Mister Kennedy!!!................Kennedy!!!

This has been one helluva week in terms of the buzz the release of Mr. Kennedy has generated. The injury report needs to be thrown out the window because Kennedy just got a facebook and posted a 33 second video in which he says nothing and all he does is shake his hands showing that his wrists are ok.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ino1_bC0V58&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwfigs%2Eproboards%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ecgi%3Fboard%3Dprowrestling%26action%3Ddisplay%26thread%3D133827%26page%3D1&feature=player_embedded

Secondly, I attended Raw live and I guess I missed the whole suplex on Orton but I watched a clip of it and it seems legit that Orton was pissed off. I have raw in my DVR and intend to watch it (and write a review) on it later today. Apparently, Orton and Kennedy are good friends so it seems rather odd that Orton would get Kennedy fired; though, anything can happen in the WWE.

I'm just in utter shock that it's happened and don't want to believe it. Part of me thinks this is a sick joke from the WWE to get a buzz going around (hey, it's working!!). But still it doesn't make sense that you release a guy 5 days after his debut and announcing he'd be going after Orton's title in the near future. It just doesn't make any sense.

My 2 cents..

Cody Rhodes

-this guy needs to thank Ted Dibiase. When Dibiase first showed up and challenged Holly-Rhodes I knew that Rhodes would turn heel. Finally, it happened and because of Dibiase's ability to work the stick it's allowed Rhodes more time to develop his skills. I don't think that Rhodes still being with Holly would have ever led to that. Also, he's joined the top Heel on Raw to further his legacy in the WWE. Unfortunately for him, when Legacy disbands he'll be lost in the shuffle.

Kofi Kingston

-bland gimmick. great wrestling ability. needs to develop his own voice on the mic.

Santino Marella

-one of the best things on Raw. very entertaining. Santina is still a character but recently we've been seeing a bit less of her and more of him. Also, now adding Vickie Guerrero into the storyline has given a bit of new life into it.

Primo 

- it's obvious they're pushing this guy to be the breakout over his brother; though, he has some big shoes to fill and I don't think he can. Granted, Carlito never made it to the next level he's still over with the crowd. And looking back to the Royal Rumble this year, it was Carlito not Primo that got to part-take in the 30 man spectacular. I'll see how things go next year.

Ted DiBiase

-it's obvious he's going to be the breakout star. It's just not in the best interest of the Dibiase character to have him turn face (just to promote a stupid DVD) and leave a faction that has served as a catalyst for him to be in the main event picture.

The Brian Kendrick 

-Kendrick's big push didn't lead him towards singles gold. His mary jane use was the cause of this. Apparently he doesn't care because he's had so many fines for it. I say, good for him. But, his character is hurting. TBK's gimmick is awesome. He plays it off so well. He's drawing heat and it's getting him over. What they're doing with him on Raw right now is also drawing him heat. I'm just waiting to find out if Paul London will return and form a Heel Tag Team. I'll have to check the FCW prospects to see if anyone would be a good fit with him.

Dolph Ziggler

-one of my new favorite characters. Dolph Ziggler was lost in the shuffle on Raw. He never had the chance to make a name. Now, after a great short-lived program with MVP he's moved onto the Great Khali. Smackdown is the better fit for him because there seems to be more faces he can beat up while he works his way up the roster. Ziggler needs to work on the mic more though.

Ricky Ortiz 

-I hope he takes that towel and suffocates himself with it. I can't wait for the end of this fucker. I hate him. He should be fed to EVERYONE, including Jimmy Wayne Yang.

David Hart Smith 

-the enforcer of The Hart Dynasty. His return was better than his debut (remember, after coming back from commercials we were unceremoniously introduced to the son of the Bulldog). THD is going to be around for a while. The need a crack at the Tag Titles in a few months to cement their dynasty.

Evan Bourne 

-great talent. This generation's 1-2-3 Kid. Can't wait for a heel turn. The title he deserves is either the IC or the US, as I see those titles superior to that of the ECW title. And for some reason I feel Bourne is not ECW champion material.

DJ Gabriel 

-see Ricky Ortiz.

