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

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??

WWE Show and Unexpected Twists!

Ok, here we go. Went to the WWE show last night at the MTS Centre, and had a great time as I always do! The matches themselves weren't anything over the top, I was trying to remember if that was the same at every house show I've been to. Nobody did anything overly flashy, or high-risk, and I certainly understand that it's a non-televised house-show, things are going to be toned down to a certain extent, but I found last night to be a little bit more toned down than usual. No 450 Splash, no Starship Pain, I think Rey's West Coast Pop was the most impressive thing I saw all night. But I've seen great matches both live and on TV, for me it's just about seeing the guys, hearing the crowd, and being a part of the WWE experience.

Edge was the "ambassador", if you will, of the night (would have been Jericho if he'd been there), taking the mic and talking about how he and guys like Jericho, Lance Storm, Christian, all got their start in Winnipeg. It's great to hear them talk about what our city means to them, and we paid him back by giving him by far the biggest pops of the night. Double 619, into a Spear and the roof came off the place!

I saw a lot of guys I'd never seen live before too, and that says a lot about how much new talent has come in to the WWE in such a short amount of time. To think about Sheamus' rise to the top... It's got to be one of the quickest in WWE history. Never, have I seen a brand new guy be brought in as a main player, earn the fans' respect so quickly. Big time props to him.

And big time props to The Miz, whose legendary dance moves entertained the crowd for literally about three straight minutes. He let his character down for a little bit to have some fun, and that was great to see. We had a great time, but it's just got me dying to go out to a televised show again now!

Maybe WrestleMania 27, what with the enormous buzz surrounding that event after what happened last night.... At a UFC PPV! Whaaat!?

I'll never bring MMA into my blog here (unless it's related), but I am a huge MMA fan on top of being a WWE fan as well. Last night saw Brock Lesnar spanked by Cain Velasquez, to strip him of his UFC Heavyweight Championship. Mark Calloway (The Undertaker) was in attendance, and after Brock's fight was being interviewed about his thoughts on the fight and the event.

Next thing you know, here comes Brock, walking past Taker towards the locker room, and Taker turns away from his interview and stares down Brock, saying "You wanna do it?" Brock glares back at him and keeps walking without saying a word.

What is going on here?? For the first time, the UFC and WWE Universes are buzzing about the same thing. Currently, the #1 speculation is that WWE has extended an offer to Brock Lesnar to come back to the WWE for one match, against Taker at WrestleMania 27. Interesting.

Brock could do fantastic things for the WWE's current product right now, and his UFC momentum was just halted in it's tracks. It will be interesting to see what develops from this, I'm sure we'll know a LOT more in the coming week. I'll post the video of the incident below.

One last thing I have to just stuff in here quickly: I was looking through my WWE Encyclopedia today, and saw something horrifying. THERE'S A US FLAG NEXT TO HIS NAME?? Now that's something I never thought I'd see. At the end of the day, Jericho is Canadian, and he'll gladly remind you. Or whoever was in charge of his entry... Or I will if he's too busy ;) Here's a picture:

And the confrontation at UFC 121: