SlamZilla

John Cena.

     The mere mentioning of his name is going to cause a reaction. And that reaction is always a mixed one.  In arena’s around the World there are almost always as many boo’s as there are cheers.  So why don’t the powers that be, finally let Cena go all the way and turn Heel? 

Cena the good guy. 

Early in his WWE career, Cena used the rapper gimmick.  He was being used as a Heel at the time,  but that quickly faded away, as his freestyle raps to cut up his opponents were a big hit.    This was about the only time I can think of, when John was totally over with the crowd.  Then in 2005 he won his first World Championship from JBL at Wrestlemania 21.  It is about this time that the fans first started to turn on him.  Over time, Cena’s character morphed into a bit of a military style patriot, and eventually to what we see today.  Yet he just can’t shake that mixed crowd reaction.  The announcers say that he is a “controversial” Champion, but clearly there is nothing controversial about him.  Cena has a squeaky clean image, that attracts lots of young viewers, and sells tons of merchandise.  He also does charity work, and is one of, if not THE most requested star for the Make A Wish Foundation.  And it is for these reasons that he has not made the turn that so many people are hoping for.  Why would WWE risk losing all those potential dollars, just to please the half of the fans that don’t seem to like him.  Many have stated that just about every star in the business has done turns as both a Heel and a Face.  But even Hulk Hogan waited until much later in his career, and that was over in WCW. 

Cena the Heel.

     So what exactly would happen if he actually was allowed to become a bad guy?  It would be very easy for Cena to turn on the crowd and get the people that once cheered him, to boo him out of the building.  And with his skills on the Mic, he could quickly become a very charismatic Heel.  But you have to ask yourself this question.  What would be the benefit?  When Hogan did his famous turn, his career as “The Hulkster” was already tired and boring, and it had been for years.  Hulk needed to reinvent himself, thus making himself relevant and marketable again.  I think its safe to say that the NWO led by “Hollywood Hogan” was a huge success.  But what about John Cena?  Should he turn Heel, how would that help him at this stage in his career?  And more importantly, how would it make more money for WWE?  I think the answer to those two questions is,  it won’t! 

Conclusion.

     It is just my opinion, but I really don’t see the point in Cena being anything other than what he is right now.  The main problem that I seem to hear, revolves around booking.  Cena being used again and again as “Super Cena” the hero that defies the odds and wins again and again.  What would be helpful, would be for him to not be Champion for a while, and perhaps have a feud with somebody that can help elevate his status.  Bret Hart did this for Steve Austin, turning an anti hero, into the biggest star in the company (next to The Rock)  It would also be good to see Cena lose a match, cleanly, to a villian.  But again, these are just thoughts and opinions.  But for now, I don’t see anything changing in the way that Cena is being used any time soon, so love him or hate him, he is here for a long time, just the way he is.

By Bruce Shearon

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And then there were six.

     In just over a week, The Nexus has gone from the most dominant group in WWE, to a stable that is already showing  just how weak they really are.  So you just have to wonder, how long can this bunch of rookies hang on, before they totally fall apart?

     Of course you could point out that Nexus only lost one match during RAW, which saw the group turn on one of their own (Darren Young) as he is now banished from the group.  But of those matches, only two were clean victories.  And now that they are down to six members, they are just that much weaker.  Lets face it, the only thing these guys had going for them was the numbers game.  Sure there are two or three of them that could make it on their own in the WWE.  But as I pointed out in a previous post, I figure that’s about how many will be left after about a year anyway.

      Then there is the current group of NXT rookies.   Season 2 is coming to a close fast, and there are guys in that group that are probably going to be bumped up to the main roster as soon as it concludes.  The best guess by most is that this batch will wind up on Smackdown.  Even still, that is a whole lot of new, young, and green talent to have on two shows at the same time.  Somebody is gonna have to go.  

     So where does that leave The Nexus?  I think that what we saw this past Monday on RAW, is just the beginning.  The group will continue to have internal issues, and the weak will be weeded out.  I will be interested to see if my prediction of a core group of four being all that is left comes true.  What will be more interesting now, will be just how fast the group falls to pieces, and who is left standing.

By Bruce Shearon

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This months slam was a pretty easy pick.  Monday Night Raw  has gone through a few changes over the last little while, from the scaling back of the guest hosts, to the naming of Bret Hart as the General Manager.  But then along comes Nexus to take out The Hitman, and his replacement was….a mystery.

     This didn’t seem too bad at first, but quite frankly watching Michael Cole step up to his podium to read an email from a new GM, that’s too scared to show his face week after week has gone from boring, to just plain annoying.  And listening to the live crowd boo, the second that little musical note plays to indicate that Cole has “received another email” tells you everything you need to know about how well this angle is going over.  I did notice this past week, that there was a lot less of our mystery GM, and that one of those special messages was sent during a commercial break.  Perhaps somebody has noticed that crowd reaction, and doesn’t want the people at home to hear it.  Well, I hate to be the one to say it, but the fans watching at home hate this angle too.

