wrestling / Columns
Schmozzes & Screwjobs 05.22.2007: Edge Screws Cena (Part IV of V)
It’s that time of the week again where I bring you your regular dose of Schmozzes & Screwjobs! In today’s fun-filled, action-packed edition, we have our fourth part of Rated R Superstar Edge screwing over John Cena in Championship matches and also a detailed look at Sunday night’s Judgment Day pay-per-view which included John Cena defending the WWE Championship against the mammoth Great Khali. But before we get started on all of that, I have little self-pimping to do. I’m sure you all noticed that yesterday’s edition of The Fink’s Payload featured three new writers, one of which was me. Don’t forget to send your ideas in for One Night Stand matches to the payload address. But you may not have noticed my debut column in the Sports Zone on Sunday. That’s right, I now write a football (soccer) column which you can check out right now, it’s called Sunday’s Soccer Showdown and is in the Sports Zone waiting for you. I’m also going to be starting to use my 411 blog a little more. For instance if you missed any part of the series on Cena and Edge, you can check out all the parts I’ve done so far without having to go through all my old columns. I’ve also now completed my look at what I think TNA is doing right, and what they are doing wrong and that’ll be posted shortly. So if you have the time check back regularly to see what I’m bloggin’ about. And now onto the column!
Curtain Jerkin’
-Those of you who read Bayani Domingo’s Truth B Told you’ll have noticed (or not) his references to Fall Out Boy songs when plugging my column. I didn’t think many people who weren’t fans of the band would get those references which started me wondering if Bayani was an FOB fan. So I asked him about it, and here’s his response;
D-Dubya,
“I assumed you were taking the piss…”. I have no clue what that means, but I assure you my good man, I was not urinating while typing up my column last week. I’m not exactly a Fall Out Boy “Fan” per say…I mean, perhaps a “casual fan”. I may own an “album or 5” but that hardly makes me a fan. For one thing I’m not a ‘cutter’, for another thing my hair is exactly the same length all around my head and my bangs aren’t 6 inches longer than the back, and lastly I only have one pair of ‘tight pants’ and those I keep around just ro remind me what a fat ass I’ve become…not for actual wearing. So no I’m not actually a FOB fan. Can’t a guy just have 4 of their albums on his iPod for no apparent reason?? But then again my heat will always be the b-side to my tongue… so what can you do? I hope that answers your question.
Btw, I think I got Julian Williams to change his names to “Jules” too. Now if I can only get the Triple Threat guys to change their name to 3-Count I’ll be 3 for 3.
Cheers,
b
p.s. Jay-Z … FOB…wtf?
So there you have it. Bayani is not a Fall Out Boy fan. The part at the bottom was referring to a request I received to change my name to D-Dubya.
Edge Screws Cena – From Saturday Night’s Main Event to Summerslam
Background Information: None really, other than Cena and Edge were still feuding while Van Dam and ECW were no longer involved in the title scene.
How It Went Down: And from the 411 archives, the report from SNME, provided by J.D. Dunn;
WWE Championship: Edge (w/Lita) vs. John Cena.
The fact that Edge has kept the spinner title virtually assures that Cena will eventually recapture it. It’s just a matter of when. Edge threatens to walk, but Cena chases him down. Cena charges and goes over the top as we go to break. During the break, they show a commercial for a “1970’s Music Compilation.” Interestingly, legendary Mexican wrestler Mil Mascaras used to use Jigsaw’s “Sky High” as his entrance music. No wait. I was wrong. That’s not interesting at all. We come back from a night with Barry Williams to find Cena slugging his way back. Edge botches a superplex and slips off the ropes which looked almost planned. Cena makes the big comeback and hits the FU, but Lita pulls the ref out. Cena counters the spear to the STFU, and Edge taps! Lita yanks the ref back down. He finally gets to signal to ring the bell as Edge is tapping. Oh, but it’s a disqualification, and Edge retains the title. (7:55). The two men brawl after the match, and Cena gives Edge the FU off the steps through the table! Great spot there. The commercial break made this one difficult to judge. **1/2
We move on. A rematch was soon booked for Summerslam with the added stipulation that if Edge got himself disqualified like he did at Saturday Night’s Main Event, he would lose the title. In another little twist, Summerslam was taking place in Cena’s hometown of Boston, Mass. Here is 411’s live report of the show;
WWE Heavyweight Title: Edge (w/Lita) vs. John Cena.
