Twitter Request Line, Vol. 55

Part of a great year in WWE
Photo Credit: WWE.com

It's Twitter Request Line time, everyone! I take to Twitter to get questions about issues in wrestling, past and present, and answer them on here because 140 characters can't restrain me, fool! If you don't know already, follow me @tholzerman, especially around Friday night after Smackdown, and wait for the call. Or don't wait for it actually. I'll try to get everything for this feature no matter when in the week you shoot me the Tweet. Anyway, here we go.

First up, @KillFriskey asks if this year is the best I've seen in WWE since I've been a fan.

This year has been quite the whirlwind, hasn't it? My knee-jerk reaction would be to say no, because of the way the company has jerked around Daniel Bryan in favor of telling a story that so far has ended in apparent unification of the titles between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. However, personally speaking only, if I were to judge WWE's quality by how they booked my favorite wrestler, then I would be praising 1997 highly. To be quite honest, 1997 didn't hold a candle overall to what this past year has beheld. Sure, they got Steve Austin right (in spite of themselves), but they screwed Bret Hart out of the company, Shawn Michaels got packed in mothballs for eventual repair, the wrestling on TV was short and marred with awful finishes, and the gimmick roll was still pretty embarrassing.

Brandon on the podcast this week relayed that WWE just isn't good at following through on stories, and they never have been traditionally. With that in mind, is their failure with Bryan enough to cancel out the rise of The Shield, the ancillary Rhodes Boys Tag Team Championship run, the actual treatment of Bryan as a big fuckin' deal, and most importantly, the absolute treasure trove of excellent matches on both free TV and pay-per-view? I'd say no, it's not. For my money, the last year in WWE has been the best since I've started following it.

Best Coast Bias: All The Feels, All The Stars

Me after another episode of the best wrestling show in the world
gif via Know Your Meme

Forget being reasonable, so long to objectivity, and matriarch-fornicating neutrality: if you don't like NXT--especially this week's episode, I will fight you in the street. With everybody you care about watching, too. Do you understand me? Fisticuffs in the road with witnesses and I'll do it gleefully and lie, cheat and steal Eddie style to win, too. That is the exact amount of bothers I give.

There's been a popular meme going around that people should spend more time bigging up the things they like rather than the things they hate. That seems pretty myopic, especially given the fact that the average person has 8 tabs open on their browser at any given point (note: number not officially verified by science or facts but seems about right, so could you just be cool for once?). Hatred and love don't exist in vacuums, usually are justified, and both are wholly valid emotional reactions to have to things and events. That said, blind hatred is squirm-inducing; justified criticism is different. The "botching" of the main event angle up on RAW and Smackdown has left everybody in the net world frostier than usual, and rightfully so, assuming what they want is WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and not "WWE Champion Daniel Bryan for the next 1,482 days".

When I hear friends say they've given up on the product, it always makes me laugh and cock my head like a confused doggie's. Hell, my old favorite wrestler in the world offed his wife, his kid, and himself. That only kept me away for a few years. And for all the sturm und drang people offer up, what they're sick of is the big show (not the Big Show, though sometimes that applies as well). And you know what they always love despite the fact they've Cena nuff and they'd make RKZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ signs if they'd care enough?

NXT.

Any Shows This Weekend? Giving Thanks for Wrestling

One of the stars of the weekend
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the United States. I personally had a lot to give thanks for, not the least of which was the myriad amount of pro wrestling that occurs all around this great globe of ours on a weekly basis. While wrestling happens every day, the weekend is when it starts in earnest, and I'm here to let you all know of all the great shows happening on this splendid continent over the next three days. I am going to highlight the shows I know most about, but if you want to go to a show that's not listed below, check out Pro Wrestling Events for the skinny.

FRIDAY

Absolute Intense Wrestling will provide the most raucous action on Black Friday this side of your local Wal*Mart with their annual tradition Hell on Earth. The show happens at Turners Hall in Cleveland, OH, at 7:30 PM local time. Three HUGE matches headline the show. First, a veritable indie dream match will take place when hometown favorite Johnny Gargano will welcome a debuting Kevin Steen. Second, control of AIW is at stake as #Nixon, comprised of Duke Schork, Bobby Beverly, Rickey Shane Page, and Eric Ryan will battle a team of AIW defenders comprising of Chest Flexor, Josh Prohibition, Matt Cross, Matt Cross' beard, and a mystery partner. Finally, Michael Hutter, the dashing wrestler who bears an uncanny resemblance to one Ethan Carter III, will enter into hate-filled battle against his nemesis Tim Donst. Also on the card, The Batiri will defend their Tag Team Championships against the Double Dare tournament winners, the Jollyville Fuck-Its, while Louis Lyndon faces an old-school challenge for his Intense Championship from Marion Fontaine. Gregory Iron welcomes an open challenge, while his Hope and Change partner Veda Scott looks to get back on track towards Women's Champion Allysin Kay with a special feature match against Marti Belle. Finally, Shiima Xion, the man who lost the Absolute Championship without ever losing it, will make his AIW return.

Best Coast Bias: Fun From Inside The Vacuum

Joined at the peptide chains
Photo Credit: WWE.com

For the better part of a pregnancy, Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio have been inexorably linked like DNA strands. They've exchanged barbs, alignments, and titles since the spring, and why the hell wouldn't they? They're two of the most talented guys on the roster when it comes to getting between the ropes and kicking out the jams.

And in the arena of purity that is Main Event where the Authority fear to tread and the title unification is a sentence and not the whole novel, you could always do worse than the showoff and the aristocrat trading bombs and plying their wares for nearly 20 minutes. That's what the Thanksgiving Eve M.E. had on offer to start the show, as the last two men to hold the World Championship before the Cenabot threw down with enzugiris and elbow spam, superb dropkicks and crazy ass bumps, tilt-a-whirl
backbreakers and reverse multiplexes.

It's a shame both of these guys seem to be afloat in the best midcard in the history of mankind, Del Rio due to not being Superman (?) and Ziggler... uhhh... anyway, the important takeaway is that Main Event's vacuum can be a good thing, and matches like these are one of those times. Lost in the shuffle otherwise and shunted to big fish/small pond status, Wednesday night two-segment showcases like these make the easy case - if it need be made - that given enough proper support, either of these men could eventually find themselves back in the spotlight in the center of the maelstrom as possible WWE Unified Champion in 2014.

Happy Thanksgiving from The Wrestling Blog

Photo via Metro Pro Facebook Page

Today, the United States celebrate Thanksgiving, a day for football, feasting, and most importantly, family. Give thanks for everything you have in your life and enjoy your day.

