SALUTING OUR CLOWN

Today was a solemn day in wrestling for your Wrestling God as our world; our industry mourns another tragic loss just three months after William Moody. You know, people say that wrestling is fake and predetermined and everything else in between and that is their right. It’s how they see this business of ours and no matter how many tragic real life events happen in front of their eyes, they refuse to believe that wrestling can sometimes be sad a place in which to live. When Owen Hart died it was common belief that it was a mere stunt. When Chris Benoit, Bam Bam Bigelow, Andrew ‘Test’ Martin, Mike Awesome, Davey Boy Smith ‘The British Bulldog’ plus countless other passed away people chose to see it as ‘just another wrestler’ gone. Many even blamed it on those who had gone, simply putting it down to jacked up wrestlers who take too many steroids.

To that I say bullshit. These people may mean nothing to Johnny Dickhead on the street but to us, they were our heroes. Our memories of better days, times passed that we shall never experience again. Which is why I am deeply saddened to be mourning the death of Matt Osborne aka Doink the Clown who was found dead by his girlfriend in their Texas residence on June 28th. Whilst there have been many Doink’s throughout WWE’s illustrious career, Osborne was the first and by far the very best. He conveyed horror when it was needed and a good laugh when comic relief was sparse in what was then the World Wrestling Federation.

Matt Osborne also wrestled under many other names, including Matt Bourne and of course found partial successful in WCW as Big Josh where he was a staunch favourite with the crowds despite his heel or face status. Outside World Wrestling Federation Osborne racked up many accolades under various guises in doubles action, holding the USWA Tag Team Championship twice with Jeff Jarrett, the WCWA Tag Team Championship twice with Jeff Jarrett and Buzz Sawyer, the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship with Buzz Sawyer, the WCW United States Tag Team Championship with Ron Simmons, the WCW World Six Man Tag Team Championship with Dustin Rhodes and Tom Zenk. Osborne was also Mid-South Tag Team Champion with Ted Dibiase and captured the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championships an impressive four times with Steve ‘William’ Regal twice and Rip Oliver a further two times.

Though he never held any Championship gold in WWE, single or doubles, Matt Osborne’s singles career hit many heights and he is recognised as a former IWA United States Heavyweight Champion, Championship Wrestling International Alliance World Heavyweight Champion, Championship Wrestling United States Heavyweight Champion, NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion, WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion, TWF Heavyweight Champion and USWL Unified World Heavyweight Champion.

Through all his success though as a doubles and singles wrestler, it would be the role of a menacing clown named Doink which really shot Osborne to fame when he stepped foot on the shores of the World Wrestling Federation. It’s as Doink that many only remember Osborne and no matter how bored or frustrated Osborne became with the gimmick he eventually took to ECW, as Doink the Clown, Matt Osbourne will be immortal forever. During his WWF tenure, Osborne’s most successful and memorable feuds were against Crush, Bam Bam Bigelow, Jerry Lawler and Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart. At WrestleMania 9 Doink fought Crush in a match that may have been stoic throughout but will always be remembered for its double Doink ending, the second being played by Steve ‘Skinner’ Keirn. Then at SummerSlam 1993, Doink the Clown contested a very respectable match against Hart in which Osborne showed his prowess as a singles star and that he wasn’t just a one trick pony.

Though Doink’s feud against Bigelow in 1993 and 1994 were not Osborne under the mask as he was fired for recurring drug abuse shortly after his face turn on Bobby Heenan on September 13th 1993 Monday Night Raw, Ray Apollo who assumed the Doink face paint would never have been able to do so had Osborne not laid such perfect foundations. Matt Osborne was the first and original Doink the Clown and it was he that reassumed the role on December 10th 2007 for Raw’s 15th Anniversary, the last time he would appear on WWE television under the mask.

I have talked in the past in excess about my first real memories of the old WWF. Whilst I had been watching it for about two years by the time 1993 rolled around, previously I had been more concerned with WCW, hey I was only a child, one of my first WWF memories was of Doink the Clown. And if you will indulge me for a moment, I would like to take this moment to reminisce. It was 1993 and I was 7. I remember that I was meant to be going to bed and in those days WWE Superstars was repeated at like ten thirty at night. I sneaked downstairs, thinking my mum was asleep and turned on the television. She caught me as she always did but in those moments I got to see Doink was a horror character with a large mallet and sharp nightmarish teeth. He had Crush on his knees at ringside and back then, the thought that this guy could actually bring a man Crush’s size to his knees was wholly daunting. I don’t think I slept that night for fear of Doink the Clown.

For those old enough to remember, WWE used to add a laughter track to his maniacal laugh and it echoed through the screen as the camera twisted and twirled. Doink was the first wrestler I was ever scared of and the character that made me yearn for more WWE action. Like I said, I had watched all WWE pay-per view events and television shows in those three years before Doink but I believe he really was the first man to make me want more. Next to my grandfather, who introduced me to this wonderful world, Matt ‘Doink the Clown’ Osborne is the other man I owe a huge debt of thanks to. Without him, hell I may have grown tired with WWE altogether and then where would we be? So to learn of his death, for me, is like losing a hero.

People say that if you’re a comedian or someone who has a natural gift of making others laugh then you should, no matter if you will never see them again, leave them laughing. The last memory I have of Matt Osborne as Doink the Clown before Ray Apollo assumed the jacket and sidekicks is of him pouring water over Bobby Heenan. It was an angle that made me laugh and the last time I saw Matt Osborne as the playful clown. Whilst Osborne will always be more than the Clown he played on television, he will be remembered for his time as Doink and thus it is almost as if we have lost two men instead of one. Big hammers, fake and prosthetic arms, flowers that squirted all kinds of liquid and entrance music which made children hide behind the sofa were all good but Matt Osborne was also a very good wrestler.

Terry Funk at WWE’s Hall of Fame some years ago said that when wrestlers die, he likes to think that they go to some other place than heaven or whatever you perceive heaven to be. Funk, said he liked to believe that when a wrestler dies he or she goes to a huge wrestling ring in the sky where all those who passed before were contesting an eternal battle royal and waiting for their next brother in arms to enter the fray. It’s a wonderful thought that. The nicest one is that us, as wrestling fans will go there to. To fill out the spaces at ringside and we will have the best seat in the house when our time comes.

Matt Osborne and Doink the Clown will be sadly missed by those who experienced him in the early 90’s and those that didn’t, truly missed out on something special. Whilst he left me laughing the last time I ever saw him nearly twenty years ago, I can’t help raise a smile at the though that Doink the Clown is the next to enter that eternal battle royal in the sky and up there, he will keep them laughing forever.

Thank you Matt! Thank you Doink! You will be forever in our hearts.

Matt 'Doink the Clown' Osborne
1957 - 2013

WITHERING HEIGHTS

It was real though process what to title this weeks blog, I went through many other titles such as ‘Zig Zagging Around’ and ‘A wasted opportunity’ along with many others but there was nothing which really conveyed the subject of what we’re about to delve into. Never before have I given so much thought to a blog title before because usually they write themselves with the subject matter. Maybe this is a sign of me running dry about things to talk about or maybe WWE need to make a few more happen in order for us to discuss them. Whatever the truth is, there’s no doubt that we’re being starved of any quality to strike up a conversation with.

So onto this weeks subject matter and it is of course the matter of Dolph Ziggler and the World Heavyweight Championship that is no longer around his waste. It hasn’t been a huge number of weeks since we last broached the subject of WWE’s hottest prospect since Curt Henning and indeed it was only a few weeks ago where we thoroughly discussed the situation surrounding the World Heavyweight Championship, but thanks to events inside WWE and at Payback I believe it requires our attention once again. Honestly, what would the wrestling world do without us? Let’s recap...

When Dolph Ziggler lifted the World Heavyweight Championship the night after WrestleMania 29, the reaction to his victory from the paying audience and indeed those around the world was sheer joy. Since his victory one year ago at Money in the Bank, the writing had been on the wall and it was almost a formality that Ziggler, a former member of the Spirit Squad, would become World Heavyweight Champion. On the same show, John Cena also climbed to victory on the red brand in a predictable ending to the show. However, it was Ziggler’s night and no one could take it away from him. Well, not for 24 hours anyway. The fact that everyone, up to that point, who had won the ladder match and cashed in the prize had walked away with gold around their waists, almost guaranteed that Ziggler would do the same. Until Raw’s 1,000th episode rolled around.

On the show, John Cena cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and became the first man to unsuccessfully win the WWE Championship. This was done in order to ignite the fire under the Cena and Punk feud in 2012, but the other thing it did was sew the seeds in the minds of the fans that if a wrestler as big as Cena wasn’t going to successful defeat the Champion for the gold then would WWE really allow a wrestler as far away from the top of the card as one could get, to do what the golden boy couldn’t? The answer looked a definitive ‘no’ when Ziggler began to lose to everyone and anyone on Raw and pay-per view. One month after claiming the briefcase, Ziggler lost a match at SummerSlam to Chris Jericho. A match which, as the man who should have been looked at as a serious contender should have won and one which Jericho should have volunteered to lose for the good of the company going forward.

With crossed fingers we went into the rest of the year in the hope that SummerSlam was a blip and that Ziggler’s ascension to the top would begin with conviction. Whilst Ziggler defeated Jericho the next night on Raw and sent him packing from the company for a few months, his pay-per view standing, the medium of which twice as many people watch than they do WWE’s weekly television show, was poor. People who watch pay-per view do so because they believe it gives them a monthly overall impression or round up of what has happened on television. If a wrestler comes off as weak on pay-per view then the audience who don’t keep up with week to week events begin to believe said wrestler is mere fodder for those higher up the card. Dolph Ziggler in 2012 was one of these people those who drop in and out wouldn’t have given a seconds thought to and that’s because WWE booked him wrong.

At No Way Out 2012 Dolph Ziggler received the most vocal support of the night when he stood in for Alberto Del Rio against Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship. Throughout the match, the audience were staunchly behind Ziggler to the point they were jeering Sheamus as if he were John Cena. Usually, this would inform WWE of which wrestler the audience are willing to pay their to see every week should the company put the desired Championship around his waist. At No Way Out though, the fact the audience didn’t react the way WWE wanted them to, only made things worse for Dolph. Instead of listening to the cheers Ziggler received, WWE ignored everyone who had paid to see the show and informed Jerry Lawler on commentary to try and convince those watching that the more than audible cries of ‘Let’s go Ziggler’ were actually those in attendance supporting Sheamus. This was a dumb move as anyone could hear the audience supporting Ziggler. This was WWE’s way of telling us that we can cheer for who we like, but if the company don’t believe that wrestler is worth the push then he’s going nowhere.

Thankfully, WWE did listen to the pleas after No Way Out and SummerSlam as Ziggler made his way up the card only to be felled by Randy Orton at Night of Champions and was John Cena’s whipping boy on the Hell in a Cell pre-show when he took a beating during Cena’s Q&A session with the audience. That Ziggler wasn’t even booked on the show was a kick in the testicles for the man who was shooting for the stars. Things began to look up again for Ziggler when was the sole survivor at Survivor Series, pinning Randy Orton clean in the ring to take the victory and even went over John Cena at TLC, though it was Cena’s actions and no selling Ziggler’s moves which did more harm than good.

Recovering from the Cena situation, Dolph Ziggler put in a solid showing at Royal Rumble and was by far the favourite to win the event, a role which went of course to John Cena. Had Ziggler won the Royal Rumble and gone to WrestleMania to lose in the main event and then cash in the briefcase after a hard fought effort, everyone would have seen his Championship victory as bigger than it was the night after the grandest stage of them all. Instead, Ziggler was relegated to mid-card tag team action, a role he must have been fuming at.

Now the history lesson is out of the way we can move on. Ziggler’s concussion necessitated that he take time out, certainly WWE knew how serious it could become and for those who logged on to WWE.Com would have read updates and so on but what really caught my eye was one idiot, who when talking about Payback somehow came to the conclusion that, and I quote ‘Dolph Ziggler deserves to lose the World Championship’. If that person, obviously someone who knows jack shit about wrestling is reading this, then please tell me how you came to that conclusion and I will take great pleasure in cracking open a can of whoop ass and pointing out what a retard you are. The fact is that Dolph Ziggler didn’t deserve to lose the Championship and he would have been able to defend the gold the month previous had Jack Swagger not been such a careless dick and put the champ out of action.

I did not that WWE deserved credit for not stripping Dolph Ziggler of the World Heavyweight Championship during his absence. Looking back at the outcome of Payback’s Championship outing, they might as well have. That WWE didn’t strip Dolph Ziggler of the gold was an encouraging sign that his reign would continue upon his return. There is simply no logic in allowing him to keep the Championship during his injury and then having him lose it in his very first defence back. WWE may not have rated Dolph Ziggler highly for some reason – his matches on Raw and Smackdown after WrestleMania 29, in which he was booked as inferior to all his opponents, even as champion, and needed help from Langston at ringside to walk away victorious, certainly pointed to a lack of confidence in Ziggler by WWE – but there was no reason to have him drop the Championship to Del Rio.

