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For the fifth match in my best of seven series, pitting the biggest stars of the 80′s PG era against their current PG era counterparts, we come to a collision between kings.  “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs “The Game”  Triple-H.

     Now you may be wondering why I paired these two up, aside from the similar ring monikers that they both have used.  “Macho King” for Savage, and of course Hunter likes to refer to himself as “The King of Kings” on occasion.  But when looking closely at the characters themselves, and the kind of impact they have each had on their respective era’s, the comparison starts to make more sense.  But who would win out in a battle of the kings?

Randy Savage.     Savage entered the WWF  in 1985 with a lot of hype and potential.  So much so, that every manager (remember those? ) at the time was trying to convince him that they were the best man to guide his career.  Of course Savage declined, and introduced us to Miss Elizabeth.  His new manager, and love interest.  During his run in the WWF, Savage had many memorable feuds against some of the biggest names in wrestling, such as Jake Roberts,  Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase,  The Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair, and of course Hulk Hogan.  His match against Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3, is still considered by many, to be one of the best matches ever in North America.  The Macho Man is a two time WWF World Champion.  His first reign lasted 371 days, becoming the sixth longest in WWF/WWE  history, and no Champion after that would hold a Title for more than a year, until John Cena, 19 years later.  Savage would play both the Heel and Face during his time in the WWF, but no matter which hat (or crown) that he wore, he was still one of the most popular men ever to compete for the company.  Savage left a legacy that would be hard for almost any wrestler to try and duplicate today.

Triple-H.     He is the man of many monikers.  The Game, The Cerebral Assassin, The King Of Kings.  But no matter what he calls himself, the fact of the matter is, he has been one of the top men in the WWE for the better part of the last decade, winning his first of many World Championships in 1999.  He is also responsibe for two of the most successful, and entertaining factions to ever compete in the WWE.  the first being D.X. and of course, Evolution.    Like Randy Savage,  Triple-H has faced many of the biggest stars in the WWE.  Some of which include, The Rock, Mick Foley, The Undertaker, John Cena, Chris Jericho, Batista, and Randy Orton to name a few.  And also like Savage, The Game has been both a fan favourite and Heel on many occasions, but no matter which, he has always been one of the most popular men in the ring.  As most know, he is also married to Stephanie McMahon, and has quite a bit of influence behind the scenes in the WWE as well.  Some argue that this is the only reason that he has won so many Championships (13 World Titles and counting)  But despite politics, nobody can argue that Hunter has carved out a legacy for himself that will always be remembered. 

     So who wins this battle of the two kings?   I guess they don’t call him the “King Of Kings” for nothing.  In this head to head competition, I would have to give the victory, to The Game.

Winner……Triple-H.

By Bruce Shearon.

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For weeks now The Nexus have been making life hell for the Wrestlers on Monday Night Raw.  But more so for John Cena, than anyone else.  And all along they have said that this is all part of a bigger plan.  What this bigger plan could be is anybody’s guess, but that is what their leader, Wade Barrett keeps saying.  But is he actually the leader?

     From the rumour mill, comes news that Triple H may be coming back sooner than expected after injuring himself yet again, to be the secret force behind The Nexus.  Naturally he wouldn’t be doing any Wrestling for a bit, but the idea of him being the person who has been calling the shots, and directing the actions of the Rookies actually makes sense.   The original idea was for Triple H to return, and be the one to “save” the WWE by leading the other RAW superstars in their battle with The Nexus.  But quite frankly, that really didn’t sound all that exciting, and does Hunter really need to play the hero to feed his ego that much more?  But this new idea of him being the leader opens up a lot of story line ideas.  It also means that Hunter would finally be able to play the Heel role again, something he has wanted to do for a while now.  It also helps to explain why Nexus has been so determined to break John Cena.

     I have to admit, as much as I am not a fan of Triple H, this twist could be just what The Nexus needs to keep their momentum going.  It would also help if we saw them actually Wrestle in some one on one matches now and again, but hey you can’t have everything.

