The Triple Threat 9.25.11: The 252nd Edition – Mark Henry, John Cena, Zack Ryder, More

Topic # 1 Mark Henry won the World Title this past week at Night of Champions. Your thoughts?

David Martell: I admit, I was never a Mark Henry fan. I never thought he had a good character or was good in the ring. I never thought he would be a World Champion. Now after 15 years, Mark Henry has captured the a world title. Maybe you can call me a bandwagon fan but I have enjoyed the past few months of Mark Henry. Finally, he has been built up the right way. Henry should have always been a monster. He actually looks unstoppable right now. He has cut good promos minus the few flubs here and there. He had had decent matches because he is able to go at his own pace and just destroy everything. Henry is putting everything he has into this and it shows, he’s a great character. I am hoping that this leads to a decently long title reign for Henry. The more time he holds the title the more legit he becomes. Let him have his reign. I am excited to see how this all turns out.

Jacob San Antonio: It took him forever to get there, but Mark Henry is finally a world champion. As if that wasn’t good enough, he can
say he beat Randy Orton clean in order to get it. It’s hard to properly describe how happy I am for the guy. He’s happily stuck around a company that has been decent to him at the best of times and downright horrible to him at the worst of times. The patience of Mark Henry simply cannot be admired enough. That aside, I am excited to see Henry’s rematch with Orton at Hell in the Cell. HitC matches are usually better than average as is, what with the promise of complete carnage inside the cage. Putting a huge powerhouse like Henry in a match like that just ups the ante, and I can’t see a way for Orton to come out of this rematch in one piece. Of the three big matches to expect inside the cell, I’m completely sold on Orton/Henry alone. It’s probably the first time in a while that we’ve seen a heel champion win without cheating and cowardice, so I hope to see an
awesome reign out of Henry in the coming months.

Zach Brown: I think this was well deserved for Mark Henry. I mean the guy has been in WWE for forever and this is his first world title. Especially now, towards the end of his career, Mark Henry deserves to be World Heavyweight Champion. Even if it is just for a little while, Mark Henry should be able to say that he was World Champion at least once. And it was interesting that Henry went over Randy Orton clean. Mark has been built up very convincingly for the past few months, but I had no idea that Henry would have beaten him like that. In many ways, Orton is like Smackdown’s John Cena lately. He is built up to be Superman, and seems to hold the WHC when there is no other clear choice. And Mark Henry beat him clean and convincing. You couldnt ask for a better start for Mark Henry’s world title reign. This sets up Hell in a Cell nicely because it makes Orton the underdog in this scenario. I look forward to seeing a good outing from Henry vs. Orton at Hell in a Cell, because the match should make Henry look great once again in this first month of him being champion. I could see the big man dropping the title around TLC, but for now, I’m interested I where Mark Henry goes from here. Things even worked well for Kane before Undetaker got involved, so I think Mark Henry should have a respectable run as champion here. 

Topic # 2 John Cena won the WWE title for an unprecedented tenth time this past week at Night of Champions. How do you feel about this?

David Martell: I dislike John Cena more than I ever have at this point. I think its sickening that he has held the WWE title more than anyone in the history of the title. Ten times is a ridiculous number and the fact that he’s still young and probably is going to have another five reigns just sucks. I understand that it was too early to put the title on Del Rio but wouldn’t it have been better if CM Punk kept the title since MitB? I thought he was suppose to lead change in the WWE but it seems that we are stuck with the same old shit. I don’t even understand why Cena needs the title since hes about to team up with The Rock at Survivor Series. Would that mean that there wouldn’t be a WWE Title match at Survivor Series? That would be upsetting. At this point, Cena doesn’t need the title to be a legit draw. He is going against the Rock no matter what at Wrestlemania. His path is set, so why not take this time to let other people become stars, let other people have the WWE title.

Jacob San Antonio: I don’t really care how many times Cena’s won the title. To be honest, I think many fans put way too much stock in Flair’s record and make it a bigger deal than it actually is. What I don’t like about Cena’s 10th title reign, is what it really says of the past four years. In those four years, how long did Cena hold the title, and how long did it actually feel like? I am far more irritated that in the past five years or more, it’s seemed like Cena’s started and ended every single Raw/Smackdown, and ended every single PPV. Even when he hasn’t held the belt, it’s felt like Cena was still on top of the company. I realize he’s the face of the franchise, and that a lot of that should be expected. However, is there anyone else on the roster who’s come even close to the exposure that Cena’s gotten? HHH is the only other wrestler I’d suggest, but that seemed to die down not too long after HHH lost to Jeff Hardy. Even Orton hasn’t reached a level like that yet, and he’s supposed to be the
second biggest thing in the WWE. I don’t really care that Cena’s won the WWE Title for the 10th time. I have a far greater problem that the spotlight has yet to lose focus on him.