And now, finally we come to the reason of this week’s blog. Are you out breath because I am? Knowing this blog was approaching and the next Review Corner not due until July 8th, I was struggling to think what we could talk about. Certainly, Brock Lesnar turning on C.M Punk would have been a good but brief conversation as would Mark Henry’s fake retirement which got your Wrestling God’s hopes up. This is the problem with WWE today. There are a severe lack of subjects to talk about. So little of consequence happens in WWE these days that we have to punch through the bottom of the barrel just to find something lurking beneath. And then I came across it. Two articles which are both different yet are about the same subject.

In an interview with Channel 24 in America, Dolph Ziggler openly criticised the World Heavyweight Championship and WWE’s handling of it. When questioned if he believed that the gold was a prestigious as when Triple H held it in 2002, Ziggler, much to WWE’s anger I imagine, simply stated that he didn’t believe that was so. And of course, he was correct, whether WWE like it or not. You see, when Triple H held it in 2002 he was of such a standing in the company that it automatically elevated the gold and made it seem the WWE Championship’s equal. Since then it has passed through the hands of people like Goldberg, Big Show, Mark Henry, John Cena and others who simply don’t have the skills to carry it. The knock on effect is that with each passing person who doesn’t hold the talent to be champion, it diminishes the Championship further. This is what happened with the Tag Team, Intercontinental and United States Championship along the way. When you add on top of that WWE not really giving the gold any great storylines to back it up, the prestige it once held has all but disappeared.

Whose fault is that? Certainly not Dolph Ziggler’s or Alberto Del Rio’s. The blame lies solely with WWE. They can’t punish Ziggler for stating his beliefs, that would cause a massive fracas behind the scenes. WWE have focussed so little on the blue brand Championship in recent years that they only have the mirror to look in when searching for someone to blame. Even at their biggest event of the year, WrestleMania, WWE have made sure that the gold has been pushed into the shadows. At WrestleMania 22 the gold changed hands in a triple threat match in nine minutes. At WrestleMania 28 it changed hands on the first match of the night in less than ten seconds and at WrestleMania 29 it was given a paltry ten minutes in which Del Rio and Swagger did nothing of note to elevate the gold they were battling over. It simply isn’t good enough.

In the interview, Dolph Ziggler also noted that he wanted to be the man to make the World Heavyweight Championship the premier Championship in wrestling. He wanted to make the Championship he dreamt about holding when growing up. This is maybe the first time in years that someone has com forward and stated their intentions so clearly that we can begin to believe Dolph Ziggler is the man for the job. Others such as Sheamus, Edge, even Randy Orton, whilst they possess the ability to elevate the gold back to the top have never come out and stated their intentions. Giving off an impression that to them, all the gold is, is simply something to strap around your waist in order to call yourself the best. Your Wrestling God didn’t get that impression when reading said interview with Dolph Ziggler. Instead, the impression one got was of a man who wants to change things around him even if WWE won’t allow it to happen. In a time some when wrestlers are content to come to work to simply pick up their pay cheque and have no drive or intention to make a difference, that should be applauded.

The question I would be asking now is of WWE. Vince, you have a man who is willing to do whatever is needed to change the path Smackdown and the World Heavyweight Championship is on. Why don’t you put the machine behind him and allow him to try? Let’s be honest, what have they got to lose?

The second article which caught my eye was one on what WWE have planned for Money in the Bank on July 14th. After Dolph Ziggler lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Alberto Del Rio at Payback, the man who once labelled himself as ‘Heel’ will receive a Championship rematch at Money in the Bank, despite previous rumours that Ziggler once again win the Money in the Bank Ladder Match and cash in on Del Rio for a second time at SummerSlam. Whilst this would not have been the correct course of action for WWE to take, I can’t help think it may have been a wise once. You see, Dolph Ziggler, even after winning the gold on April 8th has been buried to point that he was in danger of being seen as a fluke Champion. If WWE were to book him to defeat a star name, clean, in qualifying for the Money in the Bank Ladder Match and then win the match, WWE then could book Ziggler to either turn face or cleanly defeat a string of big names on course of SummerSlam before finally winning the gold again at WWE’s biggest event of the summer. That now though will not happen.

It wouldn’t be the best course of action in Ziggler’s eyes I’m sure and I’m still at a loss as to why WWE had him drop the gold instead of stripping him of it in the first place. After all, Ziggler would have been the hard done by champion had he been stripped of the title instead of looking like the weak link by dropping the gold on pay-per view. Whatever has gone in the past, WWE now need to rectify it as sensibly as possible. Any more harm could seriously derail Dolph Ziggler’s career and I cannot think of a better wrestler to lead WWE into a new generation.

Time really is up as far as messing around with would be future main event stars is concerned. I just hope that WWE aren’t left regretting when the last hand ticks into place.

Onwards and upwards...

REVIEW CORNER: WARGAMES - WCW'S MOST NOTORIOUS MATCHES DVD AND BLU-RAY

    A – Excellent

    B – Good

    C – Mediocre

    D – Avoid

Release Date: 1st July 2013

Available From: www.wwedvd.co.uk

Price:

DVD £19.99

Blu-ray £22.99

(Prices from www.wwedvd.co.uk: high street prices will vary)

Format Reviewed: DVD (3 Discs)

(Also Available on Blu-ray (2 Discs)

What It’s About:

WCW’s WarGames were the predecessor to WWE’s Hell in a Cell and Elimination Chamber, usually a feud ending match which was first used by NWA and then WCW. Usually pitting two teams of five who would then enter in order, WarGames was held inside two rings with both rings covered by an adjoining steel cage where the match could only end after all participants had entered and then only via submit or surrender.

Billed at ‘The Match Beyond’ this WWE compilation of WCW’s most notorious match is compiled with a sit-down interview with the WarGames’ creator Dusty Rhodes and features complete matches from the WarGames ranging from 1987 – 2000.

Strengths:

Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering vs Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger and J.J Dillon (The Great American Bash, July 4th 1987) takes a while to really get going but hits its stride when Road Warrior Animal enters the match, showing some impressive stealth and performing some stirring power moves. One of which includes supporting Tully Blanchard’s weight mid slam and then driving his face into the cage behind. Sadly the commentary on the match is so inaudible that it leaves you to work out what is coming for yourself but this as usual is a minor grievance. As usual, Ric Flair is flawless in everything he does from offence to selling and Lex Luger shows off some of that untapped talent which made WCW officials sit up and take notice of him in the late 80’s. It’s just a shame it didn’t last. The match features a vicious spike piledriver which is a treat to see again since WWE have banned the move due its dangers. Whilst the action is entertaining the ten men in the ring fail to use the space provided in both rings to its full effect cramming a good slice of the action into one ring – which makes the match seem more bust than it needed to. Hawk and J.J Dillon provide a priceless comedy moment towards the business end of the encounter and the match ends suddenly due to Dillon surrendering thanks to a broken collarbone as the effect of a crushing Road Warriors ‘Doomsday Device’. It’s a good first entry into the WarGames and as it was the very first WarGames match in existence it set the bar for all that followed.

Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering vs Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard and The War Machine (The Great American Bash, July 31st 1987) is almost an exact re-run of the first match on the card, featuring the same wrestlers but one, entering in almost an identical order. Once again Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson begin the match producing an electric inaugural five minutes before the next man enters. A sense of Déjà Vu is present here as only the terrible War Machine is the odd man out between the two bouts but it never detracts from a very good showing. Hawk’s usual ‘no sell’ spot gets a massive pop from the audience as does the popular exchange between Ric Flair and Nikita Koloff. The match, billed as the rematch to the first encounter on the release has a thrilling atmosphere thanks to the hyped up crowd and there is a lot of blood on show. No one bleeds more than Rhodes who looks like he’s been in a fight with Freddie Kruger before the match concludes. Whilst nothing of note really happens which we haven’t seen in the first match, it is still a very good effort from all except the dire War Machine who is clearly too fat and lazy to be in a match of this calibre. The highlight of the match comes when Animal throws Blanchard over both sets of ropes and then completes the sequence with a dive, clearing both ropes and landing in the opposite ring.

Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering vs Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson and J.J Dillon (The Great American Bash, July 16th 1988) rolls along the same lines as the previous to matches but highlights how good Barry Windham could have been as a long time main event player. Dusty once again bleeds heavily thanks to an awesome and gruesome spot in which Arn Anderson digs a pair of wire cutters into ‘The American Dream’s’ forehead. Luger gets a heroes reception upon his entry into the match and looks very impressive. But then he always did when in the ring with Ric Flair. Only Flair and Sting ever made Luger look good in the squared circle. Tully Blanchard brings a steel chair into play which gives the match a different edge and a fresh look which is needed as by the time one reaches this point on the release it’s increasingly difficult to tell what is good and what is not. This is the one match on the release which has no commentary on it at all and thus benefits from the omission, giving the whole brawl a legitimate edge. Lex Luger’s body looks like it’s made of plastic by the end of the match and with short hair; Dusty Rhodes looks the spitting image of his son Dustin. On the whole, the match is as expected and whilst there’s nothing novel in it, all involved make sure it is saved from the drop into the next category by some fine performances.

Sting, Brian Pillman and The Steiner Brothers vs Barry Windham, Ric Flair, Sid Vicious and Larry Zbyszko (WrestleWar, February 24th 1991) begins with a bloody five minute opener between Windham and Pillman which is nothing short of proficient and features a death defying and dangerous head first bump over both ropes in which Windham nearly breaks his neck. Brian Pillman was very sound in the early 90’s and should have gone further in WCW. Sting’s ovation when he gets into the cage to save Pillman from Windham and Ric Flair is thunderous and it’s easy to see why he was so popular with the fans and booking crew in the back. Looking at this match, the way Sting wrestles, moves, paces himself and sells proves that he learnt well from Ric Flair during their singles feud. Sting’s most memorable contribution to this fine scrap is his flying shoulder block from one ring to the next which looks dazzling. Once again, Ric Flair is faultless portraying the cowardly champion who is fine when his opponent is down but wants no part of them when they’re on their feet. Selling like a trooper, Ric Flair makes Pillman look a million dollars and more importantly, his equal. Considering Pillman was way down the WCW food chain at the time this is some achievement. This WarGames spectacle thankfully contains more actually wrestling than previous editions which is a welcome sight after nearly an hour and a half of just brawling. The quadruple figure four leg lock on Flair’s team is a highlight and Scott Steiner drops Zbyszko with a classy looking double underarm sit-down suplex which is the Steiner’s only real contribution to the match and Sid Vicious even manages to look respectable considering his huge limitations as a wrestler. Though he shows his lack of wrestling knowledge on a grand scale when Vicious tries a Powerbomb on Pillman, knowing he could not possibly complete the move thanks to the very low ceiling on the cage. Thanks to Vicious’ height and the aforementioned low ceiling, Pillman ends up in a vertical position for the move. Instead of an impactful finisher, Vicious hideously drops Pillman on his neck in one of the nastiest moves on the entire release. How Pillman escaped without a broken neck I shall never know. Vicious should have been banned from using this move by WCW in this type of match. Sadly this is where the match comes to an end via referee stoppage when El Gigante runs in to check on Pillman and the referee decrees that ‘Flyin’ Brian cannot continue. So much for the Submit or Surrender rule. It’s a bad ending to a first-class match.

Sting’s Squadron (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes and Nikita Koloff) vs The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko) (WrestleWar, May 17th 1992) is an excellent match all around boasting some top class action and legitimate wrestling moves for a change. The man who would rocket to fame in WWE as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dustin Rhodes put on some classic exchanges including a double clothesline from ring to ring and Austin puts his body on the line in the name of entertainment at various other points in the match to great effect. Other thrilling moments inside this WarGames include a great double Boston Crab on Steamboat by Rick Rude and Arn Anderson, a perfectly executed piledriver by Steamboat on Rude, an excellently delivered electric chair by Rhodes on Austin, Barry Windham trapping Arn Anderson’s head between the two rings in a novel manoeuvre and Sting’s backdrop into the cage on Austin. Of the competitors, Arn Anderson moves like a greyhound between moves, slickly executing every move with pitch perfect precision. Rick Rude looks buff and strangely blue as the match goes on, he really was a terrific talent and he and Ricky Steamboat deserve a standing ovation for their thrilling exchanges throughout the match. This match is both bloody; the mat is stained with claret before the final bell tolls and sublime. A highlight of the release.