The DQ rule is waived, so if Edge gets disqualified, he loses the title. Cena overpowers Edge early, and they tease a ref bump. Cena misses a charge and posts his own shoulder. Cena makes it in at 8 but gets knocked off the apron for another teased countout. Even his hometown fans are booing Cena. Ross says we are “literally in Cena’s backyard.” Must have been a bitch to mow. Cena elbows out of a chinlock but runs right into a big boot for two. Edge goes up and fights his way out of trouble, hitting a flying clothesline for two. Cena powers out of a camel clutch and hits the Throwback. Lita grabs a chair, but Edge waives her off. That’s enough distraction to allow Cena to come back, though. Cena hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Edge counters the FU to the Impaler! ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Cena goes for the Super FU, but Edge counters to an Electric Chair, which Cena then counters to a Victory Roll for two. I thought that was it. Lita tries to get involved again but gets knocked off the apron by Edge. Cena schoolboys him for two. I thought that was the end too. Edge readies for the Spear, but Cena sees him coming and drop toeholds him into the STFU! Lita tries to interfere again, but Edge waives her off while in the hold and makes the ropes! The ref drags Cena off Edge, allowing Cena to sneak Edge some brass knuckles. Edge misses a swing and winds up in the FU, Lita jumps on Edge to block, but Cena just shucks her aside. That allows Edge to slip out of the FU and BLAST Cena in the back of the head with the brass knuckles for the win at 15:41. The booking down the stretch was fabulous with both guys teasing spots where the match should end but didn’t, and Edge & Lita sold the psychology of the rules changes perfectly. A match that easily surpassed my expectations. ****1/4
The Fallout: The feud would come to an end four weeks later in Edge’s hometown of Toronto, Canada in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. In the end, it was Cena who delivered a huge FU off of the ladder, sending Edge crashing through two tables stacked on top of each other. They did meet in a rematch a few weeks later on Raw in a Steel Cage match where Cena won with a little help from DX. This match was more about starting Rated RKO vs. DX than closure to the Cena/Edge feud which is largely remembered as the final chapter. Next week, prepare for one big ass analysis of this whole feud!
False Finishes & Fan Cams
Judgment Day Is Upon Us
WWE presented Judgment Day 2007 last Sunday night featuring John Cena defending his WWE Championship against The Great Khali and Batista battling Edge with the World Heavyweight title on the line. There were few surprises on the show, and a few less surprising moments. Here’s my break down of the card.
World Tag Team Championship Match – The Hardys vs. Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch
Let’s start things off with what I thought, was the Match of the Night. At Backlash last month these two guys put on a killer opening bout that I think a lot of people were surprised with, partially because it got plenty of time to produce a great match. Since Backlash, Cade and Murdoch have turned face. Sort of. They’ve acted like faces, shaking The Hardys hands, not attacking them at opportune moments as would be expected. So there was a fair amount of intrigue going into this match. Both teams put on a tremendous performance and what resulted was another great match. There were a couple of occasions where I thought that Cade and Murdoch had the match won but it was not to be. If you had told me six weeks ago that Cade and Murdoch would be viable contenders to The Hardys titles I’d have laughed in your face, but that’s what this angle and match has turned The Redneck Wreckin’ Crew into. Matt and Jeff went over with the Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combination and after the match all four men shook hands. Hopefully we’ll get a third match between these guys which will result in Cade and Murdoch taking the titles, which means more tag team goodness from these two teams! ***½
ECW Championship 3 On 1 Handicap Match – Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Umaga vs. Bobby Lashley
This was different, to say the very least. I didn’t expect it to be a two minute squash, but I have to say the fact that it only went two minutes and the crowd heat was off the chart, made this very enjoyable. Lashley was made to look incredible Sunday night and that will only help his popularity (which still isn’t what it should be for a guy in his position) and reputation. Keeping the ECW Heavyweight Championship on Vince McMahon was the right move for now because there will be bigger heat for Lashley’s eventual title win when he beats McMahon in a one-on-one match which will most likely take place at One Night Stand in two weeks time. Depending on what went down on Raw last night, I may now actually be into this feud because of this match. ** for entertainment.
