Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Reading Between The Ropes. It's been just over a week since my last column as I've just got back from sunny Maguluuf with the boys. It was an excellent holiday and full of great stories. Anyway, I don't know if anyone else is in the same boat, but it seems that after coming back from holiday I always tend to be in one of those deep, reflective, philosophical moods where I contemplate life, etc. while listening to mellow songs. Hmmm, maybe it's just me, but it's not the first time a return from abroad has done that.
Coming home to rain, god I miss holiday already.
A few random titbits before I speak about today's column. First off the terrible attacks on London today have got me extremely angry and very upset. Hardly the most natural of emotions to blend together, but such heinous acts really makes your blood boil, and your heart weep for the families who lost loved ones. I won't say much more on this because this is, after all, a wrestling column, but my views on religion, and certain religious movements, are hardly favourable right now. I think our country is far too liberal and it's about time people paid for these actions with tougher lines on the home front. If it means stopping all immigrants coming in, then so be it. When allowing religious fanatics to come in to our country is at the expense of the safety of innocent people (because this "political statement" didn't see the blowing up of the House of Commons, did it now? It saw the blowing up of tubes and buses filled with poor people trying to make a living) then something needs to be done. I'll say no more.
On the brighter side, Live 8 was such a success, and I hope the message has got through to the G8 leaders. Bob Geldoff worked his socks off to organise that, going without sleep for days. It was truly a great day, and the greatest thing ever organised.
Today's column is a completely mixed bag. That stems purely from the fact that I've been away for a week, and lots of things have gone down during that time, and since I've come back. So, this column is about many things and will be laid out in a simplistic format that ties in with the title of this column. So, with a lot to get through, let's begin the discussion.
Drafts
Big Show over to Raw is a questionable move. I think he had found a nice spot on the Smackdown! roster, and it was his move from Raw to Smackdown! a couple of years ago that rejuvenated his career. Perhaps his spot on Smackdown! was becoming stale and his status beginning to fade. Perhaps WWE officials believe this move back to Raw will do the same for Show again. I'm a little sceptical. I think Smackdown! had a roster that was a little more complimentary to Show. It wasn't the strongest of rosters, so Show was definitely a valuable member of their upper-tier wrestlers. I think he'll find it less easy on Raw to be in the bigger matches. Right now there aren't many feuds that come to mind that would seem apt for Show to engage in on Raw. No one's really crying out for Show to get involved with in a feud. Time will tell, I guess.
RVD's move to Raw is a good one. I think the live nature of Raw is something of a selling point because the WWE could easily market Van Dam as the unpredictable guy who will do and say anything (especially after the ECW PPV). I think the WWE needs to build on the ECW PPV comments he made, and the reaction fans have given it. I think once he comes back an IC feud with Carlito is already set up, but I'd like to see Van Dam go a step further and really wreck havoc on a few of the guys who are slighter higher up the card. I think the WWE would be foolish not to use the hype surrounding his recent comments to make him in to a bigger star with a greater vocabulary than "cool" and "swell".
Christian to Smackdown! came as no surprise. It's a shame that he didn't get to face Cena in a one-on-one match since there was definitely money to be made in a singles PPV match between the two. I think he can definitely make a main event push over on Smackdown! and there's definitely one or two feuds over there for him. Not many, but a couple. Smackdown! could use one or two mid-card faces for their US title scene, no doubt. This is the sort of move that could see Smackdown! redress the balance a bit. Especially if Smackdown! allow Christian to run with the ball, so to speak. I'm just concerned that other than Benoit and one or two minor feuds, there aren't too many feuds awaiting this man on Smackdown!.
Batista moving over wasn't a surprise either. Smackdown! needed one of the two champions on Raw to make the move, and with Hunter always likely to stay on Raw and making a point of mentioning that after HIAC his feud with Batista was done, then it became more and more likely that Batista would be the one to make the switch. I think Smackdown! could be good for Batista. I'm not the biggest Batista fan, but with the gimmick matches frequent on Smackdown! PPVs, he and JBL can definitely draw some money for the company. I'd like to see them take off from where the pre-Wrestlemania feuding left off. There was some good interaction between Evolution and the Cabinet, and the two could draw from that to engage in a decent feud over the summer.