NWO (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan and Fake Sting) vs Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Lex Luger and Sting (Fall Brawl, September 15th 1996) is a real main event and has the feeling of one thanks to the level of talent involved. Something which many matches on this release lack. The match comes after several consecutive dud encounters on the release and is a welcome relief. Lex Luger enters the match looking better than he has done in previous outings – which can you read more about below – and moves very well, something he only did in the late 90’s when he could be bothered. For his age, Arn Anderson hadn’t lost the ability to be one of the best all rounder’s in the company. Here, ‘Double A’ hits a great spinebuster and sells competently. The entire NWO play their part to near faultlessness, though the jeers Hogan was hearing were more to do with the fact that he was taking the spotlight away from younger and better wrestlers who could have kept the company afloat in 2000 and 2001 had WCW bothered to do anything with them. Ric Flair provides a huge reaction and comes across as the warrior of the group, not the first time on the release, when he refuses to stop fighting even when all is clearly lost and this match may be the one and only time that Fake Sting actually looked identical to the real Sting. The trouble with this match is that nothing memorable comes out of it, so you’ll probably forget all about it once the release has been watched and on your shelf. It doesn’t necessarily hamper then overall product as this is a better brawl than several which have gone immediately before it. This WarGames fight is only the second on the whole release to feature a heel victory.

Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, Steve McMichael and Curt Henning vs NWO (Kevin Nash, Syxx, Konan and Buff Bagwell) (Fall Brawl, September 14th 1997) is the first match on a WWE release since 2007 to feature Chris Benoit, since Chris, Nancy and Daniel Benoit passed away and this release is all the better for it. Regardless of what Chris Benoit may or may not have done on that day, the fact remains that he is still and will always be one of the greatest technical wrestlers to ever grace the industry. Let’s hope this is beginning of WWE phasing Benoit back into releases – certainly he should be included on the Money in the Bank Match Anthology later this year as well as others. The match begins with a solid five minute period between Bagwell and Benoit in which Bagwell shows some life, more than he ever did during the rest of his career and Benoit bumps really well. Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael perform a refined double team move out of each corner on Bagwell and Konan in a match which Steve McMichael does very well to hide his huge limitations and look like a wrestler and not a football player come wrestler. Syxx (Sean ‘X Pac / 123 Kid’ Waltman), like Benoit bumps very well even though he does very little else which sums up his time in WCW perfectly, though considering the amount of talent in the ring who could wrestle Lucha Libre, this match really should have been a high flying encounter or at least as much as the low cage roof would have allowed. The team leaders get their fair share of exposure as well, with Ric Flair bringing down the house as the valiant hero and Kevin Nash running through his opposition like a dominant monster. Curt Henning’s heel turn on the Horsemen is well sign posted from the outset and doesn’t come across as the shocking twist WCW would have liked us to believe it was. Flair, Benoit and McMichael are passed off as valiant heroes who refuse to quit when Benoit and Mongo are handcuffed to the cage whilst the NWO decimate ‘The Nature Boy’. The match ends with the famous scene of Curt Henning ramming the steel cage door into a prone Flair’s skull.

Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan and Stevie Ray vs Diamond Dallas Page, Roddy Piper and The Ultimate Warrior vs Sting, Kevin Nash and Lex Luger (Fall Brawl, September 13th 1998) is billed as every man for himself with the winner receiving a shot at the WCW Heavyweight Champion, Goldberg. However it would have been a better idea for WCW to book this as a nine man free for all WarGames instead of making it teams, who wrestle each other anyway. Bret Hart and DDP start the match with a good back and forth tussle but the bout takes a turn for the worse when Stevie Ray enters first. Ray, formerly of Harlem Heat adds nothing to a stoic match up which borders on dull but is pulled back from the edge by Hart and DDP who provide the majority of the best action when combating each other. Sting receives a huge ovation and completes the obligatory dive over both rings which by this time in the release has become just another spot. Though here, Sting botches the moves and nearly lands on his head. The match takes a welcome and different turn when the ring fills with smoke and when it clears an Ultimate Warrior imposter is standing in the centre of ring 1. The imposter takes a beating when the ring fills with smoke again. When the smoke clears the imposter is gone and Warrior comes tearing down the aisle to huge approval. The problem I have with this is that the commentators don’t acknowledge the imposter instead trying to make us believe that Warrior somehow got from the ring into the back without anyone seeing him in mere seconds. A claim which would be much more plausible if the imposter wasn’t visible several times on camera between the two rings after Warrior enters the match. Bizarrely, referees separate Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior as they fight up the aisle, yet they were both apart of the match so why separate the pair? This isn’t a horrible match but it is by far not the best. Watchable at best.

As host of sorts, Dusty Rhodes does touch upon a few good points both about the WarGames concept and wrestling in general. Saying he wouldn’t put WarGames on television where people could watch it free, Rhodes alludes to a match of WarGames standard should be kept for pay-per view as a feud ending gimmick. Of course he’s correct and it’s something WWE and TNA should bare in mind. Too often have WWE given away huge, high profile, feud ending matches on free television when they would have done so much more business had they been promoted for an upcoming pay-per view. Rhodes states that people should pay to see those types of matches. Once again, he is correct.

Giving an honest opinion of Road Warrior Hawk, Rhodes touches upon the reason the booking committee would often leave him until last to enter the WarGames matches. The reason Rhodes gives is that Hawk would hurt people. Rhodes doesn’t say it out loud but reading between the lines and what you actually hear is that Hawk was a sloppy worker who like Goldberg, would treat his opponents like rag dolls to be injured and thrown around. This is an honest segment by Rhodes who could have easily sugared the pill, as it were, and lied about Hawk’s roughness in the ring.

In a surprising conversation, Dusty Rhodes touches upon the corruption that went on in the National Wrestling Alliance. Open about the subject, it is refreshing to hear on a WWE release which usually likes to cover up certain facts about the industry in order to protect itself. That WWE allowed Rhodes to be so open and honest about the subject points to a change in game plan by WWE. Maybe they realise that honest is the best policy and they will be applauded for leaving the truth in their releases much more than they will omitting them or washing over them. In the same breath, Rhodes rightly credits Eric Bischoff for saving WCW in the early 90’s but seems a little bitter than Bischoff didn’t rate the WarGames as highly as Rhodes did and proceeded to water the match down.

Thankfully, Rhodes is truthful on another subject and that is – when talking about the talent change in WCW and wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage – WCW being the end of the line for wrestlers like that. Rhodes has the sense to see that their time in WCW was going to be the end of the line for those wrestlers, even when the wrestlers in question didn’t see it and wouldn’t admit it themselves. If only WWE allowed their other hosts to be this honest then their releases would have an air of authenticity about them.

At the end of the release, before we witness the final ever WarGames match which is a triple decked cage, Dusty Rhodes seems annoyed and sad that the WarGames had come to this under the watchful eye of Vince Russo. Rhodes is correct when he states that the last WarGames match wasn’t WarGames at all and had become just a name in WCW in which to hype a match they clearly had no other ideas for.

Weaknesses:

The Road Warriors, ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams, Ron Garvin and Jimmy Garvin vs Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, Al Perez, Ivan Koloff and The Russian Assassin (The Great American Bash, July 10th 1988) in the ridiculous Tower of Doom Match is utterly absurd and dire. For those who aren’t familiar with the rules to a Tower of Doom match allow me to elaborate. The triple decked cage states that each wrestler from each team make their way up two ladders on the outside of the cage and one from each team begins the match in the top and smallest of the three cages. At predetermined intervals the referee opens the trapdoor to each cage and it’s a frantic struggle to get down into the next cage. Those who don’t make it have to stay in the first cage and combat the next entrant. Members of each team must climb through each cage and out the legitimate cage door. The winning team is the team who has all their participants out of the main cage door. Honestly, this match is a total mess. To begin with, the ring area looks like a construction site and the sight of referee Tommy Young climbing the ladder with sheer terror on his face has to be seen to be believed. The top cage is unstable and moves every time a wrestler crashes against it making the whole match look completely amateur, not to mention the cage is so small that when there are more than two wrestlers in it at a time they can barely move. Ron Garvin appears to be too scared to drop down into the second cage and takes an age to disappear below almost halting the action completely whilst Garvin complete his planned spot. The match reeks of illogical decisions as instead of trying to escape down the trap doors wrestlers simply ignore it and carry on fighting not to mention the sight of the cage door fully open whilst Ivan Koloff and The Russian Assassin just stand there like a spare pair at a wedding. Not one of the competitors in this match does anything meaningful or memorable which makes the match drag at a hideous snails pace. The camera cuts to a wide shot when all three cages are in use, the downside to this is that you can only see what is happening in the middle cage as the other two are out of shot. This match is an absolute farce of epic proportions.

‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams, The Midnight Express and The Road Warriors vs The Fabulous Freebirds and The Samoan Swat Team (The Great American Bash, July 23rd 1989) should have been much better than it originally turned out. The highlight of the bout is the pre-match promo by Michael P.S Hayes which is extraordinarily good. For my money, Hayes was as good if not better than any of the great talkers in the industry. For some strange reason, Steve Williams seems to have borrowed his entire ring gear from Hulk Hogan. The match itself suffers from a slow and uninvolved beginning featuring Bobby Eaton and Jimmy Garvin, which the whole encounter never recovers from. Williams breaks the monotony with three press slams on Terry Gordy into the ceiling of the cage but that is about as exciting it gets. None of the participants seem to shine or take the match to the next level and at times it comes off as sloppy, resulting in a real slog for the viewer to get to the end. Hayes has the most charisma out of all the participants though by the time he enters it way too late to save the match. The Samoan Swat Team (WWE’s Headshrinkers) couldn’t have left any less of an impression had they stayed at home and the same goes for the insignificant Midnight Express. Hawk’s shoulder block over both ropes and into the next ring is the most impressive thing he does across the DVD and Blu-ray, though it’s a move you will see in almost every other match on the release. By the time the final few minutes of the match transpire you get the feeling there’s nothing here you haven’t see before.

Sting, Dustin Rhodes, Davey Boy Smith and The Shockmaster vs Vader, Sid Vicious and Harlem Heat (Fall Brawl, September 19th 1993) is a boring lull and a match which you can either fast forward, skip or have a quick break throughout because you will not miss anything of value in this. Vader and Rhodes contest a sleepy opening five minutes in which Dustin shows all the enthusiasm that got Goldust his marching orders from WWE the first time around. Very little happens after Kane (Stevie Ray) enters the affray and if anything the match becomes slower, that WCW couldn’t have found anyone other than Stevie Ray to compete here is a joke. Sting livens the match up for a very short while and a small chuckle from Vader’s over pants which are so big that the name on his trunks reads ‘ADER’. Illogically it takes both Vader and Vicious to lift Sting up because, you know, it’s too much for a 400 pound man to hoist up a 240 pound man on his own. Smith slamming Vader from the middle rope looks impressive but that is as exciting as it gets. The Shockmaster, one of wrestling’s greatest calamities, is utterly atrocious as expected, compared this guy John Cena looks like Ric Flair. WCW should have canned this moron when he accidentally fell through a fake wall wearing a sparkly Darth Vader helmet on WCW television. He had disaster written all over him from day 1. I suppose we shouldn’t have expected too much of this match, with Stevie Ray, Sid Vicious, The Shockmaster and Dustin Rhodes involved what hope did it ever have of succeeding? Absolutely horrible.

Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes and The Nasty Boyz vs Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck, Terry Funk and Col. Rob Parker (Fall Brawl, September 18th 1994) is one of the most pointless matches on the entire release. WarGames was designed to feature headline talent ending high profile feuds, I can’t honestly say that in September 1994 one of the men in this match fell into that bracket. With the exception of Arn Anderson and possibly Dustin Rhodes the rest of the supporting cast are pointless additions. ‘Double A’ and Dustin Rhodes provide a respectable first five minutes until Bunkhouse Buck enters the ring and that’s when the match falls apart. Buck, one of WCW’s most dismal talents zaps all life from the match five minutes in and it noticeably begins to affect everyone involved. Dustin Rhodes’ one legged Boston Crab on Anderson looks as effective as John Cena’s STF. The Nasty Boyz’s offence is comical at times and for a team who had been in wrestling for as long as they had, it’s amazing they still didn’t know how to execute the simplest of moves. Terry Funk marches around the ring resembling a drunken uncle at a wedding and Dusty Rhodes was simply clinging to the spotlight for all it was worth. The one high point in the match is Jerry Sags’ piledriver on Funk which then losses the ‘Funker’ down the gap between the two rings. Dustin Rhodes and Arn Anderson repeat a lot of manoeuvres from previous matches like they’re incapable of thinking for themselves and Col. Rob Parker’s involvement is repulsively bad. Opting for the comedy element, Parker goes down like Justin Bieber on an oil rig. Before the match Dusty Rhodes ridiculously states in his sit down interview that when the Nasty Boyz hit Parker he ‘literally’ crapped himself. No, he didn’t. It’s clear that WCW had given up on the WarGames idea by 1994. From beginning to end this is just rotten.

