The Rhodes Scholars

Rob: Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow are quite the talented team, but thus far they don’t have a lot of experience. They beat the Usos in the first round of the tournament, and I’m thinking they’re going to fare well against Ryder & Santino, but I don’t know that they’d stand a chance if they get to the finals against Kane and Daniel Bryan.

Nathan: They’re my favorite to win it all. The team gimmick works well and they have good chemistry in the ring. Its true they don’t have a lot of experience and each guy’s singles career is on hold, but they have a ton of potential as a top heel tag team. If anything they can provide for some great promos.

Rob: I’m sure the things Sandow will get to say about them will be classic, and the match will happen eventually, but I’m not sure they’re even going to get the pay per view title shot.

Nathan: The main reason I think they’ll win the tourney is that Mysterio & Cara will beat the PTP who will in turn cost them against The Scholars. Mysterio-Cara vs the PTP seems to be a brewing feud

Rob: I’d like to see the Prime Time Playas beat Ryder & Santino in a feud before having a storyline with Rey and Sin Cara. It would give the Prime Time Playas a chance to go up against a pair of guys who can both drive things forward on the mic, which isn’t something Sin Cara is going to do. Ryder and Santino both have those skills.

Santino Marella & Zack Ryder

Nathan: To me they’re the least likely to win the tourney. They’re basically two comedy guys Creative threw together because neither of them had anything going individually.

Rob: Agreed. The odds that they’d beat the Rhodes Scholars is very, very low, and a victory there would lead me to believe that the Prime Time Playas were advancing from the other side of the bracket, and I don’t see Zack & Santino winning that one either. Team Hell No is gaining good reviews for their pre-taped segments and a significant fan-following, so they’re not going to have them turn heel any time soon.

Nathan: Plus both Ryder and Santino’s acts are each wearing thin, so we can safely write them off.

Rob: What’s the possibility that one of them turns heel after they lose the upcoming match?

Nathan: Zero, because that would be totally out of character for Creative. If anything Ryder will be the one to turn heel because it’s been hinted at on his YouTube show

Rob: I’ll agree that there’s a low likelihood, but it could be a good idea. They’re clearly not willing to push him as a face, and he could easily ramp up the annoyance factor of his gimmick to get some good heel heat.

Prime Time Playas

Nathan: I thought they would lose most of their heat when AW was fired, but they’ve managed to stay effective. Titus in particular can be the menacing mean guy on the mic whereas D-Young probably should stay silent. They’re one of the young, rising teams and I don’t think they’ll win the tourney, seeing as they’ve already gotten their shots. However, they are one to watch.

Rob: I think a win for them would be a good thing, though not very likely, as that would mean Ryder & Santino would come out of the other semi-final match. I like the fact that they emerged from the other lower-card guys as the viable team in the group. And frankly, I’m glad they lost AW, because I didn’t feel like he added much to their pairing, and this forces Young & Titus to improve – which they probably wouldn’t have done with AW around. I hope this match serves as a way to shine more light on two young talents, and the tournament helps them move forward into a tag team feud after the pay per view.

Nathan: Yeah they can do decently without a mouthpiece to generate heat.

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara

Rob: The masked warrior and the heir apparent have been paired up and put to tag team action, but will Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara get the opportunity to run with the championships? I don’t think they’ll even get the title shot at the pay per view, but they certainly add some additional visibility to the growing division.

Nathan: I agree that Los Luchadores wont get the title shot, mainly because it would then be face vs face Their partnership is more to give the division a boost and lead to the heavily rumored Wrestlemania 29 match. whether one of them turns heel for that remains to be seen.

Alternatives

Rob: Are their any other pairings you would’ve liked to have seen enter this tournament? I think Alberto Del Rio pairing up with David Otunga or Ricardo Rodriguez could’ve been good for the tournament, replacing Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel.

Nathan: I actually like the team of Kidd & Gabriel. Two high energy guys who are massively underused.

Rob: I agree that they’re under-used, but the fact that Ryder & Santino beat them didn’t really say anything. They’re low card guys without any heat. If Ryder & Santino found a way to beat Del Rio and Ricardo Rodriguez, they’d get a good reaction from the fans out of that.  In the long term, Kidd & Gabriel should get involved in more things and get the opportunity to show their talents, but that’s not what happened in their first round loss.

John Cena – We’ll probably see the scene in the above picture a few more times before Cena retires. He’s the ultimate do-gooder babyface and will never turn heel unless someone can take his place as Vince’s top moneymaker.

Sheamus - He’s one of those guys you don’t expect would make a good face, but he has succeeded in a good guy role. He still has his vicious streak but has shown his comedic abilities with stories about a random family member as well the Beaker segment. He’s the WHC champ and is set to be a top face on Smackdown for a long time.

Randy Orton – With a few exceptions, Orton’s face run hasn’t really been all that good, since he’s a natural heel. His promos have suffered for it and it’s kind of painful to watch him during interviews stare off into the distance like he’s doing long division in his head. The lack of main event faces on the Blue Brand will keep as a good guy for the time being.

Chris Jericho - Though he’s a much better heel, Y2J can play both sides very well. His recent face turn was partly fueled by fans cheering him despite his bad guy status. He’s one of the best all-around performers the WWE has and he’s willing to help get younger talent over, like he’s doing with his current feud with Dolph Ziggler.

Christian - Captain Charisma’ s explanation for his face turn a few months ago was one that really resonated with the fans. Saying he was inspired when he introduced Edge during the HOF ceremony strengthens his legacy with his friend, not to mention adopting the Spear as a finisher. After dropping the IC Title to Miz, he seems a bit lost and doesn’t have an immediate direction for the future.