Zach Brown: This is downright sickening. Does WWE have even the slightest clue about how to keep things fresh? Why does John Cena need the WWE Championship yet again? Alberto Del Rio was given absolutely no chance whatsoever to prove that he deserves to be WWE champion (which he does). They did an absolutely awful build to Night of Champions because Alberto Del Rio was looking very weak every step of the way. He was never even the focus of the show, and they made their own champion seem dead on arrival. It feels like interest in Del Rio as champion was already waning, which was completely their own fault, so they make a snap decision to just put it on Cena anyway. Not to mention, facing John Cena for ADR’s first defense was a colossal mistake. How would it have even been believable for Del Rio to get past Cena with the way he was being built? How did Cena even deserve his shot in the first place when Del Rio pinned CM Punk to win it? What does Cena winning the title do for anyone? Can anyone argue that it does more good than harm? The only thing it does is make some kids happy and maybe sell more Cena shirts, and that’s being generous. I would argue that it makes Alberto Del Rio look very weak, makes his whole title win look like a waste of time, and makes the entire Raw Money in the Bank match seem totally worthless. What is the point of a cash-in if the winner loses that title at the next Pay Per View? I still contend that WWE had Alberto cash in on a completely wrong time because CM Punk as the rebellious champion was the hottest storyline in years. Just think; what would the wrestling world be like if Vince McMahon had buried Stone Cold Steve Austin the week after he won King of the Ring? Honestly, I feel that WWE screwed up to nearly that magnitude in this case because we can never know how great Punk could have been as the consistent WWE Champion. In my opinion, the main event scene on Raw has been horrendously mismanaged since the end of Summerslam. And it is the complete essence of irony that Triple H criticizes UFC for not evolving, and then WWE slaps the WWE title back on John Cena for the 10th time. Ridiculous. It’s not that I dislike John Cena, because I don’t. I dislike how the WWE uses him. Even he should realize that the fans do not want him to be champion this often. Fans would get sick of anyone if they were champion this much. There are other more deserving talents that should be champion right now, so I really hope that they take the belt off of Cena very soon. 

Topic # 3 What are your thoughts on Triple H “firing” The Miz and R-Truth?

David Martell: Not exactly what I was expecting out of this storyline but I am guessing that we are going to see a lot more “firings” in the weeks to come. This will most likely build up a faction lead by Johnny Ace that will probably be similar to the Corporation. Sounds interesting to me but honestly the group needs to have some more main event talent to be legit in my opinion. I like R-Truth and the Miz a lot right now but facing off against CM Punk and maybe even the combination of Cena and Rock just seems like a lost cause. I guess we will have to see who could possibly join this faction in the coming weeks. I guess Christian would be a likely candidate. He has believed that there is conspiracy around him so I can see how he would fit into the group. Maybe even someone like Mark Henry could be a part of the group. It all depends on how people get built. I am a fan of factions but when you don’t let them get the upper hand, it never works. Look at how The Nexus turned out. Just have to wait and see.

Jacob San Antonio: A bizarre turn for Miz and R-Truth, mostly due to its connecting them to the Punk/HHH feud. I expect Laurinaitis will snatch them up and use them against HHH, much like he seems to have done with Kevin Nash. I don’t know what that means for Miz and Truth, but I do know what it means for the overall angle. Somehow, someway, it’ll make even less sense than it did a week ago. Thinking about it, I imagine Laurinaitis is building a team for Survivor Series. The heel team would consist of Nash, Miz, Truth, Del Rio, and Sin Cara. The face team would be Cena, Rock, HHH, Punk, and Sin Cara. Just taking a shot in the dark with this one, but it’s really the only reason I could see in bringing Miz and Truth into the mix. The HHH/Punk/Nash feud didn’t need any extra players, and Miz and Truth have been doing just fine on their own lately. In any case, I expect Monday night will roll around and nothing will have changed at all.

Zach Brown: Meh. This type of thing is par for the course in WWE these days. And after the overbooked mess that was the ending to Night of Champions, this kind of outcome was not at all surprising. But these days, when WWE wants some momentum behind and particular wrestlers, they kayfabe fire them, then have them slowly re-integrate back into WWE in a variety of ways. It’s interesting how Miz and R-Truth are playing it like it’sreality and that they are upset, but ultimately, that’s nothing new. All that being said, Miz and R-Truth are a tag team that work really well together for some weird reason. Miz got right onboard with Truth’s conspiracy promos, and they are doing a great job of standing out when they normally wouldn’t be during this kind of period in WWE. So really, anytime WWE fires you in storyline, it’s pretty much a sign of good faith. I’m interested to see where it goes when R-Truth and Miz show up on Raw for the next few weeks. But truthfully, I wish WWE would give the whole storyline firing thing a rest. It happens far too often to be taken seriously, and just starts to get old after a while. CM Punk talking about his contract running out and leaving WWE was a fresh take on that kind of storyline. But really, this kind of fake doing story is getting old. WWE needs to start thinking up new angles at this point. I mean when DolphZiggler and Drew McIntyre had brief firing storylines, John Cena’s job was on the line at Money in the Bank, and countless other instances, it just makes me wish that WWE had some other plot device up their sleeve.

