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THE SPECIALISTS
DONOFRIO'S FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE 2/22: Top Stories of the Week reviewed - WWE, TNA, ROH, Social Media, Linsanity

Feb 22, 2012 - 5:03:02 PM
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By Tony Donofrio, PWTorch contributor

I haven't done this before, but I must start off with a rant. Call this an extension of last week's rant against people who said how bad Raw was. This past Sunday night, the outpouring of negativity from some people coming out of the Elimination Chamber PPV was ridiculous. The John Cena-Kane storyline, even if it wasn't written to perfection, had a storyline arch and ran for about two months. This isn't 1985 and two months for a carry-over feud isn't bad. Yet, many people couldn't wait to rush this to an end. You can't have it both ways. Either you want longer feuds with a story or you want a "microwave" feud.

Another side of this is that many people were disappointed that there wasn't a major title changes on Sunday night; particularly, Chris Jericho over C.M. Punk for the WWE Title. Again, you can't have it both ways! Punk has been champ since mid-November. Is there really a need to get the title off him so he can probably get it back it WrestleMania? People can't complain about hot-shotting titles and then lament the fact that Punk's title reign will stretch for another six weeks. (Actually, I feel Punk has a better than not chance of retaining at Mania.)

This "bad booking" aside, WrestleMania has an icon vs. icon match, a great technical match that should have great promos in Jericho-Punk, an epic Hell in a Cell match, and another title match that many fans are stoked about because Daniel Bryan is in a major match at Mania. The aces are all in their places and, yet, some people are not happy and say the booking is terrible. Half of the reason why I took a break from writing this column was work outside of writing. The other half was to sit back and enjoy the ride. Maybe those "burnt out" on today's product need to do the same. I've seen much worse in pro wrestling than over the past 18 month, and I'm sure most of you have as well. Now back to your regularly scheduled column...

WWE
Rock_TheTBsq180.jpg

- Right after last week's column, WWE announced that WM29 will take place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Also, John Cena teased that he may again face The Rock at WM29, fueling speculation that this may be a three match series between this year's Mania, this year's SummerSlam, and then culminating at WM29. I'm all for this, but only if Cena wins two of three. For those who argue Rock should win the series, I say that there's no point in that? Why? Rock doesn't need to win the series. Let him win in front of his hometown and let Cena win the next two. For those wanting a Cena sweep, I say this: why? What's the point of a rubber match at WM29 if he wins the first two?

The next 12 months could very well continue the evolution of John Cena's character and I'm on for the ride to see it. This past Monday on Raw, I was more excited about Cena than I have in a long time. Was it more of the same? Kind of, but I liked his delivery more now than I have in a very long time. As I stated in my rant above, let this play out. I don't care if it takes 12 more months. One aspect of wrestling angles is to keep you wanting more and to see what happens next. The potential for this is there with a three-match series.

- WWE could be getting a huge shot in the arm with the returns of Mark Henry, Christian, and Alberto Del Rio for the Mania run. It seems as if these three will be involved in the "power struggle" between Teddy Long and John Laurinaitis, in some form. With the card so loaded with the top four matches, it's good to see some depth come back just in time for Mania. Rey Mysterio is rumored to be close, but I still wouldn't count on him yet. The loss of Wade Barrett is a tough break for Barrett and WWE. It seems like WWE was starting to re-invest in him, albeit slowly. I'm still not sure where Randy Orton falls in all of this. I could see him inserted in either the "power struggle" or as a third wrestler in the World Heavyweight Title match, since he lost his opportunity due to injury at the hands of Bryan. The table is already set for that feud. I guess time will tell, but, either way, it's a good time of the year for WWE to be getting some depth back to the roster as the lack of it had been starting to show.

TNA

-With it being a WWE PPV Week and with TNA not having TV tapings this week, it's been a slow period for TNA. Due to the space my rant took up, I will skip TNA this week.

Independent Wrestling

-Sadly, I must report another depressing story from ROH this week. As PWTorch columnist Sean Radican mentioned on his Facebook page this week, there is an ROH DVD release out now where you can actually see a blinking battery on the screen indicating that the battery on the camera was low while filming the show. To say that both the production value and overall quality of ROH's product have gone down in the Sinclair era would be an understatement. Granted, in the past two years, ROH has lost same big names to TNA and WWE (Claudio Castagnoli, Chris Hero, Tyler Black, Austin Aries, etc.), so I can understand how some of the in-ring work has dipped. But, there's no excuse for production value when owned by a TV company!

First, the weekly shows aren't taped in HD. Second, the lighting in the arenas has not been enhanced at all. You'd think that a TV company could do something to help that out. I hate to be so negative about ROH. I remember being so optimistic for their future last summer when the Sinclair deal was announced that I couldn't stop tweeting about it. I really believed ROH was ready to be cemented as a solid #3 behind WWE and TNA. However, I would argue they've slipped behind both DGUSA and EVOLVE, and you could argue that some other independent promotions are on par with ROH. The only thing ROH has going for them over those companies right now is their TV deal and even that is not nearly as good as some people thought it would be just based on production value alone.

Social Media Moment of the Week

-This was a tough one for me this week. Obviously, C.M. Punk and singer Chris Brown are in a full-fledged Twitter war. Their Twitter battle has become mainstream now and I think most people inside and outside of wrestling are backing Punk on this one. However, my moment of the week is one that was started late last week by independent wrestler Kevin Steen. Steen has started a campaign on Twitter to either get The Rock to reply to his silly inquiries or block him altogether! It's actually quite humorous and much more light hearted than any Twitter war you're going to see. If you'd like to follow along with Steen on his game with The Rock, follow him @KILLSTEENKILL (I know, cute, isn't it?!)

Non-wrestling Thought of the Week

-Move over Tebowmania, Linsanity has arrived! I'm not even an NBA fan, but Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks now has me loosely following the product. I would argue that his story, to this point, is even more intriguing than that of Tim Tebow's because he went to such a small school, Harvard (in terms of basketball, anyway), and no one had really heard of the guy until last month! Overall, it's a good story and one that the NBA really needs this year considering how the off-season Lockout almost caused the League to lose a whole season and a lot of fans in the process. The only question left now is, does he know Harvard graduate David Otunga? No really, just kidding, but can he sustain this and is he for real in the long run? Only time will tell...

Tony Donofrio is a Specialist for the Torch covering a variety of topics and promotions. You can reach Tony at TonyDonofrio@me.com or follow him on Twitter @TonyDonofrio

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]


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