The Triple Threat 10.22.06: The 24th Edition

Hello everyone, well this is it, Bound For Glory is tonight. TNA’s Wrestlemania is upon us and I’m sure TNA is ready to show the world that they are ready to break out. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to see the PPV Live, (I’ll watch it on tape later) but David and Alex are, so we will have this covered for next week. There are other things going on as well, like what’s this about WWE suing THQ? And is Jericho going to TNA? Also we have a pretty interesting fun topic in here too. We even have a couple questions about ROH in here as well. So the variety is flying here on the Triple Threat today, go read it quick.

Topic #1 WWE is suing THQ (the company in charge of selling and partially making the SmackDown Video Games for WWE) for not properly selling the games in Japan and other parts of Asia. THQ says this suit has no merit and they are fighting it. What is this going to do to the upcoming SmackDown game? And should WWE just drop THQ altogether?

David: I really doubt its going to affect the current Smackdown game coming out because it’s already made but it could affect Smackdown games of the future. I really hope things end well because these games are the best wrestling games on the market. I don’t know who the right person is in this fight but PLEASE don’t end my wrestling game!

Alex: Well this strikes me as some what ridiculous. I don’t live in Asia so I don’t know what the market is like over there, but here the SmackDown series has been extremely successful. I don’t think they’re losing any money here. Losing THQ would be ridiculous. It is a fact that they make the best wrestling games (Revenge, No Mercy, etc.). Finally, I hope this doesn’t affect the new SmackDown game, because I’m looking forward to playing it.

Sean: This is hard to talk about as we don’t live in Japan and couldn’t really tell how the product is not being sold correctly. This probably won’t affect the SmackDown vs. RAW 07 game that is set to release in about a month in the US. It may affect the Japanese or European release though. I just hope that WWE doesn’t drop THQ and Yukes because unless they hire AKI, their games are going down the tubes. I really hope they can get this resolved and start making awesome games once again.

Topic #2 Chris Jericho and his band Fozzy showed up on TNA to help promote Bound For Glory. Even though he doesn’t want to return right now, if he did, where do you think he would go TNA or WWE?

David: I don’t know anymore. I would figure he would go where the money is, which is WWE, but now a days TNA is the new and upcoming promotion so he might want to start fresh. Once TNA gets a two hour show and shows what I can do it might be hard to hold back talent like Chris Jericho from joining their roster. The more and more talent TNA gets the more people they will get to will watch their show. It’s all just a matter of time before TNA becomes some serious competition.

Alex: It was cool to see Y2J helping out TNA, and TNA helping out Y2J, but I still long to see him back in the ring. It was pretty disgusting how the E had him exit. The last thing people may remember him for is begging Eric Bischoff not to fire him, just because he didn’t want to wrestle anymore, he wanted to try other things. When Trish Stratus didn’t want to wrestle anymore she gets to break tradition, and get an emotional goodbye. That’s a different topic for a different time. To answer the original question I would like to see him in TNA. I think there is more potential for him there. If he was just coming back for one match, without question, I would want to see Jericho-Benoit one more time.

Sean: If Jericho comes out of retirement where should he go? Well I mean he has a lot of choices. He could go to TNA where he has friends like Rhino, Kurt Angle, and Christian. He has a way easier working schedule and will be put into the main event guaranteed. The only thing he may not like is that TNA can’t pay him what he’s worth. He could also go to WWE where he would get more money, at least be in the upper mid-card on RAW, and also have some friends there too. The problem is that his working schedule will be gruesome and he’s going to have to make other appearances for the company. Not to mention, if he wants to still be with his band he can forget it. That’s another thing that TNA offers is the freedom to be with your family for a while and do other things. So he has to think about whether he wants to return to the business hardcore or part-time. I don’t really care where he goes, because he will be a good edition to either TNA or WWE.

Topic #3 Cryme Tyme made their debut this week on RAW. What do you think of them, their gimmick, and could this finally let WWE use a tag division?

David: They seem to be a solid tag them and they definitely have a lot of charisma. There gimmick is somewhat offensive to some people but it seems like the crowd is already hot for them. Cryme Tyme does help the tag division out because it adds another tag division to the roster but it still needs a lot of work. Its hard to tell what they can do in the ring because they have only had once match but things are looking good for Cryme Tyme.

Alex: I’m not too hot about this tag team, it’s pretty much just another version of Los Guerrero’s pushing racial stereotypes, but they weren’t bad in the ring at all. I did like their finish, and hey they’re over.