2 Out of 3 Falls for the United States Championship – Chris Benoit vs. MVP
This match has already had many detractors and is being called the worst in Benoit and MVP’s series of matches but I absolutely loved this match. I’m a big fan of a match where a wrestler works a limb or a body part of his opponent, but only if it is done right. And I think it was done perfectly here. MVP went to the knee early and later on in the first fall the injury came into play when Benoit hoisted Montel Vontavious Porter into an electric chair position but his knee buckled and MVP swiftly and smoothly countered in the Playmaker to pick up the first fall. I loved this as it put over Benoit’s knee injury, and MVP’s ability to counter and his finishing move. MVP continued the work on the knee throughout the second fall and there were several occasions where Benoit couldn’t pull a move of because of the injury (the German suplex for example). While some didn’t like the finish, I think it’s fantastic that a whole match’s worth of offence incorporated into the finish but most importantly of all, MVP went over HUGE. No-one beats Chris Benoit two straight falls. No-one. This should be an indication of how much faith WWE has in this kid who has improved in leaps and bounds over the last six months. I hope MVP thanked Benoit when they got to the back because if when MVP becomes a huge star, it’ll be this series of matches that were the groundwork for his superstardom. This feud would be perfect if this week on SmackDown, Benoit calls MVP out to the ring, shakes his hand and challenges him to a rematch – 30 minute Iron Man match at One Night Stand. Have that match end 2-2 with MVP being caught in the Crossface in the closing seconds but refusing to tap. There’s no other way I can end this other than… BALLIN’! ***½
Randy Orton vs. Shawn Michaels
Another match that is surrounded in controversy is the Legend Killer battling the Heart-Break Kid. Bottom line, folks, is that Shawn Michaels has a knee injury, and simply could not wrestle a match anywhere near the quality we are used to from Michaels or what we’re expecting from this match. Some thought it would be good to bring in a replacement? Why? Who would have made sense? The answer is quite simply nobody, so this was the best way they could go. And for the record, I still found the way they did this entertaining. Even in the few minutes they had, Orton targeted the head and delivered that sick rope-assisted DDT as well as some stiff shots to the head. I love the way HBK tried to cheat (raking the eyes) and was able to get a little bit of offence in. And try to tell me you didn’t laugh out loud when Michaels flopped down trying to hit Sweet Chin Music. It’s was entertaining, sensical, and short. No harm came from it. “Oh, but the fans were robbed of a match!” Wrong. I’d bet my house the only reasons the tag title match was added to the card was because WWE knew that this one would be a match per se. Additionally, Orton is going to have a ton of fresh heel heat coming in to Raw (last night) and this adds fuel to the fire that is the inevitable feud between Orton and Triple H. Again, for entertainment purposes this gets a healthy *¾
Carlito vs. Ric Flair
I wasn’t expecting much going in because of their pair of stinkers a few months back on Raw, but this was decent. Carlito looked slightly more motivated than usual, and as someone that isn’t as much of a critic of his work as others, that means he looked good here tonight. Flair was Flair. His offence almost exclusively consists of chops and bunches but he did look on form as well. I have to say I was completely shocked by the way this match went down but in hindsight, I’m actually quite pleased. Could a push for Flair be on the cards? Let’s ask Kevin Thorn!
Kevin: ….
Kevin? Oh right, we’ve got a bad reception because there’s no Ariel. *silence.* Sorry, that was really bad, but I just had to.
