United States Champion Is SO Epic

I could have either taken this time to talk about Kofi Kingston, Kane, or Sheamus, instead of the guy I am going to talk about now. All of these guys used to be pretty relevant and well pushed at one time. Now what?

Daniel Bryan is the United States Champion. He is the golden one for internet fans and fans of straight wrestling. I will never hide that I really don't like the guy that much. Nevertheless, I will not say he is a poor wrestler. He can put on a great match. WWE gave him special attention since NXT1. Releasing him for supposedly choking a guy with a tie made him a legend. He won the title since all that after his epic return.

Now? The man he won the title from just destroyed him tonight. The Miz used him as fodder to make a statement. What's worse? Daniel Bryan got a mediocre reaction when he came out. That is probably giving the reaction more credit than it is due. No one really cared. What happened to that annoying guy in the audience that would make that groaning "Daniel Bryan" chant? He's back! Where's that violence he was released for? WWE has tamed him with crappy diva angles and not giving him enough worthy opponents and good match time recently. Daniel Bryan's overness is damaged.

Does the WWE care? I doubt it. They now have a credible midcard jobber. I don't think the match, if they are going there, is even worth it. In any case, my point is simply that Daniel Bryan fans should be wondering what they had asked for. Oh, but I am sure he is just "paying his dues", right?

Different Person, Different Date, Same Idea

TNA ran a video at the end of Impact to tease a return for next week. Because it was taped already, everyone should know it is...if you hate spoilers, you are going to hate me...Sting.

The video was in the same style as WWE's promos for Taker's recent return. I know that leads many fans to just laugh at how unoriginal TNA is. What's new? Many people, however, were hoping Sting would be the one coming to WWE a few days ago. They saw signs of Sting in those WWE videos, or at least the first one for sure. In a way, TNA is taking a shot at the WWE. Yes, an Undertaker promo hyping his return has been done many times before. He is a regular there. Yes, a Sting promo in TNA is not anything too spectacular either. He was used in TNA regularly up to just a few months ago. And while WWE may have gotten Nash and Booker T, two men who had competed there after their rise to fame before anyway, they could not get Sting. This would have been a huge deal. TNA is taking a shot at the WWE. End of the day, neither surprise is original, but it may be a moral victory for TNA.

And Returning On This Epic Day...

The promos that have been playing for weeks were indeed for The Undertaker. However, before he can even say a word about anything, Triple H's theme hit. Triple H did indeed make his return as well, boiling mad after his movie bombed this weekend.

These two at Wrestlemania? Not bad. They did take each other on many years ago at Wrestlemania, but the HBK aspect can bring some good dimension to the story build. They didn't say anything tonight, but it has to come up.

In terms of surprise value, was this a a little sad? After you got The Rock last week, Undertaker and Triple H is indeed a little less amazing, yes. But they had to come back sometime, so why not do it like this? As for Sting...oh well! As for Triple H coming back for Sheamus...Sheamus has his hands full losing to Mark Henry. Sheamus should just be thankful it isn't Goldust again. And Barrett? He will surely have a feud with Taker later on. Wrestlemania needs a hyped match like what the WWE seems to be planning, even though it was done before.

Elimination Chamber 2011 Thoughts

Starting with the tag titles, Corre now has some gold. Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater regained the tag titles. I have been wanting this for a while now, so I hope the WWE does not drop the ball with it. Don't just job them out to random teams. If nothing else, just have them stand around with the titles near Barrett and look cool.

The Raw title match is set. John Cena pulled it out to earn another title match at Wrestlemania. Miz is walking in with the title. Had to be Cena? Why not? That is the face of the company. At least Morrison looked good.

Smackdown. Edge retained. But the real wild card was the return of Christian. It would be great if he was added to the title match at Wrestlemania between Alberto Del Rio and Edge. Makes things more interesting. Del Rio defeated Kofi Kingston. I feel bad for Kofi. He still has his IC title, but what is it doing for him? Making him a credible target for other people to go over? Such an honor! In any case, Del Rio gets more momentum. I don't think he even needed the win. Just make it a DQ and have Del Rio still lay out Kofi in the end. Del Rio still looks strong and Kofi does not look like a straight loser. I doubt Wrestlemania will have a great moment for Kofi, but I do hope the rest of the year is good.

TNA's Poor Booking Of Mickie James

Is there a clause in the TNA contract of Mickie James that says she can never win at PPVs?

From the time Mickie came to TNA last year, they have beeen having her push the idea that she was out to make history my winning the Knockouts Championship. They give the title to heel Madison Rayne, who has Tara as a sidekick, and sets them up as a strong obstacle for Mickie James to overcome to reach her goal. Fine? Boring. But I'll get back to that.