Rey Mysterio - Second only to Cena on the ultimate babyface list, Rey Rey’s connection with the kids in particular is what defines him as a face. His pre-match routine with kids wearing one of his masks provides a connection with the crowd, not to mention his little-guy-overcoming-the-odds gimmick wouldn’t really play as a heel.

Santino Marella - The one guy the company turns to when it needs some comedy, Santino has carved himself a niche as a performer. While I don’t have any issues with the role he plays, I do think his continued US Title reign further devalues an already weak title.

Zack Ryder - His use of social media to engineer his own push is well documented. However, after getting some time in the limelight and a brief US Title reign, he’s back to where he was before; barely getting on TV and wrestling in Superstars/dark matches. It remains to be seen what avenue he’ll take to force WWE to push him again. WWWYKI.

Kane – I guess he’s a face given recent events, right? A nickname like The Big Red Monster should mean you’re a heel, but Creative has decided to turn him yet again. I’m not sure if he’ll any success this time or merely be used as an enhancement talent. 

Undertaker - Though not a face in the normal sense of the word, Taker is massively over with the crowd, who will cheer him at any time. He’s had a long and very decorated career, which the fans respect and appreciate.

The Rock - What else needs to be said about him as a face? He oozes enough charisma for the whole locker room. 

Brodus Clay - The Funkasaurus gimmick has gotten him over with the crowd, but it’s starting to run its course. It was radically different then what was expected when he debuted it, but Clay’s build fits better as a monster heel.

Kofi Kingston - Another entry in the ultimate babyface category, Kingston’s upbeat persona in the ring and high flying style are what get the fans behind him. He doesn’t really get a chance to show his mic skills, but they are decent, especially during his feud with Orton.

R-Truth - Like Kofi, his upbeat personality helps him with the crowd and his Little Jimmy gimmick is tailor made for a younger demographic. He is versatile, showing he can be a good heel.

Ryback - Apparently all you need to do to get over with the crowd is to beat up jobbers and random dudes every week. They also are getting behind his ‘Feed Me More’ catchphrase.

Justin Gabriel - Pegged as a natural babyface, Gabriel nonetheless was a decent heel while in the Nexus, especially when he’d give that sinister grin before hitting the 450 Splash. He’s formed a face tag team with Tyson Kidd and if the division ever gets off the ground, they could be very successful.

Tyson Kidd – He lets his in-ring abilities do all the talking and the crowd is starting to get behind him. His technical skills combined with Gabriel’s high flying could make for a great tag team.

Alex Riley - His return to TV recently was quite shocking for the former apprentice of The Miz. His break with his mentor had him primed for a push, but has been left by the wayside. If they ever do get behind him, he has the charisma and mic skills to succeed.

Ted DiBiase - Ted has one of the more unique gimmicks, if you will, in the WWE. His DeBiase Posse and his tailgating with fans before shows has really gotten him over. The results in the ring haven’t been good, but there’s hope once he returns from injury.

Sin Cara, Primo & Epico, The Usos, Ezekiel Jackson, Yoshi Tatsu, The Great Khali, Evan Bourne
Like in the heels article, these guys are all faces for one reason or another, but are not featured enough, or at all, to really make an impression with the crowd. Sin Cara especially has fallen far from his hyped debut.

In wrestling like other sports or any ongoing series like comics or a tv series you want to hook them young. Younger minds are more impressionable and drive merchandise sales. While a lot of DVD sets are geared towards adults who want to relive their past, recently WWE has been doing more to focus on promoting their current roster with DVD sets.  The past few years we have had releases like the best PPV matches of the past year, and the best Raw/Smackdown matches of the last year and some kid friendly releases like multiple Rey Mysterio sets.

Last year I wrote an article discussing some things I’d like to see WWE do with their DVDs. I  thought it would be a good to do a series of single disc releases at around $10 each to help get wrestlers over with the audience, especially kids. I would feature  the lower and mid-card wrestlers that you think have potential, and occasionally feature a superstar who have been around awhile that kind of disappeared in the background and is now making another run towards the top. Use his previous big matches to show why he should be seen as a threat. The big thing with these releases though is they should be  for people who don’t already have a 3 dvd set or multiple releases.

WWE recently announced a new series that is going to do something similar to this. The Superstar Collection will be single disc releases geared towards kids and will also be a budget line, under $15 most will be on sale for around $9.99. WWE is releasing 2 a month and has announced the first 8 releases 2 each in July, August, September, and October.  While I’d like to see this series focus on featuring fresh faces a lot of the people WWE has announced for the first batch in this series already have multi-disc sets. Let’s take a look at what WWE has planned.

July – John Cena & Zack Ryder
The first two volumes in this series show exactly what I was hoping to see and exactly what I didn’t want to see in this series.  Zack Ryder has been with the company for a few years with a couple different gimmicks but has finally come into his own in the past year.  Ryder still has a ton of untapped potential. Releasing this the same day as a Cena release is a double edged sword. WWE has paired Cena/Ryder on tv  to get Ryder over with all the younger Cena fans, the problem is kids usually have a small amount of money or the parents will only spend so much. so if they have a choice between these two releases they will most likely pick up the Cena release. Cena on the other hand already has 3 DVD releases and I don’t think he really needs a boost from this series. The Ryder set will have 6 six matches and Cena’s will probably be around the same. They are being announced as containing mostly unreleased matches, so I expect this series to focus on matches from the past year or two.