Back to the match, and I think Carlito is being sent a message. Step up or step down because he’s been treading water for far too long. This feud may continue in which case only Carlito will go over in the end, but for now Carlito can’t buy a win. **¼
World Heavyweight Championship Match – Edge vs. Batista
I think it was Larry who mentioned this in the play-by-play, but these guys really didn’t click and had little chemistry. Parts of the match were ugly but I did enjoy the end sequence. As I don’t care at all for Batista I wasn’t upset to see Edge go over cleanly because there are bigger and better feuds/matches waiting for Edge. Tell me you wouldn’t love to see a Edge/Benoit feud. LIAR! I hate that they had to work on the leg in this match because although it did incorporate into the finish, Batista is a horrible seller of limbs and they’d already had two matches where a specific body part was targeted and they were about to have another one (which was far more important to the story). There were other ways they could have gone about this match and I think if they had just let them brawl for ten minutes while pulling out all their respective big moves it would have worked much better. I was a little shocked that Mark Henry didn’t make an appearance to cost Batista the match but I can’t say I was disappointed he didn’t show up. **¼
Elijah Burke vs. CM Punk
Another match that I loved. Punk sold the injured ribs very well and Joey described the effects of the injury and strategy of both men very well which deserves a mention. Some of the action in this match was tremendous stuff, a ton of stiff kicks from both guys and a sweet series of false finishes. I was ecstatic to see this got decent time (the most of any match on the card?) and both guys got a chance to show what they can do. I was shocked that the crowd weren’t interested and loving this match, instead they chanted “JBL!” which just pissed me off slightly. I do believe that both of these men are future world champions but they need to mix with some more established guys to truly get recognised as the potential superstars that they are. A Benoit feud for Burke, or a Finlay feud for Punk would help a great deal. ***¼
WWE Championship Match – John Cena vs. The Great Khali
This match was about a million times better than many predicted but I said it a few weeks ago; John Cena will get a good match out of The Great Khali. Bar the Last Man Standing match with Taker last year, and this is Khali’s best match ever. Cena sold his ass off and made everything Khali did look deadly. Check out the first clothesline Khali hit to see what I mean. Believe it or not, I would have liked to see this match go a little longer, maybe even five minutes. I think they only scratched the surface of what they could’ve done. Here are a few spots that they could’ve easily incorporated into this match;
-Cena takes The Giant Chop while sat on the top turnbuckle and goes crashing to the floor
-Cena attempts but fails to get the FU a la Cena/Umaga at New Year’s Revolution
-Khali rips the turnbuckle pads a la his debut, but Cena avoids contact causing Khali to shoot himself in the foot
-Five Knuckle Shuffle attempt, but Khali gets up and chops Cena
-Khali’s one footed pin countered into STFU, Khali gets the ropes
-Cena busts out his big splash a la Backlash 2006
These spots either show Cena’s desperation to win, or Khali’s amazing strength and threshold for punishment. None of these are hard to pull off and together would take up another five minutes tops, and then we’d be looking ***. And I’m not joking. BUT, this was a good match. Credit to Cena for making Khali look a million bucks, and credit to Khali for getting his foot up that high for the heel kick. **½
And there you have it. A solid show if nothing else. As well as these good matches, we also got a hilarious backstage skit with the Divas predicting the winner of the main event. Well, I found it funny at least.
Krystal: Maria, who do you think is going to win, Cena or Khali?
Maria: Batista
I love that chick.
Overall I’d give this pay-per-view a 6.5/10 for Cena’s effort, the 2 out of 3 Falls match, Punk/Burke and the tag match. Another good pay-per-view from the WWE.
Reader Feedback
Well we’ve got three columns worth of stuff to get through so let’s start with the feedback that should have been here last week. First up is 411’s Arnold Furious with some autobiography recommendations;
Most of my WCW reviews contained some sort of help from the Death of WCW. It’s a really good book for helping me remember what order everything happened in. Plus it still amazes me some of the ridiculous crap they did.
Hogan’s book is a really interesting read just to spot the amazing number of factual errors that got past their fact checkers. Hogan’s memory is a total mess. I would imagine if it was fact checked the list of corrections would have been so huge they’d have been a book by themselves. I’ve heard some bullshit come from wrestlers mouths at times but Hogan’s book takes the biscuit. On page 2 and I quote; “I didn’t want people to remember me as the guy who wrestled until he was washed up”. Oh dear. On page 9 he reveals his childhood hobby was stuffing rocks up his nose. It’s worth reading just to see how totally detached from reality the Hulkster really is. Quite how he ties his shoes up in the morning in a mystery to me, he’s that whacked out.
AF
Thanks Arnold. I’m definitely picking up Hogan’s bio soon and hopefully I’ll have enough to get the WCW book because I probably haven’t read about some of the dumb shit they did at all.
