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What do the following wrestlers have in common?  Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, The Undertaker, Kevin Nash, Sting, and Mick Foley.   If you guessed that they are all legends in their own right, you would be correct.  If you also guessed that all of them are past their prime, that would also be true.  But should they retire?

     This is one of those things in wrestling that is never easy to answer.  In the case of Hulk Hogan, he really has no business competing in the ring, and with his recent back surgery its not very likely he will ever try to do it again.  But it wasn’t too long ago that he was giving it a shot.  Which brings us to Ric Flair.  Flair actually did retire, but when he needed the money, and WWE had nothing left for him, he jumped ship to TNA and is now back in the ring occasionally.  Right now he is still feuding with Jay Lethal.  Sting recently made his return on Impact, and I’m sure we will see him back in action before long, especially since he seems to have joined forces with Kevin Nash.   Both Sting and Nash can still wrestle, as can Flair, but none of them are half as good as they used to be.  That is also the case with Mick Foley, who has also returned to TNA.  He seems to know his limitations, and only does a match now and again, but they are painfully slow.   The only one of the group that I have listed above that seems to still be able to compete at the main event level is The Undertaker.  But as we have seen, he needs more and more time off to let his body recover, and soon will have to make that decision that no wrestler ever seems ready to.

     So when should a wrestler retire?  Each case is different, and as we have heard from countless men who have left, only to come back again and again, the pull of the ring, the roar of the crowd, and the spotlight are hard to resist.  Others have managed to do it though.  The Rock left the business, as did Stone Cold Steve Austin, with both taking on careers in acting.  Of course these two cases are rare when compared to the number of wrestlers who just don’t know when to walk away.  To me, I would say that a wrestler should hang up the boots when he is no longer able to entertain the crowd.  Watching Ric Flair in his matches with Jay Lethal proves this point.  Lethal is almost moving in slow motion to allow Flair to keep up.  Now don’t get me wrong, Flair is still an icon, and leading the new group that he has formed is the perfect role for him, and he can be as entertaining as anybody in that role.  He just shouldn’t wrestle any more.  The same can be said for Foley and Kevin Nash.  Both of these men can be useful, but not in the ring, where younger talent has to carry the entire match for them.  I just hope that The Undertaker takes the route of The Rock and Austin, and bows out gracefully, rather than going on and on, and becoming a shell of his former self.

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For quite some time now there has been speculation on who will be named as The Undertakers attacker.  Of course we will have to wait until SummerSlam to actually find out, because we all pretty much figure that Taker will make his return then.  So since we still have a little more time to think about it. I decided to look at a few people that might have been forgotten.  I am also just sticking with people on Smackdown.  Although there are some really good choices over on RAW.

 Dolph Ziggler.   It might be a long shot, but with his association with Vickie (and we all know her past with Taker) and the fact that he uses a very wicked sleeper hold, perhaps Dolph was trying to make a statement, but kept that sleeper on just a bit too long?  Ziggler is a great talent, and a feud with The Undertaker might be the thing he needs to get him into that main event status.

Christian.   Yes, another unlikely candidate.  But think about this for a second.  Christian was kept down in ECW for what seemed like an eternity once coming back from TNA, and even now he is just starting to get a decent push on Smackdown.  Christian works very well as a Heel, so finding out that it was him that somehow took out Taker, would make that transition very easy.  These two would definitely have some great matches if paired up.

Drew McIntrye.     Even though he has been involved in a feud with Matt Hardy for the last little while,  and at the same time trying desperately to get back his Intercontinental Championship, maybe The Sinister Scott found a little bit of time to take out The Undertaker?  In case anyone has forgotten,  Drew of course is “The Chosen One”  hand picked by Mr McMahon to be a future World Champion.  But for that to happen, you have to eliminate the one person you know will stand in your way.  It wouldn’t surprise me if McIntrye wins his Money In The Bank, Ladder Match, then decides to cash it in at SummerSlam, only to have The Undertaker return and cost him the match, thus revealing him as the mystery attacker.

      So there you have it.  My three dark horse picks for who took out The Dead Man.  I never have been very good with predictions, but it is still fun to speculate.

