The following is Kaedon’s “State Of The WWE Addressâ€â€¦.
My fellow wrestling fans; I come to you tonight to give you an update of the state of the WWE. While it is true, the leader of professional wrestling in the free world has hit a rough spot, I am here to tell you that all is not lost. While once bright stars like Mr. Kennedy may have temporarily flamed out in front of us, always know that there will be new stars to pick up the reigns and soldier on. There seems to be a new baller on Raw who is taking the show by storm and he isn’t even involved in a major feud.
But if I could speak on the state of Raw for a second…The state of Raw is grim, this is true. We are seeing the continuation of a feud that should have ended months ago in The Big Show and John Cena as well as a feud that we thought would have been better in Randy Orton and Batista. This are the normal growing pains you have when two of your top stars (Shawn Michaels and HHH) are out, and another is released. You are seeing what the WWE looks like without those two cornerstones there to carry part of the load. Is it perfect, no, far from it, but this is uncharted territory. But I do believe, with firm resolve, that the cage and submission matches at Extreme Rules WILL deliver. I do also believe that after they are done, all parties will be moved on to new feuds as I see both HHH and HBK returning in the near future and I do believe that MVP is poised for a short and probably unsuccessful run at Randy Orton.
I would now like to speak to the strengths of Raw, mainly the undercard. This will sound like a very backhanded compliment, but Raw has the most solid undercard in terms of workers and they are just completely misusing them. Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, William Regal, MVP, The Colons, The Miz, Santino Marella, The Brian Kendrick, and Festus all bring something unique and could be called to be in a main event feud or match without batting an eye, and be as entertaining as possible. But what is being done with them is pretty abhorrent. The Santina feud with Vickie, while entertaining, is not exactly the best use of Santino’s skills. MVP is having a match with Kofi that will probably end in some kind of interference that may lead to some kind of multi man match at Extreme Rules for the US Title; but everyone else is floating in limbo. The Miz is waiting for Cena to dispose of Show, Matt Hardy has turned into Bob Orton, William Regal is, well Regal, and the Colons are stuck trying to find some to feud with as The Brian Kendrick plays musical partners.
Back to the main event scene. I do believe that the addition of Ric Flair happened because the feud between the former Evolution members had fallen flat. And injecting such a volatile character into the mix is an easy way to get some life back into it. I do think its done that because now, everything is up for grabs. Flair is crazy and is very liable to turn on Batista, but with Orton offering Batista a position in Legacy, there is a delicious angle PRIMED AND READY for the return of the King of Kings, HHH. And to this Sunday, the cage match WILL be good. Other than the Kennel From Hell match and the atrocious Bossman/Taker match, I have never seen a cage match that wasn’t at least good. Will it be a **** classic? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean you should just write it off before it happens. I have supreme confidence that the match will be pretty entertaining, so just keep and open mind.
Then we come to Cena and The Big Show. I think the appeal that the WWE bookers had with this match was these men are NOT submission wrestlers. In fact, they are the last two guys on the roster youd think that would be in a submission match. So, lets see what would happen. The cool thing is, both of these guys have submission moves that they use on a semi regular basis. Show even used to use the million dollar dream for a short time until he converted it into a slam thing. The other big thing will be how will they counter each others moves? That will be the key to getting the match over. And once again, it should be good.
Over on ECW, there really isn’t much to talk of other than the title situation. One of the WWEs oldest and most revered stars is on a path to the title. Tommy Dreamer’s situation is one that is a tried and true story in the wrestling business. He is putting up everything, if only against himself, to get what he wants. While I do think it is an admirable thing, and a good story, I just don’t see it being that great. I also really think the addition of Jack Swagger is comparable to the World Title situation at Wrestlemania where The Big Show was added to the Edge/Cena match for the sake of giving it more variety. And this, will be probably the same kinda thing with the match being good but not great.
There is also the forming of a new Hart Foundation on the show with DH Smith and Tyson Kidd. The sad thing is though, neither one of these guys has the charisma to get over. Tyson Kidd has less than Bret Hart had when he first got to the WWE, and DH, well he just plain sucks. Kidd has a generic look and DH Smith is above average in the ring. Other than that, these guys have NOTHING going for them. I believe it will be what the original Hart Foundation was going to be, it’s to give these guys something to do and it wont get over, nowhere NEAR what the originals did.