August – Sheamus & Daniel Bryan
I like both of these choices, even though both of these guys have held the World Championship neither one of them have had a DVD set devoted to them yet and have had some good matches and this will show people what they are capable of in the future as both of these men will probably top contenders for many years to come. Both sets are scheduled to have 5 matches each as well as bonus features.

September – Kofi Kingston & Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels has a ton of DVD releases already and is retired so I don’t really see the need to have him in this series. This is showcasing his last run including his final match with Undertaker and DX’s final run which means these matches are already available elsewhere. Kingston on the other hand was set to have a single disc release over a year ago which never saw release in the United States except for a brief run on PPV, it was given away as a freebie with WWE magazine in the UK. It is not know if this release is the same as previously planned, but it will have 3 ladder matches.

October – Randy Orton & Rey Mysterio
Mysterio is another wrestler who already has multiple DVD releases, this set will include his Wrestlemania match with JBL, plus matches with Punk and Jericho. While Orton has a ton of stuff that hasn’t been released on DVD yet he did just have a set put out last October and the stuff on this set will probably be more recent matches and not the older stuff missing form the previous set.

So out of the first 8 DVDs announced in this series I agree with half of them Zack Ryder, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, and Daniel Bryan. The other 4 already have tons of DVDs on the market and a lot of other wrestlers could be featured in their place. Now lets take a look at what I would of done with the first  6 months/12 releases. First a little note CM Punk would be featured on this list, but he has a DVD set coming out this fall.

July – Brock Lesnar & Zack Ryder
August – Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio
September – Daniel Bryan & Santino Marella
October – Wade Barrett & R- Truth

November – Dolph Ziggler & Kofi Kingston
December – Cody Rhodes & Sin Cara

The only name really out of place on my list here is Brock Lesnar and chances are WWE is working on a big 3 disc set for him, but if not now would be a great time to drop a quick single disc set of matches showing him slaughtering Undertaker, Edge, Hogan, Mysterio and The Rock during his original run to let the audience who was too you or wasn’t watching during Lesnar’s first run now how much  of a monster he is beyond his UFC status.

Beyond that I tried to feature one face and heel each month and I believe all of the above could benefit from  a DVD release to help solidify their status and show fans why they are ready for the next level. The only real questionable choice is Sin Cara as he has botched a lot and been injured, but with some good editing the matches will come across well and probably sell well in international markets.  Feel free to discuss in the comments below who you would like to see WWE feature as a part of this Superstar Collection.

There will be no guest referee.

No one is allowed at ringside in either corner.

Any superstar who interferes in the match will be fired.

Not to mention the fact that John Cena is far more talented than Laurinaitis was even in Johnny Ace’s prime.

But that’s not going to stop Laurinaitis from winning the match, and it’s all about Big Show. After being mocked by the World’s Largest Athlete on RAW, John Laurinaitis made Big Show apologize… and then wished him well on his future endeavors. But having been out of a job for a few days, The Giant is going to show up tonight and take out John Cena. As he’s no longer an “employee”, Big Show doesn’t have to worry about getting fired for his actions. Quite the opposite. By helping Laurinaitis beat John Cena, Big Show will get his job back.

At this point, the only question is whether Big Show will begrudgingly help Laurinaitis at Over The Limit, or whether he will have changed his opinion and embraced the dark side. At various points in his career, Big Show has played the villain’s role – and excelled at it. David Otunga and Lord Tensai aren’t cutting it as Johnny Ace’s chosen bodyguards, and an evil, angry, motivated Big Show should do the trick – and get a welcomed “freshening” to his character in the process.

Daniel Bryan will defeat CM Punk for the WWE Championship

In his current gimmick, Daniel Bryan is the perfect type of character to have a championship and have someone else chase after him. CM Punk has enjoyed a decent run with the belt this time around, and the feud between these two is far from over. There aren’t many options for The American Dragon if Punk wins this match.

Sheamus will retain in the Fatal Fourway

Initially it seemed perfect for Chris Jericho to defeat Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship at Over The Limit, but with rumors that he could be leaving WWE again very soon – as early as tonight by some reports – that’s not likely. While Randy Orton has some great feuding potential coming up with Alberto Del Rio, Wade Barrett and The Miz among others, they’re not ready to pull the trigger on that just yet. ADR still needs an opportunity to show that he can run with a gimmick that involves something other than “destiny”.

Ziggler & Swagger Will Be The New Tag Team Champions

WWE is starting to put a bit more effort into pushing the Tag Team division, and they raised its stature by putting the belts on Kofi Kingston & R-Truth – whom fans actually care about (Epico and Primo who?). Putting the belts to the powerful & talented heels under Vickie Guerrero is the right thing to do at this point, as it allows the two teams to feud a bit over the coming months.

Layla will defend successfully against Beth Phoenix

A great option to be the face of the Diva’s division, Layla will hold the belt at least another month or two, narrowly escaping tonight. By the time it’s all over, Layla will have proven herself a viable competitor, and then Beth Phoenix can have another reign with the belt and a probable feud with kHARMa… but as of yet it’s still premature for any of that.

Kane will lose to Zack Ryder

The face run of Zack Ryder should be nearing its end. If WWE knows what’s good for them, they’ll find a way to build up the ego of Zack Ryder and he’ll eventually turn heel and seek to regain the United States Championship. For now, Ryder needs a decent win over Kane that he can brag about in the face of Santino and start to show an attitude problem.