Sting, Lex Luger, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs The Shark (John ‘Earthquake’ Tenta), Zodiac (Ed ‘Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake’ Leslie), Kamala and Meng (Fall Brawl, September 17th 1995) is the pits. Whilst Sting’s slam on an overweight Shark, Shark diving across the two rings and getting caught between both top ropes are small highlights, the whole match runs at a tediously slow pace beginning with The Shark and Zodiac vs Sting. Zodiac’s selling is cringe worthy at best and Sting looks a complete tool when he’s forced to lie on the mat and take the dodgy offence from Shark and Zodiac. What makes this match even more laughable is that features Luger and Hogan on one team – two men who never had the best patter inside the squared circle – against four former WWE rejects, two of them too overweight to do anything of note. Earthquake and Brutus were only hired because they were Hogan’s friends, Meng (who was Haku in WWE) has at least some talent, but it boggles the mind why WCW ever hired Kamala. Sadly Randy Savage and Sting are wasted in this match and not even their skills can save this trash which is embarrassing to watch. Luger blows up super quick, Kamala is repugnant to watch as he waddles around ring and Shark and Zodiac are an embarrassment to wrestling here. Hogan heats up the match on his entry into the match but even his offence is weak in its execution. I still don’t know what WCW were thinking when they came up with this drivel.

Sting, Booker T, Goldberg and Kronik vs Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner and The Harris Brothers / Vince Russo (WCW Monday Nitro, September 4th 2000) is the final ever WarGames match and judging by this, it’s probably best that it was. Instead of a traditional WarGames outing, Russo – WCW’s lead writer – thought it best to try and relive the Thunder Dome scrap and had three cages stacked on top of each other. Thankfully, the same rules didn’t apply. Instead, the WCW Heavyweight Championship is suspended above the top cage. The rules are simple, the competitors have to climb up through the cages and unhook the WCW Championship. Then they must work their way back down the cages and exit the way they entered. The rules are rubbish because they state the wrestler who walks out of the cage the gold is the Champion, meaning a wrestler could do all the work of climbing the cages which are a considerable height, unhook the gold and then get the belt snatched out their hand by someone who has been standing by the door. That person can then just walk out with the gold and be champion for doing nothing. I mention this, because it’s exactly what happens in this busy, yet pathetic effort at trying to retrieve some viewers from WWE. The ruling of the match state that this should have been every man for himself, and not a team effort. Sting and Jeff Jarrett trade some good moves at the beginning, unfortunately that’s the best this match gets. Russo, the man who is meant to be competing gets into the ring and then has the Harris Brothers wrestle it for him – a team who may have well as not turned up as they and Kronik wrestle into the crowd and you never see them again. Kevin Nash stands by the door like a statue until the final few moments when he gets levelled by Goldberg who is handcuffed to the ropes for the majority of the match. Scott Steiner tries to be relevant but it doesn’t work for him and Booker T is the only man who looks like he’s remotely bothered. In the end this is another shoddily booked, Vince Russo penned angle which made it easy to see why WCW went out of business. Infuriatingly, Booker T does all the work of climbing the cages, retrieving the belt, only for Steiner to take the belt from him, drop it down to Kevin Nash to allow Nash to leave as champion. Dumb and infuriating.

As host, Dusty Rhodes is mostly incoherent and adds nothing new to proceedings. His stories are too short to give any depth to the WarGames matches he’s talking about. Rhodes states the same facts over and over and over until it becomes worthless to watch him because you don’t learn anything new and the feeling is that he’s trying to fill time. Rhodes is deeply self absorbent, talking at length about himself and Dustin but rushes through everything and everyone else at such a pace you get the feeling the release would have been much better had it been just the matches accompanied by a short highlight package of the points WWE needed to get across.

Dusty Rhodes credits himself solely for creating the WarGames. Rhodes never mentions that as a mere wrestler in NWA and Jim Crocket Promotions, he needed the financial backing of both companies to get the match onto the screen. Rhodes never once credits those who gave him the green light to create this match or those who stuck their neck out on the line and took the risk of booking the match in the first place. To hear Rhodes speak one would think he were in charge of everything that happened in NWA and JCP. At least Rhodes gives a nod to Klondike Bill who built the WarGames structure.

When broaching the subject of WarGames only being used once a year, instead of several times a year as it was in the 80’s, Rhodes sounds both annoyed and disappointed that his creation wasn’t wanted more by the growing WCW. The truth is, WCW had the right idea by booking the match once a year as it had a limited shelf life. The early matches on the release prove there were very limited things one could do inside the structure. Had WCW booked it more than once a year then it would have been disastrous and dull and its shelf life would have expired sooner than it actually did. Strangely, Rhodes doesn’t acknowledge this, instead citing that WCW was more about making money than booking matches like WarGames as the reason it was only used once a year. WCW was a business, it had to make money and I didn’t hear Dusty Rhodes complaining when his sizable cheque cleared each month.

Blu-ray Exclusive Extras:

Smoky Mountain Wrestling – May 1993

Rage in the Cage Match

Brian Lee, Jimmy Golden, Ricky Morton, Robert Fuller and Robert Gibson vs Kevin Sullivan, Killer Kyle, The Tazmaniac, Stan Lane and Tom Pritchard

ECW December to Dismember – December 9th 1995

Ultimate Jeopardy Steel Cage Match

Tommy Dreamer, Public Enemy and The Pitbulls vs Raven, Stevie Richards, The Eliminators and The Heavenly Bodies

ECW CyberSlam – April 3rd 1999

Ultimate Jeopardy Steel Cage Match

The Dudley Boyz and Mustafa Saed vs New Jack, Axel Rotten and Balls Mahoney

War Games Fantasy Booking With Dusty Rhodes

Conclusion:

WarGames: WCW’s Most Notorious Matches is another decent release from WWE in 2013 even though there are huge, glaring problems with it. Dusty Rhodes is inadequate as host preferring to talk at length about himself and his family instead of the wrestlers who took part in the WarGames matches and when he is forced to talk about them he couldn’t look less interested if he tried.

Dusty Rhodes is also the source of repetition when it comes to the WarGames matches themselves. Starring in several of the included matches, Dusty’s time on the release is either worthless or identical to the one which went before. An example of this is that three out of the first four matches feature almost the same teams, entering in the same order, performing the same moves. These matches always begin with Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson where Rhodes applies the figure four to ‘The Enforcer’ at the same point in every match.

As this release is about the WarGames, one type of match, there is no variety across the release, but then again I doubt those buying WWE’s latest offering will be expecting variety should they know every match takes places inside the WarGames structure and is heavy on the same moves happening in every match. However, as a release, DVD Disc 2 (Blu-ray Disc 1 – one hour and fifty minutes into the running until the end) is as good as pointless as it features most of the dud matches across the whole subject. WWE, to their credit have tried to make this an anthology of every WarGames match in history, yet this is one release which would have been entitled ‘The Best of Wargames’ and cut it by a disc. That way WWE could have omitted the very worst and given us a collection which was virtually flawless.

When it’s bad it’s unbearable, but when it’s good then it’s a wonderful reminder of a trailblazing match and a trip down WCW’s memory lane which features some great matches and a host of talent which has either been forgotten or are no longer with us.

Rating: B

Next Time in Review Corner: WWE Live in the U.K: April 2013 DVD

Onwards and upwards...

ONE OF A KIND

When all the wrestling magazines and so called professionals said that Rob Van Dam would never return to WWE because at his time of life he wouldn’t wish to work a full time WWE schedule, your Wrestling God stuck to his guns and predicted that RVD, ‘Mr. Monday Night’ would step back onto WWE shores years after he sailed away to TNA.

The question that remains to be answered to the news which came out of Payback, is can RVD reclaim that old glory which he was sorely missing in TNA? Now older and a lot heavier than he was when he competed for TNA, RVD seemed to be lazy and lackadaisical when against TNA’s younger stars. It was a role which RVD should have excelled in, making stars who were trying to fit in the image of RVD. Indeed it’s something which others did for Van Dam when he came through the ranks of ECW and something he should have gave back when it was his time to do so.

When RVD left WWE, it seemed the next logical step that he would join TNA and the company at the time was in dire need for wrestlers who could actually wrestle. When RVD came to TNA they were drowning under the weight of Vince Russo’s illogical and awful storylines which TNA seemed to believe were good enough to run a wrestling promotion with. He still possessed everything that he had brought with him from WWE and there was no reason that packaged correctly, Rob Van Dam could have been one of the top stars of the company. That though failed to materialise. Why? Because both TNA and RVD didn’t have the will to use the former WWE and ECW Television Champion to his full potential.

Van Dam saw TNA as an easy option. Somewhere he could go and phone in his performances every night and week, even when they were recording for television. Van Dam was constantly slow and sluggish in his performances against wrestlers he could have done something special with. Over the years, RVD was lost in the TNA shuffle as Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came into the company and treated the place like WCW. Booking all of their friends and acquaintances over the TNA talent who had been there a number of years. I don’t know why Rob Van Dam would have put in his best performance every night when people were getting booked over him, it’s the logical thing to do. Give it your all and if you still don’t get the push you’ve worked for then you have the right to ask questions of the managements. However, Rob Van Dam failed to do that and thus had no right to question why he wasn’t getting booked.

In WWE, Van Dam consistently gave main event performances to back up his upper mid-card pushes and he spearheaded the Intercontinental Championship division for many years. Van Dam was at the heart at the re-invention of the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002 when he was one of the very first to challenge Triple H for the new piece of gold and even competed in the very first Elimination Chamber match at the thoroughly wonderful Survivor Series 2002. Hell, RVD was even a highlight of the botched WCW / ECW invasion. A spot which earned his a job with WWE full time in November 2001. The sky seemed to be the limit for Van Dam when he pinned John Cena to capture the WWE Championship at ECW One Night Stand 2006 after winning the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, though Van Dam would be forced to lose the WWE and ECW Championships several weeks after winning the pieces of gold thanks to an arrest for marijuana possession. Van Dam even went out the right way, losing to Randy Orton and being carried out on a stretcher. So how did he top that in TNA?

The short answer to that my good friends, is that he didn’t. The closest Van Dam got to shining in TNA was reigniting his ECW feud with Jerry Lynn. With both men older and Van Dam noticeably heavier in the stomach department, the pair never managed to recapture the glory of their superb ECW outings and the writing was always on the wall for the man labelled as ‘One of a Kind’. For a man who could have touched the stars in TNA. Van Dam fell further than he ever had before. Where else does one go when they’ve hit rock bottom? Back to the place that helped make you a star. Where else could RVD have gone? Japan showed no interest in him thanks to his sluggish and often dull matches in TNA and the rest of the wrestling world couldn’t offer Van Dam the pay which he required to step into the ring.

So now he’s come home to roost and one has to imagine that this will be the last hurrah of RVD, however long he stays. Does Van Dam deserve another shot at stardom? Of course he does. He was beyond comparison in ECW and his WWE run was full of highlights. One bad run in one shoddily ran company doesn’t mean Van Dam is write-off, it just means that he either didn’t have the correct opponents or saw TNA as a step down and wasn’t willing to put in the effort for very little reward. I’m not saying its right, I’m just saying that could have been what happened. With his re-insertion into WWE both now the chance to smarten up their act.

There are many new wrestlers in WWE who Van Damn could have a convincing feud with and none more so than The Shield. Every one of the trio could benefit from Van Dam’s experience and knowledge in the ring. There’s an avenue for another feud with Randy Orton, Sheamus, Curtis Axel, Dolph Ziggler and many more. Rob Van Dam has it made for him in WWE and whilst he will be required to slim down back to the his 2001 build, there is no reason why Van Dam should fail. If he does so this time around then he will only have himself to blame.

For now though, one of WWE’s adopted sons is coming home and I for one will be more than happy to greet him when he does.

Onwards and upwards...

WWE PAYBACK 2013 - THE YOUTH MOVEMENT

WWE’s first ‘Payback’ pay-per view event has replaced Over the Limit in the pay-per view calendar without actually adding anything new, except the name change, to WWE’s annual pay-per view output. Lacking a theme for the show which would have sold it to the audience better than its predecessor, ‘Payback’ now has to live up the hype as it takes its first steps onto the grand sage of wrestling pay-per view.

On June 16th 2013, WWE will attempt to convince us that ‘Payback’ is the name of the game is presumably puts forth endings to old feuds and beginnings to new ones. For the first time in its history, this is the first card of the first – and depending on its buy rates it could also be its last – WWE Payback event.

