No New Era

Hello All

This week we continue the count down to the Grand Daddy of all wrestling events, Wrestlemania. As you know, this year Wrestlemania will take place in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta Ga. This will be the very first time that the biggest event in sports entertainment will be in Atlanta. And since I live in Atlanta, I will be attending my very 1st Wrestlemania.

We normally look at Wrestlemania to see who will be the next main guy. Back in Mania 20 John Cena was the opening match, but he got a hugh pop (cheers from the crowd), won the match, and a year later, won the WWE Championship. In Mania 13, the previously mentioned Stone Cold Steve Austin was in the match of that year, and a year later he went on to win the WWE Championship. Even going all the way back to Mania 10, where Shawn Michaels participated in the 1st ladder match at Mania, and later on became Mr. Wrestlemania. So we see that Wrestlemania is supposed to be the start of careers. It is supposed to be when we see the new stars shine. But from the way this year’s Wrestlemania is shaping up, I don’t really see anything new.

Let’s start with the smallest problem……..the Smackdown Main Event. Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio, for the World Heavyweight Championship. Now don’t get me wrong, I am happy to see some new blood in the main event. Del Rio is the Royal Rumble winner, and has an automatic title shot. He chooses to go after the World Title. But my problem is his opponent. Edge is in the Main Event for the 4th year in a row. He is a 10 time world champion, a rumble winner, and a King of the Ring winner. I would have liked to see someone else in this position since we have seen Edge in this spot already. Good for Del Rio, bad for Edge.

Next we will go to the Raw Main event, for the WWE Championship. You have the Champion, Miz vs. ……….wait for it………….wait for it……..John Cena. “Again”? You ask, yes again. I don’t get it, but for some odd reason Cena is in the main event again, for the (get this) 7th straight year. Besting Hulk Hogan, and Triple H’s Record of 5 straight years in the main event. Cena is a 9 time champion and a rumble winner also. I know Cena is a big draw, both in WWE and outside of it. He is a movie star, TV star, and has made a cd, but why can’t we come up with a new person for Wrestlemania. The Miz is a new champion for main event, but can’t we find a new person to put with him. Is WWE afraid the Miz can’t carry a mania main event by himself? If that is the case, then why does he have the Championship?

And last but not least, Triple H and the Undertaker both made their returns on Monday Night RAW. And they both made it seem that they were going to have a match at Wrestlemania. I don’t know if anyone remembers, but they have already fought at mania. Though it was a good match I don’t care to see them fight again. Is there no one else that the Undertaker can put his streak up against at Wrestlemania? We know that he will win; he has a win streak at mania that goes up to 18 manias. So we know Triple H won’t beat him. And if he does, then shame on Triple H. Triple H is the executive senior advisor with the WWE. He has an office at WWE headquarters. I think it would be shameful for him to put himself in a match with the Undertaker, for the sole purpose of ending his streak. Not that I think the streak is that big of a deal, but I think it is in bad form for someone who has an office in Connecticut.

I am looking very forward to Wrestlemania, but I wish there was a little variety in the main event matches.

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And the Winner is....................................

Tonight is the final major stop on the Road to Wrestlemania (unless something happens within the next month that I’m not considering major), the Elimination Chamber Pay per view.



And if you heard me on the “Score Atlanta Sports Sunday” show, on 790am the zone, in Atlanta, then you know what tonight’s blog is going to be about: Predictions.



In the past few weeks I have been giving my opinions about what I thought would happen to get us to this event. I have not been right a lot (as a matter of fact, it was brought to my attention, that I was 6-6 at the Royal Rumble), but I do think being this close to Wrestlemania, it will be a little easier to give a more accurate prediction about what will happen tonight, and how it will lead us in to Mania.



First I will get all of the other matches out of the way, then we will get to the matches that this event is named after. The WWE tag team championship is on the line when Santino Marella and Vladamir Kozlov defend their titles against the men they beat for the titles, former Nexus members, and current members of the new Smackdown faction ,“Core”, Heath Slater, and Justin Gabriel. Santino is SOOOOOO over with the fans right now, not for his wrestling, but he is so entertaining on the mic that we all love him. With that being said, I don’t think they drop the titles tonight. Not yet, soon, but not yet. I’m going with Santino and Kozlov.