#fistpump:

axxess: So Josh throws it to Cole and Lawler who are ‘live’ at the Wrestlemania Axxess event and I won’t bother saying anything about these segments mainly because it’s mostly Cole blabbing on and on and they’re trying to fill the 2 hour show. There was a shot of Edge at an autograph signing and I mention it because he cut his signature long hair and now sports a short cropped style.

videopackaged: I’m also just gonna throw mentions of all the video packages into one big topic, because well it’s my column. Earlier on it was video hyping the Taker-HHH and Divas match. Odd pairing to say the least. It then gets a little more in-depth when it turns to Punk-Jericho. I like how they started off with a little history promo about Punk’s career in WWE with audio from his first ever promo and worked shoot played over. It gave the sense that everything Punk has done in his career has led to this, though that’s not really the case. Standard hype highlighting Jericho’s comments about Punk’s family. WWE does a lot of things well and one of those is putting together very excellent video packages and that skill is on display tonight. I don’t think Production or whatever department handles it gets enough credit. When they go back to Taker-HHH later, the fact that they have so many legends talking about how big it is really helps that. These are guys that have been in some epic showdowns, so they know what they’re talking about.

chokeartist: This segment also hypes a Mania match, but instead of a package about Show and Rhodes, Show gets an in ring promo and it really could have been done with a video promo. That’s because Show goes on about how he’s going to win at Mania despite the history, etc, etc, etc. Didn’t really accomplish anything new as what he said now has been said before.

#houseshow: The second match of the night about an hour and a half in, so that gives you an idea of how video heavy this has been. They’ve been doing this Jericho-Kofi match on recent house shows and from what some have said, they’ve been very impressive, so hoprfully this one will be the same caliber. It does match Kofi’s speed with Jericho technical skills quite well with each guy avoiding the other’s finishers. Jericho finally gets the Walls of Jericho locked in though it’s the Liontamer version.

#bigfinale: So the final segment of the show is the last piece of WWE TV that people will see before Mania and is a big sendoff. They do focus on the big money match of Rock-Cena, but instead of a hyper package they just replay their confrontation from RAW. It was a nice sendoff for RAW and the final words before their match, but replaying it on Smackdown doesn’t really do anything. People already saw it and there’s nothing new to learn from watching the segment again, so they could have done something better with the time.

#riseaboveacting:

#wrassledebate: I’ll give WWE points for trying something new with all 6 EC wrestlers in the ring for a ‘debate’, but it didn’t really accomplish anything. Ostensibly, it was supposed to hype the RAW EC match, but all it turned out to be a bashfest. Not that it wasn’t entertaining, but if the debate was supposed to center on the Chamber, then they should’ve at least had most of the focus on it. Jericho at least talked about his history in the match and brought up his WHC win inside it 2 years ago. The segment can be summed up in Dolph ripping Truth, Truth talking about spiders, Kofi playing the sleeper card, Punk ripping Jericho, Miz ripping Jericho and the triumphant return of Y2J’s ‘Do you Understand…’ catchphrase. The only other takeaway is a Kofi-Jericho, Dolph-Truth and Punk-Miz series of singles matches.

#newbeginning: After Kofi claimed during the debate that he wouldn’t be an afterthought and that he would play the spoiler role in the Chamber, I’m hoping this could be the beginning of a new Kofi or at least somewhat of a new attitude as he moves on from the Penny Titles. If it is then this wasn’t a good start as Jericho caught him with a Codebreaker for the win, although he did show heart by making it to the ropes to break the Walls of Jericho.

#angermanagement: That’s probably what Orton and Big Show need after their confrontation on Smackdown. It has lead to this match between the two on RAW. I still don’t see why they had this on RAW instead of saving it for Smackdown, you know the show both of them are actually on. I understand it’s because of the SuperShow concept, but I always imagined it to mean RAW wrestlers would face ones from Smackdown. The match ends as expected when Bryan, who was at ringside, knocks out both Orton and Show with the WHC belt. Certainly sends a message, but I found Orton botching his first RKO attempt more interesting. I also found Cole alternating praise and criticism for Bryan, sometimes in the same sentence, a bit over the top.

#theshowstopper: What would Wrestlemania season be without Mr Wrestlemania himself? I do wonder if they’ll be trotting him out when he’s in his 70s though. The gist of his reason for being there is that he wants to hear H accept Taker’s challenge, though I have a feeling it won’t be as simple as that. It isn’t as H reiterates his denial, though HBK seems to think it’s all part of getting into Taker’s head. Of course Michaels doesn’t believe it and the atmosphere gets a bit chilly when he calls Hunter a sell-out and a coward. Now there’s trouble in River City. H goes all ‘I have responsibilities’ on Michaels and how it’s so hard for him. I do like how HHH mentions that this is the end of an era and is a very strong indicator that they’re legit about perhaps really letting go of the past and moving onto a new generation of wrestlers. Then again it could be all for show. HBK leaves in a very different mood then when he entered after HHH looks him in the eye and denies the challenge yet again. At least we get another Taker video promo where he’s in his giant scrapbook room although it gets decidedly weird when he starts to cut his hair.

#heel: First Dolph incorporates the heel phrase into his ring tights and now he’s wearing some weird jacket thing with feathers? Is he trying to compete with Vickie for best dressed? Mr Show Off shows off a bit too much as Truth gets a surprise roll up while Dolph is doing sit ups, in what was a forgettable match.

#bathroombreak: It must be since there’s a Divas match going on. At least they’re doing some buildup to the Beth-Tamina match this Sunday for the Divas title, with Tamina wrestling one of those Bellas with Beth at ringside. Other then that nothing to say except how odd it is that they are suddenly referring to Tamina as ‘Tamina Snuka. Still this is just a placeholder until Kharma comes back to save the division.

