Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Reading Between The Ropes. Much like I’ve done with every other draft pick to date, it’s time for RBTR to give you the low-down on just what the latest trade means for both rosters. In addition, like with a couple of the previous draft columns, I will also discuss the major talking points of this past week in wrestling.
Before I discuss just what Carlito’s move to Raw means for both Raw and Smackdown!, and the implications of his shocking Intercontinental Title win, I think there is only one place I can begin. This, of course, being the Edge and Lita wedding this past week on Raw. Much like many of you, I was hardly thrilled about seeing another wedding on WWE TV, much less a wedding between two people who are shrouded in controversy and making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Let it be known that despite my calm suggestion that the firing of Matt Hardy was very unwise in a previous RBTR and Swerve (and I mean calm as I made a conscious effort to avoid turning my argument in to a rant) I was never one of those that cried with outrage when Edge and Lita were paired together.
The way I saw it, the wrong doing was in the actions of Edge and Lita themselves, but once said atrocity had been committed pairing them was pretty much a no-brainer. It simply made two headaches in to one larger one. You know, you see those debt problem solving agencies on your television and they tell you how they can rearrange your repayments in to one manageable monthly repayment. Well, there’s a reason said companies do that. It’s because one repayment is a lot easier to handle. It’s a very tenuous analogy, I know, but in the summer heat outside on a laptop, it’s the best this writer could come up with at time of writing.
So, Lita and Edge being paired together was not the most unwise move the WWE made once the duo had committed their unwise act. However, what we saw last Monday during the wedding on Raw was despicable. Pairing the duo together could be construed as the WWE making the best out of a tricky situation. On Monday… well, that was simply rubbing our faces in it.
They did more than turn a real life crime in to an angle. Monday they mocked said crime. They laughed at it. They used it for personal kicks. If the WWE had no choice but to pair Lita and Edge together once this whole ordeal came to light, then they certainly had a choice not to rub Matt Hardy and his fans’ faces in it on Monday night.
We must also note the reaction of the fans once Hardy’s music kicked in. It was one of the biggest pops you’ll hear on a televised show and it had many, this writer included, jumping up and down screaming with delight. However, the cruel reality soon kicked in as we realised that this was nothing more than the WWE taking the piss. This was them making fun of all of us but, perhaps most reprehensibly, making fun of Matt Hardy himself.
Imagine yourself as a mark who is not aware of the on-goings of this whole messy situation. Sure, he thinks, Lita screwed Kane because she likes Edge. Simple enough. He can accept Edge and Lita being together based on the logic that both are heinous individuals who are in love. So, putting yourself in his shoes, why on earth are we seeing a video package for Matt Hardy during their wedding? Why is Edge mocking Matt Hardy? In a wrestling world where memory has about as much use as an inflatable dart board, simply suggesting the reason is because Hardy and Lita were once an item is not good enough, especially when you can use the same memory to jog back even shorter in time to a period where Kane was the evil villain who forced Lita to marry him.
Make no mistake about it, I’m a realist. I realise most fans are aware of the IWC and are up to date on all the on-goings (or as much to date as your average web-surfer can be) but it would be a mistake to perceive my argument as one centred around marks. I simply use them as an example to show the difference between what the WWE has been doing with Edge and Lita before Monday night, and what they did on Monday night itself. On Monday they over-stepped the mark.
Gone is the argument that the WWE had no choice but to use this real life situation to make matters easier for them on screen. Rather the WWE doing as much as they can to calm this messy situation, it seems they have actually gone out of their way to cause an even greater stir by using this tragedy for personal amusement.
To those who say Monday’s stunt was used to enhance the drama of the wedding, I call bullshit. The stunt didn’t please anyone except the most cold-hearted or ignorant fan to this horrible situation. It caused uproar. It got the fans hopes up, and then let them down with a cruel pinch of reality. It’s the equivalent of advertising a top star at an event, then pulling him from the show once the tickets have been bought. The fans bought their ticket when they heard Hardy’s theme, yet the WWE cruelly yanked him from the show and mocked the fact that he wouldn’t be there, laughing at fans in the process.
The WWE teased the fans on a sensitive subject that they KNOW is still fresh in the minds of many. Vince and his writers KNOW just how much fans want Hardy back, and pulling a stunt like that on Monday endeared them to just about nobody.
Yet the second the music hit, I thought to myself that perhaps this has all been the greatest work in the history of the business? My mind wandered further: ‘If not a work, it certainly spices up things with Hardy back.’ Yet after the cruel reality of it all began to set in, you still cannot help but live in hope that this injustice will not be righted (it can never be undone), but will at least make an effort to give one man, whether in the form of a job, a girl or a moral victory, some form of solace.
A lengthy debate, indeed, but one that needed to be discussed. But what of our newest Raw employee? Well, Carlito, much like he did on his first night on Smackdown!, certainly made more than a big impact on his first night on Raw. I thought that Bischoff was going to announce the match for Vengeance, so seeing him make the match right there and then on Raw between Shelton and Carlito was a surprise.
I thought Carlito may escape unscathed (i.e. without a loss) but perhaps without the title as well, leading to a rematch at Vengeance. However, seeing him end Shelton’s LONG IC Title reign was a shock. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of the decision but as it began to sink in, I was more and more pleased.
Firstly, I’m a big fan of Carlito, and if he was buried in his first match on Raw then he would be paddling upstream from day one. Carlito has the skills both in and out of the ring to make it as a star and he strikes me as someone who could benefit from a title reign to establish himself further.
There are some stars that seem to relish and revel in the glory of being a champion, and Carlito seems the kind of person that suits having a belt around his shoulder. Some guys do, you know what I mean? Having said that, Carlito still has much to prove. He’s been given a massive opportunity here, and one that I hope and believe he will take. However, with a big belt comes big responsibilities (Spiderman!!!) and he now has to bring enough to the title to warrant such a brave move by the higher-ups. His first tes? Vengeance, and a rematch with Shelton. If he loses the rematch then this whole victory seems pointless, and it would be like giving the guy the ball and not allowing him to run with it. I hope they keep the belt on Carlito at Venegance.
So, what does this move mean for both rosters? Well, I talked about Smackdown! not needing to lose any more big names. I think they’ve done okay here. Yes, they’velost a big talent for the future, but he is yet to be a talent that has been relied upon by Smackdown! on the big stage. Carlito, as good as I think he can be, is far from a big name.
The rot had to be stopped for Smackdown!, and they might have done just that this week. I say might because their situation is not fully revealed until the latets draft pick on the Smackdown! roster is revealed. If this person is a high-profile, big name talent then they have certainly made strides towards levelling the playing field. If this name is in the same category as Carlito (that being promising star who has yet to prove himself) then they find themselves in an even more desperate situation than they did before.
So, right now I like Carlito’s move to Raw, and I like his title win. However, that could all change by Vengeance should he lose the title right back to Shelton, rendering this whole booking pointless, or it could change as early early as Thursday night when the next draft pick is revealed. Smackdown! needs to gain something on Raw here. Carlito’s good, but his move certainly opens up the door for Smackdown! to bolster their star power with a significant trade.
Until next time,
Mitchell L. Gadd
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