Still with last week’s stuff, it’s Samer;
The screwjob: Well i enjoyed everything about the ONS II PPV, and at the time it actually gave me hope about the new ECW. And while the RVD-Cena main event wasn’t great from a wrestling perspective, the crowd reactions and the build up for future storylines alone made it great. I mean seriously, i have never seen a wrestling crowd that hostile in my life. And the Edge interference not only gave the title to RVD (well for a Very short while), but it allowed their feud to continue. And yes i totally agree with u, when u compared it to the HHH-Rock feud from 2000. And u might have a point that if they had faced off in the Mania main event, then the feud wouldn’t have lasted that long. And thus preventing us from awesome matches, like the one at Summerslam, and the TLC match at Unforgiven. Overall good stuff, and that’s the kind of feuds i like to see, and that’s the kind of feud i want to see with Cena and HBK, i want them to continue feuding through out the year, of course that can’t happen since HHH will be back soon and there will be other challengers..
Speaking of which: Why the great Khali? Well why now? I mean Cena and HBK were in the middle of this awesome feud, having tremendous matches, 3 to be exact, being the WM match, the Raw epic, and the 4 way at backlash, and they clearly have unfinished business. HBK beat Cena clean in a non title match, which should grant him a title match, it’s that simple. Plus the 4 way match at backlash was booked in a way that Cena’s win was made to be a fluke, which is totally fine by me, since it allows HBK and Cena to extend their feud. Right?
Wrong! Because Vince wanted to fulfil his fantasy by having Khali feud with Cena. In a way i do understand what Vince was thinking: Cena and HBK have unfinished business, and u know they will have the blow off to their feud, after that HHH is back, and u know he’s gonna be in the main event scene, so how can Khali feud with Cena? well u have 2 weeks til judgement day, let them book a quickie between him and Cena, where they have a match, Cena wins, FU’s Khali, everybody’s happy. Well no everybody, because the match will suck balls! I hate to disagree Dan, but calling Cena the best worker in the WWE is an insult to anybody named Shawn Michaels. Or Chris Benoit for that matter, or even Finlay. John is one hell of a performer, and he’s having good matches week after week, but performer and worker are two different things. Don’t get me wrong, i do like Cena. But he is no HBK, and he definetly can’t have a good match with Khali! Hell the biggest proof is that god himself.. i mean Shawn Michaels couldn’t. U watched Raw, and u saw their match, while yes it was better than most of Khali’s matches, it still sucked. Shawn worked his ass off (and I’m sure Cena will do the same), but still that wasn’t enough, because Khali is the slowest and sloppiest piece of crap to ever set foot in wrestling ring. And it’s only a matter of time he injures someone. Cough-mark Henry-Cough. He’s just too slow, and i think the match will be Khali beating Cena for a while, which will seem like an eternity, while john attempts some FU’s unsuccessfully, before finally making the hulk Hogan comeback, hitting the FU, the crowd goes batshit, everybody’s happy. Well at least John won’t get booed against Khali right? well i sure hope so, cuz if the fans would rather see the belt around Khali then we have a major problem.
Now as far as SmackDown is concerned, i got to say: DAMN! What the hell is that? Taker and Kennedy both injured! The champion and the most over guy are both injured.. Now the slightly good news is that Kennedy’s injury isn’t as serious as it was thought, which is good. But still, those are some major blows.
Now Edge going to SmackDown and winning the title is a very smart move. I do think he deserves a long title run and this might be his chance. Now the big question is who will challenge him?
Well knowing the WWE they’re gonna go for Batista, which is wrong. Why? Well it’s easy. Batista managed to get out of a feud with the Undertaker without being really damaged. He had 3 very Solid encounters with the dead man, and lost only one, while the other two being a draw. So the WWE has managed to still make him look strong despite loosing the title. Now’s the big chance, to take Batista away from the title picture for a while, book him to be an unstoppable animal, not necessarily turning him heel, but making him have this “don’t give a fuck” bad ass attitude. Hell even a short feud with mark Henry where he destroys that piece of shit will be good. Because if he does challenge edge for the title, then u have some problems. U can have him win back the title, which will suck! The fans are starting to turn on Batista, and he kinda lost his fire since his injury, and now he’s regaining it, but it’s too soon to put the title back on him. Plus if he does beat edge, then edge has lost all his credibility, and will look like crap instead of having a long solid title run. So who do we have besides Batista? Well nobody. That’s why in have 2 words for you, no not suck it…
Chris Benoit. He’s dropping the US title to MVP at judgement day, these two had great matches, and this one, a 2/3 falls will be their best IMO. But it’s about time MVP wins the title, and SmackDown would have created a new star. This all good, but what about Benoit after that? His run as a US champ has been really solid, i mean he held the title since October, which is a long solid run, and had some good title defences. He’s still over with the crowd. And who wouldn’t want to see him and Edge tear the house down? he can feud with edge for a couple of months, that time is enough for the WWE to rebuild Batista, to have Kennedy back (the injury will keep him out for 2 months), to have Booker and Rey Rey back. And suddenly u has a Main event scene again on SmackDown. And a great main event scene by the way. Think about it, Edge vs. Rey? Tell me they won’t have a great match. Even Edge vs. booker will be great. Now i agree that booker didn’t have great matches as a champ, but who did he face? Well Batista, and.. Batista. And we all saw how Batista sucked in the ring at the time. And Kennedy shouldn’t win the title until WrestleMania, although it would make sense for him to come back as a babyface and immediately feud with edge, but a title win at WrestleMania is always that much more meaningful. So Smackdown’s Main event scene will be consisted of Edge, Benoit, Rey, and booker, aren’t these the guys that the IWC always felt they deserve a push? How about adding matt hardy? he did have an awesome match with Kennedy, and he beat him too… Just imagine the combination of good matches these guys can have.. Will it happen.. Haha not in a million years.