#riseabovedrama: So have the honor of hearing Cena’s ‘reaction’ to Rock’s latest entry into the Rock-Cena video promo series. The CeNation is devastated when their hero is distracted by a screaming Eve who is chased into an ambulance by Kane. SuperCena of course rescues her, who rewards her knight in red, white, blue and black armor with an lip lock. Of course this already mirroring a soap opera episode, Ryder witnesses it and storms off in his wheelchair making angry faces on the level of Cena from a few weeks ago.

#chatterboxes: Two of WWE’s best mic guys are now letting their wrestling skills do all the talking for them. Or in Miz’s case lack of wrestling, but if there’s anyone who can make him look good, it’s Punk. It’s not even a few minutes into the match and Punk’s carefully slicked back hair is already sticking out of place. It’s alright because we get the signal that it’s bed time soon after. To his credit, Miz slips out of the GTS and does it again later, going for the SCF, but Punk counters that into the Anaconda Vice to which Miz taps out soon after. That was a nice bit of chain wrestling and it was great to see Punk pull out the submission. However, it didn’t really feel like a main event match and not a good send off on the final RAW before the PPV. I take that back since after a commercial break Cena is out in the ring. Great, what a way to bury the most prestigious title in the industry.

#brokenrecord: Cena tries to apologize for what he did earlier, but no one is buying it, especially since a loud chat of ‘we all hate you’ start up. He gives us the same tired SuperCena speech about overcoming the odds and how he’ll never change, blah, blah. Thankfully Ryder comes out, awesome neck cast and all to save us. A big slap to Cena and a staredown ensues. It really did nothing besides teasing that Cena would attack Ryder for the heel turn, so I die a little inside.

Not that it’s a bad thing, though.  I think it’s always good to recognize the talents on a company’s roster.  During the Greatest Rivalries: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels DVD, Hart and Michaels said that Vince McMahon used the Intercontinental title to reward “the best wrestler in the WWE” at the time, whereas the WWE Champion was whoever was drawing money/outside media interest.  And that makes sense.

But now with the trend of having the best wrestlers as World Champions, what does that mean for the holders of secondary titles?  Does it mean “this guy is next?”  Or is it just “he’s doing alright, let’s put a belt on him?”

Let’s take a look at the WWE’s secondary titles to find out where we’re going.

IC title: Greatest Secondary title ever?

We’ll start with the Intercontinental Championship, formerly held by some of the greatest names to ever step into a WWE ring.  Currently held by Cody Rhodes, he won the belt August 9, 2011, and has only had two PPV title defenses.  TWO!  Granted, he has defended the belt on Raw and Smackdown, but WWE somehow feels the need to ignore their second most important championship in the company.  Currently, he’s in the mix for the upcoming Elimination Chamber PPV, so there’s another PPV with no IC title defense.

On Raw, we have a curious case with the United States Championship.  When WWE established the US title, they connected the lineage to the former NWA/WCW version of the US title, meaning the title has a “who’s who” lineage of greats from the last thirty years.  Right now, Jack Swagger lays claim as champion, defeating Zack Ryder on Raw, who is/was suffering an on-air injury.  A real shame, as Ryder is one of the best success stories in all of wrestling. Swagger’s reign isn’t very old, so I won’t criticize it yet.  The man Ryder beat for US title, Dolph Ziggler, also got ignored somewhat as US champ, in the sense that he didn’t defend the title every PPV.

TNA TV title: Pick a name already!!

In TNA, their secondary championship is the World Television Championship.  It was originally introduced as the Legend’s Championship, then, renamed the Global Championship, before they finally settled on TV.  Holy crap, TNA!  With a couple exceptions, the title’s lineage is pretty unspectacular.  It’s currently held by “Jersey Shore”-inspired wrestler Robbie E. (known better to northeast US indy fans as Rob Eckos; he deserves better), but it isn’t being ignored, as it’s defended regularly on PPV.

TNA’s other secondary title is the X Division title.  The “X Division” has had so many different meanings over the years, and trying to explain all the different changes will take three or four different articles on its own.  Basically, it started as a Cruiserweight championship, but became the “#2” championship (this was before the Legends/Global/TV title existed), but is now a cruiserweight title again.  I think.  The X Division is what set TNA apart when they started, and it’s something that I, and many others, feel that TNA has dropped the ball with.  Austin Aries is currently the well-deserved champion (actually, he deserves to be making millions of dollars with WWE, but that isn’t my call), but TNA’s cruiserweights are plagued with injuries currently, so there isn’t much competition outside of some of the newer talent that TNA has brought in to fill out the division.  Just with the TV title, the X Division title is defended regularly.

Now, we all criticize TNA for their mismanagement of just about everything, but how are they keeping their secondary titles relevant?  It’s an easy answer: they get defended.  They may not have the best guys as champions (looking at you, Robbie E., but in gimmick only), but the belts are being defended and building prestige.  WWE may have brought back the “classic” look to the Intercontinental title, but I wouldn’t put Cody Rhodes in the same league as Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, or even Shawn Michaels.  Not yet, anyway.

