Well, hello. Welcome to this week’s edition of The Live Wire, this week fighting of a dose of the common cold by drinking whisky – a 10 year old Balvenie and a 12 year old Glenfiddich to be exact – so you’ll excuse me if I make less sense than usual as the whisky hit kicks in…
It feels to me like absolutely ages since I did one of these – so hold on to your chairs, nail shut the doors – it’s RANDOM THOUGHTS time! Whoo!
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The REAL Brock Lesnar has been a joy to behold. OK, the bouncing is still there, and the grin is still there, albeit morphed a little (witness the absolutely psychotic grin he shot Zach’s mother right before he F5’d him into a ring-post) but the soul of a cold blooded killer is back. His demolitions of Spanky and Zach Gowen were exactly what was needed to turn him into an ultra heel.
Brock always screamed out “HEEL!” to me when I watch him – bar one brief flurry against the Big Show in the Stretcher Match at Judgment Day, he never really caught fire as a face. He has the look and the freakish power that makes a great heel. Now, if only we could get Paul Heyman back as his manager, I’d be even happier.
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What is there left to be said about Eddie Guerrero right now? He is on the hottest streak of his career, without a doubt, and has probably all but secured Wrestler of The Year in many end of year polls already – mine included. Eddie is a great inspiration to anyone out there that you can be successful no matter what as long as you put your mind to it. Eddie’s had more setbacks in his career than most, but he still keeps bouncing back – this time, better than ever.
Surely the WWE can see how much of a roll he’s on right now, and the main even MUST beckon? Allowing for his one week hometown face turn (which was great TV to watch, by the way) surely a one-off Kurt Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero WWE Championship match would be a nice way to reward Eddie, not to mention a blinder of a match… I still hold out hope for a Guerrero vs. Benoit ladder match for the US Title though…
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The Coach’s heel turn seems to be working wonders for him. I watched Heat on Sunday and it must be the first time that he’s been commentating and I haven’t hit the mute button instantly. Heel commentators are a dying breed these days, so let’s see how he fares over the next few months.
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Kane’s fiery set piece on Raw last week might not have been old school wrasslin’ but what it was undeniably was riveting TV. It’s an often overlooked fact that Raw and Smackdown are at heart, TV shows – the Kane vs. Shane feud may never churn out 5 start mat classics but that last 3 minutes of Raw showed that it can have it’s classic moments. Like it or not, Kane being thrown in the flaming dumpster will be remembered for a long time.
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Poor Ultimo Dragon. He must have thought he was onto a winner when he saw the videos hyping his debut and how much he was put over during that debut against Shannon Moore… but now he’s relegated to working Velocity main events or dark matches. I know Vince has been in the business pretty much all of his life, but sometimes I wonder if he even watches wrestling any more. Dragon is one of the most respected wrestlers in the world – but Vince doesn’t like him, so he’s off TV. More money than sense, Vince.
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Us poor UK folk are just enjoying the third season of Tough Enough now. OK, it’s a good enough show, and shows another side of Al Snow and Bill DeMott that we probably would never have seen. It also showed another side of Bob Holly…one that we should NEVER have seen.
Now this is old news to US folks, but Holly basically beat the tar out of one of the kids training during a tag match. Holly said it was to show him that things like that will happen and to be prepared for it. DeMott said that the kids that got beat up (Matt) earned his respect by shaking Bob’s hand and saying thanks for getting beat up. BULL! All through the show, DeMott had been hammering home the fact that the wrestling business is all about respect – respect for yourself and respect for your opponent.
What respect did Holly show Matt? How does getting beaten up teach him anything? These kids are going to be thrown into the spotlight and have to trust their opponents in the ring to take care of them, to show them the ropes – and Bob Holly totally abused that trust, and even gets a pat on the back for it? If I’d have been in charge, Bob would have been sacked.
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Goldbore is by no means a favourite of a lot of people – myself included, in case you didn’t already figure that out – but the Elimination Chamber and the subsequent shenanigans on Raw have put more heat on him than any challenger for the World Heavyweight Title has had in a long, LONG time.
It’s amazing what can be done when the contender is allowed a bit of chance to shine and isn’t buried underneath the weight of the Champion’s greatness… top marks to everyone involved in this. Let’s hope it continues.
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Ric Flair is cracking me up right now – his performance at SummerSlam and his reaction to HBK’s Sweet Chin Music (to lay out cold for at least 5 minutes) was priceless. His actions are adding a lot of heat to Randy Orton, and the Michaels-Orton feud is looking a lot stronger as a result. Hopefully, Michaels and Orton can put on a match that’s worthy of the heat the two are building…
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And on that note… I’m outta here for now.
Until next time, have fun, go mad
Tony Cottam
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