Well, hello. Weighing in at far too much, hailing from Parts Unknown - this is The Live Wire - make of that nugget of info what you will. I know that I run in terror when people tell me it's time for one of these columns, but hey, that's allowed - I write the damn thing. Allegedly.

This being the first of March, I figured I'd be totally original and start the month with a random thoughts column. I swore when I started writing I wouldn't churn these things out, yet I am constantly told that they remain the favourites of 'the peeps' so I guess I have to listen to the masses - all 90 of the people on my mailing list! Whoo!

Ahem. Let's get started, shall we?

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Mick Foley saved Raw yet again with a classic promo. Apparently, all those bumps and bruises were genuine - he'd told Randy Orton to lay in with the punches and bust him up for the sake of the angle... gotta respect his guts, if not question his sanity. Foley's sit down interviews with JR in the past have been the catalyst for Mick's career to take off - could this one be the springboard for Randy Orton?

If, as suspected, The Rock turns up at Raw tonight to set up a Rock And Sock Connection vs. Batista and Orton match at WrestleMania, then Orton's stock is undoubtedly set to soar. For my money, a Foley vs. Orton one on one match would be the better option, but with the added starpower of the Rock, and the added... erm... Dave-ness of Batista, obviously there's less of a chance of Foley's lack of ring-sharpness being exposed.

Orton NEEDS to get the pin here - there's no other option. Foley is doing a superb job of making Orton out to be the second coming of Ric Flair, and it's just the right way to push him up the card in the eyes of the fans. To have him do the job to Foley or The Rock undoes all of that. Orton must win at 'Mania.

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Speaking of Evolution, as I was in a round-about kind of way... Ric Flair is being pulled from house show as we speak, due to what looks to be a pinched nerve in his neck. This injury is thought to be a step closer to bringing down the curtain on one of wrestling's greatest careers - which is a damn shame.

Sure, Ric isn't the wrestler he once was - but when you're in your 50s, to be wrestling at all is an achievement. The fire is still there, and the Flair of old is still visible from time to time - against Triple H last year, and to an extent, against Chris Benoit a couple of weeks ago - so it's a shame that Ric may be forced to hang up the robes, rather than doing it of his own accord. Still, what a career it's been - Flair truly is one of a kind...

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How can Lita ever be classed as one of the top female wrestlers, of ANY generation? Every time I see her in the ring, I pray for the final bell to ring. Lita is not only a danger to herself, but to others as well. It's only a matter of time before one of attempted Litacanranas or head-scissors ends up injuring someone. Get her off TV, and down to Ohio Valley before someone ends up seriously injured.

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It's time for WrestleMania, so let's stick RVD into a midcard 'superteam' and give him the tag titles! Yeah! Original booking, Vince... Still, it's nice to see that the 'rub' Booker T got from challenging for the World Heavyweight Title last year has done him the power of good....

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Atlanta has been on Rock Hype Volume 10 this week, by all accounts. The WWE have bombarded the local area with hype surrounding the return of The Rock to Raw this Monday evening. Of course, it could turn out to be yet another bait and switch move by the WWE, but I doubt even they would risk the backlash this would cause.

Rock is, from what I've seen of him in interviews, and read of his attitude, a genuinely nice guy, and talented as hell - nobody, including me, has ever denied that. My main beef with The Rock is that he'll come in now, do his 2 or 3 weeks of WWE television, get his WrestleMania pay-day, and then vanish again for 2 or 3 months.

Every time he does this, he just waltzes back on to TV at the top of the card, or highly promoted at the least. Fair enough, the guy has a high media profile - but what message does this send to the rest of the roster? I'm talking about people like Lance Storm, Val Venis, Steven Richards, Rico, Mark Jindrak, Garrison Cade, Test, Matt Hardy and The Hurricane - and that's just the Raw roster - that work night in, night out doing house show after house show, even when injured... and do they get a little bit of a push to reward their hard work?

Generally, no. But The Rock... well, Rock swans off to do interviews on the E! network, to film his movies, and do whatever it is he does, for 8 or 9 months of the year, and gets treated like a messiah when he can fit the WWE into his schedule. Dammit, cap'n - it's just not right. Grrrr!

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With the Cruiserweight Open match in place for WrestleMania, Ultimo Dragon may well see some action at Madison Square Garden! Whoo hoo! The wording of the match is a little... open. Could a Raw to Smackdown jump be on the cards for The Hurricane and Spike Dudley? Could golden oldies like Dean Malenko or even the mighty Fit Finlay weigh in with an appearance? Guess we have to wait and see...

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And with those lovely thoughts, I'm outta here like Doc Brown at 88mph... Until then, have fun, go mad.

Thanks for reading - be sure and pay a visit to these two sweet sites :

WrestleHolic.com

TheGroovyComapany

Tony Cottam

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