Next we have the Intercontinental Championship Match: Kofi Kingston, the Champion, versus Alberto Del Rio: the Royal Rumble winner. I think both of these young lions are getting ready for superstardom for many years to come. Del Rio is going to headline Mania. With that being said I don’t see him winning this title. Not just yet. If he loses at Mania, then I could see them grooming him with the IC title. But that being said I will take Kofi.



The WWE Championship: The Miz, the Champ, versus Jerry “The King” Lawler. If you guys read my earlier blog (which I hope you did), you know what I think the outcome of this match will be. But you may be wrong. Let me make something clear. I don’t think it would be a bad thing if Lawler wins the title. I think it would be a great compliment to him, for all of his years as a wrestler, not just his years as an announcer. I think it would be a great testament to him to have him in the main event at Wrestlemania. I just don’t see it happening. So with that said the Miz advances to the Mania Main Event.



Now who will the Miz face? The Raw Elimination Chamber Match is next. John Cena, John Morrison, Randy Orton, Sheamus, R-Truth, and C. M. Punk, will all be locked in a cage like structure. The only person I can’t see headlining Mania is Truth. I think Orton and Punk could have an epic battle at Mania, so they are out. I think Triple H will make an appearance tonight to get back at Sheamus, and they will have their Mania rematch. And maybe Cena will take on the Rock (maybe), so that just leaves Morrison to take on his old tag team partner, the Miz, at Wrestlemania, for the WWE Championship.



Finally, the Smackdown Chamber Match. This match is for the World Heavyweight Championship: Edge, the champ, Kane, Rey Mysterio, Wade Barrett, Drew McIntyre, and a mystery opponent. Not knowing who the mystery opponent could be, I will not bring them in to this. The Undertaker will be coming back soon, and I think he will take on Kane, at Mania, so he will not win. Barrett and McIntyre are young, and they are close to being ready, but their time is not now. So that leaves Edge and Rey. They have built up both of these guys against Del Rio, and I honestly could see both of those guys headlining Mania. But I will take Edge to go to Mania, and Face Del Rio.



I know my last predictions were very questionable. Maybe these will be too, but that is why we watch and love pro wrestling.


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This is not a dream!

Hello All



Today I am going to write a blog about a performer who I would like all of you to pay attention to.



I told you all how good the Miz was, and not too long after that, Miz won the WWE championship. I say that to let you know, I have an eye for talent. Today we will be talking about “Dashing” Cody Rhodes.



Now I know what some of you may say, “Why are you talking about Cody? He is the son of former World Champion, and Hall of Famer, Dusty Rhodes. He doesn’t need you to highlight him in your blog”. That may be true, but I like to bring light to wrestlers I feel are either ready for superstardom, or I feel are being over looked.



Though Cody is the son of the “American Dream”, he has not used that as a stepping stone to get a big push in the business. He was a wrestler in high school. His junior and senior years, he won the state wrestling championship. Not long after his graduation, he turned pro.



He started off in Ohio Valley, the WWE’s minor leagues. There he worked very hard, and became a tag team champion within months of joining. Shortly after that, he won the OVW TV championship, then the OVW championship.



One year after starting in OVW, Cody went to WWE. There he started out as a decent mid-card wrestler. Not good, but not so bad that you didn’t think he would be good one day. He started out working as a singles wrestler, but he was not making any impact. So in the summer of ’07 he began to feud with Hardcore Holly. Though he never beat Holly, he earned his respect by fighting him tooth and nail, and the two formed a tag team.



As a tag team, they went on and won the tag team titles. And in a great move for his career, Cody turned on his own partner, and partnered up with Ted Dibiase. They were champs for a few months, and caught the eye of a star that was headed for superstar status. They latched on and formed Legacy.



In legacy he and Dibiase had some very big tag team matches, but you really didn’t pay attention to him because you only thought of him as a tag team. Then it was time for legacy to break away from each other.