Jack Swagger 

-bright future lies ahead for this young-fresh-of-breath-air-talent. He's got the wrestling ability, the charisma, and has been getting way better on the mic. His rise in ECW has been the best thing to watch in the WWE in the past year. He came in and began dominating alá Goldberg. The great thing is that they made him loose the title and now chasing it. And having him chase Christian of all people has been working for both men. Swagger will regain the title soon and he'll be on top of ECW for the better part of the rest of the year, until he's finally drafted to Smackdown next year.

Ezekiel Jackson 

-he's not on my tv anymore and thank goodness!! Also, see DJ Gabriel.

Tyson Kidd

-the best cruiserweight the WWE has on their roster today, in my opinion. He came in when Evan Bourne was out and was able to make a name for himself instead of being known as "the other lightweight talent". (Okay so nobody called him that; but, still). Giving him Natalya in his corner gave him that extra flare most wrestlers don't have. Now, by teaming him up with Hart Smith shows that they (the WWE) think this guy has what it takes to run with the ball. Now, I don't mean in the sense of him being the next WWE World Champion; however, it means that he is going to be given the chance to shine in the Tag Division once given the gold.

Review of Smackdown

...okay so I missed the beginning. I turned it on right as Benjamin showed off athleticism by leaping to the top rope to attack Morrison.

John Morrison & "Mr. Money In The Bank" CM Punk v. The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas)

-It amazes me how quick John Morrison has turned into a face. But he need not to take full credit for the quickness in his turn; rather, we must thank Chris Jericho. After all, it was he that shoved Morrison during his fulmination of Smackdown. So we can say that because of Jericho's awesomeness, it is axiomatic that Jericho's heel heat turned Morrison's heel "heat" into cheers. Thus, putting him over as a face. Now, I put heat in quotes for Morrison because I think that the "heat" Morrison received was more belonging to Mizzorrison. Anyway, so Morrison picks up the victory pinning Haas after the Star Champagne (if I heard correctly). The the WWE has been doing a stellar job with the build up of Morrison/Benjamin. Now, we get them one-on-one at the Pay Per View. The only way to do this right is if Benjamin wins. Morrison won the first encounter and has been getting the upper hand as of late (4-1 count in favor of Morrison). This will get people more interested because Benjamin might win by a handful of tights or with his feet on the ropes, causing the fans to want Morrison to get revenge. Winners: John Morrison & CM Punk after Morrison's Star Champagne.

Chris Jericho comes down the ramp and rants about not being appreciated. How he is the number one man on Smackdown and should be treated as such. He says he will go after the one thing Rey Mysterio holds dear, the Intercontinental Championship, and become the unprecedented 9-time Intercontinental Champions. He says that sunday there will be no 619 and that he doesn't want to wait that long and proceeds to call out Mysterio. This brings out Edge; and, I have to add that if there's anyone on the Smackdown brand that can turn Edge face, it's Chris Jericho (Insert Jericho). Edge talks about being a 9-time champion already and that while Jericho was jobbing to Cena he was dominating Smackdown for the last year. Edge explains how since he's the #1 man on Smackdown he has officially ended Jericho's segment and has started his. They bicker back and forth about who will be the one calling out their Judgment Day opponent until Teddy "The Mack" Long comes out and announces an awesome main event before sunday. Chris Jericho v. Edge in a non-title match.

[We get a recap of Jeff Hardy beating Jericho with Mysterio's help]

Jeff Hardy v. Ricky Ortiz

-Okay, first thought. Why the fuck are they feeding Ortiz to Hardy? How is this supposed to get Hardy "prepared" for Edge and the championship this sunday? This reminds me of when I grew up in the early '90s, wrestlers would have their bigger feud take center stage on the mic of the announcers and recap videos, but they would still book the wrestlers in squashes. Now another part to the earlier question regarding Ortiz. They show a video promo of Ortiz talking about how it's 50% this and 50% that. I can tell you right now, it's 50% charisma and 50% skills kid and you have neither. And this whole "rally up" deal, come on! As if it wasn't enough to have been shut up by the World Champion last week, he's jobbing to the #1 Contender now? But this just came to mind, he's been interacting with the top two stars on the brand right now (and I say this because they're both fighting for the title). It's some good exposure, but really? Ricky Ortiz needs to join me in filing for unemployment. Winner: Jeff Hardy via Swanton Bomb.