The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 122: Brandon Stroud

Brandon's favorite match ever
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Episode 122: WCW Thunder Rolls

Brandon Stroud of With Leather drops by again to celebrate Thanksgiving, audio style. We dip into the original televised national Thanksgiving wrestling tradition, Starrcade, and what made that event special to a NWA fan such as himself. He recounts seeing Ric Flair somehow escape with the title and how the booking of Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard shines a light on how badly WWE babyfaces, specifically John Cena, are laid out. We talk a lot about Chikara and its current direction. Brandon is not a fan because the details are far too vague and the execution has felt half-hearted. However, he does want to like Chikara and like me, desperately wants it back.

We then get into a bevy of reader questions that tackle the following topics: the best women wrestlers ever, Meet Me There, Libertarian Kane and the need for office workers to wear suits, dream Royal Rumble surprise entrants, building a tag division up, what might happen to the non-Roman Reigns members of The Shield after he goes supernova, the malaise of main event Big Show, Thanksgiving side dishes, shows to draw in a non-fan, restoring Survivor Series, "wait and see," what Brandon has learned and been rewarded with as Inspire Pro ring announcer, WWE wrestlers who'd be best at National Pro Wrestling Day, what might happen to Curtis Axel, what wrestler's we've changed our minds on, and any non-US promotions we might be following. All your questions were awesome, and you're definitely gonna wanna listen to our answers.

Direct link for your downloading pleasure

Meet Me There
Former Baseball Player Sucks at Crowdfunding
The Mandible Claw

TH's Dream Survivor Series Matches: A Tip of the Hat to the Mandible Claw

IN my dream scenario, Damien Sandow and Ryback both believe in The Shield
Photo Credit: WWE.com

In the links I put up six hours ago, you should find one that directs you to The Mandible Claw's latest podcast featuring Danielle, Brandon, Thomas Shire, and Evan Gelistico shooting the shit about Survivor Series. While the beginning part of the show is out of date, the meat of the episode sees four friends fantasy booking their own traditional Survivor Series teams. I highly recommend it as a listen no matter when in the year one might come across this post.

Since I am unabashed in my tendencies to take inspiration from friends and run with it, I will name my own three Survivor Series matches laid down by the guidelines the foursome set on the podcast. One match will be culled from WWE superstars of today. Another match will be comprised of independent wrestlers. Finally, a third "dream" match drawing from any wrestler who ever lived will round out the selection. I am putting a further restriction on myself, I am not repeating any wrestlers, so guys who appear in the first two matches are out of consideration for the last one. So, without further ado, my Survivor Series dream teams:

Guest Review: Now You Don't Have to Watch Christmas Bounty Because Jesse Powell Did

A couple made in ABC Family
Photo via ShockYa.com

Jesse Powell is a TWB superfan and frequent Tweet Bag contributor. He decided to watch the ABC Family movie Christmas Bounty, starring Michael "The Miz" Mizanin, and send in this review. Thank him for sparing you the morbid curiosity!

---

Christmas Bounty is story of a prodigal daughter coming home to her ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter in New Jersey’ family sounds bad, and it is, and not in a ‘so bad it’s good’ sense. Tori ‘Tornado’ Bell (Francia Raisa) is a Manhattan schoolteacher, dating a corporate raider scion of Upper East Side society named James (Will Greenberg). She was called back home when a criminal her family put away is released early and threateningly starts calling her. Mikey Muscles (The Miz) is her ex-boyfriend who still works for her family. Putting aside the improbability of incapacitating an entire team of henchmen who are in the employ of Big Donna (Sidika Larbes), the main antagonist’s sister, in a crowded mall during the holiday season (and, oh my, does the Bell family do this with aplomb), Tori immediately feels the call of home and Jersey Shore-ifies herself, with way less actual resistance than her facial expressions suggest. James shows up in Jersey for some reason, and proposes as the family tries to hide its trashiness.

About thirty minutes into the movie, Manucci (Aleks Paunovic), the aforementioned antagonist, is shown eating a fabulous lobster meal, complete with lobster bib, in an abandoned warehouse. Muscles waltzes into the scene and shoots a man on a catwalk by firing his gun straight into the air without looking. Without watching any other part of this movie, you probably can tell that Christmas Bounty is every bad action rom-com ever. Oh, and our aforementioned awesome one has the dirt-worst Jersey accent ever. Don’t worry, it inexplicably goes away after a bit. Settle in.

Your Midweek Links: The Return of Wrestlespective Radio

The subject of the newest Wrestlespective podcast
Photo Credit: WWE.com

It's hump day, so here are some links to get you through the rest of the week:

Wrestling Links:

- Hogan and Tenryu vs. the Road Warriors: A tale of two worlds [Wrestlespective]

- Wrestling is Thanksgiving [Ole Wrestling]

- Is the NFL more hazardous than pro wrestling? [Bloomberg]

- The Best and Worst of WWE Survivor Series 2013 [With Leather]

- Bang For Your Buck PPV Review: Survivor Series [Juice Make Sugar]

- WWE Survivor Series review [G9Z Wrestling]

- 4-on-4: Survivor Series special [Wrestling on Earth]

- WWE Survivor Series mailbag [Grantland]

- The Mandible Claw: Survivor Seriestravaganzaspecial [The Mandible Claw]

- The Best and Worst of RAW: Michael Strahan Shows Up and Ruins Everything [With Leather]

- Dead Wrestler of the Week: Chris Benoit [Deadspin]

- SHIMMER Vol. 60 photo gallery [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- 10 real backstage fights between pro wrestlers [Camel Clutch Blog]

- Question: When is a rib too far? [The Only Way Is Suplex]

The Best Moves Ever: Basement DDT

A regular DDT looks fierce and fearsome as is. Like Jake "The Snake" Roberts, I'm bummed that the regular variant of the move has lost its finisher quality, so I'm extra bummed that the basement version of it, a variant delivered to a kneeling opponent, is used as a transition move. When dealt to a victim on his or her knees, the move's brutality skips up a few notches, as shown here by The Miz.