That’s it for now, long e-mail sorry man.. Take care
Thankfully, the Khali feud should be over by now, but Shawn Michaels’ injury may mean it’s not over yet. I did enjoy the match at Judgment Day but I don’t want to see them go at it again. In saying that, Vince now wants Snitsky to come to Raw to face Cena. I’d take Khali over Snitsky any day of the week.
Now Benoit is no longer United States Champion, he has the best opportunity he’s had in years to be a main eventer again. Edge and Benoit can have some killer matches while Batista feuds with Henry. Soon enough Rey, Booker, and Kennedy will be back and SmackDown’s main event scene will have gone from looking like Batista vs. Mark Henry to any combination of Edge/Benoit/Rey/Booker/Kennedy which kicks major ass. Oh yeah, Matt Hardy, too. Those are some great matches there. But as you say, will it ever happen? Doubt it.
And rounding off last week’s feedback is Dominick;
Eyo.
-Matt Hardy and Chris Benoit in the title scene? I’m with you on that one.
-RVD’s win was huge for me. I was so happy that RVD had finally made it to the top. Then he had to screw me over but getting it on with Mary Jane. But I’ve got to say when Sabu and RVD go off the top rope nobody gets HIGHER. I dare you to take a CRACK at someone who gets HIGHER then those two.
-51 screwjobs. This isn’t going well.
-Out of the choices they’ve given out for the NWA Championship I pick Bryan Danielson.
-I like that Edge is the new World Champion. He was the best choice to move to SmackDown!
-Sacrifice looks like a good show.
-Mr. Tuesday Night DOM
I think Danielson is the only real option – he’s been the best in ROH for a long time and he is more than deserving.
Sacrifice did look good, and it delivered as well. I think that’s the first TNA pay-per-view I’ve enjoyed all year so well done to TNA for that. They’ve still got some catching up to do though.
We move on, to the feedback from The Top Ten Edge Matches which I covered last week. John Malankar is up first;
Hey Dan,
So only 3 of the ten were singles matches and only 1 of those 3 in the top 3 overall. I love Edge as much as the next guy, but I’m starting to drink the Kool-Aid that Edge isn’t such a great singles wrestler (regardless of how good he is at portraying a heel personality). How about five more singles matches that would be highly ranked?
John wasn’t the only one to point out how many tag matches there were, but Edge has had many great singles matches. Two awesome TLC matches last year with Flair and Cena, a quality match with Cena at Summerslam, a fantastic series against Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero in 2002 which both produced several matches that were considered. I also recall a couple of street fights that Edge has had with Shawn Michaels, one in 2005 and one from earlier this year. Hope you keep the faith in Edge!
Next up is um, y5nthon5a;
Just one thing, you should have put Ric Flair & Edge’s match on the top 10 edge matches. It was most definetly an under-rated match.
This was a great match, no doubt. I did consider it but I do think the other matches were more memorable and significant in Edge’s career. This would’ve probably got the eleventh spot though.
And here to bridge the gap between the Top 10 feedback and this week’s feedback is Samer again;
Hey Dan this is Samer with some feedback on the S & S, the Top ten, and a little comment you made in the judgement day roundtable (oh you knew this was coming!).