WWE Championship Match

Three Stages of Hell Match

Stage 1: Lumberjack Match

Stage 2: Tables Match

Stage 3: Ambulance Match (If needed)

(c) John Cena vs Ryback

I know, I know, I know and I’m bored of saying it time and time again. WWE really don’t learn when it comes to their main event pay-per view matches. After Extreme Rules saw John Cena and Ryback fight to a no contest which is a shambles of an ending for a WWE Championship on pay-per view, WWE have once again pushed two of its most clueless stars onto a grand stage and are crouching behind a closed door with their fingers crossed that they will fly. The only problem with that is the albatross around both of their necks.

It’s no secret by now that John Cena and Ryback do not have what it takes to main event a pay-per view together, their Extreme Rules match was less than satisfactory and the last time they met in the main event of a pay-per view was at Royal Rumble as the pair battled it out to see who would face The Rock at WrestleMania 29 for the WWE Championship. On that night John Cena got the share of the cheers for once as the fans clearly indicated to WWE they didn’t want to see Ryback in the main event challengers spot for the WWE Championship ever again – after his shambles of a challenge in 2012.

WWE should have listened to its audience at the Royal Rumble and whilst John Cena isn’t the ideal main event guy as far in ring wrestling goes, he does have a certain aura about him which Ryback currently lacks. Before 2013 rolled around, Cena and Ryback had last clashed on pay-per view at Survivor Series 2012 in the triple threat main event for the WWE Championship, along with then WWE Champion, C.M Punk. That match was only saved because of Punk’s acumen in the ring and as he was willing to sell so convincingly for both Ryback and Cena, the pair looked better than they would have done had Punk been absent.

Putting aside the Royal Rumble and John Cena’s WrestleMania 29 victory which has now been well documented, Extreme Rules should have been a turning point for both Champion and challenger. WWE should have sat John Cena and Ryback down and gave them a stern talking to as a last resort. John Cena should have been told that he has to try and learn the business which has made him a multi-millionaire in just over ten years and perform to a higher level in the ring – it’s something which Cena could easily do if he could be bothered, unfortunately he can’t and worse still, can’t be bothered – and Ryback should have been made to see that this is potentially his final and biggest chance to become a full time main event player. Had the artist formerly known as Skip Sheffield been told by Vince this was his final chance to impress, then maybe we would have seen something out of him that resembled potential. Alas, nothing resembling that was presented.

It was a hard decision, I imagine, for WWE to come up with something which we hadn’t already seen between the pair and whilst Cage matches, Ladder matches, Falls Count Anywhere matches are all very well, WWE needed something to dictate that this was a major feud stemming from both men’s results at WrestleMania 29. Could it have been handled better? Of course it could. The Ryback heel turn would have been much more effective had we seen it build since Royal Rumble or his TLC loss. Though that is now where Ryback’s character falls flat.

When Ryback was introduced to the WWE, he was a Goldberg type wrecking machine who tore through anyone and everyone in his path without a loss. It was a clever plan by WWE or at least would have been had they employed a wrestler who could have portrayed the Ryback character whilst being able to wrestle and go longer than five minutes without blowing up in the middle of the ring. When Goldberg played the part he was convincing. As rough as hell, but convincing. WWE on the other hand chose a wrestler who has been seen previously in an unimportant role as part of a group which had been destroyed and had all their credibility took away by John Cena. From the beginning, it was clear the Ryback character wasn’t going to work.

Goldberg’s undefeated streak lasted years and his match count surpassed one thousand before he was finally defeated. Ryback’s lasted a number of months and consisted of nothing but jobbers who barely put up any resistance. WWE needed to book Ryback strongly against wrestlers such as Sheamus, Randy Orton, Kane, Daniel Bryan, people who could have gotten him over either by selling for him or looking at the lights for him. Instead, WWE sacrificed wrestlers like Dolph Ziggler and idiots such as Brodus Clay to the cause of getting Ryback over. Did it work? No. All that happened was those who lost to Ryback had their star diminished as a result.

Ryback’s turning point was Hell in a Cell, the event which will now be looked at as the night WWE booked itself into a hole. There was no way Ryback was ready for the WWE Championship and by the time the Hell in a Cell match came around, The Rock had already agreed a deal to face C.M Punk for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble. There was only one outcome to the match which had no count out or disqualification ruling to it and everyone in the arena knew it. C.M Punk had to win that night because WWE didn’t want to piss the Rock off and Ryback would have bombed as Champion – as he will do should he ever win the gold. WWE couldn’t get out by having Punk counted out or disqualified so the Champion had to pin the challenger. An outcome which WWE knew would diminish Ryback significantly and that we would no longer see him as the monster WWE wanted us to buy into. Had this been a triple threat match, Ryback could have been spared with Punk pinning another man – despite the fact that Ryback was a stand in for the injured John Cena. To make matters worse, with C.M Punk injured, Ryback had to lose the match in under twelve minutes. The whole night for Ryback and WWE, because of that fact was a total disaster.

Since his loss at Hell in a Cell Ryback failed to triumph at Survivor Series, TLC, Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, WrestleMania 29 and Extreme Rules despite the fact whether he was pinned or not. It is simply not good enough for a wrestler WWE were always planning on warring with Cena over the WWE Championship in its post WrestleMania period. Vince McMahon has no one to blame but himself for the fall of Ryback.

And so we come to Payback. What else could WWE have done? Another Hell in a Cell match which would have necessitated that John Cena pin Ryback or make him tap out? That would have been almost career ending for the monster with no clue. Three Stages of Hell may not be the match in which Ryback will capture the WWE Championship – thank god – but it will at least allow him to defeat John Cena in one fall before Cena totally ruins Ryback in the other two. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H’s 3 Stages of Hell match at No Way Out 2001 was criticised by many but I still believe it remains a very good bout which got both men over. It’s just a shame Randy Orton vs Triple H’s 3 Stages of Hell match at The Bash 2009 was an absolute dud.

With a Lumberjack Match as the first stage, Table Match as the second stage and Ambulance Match as the third stage if needed, Ryback has been given a playing field in which to shine should he care to bother putting in any effort at all. It always irks me that WWE put into the match listing ‘if needed’ on the final fall when we all it will be. I can’t remember a 3 Stages of Hell match which didn’t need the third fall to decide it. It’s WWE way of building tension for the bout but in truth, we can all see through it. Do they believe that we think they would book such a match and leave the final and most appealing stage out of the match? Not likely. Especially after all the build up revolving the ambulance in the weeks leading up to WWE. The ruling for this match should be that there are points awarded for all three stages necessitating them all to be fought and promoted as so.

If you don’t want to know the likelihood of the outcome of each stage of this match then it may be time to leave the room or you could just skip down a paragraph, it’s up to you. Ryback will win the Lumberjack Match thanks to outside interference. John Cena will have to be safeguarded – why? His image can never be hurt now no matter who he loses to. John Cena will win the last two falls straight to make him look strong going into his next feud or the continuation of this one. The match won’t do anything for Ryback if booked this way unfortunately, being the man to lose the first fall in is basically a straight up wrestling match won’t do him any good either. It’s a lose-lose situation for Ryback at Payback.

I have a horrible feeling that no matter what, this feud is going until SummerSlam and will probably end in a Cage of some sort. This match is simply as big as it is because WWE want to rake in as many buy rates as they possibly can for the birth of this new event. Is the outcome of this match ever in doubt? Not really. Is there any point for it to exist? That question can only be answered after one man has been bundled into the back of the ambulance and carried out of the arena.

Winners Prediction: John Cena

World Heavyweight Championship Match

(c) Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio

Welcome back Dolph. Those are the banner which should be out on June 16th, when our World Heavyweight Champion returns to action from a very nasty and potentially career ending concussion received at the hands of Jack Swagger shortly after Dolph Ziggler was crowned World Heavyweight Champion.

Re-watching the footage of Dolph Ziggler’s injury makes it more violent every time. When you know the effects which stemmed from the kick to the head, you can’t help but wince every time Swagger’s boot connects with Ziggler’s head. It’s nasty stuff and one which WWE hopefully reprimanded Jack Swagger for seeing as he received no punishment for being pulled over by the cops, smashed out of his face and in possession of marijuana. Putting that aside though, poor old Dolph Ziggler has really been through the wringer lately. First he’s buried mercilessly by WWE when he should have been pushed to the sky and beyond seeing as he was World Heavyweight Champion elect, then Ziggler was used as cannon fodder for any and every star WWE could throw at him and the final insult was that WWE couldn’t even find him anything meaningful to do at WrestleMania 29, instead saddling him in the WWE Tag Team Championship match in which he was used as the fall guy.

I doubt Ziggler cared about WrestleMania 29 when he was informed that he would become World Heavyweight Champion 24 hours later. When you knowing something great and wonderful is on its way then the human body and mind find ways to weather the storms which still lie ahead. It’s a wonderful survival mechanism. If you know something is going to happen and you have the dates of when and where, whatever shit you’re in presently becomes that much more tenable. That was the boat Dolph Ziggler found himself in on April 7th. No matter how short or inconsequential his match was on WWE’s grandest stage of the year, no matter how much he’d been looked over in the past for other, less talented wrestlers, Dolph Ziggler was in the knowledge that his World Heavyweight Championship reign, the reign which had worked tirelessly for, for years, was on its way.

It was a triumphant moment when Dolph Ziggler finally cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase the night after WrestleMania 29 and pinned Alberto Del Rio to lift the gold. A moment one won’t forget quickly and one I’m not ashamed to say made me give a wrestler a standing ovation for the first time in years. You see, unlike most in WWE who are pushed without need because of their bodies or connection with those backstage, Dolph Ziggler had worked his arse off for years, toiling and getting nothing but United States Championship reigns back as a reward. It wasn’t enough to satisfy Ziggler and certainly not enough to repay him for being one of the most reliable and efficient workers in the entire business. More was needed and despite being a heel who people were supposed to hate and turn their noses up at, Dolph Ziggler defied WWE and got the audience on his side. I lost count of how many times a World Heavyweight Championship match ended with the Champion down and the crowd chanted Ziggler’s name. On April 8th they got their wish as did Dolph Ziggler and your Wrestling God.

I am a big campaigner for those getting what they deserve in wrestling. If you’ve worked for it, if you desire it and if you have what it takes to never let the disappointments knock you back then who the hell has the right to tell you that you cannot achieve a dream. Those who do are those who either failed where you are looking to succeed or are those who didn’t have enough talent to do what you’re trying to in the first place. The best thing to do with those people is shut them out of your life, grab your dream and shoot for the stars. Dolph Ziggler did that and the reaction he received when he finally lifted his first legitimate World Heavyweight Championship (I, like many, do not count his 2010 victory as legitimate even though WWE list him as a 2 time World Heavyweight Champion) was thoroughly deserved as was every standing ovation he received from those in attendance and those watching across the world.

What could possibly ruin all of that for Dolph Ziggler? Enter, Jack Swagger. It was careless and clumsy of the All American-American. A worker so reliable that he could usually be relied upon to carry anyone to a safe match. Not for one moment do I believe the kick he gave Dolph Ziggler was intentional but nevertheless it was careless. After the incident many in wrestling believed it was a work of fiction, a mere storyline to allow Del Rio and Swagger to finish their feud at Extreme Rules. However it was not. Dolph Ziggler’s concussion was so severe that he could not remember anything about it or the last few days. He’d lost days of his life to a careless kick and the doctors and WWE were suitably concerned. They had good reason to be. After Chris Benoit, WWE treat concussions very seriously to the point they donate money to Christopher Nowinski’s foundation which researches head trauma. Dolph Ziggler’s high moment was brought down to earth with a mighty bump.

The injury to the World Heavyweight Champion necessitated that WWE change their booking for Extreme Rules and instead of the Triple Threat ladder match which was scheduled to take place, Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio contested an ordinary ‘I Quit’ Match. Now though, with doctors clearance, Dolph Ziggler is back in the driving seat and set to make his first defence of the World Heavyweight Championship. A championship WWE should be given credit for keeping around Ziggler’s waist when it would have been so easy and so unsurprising for WWE to strip of the gold he had worked all of his life for.

WWE have missed Dolph Ziggler on television since his injury and even Alberto Del Rio, as good as he is, hasn’t been able to fill the gap left by Ziggler in his absence. Alberto, the supposed face in this feud hasn’t been able to step up to the plate as he should have and has more or less failed to impress since his turn from heel to babyface. His World Heavyweight Championship victory over Big Show on January 3rd Smackdown aside, Alberto Del Rio has failed in every aspect to produce something unforgettable as the main man on top of WWE’s blue brand.

It should have been so different. Alberto Del Rio should have been more determined than anyone in WWE to make a difference after his treatment at the hands of bigwigs. Before his victory at TLC in December 2012 Alberto Del Rio hadn’t won on pay-per view since October 2011. What followed that night was defeat after defeat, all to the detriment of Del Rio’s character. In fact he became so boring and dull that his succession of losses to then World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus on a number of pay-per views in 2012 all but finished off Del Rio as a heel character. How could we buy into Del Rio as a menacing threat to the WWE after he had fallen to Sheamus on so many pay-per view events and television shows?