The Troops Are Rallied? Ashes Continue

The latest installment of Ashes picks up where it left off, with Icarus heading into the Wrestle Factory to meet Hallowicked. I get the feeling this rendezvous was meant to set the stage for Saturday, but I did find Icarus' pilfering of Mike Quackenbush's gear curious. In the five or so years I've been a Chikara fan, I've only known Icarus to wear two kinds of gear, either his Team FIST get-up, or his Marty Jannetty tribute gear. I might be reading way too much into this, but could Icarus be dressing up like his teacher as the ultimate tribute? Is he looking to take Quack's place as leader within the Chikara pantheon? Is he just showing signs of rudo credibility? No matter what symbolism the theft embodied, I almost feel like something really significant is happening at FDR Park on Saturday. This episode of Ashes felt way too much like one of those expository "let's set everything up" episodes of TV shows before their season finales.

The Gobbledy Gooker Has a New Job

Uh-oh, someone's late for a meeting

One thing that folks in WWE's YouTube department have going for them is an immense pool of self-awareness. The Gobbledy Gooker was one of WWE's most disappointing reveals ever, although if he had burst out of the egg in, say, Chikara, he might have been received and remembered as warmly as Dragon Dragon. Sometimes, you just have to know your audience. Either way, WWE has at times taken a lighthearted approach to their apparent mistake, poking fun at themselves with the Gooker at various shows and including him within their extended universe. They've created a new web series called "The Gobbledy Gooker Goes to Work," and it details the tom turkey's misadventures at the office. I'm quite amused by the first four episodes, so I present them to you to judge for yourselves:

Joe Theismann Wants More Rasslin'

Former quarterback, current wrestling critic!
Via FritzMartin.com

Washington's NFL franchise welcomed the San Francisco 49ers into their home stadium and immediately got stomped. the game got so out of hand that former quarterback and current media talking head Joe Theismann tweeted this during the game:

Monday Night Raw needs more wrestling [and] less gum flapping
— Joe Theismann (@Theismann7) November 26, 2013

Yes, Theismann not only changed the channel during the game, but he was invested enough to have an opinion about the show. I took his opinion two ways. First, I thought he was insane, given that RAW has a ton of great wrestling action each week, but then I realized he was even more of a hardcore fan of the in-ring stuff than I was and immediately handed over respect to the former Washington signal caller.

Personally though, I'm absolutely shocked that Theismann is still a wrestling fan after all these years. I thought he might have bailed back after WrestleMania XI's main event...

The Bryan Disconnect: How WWE's Main Narrative Fails

No, John, they were actually cheering for Daniel Bryan, dork
Photo Credit: WWE.com

John Cena and Randy Orton opened RAW, along with the Authority, and confirmed every single one of my major fears about the Autumn of Daniel Bryan in one fell swoop. In one segment, Cena's stay in the purgatory of the upper midcarders who flocked around the World Heavyweight Championship, the idea that Bryan was only taking a one pay-per-view cycle off from chasing the WWE Championship, and the hope for a unification match featuring a combination of wrestlers that didn't just pool from a set of wrestlers containing only Cena and Orton all died apparent deaths. Nothing typified the malaise that opening segment brought upon than Cena name-dropping Bryan when the crowd continued its trend of chanting for him while Orton was in the ring from the night before.

Cena going to bat for Bryan, in a vacuum, is a fine and wonderful thing. Cena is the top dog in the company, and his imprimatur stamped on a wrestler can go a long way for any superstar looking to scratch and claw his way into main event residency. However, context is a tricksy hobbit, and as I look closely at what Cena said, he didn't endorse Bryan in the slightest.

The Kosher Butcher!

Photo Credit: WWE.com

The Kosher Butcher made his debut on RAW last night. Was he the lovechild of Necro Butcher and Colt Cabana? No, he's a fan who won a contest related to Superstorm Sandy relief. I love the t-shirt, and now that he and his coterie bequeathed one to Jerry Lawler and instantly improved his wardrobe by 500%. Of course, Lawler recoiled once he saw what the Butcher's finisher was. Typical WWE. They have no problem going the Stepin Fetchit route with every black wrestler they have (hell, the Butcher segment happened RIGHT BEFORE Xavier Woods was ingrained into the canon as yet another dancing black dude), or marginalizing women as caring about nothing but gettin' that dick or out-catting the other women on the roster. But whoa no, don't you dare mention doing anything to a penis. Bullshit.

Either way though, that dude made the most of his couple of minutes on camera, and I salute him. Get that fame, Kosher Butcher, even if it's just for fewer than 15 minutes.

Instant Feedback: The Broken Record

This was cool, but will it lead to anything?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Brandon Stroud makes the reference to WWE Creative's whiteboard in Best and Worst nearly every week, that they have the dry erase board but they write in permanent markers. The plans on the board remain indelible until they throw it out and buy a new one. They refuse to throw the markers away, and thus the cycle continues to rotate like some cruel Ouroboros of creative mediocrity. Sustained state of being bereft of ideas might seem like a stretch even for the most inept of thinktanks. Ignoring the fact that Corporate America fosters an environment where people are encouraged to make lightning strike twice and punishes creativity, and you couldn't make WWE more corporate if Barack Obama bailed them out because Vince McMahon needed to gild his parachute, WWE continues to let the broken record skip.

Last night, at Survivor Series, Big Show fell victim to the rogue entrance music playing for distraction. Despite this trope being worn the fuck out in 1999, wrestlers continue to fall for it, proving that WWE writers, agents, and producers think so little of the fans to believe that even 20 year veterans would fall victim to the oldest trick in the book time and time again. Tonight, WWE continued with its time-honored tradition of giving away the same or eerily similar matches for free that they expected people to pay for the night before. To cap the night off, Show became the victim of yet another concussion-style story, one that failed to gain any traction in the past no matter which wrestler or personality took it on.

The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings, November 25

Seriously, only a grown ass monster beast could bend football goalposts
Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list:

1. Daniel Bryan (Last Week: 1) - I didn't have the heart to strip him of his top ranking after his dog died. Seriously, anyone who has a pet that has more mobility and cognitive power than a goldfish knows how hard dealing with their deaths can be. AND he went out and performed on WWE TV and Survivor Series like a boss.

2. Jimmy Graham (Last Week: Not Ranked) - Dude not only had ANOTHER game most healthy players dream of having on a bum foot, but when he dunked the ball on his touchdown celebration, he bent the goalpost. FOOTBALL HOSS ALERT.

3. Rachel Summerlyn (Last Week: 2) - Sure, she hasn't been active on social media or anything lately, but would YOU be the one to suggest I take her off this list? Active or inactive, she's still the best.