Topic # 4 Supposedly Hogan and Bishoff will not resign with TNA after their contracts run out. Your thoughts?

David Martell: I take this as good news for TNA. Hogan and Bishoff have basically destroyed anything good that TNA use to be. They made it their own, seemingly trying to recreate WCW. They tried Monday Night Wars and live TV but it just didn’t pan out. They didn’t build TNA into anything. They rushed it and in the end it just didn’t work out. I think both men have lost touch with the current day wrestling audience. You are suppose to build new fans not constantly cater to the old ones. I think this could be a good thing for TNA. Now they can go back to their roots and start building up the young guys like they should have been doing all along. Honestly I think they should be giving mounds of money to Paul Heyman to try to fix their product. If anyone can get TNA out of this hole its in, its Heyman. Heyman is up to date on the current fan base and could bring some much needed attention to great roster TNA actually has. It will be interesting to see where TNA will go from here.

Jacob San Antonio: TNA should let both go and move on without them. Hogan’s got his midget wrestling to make money off of, and I couldn’t care less what happens to Bischoff. He’s got enough business sense to find work somewhere else. May not be as profitable, but there’s always going to be some promotion out there in need of Bischoff’s skills. In any case, I never really thought that TNA needed the likes of those two in the first place. With them gone, they can put an end to a lot of ideas put forth by the duo. If there is one upside to this, it’s the possibility of Hogan losing to Sting clean in their upcoming match. I don’t know if his ego could take it, but I’d like to see TNA add insult to injury with the end of his contract. TNA should be heading in a better direction with the two of them gone; I’m eagerly anticipating what we’ll see in the future.

Zach Brown: Absolutely fine by me at this point. Hogan and Bischoff have been awful for TNA, plain and simple. They got TNA some attention when they first joined, they pushed TNA to step up to the plate, but even with all that, none of it panned out. There was no noticeable increase in ratings when they joined. And they sure didn’t improve the product. TNA Impact was already bad when Hogan and Bischoff joined. It hadn’t been good since before the Main Event Mafia started. But wow, Hogan and Bishoff really made sure that the show was in the toilet once they were around. The majority of TNA storylines are nearly unwatchable, and I don’t know what Hogan and Bischoff have been thinking during all their time in TNA. They want to make it seem as realistic as possible and pull back the curtain on what goes on in the wrestling business, but the acting and writing in TNA is not nearly good enough to make that idea work. What you end up having are sloppy and stupid backstage segments, atrocious ideas for storylines altogether, and little focus on actual wrestling. Not to mention, it always felt like they were pushing the wrong people and getting rid of the wrong ones altogether. Homicide is a great wrestler. So is Jay Lethal. But they weren’t being used so away they went. And for some reason, they think it’s a dynamite storyline to have some kind of stupid power struggle with Dixie Carter over who owns TNA and all that jazz. Too bad no one was interested at all. The same goes for Immortal, the super group that contained everyone and their dog, with no traits in common and no real reason to band together besides thinking that it’s what the kids are into these days. They wanted to be Nexus, and they just weren’t. Everything that Hogan and Bischoff have done in TNA have either made me roll my eyes or made me outright angry as an old school fan of TNA. Whether it was getting rid of the 6 sided ring, hiring guys like Scott Hall, X-Pac, and The Nasty Boys, or moving to Monday nights and calling it the New Monday Night Wars when they clearly weren’t, so many things that they have done have been a giant waste of time. They think they know what is best for wrestling television nowadays, but the truth is that they are so out of touch with what fans want to see, it’s not even funny. Please, someone name one good thing that they have done in TNA; one thing that has changed the product and will last after they have gone. Please tell me one good thing because I have thought about it long and hard and I keep coming up with nothing at all. In my opinion, the sooner that Hogan and Bischoff leave TNA, the better.

Topic # 5 Do you think Zack Ryder deserves a US Title shot after defeating Dolph Ziggler this past week on RAW?