And now onto the shining light in our WWE Universe, the blue brand, Smackdown. Smackdown finally has the right mix of veterans, young stars, and good booking to have the hot hand. CM Punk is embroiled in a feud with a Samoan savage who is now finding his voice. While I don’t like that very much, I do believe it does add something do the feud, his character, and ultimately to the SD show as a whole. The WWE have brought back the old standard strap match. I have been saying it since I heard about it, for this match to get over, it needs to be given enough time. If they throw it all together in 10 minutes, it will fall WAY SHORT of what it can be. The WWE are also dusting off Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio. Just like back in WCW Rey is the face, Jericho the heel. This time, however, Jericho is a new heel. He’s a modern man and both of them have matured a lot in their characters and in the ring. Both are two of the most over guys on the WWE roster not just SD. Now, I do believe that this feud was just thrown together to give them something to do, but that being said, its still better than most anything on Raw and will have a great payoff match.
The main difference between Raw and SD is that pretty much ANYONE on SD can be used as a legit main eventer. The roster is literally EXPLODING with former world champions and contenders. So no matter how long Undertaker decides he wants to take off for, the show will be fine as long as there aren’t too many other injures.
Finally we come to the main main event guys. Edge is in line for what should be a good long run with the title and Jeff’s star couldn’t be any hotter right now. He is so far beyond over, it’s amazing. Jeff Hardy has reached a point where he, like The Undertaker, HHH, and HBK could lose for a month straight, 4 matches in a row, and it would NOT AFFECT HIS CREDIBILTIY IN THE LEAST. He has had a long standing feud with Edge that I believe is coming to an end at Extreme Rules. And I can tell you right now, Edge is NOT losing his title in this ladder match, but no one cares. It will be an epic match, one for the ages, and if done right, it will be one that could surpass the original one at WM 10. These two men are going to go balls out for our entertainment.
So what is the state of the WWE? Smackdown, finally, has become the A show. I don’t care what anyone says, its undeniable now. It is no longer just some grand delusion of mine because I have a bias towards the show, it is an unequivocal fact. Smackdown is THE SHOW and will be for the foreseeable future.
My fellow wrestling fans; I come to you tonight to give you an update of the state of the WWE. While it is true, the leader of professional wrestling in the free world has hit a rough spot, I am here to tell you that all is not lost. While once bright stars like Mr. Kennedy may have temporarily flamed out in front of us, always know that there will be new stars to pick up the reigns and soldier on. There seems to be a new baller on Raw who is taking the show by storm and he isn’t even involved in a major feud.
But if I could speak on the state of Raw for a second…The state of Raw is grim, this is true. We are seeing the continuation of a feud that should have ended months ago in The Big Show and John Cena as well as a feud that we thought would have been better in Randy Orton and Batista. This are the normal growing pains you have when two of your top stars (Shawn Michaels and HHH) are out, and another is released. You are seeing what the WWE looks like without those two cornerstones there to carry part of the load. Is it perfect, no, far from it, but this is uncharted territory. But I do believe, with firm resolve, that the cage and submission matches at Extreme Rules WILL deliver. I do also believe that after they are done, all parties will be moved on to new feuds as I see both HHH and HBK returning in the near future and I do believe that MVP is poised for a short and probably unsuccessful run at Randy Orton.
I would now like to speak to the strengths of Raw, mainly the undercard. This will sound like a very backhanded compliment, but Raw has the most solid undercard in terms of workers and they are just completely misusing them. Kofi Kingston, Matt Hardy, William Regal, MVP, The Colons, The Miz, Santino Marella, The Brian Kendrick, and Festus all bring something unique and could be called to be in a main event feud or match without batting an eye, and be as entertaining as possible. But what is being done with them is pretty abhorrent. The Santina feud with Vickie, while entertaining, is not exactly the best use of Santino’s skills. MVP is having a match with Kofi that will probably end in some kind of interference that may lead to some kind of multi man match at Extreme Rules for the US Title; but everyone else is floating in limbo. The Miz is waiting for Cena to dispose of Show, Matt Hardy has turned into Bob Orton, William Regal is, well Regal, and the Colons are stuck trying to find some to feud with as The Brian Kendrick plays musical partners.