To read more about this story, check out the link below.

http://www.vivekwwe.com/wwenews/2975-wwe-reportedly-agrees-to-make-triple-h-the-leader-of-nexus.html

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5 Days.  That is all it took.  Jack Swagger cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase on Smackdown, only 5 days after Wrestlemania, and we have a new World Heavyweight Champion.  A short time ago I made my Wrestlemania predictions, and since I took a few long shots, I failed miserably.  But the MITB match was a complete surprise for me.  I never would have guessed that Swagger would win it.  And once he did, I also gathered that he would be the first person to FAIL in his attempt to cash it in.  Wrong on both parts.  Good thing I don’t gamble.  Either way, we now have a new champion.  But is he any good?  It wasn’t so long ago that The All American, American  (sheesh is that ever lame)  was jobbing to everybody, including Santino Marella.  Now he is suddenly the top dog on Smackdown.  Yes the announcers are doing a good job of putting him over, and talking all about his credentials.  And yes, he is faily sound from a technical standpoint.  But he is still the same, boring as hell wrestler that he has always been.  I suppose I shouldn’t complain.  Its about time that some of the young talent starts getting some attention in the main events.  it won’t be that long before HBK is joined on the retirement circuit by his buddy HHH, and even The Undertaker.  But why Swagger?  Certainly there had to be better candidates for a main event push?  What about John Morrison or Dolph Ziggler?  Or lets get really crazy and stop holding back Evan Borne.  This guy could fill Rey Mysterio’s shoes in an instant if given half the chance.  But no, we get Jack Shhhwwaaaaaaager…..  The Kurt Angle wannabe.  Time will tell if he has what it takes, but right now I think he is simply a short term champion.

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Welcome to the last stop on the Road To Wrestlemania.

     I haven’t always been a fan of the Elimination Chamber concept.  Mostly because I felt that the WWE should have adopted the War Games style match instead.  But over time I have come to appreciate this unique match, and now it is the theme for an entire Pay Per View.  And being the last PPV before Wrestlemania, It’s importance is even greater.  I must say that I was expecting some surprised for this years edition, and I wasn’t let down.  Of course I won’t spoil those surprises, but I will say that the one at the end of the Smackdown, Chamber match was a good one.  Of course in hindsight I should have seen it coming.  First up though was the Raw, Chamber match.  This group had some interesting things going for it, story wise.  With guys like Randy Orton, and Ted Dibiase in there, who could work together.  And of course HHH, John Cena, and Sheamus, who all have their own issues as of late.  And last but not least, the high flying Kofi Kingston.  All the right elements were in this one, and It certainly delivered.  And as I said earlier, there was a nice surprise for the ending.  The Chamber match was followed by the Intercontinental Championship match between Drew McIntyre and Kane.  For me This McIntyre character is decent, but he has a long way to go to be as good as they are building him up to be.  Kane is always Kane.  Slow, methodical, and usually boring.  He is made out to be a monster, so It makes the other person look better if he can beat him.  This was a good match to head to the concession stand during.  Now, what could follow such a snorefest?  How about a Diva match.  What was supposed to be Gail Kim vs Maryse for the vacant Barbie Belt…aka, the Diva’s Championship. Turned into a tag match pitting Kim and Maryse vs Team Lametool. aka, Michelle McCool and Layla.  This being the work of the shrieking banshee known as Vickie Guerero.  As you can imagine this wasn’t too much of a match. Thankfully It was over fairly quickly and we moved on.  Next up was MVP facing The Miz for the United States Championship.  As much as I don’t care for MVP, I have to admit that this time out, he looked good.  This was a much better match than I expected, but of course had a typical sort of ending.  Either way, It was a good one to see.  Last of course was the second Chamber match.  This one didn’t seem to have as much in the way of storyline as the Raw, Chamber match did.  But it had some really good talent, that put on an excellent show.  How could you really go wrong with Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, R-Truth, C.M. Punk, Chris Jericho and The Undertaker?  Well, I guess one way, was to let C.M. Punk get his hands on a Mic.  But aside from that, this was a solid Chamber match, with that ending that again, I should have seen coming, but didn’t.

     So there you have it.  I would say that if you haven’t seen this PPV yet, then you need to check it out.  The stage is now set, so let the final push for Wrestlemania begin.