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The Elimination Chamber is over, and new Champions have been crowned.  And with that, we are now seeing Wrestlemania 26 begin to take shape.  The two main events are in place.  Batista will take on John Cena, and Edge will face Chris Jericho.  I have to admit, I’m a little surprised, yet relieved to see that HHH didn’t get himself put into the main event.  So how do these two Championship matches stack up?  I think the better of the two will be Edge vs Jericho.  Both of these guys have tremendous skill, and are very capable of putting on a good show, while telling a great story in the ring.  The built in story line that occured because of the injury to Edge just made it that much easier.  I don’t think this one will end the show, but it could very well steal it.  Then we have John Cena vs Batista.  I was lucky enough to go to Wrestlemania 23 in Detroit, and witnessed first hand the kind of energy that flows through an arena when Cena comes in.  Despite the mixed reactions he gets, he is still incredibly popular.  Batista being the bad guy in this one should mean more of a favourable response for Cena, but who knows for sure?  Either way, this one will most likely be the main event of the night.  Both of these guys are scary strong, but not the greatest Wrestlers.  I can see this being one of those, Cena takes a huge beating, yet comes out on top, type of matches.  What could be a good main event, but I don’t see it, will be the third match that has been announced thus far.  Sean Michaels vs The Undertaker…part 2.   Why on Earth they decided to try and replicate the great match they had last year is beyond me, but there it is.  This to me is like the feeling you get after you watch a really good movie, and knowing they will do a cheesy, money grab sequel that will never live up to the original.  I really hope I am wrong, but I have a feeling I won’t be.  The added stipulation that Michaels retires should he lose, does add to the drama, but thats about it.  The last thing that has been revealed so far, are some of the participants in the Money In The Bank, ladder match.  As of this post, we have Kane, Christian, Dolph Ziggler,  and Shelton Benjamin.  The ladder match was rumoured to not be happening at this years Wrestlemania, so I’m very happy to see that one being wrong.  And the field looks like Its shaping up rather well.  In fact, this years Wrestlemania in general is looking pretty good.  Lets see what they do to round out the rest of it though.

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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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About a year ago I did a post regarding the match between Sean Michaels and The Undertaker.  Now that we know that they will have their rematch, I thought It would be interesting to re-post this article, since it did have some interesting stats.  Enjoy.

So, for the last few weeks, In the build up to Wrestlemania 25, Sean Michaels has been taunting The Undertaker. And as per usual he is refering to himself as Mr Wrestlemania. I don’t really have a problem with that, but It did get me to wondering just how legitimate that claim was?
So after a little digging I came up with some interesting numbers and tidbits. Now, we all know that The Undertaker is undefeated going into this and he is currently 16-0. That right there could be his reason to lay clain to the “Mr Wrestlemania” title, but lets dig a little deeper.
The top 5 Win, Loss records for for wrestlers who have competed at 9 or more Wrestlemania’s is.
1) The Undertaker. 16-0
2) Hulk Hogan. 8-3-1
3) Bret Hart. 7-6
4) Randy Savage. 7-4
5) Sean Michaels. 6-7-2
So just going by Win, Loss records alone, not only doe’s Sean fall short, but he has lost more than he has won.
A few other big names who have been in less than 9 Wrestlemania’s, but are worth mentioning are.
7 matches…Steve Austin. 5-2
8 matches…Owen Hart. 5-2-1
8 matches…The Rock. 4-4
Now lets look at another interesting stat. Who has had more World Title victories at Wrestlemania? It is actually a 3 way tie, with all 3 men having won, you guessed it, 3 times. Those men are.
1) The Undertaker
2) Hulk Hogan
3) Steve Austin
But you may ask yourself this. Numbers aside, who has had more of those Wrestlemania moments? Who stole the show? And who really was, the main event, and the show stopper? Well here are two final stats for you to consider. The person who has headlined Wrestlemania the most in one of the main events is Hulk Hogan, with 8 main events. BUT!!! of all the matches that Sean Michaels has had, and despite his win, loss record, the last 5 Wrestlemania matches that Michaels has been in have won Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s match of the year award.
So there you have it. Personally I think that Taker is the man, and that Hogan has a big claim to that Title of “Mr Wrestlemania” Especially since it was built around him for years. But after doing my homework, I have to give Sean his due. He also has the right to use that moniker. But I’ll leave you all to make up your own minds on this one.

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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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