Figured I'd be safer not numbering this one ...imagine if I was a ref...1...2...2....2 (Wouldn't McCool be p****d at me! lol) {"and three shall be the number of the counting. Four thou shalt not count. Five is right out ..."..sorry couldn't resist!} ...
Actually this is not numbered because it is an addendum to the Fancy Feast Fest & RT posts...
1) A fun fact: KK debuted in 2006. McCool debuted in 2004. To ruminate upon:Do you think McCool is 2 years better than KK? I don't! I think they're pretty close, with Mc being a tad better. But if KK keeps going the way she has been, it won't be for long!
2) Some great matches on SD last Fri - ToS to HHH. He really sold that one well! Great job! What was that look BS gave the camera about 2/3rds of the way through the match? These cute tendencies need to stop - they're taxing his cred as a monster (Hello the void - I still think he'd make an awesome face) {said the tiny unheeded voice ;-) }
3) Are ya'll ready to Rrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuumble??!!??!!
(Could I be Bruce Buffer for one day? Pllleeeeeeaaaase? )
Hello the void! MVP is on the playground, sitting on the swings with his feet not touching the ground. Could someone please give him a push? Thx! (How about a Shelton Benjamin v. MVP feud? huh? huh? Could we?(waggle of eyebrows)). OK, so he got a win...one win. Now is that a real win? A change in the wind-win? Or does he go back to the losing streak asap?
Props to Taker and Shelton Benjamin - what a kick a$$ match last week!! You boys totally rocked it! Shelton did an incredible job with selling, with style, and totally hanging with Taker. Kudos to Taker for showing off a more athletic style - it never fails to impress me how he changes styles as he changes opponents. Lastly, LOVED as in LOVED the short elbows! I adore how Taker adds in MMA moves; he doesn't add them randomly, won't put them in just to put them in. He makes them make sense within the match. Yeah, yeah I know...I'm just one more in the throng who can't say enough good about the man.
One on the side: I love how Kelly Kelly ended up as the catalyst for a feud between Kane and RKO. That was a nice twist; they haven't used the triangle angle (is that redundant? scratch of head) in awhile. Now, is this a real feud? Or another one of those temporary "oh yeah, we found an amazing way to use Kane so we better drop it" moments. Note to Creative: from here on, leave KK out of it and just let the bad boys do their thing. P.S. Kane should come out on top in the end.
P.P.S. KK deserved that "Most Improved" nod - she has and I'm enjoying watching her now more than ever.
Lastly, McCool looked on her game again this week - the best I've seen from her since her matches against Natalya - creative, intense and athetic. To ruminate upon: why does McCool always look better against better opponents? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... I have to wonder about Victoria's retirement. For a second, I thought "is this a real retirement?". There was so little publicity and drama around it. For WWE, it was practically covert! But it seems it is. Maybe that was Victoria's choice. Maybe she wanted to walk away quietly without the swirling mirrorballs, sequins and speculation. If so, I admire her for that. And I admire her for her wrestling skills. Its been awhile since we've really gotten to see her shine in the ring. I don't know if that was due to injury, or lack of creative ideas from the gods of the WWE cosmos. But I do know how much I enjoyed it when I did get to watch her wrestle. Victoria, thank you --- thank you for putting in the effort to wrestle well, thank you for entertaining us all week after week and thank you for showing us your humor when that was left for you to do. You deserve more than a tip of the Stetson: my hat is off to Victoria this week. You will be missed!
I begin to wonder if WWE sometimes equates the PG rating with simplicity. I know there are only seven stories, but I didn't think the same was true of characters. I thought those were able to be utterly diverse, even to extremes (at least in ECW :-) ). Yet so often, there are basically two options offered: complete heel or complete face. With this polariztion of potential characters, we tend to get stuck with guys and gals portraying the same thing over and over.
Look at Brian Kendrick. The guy is basically Randy Orton-lite-and-extra-crispy. RKO is an awesome heel, but we don't need a fat-free version. I'll take real cream please. I love Kendrick too; he was always amazing to watch with Paul London. That high-flying style totally turns on the crowd. Besides people love to love Kendrick - he's just so d**n cute! So why is he stuck in this gimmick? Who woke up one morning and told the WWE gods "We need a zero calorie heel on SD." ("What?!"). Why couldn't BK be something a little more complicated: a basically good guy who is a bit out of touch due to going back to competing singles full time? Why couldn't he be someone with a little more down-to-earth issue and a little less glitter?
A similar lack of ingeniuty pervades Michelle McCool's heel turn. It demonstrates perfectly one of the the things that drives me nuts about WWE: the irrational character change -visible a mile away, based on the slimmest of motivations and utterly incompatible with just about everything the character has done in the recent past. These strange about-faces always challenge my suspension of disbelief and play havoc with my enjoyment of the product. Again, why couldn't Michelle take the grace-under-fire root, even with a heel turn, just more gradually. Is it necessary that she be an immediate 100% heel? Couldn't she be a face with some heel tendencies? Or let her be the Animal of the divas and walk alone, not really be associated with either the face divas or the heel divas (who logically shouldn't welcome her to their ranks with open arms). Oooh - a wild card! Just imagine the story possibilities! This is even somewhat set up with her attack on Victoria. That was good writing! And the best part of her SD performance. That made sense. Tip of Stetson to whoever came up with it!
