character. And it's cool, but at the end of the day they're still employed by the WWE, and they are absolutely censoring themselves. So really, as baffling as it may sound, Pro Wrestlers walk around with three different personas; The one they portray on TV, the one that gives interviews but is still not being entirely honest about their company, and then, finally, they've got their 100% honest persona. And that's what you get when you watch a shoot interview.

Companies that produce shoot interviews will usually approach big name wrestlers when they've freshly left the WWE. Hearing some of the stuff that goes on backstage, or finally finding out what went wrong in that match you watched five years ago, is one of the biggest payoffs to being a Pro Wrestling fan.

One of my favorite shoot interviews is Ken Anderson's, who really got screwed over during his time in the WWE. Here's a small clip, to give you an idea of what a shoot interview is like, and how interesting they can really be:

Remember When...

Remember 'Save Us Y2J'? And how ingenious of a return angle that was? Remember enjoying a nice Monday Night RAW on September 24th, 2007 and seeing this little guy?



At the time I remember thinking "what the hell was that??" They used to just sneak them into such random moments, someone would be cutting a promo in the ring and that little viral video would hit...

I remember the wrestling community going nuts and analyzing every one of them, frame by frame, to figure out what all the code meant. And the craziest part was that all the code did actually mean something. It was over three years ago, so I'll never be able to remember any of it, but I do remember one line of code ended up reference the second (guessing) track on a specific WWE CD, which was -- you guessed it -- Chris Jericho's theme music. Things like that.

Almost two months this went on! Until November 19, and I just remember losing my mind when I saw that torch-bearer get smacked down. I knew it was him for a good month already, but it was just one of those moments where, whether you knew it was going to happen or not, you knew you were watching something AWESOME.



Notice how he DIDN'T return at a Royal Rumble and get dumped out in two minutes?

Jericho has said in a recent interview that his next deal with WWE is 90% complete. I just hope he gets here in time to save us from Alberto Del Rio! :-(

Mysteries and Madness

Madness first. I can't believe Alberto Del Rio won the Rumble... Madness! I did pick CM Punk to win it, and he had a good thing goin' with Nexus for a while there, until that meddlesome John Cena came down to the ring... Oh well, perhaps I'll predict correctly next year. I'll make my guess right now! Daniel Bryan, winner of the 2012 Royal Rumble, you heard it here first!

The 40-man Royal Rumble wasn't AS bad as I thought it would be. There was a couple of moments where the ring was definitely over-crowded, but on the whole it turned out pretty well.

God do I feel bad for Booker T... Who the hell booked (no pun intended) that match, seriously.

"Oh, wow, look Chavo's back!"

*Chavo gets eliminated*

"Holy cow, Booker T is back!?"

*Booker T gets eliminated*

"Oh my god, DIESEL!!!!"

*Diesel gets eliminated*

Three returns in one night, none of them went over, and WWE puts the main focus on Diesel's return... Jesus... Like I said when Booker T got dumped over the top rope minutes after he came in, "Aaaaand now he remembers why he left..."

Now mysteries. This mysterious video aired on WWE RAW last night, and has caused a bit of buzzin'. So, who is it??