     So for boring the living hell out of everybody, and stretching out an angle that could have been resolved in a few weeks, I have to name RAW’s mysterious General Manager as my Slam Of The Month.   And just because Michael Cole has been the one reading the emails, I guess I can name him as the Co-Slam.  I know he is just doing what he is told, but he is the only face we have for now.

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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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And then there were six.

     What started out with a surprise attack on Monday Night Raw, that stunned the wrestling world, has already turned into a boat without a rudder, and a captain.  If you ask me, this ship is starting to take on water, and it barely left port.

     As everyone is well aware,  Daniel Bryan, the real star of NXT season one, was a victim of politics after the choking incident that occurred during the RAW invasion a few weeks back.  Which was a bad blow to the group, but not a total loss, since it is expected by most that the powers that be will find a way of bringing him back.  Also, they still had seven other men in their stable.  Not anymore.   Wade Barrett ( along with Smackdowns Drew McIntyre) is having some Visa issues.  Sort of like what happened to Angelina Love over in TNA a while back.  So now the spokesman for The Nexus, is cooling his heels back in jolly ol’ England, and might not be back until after SummerSlam.  So what does this mean for this new stable of bad guys?

     Well, for starters, they haven’t done anything other than group attack people for the past three weeks, and that is getting old very fast.  Perhaps these guys are just a little too green to be in the ring with the rest of the Superstars on Raw?   What must happen though, and very soon, is for these guys to start having matches.  Now that there are only six, they are just a larger version of most heel stables, which is just fine, but we have to see them compete.  Yes, we got glimpses of what they can do on NXT, but this is the big time now, and the fans are a very impatient bunch.  Its unfortunate that the WWE had this great angle, but didn’t seem to put much thought into the long term goal of it.  And it is even more amazing that they allowed the work Visa’s to expire on two of their young stars.  One of which (McIntyre)  was rumoured to win the money in the bank match, for the Smackdown brand at the Pay Per View.

     But such is the case with the WWE right now.  Even when the have a good thing, they just don’t know what to do with it.

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Dave Batista.  Recently on RAW,  The Animal decided to call it quits.  Of course we know that this is part of the storyline for the big man to take some time off.  But now that he is gone, its starting to look like this time off, could be permanent.

     Recently at the Stikeforce, MMA show, The Animal made it clear that he left the WWE because he was unhappy with the direction of the company.  And when asked by Dave Meltzer if he would do something like Chris Jericho and return in a year or two, he said he did not want to be compared to Jericho, and had no plans on returning.  He did however say that he did not rule out a return one day.  He also joked that he was in L.A. looking for work, and that he was open to offers.

     Now, this might come as a surprise to some, but the fact of the matter is that Batista hasn’t been happy in WWE for a while now.  In my opinion, he had a great run in the company, especially considering his age.  Batista was the perfect fit for what Vince McMahon likes in his Wrestlers.  He was huge, and jacked up beyond belief, had some Mic skills, and could barely wrestle.  But he looked good, so that’s all that really matters.  Either way, The Animal did very well for himself, and I think its actually a good idea for him to move on while he still has a chance to do some other things outside of the ring.  The idea that he might follow people like Brock Lesnar, and Bobby Lashley into the MMA world is a bit of a stretch, but the acting thing might work out for him.  He’s pretty good at crying on camera. 

     Of course in the Wrestling business, nobody is ever gone for good.  And I am sure at some point, Batista will get bored with whatever he is doing, and will feel the urge to come back to the WWE.  I would say that he could try TNA, but they are way out of his price range.  For now though, I am glad to see Batista gone.  It just opens up some room for the younger talent to move up into that main event status.

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So, last night I am up late watching the special 3 hour edition of RAW.  This was the viewers choice episode, that saw stars from both RAW, and Smackdown compete, with the fans voting for the stipulations.  And I couldn’t help thinking how this seemed to be anything BUT special.  Of course there were a couple of interesting matches.  Sheamus going head to head with Kane was nice to see.  And the tag match between R-Truth, and the returning John Morrison vs The Miz, and his partner Zack Ryder was entertaining.  But for the most part you got a lot of fluff, like a dance off between Santino and the worlds most boring man, Kozlov.  And the total waste of time that saw a great team like The Hart Dynasty, have to face Hornswogle and The Great Khali. 

     But the main event looked like it would fix all that.  The fans voted for a match between John Cena, and C.M. Punk.   And as far as matches go, it was turning out to be a good one.  But then a strange thing happened.  Wade Barrett, the winner of NXT season one approached the ring.  But Barrett wasn’t alone.  Out of the crowd came the rest of the rookies.  They proceeded to surround the ring, and then……..they attacked.   First they laid waste to Punk, and Gallows.  After that, they entered the ring, and it was Cena’s turn.  The rookies took Cena apart bit by bit, with each taking turns getting their best shots in.  But they weren’t finished yet;  in fact they were just getting started.  The rookies spread out and attacked anything and everything.  Announcers, the crew at ringside, and even the ring itself was destroyed.  And they still weren’t done with John Cena.  A fresh round of beatings took place before the group finally left the area.   Cena was taken out on a stretcher, and a buzz was all you could hear from the stunned crowd in the arena.