David Martell: I actually think Ryder getting a shot at the US Title would be great for continuing the storyline between Ziggler and Swagger. Imagine Swagger costing Ziggler the US Title match and we get Ryder as the new US Champion. I think this would be a win/win situation. Ryder is over right now and I think most people would agree that this guy has worked his ass off this past year and deserves to have a reign as a secondary champion. I don’t even mind if it was only for a week. Have Swagger beat Ryder to show Vickie that he is the better man. Honestly, I think Ziggler is ready for bigger and better things. He is good enough to be a world champion, again. He has had some great reigns with the secondary belts and now its time for him to get his main event push. He would be a hell of a lot more entertaining then Del Rio. Let Ryder have his moment in the sun, it wont hurt anything.

Jacob San Antonio: I hate to say it, but it’s a tough call to make. In a lot of ways, I think it’s a bit too early for Ryder to get his hands on singles gold. Ryder is in danger of turning into an Ezekiel Jackson-like champion if he wins gold without enough experience. That’s a bit unfair to say, as Ryder’s had plenty more mic time than Zeke ever did, but it’s still a serious concern. On the other hand, sometimes you have to strike when the iron is hot. It took them forever to do so, but it looks like the WWE is finally putting some faith behind Zack Ryder. He’s more or less replaced Santino in that he has gimmicky mic time, with the difference being that Ryder can and will actually wrestle. If the crowd’s are crazy and responsive to Ryder, I say give him the shot and regret it later. History has shown that sometimes you need to take a chance in order to find greatness. While I’d never claim that Ryder is another huge star in the making, there’s really nothing to lose in giving him a chance at something greater and seeing where it goes.

Zach Brown: It’s difficult to tell what they are going to do with Zack Ryder at this point. I have to say, Zack Ryder going over the US Champion felt like a big deal. It was too short of a match to be anything solid, but it definitely gave Ryder a rub that he deserves. The idea of Ryder as US Champion feels a little out of left field. If anyone was going to be US champion coming out of Night of Champions besides Dolph Ziggler, I was positive that it was going to be Jack Swagger. And even though Ryder might be now in the mix, Swagger winning the US title is something that should definitely happen eventually. But with Zack Ryder, it seems that WWE keeps testing the waters with Ryder to see if the fans are going to keep responding to him. This win over Ziggler was just another experiment on if Zack is over or not in my eyes. So as for whether or not he will actually become US Champion, I am definitely hoping that it happens, but I’ll have to believe it when I see it.

Our thoughts on Derrick Bateman.

David Martell: I think Bateman has a lot of potential but being on NXT is helping him at all. He is definitely a comedy act but could be more if given the time. He really isn’t that great in the ring but he’s still very green. He has a great look too. I would rather see him on Smackdown tagging with Daniel Bryan to be honest. Bryan, although he is the money in the bank holder, hasn’t been doing much on Smackdown. Why not make the DBs a legit tag team. After all, the Tag Division needs more teams. By working more extensively with Daniel Bryan, he can become a better wrestler and in turn give Bryan some much needed charisma. Maybe when NXT redemption is over three years from now he can finally be moved to the main roster.

Jacob San Antonio: NXT continues to chug along, week by week, and Derrick Bateman continues to try and rekindle the spark he had in his first run through NXT. I don’t mean any disrespect, mind you, but it’s hard to deny that he just hasn’t wowed crowds like he used to. He was a well rounded wrestler when first introduced, with decent in ring ability and a lot of charisma. He seemed a shoe-in to win NXT until Johnny Curtis did whatever it was he did in order to win. Now, though…Bateman just isn’t the same. I still think he’s got a future in the WWE, as he’s got enough charisma to make up for any lack in in-ring talent. I only call into question whether or not he’s ready to move up right now. I think he’s in a good place as is right now, what with NXT becoming a sorta of third brand in its own right. Let him continue to develop and improve, give him more mic time, and I think within a couple of months I might have completely changed my mind on Bateman. He’s almost there; just kinda smooth out some of the edges.

Zach Brown: I really like Derrick Bateman. During NXT Season 4, I really don’t understand why he was ever eliminated. I like how Derrick wrestles, and I really enjoy his personality even more. Derrick Bateman is clearly a guy who is more than a little Jericho inspired, which is not at all a bad thing. He has that kind of weird, funny, but self-confident charisma about himself that makes him very interesting. He kind of even reminds me of a calmer, more normal Zack Ryder. He has only been in WWE for a brief amount of time, but has already crafted a great character for himself. He has much more charisma and interesting things to say than either Titus O’Neil or Darren Young. But at this point, I honestly hope all three men just get WWE contracts already. I mean how much longer can we drag out this season of NXT? It’s time to put these guys on the big shows once and for all, and stop this never ending season. Either way, Derrick Bateman is a future WWE superstar, most definitely. I can’t wait to see where his career goes after NXT is over.

That is all for this week. Fell free to comment at the bottom of the page and have a great week in wrestling. CYA!