The Past is Prologue: Total Divas Episode 12 ("Has A Sad" Edition)

Trinity/Naomi had some, ahem, advice for Ariane/Cameron this week
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Miniscule problems that explode into massive catty arguments are the wheelhouse of reality TV and especially Total Divas. This is both the charm and the criticism of reality TV in general. It is the platform of intrigue about the backstage lives of these performers we're curious about, but also the type of programming that can turn one quickly cynical to the slightly scripted "reality" of it all or at least to the people willing to throw away dignity to yell at one another in exaggerated fashion with cameras in front of their faces. I usually don't think about this divide with Total Divas, because I'm more willing to accept the murky timeline and logic holes as building to the intrigue part. (It helps that this has a logical parallel to wrestling itself, an arena where we're more than willing to accept that things like running the ropes are normal and not useless at all gestures.)

But storylines with Eva Marie, and by proxy, anyone sharing the screen with Eva Marie, tend to break this point. It's a lot like Eva Marie's wrestling skill in that it is genuinely hard to stretch this reality. Eva is almost the point where the audience begins to notice the travashamockery of the program itself. It's not that other problems are less fake, but that Eva's sort of bland delivery of her character's egotism is so unconvincing. It's not that I don't believe Eva Marie has a high opinion of herself. It's that I don't believe she exists at all. She is the cypher for WWE to just throw on more cheesecake bikini shots for its website. And when I think about that, I think in the cynical part of my brain that wants to divert me from watching this goofy programming. It's why I can't get into American Idol or The Voice. I'm immediately thinking about how the music industry will ruin these young adults instead of being impressed by semi-competent karaoke of some Journey song I forgot.

And much like a lot of the characters on this week's episode, that makes me have a sad.

From the Archives: Team Dusty vs. Team Boss Man

Hey, did you not get enough traditional five-on-five (or four-on-four or even seven-on-seven) elimination tag matches last night? I know I would have loved to have seen maybe one or even two more, even if the two we got were at least good. WWE, however, has put a whole bunch of Survivor Series matches on their YouTube feed, and hark, I found one from the third-ever event from the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, IL. On one side, Dusty Rhodes captains a team that includes Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake, the Red Rooster, and Tito Santana. On the other, the Big Boss Man hopes to put the American Dream on lockdown with his SWAT team of Bad News Brown, "The Model" Rick Martel, and the Honky Tonk Man. Check it out, if you weeellllll.

RIP Asparagus the Wonder Dog

Companion, best friend, former United States Champion
Photo Credit: Bryan Danielson

Via Boston Herald

Asparagus the Wonder Dog, Daniel Bryan's yellow labrador retriever, passed away last week. He was 11 years old, or 77 in dog years. Asparagus was described as Bryan's best friend, and was a staple to anyone who follows Bryan on social media. He even made a few appearances on Total Divas. Anytime Bryan would win a Championship, he would have Asparagus pose with the title, and at one point, he actually defeated Bryan for the United States Championship.

I am currently a dog owner, and I've had a dog in the past. I remember when my golden retriever/labrador mix died in 2002, and I felt as if a family member had passed. For better or worse, pets become family, and I can imagine how Bryan is feeling because I've felt that way before. May Bryan find peace in this tough time.

United We Spear: WWE Survivor Series 2013 Review

The star of the night
Photo Credit: WWE.com

In the TH style.

Highlights:

• The Miz defeated Kofi Kingston with a counter pin reversal. After the match, Kingston slapped Miz in the face.
• Roman Reigns threw four spears, the final one on Rey Mysterio, to be the sole survivor in the traditional five-on-five elimination match.
• Big E. Langston retained the Intercontinental Championship with a Big Ending on Curtis Axel.
• Team Total Divas defeated Team Not-Total Divas when Natalya Neidhart tapped AJ Lee with the sharpshooter.
• Ryback laid down an open challenge that was met by Mark Henry. Henry won the ensuing match with the World's Strongest Slam.
• John Cena retained the World Heavyweight Championship over Alberto del Rio with the Attitude Adjustment.
• Daniel Bryan and CM Punk defeated Erick Rowan and Luke Harper when Punk hit Harper with the Go 2 Sleep.
• Randy Orton used some timely distraction from Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Kane, a RKO, and a punt to defeat The Big Show.
• After the match, Cena came out to pose down with his belt against Orton and his belt, teasing unification.

Twitter Request Line, Vol. 54

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH WHAT A RUSH
Photo Credit: WWE.com

It's Twitter Request Line time, everyone! I take to Twitter to get questions about issues in wrestling, past and present, and answer them on here because 140 characters can't restrain me, fool! If you don't know already, follow me @tholzerman, especially around Friday night after Smackdown, and wait for the call. Or don't wait for it actually. I'll try to get everything for this feature no matter when in the week you shoot me the Tweet. Anyway, here we go.

@jackcantcook opens the mailbag this week by asking who my favorite tag team is.

Oh man, this question's a doozy to start the mailbag off with. A ton of great duos have come through the pipes in my time as a wrestling fan. The Hart Foundation were technically gifted and stoked the early flames of my match-appreciating fan self. Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon further tempered those fires in ECW, while in the same company, the Gangstas won my heart by scooting PLUNDAH to the ring and using it in unique and hilarious ways. The Dudley Boys spanned two promotions with their shtick, while Edge and Christian redefined awesomeness. The Young Bucks continue today to reinvent how a heel should act, especially on the indie scene, but they do it in such a manner that I can't help but admire and root for them.

But any team is going to find it hard to surpass the Road Warriors in my mind. Their aura grabbed me as a young kid, and their general hossiness was hard to top. Even though I caught onto them in the later portion of their careers, I couldn't deny the kind of dynamic presence they had. Looking back at their pre-WWF careers only made them seem more impressive to me. I mean, they tried to gouge Dusty Rhodes' eye out with one of their spikes. That kind of barbarism can only be cheered and respected, if only out of fear that they'd do it to me if I didn't appreciate their acts of savagery.

Impactful Feedback: Building Bobby Roode

More of this, please
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

TNA gets a lot of crap from a lot of people for a lot of different reasons, most of them justified. I can't help but agree with a lot of these criticisms, but as I watched Impact this week, I was reminded of their best work that they have done in the near two years.

The first year of the Bound for Glory Series in 2011 left a lot to be desired. In fact, the way they booked the tournament made me feel like they missed the boat. I couldn't help but question the decision to put Bobby Roode over, because I never really saw him as a main event guy. Fast forward to the actual event, and the booking had Kurt Angle go over Roode in the main event. He'd been fighting for six months to reach that moment, and they booked him to lose. Wouldn't the ideal decision be to build up the tournament AND Roode at the same time for him to realize his dream at the biggest pay-per-view of the year?