This begs the question: what happened to the importance of secondary titles?  Why does the US championship go unmentioned for a full two hours on Raw?  Why does Cody Rhodes not have a high-profile feud over the IC title?  I think it’s because there’s so many guys who are main event-ready.  Think about it.  What does it mean if Dolph Ziggler or Kofi Kingston wins the IC or US titles again?  Not much, because they’re both multi-time secondary champs.  In my book, that’s main event-ready.  Guys like CM Punk, Big Show, and Kane?  They’re all above secondary titles.  Once a guy has been World champion, it doesn’t make much sense to have them win a secondary title.  Did anyone care when Ric Flair was IC champ?  I didn’t.

Zack Ryder with US title: WWWYKI

Zack Ryder winning the US title was a great thing.  Here was a guy who legitimately EARNED his spot as a champion, and all his “broskis” felt like they won the US title when he did.  It was quite a journey, especially if you didn’t care about Ryder before “Z! True Long Island Story” (like me).

Is anyone else ready to take a Ryder-like journey to secondary title glory?  Honestly, I don’t think so.  The next generation of WWE stars is in FCW, which is where they’re probably stuck for a while, seeing as the main event and mid-card are overloaded and not given enough time as it is.   Until then, the WWE’s secondary titles will remain pretty stale, and TNA will (shockingly) be the example of how to handle them.

Another IWC Jerk is a self-proclaimed pro wrestling guru.  Follow his live tweets every Monday for Raw, every WWE PPV, sometimes TNA, and other sporting/pop culture events.

Twitter: @AnotherIWCJerk

Facebook: facebook.com/AnotherIWCJerk

Hate mail: AnotherICJerk@gmail.com

Let’s take a look at the most likely card for the big event.

Headliner:
John Cena vs The Rock

This one was booked nearly a year ago, so there’s no speculation involved. Even though John Cena has been side-tracked with Kane as of late, there’s still no question about who Cena is facing at WrestleMania 28. Even last night on RAW when Kane was telling John to embrace the hate, he even REFERENCED the WrestleMania headlining match.

WWE Championship:
CM Punk vs Chris Jericho

See how I didn’t indicate that CM Punk was going to be the champion going into the match? That’s because I’d give it even odds that Chris Jericho wins the Elimination Chamber, putting the WrestleMania 28 match as a rematch. If CM Punk retains in the Elimination Chamber, then Jericho would still be getting the rematch. And if, by some chance, R-Truth or The Miz or Kofi Kingston or Dolph Ziggler win the belt at the upcoming event, I’d still predict Punk vs Jericho for WM 28, but the title wouldn’t be on the line. There are plenty of scenarios to discuss regarding who would get the title shot if one of those four guys comes through with the formerly-spinning strap, but I don’t see it being likely enough to consider here.

Triple H vs The Undertaker

The only thing standing in the way of this match is that Triple H looked like he felt sorry for Undertaker last night and didn’t initially appear to return the sentiment that he’d like to face his fellow legend. That won’t last. We’ve got two months to build up to it, and I’m expecting that Triple H will not only be convinced to take the match, but it’ll be a Career Vs Career contest. I’d also place money on Shawn Michaels being the one who helps convince HHH to take the match, and he’ll be the special guest referee.

World Heavyweight Championship:
Sheamus vs… someone other than Daniel Bryan

Regardless of all the talk about how ironic it would be to see Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan as one of the main events on this card after they were relegated to a Dark Match spot on last year’s event, I just don’t see it happening. I don’t see Daniel Bryan surviving the Elimination Chamber with the big belt still in his possession, especially with my prediction that CM Punk WILL. They won’t have both champs retain, and Daniel Bryan is all the better for it. Losing the belt in a multi-man match like that will give him another chance to get a bigger chip on his shoulder, furthering his heel turn, especially if he can’t get the WrestleMania title shot because it belongs to Sheamus (who won’t be the Elimination Chamber winner… or even a contestant). Top choices for Sheamus’ opponent, who would be the winner of Smackdown’s Chamber match: Mark Henry or Wade Barrett. I think it’s fairly evident that Randy Orton and Wade Barrett are at odds right now, but all that can change over the next 8 or 9 weeks. There was plenty of praise thrown in Mark Henry’s direction for the way he handled his title reign, and winning the belt back in the Elimination Chamber and then successfully defending the strap against Sheamus would MAKE his career.

Kane vs Zack Ryder

This one is easier to predict than the World Heavyweight title match. If anyone’s doubting this will be on the card, then they haven’t been watching. And if WWE simply relegates them to the Money In The Bank match, I’ll be shocked.

kHARMa vs Beth Phoenix

They’re clearly the top two female competitors in the company, and this match has the potential to be a great one. Expect kHARMa to destroy the Bella Twins over the next few weeks, Beth Phoenix to continue to show that she has no equal amongst the women from the 8 Diva tag match from The Rumble (from both teams).

Money In The Bank

They didn’t have this match last year, but it will almost definitely be on this year’s card. Let’s go with 8 competitors:  Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Pick 2 (Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, Mark Henry – whoever doesn’t win the Elimination Chamber), Drew McIntyre.  Personally, I’d like to see Hunico in this match and a couple other younger guys – like maybe Ted DiBiase Jr and Trent Barreta, but I see the card getting too full to do that, because Orton vs Barrett would need to be added.

United States Championship: Jack Swagger vs Big Show vs Brodus Clay

Two of them are too big to be in the Money In The Bank match, and they would all work well in a feud with Swagger.

Title vs Career: Cody Rhodes vs Goldust

Cody Rhodes is to be praised for his work during his Intercontinental Title reign, and this match would give it all the more prestige. It’s about time they let the brothers have a feud, putting a great worker in the elder of the duo back on the map one last time before his career fades out.