Sean: I like Cryme Tyme and their gimmick is funny to me. I think of them as the black Guerreros. I don’t know why people keep saying this is racist when the stereotype fit even more with Los Guerreros and no one said anything. I’m a Latino and I wasn’t offended at all by the characters. Parodies of Cryme Tyme’s characters have been done in movies all the time and they are put in more real-life situations on those movies than on WWE. People never complain when something is done like that in movies, but because it’s WWE, they can’t do that. Their promo’s poke fun at the style and the gang life, they aren’t meant to be taken seriously at all. If the tag team can work as well in the ring as they do outside of it, they could be very fun to watch. As far as the tag division goes, it is still the low point of RAW and the problem is that after Cryme Tyme wins the titles there isn’t anything for them to do, because all the teams have been jobbed to no end. The good thing is at least we can laugh a little before the tag division gets brought down some more.

Topic #4 Delirious won ROH’s “Survival of the Fittest” a few weeks back. Is this surprising to you? And what does this mean for ROH?

David: This means that ROH is really digging Delirious right now. He’s obviously their up and coming star and what better way to get him started then to win the Survival of the Fittest. Delirious is becoming a big player in ROH. He already had 2 title shots so its just a matter of time before he becomes the champ.

Alex: I was shocked by Delirious getting the victory. I was happy, but really surprised. Having the finals come down to Matt Sydal-Delirious was very smart booking, given their history and everything. I was some-what bummed that Aries didn’t pull it out, but hey there is just one more step for Delirious on his way to the top. While I don’t think that he will be the one to dethrone Danielson, I believe Delirious will become even more of an important part to the Ring of Honor roster.

Sean: Well I’m really surprised because Delirious is the opposite of what ROH is about. Delirious is a great wrestler but he has a gimmick which is something you don’t see a lot in ROH. I mean the guy doesn’t even talk in a literate fashion, but hey, the crowds love him so it’s good to see something new and unexpected from ROH. I have no idea why Zach Gowen was in a match in ROH, but at least Delirious beat him down. Delirious is set to face Danielson for the title on November 3rd and that should be one hell of a match-up. I’m happy for Delirious and I hope good things keep coming for him.

Fun Topic of the Week: I really didn’t think of something here, so if there is something that anyone wants to talk about. This is a freebie speech.

Explanation: This question may not necessarily be something that is going on in the wrestling news, but it is what it describes. The fun topic is there to get everyone thinking about how they would answer the question. Basically your own personal brain teaser where you can answer it however you wish. This is what we had to say about this week’s fun topic.

David: In response to Bayani’s plug for our column last week: I guess I’m not taking anyone on a date to see the Marine because no one responds to your column…oh wait they actually do maybe I should be worried… PLEASE LET A WOMAN WRITE IN!

Alex: In the course of pro wrestling history bad booking is a constant occurrence, but often time not a huge mistake. I took some time to remember examples of big mistakes when it comes to the face/heel side of things. Off the top of my head: Steve Austin turning heel and joining the alliance, Christian being a face for so long in TNA, Randy Orton’s face turn, just to name a few. But none of those were as ridiculous as the WWE keeping John Cena as a face throughout this entire year. It is as if a golden opportunity was handed to them and they said no thanks. He would have been much more over as a heel, and drawn more money as a heel, than he has thus far as a face. Looking back to One Night Stand of this year, Cena’s match with RVD was one of the most entertaining matches Cena has ever had, due to the fact that he was playing off the crowd and using heel tactics, WWE should have sensed there, what they could have now.

Sean: Well David to be fair we don’t get a lot of feedback either, so I mean if your gonna take a jab at him for that, it would be wise to point the finger here too. He actually got more feedback than we have for a while. Now onto what matters, there seems to be a lot of people that are downright hating on the WWE product just because RAW has been a let down for a while. I think those are the same people that refuse to watch SmackDown because they’ve been trained that it is a “crap show” or just don’t want to give it a chance because there could be something about the product they do like. This is why WWE’s brand extension still works. For all the flak that RAW gets, they do what they are supposed to do, provide the Entertainment portion of the program. They have almost all the big stars and wrestling is secondary most of the time. They do have a growing mid-card and except for the main event situation, the other parts of the show are somewhat set. At least there is a chance that DX could end up putting it over EDGE and Randy Orton. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but there’s always that chance. If you want wrestling as your focus turn to network television and watch SmackDown. Now I’m not saying the show is perfect, but if you like the wrestling portion of the program this is the show to watch. They have tag teams, a very good mid-card, and a main event situation where you could see anyone step-up to face King Booker. Even though, SmackDown still is the breeding ground for RAW, at least you can say you got to see their star grow before they end up on the big show. Carlito and Super Crazy not to mention John Cena have been products of the SmackDown system. The show has been pretty consistent and always seems to have at least one or two good matches per show. If I have nothing to do on a Friday, I don’t get bummed out because there is a damn good wrestling show on the air at 8ET/7C on the CW network. Is SmackDown better than RAW? It really depends on how you like your wrestling. I enjoy wrestling as a whole probably not as much as I used to, but seriously if you have that many problems with how wrestling is there are other alternatives like TNA, ROH, and your local indy federation. Especially, with the addition of Kurt Angle, TNA might be finally pushing themselves in the right direction. I really hope the primetime slot works out for them. The greatest day in wrestling will be if ROH gets a national deal because there will be so many different types of wrestling shows on television, that it will broaden not only the fans horizons, but maybe both Russo’s and McMahon’s too. ROH will have a steep hill to climb though for it to be a success they have the talent to do it, but do they have the creativity to keep it going? That will be something to see when it does happen. However, we need to live in the now, and at this moment if you want everything into one show, maybe you should check out that SmackDown show on Fridays. Ya never know, you just might get hooked (now if we could just get Batista off of the show it’d be awesome.)