They have Mickie fail at two PPVs to defeat Tara, then have her get the win in a cage match on Impact. They have Mickie fail at two PPVs to win the title from Madison Rayne. This too is fine. Look back at Lita's first path to the Women's Championship against Stephanie McMahon. She failed on the first two attempts to beat Stephanie. Tori cost her the match the first time. Kurt Angle laid out Ltia the second time. In the third run, which saw Lita win the title in the main event of Raw, Angle, Triple H, and The Rock himself were all involved in the match. Not only did the WWE raise the bar in terms of the roadblocks Stephanie was using against Lita, the rubs Lita got during this feud was just one of the advantages the WWE gave Lita to help connect her with the fans within just her first year in the WWE. This helped to get Lita very over.

Back to the future and down to TNA, they are prolonging giving Mickie the title. If they were actually building the stakes higher, I would see no problem in this. I love how the issues between Jarrett and Angle and between Bully Ray and Devon are being built up. Angle got brutally attacked by Jarrett at last months PPV. This month, Jarrett got a win against Angle in a match with interesting stakes. With Team 3D, Ray turned on Devon last year. Last month, Devon could not get proper revenge at Genesis. At Against All Odds, Devon had to watch his own sons get destroyed. The heels are looking strong. When they get what is coming to them, that can be a moment the crowd can really be built to appreciate. Moreover, this is all personal stuff that can get people talking. With Mickie and Madison, you have Mickie losing the same exact way at both PPVs. She is close to winning, Tara causes a distraction, Madison uses a foreign object to win. Unlike the situation with Lita and Stephanie, Mickie James is not getting rubs from main-eventers. More obstacles are not being put in her way. It is the same thing again and again. Unlike Lita in 2000, Mickie James in 2011 is already very over. She has connected with the fans through something that goes beyond booking and rubs and hype from the company for which she works. That does not mean I am going to say she does not deserve some of this stuff. Prolonging the feud like this is not helping Mickie James.

That was an understatement right there. TNA is not even pushing Mickie James every week. If TNA's booking of Mickie James injures her overness, I must congratulate them. They would have accomplished what the WWE could not do. You know what is really ironic? The WWE was trying to damage it, while TNA is actually the promotion who wants Mickie James.

The issue is not even just Mickie James. TNA is flopping all over the place with their women. The clearest example is Velvet Sky. Who is she supposed to be developing a feud with? Winter or Sarita? They are just moving across back and forth. Which are the fans supposed to connect with? Which are the little girls on Youtube supposed to make feud movies for? Which are the perverts supposed to be expecting when they get ready to exercise their left hand over? If the two feuds were somehow linked in an interesting way, I would not complain. They are not. And it should be possible to push to different knockouts feuds in one impact in some way. Who does TNA really want their fans to connect with? Mickie James? TBP? Sarita? Madison? Tara? End of the day, there is not one woman they are pushing consistently well. This hurts many of the knockouts from connecting with the fans, whether TNA wants to push them or not, and doesn't make fans of certain over women happy.

What would I do? Either give Mickie James the title already, keep it on Madison and push both women in separate directions, or, if the feud must continue, bring in more elements to make the moment really worth something for Mickie James. Right now, TNA is not helping Mickie's overness. I do not believe the payoff will bring that much more value than giving Mickie the title already would have done. Most importantly, I think they ruined the ability of this possible title change to really be a worthy draw that people want to see. It is getting stale. "Serious Woman Who Wants To Accomplish Something" Mickie James is fine and well for her first title hunt, but this is not the Mickie James TNA should be pushing after this current feud. The Mickie James that can really draw the fans to her is the one who can show her charisma and face women better than Madison Rayne. You need to give her more interesting storylines. If that means Mickie James can never win a title, I would not cry too much. The true goal is overness. If a wrestler is really over, people will want to see them. There you have entertainment. There you have a draw. Until TNA goes down this path, they are not using Mickie James correctly. Worse than that, they are killing Mickie's true accomplishments in pro wrestling.

And The Rock Is Back!

Well, what can I really say? The Rock has returned. Well played, WWE. He will host Wrestlemania. Big draw for a rather boring Wrestlemania that was shaping up.

Rising Corre

Big Show is being used as a credible jobber to make fresh, rising heels look good, but you already know that! Nothing too new for Big Show there. In this instance, an entire stable is benefiting from him.