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I guess I could make this a very short post and sum this up with just one sentence.  They need to split up because quite frankly, people are sick of them.  But that would be too easy.  It would also not be completely true.  They are still very popular, and they sell enough merchandise to fund a small nation.  Which is probably why they have been together for this latest run, for far too long.  You know It’s getting bad when Joey Styles complains that he’s sick of you.  But let us get to the real reason that DX needs to split.  They have been teasing it for weeks now.  It’s because Shawn Michaels and HHH need to have a match at Wrestlemania.  Michaels obsession with The Undertaker, and getting a rematch has been a nice distraction.  And Hunter pretty much just wants to win another championship.  But with the Elimination Chamber Pay Per View looming, and Wrestlemania right after that, both of these men need to find themselves in matches.  This animosity between the two of them can’t just be for nothing.  They need to have a real reason to hate each other.  Hunter put the offer out there.  He wins the Title at the Chamber, and gives Shawn a shot at it.  But that would just be too nice and honest.  We want these two at each others throats.  Because we all know that when friends wrestle they can have a good match, but when enemies meet, they tear the house down.  But for this to happen, DX has to fall apart.  It has been building for weeks, and we all see it coming.  The big question right now is HOW is it going to happen?  I personally don’t care how these two split up, but it should be interesting to see.  More importantly, I want to see them rip each other to pieces at Wrestlemania.  Now that would be fun to watch.

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This years Royal Rumble  was billed as being the most star studded lineup ever.  Granted they say this pretty much every year, but this was definitely one of the best groups Ive seen in quite a while.  But before we get to the Rumble match itself, there were a few matches before the big dance to talk about.  The first of which was for the ECW Championship.  I have always been a fan of Christian, but I didn’t hold out much hope for this being any good since his opponet was Ezekiel Jackson.  Thankfully I was surprised by how good this match turned out to be.  Big Zeke has improved quite a bit over the last few months, and with Christians ability to make just about anybody look good, this was a very good way to start off the show.  Next up was the United States Champion The Miz, taking on MVP.  For the most part this was very much by the numbers, and I actually found my attention wandering.  I’m not sure If Its because I find MVP boring, or because of my lack of interest in this feud, but I was just happy to see this one come to an end.  Thankfully the next up was Randy Orton vs Sheamus.  I was really interested in seeing how the crowd would react to two “bad guys” facing off.  It didn’t take long to get my answer.  The crowd was behind Randy Orton, almost 100%  As for the match itself.  I have to say, It was better than average.  Sheamus has great potential, and seeing two heels try to out do each other with who can be more destructive was fun to watch.  I would love to see these two have at it a few more times.  The only down side to this match,  was that it was short. But because of the Rumble match itself, this was the case for pretty much all the matches.   Naturally after something heavy like that, we need a bit of comedy relief, which brings us to the Womens Championship match between Michelle McCool and Mickie James.  Mercifully I think this will be the end of the whole Piggy James angle.  There wasn’t a whole lot to mention match wise, except that it was very fast, and kind of funny.  Now that we have had a laugh, we get serious again, and settle in for Rey Mysterio vs The Undertaker.  You know with Mysterio you are going to get a lot of fast action and some high flying, which is probably why he was given this shot.  Taker is rather beat up, and probably shouldn’t even be holding the Championship right now, but he is a big draw, so we have him going against somebody exciting, that can carry the match for the most part.  And all things considered It worked.  I’m not sure I would like to see these two work together too much, but for one night It was a good pairing.  Now this brings us to The Rumble.  I was going to list the order in which everybody came in, but I thought that would be too much of a spoiler for those that haven’t seen It yet.  So let me just say that I was happy to see a good collection of top stars this year, with a few funny moments, a couple of twists, and at least one good surprise.  Overall this was a very good Royal Rumble.  Now to see how things play out on the Road to Wrestlemania.