#properopening:

#maineventopener: This tag match is what you would expect to be in the main event slot, so it’s interesting that it is the opening match. You know it’s going to be a good one when Cole sends it to a commercial break while saying Laurinaitis is looking on when Ave is actually sitting by the announce table texting on his phone. Of course Cole is too busy most of the match holding a massive praisefest for Mr EVP and Ziggler. I am interested to see how Swagger performs now that he is the US Champ. Maybe this will give him a bit more confidence or make him more intense and aggressive. The heel team is more entertaining since this is a normal Cena match where he gets beat down repeatedly before making the hot tag. Ziggler ends up pinning Punk, but like their recent matches it comes with a big assist from Mr Interim GM. Post match the feud hotshots itself when Punk challenges Ace to a match, which is accepted. I cannot believe this will be an actual match, but one that will either not end clean or not even take place because Ace has some heels come to beat on Punk.

#puregenius: That’s what Jericho’s ‘walkout’ last week was, as unbelievable as it might seem. The way he’s playing the crowd is also pure genius. Stringing them along without saying a word is much more powerful then if he had spoke at all. He’s out now for the Highlight Reel and I would be shocked if he actually spoke. Instead of walking around slapping hands, he continually makes motions to quiet the crowd, before running to the back and emerging  with a T-shirt launcher. Although he was saying stuff as he went up the ramp and the camera mic caught it. Just when we think he’ll speak he throws it to the JeriTron in the ring for a highlight reel of his own career. At least some people in the crowd are catching on and are booing him. Of course from prediction from a few sentences ago as Y2J actually speaks, saying Sunday as the Rumble will be the end of the world. He could’ve waited until the Rumble event itself or even the next RAW, but his speaking now actually is in keeping with what he’s done since returning. He’s been leading us along, giving just enough to keep everyone interested, and finally speaking, if only a few words, makes us want more.

#owwowwoww: So Ryder’s match against Kane is Falls Count Anywhere and if Cena interferes, Ryder will not get his US Title rematch. I will say Kane’s steel mask that he wears over his regular red one is pretty cool. Just staring at it is enough to unnerve anyone. I know I’d be intimidated if I was standing in the ring with Kane wearing that mask. Since falls can happen anywhere, the action thankfully spills outside the ring soon after the match starts. I’ve said it before when discussing this type of match, a majority of the action must happen outside the ring for it to really live up to its billing, not even to mention that the fall itself must not occur within the ropes. Kane is expertly focusing most of the punishment on Zack’s injured ribs. Finally Kane tosses Ryder over the barrier and into the crowd and one dude even holds up his kid so the kid can see. For the first time since the opening bell, Ryder gets some offense in via a suitcase to the back of Kane’s head. Of course that makes Kane even angrier, so in retrospect not a very good idea. He at least expends his repertoire of pain by using audio equipment, the giant logo on the stage and even the stage itself to dish out more. With Ryder chokeslammed through the stage, Kane turns his attention to Eve, before Cena appears on the stage and Kane mysteriously hightails it through the crowd. Ryder did a great job of selling the beatdown throughout and Eve did as well with her being distraught over what was happening, to top it off she says to Cena’s face that she blames him for what happened. Even Cena put a good show, selling his inner conflict with just his facial expressions as medics attend to Ryder. Even Cole is somber as Zack is carted off.

#followup: So they follow that emotionally charged segment with a Sheamus-Mahal match? I’m pretty sure Sheamus will win this one in order to get the crowd’s spirits back up, thus making Mahal the sacrificial lamb. During the match, Wade Barrett makes his way down to join the commentary and I couldn’t be happier. Anytime Barrett has any sort of mic to use is a good decision to me. Wade’s entrance gave Mahal the upper hand for a bit, but Sheamus comes back with the Brogue Kick for the win. Is it me or is Barrett using Miz’s spray on tanner? Or maybe it’s just because he’s put up against Sheamus, who makes anyone look tan.

#calledyourmomma: Not only do we get more dancing from The Funkasaurus, but William Regal is out for commentary, even though Clay did sort of botch the ripping off his pants part. He faces Mr Wendy Slater, who looks even more ridiculous with those shoulder tattoos. The match, if it can even be called that, is mostly filled with Clay ‘jiggling’. So I’m guessing the inclusion of Regal into this is the beginning of some sort of angle or association between Clay and himself.

#bffbreakup: Great promo by Miz before his match against Truth about how his history of ‘breaking up’ with former tag team partners and how he is #1 must see, etc. This allows Truth to come in, posing as a ‘market researcher’ to inform Miz just what he is #1 in. WEIO. If you don’t know what that means, then you need to see the segment for yourself. Ace makes his presence known by complaining that their arguing is interrupting his match preparation. Besides making the loser of the match entrant #1 in the Rumble, we also get to see more emotion from Funkman. The match itself is nothing special, Miz has most of the offense but Truth turns the tables on him for the victory. I was more interested in Truth new shirt. Remember when he was feuding with Cena and that rant about T-shirts and not having his own? Well it appears he got his wish.

#10yearhiatus: As Cole has told us numerous times throughout the night, it has been 10 years since Laurinaitis was in a WWE ring as a wrestler. Pre-match in his office, David Otunga’s Travel Mug (DOTM) hands him a fax that Ace doesn’t seem too happy about. Punk is more then eager to go in the ring. In true comedic fashion, Ace comes out wearing his ‘Future Endeavoured’ shirt and now I kind of want one. Travel Mug himself reads the fax from the Board of Directors. It sounds like the same speech that ended with Vince and HHH losing their power, however his interim status will be ‘under review’ and he’ll get a ‘job evaluation’ next week on RAW.  That’ll be conducted by the COO, H himself, so it appears that’s how they’ll work Hunter back into the picture as the ramp up to Mania begins. Of course the fact that this promo has been going on for a long time means the match won’t happen tonight. Still, I’m sure they’re saving it for a later time. Still the crowd is sent home happy as Punk puts Johnny to sleep, even if Ace did a bad job selling it.

