Blowin’ Smoke with Kemper Jones
A Little Bit of Everything
Welcome back! I know it’s been a while since my last column. I decided to just do some random writing on multiple happenings in the wrestling biz. It’s kind of a long one so bear with me.
Daniel Bryan
Punk is out, so what’s next for the US Champion? There have been rumblings of a possible feud with his former trainer, William Regal. They’ve been working the overseas tour together, and Regal is putting him over big time on Twitter (while also hinting that retirement may not be too far off). A program between the two didn’t begin this week, and for good reason. Regal is loved in England. Having Bryan interact with him on live TV in front of the heel’s home crowd wouldn’t have been a good start.
The teacher/student angle is in place. As much as they want to say Bryan is trained by HBK, I’d say that Regal is his greatest influence. Bryan’s ring work is much more inspired by that of the Englishman. We all know that these two guys are great in the ring when given adequate time. Give them 20-30 minutes on a PPV and I bet they’ll top the Bragging Rights Ziggler/Bryan encounter. For all that is good WWE, come through on this.
The delay of Punk/Bryan sucks, but the rumored replacement has left me excited. I really hope it happens.
Chris Jericho Injured
When I read the story, I laughed. Jericho has been through an amazing 20 year wrestling career virtually injury free. He has never been put on the sidelines for any significant amount of time for surgery or recovery time. When he’s around, he’s a permanent fixture. The only time he’s gone is when a contract is up and he’s taking a break by choice. I’m sure the guy feels pain, and appreciates the time off to heal up. But to do what he does: and remain unscathed is pretty impressive. Few in the business, especially in the business for that long, can say that.
Yet, he was suffered a pulled ab muscle while touring with Fozzy. As he said, “That’s Rock ‘N Roll!!”
D-X Reunion?
Sean Waltman AKA X-Pac, said the following on Twitter…
“”Im working on getting a tour of Europe w/a DX Reunion of Myself & The New Age Outlaws. Any reputable promoters interested, FB mesg me.”
I’d first like to point out that I find it hilarious that this guy is essentially posting a job proposal via Twitter, using internet speak, and using his Facebook inbox as his contact. Wrestling is a business. Why not get on the phone and call some “reputable promoters”? I’m so surprised that you’re not looking for any of them in the US. Considering none of them (WWE, TNA, ROH, PWG, etc.) will use you anymore because they’re more “reputable” when they don’t do business with a guy like you.
As much as I don’t like the guy, I find it hard to disagree with his next post when asked about the fact that WWE owns the DX copyrights…
“Well …..Who cares? There would have no longer been a DX when Shawn quit after losing to Austin. We were the real degenerates.”
I didn’t watch wrestling much after Mania 12 until just before 14. I missed the time period of HHH/HBK DX. When they were brought back, post-Attitude era, I didn’t care much, because they weren’t the DX I remembered. I’ve seen some of their past stuff on DVDs and Youtube, but I didn’t watch it unfold.
I prefer the HHH/New Age Outlaws/X-Pac faction. They provided so many memorable moments of the period.
Video Games
I’m sure you’ve noticed that I like to include some video game insights in my columns. I hope you enjoy them, but if you aren’t interested, please just skip over them. Video games are right up there with wrestling as one of my pastimes. I’ve been an avid fan of both since I was 5. I take advantage of having an audience to listen to me ramble about dork stuff.
I finished God of War: Ghost of Sparta for PSP on Tuesday. After 5 (6 if you include the cell phone game I played on my old Nextel i730) installments of the series, I still haven’t grown tired of mashing away on the square and triangle buttons for hours. Kratos is by far, the biggest bad ass in gaming. Ready at Dawn Studios has further expanded the combat in the series, though the game is a step down from the epicness that was GoW III. I don’t really expect that on a handheld console, though.
I have completed every Road to Wrestlemania storyline from SvR 2011 (Cena, Mysterio, Christian, Jericho, and I ended Taker’s streak as Dolph Ziggler). I’m moving onto Universe mode next, where I plan to take The Miz up the ladder to the WWE championship. I’d like to get going on a storyline soon, but there are a bunch of games coming out this month to play. We’ll see what happens.
Armed robbers stole cash, consoles, and over 100 copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops from a Gamestop in Maryland on Saturday. I wonder how much money they made selling the games. I’m sure people were really jumping at the chance to play the game 3 days before the street date. They probably sold at a premium.