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With the Royal Rumble less than a week away, I thought I would weigh in with my thoughts on the overall card itself, and how I think things might play out.  Like many of you, I do like to check out the most recent rumours and gossip, but when it comes to Pay Per Views, I try not to read them just prior to the show, so I can be surprised.  Especially since plans change so rapidly.  What somebody thinks is a possible spoiler, turns out to be nothing at all.  That being said, some of the recent things I have read, and watching the show’s leading up to the Rumble have me wondering if we are going to be getting a show with zero surprise factor at all.  First off, we have the ECW Championship being defended.  Christian vs Ezekiel Jackson.  Why on Earth Christian has been forced to sit this long in ECW is beyond me.  Sure he has been the Champion for quite some time, but he deserves to be on one of the main shows.  I see Christian losing this match simply so they can take the Title off of him in preperation for a move come draft time. Next up we have the Womens Championship match.  Michelle McCool vs Mickie James.  Normally I would think that James would win this one, just to finally put an end to the whole “Piggy James” nonsense.  But with talk of her releasing a Country album of all things, I have my doubts.  This might turn out to be a half decent match though, since these two can actually wrestle.  The first of the two World Title matches is The Undertaker vs Rey Mysterio.  Taker is in pretty rough shape these days, so I don’t see this being a very long one.  Rey will be fast, and make this look exciting, but in the end Taker wins and moves on to the main event at Wrestlemania.  The second Title defense is Sheamus, taking on Randy Orton.  Earlier I did a post on how I felt that Sheamus would not walk out of this match as Champion, because I did not see him headling Wrestlemania.  I still stand by that, but some rumours are going around about the Rumble match itself that puts a bit of doubt in my mind now.  And so that brings us to the Rumble Match itself.  As per usual, the build up has highlighted how this is every man for himself.  People making bold claims that they will win.  Silly over the top rope challenges, and teams having words with each other.  Teams like D.X.  And here is where things get a little strange.  The whole notion that if Shawn Michaels wins, he can get his shot at The Undertaker again.  And HHH, basically just wanting to win, because…..well, just because.  One rumour out there, has both men winning in a Tie, so that they both get what they want.  I certainly hope this doesn’t happen, as it cheapens the whole point of ” I am the one”  John Cena winning would simply be par for the course, but this scenario works for my prediction of Randy Orton having the Title.  Then there is Batista.  No doubt if he wins, its a rematch with The Undertaker.  But for some reason, I think that the Sean Michaels rematch would be pushed first.  As for a surprise winner?  I don’t see it happening, but I see Edge making his return at the Rumble.  I doubt he will win, but I think he will eliminate Chris Jericho, thus setting up a fine feud that could last all the way to Mania.  So, who do I pick as the overall winner?  If I must choose a name, I’ll go with Cena.  Not exactly going out on a limb with that one, but I see this Rumble being pretty much by the numbers anyway. 

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Vincent Kennedy McMahon.  The man behind the WWE, and the guy we all love to hate.  At least thats his character.   But as the head of the company, he has built the WWE to be the world wide money making machine that it is.  But lets face it, he isn’t getting any younger.  Now in his 60′s It’s obvious that he can’t run the company forever.  And with Linda now going into politics, the big question is, who will run things?  The obvious answer would be his children, Shane and Stephanie.  But as we have seen over the years, Vince likes to take a more “hands on” approach to running the show.  Will Shane, or Stephanie do the same?  And should they?  Over the last several years we have all heard the stories floating around of Vince being out of touch with what his audience wants.  That brings us to HHH.  As much as I hate to say it, Hunter would be a logical choice to run the “wrestling” aspect of the company.  The behind the scenes, and writing part of the shows.  But for now, he is still an active performer.  Perhaps It will all just be a matter of timing.  HHH seems to be just one more injury away from calling it quits as it is.  But once he doe’s, he could take over Vince’s role as the on air personality that is running the show.  I just have to wonder what sort of direction the WWE will go in, once Vince finally doe’s step down.  Will they keep their, PG mentality, or go back to something a little more risky?  I guess we will just have to wait and see.  But It really is just a matter of time.

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For the last few months The Legacy-Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase- Have been Giving DX fits.  Things have gotten so bad for Hunter and Shawn, that Michaels was actually forced to tap out in their recent PPV match.  And of course coming up soon will be the infamous Hell In A Cell.  I have to say that this feud has been very entertaining, and Its good to see some of the young talent getting some time in the spotlight.  The only question I have right now is, are The Legacy really main event material?  What I mean is, after this feud with DX is over, will they still be as red hot as they are right now?  I think back to the matches they had against Cryme Tyme, and remember being somewhat bored.  Now of course DX is a whole different story.  But thats exactly my point.  HHH and Michaels are doing a very good job of making these young guys look good, but after that Its up to them.  There has been talk recently of DiBiase being the one to end The Undertakers unbeaten streak at wrestlemania.  But personally I just don’t think he will be ready for that sort of match.  Legacy is good, and they are getting better, and for now they are main eventing.  But for some reason, Im just not too sure they can keep it up once this current feud is over.  A step in the right direction though, would be for them to split from Randy Orton.  After showing how good they can be, going back to being his lapdogs would undo months of work.   I guess only time will tell.  And even If things don’t work out, and they are forced back to mid card status.  It will just be a matter of time.  They are both too good to be held down for very long.  And they are both still very young.  The Legacy have a bright future ahead of them.

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