On a sidenote, I did see “The Marine” this week and I thought it was a generic action flick. I actually liked it, Cena has potential as an actor and having him portray this super-regular guy type role fit him. The cast around him isn’t anything to write home about. Robert Patrick did play a cool villain and Kelly Carlson may not be the best actress but she’s damn hot. The movie is a classic action film where stuff blows up a lot, the plot progresses to even more explosions and Cena’s character somehow gets through it all. It’s unrealistic but it’s been a while since I saw an action film like that. It may be a flop at the box office, but I don’t think people should expect it to do a whole lot. WWE’s logo on the screen probably turns people off from the film anyway. It is going to take Vince a long time to have WWE films get respect.

Topic #6 After last week’s big announcement by Shamrock. Vince McMahon has stated that he is very interested in rehiring the former WWE superstar. Apparently they have storylines ready for him if he decides to sign. That being said, should he go to WWE?

David: It would be an interesting endeavor for the world’s most dangerous man. I’m all for it, he might not be able to fight any more but I bet he can still wrestle. Hopefully things will work out and we get to see an ankle lock on WWE TV once again.

Alex: NO! NO! NO! What in God’s name could they play off of “Watch the man who has been beaten senseless in his last four fights!!!” I mean honestly…come on.

Sean: Well if he wants to comeback to WWE he would work very well on SmackDown. Benoit, Regal, Taylor, Finlay, Lashley, Taker all fit his style of wrestling. I do think he is going to have to earn some of his popularity back, but if they book him right he could easily go up the ladder once again. Vince has been dieing for a UFC type wrestler and who better than the original. If he returns to WWE I think Vince will make Shamrock one of his pet projects. Also you have to wonder how much of this wanting to sign Shamrock is to prevent him from going to TNA, if he was really surprised by the rating UFC got for that fight, I’m sure he’s thought about what Angle vs. Shamrock could draw for TNA on PPV. I would really enjoy seeing Shamrock back in a wrestling ring and I know a lot of old fans that hope for the same thing. I bet they could work out some kind of part-time deal with him and he wouldn’t have to worry about finances. So this is all up to Shamrock where he wants to go, just like Jericho, wherever Shamrock goes it will be a good addition.

Topic #7 The Kings of Wrestling added another tag title to their growing list. Not only are they the CHIKARA and ROH tag champs, but also the CZW champs as well. Is there anyway of stopping this team? What do you think of the tag team? And is there anymore titles they could win?

David: I think the Kings of Wrestling are awesome. They are taking over the Indy scene by storm and who knows when they are going to stop. Hell, ill buy them two title belts and they can be the tag champs of my apartment if they want to. I don’t know how many more titles they are going to win but they are certainly on the top of their game. Let’s hope things continue with these guys.

Alex: First off Chris Hero fans don’t come much bigger than me, so of course I am happy with what is currently going on with the KoW. Claudio is also a fantastic wrestler, and together they just have that chemistry that great tag teams have, no to mention the heat they can draw, Hero is one of the best heels on the indies today. Recent history hasn’t really given us anything like this, where a wrestler or in this case a tag team, starts dominating multiple wrestling organizations, so it’s kind of new and an exciting thing to see. From here it looks like the King’s reign may go on for some time and right now I’m hoping that the PWG tag belts are in their near future.