The next week on Impact, Angle went on to lose the title to Roode's tag team partner James Storm. As the weeks went on, the questions became more and more numerous. Why didn't Roode go over at BFG? Why was Storm the one to go over Angle? Why is Roode going to get another shot at the title after he just lost to Angle?

Then, in one night, TNA made itself a main eventer. When Roode challenged Storm for the TNA Heavyweight Title on Impact, the story going in was a friend giving another friend a second shot at the title that he was cheated out of at Bound for Glory. As the match drew to a conclusion, Roode realized his opportunity to win the title, capitalized on a downed referee and knocked Storm out cold with a beer bottle. Roode then rolled up Storm for the count of three and thus completed his rise to the top of the card.

Of course, TNA built towards both the Angle/Roode and Storm/Roode rematches all wrong, but their overall handling of his longest-ever TNA Championship reign was stellar. Although Roode hasn't received the same sustained push since he lost the Championship to Austin Aries, he's remained one of my favorite reasons to tune in every Thursday. Whether he's teaming up with Austin Aries or being inducted into the EGO Hall of Fame, Roode always feels like a step above the rest of the roster, and that really all goes back to 2011.

The biggest part of Impact this week for me wasn't the Magnus and Samoa Joe match that was not only predictable but also quite possibly the worst ending I've ever seen. It wasn't the death of the Aces and Eights because that happened several months ago. It was the Florida Deathmatch between the duo formerly known as Beer Money.

Now, granted no one's ever seen a Florida Deathmatch before. Hell, I've never seen any kind of deathmatch before. However, Storm and Roode put on a great show, as was to be expected although the match could've had some more meat to it.

I loved the fact that TNA didn't just let this be another tournament match that they did no building towards. They actually went back with several different video packages and reminded us why this match meant more than the World Title Tournament itself. Granted, I would've liked to have seen this as the finals of the tournament rather than the first round, but I'll take what I can get. Of course, they had to shoehorn in their Impact 365 reality stuff with the bar brawl, and these two guys didn't need some kind of lame tie-in to warrant a Florida Deathmatch.

But the match itself was really good. I would've enjoyed a bit more brawling and little less on the false finish, but it was still the most entertaining part of the night.F or the first time in a long time, I got lost in the match and found myself really buying into what they were selling. I didn't really mind the finish that much with Storm basically selling the fact that he would do whatever it took to stay in the tournament, but they could have been more creative with it. They lost me when they pulled out the board of wood with strands of barbed wire attached to it (what would anyone do with that contraption and why was it under the wrestling ring?), but luckily the cranky viking that is Gunner rushed in to save the day in a real Owen Hart-like fashion.

I want more Bobby Roode and James Storm-like matches on Impact. I don't want Kurt Angle and Magnus. I want guys that we're going to properly build into main event performers, and Bobby Roode definitely fits that bill.

Any Shows This Weekend? FREE IPPV!

The Young Bucks will be two of many stars headed to upstate New York for 2CW's HUGE weekend
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Hey, Thanksgiving comes at us in less than a week. I am thankful for my job, my family, and of course, the copious amounts of wrestling that happen every weekend around the globe. Starting tonight, you, yes, you can probably to a show within driving distance of your place of habitation. You can find out all the shows going on this weekend by going to Pro Wrestling Events. However, for the skinny on the most prominent shows this weekend, check the deets below:

FRIDAY

Squared Circle Wrestling kicks off its monstrous finale weekend of 2013 with 2CW-a-Thon in Watertown, NY. Head to Exhibition Hall when the doors open at 6:30 PM for an action packed card headlined by a huge 2CW Championship match, where Isys Ephex defends his title against Jason Axe. Women's action invades the Hall as Jessicka Havok will battle Your Soul's Tormentor, MsChif in a match that could headline most cards around the country. Speaking of main event level matches, Johnny Gargano will lead his home-state compatriots the Brothers Crist against the Canadian-Californian connection of the Young Bucks and Kevin Steen. In a special attraction, Rhyno will take on Michael Elgin. Also appearing on this loaded show will be AR Fox, Dalton Castle, Tommy Dreamer, Colin Delaney, Cheech Hernandez, Eddie "Eddie Edwards" Edwards, and Roderick Strong.

Best Coast Bias: And You're The #1 Contender, And YOU'RE The #1 Contender, And...

Coming again to a Full Sail near you?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Some stoner once said that time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future, but it always leaves the residue of the past in its wake.

So it stood to reason that when NXT Champion Bo Dallas got back from overseas (including a holiday in CamBOdia, where I hope he remembered to pack a wife), Sami Zayn was sure to follow.  He wasn't there for the sweet party hats, or to sign up for the newsletter, or to get some free cookies.  He wanted another shot at the belt.  And after GMJBL unsuspended him, Sami Zayn...

...is really close to getting another title shot, you guys.

All he has to do?  Beat Adrian Neville next week.

The Beat the Clock challenge that ensued over the course of the program had its share of twists and turns, pausing only to let Hunico and Camacho beat two guys in two moves so fast they didn't even get "Let's Go These Guys!" chants and challenge the Ascension for the straps--which I assume makes LA(N)X(T) good guys.  As for the BCC, with whose visage you'd become familiar?

Hey, Look Who Made It to Full Sail

Photo via @alexxisneveah

The above photograph has not been manipulated in any way. The American Wolves, Eddie "Eddie Edwards" Edwards and Davey Richards, are in a NXT ring. The team had reportedly spent the week getting a look over from WWE's developmental team at the Performance Center, which culminated in an extended match against the Ascension last night, according to friend of the blog and one of the minds behind Free Admission (For Real!), JP Nichols.

I don't want to jump to conclusions here; the Wolves, who were billed as the American Pitbulls last night, are not the first indie dudes who got looks and appearances on the actual NXT TV show who weren't immediately signed after. However, I would be curious to see how both wrestlers, especially Richards, would adapt from their hyper-puroresu-inspired strong-style to the WWE's more traditional psychology-based system. How much of their repertoires would they be able to keep? How would they adapt, if at all? Then again, they'll need to get signed first.

Throwback Thursday: The Night That Defined Survivor Series

You deserved that loogie, Vince
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Survivor Series, for better or worse, will be forever defined by an infamous moment that everyone involved would simultaneously like to have back and don't regret in the least. Bret Hart was leaving for WCW in 1997 and held the WWF Championship. Vince McMahon wanted him to drop the title to Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series in Montreal. Hart invoked the creative control clause in his contract for which he rightfully negotiated to block losing the title at that specific moment in time.