The Top 10:
Now i like the list, and it’s really hard to argue with any match you mentioned, they all deserve to be there. However my only complaint is that 5 of them are ladder matches. And i think that’s too much.. Now don’t get me wrong they were all great matches, but if u look at The Triangle ladder match (or what i like to call TLC 0), TLC 1, and TLC 2, they are all very similar matches. Instead u could have had one of them on the list, and the other two being an honourable mention. So u could have had the triangle ladder match as an honourable mention, and either TLC 1 or TLC 2 on the list. Also the E & C Vs Hardyz match shouldn’t be there, and u could have easily replaced it with another match. Maybe his SummerSlam match with John Cena, since it’s fairly recent, and it was during Edge’s first title reign and his breakout as a single’s star. The money in the bank ladder match definetly deserves to be on the list, if anything, for its significance on Edge’s career. He won the briefcase, cashed in 8 months later, and became the WWE Champ for the first time.
And this is often overlooked, and forgotten, but he had a GREAT match with HBK on Raw last January in a street fight, it could have made the list, probably at number 10.
The Screwjob:
Nothing much to say really, i was really pissed, because i wanted RVD to have a solid run as a champ, but then again it was his fault, and this is the reason he won’t be with the company starting the next weeks or so..
On the other hand, this allowed Edge and Cena to feud for the title again and have a series of great matches…
And finally.. Ur Judgement Day roundtable comment:
“Cena is on par with Michaels, only in my mind, a better seller”
Oh Come on! Please you mean just like at WM 23? When HBK worked on the leg for 7 minutes, and Cena just forgot about it? Just because he hobbled doesn’t mean he did a good job at selling.. Now don’t get me wrong, Cena does sell, and he will bust his ass against Khali, and will sell his moves. But saying that he’s a better seller than HBK is outrageous frankly, especially that Cena is miles behind HBK when it comes to Psychology…
On the Top 10; I think you’re probably right in that I should’ve made one or two of those ladder matches Honourable mentions and included a few more of his singles stuff, the Raw Street Fight in particular and the match with Cena at Summerslam. It’s hard to make a list of the top ten Edge matches because he’s had so many great matches both as a tag team wrestler and on his own. The reason I included the Hardys vs. Edge and Christian ladder match is because it was the first of it’s kind in the WWE and was almost laying the groundwork for future matches like TLC. There are other matches that are better, but this is one of my favourites because of its historical significance.
On the roundtable comment; OK, I think you’re probably right on that as well. The problem I have with some of HBK’s selling is that he can overdo it sometimes, which is OK on occasion, but when he oversells an entire match, it bugs me. I think both are tremendous at selling and psychology, but HBK probably is just better than Cena.
Bilal Perkins has some thoughts on Matt Hardy;
awesome!!
I agree with the heel and the promo thing especially ive been saying that for a while.
If you could give Jeff (who has no promo skills) a midcard to main event push u could give Matt a push.
I mean i seen in TNA a few months ago a guy who was a Pro-VKM fan had a matt hardy “Indestructible Soul” shirt on i mean c’mon. And now that Michael Hayes in a writer for Smackdown! He should give matt the push he needs (cuz as i assume you know he was Matt’s trainer back in the day)
but yea good blog
I didn’t think I’d get too many people who agreed with Matt being a potential world champion but this is cool. Thanks for the kind words.
And finally, Yinette… wait, is that a female name? Could I possibly have a female reader? Awesome. Anyway;
This sequence of blogs are really interesting and make a good read. I do believe Edge is the best heel in the wrestling word right now. To whom, of the greatest of all time, would you compare him?
Also I am 100% with you about Matt Hardy being the champ. I was really down with Kennedy’s and Taker’s respective injuries, but in a way this is good to push some other talent that was push back for bigger, (in like every sense. e.g. Bobby Lashley is just big in physique), superstars. Matt the innate talent and the experienced skills of wrestling, in addition like you said is charismatic, he has his own fan base. And is full passion for the business, heck! He gives good matches in Raw and Smackdown every week and not to mention the house shows!! He’s a committed worker.
Did you know that Hardy read your article?
