CBlog #46: Lilian Garcia, The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio

Hello and welcome to the 46th installment of the CBlog. I gave up on the Roman numerals in the title as they are starting to get too complicated for me and more trouble than it’s worth…
Anyways, in this CBlog, I will be discussing Lilian Garcia’s farewell on RAW, a potential return to the WWE by the recently released BG James, the health of The Undertaker, & the suspension and upcoming return of Rey Mysterio. I want to apologize ahead of time if I accidentally give my opinion on something I already discussed. I have some memory issues. If I have those issues at 21, I hate to think how bad it will be in another 20 years or so. Anyways, let’s get started, shall we?
I read an interview recently conducted with BG James, who was recently released from TNA and I was excited when I read that BG would not mind being back in the WWE and being a part of DX. He did not exactly sound like he was overly eager to return to the WWE, but it was more of an “it would be cool” type of thing. He mentioned wanting to get the kind of pop that Triple H & Shawn Michaels get as DX. The article had nothing but praise for for the WWE, so I hope BG will return. I’ve always been a fan of his days in the WWE, so it would be great to see him back.
When thinking of BG James potentially returning to join DX, it makes me wonder- whatever happened to Sean Waltman, AKA X-Pac? I have not seen or heard anything about him in quite some time.
I thought it was really great of the WWE to give Lilian Garcia time to give her farewell speech on RAW. It was nice to see someone get a proper send-off where she got to give a real speech without being interrupted. I kept expecting Chris Jericho to come out with the “no one cared about you” thing that he (and other heels) does. The ring announcing on RAW will never be the same.
I have just read that Lilian Garcia’s “replacement” made her debut at the SmackDown tapings that took place yesterday! She is a 24-year-old singer named Lauren Mayhew and, between you and me, she is smoking hot! I got the news from 411Mania.com and they have a picture and two YouTube videos of her. Now, I put the word ‘replacement’ in parantheshes because she is not actually replacing Lilian according to 411Mania.com, but will be the new ring announcer for SmackDown while either Justin Roberts or Tony Chimel will take over on RAW. Hopefully it’s Roberts, as he is a whole lot better than Chimel. In case you don’t know who Tony Chimel or Justin Roberts are, Justin Roberts is (or I guess was) the ring announcer for SmackDown and Tony Chimel is the ring announcer for ECW (though Roberts did the ring announcing on this week’s show). They have Roberts fill in for Chimel every now and then so I don’t think that necessarily means that Chimel will be a part of RAW.
I don’t mean for it to sound like I am instantly forgetting about Lilian Garcia, as no one can ever forget her. She took ring announcing to a new level (both in looks and in talent). I still can not believe that she is actually in her 40’s! She looks a lot better than some of the Divas on the roster that wrestle and make regular appearances. She will be missed, at least by me.
Being a male, I can not ignore someone as hot as the new ring announcer, though.
Anyways, enough of that argument with myself, let’s move on to the concern about The Undertaker’s health that the WWE has had. While this is not something that WWE has confirmed (and why would they?), the pieces do fit together enough to make the report plausible.
With that said, it is unfortunate that The Undertaker is in such bad shape, but while it’s unfortunate, it is not surprising to me. Undertaker has been struggling for quite some time and it has shown in select matches. Now it’s being said that he actually underwent a hip replacement during his time off from the WWE as opposed to the “minor hip surgery” that was reported. I imagine his hip is/was just one of the many things he has wrong with him. To me, there is no shame in Undertaker bowing out and retiring. He has had a stellar career and it could not have been better. I do realize that there is a possibility that Undertaker has wanted to retire and Vince has wanted him to keep returning, but at the end of the day, Vince can not physically force you to wrestle (well, he could with smaller guys, probably).
Along with the news that his health is a cause for concern, it was also reported that they are looking to have The Undertaker retire at WrestleMania XXVI and I think that is a very wise decision as I would rather see Undertaker make it to WrestleMania and have an awesome last match. It would be very fitting and the perfect send-off for him. It’s too bad that their concern did not come before this year’s WrestleMania as Undertaker’s classic match with Shawn Michaels would have made the perfect career-ender. The big question is- who would Undertaker have his final match against? It would be so awesome to me to have Stone Cold Steve Austin return to have “one last match” with Undertaker, but I don’t see that happening as Austin is in about as bad of shape as Undertaker. I definetly think that Undertaker’s last match should be with Shawn Michaels or someone he has not had a WrestleMania match with before, but that would be another match for the ages. I really think that a rematch with Shawn Michaels would be perfect for that final match. It seems like anyone else on the active roster would be a bit of a let down when it comes to that last match. Chris Jericho is a name that comes to mind as never facing Undertaker at WrestleMania before, but that just does not seem big enough for a final match for someone like The Undertaker. Same thing with CM Punk, Kane, or Big Show. Edge is a possibility that would be a good match. I thought maybe Batista, but it’s been done before and it wasn’t that great then. In any case, I think it is finally that time for Undertaker to hang up the boots.
I missed commenting on it in my last blog like I intended to, but I will discuss it here (before I forget again) and the “it” is the 30-Day Suspension of Rey Mysterio. Similar to Jeff Hardy (but oh so different), I was disappointed to hear Rey had failed a drug test as it is always unfortunate to hear someone who has never failed a drug test (at least one the public knew about) had failed one. Shortly after he was suspended, Rey made mention of WWE not letting him get his prescriptions together and all that. I really hope that that is true. While Rey is not one of my favorites in the WWE, the majority of his matches are solid and always interesting. Rey sent out a Tweet yesterday that he would be returning on October 9 in Trenton, NJ on SmackDown (technically he would be returning on October 6 since that is when SmackDown would be taped). I will be interested to see what role he will have on SmackDown when he does return. I assume he will be put back into the Intercontinental Title picture and possibly win the belt back from John Morrison, but that seems a little unfair to Morrison as it would make him just look like a “placeholder” for Mysterio. In any case, I hope this is the last time Rey is suspended for his own sake.
Wow, this is becoming quite lengthy. No worries, I am almost done.
Now I move on to the return of Batista. I was disappointed (I’ve been using that word a lot lately) in the match that he had with Chris Jericho on SmackDown. I was disappointed in his match with Orton on RAW, as well, but for different reasons. The finish to the match was good with Batista catching Jericho in the middle of the Codebreaker and hitting the Batista Bomb, but the rest of it just kind of dragged and wasn’t too interesting. I can’t imagine how bad it will be when Batista faces Big Show on SmackDown. I am kind of interested to see what they plan to do with Batista while CM Punk and The Undertaker are feuding over the World Heavyweight Title. Maybe he will be added to the title picture?
With Batista coming back to SmackDown, I worry for CM Punk’s spot on the show as he is starting to get “crowded out” with the more established stars like Batista and The Undertaker. Plus, it won’t be long before Edge returns as well (projected to be in early 2010, but we all know how that goes). I just hope they do the smart thing and keep the belt on Punk as he is the best thing going in the WWE today, in my opinion.
The feud with Batista going against the Unified Tag Team Champions Big Show & Chris Jericho makes me wonder if it is setting up a tag team feud over the titles. My first thought was Edge returning early and teaming with Batista to challenge for the titles. It would make sense.
I was going to discuss my predictions for the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, but I think I will wait until more of the card is announced (particularly the World Heavyweight Title match).
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the CBlog and I hope you keep reading them. Peace!