What happened in that chaotic moment in time would end up changing wrestling dramatically. Hart would end up lost in the morass of WCW, behind the same people in the pecking order he was in the WWF in 1993. Michaels' fate was never tied to that incident, but soon after, an injury would send him into semi-retirement and towards Jesus. McMahon would use the opportunity to remake his in-character self into the infamous Mr. McMahon, and behind the scenes, Hart's departure would force his hand to put the title on Steve Austin and push guys like Triple H, Mick Foley, and especially Rocky Maivia.

An Unclear Vision: A Somewhat Snarky and Critical Survivor Series Preview

Is this really the right story to cap Survivor Series?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Survivor Series is Sunday. I will do my best to buy it and watch it, and given that the last WWE pay-per-view I watched and was wholly dissatisfied with took place back when I lived at my parents' house with pirated cable, I don't foresee regretting my decision. What can I say, I might be too easy to please, and WWE's pay-per-view product at least produces some fine wrestling matches. My reasoning for getting the show is usually predestined at the beginning of every year. I and my merry band of neighbors and friends who come over and chip in to watch these shows usually write five shows in ink - the Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series - and supplement with a few shows here and there - usually Elimination Chamber, one of the autumn logjam shows, and TLC (which usually comes as a birthday present to me, go me!).

But were I to be a bit less capricious with my purchase habits, I might not be looking forward to this show at all. Granted, the card on paper looks like it could be fun, but are good wrestling matches enough to sell major pay-per-views going forward? I can't answer that question for everyone because I'm not psychic, but for me, WWE's shift in attitude in when and where they put on great matches for everyone to see has tempered my excitement for the paid shows. I'm not one to say they should put great matches only on pay-per-view - to be quite honest, they should have long, competitive contests on every show they produce - but to me, the incentive for buying the premium content no longer the promise of seeing fantastic matches, but seeing major story progression. If they're not selling resolutions or climaxes, I feel like they're selling the major links in the chain, or at least the points of inflection.

RIP Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon

RIP Mad Dog
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Via SLAM! Wrestling

Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, the legendary Montreal and AWA grappler, passed away this morning at the age 84, as confirmed by his brother Paul. Although no cause of death has been announced yet, according to the SLAM! report, Vachon battled a myriad number of health issues stemming from a hit-and-run accident he suffered 16 years ago. Complications from the accident cost him his leg. He'd also been battling memory loss.

Vachon was an Olympic wrestler for Canada in the 1948 London Games, which is where he met Verne Gagne, for whom he would work later on in his career. Vachon was famous for his dirty tactics in the ring and purchasing television time to promote his appearances, which at the time was innovative. He wrestled for several territories, but none more famous than Gagne's American Wrestling Association, for whom he held the World Championship five times. Despite his dastardly tactics, Vachon was immensely popular anywhere he went.

Best Coast Bias: If You're Going To Hustle, At Least Do It Right

Babyfaces!  ...hooray?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

There's nothing like finding out Total Divas got picked up for another season over at the Exclamation Point to make certain neurons fire for the first time in some time, slightly stunned and surprised they still remember the chorus to Nine Inch Nails' "Heresy".

And yet in the continual Stamford quest to turn into Disney Northeast, they unleashed a weird, weird world.  Perhaps they were freed up by the fact they were using Main Event as a canvas a mere few days before a PPV and knew they could pick and choose what to keep and what to ignore at will, with it leaning heavily into the former.  

Alberto Del Rio came out and virtually destroys Santino Marella in a showcase that made him look better in the under five minutes it took than either of his World Championship reigns earlier in the year.  Miz turned heel on Monday, then proceeded to talk up Kofi Kingston during the Jamaican's match against Fandango and only got involved after his former rival/dancing aficionado got thrown into him.  Not only that, outside of a couple ripostes aimed at Mathews he didn't say anything heelish at all.  Kofi almost deserved to get rolled up with a handful of tights given the fact he's already got a match against Miz on the preshow that was created solely from the turn two days ago and they haven't liked each other ever since Kofi stiffed him on a Trouble In Paradise on this very here program months ago. 

Your Midweek Links: PIZZA FIGHT!

Celebratin' in Iowa City
Photo Credit: WWE.com 

It's hump day, so here are some links to get you through the rest of the week:

Wrestling Links:

- The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 121: Bryce Remsburg [Sgt. Slaughter's Lonely Boot Camp Band (Reprise)]

- The quarterly report: Wrestling matches [Fighting Crime in the Streets Together]

- Dr. Cube, Sinn Bodhi, and Wrestling Is [¡Olé! Wrestling]

- SHIMMER Vol. 59 gallery [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling, a review [Sad Salvation]

- What is wrestling history? What does it matter? [suviprantsatus]

- The Best and Worst of RAW, 11/18: Jeff Jarrett Is on This One, Kind of [With Leather]

- Former Hawkeye Big E Langston wins the Intercontinental Championship [Black Heart, Gold Pants]

- Andy's Angry: WWE RyBotched Ryback [Juice Make Sugar]

- The history of the WWF in one beautifully obssessive poster [Deadspin]

- Photo: Man gets Wu-Tang Clan/Ric Flair tattoo [Black Sports Online]

The Best Moves Ever: Tiger Driver

Hey, do you want to watch two-plus minutes of Mitsuharu Misawa delivering the Tiger Driver to various opponents? Of course you do! The late Emerald Destiny was perhaps the godfather of move-crazy e-fedders and ROH workrate aficionados because of his more advanced finishes like the Tiger Driver '91, Emerald Flowsion, and seated enzu-elbow smash. However, his classic finisher, the Tiger Driver, might be the most aesthetically pleasing double underhook powerbomb I've ever seen.

Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes Kommt zu Ringen Ist Cool

The appearance of the BDK was only a matter of time. After the Gekido, Dr. Cube, and Sinn Bodhi returned to shut down various arms of the Wrestling Is... Family, the biggest bads of my Chikara fandom's lifetime have finally promised a return via a grainy, staticy video featuring a man whom I can only assume is Ares. Y'know, since Claudio Castagnoli isn't Claudio Castagnoli anymore. The title of the video is "kalt wetter" which translates to "cold weather" in English, and the date in the description is the European way of writing December 8, 2013, which is the date of this year's final Wrestling Is Cool show. Hey, only three shutdowns had to happen before I was bound to be at one live.