In 2010 legacy turned on the leader (Randy Orton), and Cody was drafted to Smackdown. On Smackdown, Cody developed this new gimmick that I wasn’t cool with originally, but I have noticed that it is growing on me. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes was born. The gimmick is that he is so good looking he is Dashing. And because he is so dashing, he will do whatever it takes not to mess up his face.



Rhodes has been paying his dues since he came into to WWE and I think he looks like he could be the next young headliner. And he’s not trying to do it by being another American Dream, but by being Dashing.

The King has left the building!

Hello Everyone

The “Road to Wrestlemania” is starting to shape out very well. We have a winner of the Royal Rumble, a number 1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship, and we have a pay per view starting to take shape for the next month: The Elimination Chamber.

Speaking of the Chamber pay per view, as much as I enjoyed Raw this past Monday, I have to say there was one thing that I was very disappointed in. If you heard me on the “Score Atlanta Sunday Scoreboard Show”, I started to talk about it, but I wanted to save it for this blog. I HATE THE FACT THAT JERRY LAWLER IS THE #1 CONTENDER FOR THE WWE CHAMPIONSHIP.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Jerry Lawler. He is a legend. He was around in the 70s and 80s back when there were territories. Back before WWE monopolized the entire world of pro wrestling, there were a number of territories in the United States. Jerry wrestled in a big territory in Tennessee, the USWA. He won the AWA World Championship, and he unified that title with the WCCW title. After that, the USWA became a big promotion, competing with WWE (then WWF), and WCW (then Jim Crockett Promotions). He later became the biggest star in the USWA, winning their World Championship 26 times. Then he moved to WWE, wrestled a little bit, and has since become a great announcer and a Hall of Famer.

With that said, my problem with this has nothing at all to do with Lawler. My problem is, with Jerry being the #1 contender, those of us who do not have our heads in the clouds know that there is no way Jerry will win the WWE title at Elimination Chamber.

Lawler is 61 years old. In his own words, Jerry has been in the WWE since 1992, and has not had a shot at the WWE Championship. To me, there is a reason for that. Back when he was 42, riding up and down the roads and wrestling everyday, I could totally see him as the champion. It is 20 years later. There is no way, anyone will accept the fact that he could beat the Miz, and go on to Wrestlemania. If we the people could not see him as the champ, there is no way WWE would do that, and they are wasting our time. Do you think he will win? I sure don’t.

Now, I have been wrong before in these instances. I didn’t think Sheamus would beat John Cean for the title, but he did. I didn’t think Eddie Guerrero would beat Brock Lesnar, for the title, but he did. I didn’t think Kurt Angle would beat The Rock for the title, but he did.

But, I am afraid that this will work out in a bad way. No one ever thought David Arquette would win the WCW title, but he did. The fans did not accept it, and not long after that WCW went under. As much as I would love to see Jerry get his due in the WWE, I don’t think it is going to happen. And if it won’t happen, WWE, STOP WASTING MY TIME!

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The Road to Wrestlemanina beg

Tonight is the beginning. The road to Wrestlemania starts tonight! Tonight is the Royal Rumble.

The Rumble is a very unique pay per view in the WWE. It is a match where wrestlers enter the ring, and try to throw their opponent out, and have both of their feet hit the ground. The winner of this match gets to challenge for a championship at Wrestlemania.


The Royal Rumble event has always been very unpredictable. Even in the 1st match, which dates back to 1988. Back then, the match was not on pay per view, only had 20 participants, and did not reward the winner with an automatic title shot at Wrestlemania.


Now the event will have 40 participants and the winner will, most likely, go on to head line Wrestlemania. I have heard a few rumors about some people coming back to the WWE for the Rumble event, but since I know that some of you may read this before the event (since I am going to post it before the event), I will not spoil it for anyone.


I have been watching WWE for a while now, looking to see how everything is setting up for mania. Looking at the champions, and the contenders to see who is going to be the guy to step up, and be on the main stage at mania. And with all of that said I have a few predictions.