I’d have hated to been around Vince McMahon when Del Rio ignored orders to turn face and continued to wrestle and act as a heel. I can just imagine the number of chairs thrown, windows broken and people fired for no good reason when instead of appearing humble on television, Del Rio continued to smirk his way through angles and promos as well as wrestle just as he always had. It really wasn’t rocket science for Alberto Del Rio. All he had to do was watch tapes of Chris Jericho, C.M Punk and Shawn Michaels. When you’re a good guy there are rules that have to be adhered to. You can’t cheat and if you do then you have to make it look like its payback for something the heel you’re opposing did. You can’t hook tights, put your feet on the ropes or try to distract the referee and having your own personal ringside announcer in your corner, helping you win matches is certainly looked down on. As the man who people are meant to be urging on, you are meant to be the man who overcomes adversity at every corner.

On the other side of the coin, if you’re a heel, then you can easily break all the rules and do whatever necessary to win the match. It’s a tried and tested tradition that works well and one that Alberto Del Rio has all but ignored. Not once, nearly seven months after his face turn have I watched Alberto Del Rio and thought that he was really in trouble. Ricardo Rodriguez is a huge part of that barrier which Del Rio has yet to break down. As popular as Rodriguez is, Alberto Del Rio is now meant to be the man representing us. WWE have already packaged him as an aristocratic millionaire who thought he was better than all of us, that part of the character has been toned down significantly in recent months with WWE doing away with the expensive cars Del Rio drove to the ring which screamed ‘heel’. Ricardo though has to be the next to go.

With Ricardo by his side, Alberto Del Rio has a get out clause. He doesn’t have to win matches cleanly because whenever another manager gets involved for his opponent, Ricardo can always be called upon to defend his boss. For a face this is a certain no. Just think how much better Alberto Del Rio could play the victim if he was all alone in the ring and forced to take a beating from his opponent. If anyone in WWE is listening then it is time to turn Ricardo Rodriguez heel. And Payback is the perfect time to do so.

Should Ricardo turn on Del Rio, costing him the World Heavyweight Championship then it would lend an air of pity to Del Rio which he needs. WWE has to make us, the viewers, feel sorry for him. Right now, when an Alberto Del Rio match is announced we sigh and in the back of minds know that whilst Del Rio may give us his very best, there’s nothing about him to buy into. With his best friend gone, turned on him, we could begin to feel sorry for the man who has no one left to turn to and a man who is battling the odds alone. That, right now, is the perfect role for Alberto Del Rio to play and indeed the only avenue left open to him if WWE want the character to succeed in the company.

As far as the match goes, there is only one outcome. After being away for a while WWE could have simply stripped Dolph Ziggler of the World Heavyweight Championship. That it didn’t, makes them taking the title off of him in his first Championship defence very, very unlikely indeed.

Winners Prediction: Dolph Ziggler

C.M Punk vs Chris Jericho

WrestleMania 28 anyone? Whatever possessed WWE to book this match again, just over one year after the first, boring instalment ended is beyond me. C.M Punk defeated Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 28 to retain the WWE Championship in a choice effort which neither man can be proud of. People can blame the Jericho main event curse at WrestleMania if they so want to and whilst it’s true Jericho has never had a really good WWE or World Heavyweight Championship on the grandest stage of them all, both Chris Jericho and C.M Punk should have put up a better fight than they gave to us on the night.

WrestleMania 28 wasn’t the end of the pair’s feud however; they manage to produce a fine brawl at Extreme Rules 2012, four weeks later before the end of the feud mercifully was delivered. Last year, Punk and Jericho failed to cover themselves in glory in a feud which should have been so much more. Can the pair produce anything better this time around? It’s a possibility seeing as there is no high profile Championship on the line this time around. Chris Jericho seems to perform better without the stress of the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship though one would question the choice to bring C.M Punk back to action this early on after he walked out of WWE the night after WrestleMania 29.

This kind of lazy booking has become synonymous with WWE and to make matters worse, it is going to affect how C.M Punk is seen by WWE fans because this won’t be the first time he’s promised to walk away from WWE for an extended amount of time and gone back on that pledge. The first, as many will remember was at Money in the Bank 2011 when Punk promised to leave WWE with the WWE Championship after defeating John Cena. The hype for it was massive and by far one of WWE’s stand out angles of that year. Had WWE kept their promise to the WWE Universe of having Punk stay away from WWE with the legitimate Championship for more than the fortnight they manage then they could have built a super hyped feud between Punk and Cena when Punk finally did return several months later. It was a missed opportunity by WWE and C.M Punk suffered as a result.

Now, history is beginning to repeat itself. After WrestleMania 29 C.M Punk came out on Raw, live in front of the watching world and pledged to leave WWE for numerous reasons. Paul Heyman played the part of shocked manager who was losing one of his biggest money spinners to perfection and everyone seemed shocked. The angle would have been even more believable had Punk stayed away from the WWE for a prolonged period for the first time in 2011. Coming out of WrestleMania 29 and even the talk before hand stated that Punk would take an extended leave from WWE, partly to heal wounds which he had acquired during his WWE Championship reign in 2012 and partly as thanks by WWE for helping carry the company and the product in the pre-WrestleMania period with his feud with Undertaker. For a reward then it was well earned, despite the shocking build up which revolved hugely around the late William ‘Paul Bearer’ Moody, and C.M Punk and Undertaker put on the match of the night on the grand stage.

In truth, there was never any way Punk could continue without a rest after WrestleMania. The man was a standard bearer for anyone aspiring to the top tier in the future. He showed what dedication and commitment looked like and even when he was struck down with a serious knee injury in September, Punk continued to wrestle Ryback in an attempt to put him over. Punk never complained that he was injured and couldn’t compete. In fact, the only time Punk didn’t compete on an injury was when the doctors medically refused to clear him. Weeks after the operation to mend the knee, Punk was back in the ring and receiving a customary beating from Ryback in a TLC Match on Raw. That is commitment. Many wrestlers would have vacated the WWE Championship in favour of rehabbing the injury properly. For C.M Punk, the show had to go on.

At the present moment, it isn’t known if C.M Punk will be at Payback or not. This whole storyline may just be another attempt by WWE to create a feud later down the line in the way they did The Miz vs John Cena in 2009, when Cena was injured and Miz called him out. When Cena failed to appear Miz claimed he was the winner and built up a record of Cena no-shows. If this is not the plan then WWE may have another in mind for Chris Jericho when the night draws near. Maybe Brock Lesnar will appear and destroy Chris Jericho necessitating Y2J takes some time out in order to allow him to appear with Fozzy on tour. Whatever the plan then it unwise at this very moment to bring C.M Punk back so early after his exit in April.

Chris Jericho could do with some high profile spotlight at this very moment after his feud with Fandango bombed worse than Pearl Harbour and maybe a small feud with Paul Heyman’s other client, Brock Lesnar is on the cards. If so then Jericho needs to come across as a real threat to the man who has become sluggish in his attempts to regain what he once possessed in 2002 – 2004. For the life of me, I cannot see how another feud between Punk and Jericho could do either any good at all. Everything has been done and seeing as Jericho is now a babyface WWE can’t retread old ground and revisit the Jericho trying to taunt Punk over his family being drug and alcohol addicts. There’s no Championship for the pair to brawl over and quite frankly at over forty years old, it’s time for Chris Jericho to take his final bow in the upper mid-card position.

Had Chris Jericho still possessed something to give WWE in this role then he would have produced it by now and certainly at WrestleMania 29. That he failed to make Fandango look good in their match and only seemingly turned up for the pay cheque is a clear indication that Chris Jericho has grown stagnated with wrestling, almost as much as the business has with him. If this is the last time Chris Jericho makes a march on the main event then what a career it has been for him. However, if he’s going to continue to take the spotlight of those who need and deserve it more than him in 2013 then maybe its better he just heads for the exit door, with our thanks, altogether.

Winners Prediction: C.M Punk

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Triple Threat Match

(c) Wade Barrett vs The Miz vs Curtis Axel

By the time Payback has ended, for Curtis Axel, it could be the perfect rise in WWE. Excuse the pun. After being subjected to humiliating defeat after humiliating defeat by WWE as Michael McGillicutty, WWE wisely decided to withdraw the son of the later Mr. Perfect and repackage him but whilst leaving time in between his exit and re-appearance so WWE could at least have a chance to forget his run as one of the Nexus. An achievement we can accomplish with some certainty seeing as Henning’s run as a Nexus foot soldier was lifeless from beginning to end.

Like his father before him, Henning is a very good athlete even if he is not in his father’s league. Though that may be something which hampers the Henning heir to the throne in weeks to come. Not the fact that he isn’t anywhere as good as his father but being compared to him. So here at least, we shall refrain as much as possible from doing so. Now Henning has gained a little weight and muscle mass WWE have decided to take an interest in him, go figure, and his introduction into WWE as Curtis Axel – note he has his father’s first name in his in ring character ‘Curt’ not ‘Curtis’ – couldn’t have been a better start had WWE wrote it. Oh wait. They did. Instead of coming out on Raw the night after Extreme Rules and suffering the Tensai push, in which he demolished a wrestler no one cared about, Henning came out and took out Triple H. Could he have had a better re-introduction?

Defeating Triple H via referee stoppage was much more impressive for Henning / Axel rather than pinning Triple H. Granted, his star would have been elevated had he pinned Triple H in the middle of the ring but for WWE to be able to package Henning as the man who fought Triple H and the man Triple H couldn’t continue against has made Henning’s beginning in WWE a dream one. And if you think about it, everything has come full circle for Henning and Triple H. In the mid 90’s when he was Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Triple H benefited from the help of Curt Henning in the ring and on the microphone. For those that remember the interaction between the pair then you may not do so fondly, nevertheless, Mr. Perfect helped Triple H a lot and now Triple H has finally done something he seldom did in wrestling and that’s repay a debt. Triple H has advanced Curtis Axle’s career a great deal.

There is a train of thought which now says that WWE will either lose interest in Henning as a singles star and book him in the coming months to be part of some diabolical tag team where he’ll flounder for a year until he either asks for his release or is ‘Future Endeavoured’ by WWE or WWE will finally cease their stop/start booking policy with new stars and begin to push them as they did in the 90’s and late 80’s. Let’s hope it’s the latter. All it needs now is for WWE to get behind Axel as it did The Shield and we are in business. Not only could WWE fast track Axel to the main event within six months as it did Brock Lesnar in 2002 but if everything runs smoothly and Axel can stay drug free – something his father never managed – and show WWE that he deserves to be at the very top then not only will he be treated as a main event star but he will also be able to reinvigorate the Intercontinental Championship division and before they know it, WWE have the next main event star in their grips.

Imagine this. Curtis Axel defeats Wade Barrett and The Miz for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at ‘Payback’. He goes on to convincingly defend the Championship against Randy Orton, Sheamus, Big Show and wrestlers of that calibre week in and week out on Raw and Smackdown until we get to Money in the Bank. Entered as one of the participants in one of the Money in the Bank Ladder Matches. At the end of the match Henning captures one of the briefcases. Putting aside his Money in the Bank victory for a few months WWE put the spotlight on the Intercontinental Championship and Triple H comes back to challenge Axel for the gold at SummerSlam citing that he will not be shown up by his opponent ad if he can defeat Triple H then he will truly be ready to be WWE or World Heavyweight Champion. WWE build the match at SummerSlam as Axel’s day of reckoning and on the night Axel defeats Triple H clean in the middle of the ring. This strategy would make Axel look like the next big thing in WWE’s eyes and Triple H, almost single handedly would have made the next WWE star.

That is the perfect scenario which could come out of Payback. The worst would I don’t even want to think about until it’s over with. Because the worst case scenario would be that Axel falls to either Miz or Wade Barrett and be buried under the weight of crap WWE currently wheel out on a regular basis whilst being noted down in the history books as another chance gone begging. Based on what has transpired so far with Axel then one is confident that history will not repeat itself and it looks like WWE are taking him down The Shield route rather than the Tensai route. Surely now, with Curtis Axel, we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

What can we say about the Miz? Poor old Miz. The man who was promised the world and then kicked right off of the end of it. Seven months after being promised a push back into the main event and Miz is no closer to grabbing that brass ring than he was when he dropped the WWE Intercontinental Championship to Kofi Kingston on an edition of the tiresome Main Event. The King of the Pre-Show has finally though made his way onto real pay-per view and now stands to gain as much from it as his opponents.