Big Zeke is getting to show off his strength. I still don't care too much for this guy. Another muscle guy. I didn't know the WWE desperately needed another Lashley around.

Barrett, no matter how they want to sell it, is the leader figure around here. He gets more momentum and credibility as he heads into Elimination Chamber. He didn't look too horrible in the Royal Rumble either. I am not saying this guy is walking away with the title anytime soon, but they are building him in that direction better than they have some, like Sheamus.

Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. I've been wanting them to get back the titles for a while now. They seem to be closing in. The tag division will suck whether no matter who holds it, but I think the titles should be on a team with a little more respectability. Santino doesn't need it for his comedy act. And Kozlov? I have no idea what to say. Tag defenses have comprised mainly of Santilov losing against a team one week, then retaining against that team the next week. No storyline. No hyped build. It is down there with some Diva's Championship reigns. Horrible booking. Not very entertaining and does not add value to the titles, which is something I know a lot of people care about more than me. Let Corre hold some gold now.

My point is that Barrett's group still has great potential to it. Punk's Nexus seems like crap. If done correctly, Corre can be a true main-event stable. Will that screw over Del Rio, another rising heel? I hope not.

2 21 11 = Undertaker?

Based on new promos, it seems likely that The Undertaker really is the one returning in a few weeks. The promos do not look to be for Sting. A little disappointing. They always hype Taker's returns, he comes back with a bang, messes around for a while, gets injured or decides to take a break, and we never see him again until the next hype session or a volcano traps the Raw workers in some other continent. A swerve this time around would have been better. Swerve may still happen, but it looks likely that Taker will be involved.

This is Wrestlemania season. Have to have The Undertaker. He has missed the big event before, but his streak makes for a simple, yet also huge, draw. Let him feud with Barrett. Be a great way to build him up further. I honestly do not want to see Sting vs. Taker. Barrett vs. Taker has a story to it. Why did Barrett do what he did? Wrestlemania worthy question?

The End Of Melina

Let me first get the necessary stuff out of the way. I DON'T want to see Melina released or mistreated by the WWE. I DON'T hate Melina. This is just my prediction and speculation based on my analysis of what the WWE typically does and what is going on now.

Things do not look good for Melina. The WWE jobbed her rather easily to Natalya for the sake of allowing Natalya to have a successful title feud before shifting the title to another face. Melina is now back to Superstars duties. With Awesome Kong near, Natalya and Bellas possibly going heel, Eve still fresh, and Gail Kim not being so much of an afterthought anymore, not to mention Maryse possibly turning face and a host of potential NXT diva losers who can come on Raw, where does Melina fit in? She is not a priority for them. She has already put over McCool more than once by handing a title to her. The WWE can now start developing other credible diva jobbers.

What will happen to Melina? Release. Get her out of the way. However, if John Morrison has any swing, and the WWE does not want to upset him, they may keep Melina on. If the WWE is also afraid of TNA gaining more women, they may not release Melina. What will happen, however, is that Melina will become a lame duck, much like Victoria was for years before she "retired" from the WWE. The WWE will mistreat and not push her correctly, only using her to develop other divas and give focus when women they would rather push are injured or such. This option, obviously, does not take any grand analytical skills or fortune-telling powers to predict. As I said before, they are already pushing Melina in that direction.

For God's sake, if what I say does come to pass sometime this year, don't listen to the stupid crap dirtsheets will vomit up for this "shocking" development. As I said from the start, I do not want this to happen. Release or depush to insignificant status, neither are things I want for Melina. I just see certain signs.

Sting, Is That You?

Raw featured these cryptic vignettes to tease someone who will be coming 2/21/11. Sting? Undertaker? Triple H? Goldust with an old gimmick? Awesome Kong? The return of The Great Khali's respectability? Oh, I'm sorry! That one won't be happening. Everyone is talking about what it could be. Of course, that is the whole idea. Get people talking. Get people tuning in on that Raw.

Honestly, it would probably be a disappointment if it wasn't Sting. If it was Undertaker, why hype him for Raw? He has issues with Barrett and Kane, who are both on Smackdown. One of them wins the World title at Elimination Chamber, shows up the next night on Raw to show off and possibly wrestle, and Taker returns to start the feud for Wrestlemania? Maybe. Nevertheless, I would rather Sting stay true to his word for this one. He has his reasons for not wanting to work for WWE. Sell out for the fans? Fine. But then you have the issue of match quality. Bret Hart's match at Wrestlemania last year may have had a lot of storyline value and closure, but it was a joke in terms of actual wrestling. I'm not saying Sting is that bad, but how great could the performance be? I would be fine with it just being Triple H.