1. I know this one is very far fetched, because I just read this his return was being delayed some more, but here goes: Sheamus will run through most of the field in the rumble, then somewhere around 30-35, we here the guitar strum, and you heard the voice say “IT’S TIME TO PLAY THE GAME”! That’s right, Triple H makes his long awaited 2011 debuted, and he takes out Sheamus.


2. Sheamus will run wild through the field, and it will come down to him and John Morrison. Since Morrison is the face, he will win the Rumble. The Miz will defend the WWE Championship, and that will set up a Miz and Morrison title match at mania. I am sure with more than 2 months to promote it, WWE will come up with really big storylines between 2 young, charismatic superstars, who were tag-team champs. And this will be almost 2 years to the day, when on the Raw draft special, the Miz turned out his partner and started Morrison’s face turn.


3. Christian will win the Rumble match, and who will he face? You guessed it Edge. Captain Charisma, will take on his best friend, and his former tag team partner, on the Grandest Stage of them All. And if this is the case, I believe these two will tear the house down at Mania. Now I know this is a long shot, because I believe Christian is hurt and I don’t think he will be in the match tonight.


4. This one is a long shot, but I could also see Edge losing the World Heavyweight Championship tonight, early, and then see him later on tonight in the Rumble match, and watch him win it and go back to Mania. Like I said in the beginning of this paragraph, this is a long shot, but I know Edge is a face now, but he made a big name for himself as the ultimate opportunist.


These are just a few of the things I think may happen. Now I will be honest with you, since 1999, I am 6-6 in my Royal Rumble predictions. WWE has done a great job lately setting up big drama before these matches. I am sure they will surprise us all tonight. Enjoy the Match!

Hello All

I am sorry for not writing a blog last week. I had some personal things going on and I didn’t have a chance to come up with a blog. Don’t worry though, I am refreshed, have watched all of my shows, and am ready for this blog.

I want to send a shout out to the “Score Atlanta Scoreboard Show”. From time to time, I go on that show, discuss some wrestling, and this blog. The main guy on that show is a wrestling fan, and he likes to ask me question, and we discuss what is going on in wrestling. So with that said, I am going to take a topic from when that show a few weeks ago. What is happening with all of the black wrestlers?

Now I know that when you bring up the topic of race, people always tense up. They don’t want to ask the serious questions, especially when it comes to sports. We like to think sports is a level playing field and if you are good, the cream will always rise to the top, and you will find a way to be successful. But I hope we all know that that is not the case.

Back in the early days (70’s and 80’s) of pro wrestling, there were a lot of black pro wrestlers. Junkyard Dog, Koko Bee Ware, Butch Reed, Rocky Johnson, Bad News Brown. These guys achieved some success, but not to the same degree as their counterparts, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA. These men were all contemporaries, but the last set of wrestlers I named had multiple championship reigns, whereas the 1st group of men, never won more than tag team championships, and some didn’t even win that.

By the time the 90’s rolled around, we thought things were going to change. In 1992 the very 1st black heavyweight champion was crowned when Ron Simmons defeated Big Van Vader, to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. This was a huge deal, because we thought it was the start of a new era. An era where young black kids would be getting started in pro wrestling, because they had someone to look up to. But that never happened. Simmons held the title for 5 months, before dropping it to Vader, but after that he was never a contender for the title. He never got another shot.

At the end of the 90s, there was a little bit of hope. There a young man who was so electrifying, that he could not be stopped. I am talking about the Rock. The Rock went on to become one of the most entertaining performers of all time. Rock won his 1st title in 1999, and was a fixture in the title scene till he left the WWE to become a movie star, in 2003.

The decade of the 2000s started with more progress. Booker T won the WCW Title 4 times before the company closed in 2001. Now I know there were monkeys running that company in the end of it, but still, he was their champion, and that can never be taken away from him. And just to show that he was a great wrestler, he won the World Title, in the WWE in 2006.

But since then there have been no Black Champions in a major promotion that can be seen on TV. I know some of you are saying, “Didn’t R-Truth wins the Title in TNA”? Yes he did, but the last time he held that belt was 2004. TNA was not on TV then. Main stream America probably doesn’t even know he was champion.

And with the lack of push that Shelton Benjamin has gotten from WWE, it does not seem like there will be a Black Champion coming anytime soon.