It can’t have failed to have been a kick in the teeth for the Miz to find out that he wouldn’t be competing on the WrestleMania 29 pre-show instead of the main body of the card as was initially thought. When WWE told him he would become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion before WrestleMania kicked off I imagine the Miz was slightly eased by the fact that he was going to emerge from WrestleMania victorious with gold around his waist even if it wasn’t going to be seen on the main portion of the event. Imagine then, how disappointed Miz was when WWE told him that his celebrated and popular Championship win would only last twenty four hours. Miz must have gone from ecstatic to downhearted in a matter of moments.

For a man who was promised his spot at the top of the card, a position he previously occupied in 2011, after he lost the Championship he now fights to regain on June 16th, Miz’s career has once again stalled hideously. I can’t quite fathom what WWE were thinking when they saddled Miz with Ric Flair’s figure four leg lock, a move which has had its day and should have been left out of Miz’s repertoire. But I can imagine them believing in their heart of hearts that it was some kind of character breakthrough for the floundering former WWE Champion. The man was the star of ‘The Marine 3’ and is one of the brightest options WWE has for taking the product forward. Can you imagine what state WWE would have been in today had they applied what they are doing to the Miz, to Rock, Austin, Triple H, Brock Lesnar and Edge? It brings a shudder just to think about it.

There is a way forward for the Miz, even if he can’t see it himself. All it would take are a few huge wins on pay-per view and not the pre-show over headline talent and Miz would start to look like a Champion again and more importantly, a contender. Miz really needs a gripping feud to reignite the people’s interest in him. Something which one cannot turn their attention away from instead of turning the channel on when you can signpost the ending to his matches or angles before they begin. WWE have saw fit to insert Miz as a Lumberjack in the John Cena vs Ryback outing at the top of the card which is basically telling us that The Miz is now seen as a curtain jerker as only lower card talent who WWE have no other plans for usually fill out the ranks in Lumberjack matches. Certainly, this isn’t the way WWE should be handling the Miz.

With Money in the Bank fast approaching, assuming Curtis Axel will grab one of the briefcases then Miz could be a surprise if WWE were to allow him to grab the remaining shot at whatever Championship Axel isn’t in line for. Yes it would be a moment which came out of the blue but also a moment which would necessitate that WWE do something with Miz before he is damaged beyond repair. Vince knows how good Miz is which makes it all the more baffling as to why Miz is in the predicament he’s in. As challenger to either top tier Championship though Miz would certainly be a favourite in the build up and at last could break that glass ceiling which he has been hunched up against for so long and break out on his own. The problem with his face turn is that it will only last so long before the novelty wears off and WWE are using up valuable time by booking Miz as cannon fodder to fill their often dull pre-show matches.

Even though I doubt Miz will walk out as Intercontinental Champion at Payback, if he and Wade Barrett could put on the show they did on the WrestleMania 29 pre-show, combine that with Curtis Axel thrown in as well then this could be one of the highlights of the entire night. All three men have the skill and the Miz would have a stronger standing in the company if he came close to winner before being piped to the post by Henning.

The reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion, Wade Barrett needs something stunning, maybe more than Miz does at this very moment. Barrett has been compared to the great British wrestlers of his age yet has failed to produce in the ring time and time again. Be it because WWE haven’t allowed him time to breathe or at times Wade has simply failed to sizzle the way he should have, the Brit needs WWE’s backing now more than ever. As mentioned with the other two competitors if Wade Barrett does lose this match then maybe, with hard work he could win the Money in the Bank Ladder match next month but that would require a huge willingness by WWE and Wade Barrett to deliver the goods night after night. Something neither party has managed to do.

Wade Barrett’s Intercontinental Championship reign should have set the world alight and not ended and began again within 24 hours. WWE should have either allowed Barrett to retain on the WM 29 pre-show or had him chasing the Championship for a couple of months after his loss. This is booking of the sloppiest degree and Vince McMahon needs a slap to see what he’s doing to his talent. But it hasn’t just come about since WrestleMania 29, Wade Barrett has been suffering at WWE’s hands for a very long time now and no has seen fit to put him out of his misery. Ever since Barrett returned from injury he hasn’t looked the same man that left. Yes, he has put in some very worthy performances but overall, Barrett has shown me nothing that even approaches main event standard.

I can pin it down. Usually you can look at someone at put your finger on what is wrong, but with Wade Barrett I can’t do it. Even with my knowledge of the industry. That’s unusual and dangerous for Wade. If the professionals can’t tell you what’s wrong then how can Barrett see it himself? His in ring performances have lacked a certain sparkle and only when he’s in the ring against bigger stars who can drag that side out of him does Barrett even resemble something approaching main event player. The floppy haired Wade Barrett seemed to have the ‘IT’ factor. He contested some brilliant wars with Randy Orton in early 2012 after he’d dumped the Nexus and Corre groups and could have feasibly stepped into the shoes which have been made for him. The Wade Barrett of today cannot.

Example in point, during the WWE’s November 2012 tour of the United Kingdom which is available from www.wwedvd.co.uk Wade Barrett was welcomed home by his countrymen like he was a hero of epic proportions. When he came to ring on his numerous appearances on the different shows Barrett looked like he couldn’t wait to get back on the plane to America and leave the land which made him famous. Even Sheamus looked pleased to be back in the UK and the shows weren’t even held in Ireland – Sheamus’ birthplace. Wade Barrett though resembled a man who was literally going through the motions. It was an embarrassment to watch. Even worse, when in the ring, Barrett’s offence looked slow and slapdash in places. Certainly not what was expected of him. Every time the British Bulldog stepped onto UK shores he gave everything he had. Just look at his stunning matches against Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1992 (held in Wembley Stadium) and Shawn Michaels at One Night Only (held in Manchester, England). Davey Boy Smith gave the fans back the reception they gave him in in-ring performance. Barrett did nothing of the sort.

It simply isn’t good enough from Wade Barrett. The Brit was earmarked for big things by WWE, he had to have been otherwise the company would have anchored him with another group, possibly an all British faction to carry on his career. There were signs of how good Wade Barrett could be in 2012 when he fought Randy Orton and again at WrestleMania 29 on the pre-show when he and Miz went through a short but really good match. Like the England soccer team though Wade Barrett can’t his form on Raw and Smackdown (let’s call them the league clubs for this comparison) and apply it to pay-per view (his national team). If Wade Barrett doesn’t prove himself once and for all soon then WWE will lose interest in him. We all know the company has a very limited attention span.

Winners Prediction: Curtis Axel

WWE United States Championship Match

(c) Dean Ambrose vs Kane

One cannot grumble that Dean Ambrose is now WWE United States Champion after the recommendations made in the Extreme Rules 2013 pay-per view preview. I stated last month that by putting the United States Championship around the waist of a member of the Shield, their reputation would automatically elevate the once prestigious Championship. Lo and behold I was correct. Fear not though, one shall not blow their own horn anymore. Well...not more than two or three times anyway.

WWE have followed through the plan to perfection and already the WWE United States Championship is taking a turn up the ladder instead of peering aimlessly at the bottom. Since defeating Kofi Kingston at Extreme Rules 2013 in May, the United States Championship has been seen in matches pitting Ambrose vs Randy Orton and every Shield appearance on television. The way this differs from any other United States Champion is that the Shield are in a prominent role on WWE television as where Antonio Cesaro and Kofi Kingston weren’t. Now, whenever the Shield are involved in a high profile angle which they always are, the United States Championship is on show for all to see. It is simply a perfect way to re-begin the push for an old piece of gold that maybe could do with an update.

When WWE introduced their first WWE United States Championship, a Championship that is separate from the WCW United States Championship but the title records are somehow cannon it was the same design as it currently is. The only change it has seen is when John Cena captured the gold and made it into a spinner championship. Less said about that the better. After Cena dropped the gold the belt reverted back to its original design when Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero contested the first Championship nearly ten years ago. From that point on it has gone down hill with the likes of Santino Marella as the holder and dumb feuds with equally dumb booking have only added to the downfall of the Championship. Now though, the gold is in the hands of the Shield, the renegade faction could easily introduce their own version of the gold to help their cause of not wanting anything WWE related and the new design would do the gold the world of good. It may even be looked at as a new championship.

Dean Ambrose was the perfect choice to replace Kofi Kingston as champion. Kingston, who suffered an injury, is dated as a character and has no mileage left in him. If WWE don’t act upon the rumoured heel turn soon then all may be lost for the phoney native of Ghana who has a perfect American accent. Ambrose though has excelled in the role so far and continues to do so even though his first pay-per view Championship defence is against the big red bore, Kane. Now, all that’s left to do is for WWE to begin rebuilding the U.S title division under Ambrose so when he does drop the gold he can do so to a wrestler who is primed and ready to step up and continue run with the ball, so to speak. Most certainly, Dean Ambrose cannot build the Championship up to something worth watching again for WWE to totally destroy the gold when it’s in the hands of someone who doesn’t matter in WWE.

If WWE allow it then The Shield can do a lot of good for the Championships they currently hold. Still a major part of WWE’s plan for the remainder of 2013 it’s possible that one member, maybe Dean Ambrose could be elevated by the time WrestleMania 29 rolls around and who knows, could be competing for the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship. That may be a dream right now but certainly putting the United States Championship on Dean Ambrose is a step in the right direction for WWE and the Shield and long may it reign.

What can WWE do with Kane now? Team Hell No is all but over and the Tag Team Championship reign which started out exciting but then degenerated into the same old stuff has to be a memory past for WWE. Now, Kane is about in the correct position on the card and if WWE have finally decided to take him out of the main event picture, which they should have done years ago, Kane may be the wrestler to begin to spearhead the United States Championship division and begin to rebuild it.

Without Daniel Bryan in tow, Kane is limited to what he can do. However, what he can do is give back some of what he’s taken from the wrestling business. As of yet, sixteen years into his career as Kane, Glen Jacobs has failed to give anything back to the industry which refused to give up on him even when a tirade of gimmicks such as Issac Yankem and Fake Diesel failed to take off. I believe that it is time that Kane put something in instead of taking something out. In 16 years, Kane has done nothing of note and even his WWE, ECW and World Heavyweight Championship runs have failed to impress at the top of the card. Down below though, Kane could do some really worthy stuff with younger talent, presuming he’s willing to put lower talent than himself over.

When Kane loses to Dean Ambrose at Payback, as he inevitably will, then WWE need to act with haste to redevelop the United States Championship division, possibly with Kane as the helm. Every division needs a wrestler of standing to be seen to be bothering with it and should Kane make it a point to capture the gold then all under him could begin to regain a little respect when fighting in matches to make them contenders for the gold. WWE could even split its company into division and announce them on television instead of just having people come out and wrestle, letting us guess where they are on the card. If WWE were to divide its wrestlers into categories (Unites States Championship division, Intercontinental Championship division, Tag Team Championship division, World Heavyweight Championship division and WWE Championship division – the Divas division speaks for itself) then we as the viewing audience could buy deeper into each Championship and the elevation of each wrestler when they were announced they had been promoted through the ranks would be seen by us a well earned.

Whatever WWE decide to do with the United States Championship then let’s hope they’re not hasty about doing it. They now have ample time to rebuild the foundations under Dean Ambrose and should not allow this opportunity to pass them by again. They may not get another.

Winners Prediction: Dean Ambrose

WWE Tag Team Championship Match

(c) Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton & Daniel Bryan

Like with the WWE United States Championship, WWE have done the right thing by putting their Tag Team Championships around the waists of the two remaining members of The Shield, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. As with Dean Ambrose and the United States Championship, now the WWE Tag Team Championships belong to two wrestlers who seem to be important in WWE, the image of the gold will be automatically raised. It certainly didn’t do the trio of titles any harm when the Shield congregated at Extreme Rules to show off their newly won Championships to the camera in a show of solidarity. That moment shouted from the rooftops that the gold the trio had just won was important. Something which previous custodians of the gold for the past few years have failed to get across.

Defeating Kane and Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules to lift the gold was the best thing for Ambrose and Reigns and the tag team division. Team Hell No had become stale and repetitive and it was time for them to break out on their own even though WWE have now pushed the wrong singles star up the ladder and left Daniel Bryan in doubles action. Whether they’re not convinced Bryan has what it takes is another matter, but certainly Daniel Bryan could carry WWE alone without any help in singles competition and Kane, can’t. Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins are the future of WWE with some saying that Reigns more so than his partners. Seeing Roman Reigns in combat over the last couple of months, one has to agree.

WWE now have the task of ensuring that the Championship reigns which the Shield are now contesting don’t turn stale. We all know how easy it is for something promising to turn into something dull and boring. When Team Hell No defeated R-Truth and Kofi Kingston at Night of Champions for the Tag Team Championships it seemed to be a breath of fresh air for the company and Championships. That though turned dull and boring with the constant in fighting of the team and the jokes which had grown juvenile and samey. The question that looms over WWE’s heads is how do they make the Shield’s doubles reign go smoothly and not bring down the duo who were doing wonders with the chances WWE were furnishing them with?