Bige Langston

Photo Credit: WWE.com, MS Paint Credit: TH

You guys know I love memes. One of the hot ones going around right now is "Doge," which I'll let Know Your Meme explain in better detail. Anyway, every time I see Big E Langston in print, my brain wants to lower-case the "E" and make his first name into one word, and that word looks an awful lot like "doge." With that in mind, the above is my entry into this meme, only with the new Intercontinental Champion as canvas.

From the Archives: Chris Jericho vs. The Legends

Chris Jericho's role in WrestleMania XXV was to help promote a movie that Vince McMahon was rumored to have wanted absolutely no part of until he heard it had all that Oscar hype. While Mickey Rourke didn't reprise his role as Randy the Ram to face off against Jericho, three of WWE's legends took to defending the fabric of the old school. Neither Roddy Piper's nor Jimmy Snuka's efforts were all that inspiring, but when Ricky Steamboat took to the ring, he dazzled the crowd, both in person and at home, so much that he got a curtain call against Jericho at Backlash the next month.

The Stretcher Job

Photo Credit: WWE.com

Vickie Guerrero was in rare form last night. Whether feigning dehydration while imitating her late husband's classic "chair shot" form or throwing a temper tantrum while being gurneyed from the back to the ring, she showed why she is probably one of the best actors in WWE history. She plays one character, sure, but like Jack Nicholson, she owns the shit out of that one persona.

Instant Feedback: No Help from the Booth

How could an announce team yuk and not pay attention to this match?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

I agreed with JBL when he questioned the intelligence of every woman in WWE not named Renee Young, Stephanie McMahon, AJ Lee, Tamina Snuka, or Vickie Guerrero got in the ring to play musical chairs. The segment was exploitative, poorly-executed, and sexist to be quite honest. However, it was meant to sell one of WWE's hottest TV properties and an upcoming pay-per-view. From that point of view, I got annoyed enough at JBL and the other two dweebs in commentary that I went into phase-out mode for the rest of the night. I know the cognitive dissonance in that juxtaposition is staggering, but the announce booth illustrates a problem within the company that scores of commentators and critics have been pointing out for years on end.

Sports and sports-based entertainment are visual arts. They're entirely possibly consumed without the benefit of a third party audio track, which is why the live experience is engrossing in its own way. I don't need to hear someone talk over the action in the ring, which is why if you are going to talk over it, you had better bring something that adds to the narrative, not distracts. One would think that someone in Stamford would see the trend in quality and do something about it. I don't purport to know anything about Titan Towers' inner-workings, but the way the cacophony in the booth has carried on, I can only assume Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn think it hilarious.

The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings, November 18

I thought you two were supposed to be best friends, Trent?
Screen Grab via Chuck Taylor's Instagram

Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list:

1. Daniel Bryan (Last Week: 2) - I almost docked him a few slots for capitulating to CM Punk as being the "best" on Smackdown by deeming their tag team "The Best and the Beard." No, no. NO. The Best IS the Beard, and I think everyone would be better off if they understood that fact. I can only hope tension develops between the two, and Bryan claims his true mantel as the Best in the World by ripping out Punk's heart and eating it on live television. I am not joking.

2. Rachel Summerlyn (Last Week: 3) - Since Davey Vega didn't win the Anarchy Championship at this year's Lone Star Classic, he did not equal Summerlyn's feat from last year, and thus, Summerlyn still gets to keep her lofty perch in the rankings.

3. Trent? (Last Week: Not Ranked) - He may be headed to county penitentiary for killing Chuck Taylor, but at least he won gold for his troubles. So what if he lost it right after to the Young Bucks?

The Past is Prologue: Total Divas Episode 11 (The Death of Fun)

Bryan and Bella took the critical center stage on this episode
Photo Credit: WWE.com

WWE is a curious place at times when it comes to how they view personality or the lack thereof. As virtually any viewer of Total Divas can tell you, Eva Marie is the least convincing character on the show and has slowly been portrayed as such. So somehow, WWE becomes obsessed with this idea. WWE likes turning awful characters into bizarre heel figures, trying to churn the actual hate for their character's presence into hate that benefits the product. (see: Bo Dallas, Mike Adamle, Vickie Guerrero to an extent, The Rock?, etc.) And as those examples show, sometimes it works, and sometimes it is a failure.

Eva Marie is officially supposed to be seen as the most unlikable character on Total Divas. It's still not working, though. It takes a lot to be an interesting reality show player, likable or not. Surprisingly, there's an art to "seeming real" in an increasingly fake and muddy narrative. Most of the cast is actually quite adept at this. The Bellas especially are able to wring every last moment for a "what does this mean for me" reaction, even if the scuffle is extremely minor. But the Eva Marie of reality and "reality" is never able to get past a certain point. I guess we're to assume she's legitimate in her inability to sound compelling or hateful, since the episode was out to prove she cannot read lines for the life of her. Oddly enough, WWE's character for Eva seems to be that she's just not good at stuff. I'll rant more in the power rankings part:

Hulk Hogan Keeps Ruining This Guy's Life

Three months ago, Jamie Stangroom's life was first ruined by Hulk Hogan. While he may have apparently found resolution, well, as the tea leaves have fallen, he still has a problem with his raging bout of Hulkamania. Even Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age has to help talk him off the ledge, but will he be able finally to rid himself of his Hulking obsession? Note, Josh Homme also appears to be a Triple H fan, which nets him a big loss in cool points. Bad Josh, BAD.

Impactful Feedback: Turning Point Preview

Why can't Joe just kill folks, starting with Magnus?
Photo Credit: Impact Wrestling.com

In opening, I'd like to send my apologies to the wonderful people in the city of Cincinnati. With TNA's schedule of taping two shows in one city, there has been a developing pattern of one of those two shows being a stinker while the other one is at least a solid-to-good show to make the night seem eventful for those in attendance. Unfortunately for Cincy, neither of their two shows were anything to write home about. If you read last week's column, you already know my feelings on that show. As for this week's Impact... let's just say that if Daniel Bryan is a solid "B+", then this show was a "C+" pushing "B-."

There was at least some action on this "wrestling" show. Austin Aries carried Kurt Angle to a passable match, but mostly the matches uniformly had room for improvement. In all, I believe that they people of Cincinnati saw Ken Anderson and Bully Ray a total of six times in one night while seeing Kurt Angle and Bobby Roode seven. This is part of the problem with trying to build a "pay-per-view" in two shows.

I really saw nothing write about about this show in particular. Nothing of note really happened outside of trying to force these two feuds down our throats and really making me resent the my continual viewership of their program. With that being said, I'm going to look into the future rather than the past and take a look at this free pay-per-view that TNA has built in one night's taping.

