For me, this match is Money!!!!!!

Hello all

As you all know Wrestlemania 27 was held in the city that I live in, Atlanta Georgia. I was there, and was very excited to be there. I thought there were some great matches and though I did have a bit of a problem with the line up of those matches, I was very excited about them. But one thing did stick out. As I looked over the program I noticed that there was a match that was missing, which is one of my favorites: Money in the Bank.

This past weekend we saw a new WWE champion crowned. After a pretty good match between CM Punk and John Cena, where Punk was victorious, Kevin Nash came out, and gave Punk a power bomb. Right after this Alberto Del Rio comes down to the ring, and cashes in his Money in the Bank contract, wins the match and becomes the new WWE champion.

It is a big deal that Del Rio won the championship (the 2nd person I have done a feature blog on, and shortly after that won the championship, but who’s counting), but it is an even bigger deal because once again after 10 Money in the Bank Ladder matches, the person who cashes it in, always wins the championship.

On an episode of Raw in 2005, Chris Jericho, and Eric Bischoff came up with an idea of having a ladder match at Mania. And for those of you who don’t know (I am sure some of you may be 1st time wrestling watchers, so I will explain) a ladder match is match where you put something on a harness (most times it’s a title belt) and you suspend it 20 feet in the air. And the only way to win the match is for the wrestlers to release whatever is there, and come down the ladder with it. But this match would be different from other ladder matches, because this one wouldn’t have a title hanging from the rafters, but it would have a briefcase, and in that briefcase there will be a contract for a title match whenever the winner chooses.

So 6 men competed in the very 1st Money in the Bank ladder match at Wrestlemania 21, and they stole the show. Having all of those guys in the ring, putting on a show for the fans, that started something. After that, for the next 5 manias Money in the Bank became a tradition.

Why didn’t they have one at mania this year, you ask? Because MIB became such a hit that they made it its own pay per view. Starting last year MIB became its own pay per view features 2 MIB matches, one for Raw and one for Smackdown.

To me, the very best thing about MIB, is it always means we will have a new champion. All of the guys who have cashed in MIB, have won championships. Of the 10 MIB matches, 9 different guys have won the briefcase (Edge won the match once, but cashed it in twice). And of those guys 6 of them were new champions (you might as well say 7 because, Kane did win the WWE championship before, but he held that title for less than 24 hours). It also gives us a chance to look forward to future main events. Back in 2006, after winning MIB, Rob Van Dam told the world when he would cash his briefcase in, and that was at ECW’s One Night Stand. This year Daniel Bryan, the winner of the Smackdown MIB, said he will cash his briefcase in at Wrestlemania. How awesome is that?

I have loved Money in the Bank since that very first Mania it was in. It has launched the superstar run of a few champions. Edge was not thought of as a champion until he cashed his in, and since he did back in 2006, he has been a 10 time champion, before he retired. RVD was once thought of as the best wrestler never to be world champion (even though I think he is supremely overrated). After he cashed in his briefcase he won the title in WWE, and he won it in TNA. CM Punk has become a main event guy for 2 reasons, #1 he cashed in the briefcase twice. #2 the second time he cashed in the briefcase he was able to get on the mic and talk, and people realized that he can actually talk. Even the Miz cashed in his briefcase, became a very successful champion, and went on to headline Wrestlemania.

As much as I hated not seeing MIB at Mania this year, I do love the fact that every year we have 2 winners. I really wish we had one at all of the big 4 pay per views (if you don’t know what that is, I will go over that later on).

Does it really matter?

Hello All

Even though I skipped the blog for a few weeks, I still have paid close attention to the “big boys”; I guess you could call them. And as I have said on this blog a lot, I am not into coming on here and killing anyone, or acting like I could do their jobs any better than they can. But I have to admit, that this is going to be a blog where I take a company to task.

As all of you know, I am a WWE guy, always have been (and maybe always will be), but that does not mean that I can’t enjoy the other companies out there. You can tell from last week’s blog, that I am anxiously awaiting Ring of Honor becoming a big time player and getting on TV every week. I love the business, and think that having more companies on TV, so we the fans can see who these guys are, is nothing but good for the business. That being said though, I have to be honest about how I feel about what is going on with the WWE’s chief rival (at least they are right now) TNA.

If you have been watching TNA for the last 3 or 4 months or so, you have noticed that TNA wrestling on spike on Thursday nights, has changed their name, and are going by the name Impact wrestling. One of their main slogans is “Impact wrestling, where wrestling matters”. If wrestling matters in TNA, there are a few things that don’t make sense to me.

TNA says wrestling matters. To me that means that I should turn to TNA and see nothing but wrestling, maybe a little set up, but a lot more wrestling. Well whenever I tune in to Impact wrestling, the very 1st thing I see is someone in the ring cutting a promo. And not just some quick promo, but a 10-15 minute promo. I totally understand what is going on. They are setting up their show, trying to make sure the audience knows what is coming up later on in the show. I get that. What I don’t get is why is a company that is saying wrestling matters is doing this. There was a video of Mr. Anderson saying that he is not an entertainer, he is a wrestler. He did not want to be more of an entertainer, than a wrestler. But right after that video, he was involve in doing a set up for his upcoming World title match against Sting, that to me, would qualify as sports entertainment, and not wrestling.