Sean: Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli are two of the best wrestlers on the planet. When these two decided to team up and call themselves “the King of Wrestling” there weren’t many that could refute the claim. Both of these guys have been trained by members of the Blue Bloods, so they know how to get it done in the ring. When the whole CZW vs. ROH thing was happening, Alex and I kept saying how cool it would be if Chris Hero went to ROH. So now that he’s finally there I’m sure Alex is creaming. I love this team and I hope they can have a long reign as ROH tag champs. They have a rematch with Aries and Strong coming up on October 4th, that one will be flat out terrific. Kings of Wrestling rock the house guys and if you don’t know about them, look them up because these two will be around for a while. I guess the only thing left for them is to go to TNA and win the Tag Team titles there. Wouldn’t that be awesome to hear “NEW NWA Tag Champions: Kings of Wrestling”? Well to me it would. David you know no one can beat the house tag champions, and that’s just a down right fact, but I would gladly let them be honorary house tag champs. I do want to see these two live some time that’d be great.

Topic #8 Tonight is TNA’s biggest PPV of the year, Bound For Glory, what do you think of the card?

David: I was skeptical at first but now I’m starting to see how good the card can really be. I’m very excited to watch this PPV and what’s better then Bound for Glory to be my first TNA PPV.

Alex: Well this is it for us TNA fans, our WrestleMania. I’m really excited about this one, especially with the way impact ended. The card looks very solid, although it still makes no sense having Samoa Joe in the Monster’s Ball, but I digress. Senshi-Sabin may end up stealing the show, their match last month was very good, but the stupid ending soured me on the entire match. With this Jackass stuff out of the way, we have a much better match on our hands. Kevin Nash’s battle royal should be entertaining it’ll be interesting to see who’s in it; on a side note the “press conference” on Thursday was pure genius. The 4 way tag has potential we’ll just have to wait and see. The cage match speaks for itself. And I have, surprisingly, a good amount of faith that the Main Event will deliver. Be sure you don’t miss this one, if for nothing else than for the return of Austin Arie…STARR!

Sean: I’ll tell ya this PPV looks damn good. Let’s look at the card shall we. Eric Young vs. Larry Z, well this probably ain’t the greatest why to try to make yourself look different than WWE. This is one of those Vince type gimmick matches. Eric Young should get the win here case closed, this will leave the door open for Cornette to be even more of a figurehead or Russo is going to show up on television. The Four Way tag doesn’t really appeal to me, it may turn out to be good, but the only viable contenders are The Naturals at this point since James Gang and 3D are past it, and AMW keep having problems. The Monsters Ball will be a bloody mess and pretty enjoyable for those sick bumps, but we know who’s gonna win so it takes the fun out of it a little. The X-Division Battle Royal Gauntlet should be pretty damn fun and I’ll be excited to see if this is where Aries makes his debut. I really hope Shelley, Sonjay, or even Aries win. Rhino vs. Christian Streetfight is gonna be a dandy as the two friends know each other well and we can expect something good here. Sabin vs. Senshi could either be really good or really bad, I’m hoping for the former and Senshi needs to win bad. He really hasn’t been shown as the dominant Champion he should be, and he leaves the door wide open for better feuds with the title than Sabin. The two with no personality in a match together this should be interesting. The Six Sides of Steel Tag Title match will probably be match of the year candidate and for sure match of the night for this PPV. This promises a lot and I’d buy the PPV for this alone. The main event will be the debut of Angle in a match and as the enforcer he will probably be partial to Sting, but I think everyone is waiting for another Angle & Joe confrontation. This is the only thing that can ruin the PPV. If Jarrett wins, the fans and everyone at home will feel cheated. It’s time to move on Jarrett and I think he even knows it. Nothing good can come from Jarrett keeping the title here. So as long as TNA doesn’t screw up the main event, this PPV could be one of the best of the year.

Match of the Week Nominees: Intercontinental Championship Fatal Four Way: Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Masters vs. Super Crazy vs. Shelton Benjamin, Triple H vs. Randy Orton (RAW), James Gang & AJ & CD vs. AMW & LAX (TNA Impact), I Quit Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero (SmackDown).

Explanation: Match of the Week is where we honor those companies that have enough money to get themselves a national television deal. We list the ones that we thought were the best from the three shows and then pick our favorite. We may include a Heat match if it was really good but most of the time it will just be from RAW, SmackDown, ECW and TNA Impact. PPV’s don’t count because we always give out our match of the night when we give our thoughts on them. Also we only add an indy match if we went to the show. So here are our picks for Match of the Week.