At a time when gamers are being threatened by un-Constitutional legislation, douche bags have to come along and pull a stunt like this. Thanks for giving the other side a little credibility on the effect of video games.
TNA
I haven’t watched TNA in quite some time, but I like what I’ve read about Jeff Hardy’s heel progression. Granted, the Impact Zone is the worst place to put the show on. TNA’s heels are usually cheered more than the good guys. TNA really needs to take this show on the road. What was that announcement about change that wasn’t 10/10/10?
I don’t quite understand the point of Hardy’s new Immortal Championship belt. I don’t think TNA did themselves any favors by chucking their title belt in the garbage.
There’s nothing else in TNA that is really interesting to me right now. I’m wondering why RVD wasn’t given a match against Hardy at the PPV. They took the belt off him and kept off for less than a month. Inexplicably, there has no title match for the rightful champion. It just makes sense.
Oh, I love the fact that RVD is a hidden “Legend” character in SvR 2011. He debuted in TNA on March 4th. The game came out in October 26th. I know they do the licensing early on, but I would think WWE would’ve pulled the plug on this by now. They probably already gave him the royalty check.
Goldust/Dibiase
Goldust’s biography is coming out on December 14th. The angle started in late September. I know they want to keep him relevant to help his sales, but is this thing can’t go on for 2 ½ months. Now, Aksana runs off from the wedding and steals the Million Dollar belt. I was happy when this feud started, because I was looking forward to some good wrestling matches. I just haven’t seen it yet. All we get is bad endings of short matches and a confusing storyline with no apparent end ins sight.
Dibiase has fallen in this past year. It’s a shame he didn’t come out of the Legacy break as a new up and coming face, as originally planned. I saw a good future for him. Now he just seems lost in the shuffle. WWE’s recent ballooning roster has left even less room for someone to break out.
Superstars
I was thinking that it would be cool if WWE created either a TV or Cruiserweight championship for the show on WGN America. I see no reason not to give the group of under-mid card guys the chance to fight for something and give the show a little relevance? The show is also streamed on WWE.com. Maybe it could attract more web traffic. They wouldn’t always have to be defended on PPVs. But, they make a good opener, so don’t rule it out every few months..
Cena/Nexus
This is the reason that it’s been a while since my last column. Normally, I would’ve had an Afterthought column up days ago. This week’s Raw was atrocious. I thought that last week was bad. I had no desire to waste my time dedicating an entire column to the show.
This story “progression” literally took up more than half a show. The angle is boring and not going anywhere. At least tease a Cena turn to piss the IWC off when Cena does the honorable thing. I’m begging for anything. Orton and the title still feel like an afterthought. The Viper is more over than anyone in WWE. He along with Bryan, Truth, Miz, and even Henry were just tossed into the 5-on-5 match to be drowned in Cena/Nexus. If Cena screws over Randy, I’ll be OK with it. It will actually be shocking. I assume I’ll be disappointed, though.
Miz/Orton
The ending of Monday’s main event ended when Alex Riley hit Orton with the MitB briefcase. Following that, Miz delivered a Skull Crushing Finale. This came out of nowhere. I’m thinking that Barrett will win the title at Survivor Series, only for Cena to kick the crap out of him as soon he’s free of Nexus, leading to Miz coming down and cashing in. If not, they’re throwing someone else into the mix for no reason.
Santino/Sheamus
I saved the best for last. Santino’s tea party along with Sheamus and Kozlov was the saving grace of the show. Sheamus doesn’t look like he’s minding doing the comedy bit and he pulls it off nicely. His work on the mike is getting better every show. Santino is usually a laugh, but this was him at his best. Pairing him with Kozlov was a great move. He can be funny when he wants to and him playing protector is believable.
This is all building toward something between Sheamus and John Morrison. I’m afraid the feud with Santino might be better than theirs will be. I’m not rooting against JoMo. I really hope he can break through to main event level. I just thought it was going to happen while ago. He just hasn’t had that break out feud, yet.
In Closing
With only two weeks till Survivor Series, WWE needs to step their game up. We only know of three matches. I’d like to know if any of the current feuds are leading to any traditional 4-on-4 elimination matches.
I’d be happy to hear any comments. Hit me up at [email protected] or search Facebook for my column to find discussion, random thoughts, and exclusive columns in the future.