     Now I have to say that I haven’t seen carnage like that since the beginning days of the NWO.  In fact, I haven’t found RAW to be that interesting in quite some time.  But this new angle was something I never saw coming.  And judging from the reaction it is getting, neither did anybody else.  But one thing thats for sure, is that a lot of people liked what they saw, and it has everybody talking.  Years ago when WWE bought their rival, WCW, they tried to do an invasion angle and messed it up completely.  Lets hope that they can take the momentum from last night, and build something great from it. 

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Recently the brain trust in WWE decided that they no longer needed Mickie James.    Now I stopped trying to figure out why they do some of the things that they do a long time ago.  But in this circumstance there appears to be a little bit of regret.  You see, not long after Mickie was let go, another popular Diva got injured.  That would be Beth Phoenix.  Normally one wouldn’t assume that this would be a problem, except for the fact that she is one of the few “babyface” Diva’s that they have, that they feel can actually wrestle.  Personally I don’t have a whole lot of use for the WWE’s women’s division right now, but it could actually be a whole lot better if only they did a few things to tweak it.  But first lets get back to the Mickie James thing.  By their own admission,  WWE has stated that they are now in the process of trying to find a new Diva to fill the void left by James.  And they don’t just want another pretty face.  They want a Wrestler.  This really is a change of pace, since they haven’t seemed to care too much about using the women they currently have on their roster that actually have some skills right now.  Gail Kim is a proven talent, The Bella Twins seem to have talent if they are allowed to use it, Eve Torres is on the path to being an exceptional wrestler that could one day even rival Trish Stratus, talent wise, and even Kelly Kelly can be entertaining at times.  And of course lets not forget Natalya.  But lets move on.  If WWE is serious about getting somebody great, they only need one person.  Awesome Kong.

     Awesome Kong may not fit the mold for what the WWE is looking for in a “Diva”  She wouldn’t be doing photoshoots in a bikini anytime soon.  But Kong is that rare type of womens wrestler that commands attention.  She was the crown jewel of TNA’s knockout division, and her matches with Gail Kim were so good that one of them was the main event of Impact.

      Now think about this for a second.  Right there is a built in feud that could kick start the WWE’s womens division all over again. Her and Gail Kim have shown that they can have incredible, Pay Per View worthy matches in the past, so what would stop them from doing so again? 

       Now, in a perfect world, this is the scenario that I personally would love to see played out.  Gail Kim could at some point hold that ridiculous Barbie Belt…aka..the Diva’s Title.   Kong would debut and destroy everything in her path, and take the Womens Title.  Then we have a showdown between these two at……..oh, lets say….Wrestlemania.  The two Titles are finally unified, and Kong walks away as the dominant force in Divaland.   Because lets face it, there really is no need for two womens champions.  One can float between shows just like the Tag Team Champions.  And with Kong holding the Title, not only would they finally bring some prestige back to that Belt, they could also sell a whole lot of merchandise.

     But thats just my two cents.

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As the old saying goes, “I hate to say I told ya so”

     I would imagine right about now there are lots, and lots of people thinking those exact words.  There were so many people that thought that TNA moving Impact to Monday Nights was a bad idea.  But with Hulk Hogan and company on board, how could they lose?  Thats the easy part.  They lost, because they were not even close to being ready to compete on Monday Nights.  Not to mention the fact that there really shoudn’t have been a “War” to begin with.  Impact was doing just fine on Thursdays.  Now, I understand the notion that you can’t be comfortable where you are, and that you need to try to gain more viewers.  But they never gave the Hogan experiment a chance to do that on Thursdays.  They simply signed him up, and within a very short time, moved the show to Mondays and declared War.  The most recent Impact had a horrible rating.  The Thursday night replay however, did better numbers.  I guess its just a coincidence that they made this announcement after that news.  To me it sounds more like the straw that broke the Monday Night Wars back. 

     But this shouldn’t be considered bad news.  Actually I’m very happy to hear that Impact is going back to Thursday nights.  Makes my DVR schedule easier to manage.  But seriously, now they have a real chance to work on their show:  to fine tune it.  And with no head to head competition to worry about, they should actually see much better numbers.  If somewhere down the line they feel they can actually give Monday Nights another try, then go for it.  But I still don’t see the benefit in it.  As I have said before, the original Monday Night War, was about one company trying to put the other out of business.  This should not be TNA’s approach.  Because in that scenario, they will lose.  Be the alternative, be the better product, and stay on Thursdays so Wrestling fans can enjoy BOTH shows, for a very long time.

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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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