With the rich heritage of Black Wrestling in this great business, I hope there will continue to be black wrestlers becoming champion in major wrestling organizations.

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Multiply and Conquer

With all of the success that “The Nexus” is having right now, I wanted to discuss factions. Factions are small groups within bigger organizations.

There have been a lot of factions to come along since the 80s. But today I am going to go in depth about what makes a good faction by using some of the best, and showing their strengths and weakness.

The wrestling faction has been around for years. But they did not become big until the mid-80s. That was when the 4-horsemen debuted.

Throughout the 80s, the biggest wrestler in the land was Ric Flair, who was a multi time World Champion. He was traveling all over the world defending the NWA world title, back when the champ would do that. He was a very accomplished wrestler, being able to keep the title all on his own. But when he and Ole and Arn Anderson, started working together in tag team matches, you could see the chemistry was developing between them. After befriending Telly Blanchard, the group was up and running. All they needed was a name. So one night on WCW (not the company, but the name of the show, back in the 80s) Arn said that they were the 4-horsemen of pro wrestling. What made the horsemen work was the fact that all four were great wrestlers. They had the champ as their anchor and they did everything needed to keep that title. It made fans hate them, which made them seem greater. You always watched to see if someone could beat them, and put them out of commission. What did not work for them, was when Ole, and Telly left, and they had to get other members in the group who did not fit the mold of the originals. That is one way a faction will runs its course.

There were a few other factions to come by after the horsemen. The Dangerous Alliance, the York Foundation, The Dudes with Attitudes, The Fabulous Free birds, The Heenan Family, all factions in the late 80s and early 90s. But none of them were able to stick around and make a name for themselves. That is until this one group came around called the NWO.

The NWO was a group that was started by Eric Bischoff, back when he was going toe to toe with the WWE. He needed to do something to change wrestling, and to make the WWE fans, come over to WCW. So he signed 3 major WWE former wrestlers. 1st he signed Hulk Hogan, who “retired” from wrestling. Then he signed Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. Hall and Nash came in as heels (bad guys), and kept saying they were working with someone else. Later on the wrestling world was shocked to find out that it was Hulk Hogan, who was the biggest face (good guy) of the entire 80s and much of the 90s. Hulk Hogan said in his 1st interview that they were the New World Order of professional wrestling. The NWO did a lot of good things. Every week you had to watch to see what they would do, and who they would convert to their side. The down side was maybe they went on too long. They went on so long, in fact that their faction broke into two sub-factions. One was face, and the other was heel. They had many incarnations from their beginning in 96 to the end of WCW in 2001. And even behind the scenes this faction was not good for the business. Hogan and Nash at the forefront of this faction was no good. Both men have been notorious for playing back stage politics to get themselves the main event push. Nash was even the booker (the person who decides the outcome) for WCW when he won his 1st title. And in doing so, he ended Bill Goldberg’s historic title run. To make matters worse, Nash booked the ending where he dropped the title to Hogan, after a finger poke (yes you read that correctly).

Of course after the beginning of the NWO, WWE came back with D-generation X, which basically was 2 real life best friends (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) hanging out with each other on screen instead of just back stage. WWE also had the Nation of Domination, The Corporation, the Ministry of Darkness (the latter 2 became one later on), and a few others sprinkled here and there throughout the 90s and 2000s. Now we get to a faction I really think worked. In TNA in 2008 Kurt Angle gathered Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Booker T, and Sting, and formed a group called the Main Event Mafia. The whole purpose of the group was that they were all Champions at one point or another, and they did not feel they were getting the respect of the younger guys in the business, and they were going to join together and show the young guys how it was done. Again this faction started around the world title. And, although the fans never turned against Sting, the rest of the guys were heels. They fought to keep the title in their grasp, and they upset the wrestlers and fans when they cheated for each other. Their down fall came from the fact that these guys are all older. Most of them are not even in TNA anymore. But when they were around, they were great for wrestling.

So Nexus you have a lot to learn if you want to be like these legendary factions I have focused on. You are on the right track. Keep up the good work, and maybe you will be there.


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