I tihnk Smackdown! probably gained a little bit extra momentum from the final week of drafting. Love him or hate him, Batista has proved a popular draw for the company, and Christian is a solid hand. RVD has been off the Smackdown! screens for so long now that it won't really feel like the SD! brand has lost anyone, and the Big Show may have ran his course on the brand. Smackdown! is still weaker off with losing someone like Angle, but the trade didn't bury them like it looked like it would in the first few weeks.
Trades
Most of these have since been proven pretty pointless with the firings. It's swapping like for like, or swapping guys that moved last year with guys who also moved, meaning they're back where they were a year ago. Splitting up potential teams in an era where the WWE is short on tag teams is hardly a good idea. The Bashams and La Resistance are being moved about. It is beginning to look like MNM are the only tag team the WWE have. People like Dupree, Jindrak and others moved a year ago only to move back a year later. If the WWE wants to rebuild their cruiserweight division, sending Chavo Guerrero to Raw with a career-killer gimmick is hardly the way to go about.
Hirings
WWE go on a firing spree, yet hiring someone like Big Vito is just head-scratching. Surely he'll end up on next year's cut list. WWE will no doubt hire several "talents" from the Diva Search contest, only to get rid of them within a year, too. It seems all of these firings are only to make room for similar people. Like-for-like, if you will. Again, if you're going to rebuild your cruiserweight division, lumping all your new signings in one stable that ultimately restricts the level of competition is not the way to go about it.
Except Brock Lesnar, of course. I find it insane that the WWE is parading this around on WWE.com when this could have surely been delivered as a massive shock at a PPV. They should have kept this completely under wraps. Unless, of course, this is all some swerve of Internet fans so they can pull some bait and switch job. I have no idea why they'd do that, though, so I'm pretty sure this is legit.
Firings
Once again, if you're going to rebuild your cruiserweight division then firing top talents like Akio and especially Billy Kidman (!!!) is not the way to go about it. So, the WWE sit down and discuss a complete rejuvenation of their cruiserweight division. What shall we do, they say? "I know! Let’s lump all our signings in one stable so we effectively negate all possibility of matches between all these new signings, move one of the best cruiserweights in the world over to the other brand so he can't compete in the division anymore, and fire the rest of our cruiserweight roster." Bravo. Bravo.
Releasing a talent like Haas must have been a kick in the teeth for the guy. He has heaps of talent and potential, yet he gets cut to make way for worse guys, divas, and possibly a man who turned his back on wrestling and stuck his finger up to the business.
Kidman was the firing that angered me most. I think the guy is multi-talented, but no doubt he lost his spark a while ago. I don't blame him, though. Maven was also someone I thought had some potential for the future, but he's gone as well.
I don't understand why the WWE would trade people like Jindrak and Suzuki, and then fire them days later. It renders all the "excitement" of an 11-man trade pointless. The WWE have a very weak tag team division as it is, but the trades hurt that, and the firings mortally wounded it. The Dudleyz were one of the few legit tag teams the WWE had, but they're gone. La Resistance has been split up, and will possibly lose some members through the firings reportedly still to finish. The Bashams have been split up in the trades and could likely be fired. Haas is gone, so Haas and Holly are no more. MNM really are the only tag team on Smackdown!, while Raw has Rosey and the Hurricane and The Heartthrobs... wow! All the useless divas are being fired, but are no doubt going to be replaced by this year's contestants. I ask you, what is the point? Jannetty is gone already, so why hire him in the first place. The WWE really do make some head-scratching decisions sometimes... often... frequently.
Supposedly the WWE has about 8-10 more guys/women to release before they are done. Look for guys like the Bashams, Val Venis (god, I hope not), Tajiri, Funaki and a few others toers to see their jobs in serious danger as well.
Until next time,
Mitchell L. Gadd
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