Sean: I Quit Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero

David: Intercontinental Championsip Four Way: Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Masters vs. Super Crazy vs. Shelton Benjamin

Alex: Intercontinental Championship Four Way: Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Masters vs. Super Crazy vs. Shelton Benjamin

Shout Outs to Our 411 Crew

Get ready for Bound for Glory with the 411 Roundtable Preview

Ari’s Column of Honor Is the place to go for all of your ROH needs.

The 3R’s

Truth B Told Bayani Domingo has those Asian girls looking good. He also runs down the Bound For Glory in true TBT fashion. What does he think of all the matches? And even some other things? You have to read to find out?

Fact or Fiction JP & Jeff Small talking about all the stuff in wrestling.

Remember that Hidden Highlights is out there too. Go read JT & JP’s column that show’s you all the little details of a wrestling show. I can’t link them because they come out at the same time I need to turn this column into the system. So there is a link here in spirit.

Meehan Tells us why the brand extension is still rocking the wrestling world part TWO!

Also don’t forget to check out Ryan Byers’s regular column Cheap Wrestling for Cheap People Where he tries to get you to watch some wrestling for less money. No column this week from Byers, but you should send him an email anyway.

Stuart Carapola does that well written This Week in Hardcore Yeah it’s the week all ECW style.

Tim O’ Sullivan he’s the king of futbol here at 411 and he has something called the Round Football Column He talks about all the happenings in the English Premiership and the Champions League, as well as other things that are happening around the globe concerning the beautiful game. If you love footie or even (if you don’t) read this column, that’s in the Sports Zone, because it’s that damn good.

A special shout out to Andy Clark who’s doing the Shimmy tomorrow morning.

Hey! there are other new guys out there besides us

Because they come out the latest of all these columns they get first dibs from us. High/Low Road Sat & Uncle Trunx discuss moving Kane to SmackDown.

Shining the Spotlight Michael Weyer talks about father and sons in wrestling, you know, like the Harts, Rocky and The Rock, and others. Go check it out it’s another good read on the Spotlight.

Getting Over, Mike LaFave is off this week, damn and I was looking forward to the column this week.

The Top Ten Julian Williams gives us his top ten debuts.

If you want to know where we came from and some of our old columns that aren’t on 411 go here: Old Triple Threat’s

There is something new you should know about

411 Video Games section Go read the whole damn section. This is the place to go for your Video Game needs and maybe even more than you asked for as well. Seriously, everyone has been working hard to keep this running and any feedback for them is greatly appreciated.

Now! Time for Feedback

Again we are kinda low on the totem pole of feedback. Since we only got one from the same guy as always, I felt it unnecessary to send feedback. So here’s to John and his streak of being a loyal follower of the Triple Threat crew.

Here he is the one and only John Bryant Bateman with a dream match.

Ken Kennedy vs Christopher Daniels. Well that’s it. Considering I’m a Kennedy mark and obviously Seanie boy is a Daniels fan and Lafave recently did a column on CD, I figured We’d put the 2 against one another. I mean think about it. Ken Kennedy is argubaly the fastest and current growing as the one of the most popular superstars today. he reminds me as a mixture of a Young Stone Cold Steve Austin(to quote JBL) and Triple HHH as Kennedy loves to run his mouth and can be a smashmouth wrestler but like HHH he can be methodical in a way that reminds me of the Game or Chris Benoit. Christopher Daniels has been with TNA since the beginning, I mean he has earned the title Mr. TNA, since he has possessed the longest X-Division Title Reign in history(over 6 months) and also one of the most innovative wrestlers especially in his **** if not more matches with AJ styles. add on the famous Unbreakable match and you got my reason as to why CD is a TNA Main Stay. oh yeah on a side note: My Cousin Chuckie and his girlfriend of now 6-years got married yesterday.

Sean: Well congrats to your cousin Chuckie, wow six years that’s a long courtship I’m glad they got married. I don’t know him, but please give him my regards to a long and happy marriage. Anyway, well if JBL says he’s like Stone Cold I can’t refute that, but he also reminds me of the Rock in his promo’s so I think he’s got a mix of everything, which is probably why Vince likes him. Even though, you wouldn’t know it by the way he’s been booked lately. As far as the match goes, this may be a dream match down the road when Kennedy is a little more experienced. The man still has a lot to learn and they need to change his finisher for goodness sakes. CD would win easily now, so I’d say wait on this, but I would like to see it, if that counts for anything.

Well that is all for this week folks. Thanks everyone for reading, we would sure like to know what you think about these topics. It’s always good to have someone else to argue with besides these guys. We hope you enjoyed this edition of the column and we will see ya’s laters. Enjoy Bound For Glory everyone. Later Triple Threaters.

If you want to send us your thoughts or comments send them to [email protected]