We return from commercials to a Jeff Hardy promo. He lets it known to the world that Edge has a pattern when it comes to the World/WWE Championship. He looses it almost a month later every time. This instantly makes me think that Edge will retain the world championship. Hardy said that Edge will loose the title to him because he has the support of the fans for just being himself. Decent promo that hit the points. He pointed out the weakness of his opponent and is gearing himself up for a championship run; though, that isn't happening anytime soon. Hardy will take the title sometime between The Great American Bash and Summer Slam.

Up next Alicia Fox and Michelle McCool. I think it's funny that Alicia Fox is all of a sudden a heel when on ECW the was a face. Oh WWE, how I love thee.

Michelle McCool & Alicia Fox v. Gail Kim & WWE Women's Champion Melina

-McCool and Kim have a 1-1 record with each other stemming back from about a month ago. McCool has the charisma that not a lot of Divas have (Fox being one of them), so it's a good pairing to associate the two women for the time being. This, I believe, is their second tag match and J.R. confirmed it for me. Melina has come out very aggressive during her debut tag bout. It's been a very fast paced back and forth tag team match. The story during this match is to prove you can go toe-to-toe with the Women's champion. Though, the champion dominates McCool and ends up with the victory. I can see they want a McCool-Melina match in the future but you cannot ignore Gail Kim. She's been a fierce competitor since her return, even coming close to becoming the first women to win both the Women's title and the Divas title when she fought and lost to Divas Champion Maryse. A three-way match would be outstanding by these three skilled women. Winners: Melina & Gail Kim after Melina hit her finisher.

[Recap of Dolph Ziggler calling out anyone and then destroying The Great Khali with a steel chair.]

Jimmy Wayne Yang v. Dolph Ziggler

-Dolph Ziggler is an amazing talent. He's oozing some charisma and has the wrestling skills to back it up. He's getting great time on the mic to put himself over and his short program with MVP a while back was handled perfectly. Though he lost, he pulled out a great match and has already beaten MVP once anyway. Nicely decent match there by both these stars. Great offense by JWY near the end but he did get too cocky and paid for it with Ziggler's new move, what looks like a jumping backwards snapmare takedown. Winner Dolph Zigler with a new finisher.

Backstage Segment: Cryme Tyme & Eve Torres

-Cryme Tyme just hyping up Eve and wants to start a chick fight. They proceed in doing so and Eve attacks Layla from behind and a chick fight starts. After a while Cryme Tyme separates them. They needed something to continue this feud and glad they didn't spend 10 minutes in the ring.

R "What's up?" Truth v. Mike Knox

-This is a rematch from last week where Mike Knox picked up the victory. R Truth picks up the win. Didn't really pay attention to this match as I don't really care for Mike Knox. He's this generations version of The Berzerker. Nuff said. R Truth needs to come out on top at the end of this program.

WWE Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio Interview

-He says that he will show why he isn't an overnight champion and that Jericho will not have to worry about making a statement because he will shut Jericho up once and for all. Good plug to get him over, seeing as how he almost injured his knee on Superstars this past Thursday.

World Heavyweight Champions Edge v. Chris Jericho

-"Jericho is studiously sadistic" - J.R. A great match ends with a disqualification because Jericho brought in a steel chair. This is the second time that Jericho has brought in the steel chair and was DQd for it. Interesting storyline idea that keeps popping up. This leads to a big boot by Edge to Jericho. Edge has the chair but then Jeff hardy comes down, ducks a swinging chairshot, and hits the Twist of Fate on Edge onto the Chair.  Hardy goes to the top but Jericho tries to knock him down. Hardy kicks him away and dives after Jericho on the outside. Then, CM Punk comes out with a ref and he's thinking about cashing in the Money In The Bank. He's in the ring and hands the briefcase to the ref. Then again, Umaga runs down and attacks Punk. Punk ducks him and knocks him in the head with the briefcase, after he takes it back from the ref (important note, he rescinds his cashing in the briefcase when he takes it away from the Ref's hand).  Punk and Umaga battle back and forth on the outside (good, that Umaga finally came out because he was going into a PPV match with no build up so far), and Edge and Hardy do the same all four men ending up in the audience. Jericho backs up the ramp only to be attacked by Rey Mysterio. A great way to end Smackdown and lead into Judgment Day by having your three top babyfaces act as heels and sneak attack on 3 of the top heels (well 2 and a monster in Umaga). Winner: Edge via DQ.