That was one of the things that made Vickie Guerrero's character work so well. No one could dispute her heel-ness. Then, she did something praiseworthy by creating the Divas title. It was out-of-character, but that hiccough of inconsistency made the character more believable and more interesting. It worked beautifully, adding depth to the perception of VG's character without marring her heel status. That's exactly the kind of thing WWE needs more of - a little complexity within simplicity.
I apologize in advance. I'm getting that urge to yap about divas again. This time, its Michelle. You know, I thought I was going to like her heel turn. She needed to do something else since, as I predicted, she plateaued after winning the belt and did nothing with it. So, wonderful - maybe she'll do better without the belt.
Then she tries this heel thing. Nevermind that the turn itself was poorly staged (more on that later!). Its what she's doing with it that's driving me crazy. Look, I like Michelle (mostly). I think she's athletically talented and when she just gets in the ring and wrestles she can be fun to watch. A bunch of her moves, I love. Borrowed or not, she does them well. But for all that is holy, keep her off the mic!! Has anyone ever mentioned the word "underplay" to the girl? Good gravy, woman, you've been around this stuff for four years now. And anyone who has "TRUE passion" for the biz should know that its not just about wrestling.
I really thought this was going to be great for Michelle. Its easier to make people hate you than like you and a number of people dislike her already. I'm thinking "awesome heel, here we come". And then she starts with the bowing and those absolutely ridiculous push-ups (and what's with the head bob, Michelle? Push-ups a little tough to do?). She comes off so posturing! Just like half her on-camera interviews with the fake trash-talking and the winking. Down, Bessie! Keep it real, girl. And the big problem is I just don't hate her. The character comes across as silly, misguided, sarcastic (but in a way that's more peevish than amusing...read her latest two blogs. Oh and by the way, Michelle, love, "I would of" is inappropriate grammar. It should be "would have". This from a former teacher - tisk tisk!!), but not hate-able (made up a word!).
Apparently, if this heel turn is going to require more from her acting skills, its not gonna work, since those are being pushed well beyond their limits already. I'm sure Michelle is giving it her best in that department. Unfortunately, her best is none too good.
Regarding Jeff winning the WWE title: "It's about f****ng time!" (Yeah, I know I'm a bit late..but as those who know and love me know, I was born late and I've never caught up..sorry). Major congrats, Jeff - been a long time coming and it is oh so sweet to see! Of course, it brings the added bonus of getting to see Whisper in the Wind every week. That's almost better than chocolate :-). And two tastes of WITW tonight - I'm in heaven!
Which is probably not where Edge will be next week. Ah well. No need to fret. Its just business. (Better not ask what kind of business). On the subject of mixing business and pleasure (shaken, not stirred please), Carlito seems to have better luck the more people he brings to the ring with him. Maybe its because he doesn't have to worry about who is holding his apple. (Now don't read into that, folks ;-) ) "I'm just saying". :-)
And speaking of Mr. Helms - what an awesome match tonight with Shelton Benjamin. That's some of the nicest work I've seen by two mid-carders on recent SD. With so many creative moves and unexpected counters, the outcome was practically irrelevant; it was just plain a$$ crazy fun to watch. Tip of the Stetson, guys - great one!
On to places where the outcome was very relevant - the Divas Championship finally changed hands. (Apparently Creative got the engraved invitation). I've always said Maryse could be fun with a title and tonight was some of the best work I've seen from her - a combination of playing her Marysentric character and wrestling well. A more mellow job from Michelless than Cool, at least until after the match. I think it was a good idea to change up her character, because the sweet-as-sugar deal was getting really boring. But I'm not sure this was quite the way to go. The heel turn was so poorly staged, it makes me wonder where the inspiration came from...or if it was a last minute deal. How does Maria contributing to a loss or two add up to a kick in the mid-section? Here went Michelle from the supposed-to-be-classy champ, carrying the title with dignity to the out-of-ring Maria-pummeller with little provocation. Yeah, that's taking the high road. The lack of consistency is dramatic enough to be remarkable. I was expecting a bit more grace under fire from her character. At least, that's how I'd want to play it. Show me manhandling a locker backstage, but keep some integrity out front. I hope she doesn't turn into one of those dixie vixens who got their interpersonal skills from Jerry Springer. However, this now begs the question: are we about to see the face debut of Gail Kim on SD?
Poor MVP - yet another loss, this one S.W.A.K. (Sealed with a Khali). To quote Jack Sparrow, "I'm still rooting for you, mate". Side note: can we get Mr. Kennedy some Chloraseptic? One more on the side (make it vodka): hey Koz, didn't we have that talk about 'v's and 'w's and pronunciation? Maybe I should have tried it in Russian. Oh wait...if he knew Russian, we wouldn't need the talk. Na zdrowie.