The answer is simple. With a severe lack of challengers in the tag team division, WWE have to continue to have higher profile wrestlers, such as Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan challenge for the gold whilst they make new and exciting teams. The other key is that The Shield don’t always have to defend their Championships on pay-per view, instead WWE could and should opt to have the trio compete in six man tag team matches as they did before they became champions. That way feuds are preserved and the Championships get an even bigger lift from being seen but not defended on pay-per view and when the Shield go over their opponents just think how much better the trio of Championships would come across belonging to three people who don’t even need to defend them to get over.

When WWE have green lit that idea then they must make sure they have a clear indication of where the trio are going. All too often we have seen a wrestler pushed without WWE really knowing where the story or person was going. It’s a shoddy practice but one which does more harm than good. After all this effort pushing The Shield and making them look so dominant, for WWE to sell the team short would be a grave miscarriage of justice. No pun intended. Reigns and Rollins have a great future ahead of them as does Ambrose and now is the time that like babies, WWE need to nurture them and give them the best start in life. That is how to do the Shield Justice.

Randy Orton has to be chomping at the bit. Every since his heel turn came up in 2012, Orton has to be hoping that it will come soon. Of course, the turn began last week on Smackdown, I’m sure you cannot have failed to notice Orton turning on Daniel Bryan with a thunderous RKO. The lash out at his tag team partner for this match may not have been his full turn but this has to be the night that Randy Orton completes his heel turn and steps up to the next level. A level which did tremendous business in 2009 with Randy Orton as the heel. Is Daniel Bryan the correct opponent for Randy Orton? Of course he is.

Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan have a chemistry and with the talents of both they could produce the match of the night on every card they are booked. For those who saw Randy Orton and Christian’s stunning 2011 feud, then just imagine something twice as good as that. With Randy Orton’s skills and Daniel Bryan’s technical prowess then the sky is really the limit for both men. On top of that, Randy Orton may be cheered as a heel but if WWE want him to be booed out of the arena every night, the desired reaction would have the best possible start with Randy Orton turning on a man who is loved by the public.

Daniel Bryan has a rapport with the fans that very few wrestlers can lay claim to. His ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ chants are so catchy that one of the moments of WrestleMania 29 was when he and Kane defeated Big E. Langston and Dolph Ziggler and Bryan led a ‘Yes’ chant which it appeared the whole arena joined in with. Those kind of audience participation moments are the kind that wrestlers such as John Cena and Ryback dream about. Because of this and his very fine displays of wrestling over the last few years, no one can forget his astonishingly brilliant Over the Limit 2012 match with C.M Punk, WWE have to see Daniel Bryan as a contender to the throne. If they don’t then they need their heads testing.

I for one would love to see Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan in a real, lengthily feud which produced classic after classic in the ring, every time it was booked. There would be no reason for WWE to rush the feud and it could begin at SummerSlam and end at Royal Rumble or even WrestleMania. If the matches are good enough and people want to see, there’d be no reason they wouldn’t then this could be the feud of the year and rocket both men right back into the main event picture where they deserve to be.

With Daniel Bryan stuck in a lifeless tag team act for the last nine months, how time flies, and Randy Orton putting everyone and anyone he can over to give them the best start possible, both men are owed a huge debt of thanks by WWE for doing what no one was seemingly willing to do. Randy Orton has done more for other wrestlers in the past two years than anyone on WWE’s roster and Daniel Bryan tried his very best to help reinvigorate the tag team scene even when it looked doomed. He never gave up. A hot feud and first class ticket back to the top of the mountain is well overdue for both men.

Winners Prediction: Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins

WWE Divas Championship Match

(c) Kaitlyn vs A.J Lee

It’s been a while since we last talked about the WWE Divas Division in at any length. I did hope in January that by the time we talked about the division again WWE would have made giant strides towards fixing the problems which were staring it in the face and pulling the once celebrated division apart. With the lovely Eve Torres gone from the Divas Division and the Championship passed to Kaitlyn, WWE did have the chance to cut away the deadwood from its female roster and add some weight to it. And by weight I don’t mean Kharma, although her rehiring would have been ample.

I won’t go through the plan again of hiring Japanese female stars to compensate for the lack of American competitors in the company, even though it is the best plan at the moment, but WWE really do need to do something. Whilst they are trying their best, to their credit to make more female wrestling stars instead of models and playboy sluts with the likes of Paige in NXT, those women aren’t being pushed hard or quick enough to reach the main roster. And therefore WWE need stand-in’s until they can push their NXT rookies into the main spotlight.

Whilst there are many women across the world who would die for a chance to compete on WWE’s stage and who can wrestle at this very moment in time the two in question are WWE Divas Champion, Kaitlyn and challenger, A.J Lee. Whilst Kaitlyn has made huge strides in her in ring ability over recent months and has to, at this moment, be one of WWE’s best female workers for all its worth. I know its not saying much but credit where credit is due, since Eve has left the company, Kaitlyn has at least made the effort to improve where she was weak before. If all WWE Divas showed this willingness to improve then maybe the division may not be in such a state as it is now.

With Kaitlyn at the top of the Divas tree, WWE could now introduce some fresh blood. Fresh blood that aren’t required to come up through the NXT ranks. With the championship around her waist, one has to question how much further Kaitlyn can go without a good storyline or any decent opponents which she lacks at this moment. Apart for A.J, who else does WWE have to oppose their top female? The Bella Twins? When WWE can reasonably give us a good response as to why they re-hired the pair then I will give them a chance. By the way, have you noticed that one of them has increasingly bigger tits than the other? Explanations in the comment box below as to how WWE’s referee’s still seem incapable of telling them apart. The truth is, it’s no good Kaitlyn trying her best right now if WWE don’t have the competition for her.

Sadly, I don’t see A.J being that competition. It’s been so long since A.J competed in a serious wrestling match that I actually forget if she can wrestle or not. The woman hasn’t been given a clear direction in which to head in WWE and it has done her no good at all. This has been A.J’s journey in WWE over the last years and a half;

At WrestleMania 28 in 2012, A.J was blamed by Daniel Bryan for aiding him in losing the World Heavyweight Championship in less than ten seconds – by the time the action got going. A.J split from Daniel Bryan and began to portray a mentally unstable character who wasn’t sure who to side with so she took an interest in C.M Punk during the Punk vs Bryan feud for the WWE Championship. A major part of the feud A.J was courted by Daniel Bryan during the feud when she was made special guest referee for the pair’s match at Money in the Bank 2012, because Bryan was scared she would cost him the match. A.J then proposed to C.M Punk and was rejected only to be proposed to by Daniel Bryan on Raw and then enter a sham ceremony on Raw’s 1000th episode where she jilted Daniel Bryan at the alter to take the post of Raw General Manager. A.J was then romantically linked with John Cena, forced to resign from her post as Raw GM, turned on John Cena at TLC and sided with Dolph Ziggler where she currently resides. Wow. That is a journey and a half. At no point during that period has A.J had a meaningful wrestling match.

I do wonder if WWE know where they are going with A.J. She’s certainly not Divas Champion material but then when has that ever stopped WWE from putting a Championship on anyone? As Dolph Ziggler’s muse and one I’m almost certain will turn on Ziggler somewhere down the line and be saddled with the storyline of having an affair with Ziggler’s minder, Big E. Langston behind Ziggler’s back. A fact which Dolph Ziggler will be blind to but we will be privy to and eventually turn Dolph Ziggler face. There are limited options WWE can give Lee here and maybe putting the WWE Divas Championship on her is one of them.

What does the company have to lose? Kaitlyn has run the course as Champion and may be more effective as challenger to the gold. Given the moniker of Champion, A.J may be able to do something outside the ring with the gold even if her in ring prowess isn’t up to scratch.

Winners Prediction: A.J Lee

Pre-Show Match

Sheamus vs Damien Sandow

This one came out of the blue a little. I expected, like most of you did I assume, that Sheamus was above the pre-show spot by now. Triple H’s class pet and the man who has been at the centre of every main Smackdown feud in 2012 and 2013 so far seemed to be heading back to the top of the mountain in 2013, yet here he is, in a pre-show spot with a man who has been booked as nothing but a coward since his arrival in WWE. It’s a possibility that WWE either don’t have anything for Sheamus to do this month or the man he’s been booked against over the summer is busy on this night.

Looking down the blue brand roster, I can only imagine that Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler will do battle at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam for the World Heavyweight Championship seeing as Sheamus is too big a name to be booked in matches like this. With Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan detained and possibly about to enter a feud of their own, Undertaker nowhere to be seen, the Shield given the task of elevating the three most unpopular Championships in wrestling today and Alberto Del Rio failed miserably to be the man that Sheamus is now, it’s going to be left to the ‘Celtic Warrior’ to step in once again and headline the summer programme with Dolph Ziggler. His victory over Mark Henry at Extreme Rules in their strap match was almost set up to make this happen.

Payback would have made more sense had WWE booked Kane in this spot and had Sheamus, an actual big name that people care about in the company challenge Dean Ambrose for the United States Championship. Sheamus is ten times the wrestler that Kane is and could sell for Ambrose more convincingly that Kane will be able to. Plus, a singles victory on pay-per view over Sheamus would do Ambrose more good than one over Sheamus. But hey, maybe after bowing to WWE’s every request, Sheamus has finally had enough of doing what he’s told for little reward and wants just one month where he isn’t required to wrestle a match longer than four and a half minutes on pay-per view. Could we blame him? I’ll allow you to make your own mind about that. Has Sheamus really earned what amounts to a night off? Seeing as he is one of WWE’s premier stars in 2013 then I’d say no.

Personally, I believe that if Sheamus is needed a night off then he should just go altogether. Not permanently, don’t get me wrong, he’s a great wrestler and a perfect choice to headline Smackdown and maybe even succeed John Cena as the King of WWE, somewhere down the line. If he finds the aggression and the will to be the next Stone Cold Steve Austin he could be unforgettable. What I’m trying to get at is that right now, Sheamus is a little dry on charisma and story. WWE clearly don’t have anything important for Sheamus to do right now and he really needs a revamp as a character. Let Sheamus go away for three months, work on his promo skills and discover how to bring out his anger when needed and when he’s brought back he could be a revelation. I would rather see three months of scarce headliners in order for the preservation of the main scene for the next five years and I know loads of other people who would as well.

There isn’t much I can say for Damien Sandow. It’s obvious that Sandow isn’t going anywhere in WWE, unless this is the beginning of a run which will see him capture the WWE Championship – which isn’t going to happen. So what is Sandow still doing in WWE? He’s a great wrestler and sound in the ring. Damien Sandow could do so much for another company that I would have asked for my release by now. TNA need new stars, Sandow could go there. They’d make him a star if Hulk Hogan could get over the fact that Sandow is a much better wrestler than he ever was. The point I’m trying to make is that Damien Sandow is too good to be treated how WWE are treating him now.

Team Rhodes Scholars are done. Gone. No more. WWE have all but put an end to Sandow’s tag team career which means singles action is the only way to go. But what’s the point if he’s just being used to put over bigger stars then him? WWE have other wrestlers they could use for that. Wrestler’s who don’t have the talent or will to do anything in this industry and who only turn up for the paycheque. Damien Sandow could be a revolution in the Intercontinental Championship division or even the United States Championship division and his talent would do either so much good. Yet here he is. At the very bottom of the card, putting over wrestlers who he could feasibly defeat in a shoot fight. Do you think he’s regretting putting his carerr in WWE’s hands now?

Winners Prediction: Sheamus

WWE’s first annual Payback event may be one that falls to the wayside like so many have by this time next year but the card has given it every chance of being re-commissioned for a second year. Both Heavyweight Championship matches look like they could be very good if the four men involved put in a real shift and sell their opponents offence. Certainly, the World Heavyweight Championship Match should be a highlight and I’m placing my money on the WWE Intercontinental Championship Match stealing the show before the night ends on June 16th.

Dolph Ziggler and C.M Punk return to the ring after absences caused by very different things which means WWE have two of its best and most reliable performers back home and fighting the good fight. Certainly, both have been missed whilst they have been gone. But whilst Punk and Ziggler will undoubtedly receive heroes welcomes on the night, this night which should set the scene of things to come for the rest of the year will belong to the younger stars of the company. The Shield, Curtis Axel, Damien Sandow, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton could all cement their place as wrestling’s elite.

On this night where WWE rely on the men it has pushed into the shadows to bring it success, I can think of no better title for this pay-per view. After overlooking so many, for so long, WWE have finally had to admit defeat and concede that fresher faces are the way forward. For those who were told by WWE they would not make it and were less important than the likes of John Cena and Triple H, this is their night of redemption, their night of vengeance...their night of Payback.

Onwards and upwards...