Another thing I think TNA is missing the boat on, is the X division. That is a division in TNA where the wrestlers have no limits. They are not just the smaller wrestlers. Some of you would remember the cruiserweight division from WWE or WCW, though the smaller wrestlers are the guys who mainly fight there. But this division is supposed to be the backbone of TNA. For a long time in WWE it was known that the Intercontinental champion was the best wrestler in the company. They guy who could have a great match with anyone. Well in TNA, the X division champion is pretty much the same. There have been plenty of former X division champions, who have gone on to win the World title. Unfortunately, the X division has been almost wiped out. No one is paying attention to it anymore. Even though I watch TNA, I can’t tell you who the top X division contenders are. I know who the champ is, but that is only because he recently won it. If not for that, I couldn’t tell you who it was.

One thing I think they really have messed up is one of the most influential figures in this business. This man has done just about everything one can do in this business. He has shaped the lives of many of the guys in his locker room, and many of us fans have watched him for a long time. But I have no earthly idea what they are doing with him now. The person I am referring to is the TNA world heavyweight champion, Sting. Sting has always been a guy who has face paint, and seemed a little weird and a little off. But now, it seems like he has lost it. Sting now has changed his face paint to look like Heath Ledger’s Joker from the “Dark Knight” movie. And if that didn’t seem weird, he has been acting a little bit off. He has tied up, and kidnapped people. He has done a lot of strange thing. This would not be so bad if he was anyone else, but because he is Sting, a seasoned vet whose character has been over for decades, I just don’t understand what exactly the purpose behind this is.

All of this being said, I know exactly why TNA is doing this. They are going right at the big dog. Their slogan “Where wrestling matters”, is a direct shot at the WWE. And in some aspects, that is great. It is great to see a company that does not rely solely on the entertainment factor of wrestling, but puts stock in the wrestling. But if you keep saying that wrestling matter, shouldn’t there be more wrestling? Shouldn’t you make sure that your audience is given what they were promised? A wrestling show that is far beyond anything else on TV, because on your production “Wrestling Matters”.

AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LLLIIINNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm Back!!!!!!!!

Hello All

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to do a blog. I have been very busy in my personal life and have not had time to watch wrestling as much as I would have liked to, thus I haven’t had anything to write about. But I am back and ready to write.

Today I would like to dedicate my blog a very loyal follower, and his mother. About a year ago, the host of the “Score Atlanta Sunday Sports Show” Fletcher Proctor started letting me come on his show to ask me questions about my blog. Since then he has become a great follower of this blog. Anyway, one week as I was walking into the station, Fletcher came up to me and gave me this newspaper clip. The clip came from his mother. His mom, who has been listening to his show, heard the segment I was on and sent the clip for me. The clip was about a wrestling promotion called ROH, Ring of Honor. And today I will write my blog letting all of you know about Ring of Honor.

Ring of Honor is a wrestling promotion in the U.S. It started back in 2002, just like TNA. Unlike TNA they don’t seem to be trying to compete with WWE. They started off very small. Like TNA, they did monthly, not weekly shows. Unlike TNA, they were not doing them on pay per view, but they were selling DVDs. In their first year they did 10 shows, with the 1st main event being between Eddie Guerrero, and Super Krazy. They started out in the northeast only, doing shows out of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York.

A lot of wrestlers, whom you know from the major promotions, have started here in Ring of Honor. I think the most famous of all is the current (and to me only) WWE champion, CM Punk. But there are plenty of other well-known wrestlers who started at ROH. Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles, who are both in TNA, started off in ROH. In fact they were doing cross-promotional work until the company severed ties in 2004. Kaval and Daniel Bryan who were both on WWE’s NXT both started out in ROH.

Ring of Honor started off as a different option for wrestling fans. What sets them apart from other promotions……..they have rules that are totally different than anything we have ever known as wrestling fans. They have a code of honor. The code is #1 you must shake hands before the match. #2 No outside interference. #3 No sneak attacks. #4 No harming officials. #5 any action resulting in a disqualification is a violation of the code.

ROH is getting ready to start competing with the big boys. They recently signed a deal with the Sinclair Broadcasting Group to start showing their promotion on network television, on CW, and MyNetwork affiliates. They are already the 3rd biggest promotion in the country, but they are trying to make their way up to the top of the ladder.

With ROH about to make a big splash on a national scene, I can’t wait to see what happens. As much as I love WWE (I think you all know that), I can’t wait to see ROH on TV. They have launched the careers of a lot of the guys I watch and respect on the big shows. Now we will be able to see them stay at ROH and become big stars.

AND THATS THE BOTTOM LLLLLLIIINNNNNNNNEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!