Gail Kim and Lei'd Tapa came out and issued an open challenge for the upcoming Turning Point event. The lack of depth on the Knockouts roster really makes me feel as though this could only mean that ODB or Velvet Sky answer the challenge, leaving me to give even less of a crap about it altogether. The only reason that this will manage to grasp my attention is if Kim manages to lock in the figure four around the ring post, which is quite possibly the coolest move in all of wrestling and is unfortunate that she is the only one I know who still utilizes it.

The Saddest Wrestling Show Ever

Photo via @GregoryIron

The above picture was taken at a "Macho Man" Randy Savage "tribute" show in Marion, OH. The main event featured Nikolai Volkoff, whose back was turned to the camera, against Bobby Fulton. The referee looks like some schlub in street clothes, and no, no ring has been set up for the action to take place. A solitary mat was placed on a gym floor. I don't know about you, but if I walked into that venue for a show and saw no ring set up, I would have asked for a refund and walked out. If I were Lanny Poffo and found out the above was how someone was paying tribute to my late brother, I would have sought out everyone involved and shot on them until they started crying.

I'm all for thinking outside the box and trying new things, but the above does not look like an innovative take on wrestling. Rather, the promoter thought he'd make a quick buck off some local rasslin' fans and skimped everywhere rather than do the art justice. These promoters are the people who sully the name of the independent experience, and who unfortunately sour people on going to non-WWE shows even though great action exists everywhere. Don't just ignore awful wrestling like this. Ostracize the people who do damage to the fabric of wrestling and who keep perpetuating the public perception of this fine art being something for hillbillies and dullards.

Twitter Request Line, Vol. 53

Why should Bully Ray only appear at House of Hardcore for TNA's benefit?
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

It's Twitter Request Line time, everyone! I take to Twitter to get questions about issues in wrestling, past and present, and answer them on here because 140 characters can't restrain me, fool! If you don't know already, follow me @tholzerman, especially around Friday night after Smackdown, and wait for the call. Or don't wait for it actually. I'll try to get everything for this feature no matter when in the week you shoot me the Tweet. Anyway, here we go.

First up, @JohnJohnPhenom asks my thoughts on TNA using its talent to promote their own shows at indie events but not allowing them to appear on indie shows that are taped for DVD or televised via Internet pay-per-view.

TNA pulls a scumbag move? I am not surprised in the least. Sure, the move is hypocrisy, and it hurts the talent and the companies who both book these guys and who are unable to book them. Sure, Family Wrestling Entertainment probably loves having Eric Young on board, but don't you think they'd love even more to be able to charge money to more than just the live gate for the chance to see Young? Or, wouldn't companies like Wrestling Is..., Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Absolute Intense Wrestling, Anarchy Championship Wrestling, and other companies that make their bread and butter on video sales like to have the chance to book Chris Sabin or even Austin Aries?

However, for as miserly and self-serving as Dixie Carter and her band of corporate twits are, these companies like FWE or House of Hardcore are willingly allowing TNA to come onto their shows and promote whatever godawful slop they want fans to pay for. These promoters need to develop some gumption and tell TNA no, we don't want to have your wrestlers on the show unless we can profit more widely off them. If TNA wants to flex their wildly overrated muscle to squeeze a few more shekels out of its talent without the benefit of more dates to make money (I mean, how curious is the fact that more and more TNA guys are making indie appearances as the parent company is cancelling house show dates?), then they need to be forced to play hardball.

Best Coast Bias: The Man That Brilliance Sketched A Small Ceremonial Bow Towards

Even without all the jumping, Neville shone in the spotlight
Photo Credit: WWE.com

First off, a quick sidebar to deal with some doubly depressing news from the NXT injury list, as not only Enzo Amore but Scott Dawson have suffered recent serious injuries and are slated to be out well into the spring.  BCB sends well wishes to both men in the hopes they're on their way back safely as quick as possible.

Actually, it's highly odd that Enzo's disappearance happened in light of the main event; Adrian Neville proved he was a lot of things, but definitely not...well...do I have to spell it out for you?

S A W F T SAWFT!

As a wise and roguishly charming man once stipulated earlier in the Bo/Sami Interregnum, NXTers shouldn't be choosing betwixt winning and revenge when winning is the best revenge.  While Corey Graves won the first battle, Neville came out and won the best 2 out of 3 falls skirmish that was his defining moment in NXT to date--a signature match on the board.  It wasn't just the quickness with which he won the first fall with his vaunted Red Arrow, but what happened after Corey Graves did the bail-out/roll in trick to set up kicking his previously injured leg out from under his leg and then went after it like a ninth grade girl after a sale at Hot Topic.

Instant Feedback: The Grease

The superfriends on the left may have been the focus, but the Heyman guys on the right were the interest
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The main event for Smackdown was announced from the start of the show. Most of the focus seemingly was supposed to go to Daniel Bryan and CM Punk as they went to embark on a team-building exercise, but when their opponents were announced as Ryback and Curtis Axel, I found the team dubbed as "The Best and the Beard" as the far less interesting option. Axel was right behind Paul Heyman as the silver tongued agent of deception put Ryback on blast.

So, how would Ryback and Axel coexist? Where would the characters go. How would they react? What would be their motivation? Neither Ryback nor Axel minced too many words, and the narrative was built simply, with not a whole lot of component pieces. Ryback didn't trust Axel, and Axel presumably lied about not being a Heyman guy anymore just for his own self-preservation. Truthfully, Heyman would be the one with most reason to sever the relationship indicated by his near constant stream of facepalms when out for Axel's matches.

Happy Birthday, Randy Savage

Missin' u, Macho
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Today is the anniversary of Randy Savage's birthday. He would have turned 61 today, but he left this mortal coil May 20, 2011 after suffering a heart attack behind the wheel of his car. Much like Eddie Guerrero's passing, the Macho Man's death really screwed me up emotionally, enough so that I dedicated an entire week to him on the blog after he died. My only regret is that I didn't spend the entire month upkeeping this site as a tribute shrine to Savage.

Barely any other performer had the emotional impact on me in such a short time of being a fan of his as Savage did. Nearly as soon as he departed WCW, he was out of wrestling for good, save a few random appearances on indies, reunion tours, or in TNA here and there. He was at peace with being a regular guy, which was odd to me given how much of himself he seemingly put in every performance, no matter how trivial it seemed to the narrative. He's the one wrestler who earned a victory lap, and just as soon as he and Vince McMahon seemed to start reconciling enough to allow Savage one on the stage where he became most famous, he was gone.