#haveaniceday:

#pennymatch: So apparently AirBoom lost the Tag Titles to Epico & Primo at a live event last night. That’s not a big deal since the titles are basically meaningless, at least that’s how WWE views them. AB get their rematch tonight and if they somehow win, that’ll devalue them even further. If that’s possible at all. Luckily, E&P retain, though the crowd didn’t have much of a reaction. I do wonder what will happen to the team of AirBourne now, will they split up? Will the loss spark some anger in the two?

#backstage: Normally I don’t mention backstage segments, especially ones where John Boy is texting. However, this one did have a shot of David Otunga’s Travel Mug and a reveal that Jericho will team up with Punk & Bryan to take on Ziggler-Henry-Otunga. Jericho’s response is to turn off the lights and show off his sparkly vest. Even though he’s on the face team, there’s no way that match will end well. Vince will notice the ratings aren’t that high and will order Cena to run out and do his thing so people will watch.

#ryderdefense: I might be mistaken, but I believe this is Ryder’s first defense of his title since winning it. Anyway, all of the pre-match hyper is on Ryder’s condition after he was attacked by Kane last week. So I’m pretty sure he’ll pull a Cena and retain through extraordinary means. Swagger smartly goes right for the injured back of Ryder, who is selling it very well throughout the match. It takes three gutwrench powerbombs, but Swagger finally pins Ryder. Looks like I was wrong about the match result, but I have a feeling the ‘not medically cleared’ card could be played later.

#perezhilton: So he’s out to be the special guest ring announcer for the Kelly-Alicia vs The Bellas tag match. The fact that he does a terrible job at ‘announcing’ fits well with the fact that this is another terrible Divas match. To makes things worse he gets involved, but at least the whole thing was over quickly. Still a waste of time no matter how you look at it.

#truthis: For a moment there, I thought Truth for gonna for his old ‘(city, state) What’s Up?’ opener, but Barrett’s music hits. He runs his mouth about how he’s going to win the Rumble and Truth responds by showing his slideshow of his visit to Disneyland, which is certainly a unique response. Truth uses Pinocchio and his nose to illustrate how Wade’s claim to winning the Rumble is a lie. It was entertaining and location-specific. What follows is not so entertaining. Miz attacks Truth, Wade joins in, Sheamus runs out, everyone brawls, so this can only mean one thing! Teddy Long comes out and makes a tag match? Not a chance. He throws a swerve by making a very-mini Rumble between the 4 men which Truth ends up winning.

#angrycena: So Mr EVP books Cena in a match against Swagger as a way of making up for sending Ryder out when he was injured? Of course Cole is beside himself, but luckily he can’t do anything about it. No jumping around on stage for Cena, he marches out and lays into Swagger, who is a stand-in for Kane in this instance. Plus, the bell hasn’t even rung yet. Cena uses his fists, feet, the announce table and the steel steps to decimate the All-American American. Of course this all plays right into Kane’s hands, because the more he gives into his anger, the closer he comes to crossing to The Dark Side.

#callyourmomma: So I still think Brodus Clay’s new gimmick is bit out there, but it is growing on me. If you take it for what it’s supposed to be, entertaining and funny, then it’s not so bad. Though he does run the risk of becoming a purely comedic act and I’m not sure how he could shake that label if he decides to get serious.

#danielisserious: So the AJ injury angle is turning out to be a stroke of genius. Bryan is using this as fodder to ridicule Show for what he did. He shows more emotion in this promo then I think he has in all his time before winning the WHC. The still-not-imminent Bryan heel turn is progressing nicely, which is how it should be. If he did a complete 180 and suddenly became a heel it wouldn’t really work. The slow conversion gives the crowd a chance to despise Bryan, who has been presented as a classic babyface. The biggest question related to the turn that I have is how will Cole handle it? His heel announcer statis pretty much started with his hating on Bryan during the first season of NXT.

#HUGEmainevent: So Bryan is already out and is followed by Jericho who does the usual routine and when they come back from commercial, the heel team is already out and he’s still at it! Perhaps an homage to his 1,004 Holds promo? So the action goes back and forth with Punk spending a majority of the time in the ring. The crowd is kind of flat, that is until Punk tags in Jericho, then they go nuts. True to form, he prances in the ring before tagging Bryan and walking up the ramp and to the back. I wonder when the audience will wise up to his act? So looks like the faces are in trouble. Punk is left to himself when Henry starts beating on Bryan as he tries to make it to the back. All is not lost since Foley comes out and apparently joins the match on Punk’s side. He’s finally tagged in and unloads on Otunga, even pulling out Socko for the Mandible Claw which is enough for the victory. Big Johnny does not approve and reverses the decision. This ticks off Punk who cuts a scathing promo on Funkman, insulting him for about 2 or 3 minutes straight. If it wasn’t before, now it’s official that this Punk-Johnny spat is trying to recapture the dram of the Austin-McMahon feud. After Punk walks out, Ace finally shows some emotion when Foley confronts him. Although it comes across as a bit whiny, we finally get to understand his character and some of his motivations. I’m actually interested to see the fallout next week.