Back to the main event scene. I do believe that the addition of Ric Flair happened because the feud between the former Evolution members had fallen flat. And injecting such a volatile character into the mix is an easy way to get some life back into it. I do think its done that because now, everything is up for grabs. Flair is crazy and is very liable to turn on Batista, but with Orton offering Batista a position in Legacy, there is a delicious angle PRIMED AND READY for the return of the King of Kings, HHH. And to this Sunday, the cage match WILL be good. Other than the Kennel From Hell match and the atrocious Bossman/Taker match, I have never seen a cage match that wasn’t at least good. Will it be a **** classic? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean you should just write it off before it happens. I have supreme confidence that the match will be pretty entertaining, so just keep and open mind.
Then we come to Cena and The Big Show. I think the appeal that the WWE bookers had with this match was these men are NOT submission wrestlers. In fact, they are the last two guys on the roster youd think that would be in a submission match. So, lets see what would happen. The cool thing is, both of these guys have submission moves that they use on a semi regular basis. Show even used to use the million dollar dream for a short time until he converted it into a slam thing. The other big thing will be how will they counter each others moves? That will be the key to getting the match over. And once again, it should be good.
Over on ECW, there really isn’t much to talk of other than the title situation. One of the WWEs oldest and most revered stars is on a path to the title. Tommy Dreamer’s situation is one that is a tried and true story in the wrestling business. He is putting up everything, if only against himself, to get what he wants. While I do think it is an admirable thing, and a good story, I just don’t see it being that great. I also really think the addition of Jack Swagger is comparable to the World Title situation at Wrestlemania where The Big Show was added to the Edge/Cena match for the sake of giving it more variety. And this, will be probably the same kinda thing with the match being good but not great.
There is also the forming of a new Hart Foundation on the show with DH Smith and Tyson Kidd. The sad thing is though, neither one of these guys has the charisma to get over. Tyson Kidd has less than Bret Hart had when he first got to the WWE, and DH, well he just plain sucks. Kidd has a generic look and DH Smith is above average in the ring. Other than that, these guys have NOTHING going for them. I believe it will be what the original Hart Foundation was going to be, it’s to give these guys something to do and it wont get over, nowhere NEAR what the originals did.
And now onto the shining light in our WWE Universe, the blue brand, Smackdown. Smackdown finally has the right mix of veterans, young stars, and good booking to have the hot hand. CM Punk is embroiled in a feud with a Samoan savage who is now finding his voice. While I don’t like that very much, I do believe it does add something do the feud, his character, and ultimately to the SD show as a whole. The WWE have brought back the old standard strap match. I have been saying it since I heard about it, for this match to get over, it needs to be given enough time. If they throw it all together in 10 minutes, it will fall WAY SHORT of what it can be. The WWE are also dusting off Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio. Just like back in WCW Rey is the face, Jericho the heel. This time, however, Jericho is a new heel. He’s a modern man and both of them have matured a lot in their characters and in the ring. Both are two of the most over guys on the WWE roster not just SD. Now, I do believe that this feud was just thrown together to give them something to do, but that being said, its still better than most anything on Raw and will have a great payoff match.
The main difference between Raw and SD is that pretty much ANYONE on SD can be used as a legit main eventer. The roster is literally EXPLODING with former world champions and contenders. So no matter how long Undertaker decides he wants to take off for, the show will be fine as long as there aren’t too many other injures.
Finally we come to the main main event guys. Edge is in line for what should be a good long run with the title and Jeff’s star couldn’t be any hotter right now. He is so far beyond over, it’s amazing. Jeff Hardy has reached a point where he, like The Undertaker, HHH, and HBK could lose for a month straight, 4 matches in a row, and it would NOT AFFECT HIS CREDIBILTIY IN THE LEAST. He has had a long standing feud with Edge that I believe is coming to an end at Extreme Rules. And I can tell you right now, Edge is NOT losing his title in this ladder match, but no one cares. It will be an epic match, one for the ages, and if done right, it will be one that could surpass the original one at WM 10. These two men are going to go balls out for our entertainment.
So what is the state of the WWE? Smackdown, finally, has become the A show. I don’t care what anyone says, its undeniable now. It is no longer just some grand delusion of mine because I have a bias towards the show, it is an unequivocal fact. Smackdown is THE SHOW and will be for the foreseeable future.