Yinette
Who would I compare Edge to? Wow, good question. He’s a different type of heel to most of the greats because he really is Rated R. He’s not like a Ric Flair, classy, well-dressed sort of guy. He’s not like a Triple H, battering guys on a regular basis. I’d have to say Roddy Piper because both are great talkers and very controversial. They both make you WANT to hate them which is always a good thing.
I’m glad there are other people who believe in Hardy like I do. And until I read this, no, I had no idea he read my article. More on that in a moment.
Matt Fact: Matt Hardy Reads Schmozzes & Screwjobs!
This is too cool as far as I’m concerned. Matt previously responded to a 411 article written by Asteroid Boy a few years ago, and they had some kind of argument – I won’t go into the details but Matt didn’t appreciate something that was written. So I find it awesome that Matt took time out to mention this very column in his MySpace blog this week;
Hi! Matthew Moore Hardy is hanging at the house and feelin’ and smellin’ like a million bucks! Two million bucks, actually, LOL! I just got home from the road on Wednesday evening, finishing up my six days a week schedule. As the boys in the WWE dressing room say–I’m the hardest working man in the business today, the “Workhorse” Matt Hardy. After taking a Wednesday evening nap, I dined on an awesome Bonefish meal, had a great workout, did a little shopping, picked up a delicious Cheeseburger at the Truck Stop for the road, burned my trash in my new bonfire hole, played with Lucas while doing so, and I am now writing a quick blog (as well as a brutal run-on sentence, ha!). It’s been a nice day–mainly because I flushed my system of that little bit of negativity and frustration I’ve had lurking the last couple of weeks. The Matt Hardy that you know and love is up and running again on all cylinders! Which brings me to the QUEST to be the BEST!
As of today, Thursday, May 17th, 2007, I am on a QUEST to be the BEST. What I mean when I say that is very simple–I’m on a journey to be the very best there is in the professional wrestling/sports entertainment business. I feel like every week I’m one of the most consistent and entertaining performers in the WWE. And I’m only gonna get better. As long as God is with me and I don’t suffer any serious injuries. There was a ton of feedback from my first “Will Not Die-aries”, stemming from my goal of winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Some people believe in me, some don’t… story of my life. I believe in me, and a lot of good people do, and that’s all that matters. I’m fully focusing towards becoming the man on Smackdown. Whether I win, lose, or draw, I wanna be the star of the show, the best match every night. And ultimately, I wanna be the World Champion. I have World Tag Team Title commitments on Raw now, but I’m staying strictly a singles act on Smackdown. I’ve let the powers that be know that I want big time, main event matches every week. I’m ready to shatter through the glass ceiling and never come back. So it starts now for me–the QUEST to be the BEST!
If you’d like, I’d love for you to check out this article written by Daniel Wilcox–it’s about 2/3’s of the way down the page and entitled, “Matt Hardy can be World Champion!” As most of you know, I’m a fan of positivity when it comes to covering wrestling. Thanks for such a positive and well-written article Daniel! Here’s the link–
http://www.411wrestling.com/wrestling/columns/54391/Schmozzes-&-Screwjobs-05.15.07:-Edge-Screws-Cena-Part-III-of-V.htm
After reading this, I had an idea for a little contest here on OurSpace… I’d like for you guys to write a short, positive blog giving your opinions on my QUEST to be the BEST, my World Title aspirations, or just whatever your take is on me! Please then post your blog here as a comment about my blog that you’re currently reading. I’ll read through them all and pick my three favorites. I’ll then make an exclusive blog featuring the three winners of the contest. So put your thinking caps on have some fun with it!
Wow. While I think my article was probably brought to your attention by a fan as opposed to you finding it yourself, if you are reading, thanks for the kind words and taking the time to read. For a guy like me who grew up admiring this guy, it is too awesome. Thank you, Matt, and I really do hope you break that glass ceiling because you deserve it, man!
Taking It Home
And that’s your lot for this week. Next week we finally wrap up the Edge/Cena saga after what seems like an age and then some. I’ve put pressure on myself to write a really good analysis for next week but hopefully I can pull something out of the hat. Also next week, there’ll be more False Finishes, some reader feedback (I hope) and maybe another WWE Superstar will read my column. Chris Benoit? John Cena? Will Maria Kanellis finally drop by to say she is in love with me? Will Vince McMahon read my work and decide I’d be a better fit to run the WWE than he is? You’ll have to come back next week to find out.