Overall Show: B

ECW Review to come later..

Quick Results:

-Mark Henry w/Tony Atlas defeats Tommy Dreamer via pinfall

-Finlay defeats Tyson Kidd via DQ after David Hart Smith debuts

-Vladimir Kozlov defeats Chad Collyer (jobber) via pinfall

-Christian hosts Swagger on the Peep Show.

Edge's refusal to say (k)No(w)!

So, on this wrestling forum I frequent (www.wrestlingfigs.com)there was a topic of discussion, one that has been a heated and very debated topic for a while. The argument: the character of Edge.

Edge as of late has transcended himself into the top of the WWE after nearly a decade in the company. He has proven himself as being a top star: one that is able to work on the mic and one that is skilled as a wrestler. Now, back to the debate. The title of the thread was "I don't Get..." and the discussion was about Edge being in the main event scene for nearly three years now (I count him being in the Main Event since he first won the title back at New Years Revolution '06) and having 9 title reigns. Now, before I say anything I have to admit that it is kind of ridiculous for a guy to have nearly 10 title reigns in a short span of three years. How are you supposed to get a guy over if they win the championship and have him loose the title almost every time he defends it, how is that being a credible champion? Well, he's credible in the sense that he makes people jeer him, he's a heel and is great at what he does. He has paid his dues and those that have been following him since his debut (the Edgeheads as he called them back in the days) relish in the fact that Edge is atop the industry now. He's credible because he draws people to the screen to see him be defeated. When you're a heel in this business your job is to get people to pay to see you loose. Edge has come a long way from getting people to pay to see him move up the company ladder to, now, having people want to see him beaten and loose the title to their favorite (John Cena, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Undertaker).

Now, onto what got me started on this. In the same thread someone posted the following:

Yesterday at 20:21, No is not a typo for Yes wrote:

Maybe if Edge didn't have nine reigns as champion, I'd appreciate him more. I know, bad booking, but he isn't saying anything to stop them. And don't say he has no say in the matter, because if Kane can refuse the title, so can Edge. Their WWE careers are only 2-3 years apart, maybe shorter if you count the exact date they were first show on TV.

To which I responded:

[quote author=wwfalex04 board=prowrestling thread=131351 post=2381676 time=1242198028] You can make the argument about Kane and Edge all you want but you have to look at their character developments to see how they have come to garner such acclaim and to see why a World Title reign, or lack thereof, would benefit them in the long run or not. Kane's character was introduced to us as a monster and when he was given the title it was to show how much of a monster he was when he first came into the WWE. His character now has translated into just a big bully. A Bully that does not need the championship to prove that he is the best, he can just go out there and beat the hell out of you and walk away. If you beat him then he'll come after you (alá CM Punk recently). His character's goal is not to become champion it is to hurt and torture people because he was hurt and tortured all his life. Edge's character on the other hand has come a long way. He started out as a 'loner' and led a gothic lifestyle until he 'saw the light' with his brother Christian. Together they transcended the tag division and fans loved to hate them because they were cocky. After the split the fans cheered Edge and jeered Christian. Edge wanted to move up the ranks to prove that he was the best and championship gold says that for a character like Edge. Edge deservedly was given the chance to earn the title and his character wouldn't allow it to slip away. Thus, "The Ultimate Opportunist". Edge's character wants to show everyone that he is the best and being the best is defined as being the champion. So, taking into account each character's wants and needs in order to achieve their goal we can come to understand the reasoning behind Glen Jacob's refusal for the title and Adam Copeland's refusal to say no when it comes to the championship.[/quote]

People forget that we're watching a TELEVISION SHOW! Meaning the characters are what get people's attention. If one character is never the champion its because his character has dictated his path to not hold the title; but, to be something else, in this case Glen Jacob's character of Kane is a bully and a bully isn't awarded a title he's called upon to beat people up. -I kNow This Because I'm A Smark.